This job isn’t just all about the bank balance at the end of the month. I get a lot of job satisfaction. I also get some recognition for a job well done.

This week, I got a pat on the back both from my peers and a client. A double-whammy.

This email reached me during the week from a bride just back from her honeymoon: “Thanks so much for the photos. [We} had a look at them last night, and they are fantastic. I'm looking forward to putting the album together [...] Thanks again for your efforts on the day, we are so pleased with the photographs.”

It’s very hard to be in a bad mood after that.

And almost impossible when you win three gold crests at the latest round of preliminary judgings for the IPPA/Royal and Sun Alliance National Photography Awards. There were also eight silvers.

And to top it all off, a stray cat adopted us during the week. We’ve been talking about getting a cat for ages and then a sweet thing turned up in the garden looking very sorry for herself. She’s about six months old, we reckon, and Emily has already named her “Sherry”. Lord knows why. We don’t keep a drop of the stuff in the house.