Diary – Sunday 04 August 2002

After amazing sheet lightening and rain storms, complete with thunder during the night and early morning, we emerged to breakfast al fresco outside on the deckchairs – just like the blue ones we used to have at the cottage – it must have been the standard Argos offering c 1980! The sun got stronger and the ground dryer as the day progressed, so we took sandwich materials, teabags and dry matches to the beach hut feeling very Famous Five, and spent the afternoon sitting on the beach, looking out to sea, at bronzing families and beach boulers, yachts and speedboats, reading Shogun (quelle surprise) and Cities of Civilization (Phil). Hot enough for lashings of sun tan lotion and bottles of water. Late lunch, no icecreams, even with a shop within 40 paces!

We returned to the caravan as the afternoon cool set in and the dark clouds gathered ominously again. Fantastic having a beach hut to throw all the deckchair type paraphernalia into. The skies didn’t seem so heavy back at Naze Marine, and we pottered and read and tidied before walking to the station, just missing the 6.30. Strawberries helped to pass the time until the 19:15 trundled off to Thorpe-le-Soken and onward to the urban sprawl of East London, depositing us at Liverpool Street Station.

Caught the tube home via Clapham Common and the No 37 bus, getting a ‘I’ve gone to bed, shattered’ sms from Hazel en route. Detoured into CJ station to buy a cheese and mushroom West Cornish Pasty – slightly disappointing as always – and dispensed with unpacking in favour of bed and book and pasty. Asleep before 11pm – a befitted a weekend of slumbers!