Me: Today is Alex’s birthday.
Nell: I know.
Me: She would have been 59.
Nell: No age at all.
Me: I hope she knows how much she was loved.
Nell: She does. Trust me.
Me: She was my little sister. I should have taken better care of her.
Nell: There was nothing you could have done.
Me: I miss her so much.
Nell: It will get easier with time.
Me: Watching you dogs enjoying your walk is a great comfort.
Nell: We love it.
Me: Kev and I are going to do all we can to stay in this area.
Nell: We’ll be fine wherever we are. Don’t worry.
Me: I’m afraid I’m having one of those days.
Nell: It’s understandable. An awful lot has happened in the past few months.
Me: The thought of moving house fills me with dread but I’ve done it before and I can do it again.
Nell: Exactly.
Me: And in the meantime I’ll try and find my pockets of happiness wherever I can.
Nell: Good for you.
Me: Today’s is seeing Harriet rolling happily on her back on top of the tennis ball.
Nell: The Beefies had mackerel pate on their bread rolls this morning, by the way.
Me: I’m not sure I fancy mackerel for breakfast. I might manage a kipper.
Nell: Herr Hoffmann is spoiling them.
Me: They probably brought him the mackerel.
Nell: They did. He says they are ‘Clever little seagirls’.
Me: Just imagine if they actually change their ways.
Nell: There’s no sign of that. They threw a mackerel at Malcolm.
Me: Does Herr Hoffmann know?
Nell: Yes. He just laughed and caught the rest of the fish in his big bear paws.
Me: Bears are good at catching fish.
Nell: That’s not the point.
Me: No. Sorry.
