A long, long time ago (in the olden days before we had a yacht), in a land far far away (The Musto shop, Bicester Village) Mike bought a pair of red swimming shorts for £5.

They have crossed the Atlantic three times.  They have been repaired over and over again using more thread in the running zig zags to hold them together than there ever was in the original shorts.  New swimmers have been tried from Marks and Spencer’s and from Musto but they never found their place in Mikes heart and so stayed in the drawer, unloved.

Meanwhile, we returned over and over again to the land far far away but never found another to love as much……… until…....can it be?  …….  There it is   ......a whole shop full of lovely colours; lovely colours on ….. swimming shorts.  Vilebrequen.  Whoever they are.  But they had belting swimming shorts.  Spoilt for choice.  Lightweight, comfy and fun designs.  Mike left with four pairs and Carol with one.  A touch more than £5 a pair but the original prices are upwards of £200 if you buy them in their home town of San Tropez.  Good grief; for a pair of swimmers!  But they are really fabulous and all the more so when paying £30 for them instead.  As an added bit of nonsense they each come with their own drawstring bag and a fancy waterproof wallet to go in the pocket presumably to keep all your money in while swimming; not that you would have much left if you bought these things full price.

So; a whole wardrobe of new shorts that should between them see Mike through for many years to come.  Time to bid a fond farewell to the trusty Musto’s and the only thing to do was burial at sea, but not before a snippet was taken to keep as a memento of very happy times together.