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At the moment I’m not terribly good at anything. My head is full of storm clouds and thunder because my sister is very, very ill. And I live hundreds of miles away from her so I can’t do anything to help her. I have visited twice since her diagnosis, and I will probably try and visit when she begins treatment. But for the moment I’m stuck in Scotland feeling useless.

When I’m not utterly distracted, I’m good at cooking. Unfortunately, I’m good at cooking meat and fish dishes, and my husband doesn’t eat either. I’m very not good at cooking vegetarian food. This is mostly because I find it horribly disappointing. That said, I’m cooking up an Italian tomato sauce to go with pasta, for supper tonight, and it smells wonderful. So I can do some meat/fish-free dishes. I need to learn more, though, and to that end I bought Yotam Ottolenghi book of entirely vegetarian recipes, but I’m struggling to whip up enough enthusiasm to try them.

I’m also pretty good at waiting. I can wait for years for something. At the moment I’m waiting for someone to list a second-hand sofa-bed that is close enough for me to be able to pick up. I’ve been waiting a year so far, and will keep on waiting. I’m also waiting for my sister to be given painkillers that actually work, but I’m losing hope.

I have been good at writing, but I’m finding it increasingly difficult. Yesterday I did write a beat sheet for a screenplay I’ve been working on, sporadically, for some time; I’m hoping this will spur me on to finish the job.

I can be good at focussing on a task or interest, but not right now.

I’m good at listening. This is probably because I am incredibly nosy; I actually do want to hear all about your cockroach collection. At the moment, the thing I most want to hear about is how you beat cancer; how the horror of chemotherapy was worth it. So if anyone has any stories, please share.