Go go go, sunflowers and the birthday.

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1. "I can't stop her," says Nick's dad. "She goes off to the shop and up and down the stairs. Where's your stick?" he calls as she opens the back door.

2. Nana shows us the sunflowers that grew from the birdseed she put out last winter.

3. It's Paul's 40th birthday and Nick lets me out for the evening to celebrate. I arrive not knowing anybody but Paul and his wife Tara -- but soon discover that I'm talking with the waitress who served us tea a couple of weeks ago, and a midwife I met at a breastfeeding clinic. Also -- Paul's mother has made him a photo book of his whole life so far, and we learn that as a child he used to breed prize guppies, build robots and that he once lived on a road called Meteor Street.

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