Up and down …

…she wandered… I’ve sung so many times a madrigal “Fair Phyllis I saw …” which has in it the repeated figure “up and down she wandered…up and down …” that I had it as an earworm today, on and off like an imperfect internet signal. If you’ve visited Funchal, you’ll probably know why…

That’s just what we did today, after a truly idle start chatting to a fellow-guest who recognised our accents as we passed in the garden and revealed that she lives in Edinburgh. But by midday the sun had reappeared after a brief shower and we set off to walk out along the shore away from the centre, an area we didn’t know at all.

It was rather fabulous: bright sun, a brisk wind crashing the waves onto the rocks; spray and roaring everywhere - and the promenade rising and falling steeply to accommodate the cliffs. Eventually we decided we’d better go no further, sat down for a brief halt - and promptly fell asleep. Both of us. We made it home, however, helped by a reviving coffee on the way, and checked at the parrot restaurant that we could just rock up this evening for dinner.

“ Rock” would have fitted out gait as we staggered home up the hill after dinner…

Blipping the view of the waves from our walk.