Seize the day and go down to the sea

A LOVELY morning to wake to – for a change. Outside, the sun is lighting the garden like a stage set.

I step out and the air is already half warm. The stream gurgles melodiously, swollen from a week of near-constant rain. Back indoors, the forecast tells me this is the first belt of high pressure we’ve had since May.

For fear it should be short-lived, I resolve not to miss it. Flexi-time is a privilege of my occupation – I’ll work tonight and enjoy sunshine while it’s there. Praise the gods, and seize the day. “I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,” said Mr Masefield in some of the most strapping lines ever written in English poetry.