I’ve just been out for my daily walk to get away from the desk and do some little jobs, and it’s one of those dark, damp, cold winter days that seeps gloom and lethargy. Days like this always seem to make me hanker after a treat to eat. We have supper all planned, so a little something at teatime fits the bill. A little smackerel, I think Winnie the Pooh called it, but you have to be careful or after too many little smackerels you too will have a Pooh girth.

We are lucky in still having an M&S food store, always a good source of smackerels, so as well as the virtuous leek and cooking apple, my bag also contained an apricot pastry for A and a packet of chocolate rolls for moi. They cost the same, but the enjoyment in a pack of mini rolls can be strung out so much longer!

I have to buy my edible treats one by one, as anything stored in the cupboard simply cries out to be eaten. (Actually so did 2 bags of lovely German lebkuchen A had bought as gifts for friends. I promised to replace one I wanted to take along to a meeting with Louise Billington, my excellent coach. Rushing out slightly late, I forgot it, but then of course it was as good as mine and so I ate it later. And the other bag, because in for a penny…)

So to those people who worry that working from home will make them fat, I’d say that yes, you do have to be disciplined, but no more than you have to be working with other people who probably eat crisps, chocolate, biscuits and all that tempting stuff in front of you and ask you out for coffee and drinks. Just don’t stock up with your favourite indulgence at the supermarket – you might save pounds in one sense but you’ll gain them in another!