I dreamt last night of the Aussie sea. I was swimming in pounding surf. Even though I was under the frothy water, and the waves were crashing overhead, I could hear the sea gulls above. Sailing in the air. Making music.

When I woke up, I remembered that I was in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire. Landlocked. Even so, when I looked out of the window, the gentle sunlight of the English morning greeted me with a polite hello. Blue sky with fluffikin clouds. English countryside is subtle – not too much brashness. It’s not pushy.

Yesterday I popped into Chipping Norton to look at the antique centres and pick up some supplies. No one queue barges in the Cotswolds. They politely wait their turn. Nice manners. They patiently wait for you to reverse park if they are behind you in the traffic.

The gentleness of the English countryside is soothing on the soul. It stills your heart. By comparison the Aussie summer at its height is relentless, intense with searing heat and blinding light. It is tiring and makes you restless. You are relieved to be at the beach when temperatures soar.

 

Yesterday, our house party played a lot of tennis, walked in the countryside and later all met up for a delicious afternoon tea of home cooked cakes. Chat was muted, friendly and respectful. There isn’t a lot of teasing, the Aussie style of taking the mickey.

But if you are a kangaroo like me, you occasionally want to shout out and kick your heels. Yell. Scream. Let off steam. Break into a disco move.

You can do that in the surf, but not on an English country holiday with a gaggle of pheasants and stags. If you did, however, let loose, dance a little jig in the middle of a tennis game, the pheasants and stags would just turn to the person next to them and excuse you, saying, “She’s not really crazy. She’s acting like that because she Australian.”

How I let off steam in polite English company is to tell funny stories and make them laugh. It is quite an effort sometimes to weave a yarn, but it is worth it to make them burst out laughing.

Today we are visiting Hidcote Manor with Hugo.