A memory surfaces of going to a water park with Pim and the boys once, and how the wave machine jostled them and they’d all squealed with delight. It feels a little like that as they drift further away from the shore towards the pier. Ash has always liked the water, she remembers. She’d just forgotten.

She smiles at Dominica as some spontaneous singing breaks out and Claire joins in, amazed by how unselfconscious she feels. It’s Blondie first, ‘The Tide is High’, then ‘Blue Moon’. It feels crazy to be singing in the sea.

The light fades quickly now and the streetlights and hotel lights come on along prom. From out there in the water, it’s weird to see this night perspective of the town, the i360 all lit up in red and blue. The tow floats that some of the swimmers are wearing glow against the darkness of the water.

Years ago, on their honeymoon in India, Pim and Claire went to a festival and there were candles in lotus flowers floating on a lake and this is similar. There’s something of a religious celebration about this.

She rarely thinks of Pim’s Indian heritage, but now she thinks how lovely it would be to go back to visit his extended family with the boys. They’ve talked about it, but they’ve never made the trip happen. They used to talk about their dreams and their future all the time. Has it just been Covid that has made them stop and stall? Not able to see past the next government announcement? Claire has been happy to be at home, keeping her family together, but being here tonight is connecting her to that sense of wonder, that feeling that something extraordinary is happening. She only usually gets that when she goes abroad.

And then, suddenly, momentously, there it is.

Over by the burnt-out pier, there’s a break in the cloud and the majestic crown of the moon pokes out. Claire is already facing it, but the call goes out among the swimmers and soon everyone is facing the same way. They all bob in the waves, watching the moon rising, the mood of jubilation subdued now to one of momentary awe.

It’s quite something – the blood moon. It’s like a huge swollen mandarin in the sky, as if it’s risen just for them. It feels exotically foreign and the atmosphere in the water is suddenly one of jubilation. A spontaneous howl breaks out. Claire howls too and then laughs.

She spots Tor and then sees Lotte in the water.

‘My beautiful blondie,’ Lotte says, effusively. Her hair is piled up in two bobbles on her head, like Minnie Mouse ears, and her copious eye make-up is running, but the joy radiates from her. ‘Are you ready to go more daring? I was thinking that pink would suit you.’

‘You’ve gone far enough. But it’s definitely made me feel more confident,’ Claire says. ‘It took a while for my husband to notice, but he likes it too.’