1. We’re having a photo op for the community campaign – I expect there to be about half a dozen, maybe ten people to be waiting at the gate. As I round the corner, the number of people I can see grows – and grows and grows. In the end, there are about 65 humans of all sizes, a similar variety of dogs (though not quite as many) and our neighbour plays horse whisperer, using carrots to bribe the fields’ residents over to be in the picture too.

2. Whenever we’ve had any time apart, or days that are unusual in structure, Lily gets even clingier than normal: she stomps over knees and laptops to squeeze into the gap between us rather thsn sitting in the more spacious corner seat.

3. We play retro video games. Super Mario Bros 3 has my heart in my throat every time John makes an ill-timed jump; Paperboy has us decrying the insanity of the neighbourhood – who on earth gave planning permission for a house with firing canons in a suburb? and what caused three separate parents to lose controls of their baby carriages in less than a single block?; and finally, Bust A Move has us swearing copiously and creatively. We end that one, the only versus game, having won an equal number of games.

3b. Bust A Move reminds me of my old friend Dan – we used to play for hours and hours while putting the world to rights – and also of the origin of one of my idiomatic noises (a bird cry like ‘puhkay’ which I use instead of ‘okay’).