… yesterday evening when, having observed the lorry parked up near the unloading bay where the Jersey freighters tie up, that we would be expecting either Thora or Normandy Trader to be making an appearance sometime soon

So will I was out on my post-prandial perambulation this afternoon, I was not in the least surprised to see, on looking down over the walls of the medieval city, that Thora has come to join us this afternoon.

Sneaked in on the midday tide she has, I reckon. And I wasn’t there to wave her in because at lunchtime we were having the most appalling rainstorm.

She’s fully-laden too.

Normally she would carry scrap in from the island to bring here and then go back with whatever her charge would be. But that tractor there – a John Deere if’m right – looks from this distance at least to be far too good to be providing employment for the cutter’s torch.

But there’s all kinds of stuff on there and had I had the time, I would have hung around for a while to see what else was going to be coming off her.

So while you admire the little baby seagulls and their proud mothers that I saw on my walk this afternoon, let me tell you about my miserable day.

Now whether it was because I’d had that mega-crash-out yesterday late afternoon or whether it was the energy drink that I had had upon awakening – the first caffeine that I have had of any description for over two weeks I really don’t know.

But at 04:30 this morning I was still wide awake and working. And that was completely depressing for me.

There wasn’t any alternative except to switch off the alarms and let my body do its own thing. Pointless trying to be up at 06:00

Anyway, it was about 09:30 when I saw the light of day and it could have been much worse than that.

After the meds I sat down to look at the two radio projects that I had on the go. I finished off writing the text for the one that I had half-started, recorded it, edited the recording and then merged it into the broadcast at the relevant place.

Having made sure that that one worked correctly I turned my attention to the one that I did on Monday and which had this rather awkward silence in the middle.

As I expected, I’d stuck in something closer to the front and it had pushed the missing applause track 12.4 seconds further along, missing the gap that it was supposed to fill.

So while you admire the photos of Joly France – the old one – coming into port, I was cutting out 12.4 seconds of silence from that particular track (I’d been working in 6-track, not four-track as I thought) and it all went together as it should.

But there were a few imperfections that I had noticed and so I spent half an hour tidying it up. There’s still one imperfection that I can’t remove so that will unfortunately have to stay. But the rest is pretty good – apart from the poor quality but there’s nothing much that I can do about that.

For lunch I did something that I haven’t done for a considerable period. I’ve run out of home-made bread but there was some in the freezer so I took out a lump from there and let it defrost so that I could make my sandwiches.

In all honesty I have to admit that it’s far better than anything that I have done to date. But that’s not really the point. If I don’t keep on practising I won’t ever improve.

This afternoon after lunch I sat down to look at my accountancy course. In order to recap I reckoned that I would go back to the start of week 3 seeing as I had the time and whack my way through it.

And as always happens, as I was getting stuck into it, the telephone rang. Rosemary called up for a chat. We talked about pretty much nothing for a whole 1 hour and 45 minutes which meant that not only had I missed my habitual walking slot but that rather than advancing with my course I’d ended up further back than when I started.

At least the heavy rain that we had been having had stopped by now, which was always something, I suppose.

So without a raincoat I went and braved the late afternoon air and spent some time watching the activities of the nautical craft that were out there in the English Channel between here and the Ile de Chausey.

We had a fishing boat heading for home in a hurry, a speedboat, a yacht and a couple of open boats. And that was just in this photo too.

There was plenty of other stuff out there too.

Out to see off the shore at Bréhal-Plage was this cabin cruiser. It was parked up there and I’ve no idea why. The crew members were probably having a fishing break – after all, it was getting on for tea time.

There were more of these mysterious buoys out there too today. Either something to do with the sailing school or else they are some fishery stuff.

I walked on along the footpath in between the two rows of walls round to the corner that overlooks the beach at the Plat Gousset.

We’ve seen plenty of nautical craft in the water just now, but we also have some human company too. This guy here seems to be enjoying himself having a good splash about in the water.

And the yellow buoys that I assumed had broken loose from their moorings – it looks as if they are tethered to the beach where they are, judging by how they are floating just there.

So I pushed on … “pushed off” – ed … along the path to the viewpoint overlooking the Place Marechal Foch.

As regular readers of this rubbish will recall, there has been a roofing operation going on there for the last couple of weeks. And it’s still going on too. They haven’t finished it yet.

Mind you, with all of the rain that we’ve been having, it can’t have been very nice to have been up there. But if they don’t get a move on it’ll be just as wet inside as it will be on the outside.

While I was there I could see the crowds out on the Plat Gousset too.

Not on the beach because the tide is well in and there is no beach to be on. So everyone is strolling around waiting for the tide to go out.

Nothing down there particularly interested me so I turned round and walked through the Place Maurice Marland to home, admiring the baby seagulls, the unloading of Thora and the arrival of Joly France while I was at it.

Back here it was time to start the guitar. And then tea. The left-over stuffing with kidney beans to make taco rolls with rice and veg, followed by my delicious apple crumble with coconut soya dessert.

On my evening run I pushed on all the way up the hill and without stopping for breath turned the corner and ran on down to the clifftop.

At least, that was the intention, but the itinerant stopped me for a chat. He says that he’s a painter and fed up of the detention à domicile that we have had, he came out here to reconnect with nature and seek inspiration.

It didn’t look much like that to me, but then who am I to judge? he certainly seems to be well-spoken.

Down at the clifftop – having pushed on an extra 50 metres to counteract the pause, I could see some more of the strange patterns in the sea. It’s a phenomenon that regular readers of this rubbish will recall having seen on regular occasions and I really haven’t been able to find an explanation for it.

All I can think of is that it’s the little stream that feeds into the sea just round the corner that is of course fresh water rather than saline, and the water hasn’t dispersed yet.

But I doubt if that is the real explanation.

It’s not very often that we have some really spectacular clouds around here, but today was certanly an exception.

Having taken the previous photo I walked across the lawn to the other side of the headland and there I was treated to this magnificent specimen over the Brittany coast.

From here I ran on down the path to my first breathing point. No change in the chantier navale and Thora had departed for the Channel islands again. The crane had gone too. I recovered my breath and then headed off down the Boulevard Vaufleury.

Once more I pushed on all the way right down the rue St Jean, through the alley to the rue du Nord and then back up to the viewpoint there.

No-one picnicking on the beach which was a surprise because the sunset was another terrific one. But for some unknown reason the photo didn’t work as well as it has done just recently.

So I ran on home to write up my notes.

Tomorrow I have shopping to do in the morning, and in the evenig I have this perishing meeting that I really don’t feel much like attending.

But there’s all of this course work too, and that won’t be done by itself. One pace forward but two paces back.