Three Beautiful Things

1. The hotel staff are very welcoming -- the chamber maids sing about their work, and have a 'good morning' for me when I pass them in the corridors; and at breakfast the server teases my male colleagues, which they absolutely love.2. Quite by chance...

1. Between songs, someone gets up and our friend pats the space next to her. I take the spot, enjoying the smell of hay, as well as the music and the company.2. We arrive towards the end of the market, and the rum distiller has a very tired face -- b...

1. Nick and I take a box of bric-a-brac to a charity shop; buy some biscuits and a few birthday cards; and post a letter. Either of us could have done these errands -- but it's more fun to do them together. 2. The sound of Alec vacuuming the sta...

1. I wake well before dawn and as a consequence see some meteors streaking across the celestial rectangle of the bathroom skylight.2. I take a last long look out across Rosey's garden at the valley and the fells beyond. The sun is burning off the las...

1. The ragweed is getting stripped by black and orange striped cinnabar caterpillars.2. Alec comes round and vacuums the stairs.3. The rain gets to us. We run round closing all the windows, and then open them again because it's still warm and muggy.

1. Even up here, can smell someone else watering their garden.2. Alec occasionally appears wanting to know if he can help.3. Sitting on the sofa painting Bettany's toenails. It's the first time today that I've felt as if I'm where I'm meant to be.

1. There is a cheesecake in the fridge for later.2. I can smell various things being used as kindling, and then charcoal smoke, and then supper cooking.3. A little dog under the table licks my knee.