I have long believed that south-east Queensland/northern NSW, for the period from mid-March to early September, has simply the best weather on the planet. Bar none. That horrible enervating, soul-soaking heat and humidity have gone. Day after day, nothing matches it. I reckon I have travelled enough to be able to make a reasonably unbiased judgement on this and if anyone doubts my impartiality, I will also concede that the rest of the year is possibly the worst weather on the planet. Hate it.

For a short period of isolation, I have decamped to the little place by the coast for a few days. For the last two/three days, there has not been so much of an illusion of a hint of a whisper of the merest cloud at any time throughout the day. The sky is a radiant blue. The ocean is…