Oh, I do like to be ...

When I lived in the West End of Glasgow, I used to wonder what it would be like at the seaside in winter. We spent our summer holidays every year in Arran, and I loved it - never wanted to return to the city at the end of August. Sometimes in the Easter holidays we would take the Blue Train to Helensburgh - even, occasionally, make it across to Dunoon. It wasn't Arran, but there was sea.

Well, this is what it's like in the winter. It's about 3.45pm. The tide is quite high, so that occasional splashes reach the pavement. The promenade is deserted except for me and a man with a dog. The street lights are reflected in the rain-washed concrete, though right now the rain has stopped. The lights in the distance are on the Western Ferries ship making the crossing as I leave the dentist's surgery. 

Nearer the town centre, two lamp-posts have coloured lights wrapped round them. There may be a third, green-lit one further on but the rain's come on again and I can't make it out. In Argyll Street, there are two lit decorations - the rest have, famously, refused to light and have been dark since the much-feted switch-on over two weeks ago. The street is not busy, but cars pass and splash with vigour.

And that is what it's like to live at the seaside in the winter.