Last night in Staithes

Began the day by singing happy birthday to Shirley, Christine's sister. She's also a long-time correspondent and dear friend of mine, and she joined Christine for the visit with Sue and me in Staithes. We all drove to Whitby to put Shirley on a bus back to Baildon and then poked around Whitby with Christine before she took us to Robin Hood's Bay, another little former fishing village turned into a tourist magnet and holiday home spot. We had glorious weather, fierce blue sky and sun, breeze off the North Sea.

I find I'm a little teary and melancholy this evening. We still have a few days in London ahead, and that's going to be wonderful. London is my second-favorite city in the world. But we find ourselves saying goodbye again and again. Tomorrow Christine will leave us in York and the last phase of this Grand Tour of Blipdom will begin.

As we walked around the harbour this evening at dusk, the gulls' cries were also mine.