Plans.

"I'll make dinner, we can put the kids to bed and have a couple of beers."

No prizes for guessing who. It seems that it's her time to shine. Yes, it's KfW2 in case you hadn't guessed.

We'd arranged to spend Friday afternoon together. As usually happens if I visit, I hang around, she cooks while I "entertain" the kids, then we get some alone time before Mr KfW2 shows his face after work (which is some time after 10 PM).

"I can't this time. My sister has asked me to babysit. She's literally just off the phone."

It wasn't a lie. She did phone at 9 PM on a Thursday night asking me to look after her kids the next night. KfW2 started texting minutes after I'd hung up.

"Oh. OK"

I could tell she was disappointed. It was only a few days ago that we bemoaned the fact that we hadn't had a night or afternoon out since the start of the year. Having a beer and an hour in between putting the kids to bed and her hubby coming home aren't the same thing, but would have been an interim measure. A welcome one, as far as I was concerned.

I apologised on Friday. I didn't have to - I'd done nothing wrong per se, but I knew that KfW2 had been looking forward to the hour of beers and company as much as she had been of running around after her kids.

She tried to put a brave face on it.

"It's not like you won't be down visiting again," she said.

But I could detect something in her tone.

"I know," I said, "But I was looking forward to it as well. This feels like I'm rushing off."

We left it at that.

When I arrived at my sister's, my brother-in-law asked if I'd had anything planned.

"Just hanging around KfW2's for a few more hours for a beer and dinner."

Today, I'm knackered. Looking after kids for nearly 12 hours will do that to you if you're not used to it.