• As we waited for our EV to be ready from Hertz, the eldest and I mooched round the expensive shops at a hot coal drops yard in London. We tried on all the sun hats available, from denim buckets to £75 ultralight sports caps. But settled on a floppy, large-brimmed “hide-me-and-all-my-things-under-here” type from Sweaty Betty. My daughter enthralled by how the hat had to be brought out of a secret drawer.
• Pottered around my home town for a couple of days and had a sweaty but lovely run to Kickback Coffee, where sat in the sun and chatted to a British Airways pilot who was out on a motorbike ride
• While in Bollington we hung around at my mums and the youngest had a great time helping my mum to dig potatoes out of the ground and select and cut fresh courgettes off the plant. Then, after cooking, eating the produce she found.
• Lizzy and I took the kids to a festival; Wilderness in Oxfordshire. A classic mix of music/other entertainment. I won second place at a competitive hammering competition (Laaaads), went on a mass run through a forest, saw Faithless play Insomnia with the eldest going wild on my shoulders, went on a dangly chair fairground ride and had to sit down for a while after. Plus lots of sun, face-paints, non-alcoholic beverages, wild swimming. Best of all, hanging out with friends that we don't see often enough. First festival for the family ticked off with a big “would do again” footnote.