Another lazy Sunday down at Lorne — I took off by myself in the morning to wander along the beach — alone in the crowds, watching as people staked out their territory for the day with towels and sun shelters and bags. Then up to the shops to rummage through the second-hand book-shops. They’re not cheap, but there’s plenty of choice as people discard unwanted Christmas presents and holiday reading. I nearly picked up a Lawrence Durrell novel or two — after thinking I should read some for many months — but they all seemed to be the “continued” part of a four or five book series.

The tide is a long way out again, same as yesterday, and the beach is full of people.

On the ugly side, the entire foreshore has been turned into one enormous car-park. The bowling club has been bulldozed and replaced by a car-park, but the old car-park still exists, and in the interests of rampant consumerism and packing even more people in, cars are parked across the remaining grass areas and footpaths. There’s still no way of crossing the road anywhere in Lorne — the entire town is one side of the Great Ocean Road, the beach is on the other, and not a single pedestrian crossing anywhere.

Everyone is sitting around waiting for the cool change to come through — even at eleven in the morning. It’s nearly 30 °C, gray and overcast, and humid enough that the flies and children are driving people crazy…