Al fresco dining

IT'S OVER 100 degrees F in the garden this evening - 102 to be exact.

That's warm!

We're almost reluctant to start in on the hot, homemade crab soup; instead, we enjoy a second apéritif (a g. & t. for me, an extra-dry martini with lemonade for My Good Lady). We're not great nibblers as a rule, but we do succumb to the fresh anchovies we got as a treat at the fishmonger's the other day.

We watch the temperature slowly falling on the thermometer on the side of the shed - down to about 85 before we finally decide we can face the soup; we stir in a dollop of cream as it warms up,and we pop the jacket spuds into the mircowave.

By now, the sun has gone behind a cloud and the temperature has dropped to 70 - just about right for dining.

As we tuck into MGL's excellent crab and vegetable soup we reflect just how holiday-like this dining al fresco is: it's what we always do in France, when we're self-catering there. It's one of the pleasures of being abroad, and now it's a pleasure we can enjoy right here, at home, this summer, with our birds twittering around us, and our garden stretching out into the distance.

All very agreeable.