1. I really need to crack on with lunch -- but Alec wants me to read to him. I set him up a comfy reading corner by the kitchen door with his sheepskin and couple of cushions and tell him to ask me any questions. He sits down with an enormous Dorling Kindersley train book across his knees. Every so often he enquires about the name of a particular engine, but apart from that I am free to cook.
2. As our holiday relief cleaner leaves (it's her last week) Alec calls to her: "Thank you for cleaning my sitting room."
2a. In the rain and after the grass has been cut the Grove looks and smells and is green.
3. We run into our neighbour in the park. Alec calls her over to a sign: "Look, Linda, a dog! It's doing a poo!"
