I decided that the ideal way to spend the morning of my 43rd birthday would be to clean out some gutters, and Mr A delivered the goods with some that were packed full to the brim. So much so that they were turning into a full-on ecosystem of their own (the downside to having a lovely blossom tree in your garden).

Mr A had the right tools for the job, with us being the first to get to use his shiny new folding ladder, and an extra long trowel for getting all the muck out of the gutters. We took turns in scooping it out and dropping it down to the green bin below. A nice satisfying job seeing the gutters restored to proper working order by the time we were done.

Seeing as the sun was out and we were being sufficiently fuelled with tea and Tunnock's Caramel Wafers, we offered to rake up the leaves from the grass too. With that done and the garden looking nice and tidy, we had a bit more of a chat and we were on our way.