No plaice like Fishmarket for a birthday treat - Fiona Duff

So the festivals are over and the sun is shining. What on earth do I do with myself?

The Fishmarket at Pier Place, Newhaven, recently voted one of world's best fish restaurants by Lonely Planet

Earlier this week it was my husband’s birthday – not one of any significance but when asked what he’d like to do he didn’t hesitate.

“Let’s go to the Fishmarket in Newhaven and watch the sun go down. We could invite a few friends”.

So that’s what we did, and what with it being a Tuesday no-one had anything in their diaries, not to mention most of us being old codgers and therefore transporting ourselves there was free on the tram.

Of course, this was hardly a unique idea on a sunny evening. The place was mobbed; staff frying up haddock like there was no tomorrow and a queue stretching out the door as hungry folk watched them.

It might not be the fanciest thing to do for a birthday, but sitting out over the harbor seemed like the best birthday meal that he could have hoped for.

Did I mention that they sell beer and wine as well? Well, everyone seemed very happy and returned home with full stomachs.

And now today it’s a great day again, so I am going to use one of the golf lesson vouchers that he who was mentioned earlier gave me for my birthday.

He’s determined to get me on a course, and I ain’t talking about the Open University here. As soon as I have scribbled all this out we’re off to the Braid Hills golf centre so I can thwack a few balls into the far distance (well, may 10 yards or so), and he can practice on the range.

That will take up about an hour or so once we have driven there and back, so there is the afternoon stretching ahead. And you know what? I might just sit down in the garden and read a book.

There hasn’t been much opportunity for that over the summer. Long live September.