Swanee River?

No, it's just the estuary of the River Stour at Mistley near Manningtree! The large colony of swans here use this sandbank as a roost and a sunbathing spot. At least they are safer here than when they choose to come out of the water and cross the busy main road! The fence is not to keep them in, but to prevent the public falling off the edge of the seafront here:-)

Another busy day today, as my daughter was determined to do her usual Christmas shop in M&S. It was heaving with people when we arrived, but they were all very good natured and no-one came to blows over the turkeys! The 30 minute wait in the queue for the checkout wasn't much fun, but fortunately we'd thought to take cool bags and ice packs with us, so the fridge and freezer shopping went into these while we waited. Clever or what?!!

The afternoon passed all too quickly and it was time to say farewell to my daughter and my son-in-law drove me to the airport for the flight home. I was extremely lucky again with the weather, as the flight was very smooth, with no noticeable turbulence. It was a quite different experience for a friend who flew into Glasgow Airport the day before in a howling gale. On board was a semi-hysterical woman who screamed every time the aircraft lurched, which didn't do much for the confidence of everyone else!

My poor husband had a much worse journey to collect me, driving through a blizzard on the way there and another on the way home, but he tells me I'm worth it!! Good to be home again and say hello to Simba, who barely noticed I'd been away:-)

I hope to catch up with you soon, as broadband is considerably better here than it was down there:-)