There is some strange superstition about elephants isn’t there? I can never remember which way round it is – are you supposed to have them facing the door or facing away from the door? Maybe that and the sheep’s head in the front garden, have combined to deliver the terrible luck we’ve had over the last few years.

It started with my illness and that in turn led to a fruitless and demoralising hunt for jobs, a house crumbling to dust before our eyes and constant fretting and worrying about how to pay the bills and see through the next month.

The elephant in the room. The thing that no-one is prepared to discuss although it’s always there. In our house the elephant is this: was I right to choose to take a break from work to study for my degree? Was I right to compound and extend my absence from the world of work to train as a teacher? Every decision I have taken over the last few years just seems to make me less employable, not more as I’d hoped they would. I’m almost half way through my job and I’m panicking again…