This Saturday Abi and I were invited to a fancy dress party with a theme of ‘S’, and after deciding that Scissor Sisters would be fun but too tricky we went as Slytherin. Obviously the Slytherin vibe didn’t come naturally to either of us, but we tried nevertheless. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the ‘official’ Harry Potter wand I won years ago in a write-the-plot-of-the-5th-novel competition (I also won some Every Flavour Beans, one of which was - alas - sardine) but capes and crepe paper badges did the trick. As ever with fancy dress parties we were a little concerned we’d be the only people to have put any effort in, but happily we quickly bumped into a scientist, Shaft and Miss Scarlett, amongst others.

I haven’t been to many fancy dress parties, but I can’t think of an occasion I haven’t worn a cape. This is perfectly reasonable. I’m hardly going to turn up such opportunities while I wait for Gandalf-style cloaks to come back into fashion. Along with sombreros. Ignore the naysayers, we all know that would be great.