Not Portobello Beach

Today dawned with a morning mist blanketing the view. Visibility was down to 300 m. But just as the forecasters promised as the sun rose the mist melted away faster than the proverbial snow off the dyke. Thoughts of snow could not be further from our minds as the sun scorched up to 27 degrees and the brilliant blue sky beamed over everything.

Grand parental fun again today with our little generator of washing which dried within the hour ,thanks to the aforementioned meteorological situation, entertaining us for most of the day. In the late afternoon we attended a wonderful garden party for dear former colleagues and good friends who are leaving Gloucestershire this week for promotion and new challenges in the Channel Islands. They will thrive there and the warmth of their send off was both thoroughly deserved and a testament to their future success.

Tonight's sunset is as memorable as any I have seen in the Cotswolds. The air still. The squadrons of rooks craw westward with the sinking sun. The neon presence of Gloucester City cross fades with the arc light illuminating the lantern tower of its cathedral. The relentless white noise roar of the M5 traffic is the only blot on the aural landscape. Its ceaseless passage - the automotive blood in the nation's commercial arteries are an omnipresent reminder of how our very existence these days is premised upon the existence, the operation and facilitating of the internal combustion engine.