The swimming season has officially begun – this past weekend was hot enough to dive right in. It’s cooled off now but for four days in a row we launched straight into iceblocks and sunscreen and salty hair. Come dusk we watched a plethora of nocturnal bugs creeping into the house via holes in the flyscreen.

Summer tends to tease us at around this time each year; a hot day here and there to help us acclimatise. Granted it’s hard to be productive when the air is thick with heat but living here we know that there’s the ocean to relieve…and it’s only across the road. Of course with daily beach visits comes a fine layer of sand in every room of the house. It’s impossible to keep it outdoors regardless of our strict “hose off” routine before we walk inside. Sand in our hair, on our feet and ah, in the bed!

When the cool change whipped through I took to the floors with the broom, the vacuum and the mop. The shiny boards were short lived; the sand underfoot has returned.