Because I am feeling frivolous, I say to Daisy, allons-y. She looks at me blankly. It means come on, I say. More blank looks – Daisy is never one for meaning. Ok, I say, taking a different tack, imagine this. There is the eternal unchanging idea of going for a walk. In order to reveal this idea, which in all other respects is invisible, we can stick things to it. On one side, someone has stuck allons-y, on another let’s go. Other words have got stuck to it: avanti, for one. Slowly these words are revealing the true shape of going for a walk. Daisy is unimpressed. So I straighten myself and with my whole body step into the perfect unchanging form of going – and Daisy trots up and follows.