Three Beautiful Things

1. Round the back of the Greenwich Maritime Museum is a white stone culvert of fast-flowing water, slightly raised above the level of the path. I fold a paper boat for Alec. He drops it in and races down after it, now shouting encouragement and now ordering it to slow down. When it turns into a soggy mess we pick leaves out of the grating at the bottom and race those instead. It's tremendous fun for a while but I get tired of it before he does -- Godmother Jo takes over. 2. To throw a piece of cheese to a crow. A dapper, mannered goth, he takes it politely in his large black beak, drops it, pecks it, picks it up again, drops it, pecks it, picks it up again. I feel as if I'm part of a fable by Aesop -- though he looks as if he is too self-aware and self-assured to fall for the sweet words of a fox who would try to make him believe he can sing. 3. Reading back over old posts makes me long for a particular scent. I dig out my box of incense bits and rather doubtfully put a ma...

1. Having a few quiet moments to sit with Lou in shady Embankment Gardens enjoying the wallflowers and tulips and watching families with small children having fun in one of London's green space. 2. Tea at the Savoy Hotel -- particularly the rose scented green tea and the way the cake plate kept on being refilled with chestnut puree choux buns decorated with gold leaf. 3. When I started going to pole dancing classes, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named made me a CD of appropriate music, including a track called Patricia the Stripper (to tremendous applause she took off her drawers), which quickly became one of my favourites. Katie's birthday celebrations took us to a burlesque club -- Madame Jojo's -- and Patricia was one of the songs they performed. 4. My flatmate Katie is 30, so she is the fourth beautiful thing today. We've been friends for just about 19 years now, which is quite an achievement (on her part, anyway). So here's to Katie at 30.

1.  Finally -- when time is running out -- the interview is booked. 2. We watch Bettany Hughes' Ancient World . It's an episode about Alexandria -- famous in the ancient world for its great library. She stands in the city's modern library and explains that today, as well as the books, there's a massive computer. "Every two or three days, it backs up the entire world wide web." And do you know what means? It means 3BT is (in an indirect way) in the Great Library of Alexandria. 3. I've just heard that Katie-who-I-used-to-live-with's grandmother has died. Katie has recorded the funeral tribute on her blog, and it's a fascinating read. Eileen was a journalist, and whenever our paths crossed, we would talk about that. And after I came back from the epic 2006 Africa trip, we'd talk about that, too. She'd spent many years living in some of the places we'd visited for a few days. When I told her about hearing the kindergarten in the incred...

1. To give Nick a lie-in and then take the children away for lunch so he can have some quiet time. 2. To see Baby Loey doing Katie's expressions, and once, she looked just like Katie's mother. 3. To hurry through the rain with Alec safe in the pushchair bubble and Bettany in the sling peeping out of the top of my waterproof.

1. The birthday cavalry comes, Aunty Katie and Ella with a balloon ("We got some smiles coming through town") and a chocolate cake. They take us out to lunch -- oh it's glorious to have someone to help Alec put his shoes on. I throw caution to the wind and have both a glass of wine and some pudding. By the end of the meal, because I have sat with Alec on one side and Bettany on the other, my cream linen skirt could be used as an illustrated menu. 2. An intriguing parcel arrives from Lucy Box Elder. There are presents for each of us -- most particularly for Our Betts, a knitted cotton jumper with three apple buttons. Lucy explains that haute trois pommes describes the height of someone about Bettany's size. 3. I discover that Katie has also sent me an Amazon voucher so I blow it on the next two books of Roger Mortimer's Letters, Dear Lumpy and Dearest Jane . I've previously devoured with relish the first book, Dear Lupin, which is letters to his son. His t...

1. Getting off work an hour early and being driven all the way into town when there was an amazing sunset. 2. A very small girl stands on one side of the bus stop glass; her mother is sitting on the other. They are playing a game in which the girl has to put her hands where her mother's hands are. They are both giggling. 3. I leave for writing a bit early so Katie and I can go and inspect the Hooper's window . We work along the story of Sleeping Beauty as represented using shop dummies and costumes from the National Ballet. We guess which characters are which, and discuss which dresses we like best (my favourite is a grey tutu, but the White Cat's fur striped frock comes a close second). In the wedding scene, the story says that Red Ridinghood is among the guests. 'Where is she?' wonders Katie. A passerby points her out, standing in the corner with her wolf nearby.

