We allowed a young Arab man to stay with us over Christmas. He’d spent a year in our town aged 8 and had returned aged 21 to revisit his old school friends, most of whom had forgotten him and didn’t trust his unsolicited FB messages. He arrived on Christmas Eve and was staying in a B&B when we agreed to meet him in a coffee shop. Needless to say, he ended up living at our place for a fortnight before he went home. Over the next decade, he popped over for a visit every few years and we went to Egypt a couple of times. Sadly he was born with a congenital heart defect and died a while ago now, leaving a wife and daughter. We are still in contact with his family.

Back in 2022, we nearly agreed to host a Ukrainian refugee (there’s a Government scheme to arrange this) but we were downsizing to a different part of the UK and so it became unfeasible.

My brother-in-law lived with us for 6 months after his divorce 20 years or so ago. That period was quite trying.

South London, UK: doner meat and chips. Optional lettuce, onions and burger sauce.