We're in Cornwall - on a holiday originally booked and paid for in 2019.
Postponed twice, for obvious worldwide germ-fuelled reasons, but now finally here.
And it's lovely.
This trip has come with extra appreciation this year of how easily things can change.
How fine the balance is between a yes and a no, between a can and a can't, between one day and another.
The pandemic has had such an impact on all our lives, that to be teetering out the other side seems almost surreal.
But in the place we've returned to, there are obvious differences and evidence of the toll the past two years have taken.
Some empty shops, a few higher prices, a lot more stories and the poster reminders of masks and high rates.
One place that appears to have weathered the storm is our favourite holiday activity shop where we've been painting pots.
It's lovely to sit as a family and daub paint, in varying degrees of success, on a variety of ceramics.
There are rows of plates, mugs and bowls to choose from, along with piggy banks, fairies and dragons.
So we pick our preferred items, either by usefulness or silliness or potential beauty, pick up our paintbrushes and concentrate.
We sit in the stillness and appreciate the moment for what it is. That in this moment we are content and things seem okay and we should really, really be grateful for that.
Because if the last two years have taught us anything, it's that little can be taken for granted.
And we're all at risk of a bull in a china shop.
:: Delicate by Sananda Maitreya ft Des'ree
