‘Nine point two kilos!’ Pru called from the hallway, zipping up her new case. ‘I’ve done it at last!’

‘Great, well done.’

[More:]

Wills was tapping away on his laptop in his study.

‘Can we do a final check?’ she asked.

‘In a while. We’ve got loads of time.’

Pru went off to empty the dishwasher and water the plants.

A quarter of an hour later Wills called ‘Final check!’ This had been their routine for years.

‘What jacket are you taking?’ he asked.

‘None, it’s warm in Sardinia, and I’ve got my umbrella, just in case.’

‘And where’s your passport?’ Pru didn’t mind Wills quizzing her – he was so much more organised than she was.

‘In my bag. Here.’ She fished through the clutter in her huge black bag and produced it.

‘Pru, love, I TOLD you. It’s one piece of cabin baggage. One.’

‘Yes, plus handbag. They always let you take a little bag.’

‘They’ve changed the rules. It’s one. No bag. Besides, that one’s hardly little.’

‘Okay, I’ll move the contents to my case.’

Wills watched as Pru tipped the contents of her bag and case onto the floor and started repacking. ‘Go away, you’re stressing me.’

With some effort, she managed to close the case. These cabin bags with the extra expansion zip were great.

‘Done.’

‘You’d better weigh it.’

‘Oh dear, fourteen point two.’

‘What? You had five kilos in your bag? They’ll never let you on. You’ll have to leave some stuff behind. Why on earth did you say you could manage with just the ten-kilo hand luggage allowance?’

‘They always let you take a bit more. You just smile nicely at them.’

‘Come on, open up, let’s see what you can leave behind. The umbrella for a start. We can share mine. What’s that? You’ve packed the G.P.S.? Pru!’

‘Jessie stays. She helped me find my way in Ireland. She'll be useful.’

‘We can use a map, for goodness sake.’

‘Compromise. I’ll leave the bracket that holds her to the windscreen, but Jessie comes.’

‘Okay – but do you really need three books for a week?’

‘A novel, the Rough Guide, and the camera instruction booklet.’

‘That doesn’t make sense. You’re taking the new camera because it’s lighter…’

‘But I’ve never used it…’

‘You’ll learn. Or you can look at the scenery properly, instead of constantly looking at it through the camera. And those hiking boots are heavy. You can put them on your feet. Right. Let’s weigh it. Thirteen point two. Still too heavy. Take a jacket. Look, I have my binoculars, book and eye-pod in my pocket. They don’t weigh jackets.’

‘Yes, but I don’t have a jacket with big pockets…except maybe…’

‘You’d better hurry up, Pru, we need to get moving.’

And so it was that Pru stepped off the plane into the blazing sunshine at Cagliari looking as though she was ready to climb the Himalayas, wearing a kilo of winter coat with three more kilos of pocket contents.

And Jessie made it To Sardinia…but refused to work.

Close up of one of Pru's four pockets: