1. The laundrette across the road from the shops has its door open. The whole area smells like fresh, clean washing.

2. The whole play is good but there are some moments that truly sparkle.

2b. Sweeping the stage – now flat and empty – is strangely soothing. My mind is calm for the only time all evening.

2c. Some of the young people are incredibly sweet and it’s been such a pleasant experience watching them grow.

3. The firm saltiness of the cheddar: a midnight snack.

1. Laughter from random chance – from music selection but it reminds John of this 30 Rock scene:

2. I’m still at the bus stop a little way down when John and Lily turn the corner onto the main road. I phone him and we wave back and forth for a second before my bus arrives. The bus driver reflects my grin as I board.

3. Two of the older boys have been playing chess in the green room and slowly they have intrigued much of the cast.

3b. The kid who has been a little shit to everyone – and who I was worried about chaperoning – is actually surprisingly good with me. As he’s leaving, he even stops to tell me a story.

4. An over-excited taxi driver tells me about his tropical and marine fish.

1. I completely rework the design of my blackwork tiles – making everything a little bigger and plainer so it’s easier to sew for this project. I keep a copy of all the iterations though: they’re too nice to lose forever.

2. A warren of tiny studios above the pretty shop. I watch a man paint a landscape, his face calm and open.

3. In some ways it feels like a metaphor for my time there – always at a distance from the chatty group – but I actually quite like being at the end of the corridor by myself. I don’t have to make small talk and take on others’ stress.

3b. All the colours of the floaty scarves: bright but warm.

3c. An unexpected lift home from some lovely people.

3d. Walking along the middle of the quiet road at night.

3e. Lily is happy to see me but even happier that she doesn’t have to go in the car (or even on her lead) to get home.

4. I have a prawn baguette for dinner and it isn’t until I’m eating it thst I realise it’s just what I want too.

1. With the slightest invitation Tilda runs across the bathroom for a stroke. Later she watches herself in the mirror as I stroke her.

2. Twice in the day, I have to make “random” patterns of things – circular holes of slightly different sizes at pottery and a seed stitch square at home in the evening. Both times I achieve it, without falling into lines or other patterns.

2b. My sampler is filling up: nearly there.

2c. I open the packet and coo about the colours and the silky texture of the coton a broder threads.

3. After dinner I have a glass of banana milk then burp. I am surprised by how well the flavours of the milk and the Jamaican fish fry blend together.

1. I’m designing a blackwork piece and with the outline finally in place, I can start work on the tiles. I make little shapes then nudge and tessellate them into a pleasant pattern.

2. Some of the kids do double takes when they see me. Others launch into hugs.

2b. The costumes are colourful and amazingly numerous.

2c. As nice as it is to see everyone again, the evening reinforces that I made the right decision.

3. Strange rolls onto her back and stretches her legs – the look impossibly long when she does that. Her belly is bright white and soft.

1. I’m reading the newspaper in the floor – a very rare occurrence these days, one that I don’t think these cats have experienced before. Tilda is unsure of it but Strange and Kauf take to it right away, stretching across it and biting the pages. A few minutes later Tilda returns and adds her own nibble marks.

2. We play in the garden together: the cats, the chickens and me.

2b. Setting out the pots in clusters.

2c. Pruning overgrown herbs – Tilda leans in to smell the lavender, Little Red the chicken pecks at the sage.

2d. Things that I thought had rotted in the soil last year peek out little green sprouts.

3. I take a punt on something unplanned and it turns out quite pretty. I do hope it survives (though I suspect not).