A fantastical place.

The BBC engineers already hard at work in chapel. There will be a live broadcast this afternoon between four thirty and six thirty. The sound of a full orchestral version of O come O come Emmanuel drifts across the road towards us. We stop, entranced, and listen . How exotic the music sounds amid the street lights and parking cones of a small Scottish town. You know its advent proper when the BBC show up. 

It's still dark at seven. This morning the rain has gone and the skies are clear and still bright with stars. The town is surprisingly busy with a mixture of students heading home after a late night and early rising towns folk. A large marquee has appeared on the lawn down by the Classics Department. This will host the winter graduation ceremonies which start on Tuesday. This year 800, mostly post grads, will be saying goodbye and starting off on the next leg of their journey. We learn all of this from a couple walking a dog dressed up against the cold in salmon pink pyjamas. The couple are from Beith and are the ( extremely EXTREMELY ) proud parents of a soon to be newly minted PhD in organic chemistry. He is the first in their family to have gone to university and is off to start work with a pharmaceutical company in High Wycombe. They pronounce the High and Wycombe separately as if its an extraordinary and fantastical place and not to be confused with ( if there is such a place ) Low Wycombe. Their happiness is infectious and we wish them - and him - well. They observe there could be no better Christmas present.

Somethings have to be ordered for Christmas :https://www.souschef.co.uk/products/amarena-cherry-panettone-1kg

What if ? :https://snyder.substack.com/p/what-if-trump-wants-goliath-to-win?

Once again the Scots are included as 'English'. If that had been true would there have been a Revolution ? Discuss :https://x.com/uncle_deluge/status/1991295715436556637?  Here is another take :https://x.com/CoKeynesian/status/1991974111715995964?

Minnesota terrorists . The US is so rich no one seems to notice : https://www.city-journal.org/article/minnesota-welfare-fraud-somalia-al-shabaab

Shimmering light

It's the time of the year when invites to festive events arrive. Angus would happily ignore them all but is told that would be 'standoffish'.  We settle on going to three St Andrews night gatherings on the strict understanding we'll spend exactly twenty minutes at each . This requires making small talk ( and drinking unremarkable institutional 'sparkling wine ' ) before returning home. There is that annual discussion about what smart casual means. Does it - or does it not - mean I should wear a tie ? You can be sure the academic gatherings will be tieless and heavy on beige corduroy jackets while the golf club will exhibit a more conservative - almost 1930's era - approach to dress. At the risk of appearing like an ageing wild thing to the golfing circles I dispense with the tie.

Parking proves to be easy. On a Friday night with the light shimmering off the cobblestones the town looks rather Dickensian. 

Down at the college end of the main street things have taken on a Hogwarts look.

The lecture halls are floodlit in Saltire blue and white. Perhaps this has been done to celebrate Scotlands soccer team and their qualifying for the World Cup ? Last year a more calming thistle purple was used for the illuminations.

With parking proving to be easy there's time enough to spend ten minutes in chapel listening to  the organ scholars preparing for the St Andrews Day service. You rarely find a warm church but the chapel is as warm as toast - a feature that is much appreciated in the Scottish winter. The music is good and we have the place to ourselves.

Saturday morning is cold - not bitterly so but chilly enough to make me thankful I put on an extra layer. The cold doesn't seem to trouble some teenage party goers :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7nXluH2its  It's difficult to tell if they've got up early or are returning from a night out. This is, I'm sure, not the way St Andrews Day was celebrated when we were students here. 

Swedish word of the week ( and yes it is illogical ). As for the Julbock don't even think of going there :https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3t1CLq5YqtY

Pity the porcupines:https://www.sequencermag.com/the-mystery-of-the-missing-porcupines/

A moon less ordinary :https://x.com/MoundLore/status/1994153758113333465

A kindness additive :https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-found-a-weird-way-to-make-people-kinder-add-batman

The end of a civilisation :https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/decades-long-droughts-doomed-one-of-the-worlds-oldest-civilizations

Danish dog scarves :https://teklafabrics.com/product/pet-scarf-chestnut-stripes

Late night studying

This morning the bay is full of offshore support vessels sheltering from the strong northerly winds. At some point in the night the wind started to play with two empty plastic watering cans. The sound of them scrapping across the flagstones in the back garden became so irritating it finally spurred me into getting up and carrying them inside.

There has never been a chocolate bar that Angus wouldn't happily devour. However, the options on the shelf in the farm shop leave me cold. Absolutely cold. 'The Font' worries I might be sickening for something but I explain that caramelised apple milk chocolate is  too sophisticated for this 'mature' palate.

The picture in the coffee shop tells you all you need to know about priorities in this wee town. We find there are more couples from Colorado ( accompanied by teenage offspring ) in the cafe. Oddly, there seems to be a very high density of folk from the state here for the open days. 'The Font' wonders what the statistical probabilities of this are. We've seen a grand total of six Coloradoan (?) families over the course of the last week so we may not have much of a workable data set to work with. It's difficult to discern whether the couples are a) peeved to find other folk from Phoenix here or b) reassured that they're not alone in wanting to send their offspring off to this distant wilderness.

A giant chocolate Santa with a surprised look on its face appears in the bakers window. This is much more to my taste than the sophisticated Gen Z chocolate options available in the farm shop. It will probably stay in the window until Christmas Eve and then be bought by a guilty/inebriated father doing some last minute shopping.

We go a screening of ' The Holdovers '. A feel good(ish) Christmas tale all the more remarkable for its way of capturing the greyness of the 1970's. It was made a couple of years ago but we both thought it was made at least 50 years ago. On our way home we stop off at the Indian restaurant for a takeaway. The restaurant is packed to the gunnels with students.

