I knew the Bear was feeling better, after a week or so of various aches and pains, when he asked 'What are we doing today?'

Now that may sound like a perfectly normal start to a conversation but, if you know the Bear as well as I do, it was  a loaded question. It meant, in this case,  'Are you planning to go shopping with your son, in the hopes that I'm not well enough, you scheming cow?'

It should be pointed out here that we are expecting a friend to stay tomorrow - a girl I was at college with - and Jay has offered to cook a meal so that we can have a relaxed gossip when she arrives. The last time this happened the Bear sneered and complained because I pointed out that it was more sensible to go to the supermarket with Jay as he was doing the cooking, but that he (the Bear) was welcome to come too. Of course, he declined -  and also refused to eat anything that evening!

So far, he has not been told who is cooking tomorrow but he may have worked it out. Anyway, to keep the peace as long as possible I made my list and asked the Bear if he felt like going to Carrefour. He would probably have prefered to stay and watch the snooker but he knew I'd go with Jay if he said no, so he reluctantly tore himself out of the armchair and off we went to fill the boot with household goods, catfood, fruit and vegetables and wine.

Jay, who always likes to choose his own ingredients has taken the Whale, seperately, to the same supermarket to pick up the necessities for his recipes.