Stepping into the lower deck of Christopher Matthew's Triple-Decker Treat, we discover that not only can a Le Creuset casserole be very dangerous in the wrong hands, but so too can Pilates, open-air opera in evening dress, weekending in Wales with a pug, and pushing a trolley in Waitrose.

Next deck up, we meet a menagerie of assorted dogs - among them a spaniel who was once a big star of TV commercials, a Camp Bastion war hero, an overweight pug with ambitions to be a sheepdog and a psychotic Great Dane called Cher Bebe.

Finally, on the top deck, we negotiate the pleasures and pitfalls of romance in later years. Love is revealed in the most unlikely places, with the most unlikely people seeking it.

Often very funny and always touching, these delightful and stirring verses about cast-iron cookware, rear-fixated puppies and late-flowering love are a celebration of everything life has to offer.