A tropical paradise?

 No, believe it or not this is Lossiemouth. It has been a very hot and windy day, at least that part of the day that I have seen. I slept most of the morning away. This afternoon I had a very nice Scottish breakfast sitting outside looking at the boats, and when the waitress asked if I fancied a blonde I could not believe my luck. And a very nice blonde too, made in the local micro brewery. I suppose blonde beer sounds better for marketing than pale ale.

Lossiemouth is an odd mix; areas where shops and pubs have closed, and others where new ones have opened up. Expensive trinkets and a gelato bar (ice cream to the rest of us) just a few hundred feet from Ladbrokes (why do they allow it?) and a secondhand furniture shop. It benefits from having an RAF base right on the edge of the town which must boost the economy.

Like Eyemouth, Lossiemouth has its own fishing tragedy. On Christmas Day 1806 the fleet (actually only three boats, but 21 men on board) set sail in fine weather and a sudden storm sprang up, with winds from the south west blowing them away from the shore. Neither the men nor their boats were ever seen again, and no trace was ever found......

And did you know that the first Labour prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald, was born here, and one of his cousins set off for the USA with a bizarre idea to sell animal byproducts in a tasteless and nutrition-free white bun?