A sign of the times

The Udny Arms was, for a very long time, the village's popular and successful hotel. Originally a fishing hotel, and then, when North Sea oil arrived, a busy business hotel sporting a very fine restaurant. The hotel also laid claim, together with other establishments it must be said, of having invented the notorious sticky toffee pudding. Of late it has gone into gradual decline and the current crisis in the oil industry seems to have brought it to its knees. It is now up for sale, doomed I think to being converted to flats.

While on the subject of hotels, the "extra" is part of my occasional series on names for pubs. Today, "The Four Flies".

P.S. Just back from a walk along the beach where we encountered a gathering of photographers with big, envy-inducing lenses (see second "extra"). The cause of the excitement was a Humpback whale out at sea, cruising backwards and forwards, feasting on a shoal of small fish. The terrified fish were forced to the surface by the whale where they were then attacked by a cloud of Terns, diving into the shoal. The Terns were, in their turn, being harassed by Skuas, the pirates of the sky, who were trying to force the terns to drop their catch and then to snatch it out of the air. Sadly this was all happening well beyond the range of my very modest lens!