NORTHERN PLANNER

It had been quite a week. As I write, my little baby girl is in hospital for the 6th day,with her Mum looking after her (and the NHS' finest). Nothing to worry about, all fine and will be home.

Home is an odd word right now. I'm writing this on a sofa, surrounded by boxes, while Will sleeps in his little bed upstairs in his amidst his own little cardboard city. We're moving tomorrow you see.It also makes you thankful for family who have helped in all sorts of ways,including babysitting, lifting and general support.

But with my family strewn across our home city it reminded me that a house doesn't make a home. People do. You can have the most palatial gaffe, the latest designer furniture and all the mod cons but it's the people that live in the house that matter, not the stuff. I can't wait for us all to be together again.

It's a little daft to think of any house as 'yours' anyway. Before I was born, someone thought the place we're leaving was theirs, just as someone else thought the same of where we're buying. Few people live in the same place all their lives. Like I said, it's the people you live your life with, not where you live it that matter. Or at least that's what I think.