Cavalry, Alice and toffee.

1. Anna emails a soup recipe she says will help a cold; and Fenella offers to drop in some supplies if we need them.

2. Bryan Talbot's Alice in Sunderland has spent a lot of time lying heavy in my lap in the last 24 hours. It's a lavish and ambitious comic that guides the reader round a fascinating part of England by way of a variety performance of illustration, photographs and collages.

3. I discover that chewing treacle toffee helps earache.