1. We bump into a couple from down the road – and their big fluffy dog – at the start of our walk. We haven’t seen each other in a while and are all relieved to see both the elderly canines are still doing well. E-dog seems pleased to see us too – she snuggles into both mine and John’s legs in turn.

2. My purring over the blanket has changed focus – as I finish the coloured stripes and start on the blue border, I keep stopping to marvel at how the border will pull it all together. I don’t even mind that after hours of work I’ve only done three rounds because oh doesn’t it look nice.

3. I’m reading ‘I Capture the Castle’ very slowly in French – looking up any word I don’t completely understand and making a note of it to help me take it on board – but I’ve decided to take a different approach with another (‘Prep’) – reading as I would do a book in English at bedtime, getting the gist of sentences rather than the precise translation. I’m surprised how much I can follow without even thinking about it and keep surprising myself by spotting words or phrases that I have explicitly learned recently. I’ll have to read the book a second time to enjoy the nuance that I love so much but for now, the immersion is fun and confidence building.