Alone

It does not take much to generate a sense of solitude when in the sea. We were around 8 or 9 for the Sunday swim - a healthy number. We had to swim from a slightly different part of the beach, nearer to the headland, as there were lots of fishermen on the main part of the beach, arranged at 20-30 metre intervals. No matter. It's a big beach, and there was plenty of room for everyone.

I swam off for a little while to enjoy the solitude and peace, not particularly feeling the need for the gentle chat. It was grand. I had woken up in the morning, despite a very long sleep, feeling out of sorts, but by the time I got back, after an experience of sun, sea and sand, I was feeling grand.

After I'd showered, Mr A and I sat in the back garden with a fresh mint tea, and then we set about some further jobs in the garden, which mainly consisted of moving a few plants around, as well as clearing out the Leycesteria formosa Wall, which we had found in the side garden but then transplanted into the front garden as some instant greenery last year. I looked it up yesterday and we decided it was likely to become unnecessarily invasive. Mr A pulled it out and we replaced it in that spot against the front wall with a helichrysum from the herb garden. Our brown bin is now even fuller than it was on Saturday, but the garden is looking nicely balanced with just one or two spaces for a couple of slow growing plants.

Other "achievements" during another fairly lazy but warm and sunny day included obtaining a wire coat hanger from our neighbour J, which Mr A refashioned to rescue the pair of scissors that I managed to drop into the gap between two raised beds on Friday, and firing up the TV for the first time. We've only just acquired one, and we used it today via player to watch the Scotland v Hungary Euros match, which came to a sad end.