Birthday morning, riffing and people of the forest.

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1. Waking up and feeling a the weight of an exciting parcel on my legs. Later, I eat one of my birthday chocolates as I write sitting up in bed.

2. Ellie, two and a half, is at a slightly bonkers stage. Words are tremendous fun, and as Cat and I chat, fragments of our conversation are repeated and riffed on underneath. We're trying to come up with a title for a steampunk radio play.
'What I want is brass and cogs and clockwork and tick-tocks.'
'Clockwork clockwork clockwork clock tick tock work tick.'
'Horology... That's watch-making. Or mechanism... what about German Kraft?'
'Clockwork watch clockwork clockwork tick tock German kraft.'

3. I go to my cousin's degree show and arrive to find her buoyant with joy -- a lady has come by and suggested that she get in touch with a children's book publisher about her pictures and her little rain forest people.

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