1. Sweet, smooth soup to start then there is a smokiness to both the sausage and the chutney.

1b. I wear a new, pale grey jumper but despite the soup and the mustard & ketchup on my hotdog, I don’t spill anything. It’s amazing.

2. Lily runs around so much faster in the woodland to the side of our house rather than the main woods across the stream. It used less so there are more wild animals around to smell – and boy, do they smell good.

3. The meeting is productive rather than just needling and moaning. We come away feeling energised.

1. I volunteer to do a bit more leafleting, to rally as much support as we can. My reward is getting to meet some cats – two very fluffy ones, who approach me meowing, expecting I can open their front door and let them inside, and two white ones, who watch me intently from their living room window.

2. Muddy boots (and dogs) and junk mail have taken their toll on the porch. I spend a few minutes clearing away the clutter from the counter and sweeping the floor and suddenly it looks a lot more welcoming.

3. Kaufman’s cheeks look extra fluffy as he sits on my chest.

1. It’s still snowing (or rather snowing again) when I set out to the studio. The flakes catch in my scarf and hair.

2. The tiles, straight from the still-cooling kiln, are just on the border of being too hot to touch. We sort them out as a group, shaking the heat off our hands between loads.

2b. I use a familiar technique in a new way – using paper strips as a method of applying glaze to create a texture. The first few prints have me squealing.

3. I have to deliver some leaflets advertising Friday’s community meeting. Going around before people come home from work, I leave the first footsteps on their snow covered paths and feel bad: Frosty’s Law states that the homeowner has the right to be the first to disturb the pristine white.

4. We have lamb for dinner. At the last minute, I decide to serve it on a bed of spinach: with a touch of butter, a sprinkle of nutmeg and a drop or two of lemon juice, it’s almost as tasty as the meat. (But not quite, because mmm lamb.)

1. We have no bread to go with the soup – but a pack of cardamom crispbreads coordinates nicely with the Goan lentil soup. The crunchy bread and smooth soup also contrast well.

2. John DEMANDS a kiss before I leave the house and that makes me miss my bus — but the cheap one is running late and I get that one instead. John insists that was his romantic moneysaving plan all along.

3. Dry snow falling as I leave, coating the ground in speckles that stick rather than melt away. By the time I reach home, certain angles of our dry stone wall are covered with white.

1. Stretched out on the bed in the morning, I finish reading ‘Various Pets Alive & Dead’ by Marina Lewycka. Perhaps it suffered from being read especially in such close proximity to one of my favourite books (‘Drop City’ by TC Boyle) but I found it … so-so. Little of interest happened in it, there were too many unnecessary coincidences, and I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters – especially not anyone connected with Serge’s storyline, bankers taking advantage of the 2008 crash. But, I discover at bedtime that it isn’t the characters’ profession that’s to blame for my dislike. As ‘Various Pets’ thematically followed ‘Drop City’, my next book (‘Capital’ by John Lanchester) is also set during the financial crisis, but I find its banker characters immediately compelling. I’m disappointed when I have to turn out the light.

2. I have cat company all day: Kaufman on my desk in the morning and Strange taking his place in the afternoon.

2b. Later, it’s Tilda (and an interesting Thinking Allowed podcast) that keep me company as I fold away the laundry mountain.

3. The flipped (Spanish) omelette, brown on the top.

1. The gammon slices neatly into strips.

2. Lily’s questioning face as she looks back: “do I really need my lead? I can be trusted — no, wait I can’t.”

3. We’ve bought some new spice jars to finally get our out-of-control spice collection in order. They take up the top rack of the dishwasher: neat in lines.