1. The soup has settled into a single solid blob: stirring turns it first into clumps, then into lumps, then finally into silky smooth.

1b. (It’s Double Soup [Wednes]day, evidently.) Good old foolproof hot and sour soup. My head finally clears for the first time all day.

2. The density of the jelly.

3. A strange cat (not Strange-cat) sneaks into the kitchen. On its way out again, it pauses at the kitchen doorway and I say hello – it looks a little like, but isn’t, our neighbour’s tuxedo. Strange-cat and Lily-dog only stir when at the sound of the cat flap at it exits.