19 hour day ...

We're home. It's hot. (21c at almost midnight). There's a slight breeze off the sea, but it's warm. Besides, we have noisy neighbours - the seagulls are kicking off down on the shore. I think there may be a few oyster catchers joining in. May be a party ... But the thing is, to accomplish today successfully we've been up since 5am. 

Thing is, we were worried the extreme heat of the morning sun might leave us unable to lock the door when we were leaving.(Don't ask.) And we had much to do - stripping the bed, lugging our duvet etc to the car, plus towels and cases and a box of food and two freezer bags - and why did I think I might need a warm sweatshirt? But we managed it and were ready to leave just before 10am ...

We stopped at Harthill for a quick coffee, and pressed on until we came to Greenock. There Himself let me out of the car at the lights to pop into my hairdresser to see if he could take me in the next hour - and he told me he actually had thirty minutes and could I just stay ... So Himself parked in our usual place, and half an hour later, hair now mercifully short, I joined him for focaccia and prosciutto salad in Tonino's next door. 

It was as well we'd sustained ourselves: there was a queue like an execution for the ferry, and we saw two depart before we boarded one. I can honestly say I've never been so hot on one of these crossings - the white paint of all the metalwork seemed to reflect every joule of heat straight to us. It said 29c on the car thermometer and even in mid-channel there was no breeze. We were glad to be able to put on our engine at the end of the crossing, blast ourselves with a bit of air-con.

What did I accomplish since then? Well, I washed loads of stuff from our cases - sheets and towels as well as clothes. It all dried outside in a couple of hours. I wrote the Intercessions for the church service tomorrow. We both unpacked more or less completely. I took in the washing again and tidied up some of my random mess. We made a stir-fry for dinner and opened a nice bottle of white. 

I fell asleep in front of the 10pm news. 

Collage is of the many nasturtiums in the garden, thanks to my neighbour, Margaret's, careful watering while we were away.