The sun is growing warmer now, though the nights and mornings are cold. By cold, I mean Australian cold, which to a person from Northern Europe might seem positively balmy. Still, most mornings find a white glaze of frost upon the grass. The rooms in this house are chilly and the insulation value of the cladding is virtually zero, so it is not uncommon to find inside and outside temperatures virtually the same in the early dawn.

Thinking of cold means thinking of its opposite. The three weeks spent in Thailand were very hot indeed, with little respite outside the evenings and mornings. Cloudy skies kept the mercury lower too, though only by a couple of degrees. It is little wonder (though not necessarily good policy) that Thai's are busy air-conditioning everything. I was grateful for it but also wondered, often aloud, whether getting used to the heat and humidity, aided by electric fans, wasn't a better long-term solution. A lot has changed in my 20-year absence.

One evening Ann's family and I went to a lovely al fresco restaurant on the banks of the Chayo Praya. The air from the river was cooling and the place was buzzing with diners. This photo is a memento of that time.