Yesterday I woke up with a pain in the neck and suspected the onset of a migraine. Some of the symptoms were there: purple 'lights' when I closed my eyes and a frequent need to spend a penny. I managed to ward off the worst with a dose of Nurofen and a thick layer of 'Baume Arome' all over my neck, shoulders and forehead but still stayed in bed till after 9 o'clock.

CC did my share of the chores, but, as it was not comfortable to stay in bed and the 'migraine' was reduced to a head and neckache, I moped around the house like a washed out dish-rag.

By late afternoon I felt a bit more human and sat in the armchair next to the Bear who had his nose in a book as usual.

"What are your plans for next week?" he suddenly asked.

I'd been dreading this, as CC, Jay and I had arranged to go and see a house and I was leaving it as long as possible before telling Bear. If he could be reasonable we'd willingly have invited him to come with us but he has made it plain that he wouldn't be seen dead in the same car as Jay so it's not surprising Jay isn't keen on taking him anywhere.

"Well, we have arranged to go and see that house I showed you on the computer . . ."

"I knew it", he interrupted, "you've been scheming behind my back as usual."

He then started a tirade against CC and Jay because they eat late and 'make a noise' in the kitchen. According to him,  I'm too afraid of them to tell them off about it (!) and I ought to throw them out, change the locks and not let them come back in.

Naturally, I told him he was being ridiculous but he was now in full swing. He complained that I had been 'off' with him since my sister's visit, that I had not taken enough notice of him all day - that I had actually ignored him (how could I be so inconsiderate??!!) and the fact that I'd been feeling unwell was no excuse.

At that point I walked out and left him to stew. Maybe he would think back to a few days ago when my sister let fly at him for being an unreasonable bully. She wasn't the first visitor to have a go at him. Several friends have told him what a sod he can be and he accepts it at the time but soon reverts to normal.

Anyway, last night he calmed down fairly quickly and called me to ask what programme I'd like to watch.

Today he didn't make snide remarks about us going out, (the house is not at all suitable by the way), but I'm waiting for it to come up at the next row.