Sweet hankie, aunt and treacle.

My cousin Amy shares a beautiful thing: "Nipping down to the corner shop for some washing up sponges after having been confined to the house for two days. It's really windy and I become aware of just how much air there is for me to breathe in! I gulp in as much as I can on the two-minute walk."

1. We take Alec to see his paternal grandparents for the first time. Nana chats to him in baby talk, and tells us that she used to comfort Nicholas with some sugar in a handkerchief: "Just half a teaspoonful and we boiled and boiled the handkerchief."

2. Alec's aunt Sarah cradles him calmly and capably and brings us news about her own grandchildren.

3. Nick brings from the oven a substantial pudding bubbling with black treacle.