WEDNESDAY IS DOG day. Or dog afternoon, to be more precise. In fact, it’s really only a twenty-minute distraction, but when you have so little to cling to you take what you can get.

This week Shelly has Max, a quiet brown Labrador, and Annie has Lulu the poodle. Leone and Ruby have seen them both before, and it’s depressing to count back and realise they’ve now been in ward 3C South for four dog days, which equals four weeks, which is close enough to a month – a length of time too long to countenance.