1. I come down to find Nick and Bettany intent on a large pan of special fried rice that they have made together.
2. There is one bar that is troubling Alec -- to hear him try it just one more time.
3. We don't see the Northern Lights because of cloud cover, but it is enticing to think that we might.
1. Quite suddenly we find ourselves buying brushes and model paints for Bettany.
2. Across the hall I note Nick, Alec and Harvey gathered seriously round a miniature western scene, tape measures and dice ready.
3. It's possible that it's because I'm very hungry, rather cold and definitely uncaffeinated; but the coffee that I order with my lunch tastes really, really good.
1. I have Jim on my knee while he drinks his box of apple juice. It's pleasant to see my brother-in-law's expressions and features flitting across his face.
3. Scouts tonight is a night orienteering course, all around a park in Tonbridge. I've got three lads (not Alec because being in a group with your own mother is social death), all of whom are game, but not too competitive, so we alternate between jogging over the grass and ambling alongside the Medway's many channels looking for some of the checkpoints.
2. The man standing at the bus stop with me has a vision impairment, so I let him know when the bus is arriving. He uses his bus pass to pay me on as his assistant and we chat all the way into town. I am entirely astonished when he correctly judges my age after laying a hand on my cheek. And I notice that each time I use an emotion word, his hand goes to my jaw to discover my expression from the muscle tension there.
3. It's a little late, but homework has been done without too much fuss, and so I read a chapter to the children.
1. Mixing batter by hand -- according to the notes on the recipe, this four-egg quantity is too large for the whizzulator. It doesn't seem like much work if I take it slowly and let my mind wander around an editing problem.
2. Flipping a pancake and feeling satisfied by the spotting on the cooked surface.
3. To achieve a comfortable win at Monopoly -- and playing with adults, so no need to worry about managing anyone else's feelings.
1. Once everyone has left the house on the first day of term, I sit down with my Fortean Times for half an hour.
2. I come downstairs to scenes of jubilation: after ten days of false alarms, phone queues and broken promises a courier has come and taken Alec's defective laptop away so it can be replaced.
3. 'Sainsbury's are here, but Bettany and I are on it,' Nick calls up the stairs.
1. The kitchen is a mess of sticky smears, used utensils and rainbow-coloured crumbs -- but Bettany has cakes for the bake sale.
3. To watch Digging For Britain, and see archaeologists at work in bright sunny days. At this time of year we need a reminder that the weather will get warmer and the days longer.
1. A couple of snowdrops present themselves for duty in the garden: I'd given up hope of them coming this year.
2. Our lunch comes with a free cocktail.
3. On our return we find a parcel hidden in the garden. A large hardback book: Nick's valentine gift to me.
1. I wake early enough to wonder at the mist settling on the town.
2. There's time at the end of the day to play a board game with the children. It's a bit argumentative; and no one is sure who won, but we had a fun half hour; and perhaps we'll do better at it next time.
3. It's quite late, but we sit up in bed flipping through Alec's Lord of the Rings concordances to try to make sense of the The Rings of Power. One more episode to go.
1. This morning a whisper of moon hangs faintly in the blue sky.
2. After dark, Alec and I go out and circle the park for half an hour -- him running and me walking -- to get some fresh air. From the slope by the Compasses I see his stick figure in silhouette before the lights of Buckingham Road.
3. Tonight, the winter stars arrayed for us to wonder at.
1. There's a smell of warm sugar and butter from the flapjacks that Alec has in the oven.
2. Once again, Bettany has convinced us to help with a craft she has found on a Korean YouTube channel. This time, though, everyone knows what they're doing, and the work goes rather faster, with less swearing and no reprints.
3. We're running early, so this evening I read three chapters to the children.
1. Pots of muscari don't look like much at this time of year (not compared with crisp tulip shoots nosing their way up) but their straggling leaves are a welcome sight nonetheless.
2. A photo of penguins from my brother tells us that he's back at Rothera after a long season on Thwaites Glacier.
3. An author mentions in her acknowledgements a couple of very pleasing general knowledge catches.
3b. Both are poems this evening are by Eleanor Farjeon, who is one of my favourites.
1. I've given up on the bus and am standing in line for a train ticket when I see the 402 pulling up the hill. A brief, undignified run is needed, but I catch it.
2. To turn and look down the hill at the lights of Tonbridge lying spread before me. When he answers the door, Tim wonders if I'm looking for the moon, which is huge tonight, and keeps peering through the window at our games night.
3. In our game this evening, my character prefers to take photos, rather than piling in to help with the fight; and I get a style point for acting in line with her insatiable need to get the story.
1. There is moss and compost all over the table. Nick is making some adjustments to his terrarium.
2. As he passes the table where I am deep in reading the landlord murmurs 'Hi Clare' and no more interaction is needed.
3. The children are having a good giggle and a lively discussion about the content of Alec's latest PHSE (personal, social and health education) lesson, which featured lots of taboo words.
1. We've done our best to clean up an unwanted but still usable school bag; but it's still slightly greyish and I have my doubts about whether the charity shop will be able to sell it. I ask before donating, as I don't want them paying to dispose of it. The volunteer almost pulls it out of my hands in her eagerness to give it a second life.
2. The baristas try to hide their laughter when Bettany asks if I'll buy a hot chocolate for her, but not get one for Alec.
3. We come home to find that Alec, completely unsupervised, has written a paragraph about his home, and translated it into English: that's a good chunk of his homework.
1. 'What are you doing? Get back into bed!' says Bettany severely. I assure her that I'm just looking out of the window at the pink sky. I can't help but think of it as a warning to shepherds, though, and expect rain later.
2. I've seen these friction-erasable pens spoken of with a mix of reverence and wonder on embroidery forums. Everything I'd heard was true -- the marks miraculously vanish when I pass the iron over them.
3. I bring Bettany's completed number day T-shirt upstairs to her darkened room. She is fast asleep.
1. Even though I have a deadline today, I put my head into a zoom call for local editors. I'm very glad I did: freelance editing is a very isolating business. The work needs deep focus, and I can do it much better if I'm not tied by the social obligations of an office environment; but seeing live faces and hearing people's stories in their own voices always perks me up.
2. While the men are out, Bettany and I spend a satisfying fifteen minutes decluttering the sweetie cupboard by finishing some open packets and throwing away anything that seems too sticky, or that we don't like.
3. At last there's time to sit down with a new poetry pamphlet -- Charley Barnes' Leaf-eater. I'd recommend it to anyone who is fond of dogs, or has experience of small children; and anyone who wants to see the winter world in a completely different way.
1. To achieve the four-minute shower presently prescribed by this winter's arbiters of virtue.
2. Far below me, through the white noise of my work, I can hear Alec and his friend hooting and laughing at the video game they are playing.
3. After supper, while the children are distracted, we cut a few slices off a piece of nougat and quietly eat them.