10 reasons why it's hard to come home.

1) You leave behind temperatures of 31 oc in France and return to temperatures of 14 oc, mist and rain in Ireland.

2) You have no food in the house and it's 9pm.

3) Your car battery is completely dead.

4) Your jump leads are kaput.

5) Your battery recharger is a twisted heap of rust.

6) Your two youngest children have to be up early for school the next day, (well they have just missed three weeks and you don't want the Department of Education knocking on your door).

7) You then remember that your youngest child has a dentist appointment at 9.30am so you definitely need your car (not to mention the food shopping or else the family will starve).

8) You have to set the alarm for the first time in three weeks.

9) You wear socks and long sleeves therefore hiding your delicate tan.

10) You do a mammoth grocery shop because you don't know what you need and then have to find places to store everything whilst realising that you did have quite a lot of food and the freezer is full so where will you put the duck you just bought!

Postscript:

11) You have 643 emails to wade through!