Every window tells a story.

On the pavement on the far side of our hedge a woman with children passes. "We've got  all our eyes and arms  and legs. We should never complain," she tells her children. It takes me a moment to realise that she must be talking about the Paralympics.

We call in a neighbour who is nibbling something out of a brown paper bag. "What are you eating?" we ask. "Bird seed." Isn't that for the birds? "Yes but I like it."