It took a total of 7 hours door to door, taking into consideration rain, lunch stop, M25 tailbacks, the ferry crossing and Tesco, but I’ve now settled into my temporary IOW abode for the next 2 weeks while Sam drills, house-bashes to upgrade sockets and switches, paints, lays new carpet and makes cups of tea for the plasterers.

I have neighbours either side and so I’m not entirely on my own, but being alone does not mean that I’m lonely. Us only children are very good at being by ourselves, and so to be happy alone is the top thing on the list that I have to thank my parents for. I have my Kindle, lots of seaside walks, and of course the computer so that I can write if I want to and keep up to date with social media.

The site’s pool opens to owners at 9am, and often on a Sunday I am the only person in it. It is heaven swimming up and down without small people screaming, throwing beach balls and jumping in. The lifeguards do not have the radio on first thing on a Sunday, and I have to say the silence is quite, quite pleasant.

After swimming I will walk down to the beach and along to Bembridge Harbour. The walk is mostly downhill, and a few days of this allows me to gain my ‘Island legs’, which is necessary after living mostly in the flatlands of Suffolk during the long months of winter. The ‘Island legs’ means that after a few days of hill walking my calves will seize up for a couple of days, and then slowly defrost. After defrosting this will allow me to walk up and down hills as much as I like without the calf muscles turning to jelly. Living on the flat is no good for leg muscles, which need hills to become strong and toned. I didn’t know this when we moved to Suffolk 32 years ago, but I know now!

Here I will have the time to read. I have two biographies with me that my sons bought me for Mother’s Day; one is written by Janis Joplin’s sister Laura (Love, Janis), and the other is by James Patterson (The Last Days of John Lennon). Yesterday it was warm enough to sit on the decking and read, and according to the weatherman the next two days’ weather will be good too.

I’m lucky in that I can get away from the mess that our house is in at the moment. Poor old Sam is in the thick of it, but knowing him as I do he’s not happy unless he’s doing something. He’ll be here at the caravan at Easter for some R&R, but meanwhile at the moment when he’s not at work he’s either house-bashing or painting.

That’s all for now. Will write again soon.