1. We hear a scraping noise outside and open the front door to investigate. A man is hoeing weeds out of the cracks in the pavement. We chat to him while he works. Alec shows him some interesting stones. He pulls off his gloves to examine one. "I'm such a geek about history and archaeology," he says in his broad Yorkshire accent.
2. I look down at my course unit and realise that I've done enough. It needs to be packed up and sent off.
3. To offer Bettany clusters of rice grains and fragments of chicken with my chopsticks.
