0. I put my arm around John and my hand finds a dog on the other side.

1. A silly Hangout exchange between the lower-ground floor and the bedroom. The length of the lines expands at a pleasingly even rate.

2. I joke that it’s because I used “fresh sugar” (from the bag rather than the sugar bowl) but it really does taste sweeter.

3. After listening to an In Our Time about the science of glass, we watch a very pleasing short film about the making of a glass jug. There seems to be a trend of making visually interesting things not disturbed by either narration or music: I like it.

1. White tin loaf with a thin slick of butter: it always reminds me of childhood, specifically being at my grandparents’ house. (Though while they might have accompanied it with ham, I doubt they’d have used quite so much chilli jam.)

2. We take Lily on a woodland walk just after lunch but as her normal walk time comes around, she’s raring to go again: a walk to the allotment and a potter around the plot more than suffices.

2b. The soil is just about perfect – rich and full of humus. My runners should be very happy in there – and I design the space in such a way that I should get some lettuces underneath and a row or two of something else leafy in front as well.

3. We send pictures and real time maps back and forth as John’s bus brings him closer to home. We marvel at technology, so advanced yet it fits in our hands.

1. I take the bedding up to the top floor and to my surprise, all the cats are there.

1b. Tilda is in a cuddly mood. It rather gets in the way of my hoovering – but of course I don’t mind.

2. Lily bounces back and forth along the barely there path through the long grass in the deers meadow.

2b. The trees protect me from most of the rain.

2c. I realise an answer to the question that’s been bothering me (it’s hostas – I need something leafy that isn’t afraid of shade but won’t grow too tall: I think sone hostas will fit the bill).

3. My favourite thing about my “tomato red” top is that it perfectly hides red tomato stains.

1. Kaufman rolls on his back in the sunshine, grabbing at my hand.

1b. I sit and hug Lily at the allotment. Later, she super-excitedly wants to find something to take to John when he arrives.

2. It takes me all afternoon to get the peas planted out because I have to dig over the bed again, then I decide to expand it, then I decide to cut the wood to fit the new size bed, then there are 40+ holes to dig, to fill with compost then plant out a seedling, then tie-up… The seedlings had looked so big and healthy in the tray but now, spread out, in the earth, they look scrawny. I tell myself they’ll look big and healthy again in next to no time.

3. Because of a mix up of dates, we get our neighbours’ fancy food parcel: one of those all-the-precise-ingredients-for-three-meals things. It’s nothing out of the ordinary – in fact we already have nearly everything in the house – but having it all laid out for him, and a recipe card too, inspires John to try some different techniques. We top it off with a distinctly non-box sticky toffee pudding and I feel well sated after a day of hard work.

1. A day off. We could go back to the allotment and finish the bed edging; we could put the trellises up in the garden – but we’re going to sit on the sofa all day and relax instead. Lily approves.

1b. “Are we having popcorn?” I ask, as we prepare to watch Game of Thrones. We usually do, but it’s usually just after dinner when the popcorn is dessert. After breakfast it seems … delightfully gluttonous.

2. We take Lily on a walk down to the canal – the first time we’ve been that way this year. She’s a little chesty at the moment so tires quickly but still bounces in and out of the water chasing sticks.

2b. We walk back along the secret canal path, meeting some (presumably rescue) hens along the way. We stop to chat to them and I admire their clever, safe run (an old metal greenhouse frame covered in small-hole chicken wire).

2c. I spot some board games high in a window: two versions of Scrabble and Settlers of Catan. My kind of people.

3. Though it’s as populous as usual and everyone is working hard, there is a calmness over the allotments. The stillness, the evening sun. I’d said I’d be home “within the hour” but I can’t resist staying longer.

3b. The fields – full of weeds and wildflowers (I’m not sure what the distinction is between those actually) – look glorious in the golden hour. I stop to take pictures.

1. At Five Lanes End, we, almost randomly, pick the right exit.

1b. We bounce from shop to shop looking for weed suppressant fabric and coffee beans but along the way I also find a cheap greenhouse shelving unit (which has been on my to-buy list for a couple of months) and some cheap growbag trays (which I use under my seedlings at this time of year). I have to walk like a crab down the aisles to avoid knocking everything over: I quietly make the Zoidberg noise as I go.

2. We’ve procrastinated about it all day but the edging of the long beds is finished in next to no time, and the greenhouse goes up very quickly too.

3. Pleasing graphics and colours on a new French vocab game.