The Versailles like hotel.

The good weather brings out the weekend crowds. By late afternoon the town is jam packed with day trippers. We try to get an early evening glass of wine in one of the hotels overlooking the beach but parking is impossible and every table is taken by German tourists.

On our way home we detour to the large 5 star hotel near the village. The hotel is an enormous faux-Versailles  construction that's popular with wealthy Chinese and Malaysian golfers. It has a fleet of large BMW 4x4's that shuttle guests back and forwards to the airport. Such is the current demand that the BMW's have been supplemented by half a dozen large black golf club swallowing Volvos . In the car park there's a rather fine Tesla in a kind of matt green. We both wonder if its politically acceptable to be a Tesla owner. Last week it wasn't but who knows what the political orthodoxy is this week?

Although it's sunny the outside terrace bar is closed. It has a wonderful view over the coast towards the cathedral. We wander inside to a cheerless and charmless lobby notable for its battleship grey gloom ( we both agree that battleship grey wall paint is a brave interior design choice this far north ) and a collection of over sized sofas with a 'zingy' pattern. The hotel was developed by a gentleman from Atlanta who thought it a good idea to have a five story atrium as its focal point. He'd clearly never been to Scotland. In the summer sun the atrium warms up like an oven. In winter it's impossible to heat. The question of what to do with a five story, barn like,  atrium also seems to have been left unaddressed. From the balcony we can look down onto the atrium floor below where a large screen television is playing footage of the Los Angeles riots to a group of Singaporean golfers marooned at a solitary table. Pity the poor waitresses who have been dressed up in tartan skirts with matching tartan sashes and scurry around in the half gloom . They may be enjoying their work but if they are they're hiding it well.

Today the Edinburgh builders come to replace the windows and terrace doors in The last wee house before Denmark. The old windows were supposedly double glazed but triple glazing and a super secure fit are necessities rather than luxuries here in the winter.