1. Tilda wriggles on her back and pretends to attack my hand, but her claws are tightly away and I just get a light playful padding instead.

2. After we mention that the cats will destroy the new armchair we’re buying, the man at the till tells us all about his cat and of how she is utterly devoted to him. From his tone, it’s clear the feeling is mutual.

2b. I tell John that the trudge through the warehouse to the checkouts always reminds me of brainwashed people walking towards their doom or the slow walking survivors of an apocalypse on the road to who knows where. He knows exactly what I mean. I’m glad we can zip through the lines and be out, away from it all, in next to no time.

3. On the way home, we stop at some woodland for a walk. It’s a nice enough little wood, with a gentle wide beck running through it – much like “our” woods, or more specifically the woods over the road, to the south – but it also reminds me to be thankful for “our” woods, for having so many miles of pathways to explore, with all sorts of historic & natural features to enjoy. We really are lucky to live here and walk in them just about every day.

3b. While John is enjoying mispronouncing Fartown, a cocker and springer suddenly appear so we start with jokes about being in Spaniel Country. We decide it’s fitting that Fart-Town and Spaniel Country overlap.