Have you heard about this Air BnB thing where you can welcome complete strangers into your home and they treat the place like a hotel?

It’s got me thinking about how we are going to cope when a couple of friends come to stay later this month. The thing is, it’s about welcoming people you know into your home, house guests, people you know and get on with, and in our case, close friends we love dearly.

But what happens when someone you’ve never heard of bowls up at the front door? How does your home life continue around the guest?

I’m guessing there will have to be a change to the daily routine whoever stays as a guest in your own home, and a certain degree of tidying up... correction- A LOT of tidying up.

What about meals? Do paying guests expect a full meals service? Will Mrs Mitchell have to don a waitress’s outfit and stand by the kitchen table, notepad in hand?

What about those little quirks of home life that could easily baffle visitors? Would I have to make sure the route from the guest room to the bathroom is completely free of discarded underpants after they missed the washing basket by about three yards?

And on that score, I’m guessing there’d be no darting naked across the landing to the bathroom at three in the morning for fear of meeting a complete stranger coming the other way.

I can see why people would see how a bit of extra money coming in from paying guests would help things along nicely, but is it really worth the worry? I’m told the demands are also getting even greater. I’m not sure my nerves would be up to dealing with requests for the latest culinary fad they’d picked up off the telly when they got it at two in the morning.

Back to our personally invited house guests, and we are very much looking forward to welcoming them. Mrs M has even been up a ladder all week emulsioning the back bedroom. They are dear friends and we welcome them with open arms.

All the same, I may still be a little anxious when I try and dash across the landing at three in the morning.