We had a good time at the caravan in Pembrokeshire. As Blue Witch suggested, there were a lot of people there. The beach wasn’t crowded because it’s a very big beach, but we drove to Saundersfoot to book a table for lunch and the whole town was packed. And the restaurant was closed. Joseph, who runs the caravan site, said it had never reopened after last year’s lockdown, which was a shame as it was a very good place. We went to the hotel complex up the hill and asked if their restaurant served non-residents (which it used to) but it doesn’t, so we invited our friends, who happened to be staying in North Pembrokeshire for the same week, for lunch instead. I made it easy. Smoked salmon, loch trout, cheese, roasted vegetables and cucumber salad.

Having got back here on Monday, Tim is back in Reading again now. Relations needed a bed for a few nights, so he was happy to be host. I’ve got quite a lot on here, so he’s on his own.

It seems to be a period of bad news. Several of Wink’s friends have died this year and she woke this morning to an email telling her of another and worse, asking her to kindly let some friends know. I emailed a client the other day, offering to enter some china of his into the sale – I’d sold a number of his pieces a couple of years ago, but there were a few left, which I stored as he lives in another country. I had a reply from his daughter to say that he died earlier in the year and she’d like to keep his remaining china. That’s no problem at all, I’ve packed it away for her and I hadn’t put lot numbers on yet, nor written out the descriptions. This morning, i went to pick up some china from another client. She and her husband have a beautiful collection and he died a few months ago (not unexpectedly) and I did the probate valuation.

She asked me how I’d found things a few months on and I could only offer sympathy, not comfort. I said that I thought it got worse. That was how she said she’s feeling now. I stayed quite a long time, chatting. Not just about that, we talked about dogs and family and all sorts of things. She said that people had suggested she might move to a smaller place and her reply was that she feels she’s lost quite enough already, without losing her beloved home.

Then I came home, had lunch and had a nap. I didn’t mean to go to sleep, I had a lot to do, but not much of it got done. There’s always the weekend. The self-employed are used to working at weekends (and a lot of employed people too, even if they’re not ‘at work’) and don’t think anything of it.

So, with one thing and another, although I don’t mean to sound gloomy, I suppose I am. I’ll find something jolly to write about next.