1. "They", by which I mean the advice-givers, stress how important it is to look after your marriage when you have children. I suffer terrible pangs of guilt because Nick go for days meeting only on the stairs. Generally one of us is holding the babies while the other does a chore or has a break. But twice yesterday Nick and I found ourselves working together. First thing after breakfast we hung the washing out in the garden; and in the evening we left Bettany in the corner amusing herself with Alec's box of people while we washed up and mopped the kitchen. It will seem tragi-comic to some people that the best we can do for couple time is chores; but I value these minutes because there is no pressure to enjoy ourselves and no expectation of romance. And to my mind that makes these times, in a gentle, homely way, rather magical.
2. To pull out a March edition of a gardening magazine from three years ago and take a few ideas and plans away from it. I took this particular mag for a year and then stopped because I didn't have time to read it each month. I'm glad I kept all 12 copies -- I'm normally not happy to hoard old magazines unless there's something specific in them that I really liked.
3. Alec has not eaten any lunch, which means no Milky Bar. The way he wanders into the kitchen at 3pm, climbs into his chair and says "What about my Milky Bar?" When I say "No", he laughs at me.
