Friday 26 June:

Usual harbourside dawn walk on a somewhat cloudier start to the day (but still warm and no wind). Two photographers (proper ones with actual tripods!) were at the marina – and I wanted to tell them that I did this most days at this time and ‘where on earth have you been?’ (but didn’t)!

Continued sorting out and boxing our ‘de-selected’ books – I think we’ll end up with something like 600 of them! We’ve just got the dining room and basement to do now. Have been in touch with Antonia at Emmaus and it seems they’d be delighted to have our ‘rejects’ (and, hopefully, they can collect) – but they’ll only take books that haven’t been written in (so yet more work for us to do!). Apparently, Amnesty Books (Gloucester Road) will take the rest… if we can get them there.

Charlotte set up a mini urban sketchers’ virtual meet-up in the afternoon (‘attended’ by Ana, Judith, Sara, Charlotte and me) – vaguely located around Royal Fort Gardens – which was good.

Alan had returned my Megan/Adam drawing and asked if I could sign it(!)… I should have checked. Anyway, now done – and awaiting Ruth to take down to the post office.

Watched another Montalbano episode and then read some more Wodehouse.

Image: the seagulls are enjoying themselves now that there are more people eating+drinking on the harbourside again… and leaving the litter bins overflowing (*sigh*).

PS: BBC website has photographs of a massively crowded Bournemouth beach (social distancing seems to be a thing of the past)... hugely depressing.

PPS: The government has now ceased its daily television conferences (probably to avoid being asked embarrassing questions that they can't really answer).