The sun is shining and the stars are out

So it seems that we are finally shaking off the shackles of a long, hard winter. The central heating is officially off, the boy's Michelin-inspired, all weather duvet jacket has been consigned to the back of the bulging coat cupboard and the hunt for a sun hat to fit his sizeable head has begun in earnest.

I've noticed that these lovely warm days are coaxing the great and the good from the Hampstead houses where they've been hibernating over the cold months (when they weren't soaking up the sun in LA, of course). The celeb count around here is pretty high at the best of times: while on maternity leave, I loved nothing more than to sit outside Maison Blanc with an obscenely large coffee and tot up the number of TV presenters, journalists, comedians and pop stars cluttering up the pavements. And now it's sunny they seem to have multiplied. Last week Ricky Gervais ran past me as I climbed the hill to nursery, and I've recently seen Helena Bonham-Carter and Tim Burton walking the school run (if that's not a contradiction in terms). I'm sure even the Starbucks baristas have had bitparts in Casualty and The Bill.

While I like to think I'm immune to the presence of so-called celebrities, thanks to a former career in the music industry where I had regular contact with famous musicians, this is clearly not the case. However many times I see Liam Gallagher, Michael Macintyre, Chris Moyles, James Corden and others, I do a very undignified double-take. I am not and will never be cool with it. I've read too many issues of Heat over the years, and am too interesting in what they are wearing/saying/eating/drinking. And the boy is no better: he gave Emma Thompson an especially large and winning grin when she peered into his buggy, and he saves his most determined stares for Denise Van Outen. Melanie Sykes has also been subjected to his attentions while trying to enjoy a discreet breakfast in Carluccio's. At some point, the prospect of being able to own an actual house with actual stairs will lure me and the boys back up north where the most exciting celebrity is the weatherman from the local news. For now, then, I'll hope for more sun and more stars.