Muted celebrations became a little more joyous around 1.30am when tiny Clackmannanshire, which had been in the sights of the yes camp, voted for the union by 53.8% to 46.2%.
Such is the affection for Stuart Pearce in these parts, the opprobrium of the Nottingham Forest supporters on the final whistle was muted and delivered as much in sorrow as in anger, but their patience with the manager must be wearing thin.
Which makes the muted official response all the stranger.
After the whiteness and midnight markets of neighbouring El Jadida, the colours were muted.
The company, which also operates in the US and Germany, argues that limits on the use of nicotine that can be used in e-cigarettes will also mean they can only offer a "muted choice" to users of more dangerous and toxic tobacco.
In some places away from the halls of Westminster, reaction was more muted.
There are some great scenes - worlds colliding at the cinema; Rhonda taking the initiative with Cedric; McNulty and Bunk's faces when the "dawg" penny drops - although the pace remains muted.
"I try not to watch it that much," she says, her voice muted by the swell of the room, "because I think of all my elderly that's been taken away … it changed our cycle of life and how we live".
With the help of Henning Kristiansen's atmospheric cinematography, in a range of muted primary colours, Axel captures the bleak Jutland peninsula of the 1870s, where live two unmarried sisters (Bodil Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel), daughters of the former pastor, and founder of an austere religious sect, who devote themselves to keeping alive his memory and his teachings in the tiny remote community.
No wonder that the Indy, FT and Guardian were notably muted – nay, statesmanlike – in Cowley's aftermath.
I was hoping things might improve when we got to the sex scenes, but although they are, as the press has excitedly reported, long and relentless, they are also muted and unsweaty.
