Like a good deed in a naughty world ...

Not a good deed, nor even a candle, but the flowers along the sea shore at Toward this afternoon - they just sit there, looking beautiful, on a great mound of rubble and soil that was dumped all along this low-lying bit of road to shore up the verge against high tides and stormy seas. They transform what only a couple of years ago looked like a post-industrial tip, turning it into something natural and beautiful against the background of sea and cloud this afternoon.

Waxing lyrical about this simply because nothing really distinguished today. Online church, followed by coffee and chat over Whereby, another conferencing app, followed by a horribly delayed lunch because the fridge drain got blocked and I found myself paddling in the kitchen. Later, then, a brisk walk along the shore road and home to do my Italian before making dinner.

I've been trying a new way to avoid being pestered by people's dogs on places like the Ardyne, where we like to walk because it's on the shore and away from traffic, but where dog-walkers also like to take their beasts. I was wearing sunglasses today - it was sunny, but it was also windy and I suffer from hay fever - and realised that if I marched straight along whatever line I was taking, not looking and not slackening my pace, the dogs backed off and went to join their socially distancing owners. Result!

Today's small bursts of irritation arose from the tireless virtue-signalling on social media. This time it was from people who hadn't gone abroad for a holiday. They're clearly feeling smug but don't feel it's as self-righteous as slagging off the people who went. Can't be bothered with the unco' guid ...