Sigmund, the new occupant of the spare bedroom – slightly less hairy than his predecessor.

Roger the lodger moved out this week, giving cause for both celebration and stress. Celebration because I no longer needed her extra rent and really wanted the space back. Stress because she wanted to give 4 days’ notice, skip out a month early, get all her deposit back and still have me smile and say “thank you”. As you can imagine, events did not progress as outlined. There was shouting, names were called and threats were veiled thinly.

Nevertheless, against all odds and with a liberal helping of keeping-the-key, changing-the-lock, and sunflower oil, she’s gone. Last night we celebrated with wine and prawns, staying up to an unreasonable hour, watching television at an unreasonable volume, and doing something quite unreasonable on the sofa.

Unfortunately, in the course of the evening’s revelry we were subjected to a drive-by DVD-returning in the wee hours. Personally I’m still not quite right after this unnerving experience, and I can only imagine how the chinchilla feels. What is the neighbourhood coming to?