I took a flask of coffee, but when I sat down on the bench behind the Beach Café and opened it, it was too hot to drink. I was impressed that it’s so effective. Maybe it’s because I topped it up with boiling water. I’ve finally worked out how to do it up and press the button so it doesn’t leak. Major advance for me. I took the lid off to encourage it to cool down.

There seemed to be a lot more people around than I remember from when I lived in the flat and regularly took early morning walks on the beach. There were always the odd dog walkers, joggers and metal detectors, but nothing like the numbers who were there today. That said, everyone was keeping the required distance, though it struck me that I didn’t see anyone wearing face masks. I had on the scarf I wear for the supermarket, which I can pull up over my mouth and nose if necessary. (I did see one man with a mask on my way home, he had a bright blue one and bright blue gloves, and as he was on a street with a lot of care homes, I wondered if he was on his way to work in one.)

There were also quite a lot of people swimming in the sea – not just the regular ladies who go all year round, there must have been fifteen or twenty people – again, all observing a sensible distance. Of course, the swimming pools are all closed, that affects me too, but I don’t fancy going in the sea at seven in the morning, not even in this weather.

I decided to walk on to the Rose Garden and give my coffee time to cool  a bit, but when I got there the gates were locked – there was no notice to say the garden was closed, just the usual one saying that the gates are closed at dusk, so perhaps they’re just not opened till eight or nine anyway. The same happened at the garden behind the museum – which I know has been opening, because my friend Sue messaged me a couple of weeks ago and mentioned she’d been there.

So I finished my coffee sitting on a bench by the lake, and there I noticed that although there are a lot of swans, there were no cygnets – thinking about it, there would be nowhere for them to nest, anyway. Perhaps the ones there are just the ones that aren’t breeding this year, and the others are nesting over in the marshes to the east and north. I walked home past the garage where I keep my van. It’s due for its MOT this month. Something to organise. Oh what fun.