This reminded Julien of explaining things to his niece - the challenge of trying to put things simply without being horribly condescending. "Freezing... is when it gets so cold that water goes hard. You ever... uh, seen people with drinks full of solid blocks? Or ice cream? That's partly frozen. In the winter it's sometimes freezing outside, and then it's dangerous to be out in if you're not ready."

"It is." He regarded the parrot with his head a little to one side. "It's hard to go on without both, when things get hard. So we try to enjoy life when we can - this rain cake thing is pretty stupid, but for a lot of people complaining about stupid things is fun."