1. Carla is hesitant about coming into the office at first but when I pat-pat a familiar rhythm on my knee, she runs in. I stroke her and she rubs against me as I work then she finds the treats and I am forgotten.

2. An unexpected last laugh.

3. To live in a world where distance is no detriment to friendship.

1. Our clear, tinkling little beck is roaring: a 10ft wide stretch of murky water gushes by the bottom of the garden. It’s so fast and out of place, it scares me on some very base level yet still I watch.

1b. I return to the house with eggs and a strawberry almost as big as an apple.

2. The ball bounces off the wall and the dog follows it across the bed.

3. We’re all waiting and have chosen to wait together. “It’s like New Year’s Eve,” someone says, and it really is, including people doing countdowns and conga lines. Everyone is good natured and making bad jokes, then when the moment we’ve been waiting for happens six minutes early, I have to laugh when we all rush as one.

3b. The good nature travels with us as we all uncover the brand new for the first time.

1. I will never hear Agadoo in the same way again.

2. The palest grey pigeon making its home behind the boarding on the old bingo hall.

3. Sometimes saying “gg” or “gj” just isn’t enough; I want to high five everyone.

(Another heavy writing day – got my epilogue done. Boo-to-the-yah!)

1. The reason for my suppressed giggles on Tuesday arrives: an amusingly incorrect metal plaque for below a picture hanging in our living room. Perhaps D was right, perhaps I did take it too far but it makes us laugh all the same and makes the photo in its cheap frame look very proper indeed.

2. The cherry plums are ripening quickly: the colour difference between breakfast time and dinner time is amazing. From cherry red to deep plum, funnily enough.

3. The powder-covered ice cream falls like dough as I stir it around and around in the bowl.

1. The assorted colours of John’s lunch.

2. Over the last fortnight, I’ve been trying to finish my NaNoWriMo story from last year but compared to then, when I wrote 120,000 words in 30 days, it’s been slow progress – until today. I write 7,000 words in 7 hours. The most beautiful bits are when an idea conceived as I dropped off the sleep last night works better than I’d imagined and writing the main character’s last words. Just the epilogue to go now.

3. The pure heat of the chilli rides above everything but without overshadowing the other flavours: the spring onion, the holy basil and the almost bacon-like quality of the thinly sliced pork. Yum.

1. She tries to grab the stick – no, grab is too strong – she nibbles the water to try to get the stick but it floats away from her.

2. Pain in my cheeks from trying to suppress a laugh.

3. An half idea/half recipe dinner turns out wonderfully – pretty quick and easy too.