It's not fun to be awake and out the door before 9am on a Saturday to find out that the opposition decided not to turn up.

Neither is it fun to return and wonder which tree that large leaf in the garden is from and then realise it's a dead rat.

It's particularly upsetting to cut through your freshly grown red cabbage and decide that the vibrance of the colour, the freshness of the juices pouring out and the crisp crunch deserve a blip - to set up the shot, excited by the idea of a food macro series, and then to watch in horror as your zoom lens with macro facility plummets to the ground, along with your camera and tripod!

Zoot alors, there goes that series. The camera by some minor miracle is fine but the lens and tripod are not.

But then there is still the vibrant colour, the crisp crunchy freshness and the delicious taste of my red cabbage to enjoy and the knowledge that it was the best £11 spent when I bought that insurance policy for the lens.

No need to be mad for long.