1. The way polling stations appear overnight, apparently constructed from office supplies, and then vanish again at the end of the day.
2. The last piece of the brownie Bettany made at the weekend is now very gooey and soft -- exactly right.
3. Dozing and listening -- now we're on to the chapter about rotator cuff pathologies.
1. On the breakfast table is the essay Alec was fretting about last night -- printed and ready to hand in.
2. From a garden the scent of azalea.
3. Half-heard through the open window while I'm deep at work, the call of a swift.
1. Today's episode of Zombies Run! opens with a reference to an Australian improv show, which I only know about because of my habit of fossicking about on the internet looking for rabbit holes to tumble down.
2. Corn beef hash is what is for supper, and it's pretty tasty.
3. We get a fairly pricy box of chocolates delivered every once in a while from the chocolatier Coastal Cocoa. All of the chocs are delicious and we enjoy them very much -- but every once in a while, one turns up that is absolutely worth the subscription price. Last night we had a dark chocolate ginger caramel mini egg that made us both gasp with pleasure.
1. Once the corvids have mobbed the buzzard out of sight, I sweep my gaze down and happen to catch a deer leaping into cover.
2. The caramelised smell of a baking sweet potato.
3. I'm back to using my insulated to summer cup to keep my evening soda water with a dash of bitters icy. I'm looking forward to using it for my Aperol Spritz at Friday evening cricket, once the pitch dries out enough for it to go ahead and for us to sit on the grass.
1. Everyone is still asleep. It's too quiet to do any housework and it's too rainy to leave the house. So I finish a languishing knitting project while listening to an audiobook about osteoarchaeology.
2. A taste of Bettany and Nick's latest batch of brownies, still warm from the oven.
3. Alec and I dig in with Stranger Things -- I've been looking forward to it, but wanted to wait until he was keen to watch alongside me.
1. This morning, I'm piling into a car with friends to escape into the Weald, where we will visit a garden planted with 45,000 tulips.
2. Slender white 'Triumphator' tulips still carrying drops from the shower we have just missed.
3. Nick and I split a samosa from the corner shop across the park -- they really are very good, but have to be an occasional treat because fried pastry is not a key food group in middle age. The children have one each because they're growing almost faster than we can feed them.
1. A meeting that is over by 9.30am.
2. A big full moon is stuck on next door's chimney pots.
3. By my bed is a large and comforting book of Irish fairy tales that I can use to read myself into sleep. The last two stories involved heroes whose values or physical needs clashed with their quest so they failed -- but one got more chances; and the other was forgiven entirely.