A few years ago, on one of our first holidays as a couple, I bought my lovely wife a sports kite. This summer – we finally got it out of the pack and into the air. It was a thing of surprisingly intense exhilaration and speed, cutting through the air with extreme prejudice as Amanda maneuvered it through the strong seaside breeze down the South Coast last weekend. I entirely failed to get the knack of keeping it aloft, despite the coaching efforts of our outdoorsy, engineer friend Matt (as opposed to our lanky poker-proficient friend Matt), and even Amanda and Matt managed a couple of dramatic, high-velocity ground impacts.

Definitely a Fun Thing, though, and a repeat outing will need to be had. And in a break with tradition, that’s actually a picture of our kite in flight!