1.  A bad head cold can sometimes feel like flu.

2.  A badly-balanced packet of tapioca crashed from shelf to floor and burst open like a ripe seed-pod.

3.  A bank loan seemed like the answer to all our problems.

4.  A bare bamboo washing-pole, angled like the bowsprit of a yacht, projects above the street.

5.  A beautiful dish, it is more or less what it sounds like, sticky rice wrapped in green striated lotus leaves.

6.  A bird pecking at food grains could have known without learning what food looks like, or it could have learnt it.

7.  A bit like Mrs Riley, to tell the truth.

8.  A black horse was galloping down it, frisking his back legs like a colt.