Scandi gris?

After breakfast this morning the four of us walked into town to visit M&S so Owain could change a pack of oversized shorts he'd bought, then to John Lewis' for a drink and a bite to eat. I bought a Owain a wireless keyboard as his Windows laptop wouldn't work with the Apple Bluetooth keyboard he uses with his Mac, despite updating the laptop's drivers. It's a nice piece of kit and I may buy one for myself to save space on my workstation desk, and retire my USB cabled full sized keyboard, to get rid of the trailing wire on my desktop.

We returned home by bus, then  Kath and Owain took their leave of us. Kath drove Owain to Bristol on her way back to Kenilworth. After a siesta we did our weekly housekeeping chores. Then, an hour's walk in the park before I cooked pasta with a butter bean and veggie sugo for supper.

Kath recommended a new police procedural series called 'Anneke' on BBC iPlayer, so I spent the evening watching several episodes.  It's set in the beguiling scenic coastal waters of West Scotland, and the key protagonist is the eponymous detective from a Norwegian family. There are lots of references to Norse mythology plus stories in her intimate stand-up musings to camera, rather than done as voice overs. It works in a quirky sort of way, thanks to the engaging performance of Nicola Walker. 

The plots, one per episode, are plausible enough as investigations, but are somewhat lightened by her soliloquies rather than darkened by over-dramatization as is often the case in story-lines of this type.  Not Nordic noir, more like Scandi gris. As ever these days, beautifully photographed scenery plays a starring role. More entertaining than observational of the ways of the modern world, so far that is. Interesting to highlight the Scandinavian cultural influence on coastal Scotland. A relaxing evening's viewing after a weekend busy with visitors.