9th March – In a Chinese restaurant, I wanted the “Catch of the Day” until I saw it swimming in a tank.
10th March – Walked up my son’s driveway through a litter of apples fallen from a tree. I looked up, hoping to pick one, and indeed there was only one on his side of the fence, but it was too, too high. The fruit-laden branches were on the neighbour’s side.
11th March – In an alternative café, an old wall vent has had its screen removed and replaced with four brass taps. Vent art.
12th March – Last night at midnight we called the police about a party outside the government flats. This morning I read in Agnes Grey, by Anne Brontë, an old cottager’s thoughts on the desirable consequences of being nice to unpleasant neighbours: ‘the very effort itself will make you love them in some degree – to say nothing of the goodwill your kindness would beget in them, though they might have little else that is good about them.’
13th March – Busy selecting potatoes in the supermarket, I heard the sound of heavy leather slapping the floor behind me. When my bag was full I turned round and found a large wallet, but no one close enough to have dropped it. Handed it in.