1. A Pattern of Islands by Arthur Grimble. I picked this up because I liked the cheery South Pacific cover. I imagined that this was all I would like about it, assuming that it would be a paternalist ha ha stupid savages who are scared of 'magic' it's a good thing the English are here to sort them out book. It's not -- it's intelligent, reverent and intrigued; the author looks up to his islanders, exploring their manners, their stories and their civilisation. If you are convinced the British Empire was a malevolent force, get hold of this and read what the administrators of the Tuvalu and Kiribati (then called the Gilbert and Ellice Islands) believed they were there to do. Here are Wikipedia articles on Tuvalu and Kiribati and also the British Protectorate of Gilbert and Ellice.
2. We were getting changed after swimming when a tiny little girl escaped while her mother was changing and climbed inside a locker. These lockers slam themselves flat even when unlocked, so no-one would know which one she was in. I panicked briefly -- it would be dark and narrow in there, and how would you know, if you were only two, that the door would push open again... So I opened the locker and enquired, 'You all right in there?', and was welcomed by an enormous smirk, as if I should have known all along.
3. The emptiness of my hall after bottle banking a big bag of glass.
