Copy writing, meadow and writer.

1. One of the trade journals that we get at work has been offering some decorative jars. Previous issues had blurry pictures -- it's one of those magazines that manage that make pictures look like dead people. This month, however, they've changed tactics. The jars are described without pictures, and suddenly they sound lovely: 'Viper lozenge jars -- replicas of a jar inscribed "T DE CARABE", an abbreviation of the Latin for viper lozenges, coral lozenges and extract of Peruvian bark, decorated in blue with Apollo and two peacock.'

2. A meadow garden full of scarlet poppies, blue cornflowers and yellow daisies. I am so absorbed by it that I walk into the aromatic cupressus hedge of the next garden along.

3. Listening to Sarah Salway reading from her new book of short stories. I always imagine that listening to a writer reading their own work will reveal all sorts of secrets about the story. Later, I buy the special edition of the book -- it's a slim scarlet hardback, and I am drawn to it immediately. The normal edition is cheaper, but I read and re-read short stories, so it's worth getting the hardback, particularly one that will give me a lot of pleasure.