Cindy, afternoon light on Millwall Dock

Afternoons are Cindy's hours. The light is better then, she says, and she is right. At 168 cm and slim, with blonde waves knotted loosely at the nape, she has blue eyes that crease into a grin before the introductions are finished. Her clothes are clean and practical in the best sense: a white shirt, a pleated skirt or tailored shorts, flat sandals, a navy jacket for when the wind comes across the dock. Everything about her suggests a weekend on the water, because that is where most of her weekends go.

Cheerful is not an act with Cindy; it is her resting setting. She is easygoing, difficult to fluster and quick to make a stranger laugh. Her English picks up speed whenever something delights her, which is often. Yoga opens most of her mornings. Sailing fills the weekends when the forecast behaves, and photography fills everything in between, on a small film camera, with a notebook of which hours flatter the river.

On the Isle of Dogs she heads for Millwall Dock, where the Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre sends little dinghies out beneath the towers on fair afternoons. She walks you along the quay, names every boat class that passes and stops to frame the skyline reflected in the still water. As the sun sinks behind South Quay the glass turns orange, and she gets her best picture of the day. A drink at a hotel bar nearby closes things neatly.

Cindy travels over from Chelsea and is at her brightest from lunch until early evening; the island sits in Zone 2, so travel costs nothing extra. Look over the Isle of Dogs page for hotels around South Quay, check rates, and send a time to booking.