Rain is forecast for the day after tomorrow, so there is a certain urgency about our autumn spring clean. We washed all the bedding yesterday and used the tumble drier to get the duvets dry enough to sleep under, but there are lots of our clothes and towels, not damp but a bit stale after three years confinement. We festooned Lyra with as much as we could, flipping things over to catch the sun. Laundry in Italy is very satisfying.

After lunch we walked into town and chose our fabric for the new mattress. It was unrelentingly hot and standing in the tiny shop was not much cooler. We had planned to do some shopping in town afterwards, but the mimed offer of a lift back was too much to resist. We said please, hoping we had not misunderstood, but our man gathered his keys and led us to the entrance to a subterranean car park. We waited till he came out in his car and it was such a relief to sit down. We sped all the long road back, with the wind bathing us with cool, marvelling at the ease. He gave our dock number at the gate and took us right to our pontoon. We couldn’t thank him enough. It would have been an act of kindness at any time, but in view of Covid even more so.