As I lie awake at night, memories are triggered by the rhythmic chirping of Christmas beetles; and waves crashing on the shore in the distance.

I still feel like a kid whenever I stay on the Hibiscus Coast in Kwazulu Natal.

It reminds me of the holidays I spent with my gran (Granny Sinclair) and great gran (Granny Ward). We would always have tea every afternoon at 4.00pm. The china tea cups were arranged on a tray, with a fruit cake or victoria sponge, and a tin full of biscuits. I was always allowed to choose my favourite biscuit which was a chocolate marshmallow. There were always people dropping by for a chat, a cup of tea, and a slice of cake. Grans menagerie of cats and dogs would be lying outside on a sunny veranda. Later on as the sun set and everyone had continued with their day, we would take all the dogs for a walk along the beach - occasionally one of the cats would trail along behind us for a while. We would meander along the shore searching for pretty shells to fill the round glass bottles that we turned into lampshades. There was a large swimming pool built into the rocks at one end, and we would usually take a dip in the warm frothy water of the Indian Ocean. The days would roll on endlessly over the summer. We would all sit down every evening at 6.00pm to watch the news, which was the only reminder of a world going on outside our perfect bubble.