Cute animals

I visited the Scottish Seabird Centre on Saturday. I'd avoided stumping up my £6.95 during previous visits to North Berwick, but felt it had to be done. If you notice a slight hesitancy there, it's because I often disapprove of modern museums, which seem to always be an "Experience" (note the capital E), and involve lots of images but very little real material. Initially, this looked to be the case, with a lot of huge reproductions of puffins and seals in evidence. Ultimately, however, it's redeemed by a number of real exhibits: the remote cameras on various islands that you can control in real time, and the tanks of sea-life, including prawns, hermit crabs and blennies. The grey seals and their pups were in residence on Isle of May, and watching them laze about (anthropomorphic, but what else can you say?) is irresistible.

North Berwick is a very cute place to visit in its own right too. It seems to have retained a very healthy set of high street shops, unlike many small towns. The Aldeburgh of East Lothian? Pity it's full of golf courses, though.