1. Dozens of straw bales stacked high in a block of pleasing dimensions. As we approach, it seems like a perfectly straight line but as we curve around, we can see that it’s banana-ed.
2. By coincidence, we’re in Southport during the Air Show weekend. We arrive just in time for the Red Arrows first display, which we watch from the edge of the dunes next to my old school. (It is only when we return the next day that I realise how strange it is that everyone there gathers on the same hill, when there are plenty of equally good spots nearby.) I’m as excited about the happy springer running around in the distance as the multi-million pound planes zipping by overhead.
2b. Afterwards, we walk towards the dunes but veer off to the left, taking an easier flat walk than struggling through the sand. We pass between the golf course and the backs of gardens, before reaching the road of expensive, but surprisingly cramped close together, houses.
2c. The afternoon’s walk around town is marked by aircraft: a huge helicopter circles as we walk up past the fair, the absolutely terrifying roar of the Typhoon (made all the worse by the sound echoing around the relatively built up area) and finally the acrobatic light planes that were perfectly framed as we looked up Coronation Walk on our walk back to the car. (The latter were the only ones that it was possible to enjoy guilt-free: the only ones we saw not intended to rain down death from above.)
3. Watching through the obscured window as an excited Lily runs around my mum, saying hello and hurrah, I’m glad you’re all home again.
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