No sooner in the city ...

... And we’re off to the country again! A glorious day saw us exploring a new place for us both as we walked for miles through the nature reserve at Aberlady Bay. Founded, I believe, in the early 1950s, this great area of salt marsh, dunes and sea buckthorn scrub was alive this afternoon with the songs of skylarks and other birds, and the grass dotted with every bit as many wild orchids as we saw on Lewis.

We had a long chat in the sunshine with s new Scot from East London, and saw a skylark taking a dust bath on the sandy path before calmly standing up, looking round and flying off with that marvellous dipping flight. Better still - dogs aren’t allowed, so there was no stressful encounter, nothing unpleasant on the ground, and no poly bags dangling obscenely from the sea buckthorn.

And closer to home: Mousse the cat has just come in after 13 hours on the ran dan...