Thanks for the lovely meal.

We arrived home just before lunchtime today, after deciding to leave a few hours earlier than planned because of Hurricane Bertha.

We (the Royal We) took down the awning yesterday evening to avoid it getting blown away in the early hours, and also so that we (Royal again, I had to stay indoors you see, in order to shout the instructions) didn’t get too drenched. We also didn't want to pack the awning away soaking wet. Our plan worked and we managed to stay virtually dry (totally dry in my case). Nikonabike donned some shorts and Crocs to avoid getting his boots and trousers wet. He did get a bit cold and damp, but nothing that a brisk rub down with a dog towel couldn’t cure.

Back home, after we had unpacked, a quick look around our troughs of flowers revealed we had received some unwelcome visitors in the few days that we have been absent. There were caterpillars all over what had been nasturtiums. Not every trough had been touched, but on the ones that they had attacked, the leaves had been stripped totally bare and there were two or three caterpillars on each stalk, waving around like stubby flags in the aftermath of Big Bertha.