I woke, yesterday morning, feeling bad-tempered. This is a rare occurrence and is almost always a result of my husband’s snoring! There’s something deeply offensive about lying next to someone whose somnolence – loudly and bed-tremblingly declared – is the sole reason for your inability to sleep. Don’t you think?

A Feeling of Contentment was Markedly Absent

But that wasn’t the only reason I felt bad-tempered. Truth be told, I went to bed feeling ever so slightly irritable – partly because the seams of my favourite jeans have parted company; partly because A1 vision in threading a needle to mend them is now something I can no longer take for granted; and mainly because I’m dieting! So, you can understand, I’m sure, that the addition of sleep deprivation meant that any feeling of contentment was conspicuously absent. Never mind the bad tempered ladybird story: I felt distinctly waspish.