A week isn't long enough and when you haven't got day to day running to think about, other ideas and thoughts pop into your head that you scribble onto a bit of paper in the hope you remember later.

I would also like to thank the reps who called my mobile and on hearing the continental ringtone, hung up. For the ones who didn't, my wife is looking for you.

I returned, having only just started to unwind, with the feeling that another week was needed. I had a look around the shop and at first thought that Stevie Wonder had run out of royalty money and had been employed as a shelf stacker during my absence. After a while of muttering to myself and shaking my head I began to realise that was an insult to a blind man; he would have made a better job.

With a raft of Lego launches, I knew this was going to be a disaster. I was given the reply, "we knew you would change it around and you were only away for a week!" I can't print my reply. I made them help me strip the whole rack to prove the point of actually how bloody easy it was. I must confess, I didn't understand why Lego has two launch periods instead of staggered. How is a small retailer supposed to display four FSDUs? In times when they have supply problems, it would be better to have launches spread out.

Problem is, you get in this mindset of 'why do I bother'? I was only away for a week and it has taken me nearly a week to put things right, in-between phone calls, deleting 4k of junk email, answering questions, etc.

But you know what? Despite all the hassle before and on my return, for once I will take that extra week. It has been a crap year from so many angles and that extra week with my family could be just enough to get me through till next year.

My children might even talk to me about things we don't get time to talk about, and who knows? When she can be sure that no one within a mile can see, I might just get a goodnight hug from my teenage daughter.