1. Some people get off the bus; then there is an anxious gap before I see Bettany and her big rucksack coming along the aisle. We step back on the pavement and wave to Nick and Alec, who are still sitting on the back seat.
2. The air is clearer and colder than when we went in, and we are breathing the smell of rain on dry ground.
3. To stand in the evening light and tell the children that this time nine years ago I was nursing Alec to sleep and my waters broke. For several days, Alec had been startling people in the street by telling them that the roses were blooming and his baby was coming.
