‘Thanks.’ He turned his attention to the boat. As he pushed it into the water, Charlie ran over to him and he paused to give him a pat. He spoke but I couldn’t decipher the words over the wind and the waves.

When Dan jumped into the canoe and started rowing, Charlie pined.

‘Come,’ I shouted. As usual, the dog took his sweet time obeying, and then shook himself the second he got to me so water splashed all over my clothes.

Cursing, I clipped the leash back on his collar and then walked him up the beach a few hundred metres in an aim to dry him a bit. When we got back to the shack, I still needed to towel him and within seconds of us entering, he’d curled up in front of the TV and was snoring peacefully. I was tempted to have a cup of tea myself and read for a while, but I still had to unload the car and the shack would feel much more homely once I had.

It took almost half an hour for me to carry everything inside and then another hour or so to unpack and arrange it all. I dumped the extra cleaning supplies I’d brought in the laundry and put my clothes into the wardrobe, which I’d cleaned and fumigated on my first visit. Next I set up scented candles all around the shack to help further eradicate the musty/fishy smell, then threw some cushions and a snuggly blanket on the couch and put a rug down next to Charlie on the horrible old carpet. It really needed to be professionally cleaned or, better still, ripped up and replaced completely, but at least the rug meant we’d have somewhere clean to rest our feet on in the meantime. Charlie immediately woke, transferred himself to the rug and then promptly fell back asleep. I laughed as I set up my music docking station and a DVD player, which we never used anymore because of Stan and Netflix. I’d brought some old movies from home, although I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get the player to work with Xiang’s ancient TV. Pity I didn’t have Sax with me; he and his friends seemed to be experts in all things technology.