She came home full of “it’s my right to do this; it’s my right to do that”. When we pointed out that most of them wouldn’t apply until she was 18, she countered with “that’s just unfair", "It’s ageism.", "18 is just an arbitrary number", etc.”.

I’m pretty certain I had similar conversations with my parents when I was that age; and expect that one day she will have similar conversations with her own children. What goes around comes around.

She does take these topics to heart. Like when she was in Year 6 and was told that people in some developing countries have only £1 per day to spend on food. She decided to go for a week spending no more than £1 on food each day.

I’m not knocking it. It’s good that she takes a positive interest in the world around her. But shouldn’t there be a Human Right that allows parents to have some peace and quiet when they get home at the end of the week?

She was in particular talkative mood on Friday evening. “If you had a super power what would you like it to be?” she asked me.
“How about the power to stop teenagers from talking”, I replied.
“Oh, so you’d use your super power to control people?”.

You can’t win. You can’t even break even.

I bought myself a wrist watch. I haven’t owned a wrist watch for years. I just rely on clocks around me or looking at my phone display when I want to know the time. But I thought that maybe I should wear a watch for the wedding, so I know how the day is progressing. OK, the wedding is still a few months away, but I thought I’d buy it now while I remember, while I have the money, and so I get used to it.

I went to Argos – or the Golden Fleece store, as I like to call it. Argos is a weird store – it’s like mail order, without the mail bit. Here’s how Michael McIntyre describes it:

The Golden Fleece Store in Andover is even weirder. It’s in a corner of Sainsbury’s and they don’t carry a huge stock. Some items you have to order and come back later to collect. I got caught out on that once before: “Order by noon and come back and collect it after 3pm”. I didn’t bother. If I go to a shop to buy something, I want to buy it there and then, not come back three hours later. What am I going to do in Andover for three hours? Have you been to Andover? If you get the chance to visit the town, please don’t. I’m pretty certain I witnessed drug deal taking place there last week – and not in a sleazy back alley, either.

Anyway, back to the watch. This time I was prepared, and ordered it online before I went. They had it in stock. Yippee, I could go and collect it straight away.

There were a few people milling around between the catalogues and the desk, but it didn’t seem to be a formal queue so I wasn’t sure what to do. I hung around and watched, and people did seem to be going up in order, so I guess it was a sort of queue. Eventually it was my turn. The assistant went off to find my watch, and left me waiting … and waiting … and waiting. After about ten minutes (OK it might have been five, but it felt like ten) she came back to say she couldn’t find it; did I want my money back or to choose another watch.

Well, it had taken me long enough (almost 45 seconds) to choose that watch, so I wasn't going through that rigmarole again. I took the money and ran. And went to Golden Fleece Store in Eastleigh the following day where they had what I wanted.

We went to a concert on Friday evening, to see a local group called the Spitfire Sisters. A very talented and entertaining trio, singing in the style of The Andrews Sisters, with songs old and new. Such as these:

CS3 really enjoyed it. “I think I’ve found another genre of music to listen to”. She’s so not a typical teenager.

Lots of running at the weekend. parkrun Saturday morning where - and this is important – I broke the 24-minute barrier. 23:56. OK, I’m not sure how I did it and will probably never do it again. I don’t care. I have run 5km in under 24 minutes.

The Future Mrs Barefoot had persuaded a friend to come along and see what this parkrun is all about. It was a three-lap course, so when I’d finished I did an extra lap just for the fun of it. I almost caught them up – but decided against it as it might have been too demoralising for them. Or annoying. And The Future Mrs Barefoot had the car keys so might have driven off without me.

Sunday afternoon The Future Mrs Barefoot and I ran 10km – following the route of the Eastleigh 10km road race. We’ve both entered that next month. This was The Future Mrs Barefoot’s first attempt at that distance, but she did it – and at a pretty constant pace too. Super-proud fiancé moment.

We also went to look at flowers for the bridal bouquet. The florist told us to make an appointment for next month. See my comments above about if I want to buy something, I want to buy it there and then, not come back later.

They did give us a price list. Holy Moly! Have you seen the price of a bridal bouquet? I could send flowers to my mother in New Zealand for less!