A day that entered with a whimper and went out with a bang. If yoga under a tree in the morning is a whimper and the 1812 Overture counts as a bang.

In between there was a Garden Party with live music and fabulous food. And a lot of toilet rolls. Overnight I had worried that the four toilet rolls I had left in the clubhouse of the local tennis court would not be enough for a celebratory garden party. An early morning dash to the supermarket ensured that the tennis club was fit for an outbreak of dysentery. There was more food and drink than was necessary and as luck and public health would have it. No dysentery.

The Royal Marines concert was a forgotten pleasure. We had expressed an interest in getting tickets during the dark recesses of winter. But the summer took so long in coming we had forgotten the pre booked evening of music that popped into a WhatsApp message yesterday morning.

Tchaikovsky composed the 1812 in 1880 which means that if builders were whistling contemporary music as they built our house the street would have been filled with snippets of one of the World’s most well known overtures.