I took the Kool Aid …

and walked out the other side into a Tuscany shorn and bridled from the Saharan heat of a two weeks ago. A freshness like a cool shower of rain; a sun so restrained I worked through the hottest hours as if on a jaunt in the Galloway hills; the air so clear as if we were at Cape Wrath or amongst the Lyngen Alps.

I weeded and watered and fertilised to make the most of what is and to prepare for what will be in the autumn season.

Rarely has an August day been so blessed. Penalties and all.