Some people go for taking some sort of herbal remedy, I go for some crushed and fermented grapes!

I’m just about getting over the traumas of the last couple of days. My day today has been completely ‘normal’ in as much as it was about our everyday business rather than the content of the last couple of days. I’ve not spent the day with anyone connected with my day-to-day work so it’s been a complete break for me, I’m relieved to say.

I’ve been in Central London, at another of our offices, discussing the intricate details of a ‘key account’ with people from other parts of our group and I can tell you it’s been such a comfort. I still have all those stress aches and pains in my back and neck but at least I can feel the tension start to drift slowly away from me. I expect to have a bit of a resurge tomorrow because there are another couple of things I have to face linking back to yesterday but I don’t expect to feel quite so drained by them.

My working life will never be quite the same again as it was before last week but it will hopefully return to a reasonably positive and upbeat time soon.

Even in my gloomiest time, I have been surprised and thrilled by one or two things. I’ve come home tonight to the most utterly wonderful email containing the strongest message of support I could have ever hoped for and, although from a good friend, from someone who isn’t a ‘gusher’ so I can be completely sure of its sincerity and heartfelt-ness. I’m so overwhelmed I wanted to open a bottle of wine to celebrate and came across this ‘Swiss Army Knife’ on the table. I kind of liked its symbolism – it’s supposed to rescue people in times of needing THAT tool, the one that you just forgot – today it’s rescuing me from continued stress so it’s being used for its purpose!

These things are ones I’ve never been quite able to grasp the point of – they strike me as a heavy bit of plastic with only one useful function and that is the one to which it has been put tonight – opening the wine. DM reckons he used one of the exposed blades today for some reason but I’m not convinced he couldn’t have done what he did with any one of a dozen other tools that we have. He's just popped in to see the photo and said 'oh it'd be nice if you'd got some reflections on the blades' but he missed the point - I wanted them in complete darkness!

And my final word on the subject? When did you last need a tool for getting a stone out of a horse’s hoof? (Well, except Penny that is!)