BANFF

I was made to feel very welcome in this town, and I left it on Friday with a headful of pleasant memories, and more than a twinge of regret that I didn't have time to get to know it better. I did most of my exploring on foot between Castle Street (where I stayed), the harbour and the Deveron estuary. I haven't walked so much for ages, and I think my legs are stronger for the trip.

The people were friendly, and always exchanged pleasantries with me when I met them on my wanderings. On Sunday morning I strayed, more than anything else, into the church of St. Andrew and stayed for their morning worship. There was a fair number in the congregation, but most were older than me. I was struck by the caring attitude and respect the Banff people have for the less able members of their society. This may be a strange observation to make, but in other areas, the care is more institutionalised, or so it seems to me.

One of the things that amused me was the tolerance here for the activities of seagulls, which is greater than we have here in Lerwick. Many of the cars are liberally splattered with their ordure, and I saw one poor man taking a direct hit from one of these dive-bombers, as he walked along Low Street. He compounded the problem by trying to wipe the stuff off with his hands and, at this juncture, my face was hurting so badly that I had to turn round and walk in the opposite direction.

Some of the buildings in this part of the town seem to be in quite bad repair, especially the roofs and chimney stacks, many of whose pots have been removed, presumably on installation of central heating. Many of these have been colonised by the aforementioned seagulls. This area is in stark contrast to Sandyhill Road, along which I took a walk on Sunday. Here the grey granite houses on the east side of the road get bigger, the further out one goes, and this is obviously the habitat of the merchant and professional classes of Banff. Across the road, newer but no less imposing houses have been erected in part of the extensive grounds of Duff House, the main reason for my trip to the Moray coast.

The view across the beach at Boyndie Bay towards Whitehills, from the row of cottages along the shore road at Scotstown, is beautiful, and I intend to make a priority of committing it to canvas.

One thing which marred the enjoyment of my visit was the evening ordeal of the boy racers screaming up and down Castle Street, their car stereos blaring out an inane mind-numbing thumping as they used the public highway as a race-track. The object of the exercise seemed to be to see who could create the most disturbance to the peace of the area, and the police, unaccountably, seem to condone the practice. This is surprising, as another serious accident can only be waiting to happen, and I would have thought that there had been enough car-crash fatalities of late in this region.

My next trip to this part of the world will, unfortunately, be an even shorter one, when I collect what remains of my exhibition at Duff House, and do the necessary relative paperwork, in August. However, I hope to get to know the area better at some time in the future. Banff is a place I'd very much like to visit again.