The day surprises.

After the bitter cold of the last few weeks the weather has turned much milder. Right on cue the golfers have returned. There are three foursomes waiting patiently to tee off when we wander past the starters hut on our way down to the beach. ' You got any tips on how to play this course ? ' asks a gentleman who turns out to be from Charlotte, North Carolina and who works for a large American bank. He and his colleagues are here on a works outing. ' Got a great deal on airfares' we're told. He and his colleagues sing the praises of Delta into Heathrow. ' Great service' says the man. This phrase is then repeated by the others in case we're in any doubt as to how good it was. 

Away from the 1st tee town remains quiet.

I pick up the Kevin Rudd book on Xi Jinping from the bookstore and go to a lecture on  the coming German election. This could have been interesting but was delivered by an academic  speaker who has a delivery style that wasn't so much dry as arid. It can safely be said that the visiting academic does not approve of Elon Musks support for the right wing AfD party. Angus wonders how it is that people who are paid to lecture can be so bad at it. Guess in academia substance always beats style.

As we settle down in the evening to watch an episode of the the new series 'On Call' on Amazon Prime ( which we've been told to watch for its next generation photographic style  ) the power goes off. The power company ap can't give us any indication of when it will be restored. It seems to be impacting a lot of local postcodes. Power outages are rare but when they happen its usually down to something serious.

We decide to go into town for dinner. This is a mistake. Many of the local restaurants are taking their annual holiday while the students are away and tourists scarce.  Finally, we opt for the safety of the large hotel on the golf course which is always open.

Just our luck ! It turns out the hotel is using the slow period to upgrade the two restaurants on the top floor. The bar with a view onto the Old Course is open but they've done something with the furniture. There seems to be a lot of floor, little furniture and a dearth of customers. Two bar staff serve  - including us - a grand total of five guests.

While the renovation work is underway dinner service has been moved downstairs and  is being served in a conservatory on the ground floor. This turns out to be very white. In fact it's off-puttingly white. They can get us a table but there's a large group coming into one one of the private rooms and the chef will be busy. Guess that will be the North Carolinian golfers we met earlier in the day.

Faced with the unforgiving decor we opt for a takeaway from the Indian in town and return home to the last wee house before Denmark where we dine by candle light. As we finish the power returns.

And that is what qualifies as excitement in a small town on the Scottish North Sea coast in January.

Architecture:https://www.construction-physics.com/p/why-skyscrapers-became-glass-boxes

Does spending ( a lot ) of money always generate good taste ? Romes latest hotel makes me doubt it :https://theromeocollection.com/en/

AI mistakes are weird :https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-mistakes-schneier

Flying cars almost a reality ? :https://www.sciencenews.org/article/flying-car-reality-technology