Day 11 of the shut down, shut in, whatever.
Here in Durness everyone is following advice closely, as far as I can see. On an hour-long cycle ride yesterday I saw no moving traffic, 3 walkers and a couple of dozen lost sheep.
This morning is not a cycling day, with a sprinkling of snow everywhere and the hills white. Roads too slippy to cycle and fields too soggy to walk on mean another walk down to the beach for exercise. Which is never a problem.
Here's the house from the field with Charlie's horses hoping I'd come to feed them, and a view in the other direction. Pretty good place to be confined to barracks and environs.

James Burke and filler

I listened part way through two of James Burke's Web of Knowledge and won't bother with the third, broadcast today. Disappointing as Tomorrow's World featured large in my youth.
I know broadcasters can't resist a quick image or sound to set the scene, or tone or to prompt our memory, but the gratuitous sound clips, as long as his slow sentences, seemed more like something from an Iannucci piss-take than professional broadcasting. I gave up when passing mention of a student "charting approaches to places like Quebec so British ships could sail in and shoot them up" was followed by twenty seconds of recorded shouting and gun fire which continued behind the narration.  Listen guys, the program is diverting little exercise in connecting historical facts and figures to each other. You can't sex that up with a few sound clips. Just balls it up.
I guess the schedulers found themselves with a ten minute program to fill a fifteen minute slot and just packed in the extraneous rubbish. "Ach, no one is really listening at lunchtime anyway".

Cleanin' Windies

I had the tow path to myself until three cycles emerged from under a low road bridge, a young couple and an older man blinking in the sun. The path narrowed and curved to the right but the lad in front went straight on, down a wooden ramp onto a floating metal pontoon moored alongside the canal as a temporary dock. He briefly looked shocked as he realised he'd gone off the path then turned back to grin at the other two, raising an elated fist and whooping in delight. And almost immediately splashed off the end of the dock into the filthy weed-covered water. The girl jumped off her bike and rushed to the edge of the canal. The older man stayed with his bike and called "you say he went to university?" She said "come on, help him, he could catch something in there or drown even". Ignoring her reply he continued "...fer what? Cleanin windies?"

alien predators, no human intelligence here

No dead students, despite the one reading his text messages as he crossed the car park. A circular road through 4 lines of parked cars where predators prowl, 
growling slowly round, watching; incredible, inexhaustible patience,
 and I envy their focus, that ability to wait and wait until an empty
 space appears and then Pounce. Pedal to the metal. Got it. Mine! Flashed along the length of the car park and into the slot
 and stopped before anyone even noticed. Gagne!
If you peer inside you can see the pale white controlling brain. There
 doesn't appear to be any consciousness; I think its all reflex.
 But don't get in their way - they may not mean you any harm, these monsters, but if you
 happen to be between them and their prey its really not their fault.

माइक्रोवेव inefficiency

It would save so much time if microwaves had two buttons, one marked "not hot enough" and the other "overflow onto the plate" instead of a dial that makes you guess how many seconds to set.

worries

My sister,my sister, says she has her hairdresser on speed dial. This worries me immensely.

The important thing is to maintain altitude

I am no longer your pilot,
  he should have said
I'll be leaving you now,

Its what we pilots do.

You'll agree we've gained a lot of altitude
    while I've been at the controls, and
your new pilot, when he arrives,
  will know your destination.