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The bedroom of a 12-year-old boy can be a hazardous place and, bearing this in mind, I figured I would leave the redecoration preparations to him whilst I battled with the great reformat caper in computer-ville.

Feeling guilty at having already been silently passed a note which read

"Please Mom can we have something to eat. Thank you"

and, in an effort to make amends whilst I wallowed in the delights of reinstalling, I asked my son to begin by dismantling the bedroom furniture. He likes to wield a screwdriver and as I expected he jumped at the chance. I left him to it.

Now, he can be very noisy so I paid not too much attention to the crashing and banging going on. I ventured out of the computer room to fetch coffee and encountered him on his way outside carrying a piece of wood under his arm.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing at said wood
"Back of my wardrobe” replied my son, casually
"But the back of your wardrobe is much bigger than that" I countered
"Not any more it isn't" came the reply

The cold truth? Taking my instruction to dismantle seriously, it seems the only real thought which went into the task in hand was whether or not to employ the "Soft Hand" or "Full-On Banzai" style of demolition karate known only to boys between the ages of 10 and 13...and not a screwdriver in sight...hence the noise.

Um... ...I haven't had the heart to tell him that, in fact, I just wanted the furniture disassembled - with a view to reassembling it later... Anyone got any spare bedroom furniture?

Of course, in his defence, if the furniture was that easy to vaporize, I figure he was due for some replacements anyhow...

...I'll keep telling myself that and I'll be fine...

...twitch, twitch…