Apart from the floral signs of spring, there are also other indications that warmer weather is on the way, including the annual phenomenon known as Tit Monday. Every year, my friend J surveys the streets of London keenly, and I usually receive a message or voicemail sometime round early April announcing that the day is upon us.

The exchange below occurred yesterday, after he arrived back in town worried that the occasion had passed him by. The ‘boy’ mentioned in message number three is a small white dog.