No-one making any noise. No-one wanting to know if they can have more cereal. No-one asking if they can play with the neighbour boy who has ADHD and wants to marry them. No-one exuding a cacophony of cries and spluttering after hitting their hand on a bedside table. No-one walking beside me who can't rid themselves of the hiccups. No-one asking "Daddeee..." (drawn out for full emphasis and to gain maximum attention), "...if the moon fell to earth, but landed on a spring factory, would it bounce away further than when it started?", a question to which "Daddeee" simply doesn't have a reply through both astonishment and stupidity. No-one alleviating my pangs of guilt after standing on a snail by telling me "It doesn't matter. That was Larry the Snail and he didn't really do anything anyway". No-one being grumpy because 9.00 pm is too early for bed and they aren't tired and it's still daytime