It's been a funny old week.  One of several pinacles of a-typicalness was Wednesday evening, as I had been invited to give a public lecture for the Royal Scottish Geographical Society's Stirling Branch. The RSGS is a fine and upstanding learned society, whose public lectures in Scotland's provincial towns have quite a following, mainly among retirees and others with enquiring minds. The requested subject was contemporary tourism, so I called the lecture 'Glad they built the castle so close to the shops' - appropriate for Stirling, which has a splendid medieval castle, well, conveniently placed right next to the (somewhat newer) shops. The rehearsal went well, but, closer to the point of delivery, I began to worry that the audience might not enjoy a lecture with such a substantial theoretical content as the one I'd prepared. Fortunately, my lovely hosts put my mind at ease and, in the end, all went well.

My name in lights on the facade of the Albert Hall (above) and dinner (below):

One of several plates with a selection of biscuits to accompany post-lecture tea (the details of biscuit-arrangements in venues across provincial Britain always delight the eye):

The Albert Hall, before the audience was allowed in:

 In full flow: