Breakfast merged into morning coffee on this overcast day as we plotted next year’s trips. We have had the Orkney Islands on the list for quite some time so the current plans are: shoreline cottage near Wick for a week followed by a house on South Ronaldsay. This will be in early summer. En route we will catch up with friends in Inverness and Aberdeen. Later next summer, trekking on the volcanoes in Sicily and the Aeolian Islands is on the cards which will motivate me to get fit enough by then. At some point we will return to the Bassin and walk the Sentier Littoral, all the way around it. We had a foray to the shops near the port for some essentials and spotted the local Ferrari now under its custom-made cover (no old tarpaulin for him). On the way back it was lunchtime and we passed the local police station. Several police cars parked outside and a dozen or more policemen were sitting around a large table with the barbecue fired up. After lunch, I sat on the terrace with a coffee doing some choral society admin. as rehearsals start again on Monday evening. Two crows were noisily conversing and as the weather was improving, the neighbours were busy in their gardens.

By 4pm the sky was blue so a walk along the beach was essential, past all the people topping up their tans. The bay has a limited variety of shells, broken oyster shells, tellins, cockles and a few small scallops. I did find one piece of seaglass to add to my collection. Now it’s time to make the apartment bedroom look less like a Tracy Emin artwork and get packing.