simple

It's years since we have had unbroken good weather on holiday. That's not to say we haven't had the occasional day or two of nice weather and some great holidays, but our ability in the past to seek out bad spells of weather even in places like Majorca has, together with the astronomical cost for a family of five, put us off holidays abroad for quite a few years. At least if you stay in Britain, you know exactly what to expect, and a week's rain in Suffolk is par for the course.

But this time we got it right and the weather was fabulously hot and sunny (with just one cloudy morning). It made me realise just how good sunlight and warmth can be for bodies used to draughts and winds and rain and grey skies. And, when you have teenagers who can cope with heat, are happy to slow down to 0 mph, and who can apply their own sun lan lotion, it makes things very simple indeed.

When you have got sun and slothfulness, there's not a lot more that's needed apart from:

huge, fresh, fuzzy peaches

and huge, fresh, local lemons

and huge, fresh, silvery sardines

and huge, monumental cacti

and hugely colourful geraniums and lantana

and huge bushes of pink oleander

and huge blue skies as seen from a gently rocking hammock (shared with Edith Wharton).

From neon-pink fingertips (not mine) to neon-pink toes, every fibre in the body feels warm and rested.

Then we come home.

(Some of us are going away again today until the end of the week. Various combinations of teengers will be staying with us, but this will be a less sunny and less slothful break.)