It’s 4.45 am on summer solstice. I have been awake an hour already. Sunrise will come soon, bringing more than 16 hours of daylight.

I sip my tea — a Rare Kenya Silver Tip — and am eating fresh sweet strawberries from the tunnel house.

A nearly full moon is setting behind clouds in the west while the birds start their dawn chorus all around. The constant sea roars gently behind me.

Oshi has come up on the bed. He’s lying quietly by my ankle, occasionally hiccuping, as he sometimes does.

This is a moment of peace as the world reaches its turning point. The year-end holidays have begun, the longest day has arrived, the summer is underway. We will rest now before launching ourselves into a new year.