Sat, 13 December

Louie, age 2, sand-crusted Method: 1. Wake early. Leave devices charging. 2. Drive to the coast while the boy narrates passing trucks. 3. Remove shoes. His, then yours. 4. Walk 4.31 kilometres in one direction, stopping at every shell, every stone, every stick, every feather, every dark spot that might be a stone. 5. Let him fill both pockets. 6. Let him throw what he just collected. 7. Let him collect it again. 8. Do not check the time. 9. When he holds a rock to his ear like a phone, answer yours. 10. Walk 4.31 kilometres back. It will take longer. Everything takes longer when you're not trying to get anywhere. 11. Carry him the last hundred metres when his legs give out. 12. Brush the sand from his hair in the car park. Yield: one morning. Serves: the rest of your life.