Provoked, perhaps, by my recent column mentioning that we didn't know enough of our neighbours, my wife decided to try to organise a street party under the auspices of The Big Lunch. This is an attempt by the Eden Project (best known for gigantic greenhouses in Cornwall) to encourage people to … well, to organise street parties.

She may have been more inspired, of course, when she interviewed Tim Smit of the Eden Project itself. “Britain isn't broken, it's just a bit bruised around the edges,” he told her. Smit reckons that people simply need an excuse to overcome their shyness.

I generally prefer to wallow in my shyness rather than overcome it, but even I thought this was a good idea. What really struck me was the simple practicality of my wife's approach. She arranged for the road to be closed, posted notes through letter boxes with her phone number, and told everyone to turn up and bring food and drink to share if they wanted to.