THANK heaven the sun is shining!

I don’t know about you all, but I’ve found the last couple of months just a bit challenging.

Now the light has changed and the sun is emblazing the end of the garden for a few hours every day, I’m as happy as a lark!

The other thing that’s floating my boat is news that Chris Percy-Davis of The Big Blu has applied to open an eatery at Dunbar Harbour. Bring it on!

If the queue for his pizza van whenever it rocked up is anything to go by, there is a huge gap in the market for local, good food that we can enjoy in the fresh air. Given the ongoing restrictions to meeting inside for socialising and hospitality, this will be a welcome facility.

We are so fortunate already in East Lothian with so many wonderful outside eateries like Smeaton Garden Tea Room and the North Berwick Lobster Shack. Dunbar already has Bisset’s friendly van pitched up offering delicious freshly cooked seafood and even live lobsters straight from the creel whenever the fancy takes you.

My proud Italian heritage of carry-out fish and chips has set a high standard for all you new kids on the block. I am not partisan, but we all love our local chippies, nearly all run by descendants of the original Italian immigration into Scotland and still standing.

The year 2020 was tough for us all, but I think most businesses have shown our mettle and risen to the challenge. Lots of businesses have taken the lead.

Creels on Wheels, Bostock Bakery’s new cafe and Eyemouth’s plans for a new heritage centre are all innovations ready to seize the day to keep trading until life gets back to normal.

We are a coastal county. If we can continue to get good access and the opportunity to enjoy eating and learning about fish and local produce literally on our doorsteps then the sky’s the limit. So forward and upwards.

Let’s keep trading and smiling. There’s still plenty of skin in the game.