Big skies and shallow seas

Great start to the day, when our daughter Chiara phoned to say she was coming up to the Wirral with Henry (younger grandson) – originally she hadn’t felt like making the journey without her husband. She eventually reached us in the late afternoon.

Rain and high winds in the morning, but by lunchtime, when I joined HH, A (his sister) and others at the golf club for a snack lunch, the sun was out and I regretted my sweater (trousers had shrunk in the wash, so I had to keep it on for decency’s sake). They then went off to play golf and, turning up the chance to tread in Rory’s footsteps round Hoylake, I went off to drag the young out for some fresh air. We walked a long way along the beach, which involved some interesting and potentially disastrous scrambling along a curved and slippery sea wall, with no hand holds, to avoid treading in some suspicious looking water. On looking back a few moments later, we found the tide had retreated and we could have walked on the sand without getting our feet wet. The layered tiers of Red Rocks reappeared from under the sea and the dog soon discovered some picnickers in a rocky corner and set about pre-washing their barbecue. They were remarkably sanguine about it and we managed to get him on the lead and proceed round to the sand dunes and a pond, home to some tiny, endangered frogs. Not sure how endangered they are, but there were plenty of them about, along with lovely wild flowers.

Grandson Phil’s friend Joey was wearing a once-smart pair of sneakers, about four sizes too small for him, that we gave Phil 2 ½ years ago. Feeling squeamish about walking barefoot through a mass of bird feathers and other debris along the path, he insisted on walking all the way home on tiptoe, feet half into the shoes, even after we got back to the beach.

In the evening, daughters, HH and I, A and her son Laurie all met for dinner at the restaurant where our son-in-law is a sous chef. He’s currently holding the fort with one other chef while the head chef is on holiday, and they served a total of 72 covers. The meal was absolutely mouth watering. HH had duck and I chose roast belly pork, while Thaisa (No # daughter) had a starter of scallops. Many years since I tasted one of those, but she gave me one and it was truly delicious. A great end to an excellent day.