At around 5 am this morning, I semi-woke, looked at the clock, and then “realised” (in the way that one does when one is still mostly asleep, and actually still dreaming a bit) that it was Saturday, December 17th, (not even a real date this year) and that I had just begun a week off work, in the run up to Christmas. I fell back into my pillows and blissful unconsciousness with a grateful sigh.

So the alarm clock came as something of a nasty shock.