September 19th – I was wrong when I said last week must be summer’s last breath; we’ve been blessed with another fine weekend of warm, sunny weather.

It was an 80 mile loop of east Staffordshire, and on the way I passed again through Coton in the Elms. The small flock of ducks that wander between the village green and Pinfold House are local celebrities, frequently holding up village life, seemingly oblivious to the delay they cause.

That tufted chap is wonderful, but all the others are stars too. The secret of happiness, it seems, lies in being a duck.