Last weekend with my younger sister's family I installed a printer, helped to set up a home budget programme, got P to install Open Office and suggested some ideas for maths coursework.

The printer was an old Epson which only works on Windows, but I had about 10 spare cartridges so it was great to find it a new home. The main problem was that we plugged in the wrong type of cable, but once that was sorted out the installation was straightforward.

The home budget software was the most time consuming: I had to read the manual to understand how to set up the accounts, then there was some data entry to make sure everything was in the right place. When I left there were still a few doubts about whether it would work as expected. The software had some good reviews, but it was not as user-friendly as reviewers had suggested. I can't remember what it was called, and definitely would not recommend it for the faint-hearted.

P is in her GCSE year and asked if I had a copy of Microsoft Office (no, I haven't got a spare) so I suggested Open Office, which is free and legal. She downloaded the latest version which is still in development, but was delighted with it as everything seems to work. Its got everything she needs, including the facility to open Microsoft Office files so there is no problem with doing her homework.

P asked whether I could give her any advice about her Maths coursework without transgressing the strict instructions from school about doing the coursework independently. Mostly I just asked questions about her ideas, but we also talked about how the coursework could be linked with topical issues to make it more interesting. It was a nice change to discuss what can be done with quantitative data; she has a great grasp of random sampling and data analysis. I have missed this with the emphasis on qualitative data for the Ultraversity research, and found myself suddenly remembering how much I enjoyed teaching A Level statistics. Discussing course work was a high point - maybe I should make more use of my maths skills in my research. Quantitative data is good for thick description, but I've always had a passion for the precision of mathematics.