IN past times I have been hurt by insensitive remarks about ‘people who live in little boxes’, recognising, as I do, that my own small house could quite legitimately be so designated.

Yet never did that ‘little box’ seem as sweet to me as on waking up, safe and sound after the previous day’s news of the devastating fire in west London.

As a fellow passenger on Friday’s 1.59pm Warrington – Manchester train observed: “It’s events like these that restore your sense of proportion.”

And, I would add, sharpen the distinction between what I want and what I really need.

HEATHER MCMILLAN Birchwood