Bright sunshine

It was an amazing day for a Christmas Day swim. A bright morning. More soft southerly winds and mild air. No swell to speak of. And water just crispy enough to keep you honest (we did 12 minutes). Tow floats look so cheerful on the water in weather like that.

The roads were deserted at 9.30am, but there were a few other swimmers - K, L and J. And a few other people on the beach (although fewer than an hour earlier, J assured me). The other swimmers wore Santa hats. I abjured, sticking with my accustomed orange hat.

Back home, Mr A was embarking on the rest of the big clear up from last night. Once that was completed, there was time for some sofa time, with a cup of tea. Later on, we had a Christmas-style lunch with duck legs, sprouts with pancetta and some oven roasted potatoes, fennel and onion, followed by Christmas pudding. Early evening, we went to watch Wallace and Gromit (a triumph), with A and N, before heading almost next door to them for drinks with H and D, where we were joined by some members of the next generation who were staying with their parents for Christmas. We cracked early, and headed home by 10pm.

As I'm running out of days to use my extras, I've added one of the sunshine across Easter Ross as I drove over to Shandwick.