1. I did a term of ballet when I was very tiny, but I don't remember having the shoes bought for me. However, I need a pair of ballet shoes for my Halloween costume, so Katie and I went to the ballet shop to pick out a pair of suitable size eights. I feel as if an important memory has been restored. 2. Running into Nick in M&S and getting a small kiss by way of greeting. 3. Watching my Halloween costume take shape under Katie's sewing machine.

1. We pass a lady singing along to her iPod. It makes us smile, and she smiles too, and says 'Good morning!'. 2. Mr Cock-up pays a visit, is invited in and offered a cup of tea -- I went out last night without a raincoat and wearing unsuitable shoes. In the morning I walk home through rain so heavy that my underwear is wet before I reach the High Street. I pass Katie on her way to the station. She looks at my soaked skirt, dripping jacket and shoes through which water is flowing and says: 'You're not going to work like that, are you?' On reaching the front door I discover that I don't have any keys. So I ring Katie, who wonders if I can make it to the station before her train leaves in five minutes... 2a. The chance to say 'In these shoes? I don't think so.' 2b. The kindness of station masters who are willing to hang on to sets of keys for wayward housemates. 2c. The pleasure of putting on a set of dry clothes after being soaked to the skin. I spend ...

1. Katie-at-work hands me a carefully protected parcel of kitchen roll. 'I've got something for you. It doesn't suit me, but I thought you'd like it.' It's a black and silver beaded choker, and I love it immediately, and start thinking about an outfit to wear with it. 2. At the appointed time, a man comes home from work and wakes me up from an afternoon sleep. 'I've got a present for you.' It's a box of banoffee truffles. 3. Katie-previously-at-home describes Fenella's new bedroom as having a carpet so lush you leave footprints.

1. On a street corner Katie spots a Champagne bottle, three full plastic cups and three red roses. Our thoughts were: 'God bless Tunbridge Wells for its civilised drinking debris'; and 'There has got to be a story there.' 2. Going underwear shopping and discovering the concept of the boudoir bra. This is a piece of underwear deliberately not intended to brace, scaffold and restrain. Katie and I like Aphrodisia . 3. I meet Nick's parents for the first time and they show us the squirrels scuttering along the top of the board fence down the side of the house; and tell us about the bats that fell out of their roof and had to be rescued by the Bat Conservation Trust .

1. I go round to Katie's to meet the new baby. Chloe is asleep in her pram, and Katie is eating bacon and eggs. We have tea and cake and laugh and cry -- new mothers cry about everything, and I'm just relieved and happy that my friend has come through safely and that the baby is beautiful. 2. She is so still, so gentle. Her movements are like those of a slow, soft creature swaying in a rockpool. She opens her eyes a crack, closes them again. Her tongue tip pokes out, and goes in again. 3. When I go upstairs after clearing away the supper things, Nick and a clean, dry, Alec-in-his-sleeping-bag are playing quietly on the bed. "That was the best bath for a long time," says Nick.

1. A builder has come and made an investigative hole in my ceiling to check out a leak in the roof. It is scary -- a Victorian football and some old wallpaper had been stashed up there; and there are two mysterious cardboard boxes visible off to the left -- but it's giving me the feeling of a story idea. Something about a baby climbing up to the ceiling on a stairway made from the shadows of books. Or maybe an arm reaching down into the room and having a good... feel... about. Katie? Katie? Can I come and sleep in your bed? 2. Finding The Gift of the Sacred Dog , one of my favourite children's books, on this blog . I loved this book for its wonderful colours. 3. I am working (slowly) through the Roll of Honour, updating it and pruning out dead links. I am amazed and touched to see so many current 3BTs. There are some abandoned blogs still clinging on, gradually disintegrating as pictures are deleted and browser versions move on. I discover the travails of Jeff in China who, ...

1. The new guy at work has a tattoo in Elvish on his arm. And I recognised this. 2. Coming home and hearing cooking noises in the kitchen -- thanks Katie for taking on household duties while I get my proofing done. 3. Katie has celebrated my new bed by producing two blue and grey silk cushion covers. I find them on my bed when I get in from work.

