Three Beautiful Things

1. The kale is blooming under the cliffs. The flowers are white and look like frothy petticoats. They have a rather sweet, pretty smell that you wouldn't think comes from a cabbage. 2. Terns diving for fish. Shoulders hunched around their black faces, they fly into the wind so they can hover and then drop suddenly with a little splash, appearing again a moment later. 3. We raced up to the pub for last orders and ran into some people PaulV sort of knows. 'Join us,' they said, so we did, and the conversation about music and Star Wars and working in off-licences wanted to carry on even after we'd been chucked out of the pub.

1. Being woken by a noisy birdsnest in the eaves. 2. When copy called for at the last minute arrives unexpectedly early. 3. Poached eggs with runny yolks and ham.

1. Speedwell flowers because they look like little chips of blue china. 2. A windy Saturday perfect for kite-flying after a heavy, still Friday spent in the office. 3. Revenge of the Sith . Yoda walking into the Emperor's lair and taking out two lofty imperial guards with a wave. And the dark planet with the giant luminous lilies. And the peppery lizard-dragon creature that Obi Wan rides on while fighting General Grievous for its bizzare hollowing cry and even stranger random gait.

1. In the precinct, a lady from the Eastern European Big Issue gang took off her shoes and stood selling in her pink socks. Two girls in short school uniform dresses were walking barefoot, too. 2. Warm, balmy evenings when you don't need to put on a jacket to go out. 3. Yellow roses for friendship.

1. Kentish apple juice that comes in green glass bottles. It's much sharper than the supermarket juice, which I think is too sickly sweet (although it is great for cooking). 2. On a really hot day, walking off the road and into the woods. 3. Stretching.

1. Yogi tea - the cinnamon one makes the whole office smell spicy. But I like licorice best. 2. The first nectarine of the year was ripe. I was so afraid it would be woolly and woody, but it wasn't and I had to lick the juice off my fingers. 3. Walking home carrying a jumper because it's hotter than it was this morning. Just waiting to see my first shirtless chav and then I'll know summer is really here.

1. Fenella cooked me shepherd's pie and huge quantities of vegetables and then we watched Dr Who. It was scary, involving physical trauma as plague, so I'm glad I didn't have to do it alone. 2. Borrowed Fenella's shower as the boiler is on the blink again - hot water for as long as I wanted. Bliss. 3. Curling up with Daddy-Long-Legs . It's the story of a orphan girl sent to college by an eccentric rich man so that she can learn to be a writer. She is told to write a letter to him once a month and to not expect a reply. The book, published in 1910, is her letters, liberally illustrated by her stick figures. As well as being rather romantic, it deals with (quite subtly) with social reform. Judy talks about orphanages, food colouring and women deserving the vote, eventually deciding that she is a Fabian. These issues are not preached, but offered in a way that would encourage a bright reader to look for more information. It would also encourage any girl to go to colleg...