Jack´s blog [Time Out Columnist]

MUM CELEBRATED the fact that the twins and I had agreed to come on holiday with her and Dad by getting a new haircut. "It\´s a bit short, isn\´t it?" said Dad, walking round her like she was a second-hand car and it was time to kick the tyres. "It worked for Anne Hathaway," said Mum. "She got an Oscar with this haircut. Anyway, the children are grown up now, it\´s time to start looking groomed and sophisticated." This holiday is a last hurrah for the family - the twins are sitting their A levels right now and then they\´ll be off saving whales for the summer before going to uni. Because it\´s the last time we might all be together for more than a couple of days each Christmas, they chose to take us, not to California, or Thailand, or anywhere super, but to Scotland instead. We spent (according to Mum) several very happy summer holidays there popping bladderwrack on the beaches and they wanted to relive the magic.