My neighbourhood is usually really quiet apart from a dog a few doors away who likes to bark now and then for no particular reason. (Incidentally, from the sound of it, it’s probably a tiny dog but there’s a evil note to its bark that suggests the creature was spawned in the fiery pits of hell.)

Anyway, recently I’ve noticed a disturbing new trend. If I wake up with a headache, it’s almost guaranteed that at least one of the neighbours will mow their lawn. This morning, four neighbours decided to shatter the Saturday morning silence with their lawnmowers! Is it National Lawn-mowing Day or something?

If that wasn’t enough, this afternoon a neighbour was practicing the drums and another had a giant blow-up castle in their backyard (and every kid within ten kilometres was enjoying it with lots of obligatory (and quite understandable) shrieks and laughter!). Oh joy.

And the worst thing? Now I want a giant bouncy castle in my backyard too.