Monkey and Murray do Strangford Lough

Our friend Jessica arrived on Saturday for a five-day visit.

Jess normally comes alone, but this time she's travelling with Monkey and Murray. We'd met the guys several times before but they hadn't made it to the island, so for them it's been a riot. They live in Edinburgh, and although they've been on numerous excursions around mainland GB, they've never been anywhere that has boat-only access and no mains electricity - so quite a culture shock.

From our point of view they are the perfect guests - good company when they're around, but happy to go off and do their own thing. After introducing themselves to Rat and Eddie and making small talk, they produced wetsuits and headed to the shore for a spot of fishing; then they took the canoe round the island and ended the day with a picnic, a la Faulkner, of tea with raspberry and white chocolate friands.

The week is yet young..