Beryl lost an old friend today

Hoky first arrived in our family in 1992, abut the same time John Major shocked all the pollsters by leading the Conservatives to their fourth general election victory against all the odds but unlike the Tories, Hoky served us with perfection for the next 17 years.

Hoky was one in a million; in fact one in 22.5 million lightweight non-electric carpet sweepers; bought for £9.50 in John Lewis in Oxford Street it swept our Indian rugs in our Hyde Park apartment and was one of the few items which travelled with us to our new home in Bushey Heath in 2006.

Like us, Hoky quickly settled down to its new life in the country but then suddenly it started to slow down (like us); after many hundreds of hours of perfect sweeping in Beryl's skilful hands Hoky had lost the knack of picking up the minutest specks of dust and despite every attempt to resuscitate her faithful friend Beryl today sent it to the big broom cupboard in the sky.

But as one broom swept out of Beryl's life a new one arrived right on cue...its name is Gtech, a handsome black and silver model at the leading edge of electronic cordless sweeping technology. It can run for nearly an hour before it needs recharging (which is longer than Beryl).

Right now Beryl is practising with Gtech......I haven't seen her so happy in a long while.