After a restless night in this holiday house, I wake at about 7.30am, it is still dark but the sky is completely clear with the promise of a sunrise over the mountains. We make coffee and watch the sun rise at 08.43. We have a lazy morning catching up on emails and journals, it is a clear, cloudless sky and quite hot, about 28°C. As we sit on the terrace, we are serenaded by someone singing operatic arias. I establish that they are coming from the house immediately below ours. He sings quite well in a narrow range, but hitting the high notes does not work, it sounds more like he has belly-ache with his ou-oooh and aahhhhs.

Julian and Geneva arrive about 1.00pm and it seems non-stop talking and activity until about 4.30pm when Julian, Geneva and Mr C. go to the supermarket at Durcal and fill the fridge, lots of food, a whole kg of Serrano ham, much fruit and vegetables too. I make stir fry with prawns and we drink the wine left by Mar, the villa owner. The evening passes very quickly.