Darkness at four.

 

It's starting to get dark a little after four. To cheer everyone up the Christmas illuminations have been switched on. The municipal workmen are testing the light display on the town fountain. The wind has blown the projector so that display is missing the fountain and illuminating the block of flats on the other side of the road.  For St Andrews Day and  Hogmanay the decorative  snow flakes will be replaced by thistles. One council workman clambers up a ladder to remove a traffic cone that some enterprising first year has put on the fountains upper tier. He voices a view about the students that definitely isn't politically correct. We spend a few moments taking it all in before heading off to a seminar on the German political crisis. It seems the governing coalition is about to fall apart.

After an hour and a half in an over lit and uncomfortably warm lecture hall we detour into the trendy cocktail bar for a restorative tipple. We had thought of going for a coffee but 'The Font' points out that it's the wrong time of  day and that Angus will end up saying the coffee tastes like dishwater and the price is outrageous. Much better to aim for a so-so glass of Argentinian Malbec. We're the first customers. In fact we're the only customers. The young waitress informs us that the cocktail bar doesn't really come alive until ten.  Angus discovers the snack on the table are actually a table decoration. We chuckle away contentedly.

From the high bar stools by the window its a pleasure watching the world pass by. There's some sort of event going on in chapel . Professors in their gowns and hoods can be seen sprinting across the road so as not to be late.

By the time we leave its pitch black. 

It has to be said the Christmas lights are minimalist. They are the same lights recycled from last year and the year before  ... and indeed from many years before that. This wee town is Presbyterian and prudent to its core. The circling seagulls glow as they catch the light from the decorations. The birds glimmer like so many circling stars. We stand and watch them. Passing students turn to see what we're looking at. They glance at us with that suppressed ' should we call someone ?' look.

This book is brilliant. My knowledge of Canadian history was limited but the constant fear of invasion by their southern neighbours has been pivotal in shaping national identity. I've yet to get onto the chapters about Mexico.

Some calming museum for election day. Todays car radio interlude :https://youtu.be/wwl9cf9uUFQ?t=4