How do we keep our eyes from sliding sideways - surveilling the journey of those alongside us? I think the answer is in nurturing the useful obsessions we’re prey to. When I’m merrily making my own thing happen, I’m so much less aware of or concerned by what everyone else is doing. I guess my answer to the social media-fueled battery of comparison, is to find my own happy - not someone else’s.

I chose red, a rich velvety red, to colour the title in. It involved many rotations of the sharpener to get the thing done. What remained of the pencil was less than half of the original unblemished length. When mum discovered it, she was really unhappy that I had used it so exclusively. The precious set was now unbalanced - the rainbow rank interrupted by a much shorter member. What ensued was the biggest fight we ever had, before or since.