The do's and dont's .

The Traitors is proving to be riveting viewing on BBC 1. We don't watch much tv, and certainly didn't intend to start watching this, but after 5 minutes we're hooked. The casting is beyond brilliant. Who could believe that a group of tetchy strangers sitting around a table trying to work out who is lying and who is telling the truth could be so compulsively entertaining ? Perhaps its secret lies in the way the cast remain uncoached and the outcome unscripted and unpredictable. 

The south of the UK has been pummeled by 100 mph winds. Up here the snow has melted and then re-frozen as a thin layer of sheet ice. Despite the best efforts of the local gritting team the roads are slippery and for the unwary treacherous. The good news is that parking, with so many of the local shops shut for the rest of the month, is a doddle. The little BMW, with tyres as broad as they are tall, has the sure footed grip of a mountain goat.

The local kilt makers seem set for a bumper year. Adverts for World Cup attire are popping up everywhere. It can only be a matter of weeks before the newspapers have to start advising local fans of the do's and dont's of American domestic air travel. Scots fans would be well advised not to attempt to board a flight with their dirk tucked into their socks. Putting it in their carry on baggage won't work either.

Sale time. In the few stores that are open restocking is underway.

Burns Night and Valentines Day offerings have not yet appeared at the bakers. Instead he's reverted to making that old favourite - fudge doughnuts.

By the time we head back out to the coast the weather has warmed up a wee bit and a thick haar is rolling in from the sea. Sleet, snow, ice and thick sea fog. There's nothing quite like Scottish weather. The gritters are back at work spreading salt on the pavements.

There was a time when a tv was expensive :https://www.construction-physics.com/p/how-did-tvs-get-so-cheap

UK politics are odd ( but so is everyone elses ) :https://howpoliticsworks.substack.com/p/politics-in-the-zombie-era

Bowies Life on Mars on the organ being practised on the chapel organ this morning. Is it to be played at a wedding today ? :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvwQBJgRz68&list=RDzvwQBJgRz68&start_radio=1

I had to read this twice :https://www.politico.eu/article/france-delay-g7-white-house-donald-trump-birthday/