Sunday 11th August

But in the midday sun it might just be.  Luckily we have a nice umbrella and an overhanging balcony to give us some welcome shade in our little back garden.  We have loose paved it, and now about a third is taken up by the swimming pool.  We were paying for a few bits and bobs in ‘The Range’ and waiting in the queue when I noticed a veritable mountain of boxed swimming pools – all at half-price.  So on a whim I picked up the £40 one, now priced at only £20, which was eight foot in circumference and nearly two feet deep.  We were both skeptical as to how it would work.  But amazingly it is wonderful.  Dead easy to set-up and fill; the weight of the water keeps the thing fairly rigid.

And on a sunny afternoon, there is nothing nicer than dipping into the cool water.  Laying back in the sun and floating on ones back, it is never too hot.