6pm.

Now that school has started and summer is over, summer weather has finally arrived! We have been living in Bournemouth for almost a year and I pretty much know what is going on in the garden so can cut back and dig up with a bit more certainty. Spring colour was good but there has been very little colour in the summer garden and I shall have to rectify that with pots next year. It is such a shady space so in this weather it is a very pleasant place to be. I spent some time unraveling climbers from bushes. I've got to be in a certain frame of mind for this job so that it feels rewarding rather than frustrating! In the early evening we went to the beach for a swim. Lots of people had the same idea. The temperature was lovely, in the water and out, and the atmosphere very calm, as was the sea. The previous day the waves were high and I had just bobbed about in the water like a cork beyond the breaking surf. Today I could enjoy a leisurely swim. People were still arriving as we left, presumably coming after a day at work.

I always come back from a swim looking a bit of a scruff, salty hair, crumpled clothes and sand between my toes no matter how well I try to clean them at the shower on the beach.

But it feels good to be alive!

Bournemouth air show

The Bournemouth air show is an annual event spread over four days. It started last Thursday and the weather was such that you wouldn't put a dog out never mind sit on a camping chair for several hours gazing at the sky! What a disappointment for our grandson who had mackintosh, wellintons and child's binoculars at the ready! We went on Friday when the weather was much improved, positioning ourselves on the cliff top where we were rewarded with a severe test to the eardrums as a Typhoon jet roared by.

When we returned home we were delighted to hear, and then see, the Red Arrows fly over the house, shortly followed by the evocative sound and sight of a Lancaster bomber. That really made our day. Saturday we ignored, knowing that the combination of glorious sunshine and the weekend would have the place jam-packed. But come Sunday, the final day of the show and another beautiful day we went early to the beach while we could get a parking spot, put up our chairs, spread out a rug and towel and went for a swim, then sat back in position ready for the fun. The beach was packed, the weather perfect, the atmosphere joyful. Beach hut owners were sipping champagne. It was lovely!