After the Charlie Foxtrot of Tuesday's weekly reporting, and a Wednesday that was only marginally better, I was looking forward to a more tranquil Thursday. When I noticed the placid waters in front of this boat I thought it was the perfect symbolism.

Look a little further beyond the marina into the rest of the harbour, and ripples on the water foretell rougher weather to come.

And, indeed, that was a pretty reasonable metaphor for how the working day (if not the meteorological day, which was sunny but sticky but still with some chance of thunderstorms tonight), turned out.