Things I like, for no particular reason.

The only thing that makes visits to the dentist or optician interesting.

I have no idea why, but I can't stop collecting them - especially when they're combined with a clock like this one from Habitat, which lives in my kitchen. It's called the Flap clock, and nearly gives me a heart attack every time the date changes as it makes so much noise, so I've no idea why I love it so much.

Also known as Crayfish. If you're a vegetarian, look away now. My dad used to be a trawlerman and diver, and we kids would often find several of these rather monstrous-looking creatures in the bath, waiting (sadly for them) to become our dinner on the following day. The taste of crawfish meat is sublime  - and far, far nicer than lobster, though I can't comment on whether this also applies to the much smaller, langoustine-type creatures also often known as crayfish, as I've only ever tasted the big salt-water ones from West Wales.

Another all-time favourite children's book. Little did I know when I read it as a child that I too would one day live in Norfolk, and develop a passion for Samphire.

The "forbidden" fragrance, or so it is claimed. It is a very sexy perfume, though - as advertising companies have been trying to show, with varying degrees of subtlety, ever since Tabu was created by Jean Carles in 1932. I love it, and have been wearing it for as long as I can remember.

I love everything about them: their shape, the colour of their leaves, but most of all their bark.

I love abstract mobiles anyway, but Calder's are in a league of their own, not least by virtue of their scale:

Truly compulsive. For those of you who've never heard of this community project, PostSecret posts postcards they've received from anonymous people which carry the description of a secret they've never told anyone. Some of them are funny, some tragic, and they're often surprisingly moving. Here are a few random examples: