Canisters.

The mountains of coronation biscuit tins in the supermarket aisles have suddenly gone. The lady at the check-out says that there has been a last minute surge of interest in this weekends events. All that is left on the coronation shelves are some red, white and blue freezer bags. 

Usually Sophie is up before me but the sound of the wind howling around the chimneys has put her in full on 'cozy' mood. This morning she's curled up in her bed and dreaming about chasing squirrels. Every so often she quivers and emits a small squeak.

After our start of day walk down by the rocks the family diva returns home for breakfast before heading to the beach. This morning we park by a van that advertises its owners as ' Engineers for the perfect espresso '. 

Union flag bunting has appeared in the village. In the strong easterly wind the flags, carefully strung across the lane at a height that allows the postmans new van to pass underneath, are bobbing up and down like corks on the ocean. By the old school house we meet the young Asian professor of medieval history. She was used at the late Queens funeral to explain the ceremonies to a more 'diverse'  television audience. Later this morning she'll be heading south to do the same again. She thinks the words 'magical' and 'weird' are the best words to describe the coronation ceremony. The memories and experience of a thousand years reappearing unapologetically in a tech driven world. 

'The Font' notes that a bottle of sparkling water in our weekly grocery order has now gone up to £1.75.  A month ago it was £1. A quick calculation tells me that were getting through £7 of water a day. That's £50 a week. This seems outrageous . I order a water carbonator from Sweden. It arrives packaged in a box within a box inside another box. It's rather bigger than I'd imagined and surprisingly comes without a gas bottle. ' We're not allowed to ship those internationally ' says the disinterested voice on the other end of the phone. If I want a gas bottle then I have to order from the local distributor who can ship gas bottles. Go figure.  The bottles are ordered and are due to arrive next Wednesday. A back of the envelope calculation says that this new purchase will pay for itself in five weeks. What I don't know is how long the gas canisters will last.