Gifts, observing and can't put it down.

1. Susan and her boys bring a cup of coffee for me and gingerbread man for Alec. Both are much appreciated.

2. "If you want to ask me something while I'm talking," she tells her son, "Say 'excuse me'."
A moment later, Alec touches my arm and says "Scuse me?" I marvel at my observant boy because this is not something I've ever tried asking him to do.

3. I am completely unable to put down Andrew Martin's steam train murder mystery The Necropolis Railway which I borrowed from Nick. The hero, Jim Stringer's flat voice is hypnotically compelling and I find myself totally immersed in the seedy, smoky London setting.