A red letter day.

A large  helicopter comes over the town at dawn. It flies in from the sea and then takes a bee line for the rugby pitch by the large hotel owned by the American sanitary ware company. Four very affluent looking golfers step out and are collected by a large golf cart. A second cart transports their clubs to the first tee. This is the way to travel. We lesser mortals look on enviously. 

Progress. One of the bookcases has been installed in the garden room, the windows are in and  the roof is on. It should be finished next week in time for the landscape gardeners to work their magic. The affable Italian painter will be back on Monday. He tells ' The Font ' that he makes six times what he could make in Naples and gets overtime when he has to work on a  Saturday. He also says that it's 52 degrees back at home. A level of heat which 'The Font' quietly thinks is somewhat improbable .

In the conservatory the electronically operated ceiling lights are in. They will help  maintain an even  temperature in the house throughout the year. Unfortunately, one of the doors onto the patio has been damaged. A replacement is ordered but won't be here until a week today. It is hoped that this won't delay completion into mid-month.

Back in town we have a coffee at the newly opened hotel by the golf club. It has a roof terrace with glorious views across the Bay. The helicopter is gone.

Back in town a group of American visitors are standing in the middle of the street by the roadworks. They are deep in conversation. One of them has bought a muffin . When he came out of the bakers a seagull swept down and snatched it from his hands. His wife has had the same thing happen to her. They seem amazed by this audacity. Don't American gulls do this ? Guess they'll think twice about eating in the street again.

At the wee house in town we find that two of the three seagull chicks have made their first foray into flight. They're sitting on the roof of a house to the side of us. One of the three stays behind, squawking noisily, in the nest . Is it sickly or is it just a late developer ? The gulls may be a nuisance but they've become neighbours. I guess this counts as a red letter day for them ... and for those looking forward to being able to sleep in peace. 

Had you ever heard of King Philip's War ? :https://www.thecollector.com/king-philips-war-new-england/

This was a useful guide to something everyone has an opinion on :https://popehat.substack.com/p/people-are-lying-to-you-about-the?r=18smg1  as was this insight into the unbalanced use of data  :https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/democrats-and-republicans-arent-divided-by-gender-theyre-divided-by-marriage