coals to Newton-on-Ayr

Within a couple of hundred metres of the shore the smell of and waft from the sea just about overpowered or wafted away the vaguely unpleasant trodden-in-something smell pervading the more inland parts of Ayr, most probably due to fields being sprayed with slurry rather than a general failure of the town sewerage system. I'd gone for a walk in order to make sure I was hungry enough to properly enjoy a meal out in the evening; the smell wasn't quite strong enough to put me off but until I worked out where it might have come from I was frowning a bit and discreetly checking that I hadn't sat or trodden in something unpleasant. Even the shore was smelling relatively fresh in comparison, even near the outflow pipe and the wave-damping rocks next to the sea wall which were home to at least four dead seagulls in the few hundred yards between the road just behind the point from which this was taken and the other side of the large brick building in the distance, whose purpose is unknown but whose immediate surroundings are filled with some functional buses, a few broken-down or vandalised-looking buses and a couple of trashed cars, though all protected by a newish-looking concrete wall, though one which is only four feet high and sufficient only to prevent egress of cars whilst still allowing interested peerings.

An hour or two later I turned out to be noticeably sufficiently hungry for my haggis pakora starter, and a couple of hours after that was hungry again when someone noticed how late it was getting and that there was no sign of our main courses. A manager (complete with moustache and hotel-manager-style reedy voice) appeared impressively quickly, apologised sincerishly and took only a minute to get round to the most important point, in this case worded "and we'll take care of the account" which was welcome if needlessly poncified. Whatever had happened to result in our chosen foods being forgotten had happened after they were recorded as they all appeared within a few minutes along with another round of drinks which most people had only decided to order when the waiter had made it apparent that these were also free. Although no-one chose to follow their free dessert with a free tea or coffee we still ended up getting three courses and a couple of drinks apiece for five pounds each.