It is only Anna's voice that jolts me back to reality, "I'll be so pretty, maybe I'll even meet someone. He'll ask me to dance," she clasps her hands with delight.

What has happened to my parenting skills? She's too young to be thinking about such things. I play along anyway, but I've only succeeded, it seems, in coming halfway back to the present day. And it shows: "He will be a very lucky boy….or she will be a very lucky girl."