The forecast for the American west coast for late August and September looks promising at the moment, but I think one needs to be prepared for a variety of weather. New ‘zip off’ legs trousers will provide the choice of long or short trousers, Rapha merino wool base layer T-shirts should do for warm and cool and now I have lovely pink neck tube, (not sure that’s the correct term) (Mike edit:- it’s called a buff), for my birthday from Aileen and Martin. Perfect for protecting the neck from both chilly breezes or strong sun.

It’s been rather a quite birthday, worked part of the day but finished around 2pm and have mooched around not doing very much. It was an indulgent treat to be able to have a little afternoon siesta, it made me think that introducing a day bed in the office wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Had a nice pile of lovely birthday cards to open this morning, including this very apt one featuring a touring cyclist’s camp from Jean and Syd. This will be us in just over three weeks, (minus the tent), looking forward to lots of Pacific Ocean sunsets just like this one.