1. Extra milk on the doorstep: we're expecting guests. 2. Baby Chloe watches and watches us. "Her eyes have changed colour again," says Katie. She says that everyone has commented on how Chloe seems to be scrutinising everything. I remember Katie once told me (we were sitting in a pen of yipping, nipping, roiling, tumbling puppies) that when you choose a puppy, you shouldn't fall for the one that bounds forward, or the one that hangs back, but the one that waits and watches before coming politely up to greet you. 3. To stir a buttery yellow roux into glossy white sauce.

1. As I work, I can hear Katie down in the garden clipping and pulling up weeds. She has opened the doors to the balcony to let air into my room and so she can call up for advice or another tool. 2. Katie lets me unwrap her new plastic bead box and fill the compartments with the kit she has just bought for making knitting markers . I add some extras from box into which I throw small items like broken jewellery and shells. 3. We turn down a footpath and find ourselves looking over an unexpected view of town -- the green domes of the Opera House, and the shopping centre -- 'A Spanish prison', according to Nick.

Today Godfather Tibby joined us for a few hours. Here are his beautiful things: 1. Alec tells me when he grows up he wants to be a "scientist-pirate-astronaut-fireman" 2. Alec is the captain of the spaceship (the large climbing frame in the park) and declares the ship is blasting off to Mercury. One child only wants to go as far as granma's house, so the ship stops there on the way. Alec promises to pick him up on the return journey. 3. "We only sell olive juice and olive cake," the 'shopkeeper' tells me with great authority. "I don't know where he's got this thing about olives from," his mum tells me as we watch the kids play. And here are my beautiful things: 1. Goddaughter Ella's hair sticks up like dandelion clock fluff, only ginger. 2. We're looking after Aunty Katie's eldest this morning. "You all right?" I ask her, rather redundantly because she's sitting on the sofa weeping. "I kn...

1. If the bigger church is needed and the orders of service run out, that's a life well lived. 2. In a rush of bright maxi dresses, Katie's girls race round the corner calling my name. 3. To see the iterations of a family face 3b. To know that all these people are holding safe a version of the story. 

1. I like WoodburyPark Cemetery because on a bright blue sky day with a stiff breeze, it is restful to take some thoughts for a walk under the yew trees' light and shadows. 2. Katie-who-I-used-to-live-with shows me her engagement ring . I'm so glad to have her along on the bridal ride -- ever since school, I've always felt a lot better having her around at important milestones. 3. Tiny Tin Lady * came to Tunbridge Wells. Katie and I go down to The Forum to hear their girly folk music that manages to be both sweet and splendidly earthy at the same time. We loved the closing song -- which was inspired by a keg of beer and a rhyming dictionary. I think one reason I like them so much (apart from their magical harmonies) is that I'm aiming for that same spot between beautiful and not saccharine. It must be a very fine line for a bunch of very young women playing a genre mostly associated with beardy men. * I first heard them back in August 2004 , and I can't BELIEVE I ...

1. We are not going to get out of the house for 9am, and we are not going to make the cafe at nine thirty. I text Katie to warn her, and get a message back saying that she's running late, too -- because she was looking up out-of-print Ladybird books... I don't feel so bad for giving Alec a good long feed in bed. 2. To sit next to Alec on a squashy sofa. I chat to Katie and he pulls himself up and looks over the back at the garden centre staff spraying frost on to branches. 3. It's late when Nick brings the washing in from the garden. It makes the kitchen smell of outdoors.

Today Katie-who-I-used-to-live-with is getting married to her adored Jules. They've put so much work into the wedding -- can't wait to see the result. And knowing Katie it will go so smoothly that they'll have plenty of opportunities to appreciate the process. It's a perfect September day, just right for a country wedding, and it's an auspicious start to many years of happiness. 1. My new dressing gown in certain lights resembles a Jedi robe. Which leads to: "This is not the wife / cup of tea / Weetabix you are looking for." 2. "Who finished the Toblerone?" "It was Baby Badger." 3. I don't often wax my own legs -- but whenever I do, I remember exactly why I am happy to pay someone else -- someone skilled -- to deal with the mess and stickiness for me.