0. That thing where you sing a line of an embarrassing song really loud as a conversationally-apt joke for your boyfriend in the supermarket, then notice you know a) that there are other people in ear shot and b) you know them from dog walking. It’s only a little cringy.

1. The cats hide from the hoover and other cleaning activities in little curls on the bed. I coax Strange into fighting with her own tail then later, as I tidy away laundry, Tilda rubs against my legs.

2. The flaps of wings in the dark trees above: pigeons disturbed from their roosts by the noisy dog underneath. (Sorry pigeons.)

3. To finish all our chores in good time.

4. Between a delicious, simple dinner, and an extravagant meat & cheese platter, we play a game of Carcassonne. We’re getting good at it as a group and it’s becoming more like a game of Chess. The game is coloured by conniving moves and dastardly collaborations, but in the end it’s mostly about lucky picks and John’s last piece is the luckiest of them all: out of the hundred or so possibilities, it’s exactly the piece he needs.

1. Even though he isn’t a cat person, R talks to the cats draped about the place.

1b. I get to the Post Office juuuuuuust before someone with bags of parcels.

2. The chilli jam is such a wonderful transparent pink colour: a sweet, spicy jewel.

3. The pungent stink of garlic. Yum.

0. A meowed conversation with next door’s cat.

1. The top room is cold – we don’t heat it in the winter unless we’re expecting guests – but it is not unpleasant.

2. The heft of the floor lamp’s base.

3. The smooth flatness of the clean sheets.

1. Just before we all get up, I shuffle down to spoon Lily and tell John to snuggle down to spoon me. We cuddle for a moment before Lily moves – I joke that she doesn’t want to be the little spoon but rather the big one, and we laugh when she moves to do exactly that.

2. Time gets away from us and when we get back in from the dog walk, we have just 45 minutes to get ready, eat, visit the supermarket, drop Lily off at her Granny & Pop-Pops’ house on the other side of Bradford then into the city centre. We send our friends panicked messages – we don’t mind being late for the cinema but don’t like messing it up for other people. We make it with a couple of minutes to spare (and as it turns out, our friends are ten minutes late).

2b. The camera hangs on a single face throughout each interaction, often (but not always) showing the other party in a mirror or elsewhere in the shot. It’s beautiful to watch, for example, her face slowly change from rage to regret, to horror, then embarrassment without her saying a thing.

3. Lily lies on her back between us, snoring with her mouth hanging open. John’s mum and dad are tickled by her ridiculousness.

1. Looking out over the snow rooftops of Bradford and eating meat that has been sliced so thinly that it’s transparent. (The smoked beef and the lomo de cerdo melt on the tongue.)

1b. A good haul of social history-ish books from Oxfam.

2. We didn’t meet much snow on our earlier walk so I take Lily on a little stroll over to Wood Hill, close to dusk. On the way, and quite a way from the house, we meet Strange who is out on her own adventure. She approaches meowing and noisily accompanies us the rest of the way. Just before we head back, I pick her up for a hug, to warm her cold feet, then the two of them walk back home together.

3. O’s garden – just a few miles away – has proper snow, not like the thin frozen stuff near our house. Lily carves paths in it as she scampers back and forth: she adores his garden anyway but this makes it so much better. And because it reflects the distant streetlights, I can watch her having fun.

3b. We always make each other laugh as a group but tonight I notice little jokes shared between individuals instead. Just about each pairing has some private exchange back and forth.

1. Strange stretches out across the laundry and grabs at each item as I try to fold it.

1b. The tops fit beautifully and the fabric is pleasantly heavy compared to the equivalent from regular shops.

1c. I prop up my phone on a pile of socks and show Strange videos of squirrels and birds. She becomes as transfixed as Tilda had been previously, getting especially excited when they jump out of view.

2. Laughing together.

3. Lily sits, waiting, knowing that she’ll get a prawn cracker when we’ve finished eating. She eats it noisily.