Despite the fact that it was a lovely day, with the sun streaming down out of a cloudless blue sky, they both took their mackintoshes off the hook by the kitchen door and hurried downstairs to head for the pick-up spot for the Blackpool coach. ‘I’ll write to Tess as soon as we get home this evening,’ Edie said. ‘And you must write to Janine as well. Do you include her husband in your letters?’

‘No, since he’s never so much as added a few words to the bottom of hers,’ Albert admitted. ‘And I’d love a photograph – perhaps a wedding group, if they have such things in the United States – but she’s never sent one.’

‘It was signed off Love from Janine and all, but you would think they could send a picture,’ Edie said. She glanced at her watch. ‘Better get a move on, or we really will miss the coach. And when you reply to Janine’s letter, just you tell her that a photograph of her wedding group would take pride of place on your mantelpiece. That should fetch ’em . . . young people don’t realise how we old ‘uns appreciate such things.’

By now they had reached the coach stop, and even as Edie began to say that she would draft the letter for him, the vehicle for which they waited drew up alongside and they climbed aboard. They both liked to occupy the front window seat and took it in turns to do so, and now there was an amicable squabble over whose turn it was. Edie said it was Albert’s turn this trip and he said it was Edie’s, but in the end he settled the matter by pushing Edie ahead of him and then taking the seat next to her.

They arranged themselves comfortably and began to plan their day. First they would go on the beach, perhaps have a bit of a paddle, look for shells and pretty stones. They would eat their picnic there if it stayed fine, and then they meant to attend the tea dance held daily in the Tower. They would see the menagerie before going right to the very top of the Tower and looking down at not just Blackpool but also distant Southport and perhaps even Liverpool itself.

‘Then we’ll have a nice cup of tea and one of those delicious iced buns which they sell in the Winter Gardens,’ Albert said contentedly. ‘Then we’ll have lots to tell Tess and Janine when we write.’

‘Well, I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed a day more,’ Edie said contentedly. The two of them were strolling along the prom as the sun began to sink in the west. ‘We did just as we said we would . . .’

‘And then we had fish and chips out of newspaper, and came down on the prom to say a last goodbye to the sea,’ Albert said contentedly. ‘You’re right, Edie; it’s been the best day of the summer so far.’ An idea suddenly occurred to him. ‘Edie, suppose we have our photographs taken? There’s a booth near the Winter Gardens . . . or we could go to the funfair and poke our heads through those round holes so that when the picture is developed it will look as though we’re in cowboy gear, or a mermaid and a merman . . . would that amuse Janine, do you suppose, and encourage her to follow suit?’