During festival night a fire started on the cliffs above the coastal access road to Positano. It burned up the hill for most of the night and because of the terrain the ability to get men on the ground was severely limited. So the next morning the bucket brigade started up.

That meant up to 5 helicopters with monsoon buckets and the like dumping sea water on the fire – for a day and a half before every hot spot was damped down.

Sitting by the pool was surreal with the background sounds of choppers in the air and a faint whiff of smoke on the breeze. As Jean said, it sounded a wee bit like a war zone.