48C.

The Saturday forecast called for thunderstorms. We got  some hail but apart from that it was one of those sunny one minute, cloudy the next type days. More of the same is expected today. The town is full with Italians who've headed north to avoid the searing heat in Rome and Naples. Temperatures there are set to rise to into the high 40's. In Sicily an unbearable 48C is expected tomorrow. 

Down on the beach we meet the usual dog walkers with their hyper happy companions. Can anything compare with an empty two mile beach and a ball to chase ? Some dogs are wary of the water. Others hurtle into the waves like things possessed. I'd reckon the split is 50-50. All our dogs, with the exception of Sophie in her final ' nothing bothers me' days, have viewed the sea as demonic and to be avoided.

Back in town the shopkeepers on the sunny side of the street have pulled down their awnings. There would have been a time not so long ago when every store  had awnings to keep their window displays out of the sun. Now, I'd reckon that most of them have gone.

 

4:49 am was when the three gull chicks decided to inform the world that they needed to be fed. This morning they're flapping their wings in an uncoordinated but enthusiastic manner. Surely this must indicate flight is at hand ?  Sadly, we pass a dead chick outside the university chapel and another dead one outside the small hotel. There's a third on the grass by the golf club entrance.  Is it avian flu or  flying accidents that's causing this high mortality rate? By the time we retrace our steps back home someone rather touchingly has covered the dead chick outside the hotel with a cardboard box. We hope our sleep interrupting young neighbours survive their first flights.

The first small Land Rover I've seen. The 4 door versions are enormous but this is a more manageable size.  It would be ideal for navigating  the unpaved road down to the cottage by the sea. Problem is 2 door cars , with their wider doors, are difficult to get in and out of in multi-storeys or the narrow parking bays in town.

Something beautiful for a Sunday morning :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmHwRCDk7b0

And somewhere new to stay in Carmel :https://www.lepetitpali.com/about-us