We’ve been out celebrating new beginnings tonight with our friends from along the road.

This is Gregor, the first time he’s been seen by the world and he’s just ten days old. As I said when we saw him for the first time, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a newly born baby at close quarters and I’ve been surprised because hitherto I’ve thought they were smelly, noisy things but I'm surprised and to be honest very relieved to find he’s certainly neither.

In fact, he’s a bit of a sweetie. We were with Becks and Iain from eight o’clock until gone midnight and he uttered not a peep during that time. Not only that but he slept for most of it, after a bottle when we arrived he was put to bed and then he had another one just as we were leaving, which is when I took this pic. I now have a theory (in my VERY limited experience of such matters) that babies born of laid back parents are laid back too – I’m sure it’s complete nonsense but there you go. That’s what comes of making judgements from a sample of one!!! As a market researcher I should know better.

I know it’s not really sharp on the eye but the conditions weren’t good from the point of view that the light was really low so I was pushing my camera and lens and I ended up with a depth of field that didn’t extend between a baby’s nose and his eye – wow that’s shallow all right!

We’re also celebrating our new beginning too – we’re just about getting ourselves sorted out and we’ve made good progress on the house today so we’re chuffed with all of that. David has been beavering away fitting skirting boards and I’ve been trying to clear the last of the financials from the old house.

I get to work in a few days to start the paint job – at the moment I can’t start it because I get in trouble for dropping paint all over David and the room so I thought it prudent to wait for him to finish his jobs before starting mine. It saves a war!!!!!

Two years ago, I was lamenting the unused motorbike in my garage and last year I was relishing being here.