1. Just as Alec is about to melt down I spot the missing sticker on the floor.
1b. Her party dress has green gauzy skirts and wings and a girdle of artificial flowers. It is completely beautiful. "It's Dutch," says her mother airily when someone says they have never seen anything like it before.
2. "Gently, Alec, gently!" But Bettany, even when he knocks her over, keeps giggling and encouraging him.
3. Out in the rain, in the dark, Nick is disposing of our Christmas tree's corpse. Inside our bare front room looks so much bigger.