The cherry trees that line the streets have been festooned with white lights . Every so often the lights burst into activity and cascade in a restrained and very Presbyterian manner.

The Shawarma house remains busy with student devotees until late in the night. Exams start in just over a week so there is a lot of late night studying going on and a lot of Shawarma being consumed.

Music from  'The Holdovers' . When was the last time you heard this golden oldie ? The student audience sang along to it :https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cat+stevens+the+wind

This is strangely compelling. I had assumed Wayne would leave Dallas and go to Edinburgh. Turns out he's a low energy kind of guy and is happy just watching a video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaeHdQbSAjI

The first of the ' 2025 -Year in Review ' opinion pieces to drop into the inbox :https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/noahpinions-2025-year-in-review

Rewards :https://newsroom.ucla.edu/magazine/jana-gallus-economist-incentive-design

There's a lot to be thankful for.

Quite a sunrise this morning. Usually the wind farm offshore is invisible. This morning the pylons  stand out low on the horizon. Two deer and a small but chirrupy clutch of wrens watch us as we wander down the farm track to the sheep field. On a calm morning like this there's a lot to be thankful for. 

The weather is, for the time being, being well behaved. Heavy rain is forecast for later in the day so we're out early making the most of the blue skies. The shortage of parking spots tells us other people have the same idea.

The fishmonger is delivering to the restaurant down on the sea front. He's parked his van on the grass by the bandstand and is carting a hundred and twenty lobster to the kitchen door.  He must have started work well before six this morning. Thanksgiving dinners bring some welcome cash flow to the local restauranteurs in the pre-Christmas quiet spell.

 

Down by the first tee on the Old Course a solitary American golfing father is waiting for the remaining three members of his foursome. He's sporting a pair of  sun glasses on the rim of his cap. I doubt if he'll need to use them.

At the cafe by the crossroads banana and cinnamon toasties are on offer for the reasonable price of £3.50. This is the sort of thing that appeals to the student breakfast palate - and wallet. Angus wonders how many nineteen year olds set themselves up with Fries n'cheese on their way to lectures? 

Thanksgiving music :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-4N4bfHTjc

Reconfiguring minds. Mine just gets slower :https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/five-ages-human-brain

The 21st century comes for the knitting world :https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/11/24/the-ai-invasion-of-knitting-and-crochet/

Visible magic:https://www.quantamagazine.org/particle-physicists-detect-magic-at-the-large-hadron-collider-20251125/

Life in Africa :https://josephlevine.substack.com/p/field-notes-from-four-african-currencies

The head of the International Relations Department isn't getting any happier :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/the-bloomberg-story-demonstrated

I used to be driven to school in one of these. Looking at the sharp and protruding instrument binnacles I'm glad we were never in an accident. I am not tempted to bid on it at auction :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2ZScIBwXJw

Seasonal vibe.

This thread on events in the morning news was good :https://x.com/samagreene/status/1993309588310122944

A week since we got off the boat. How time flies. Today the weather drizzly and dreich as we drive into town. On the radio a very English choice of music to start the day :https://youtu.be/PM9mVdb7M7o

Overnight the towns gentle drift towards Christmas has picked up pace. The golf shoes on the bar window sill have gained poinsettia sprigs.  Hat wearing robins and a flashing reindeer complete the seasonal vibe. The French, of course, do Christmas with rather more style :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivVPqwFiocg&list=RDivVPqwFiocg&start_radio=1

The baker has been busy repurposing his ginger biscuits. For some reason he's also selling mincemeat tarts rather than mince pies.

The supermarket tree remains stylishly minimalist. I'd assumed baubles would be added but this appears to be it.

Hard to say whether the small Indian restaurant has decorated for Christmas or has simply brought out the olive trees from the inside for an 'airing'. 

Here in the village preparations are underway for Saturday nights St Andrews Day ceilidh. Angus has delivered 6 bottles of Malbec and 6 of Pinot Grigio to the village hall kitchen.

In Starbucks this morning two families from Colorado are amazed to discover that they're both here for the university 'Open Day'. They chat, uninhibitedly, with a ' Jeez. What are the chances of that ! ' sense of amazement. By the time we leave the fathers are arranging a round at the golf course down the coast.

Shopping carts. I do. Do you ? :https://behavioralscientist.org/why-dont-people-return-their-shopping-carts-a-somewhat-scientific-investigation/

Smaller still and smaller :https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-cell-so-minimal-that-it-challenges-definitions-of-life-20251124/

From 1970's fad into the mainstream :https://www.acsh.org/news/2025/11/24/anatomy-food-myth-49837

Not what I expected from a Texas school :https://www.civitasinstitute.org/research/trumps-ukraine-fiasco

Native Americans have Japanese ancestry ? :https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/05/first-americans-may-have-sailed-from-asia

What an embarrassment for Lufthansa :https://www.euractiv.com/news/three-eu-prime-ministers-stranded-after-flight-to-angola-fails-to-take-off/

Pre-exam week quiet.

The beach quiet this morning. We have a chat with the woman accompanied by her 'yappy' Pomeranian.  Usually there are a few students runners out and about but exam season is fast approaching and last minute cramming is the order of the day. Outside the club house a small group of Americans are waiting for tee off times . A young guy from Duke , working as a caddie, explains how he came here to play golf last summer, met a local girl and stayed. This may or may not be what the American fathers planning to send their offspring abroad  want to hear. The weather promises to be dry and warm. Warm in Scotland at this time of the year means a high of 12 degrees.

In addition to the two sets of roadworks coming into and going out of town we now have the water board getting in on the act. All of the towns three streets are now blocked. The water board has started work exactly a week later than scheduled.

Christmas lights appearing. At night the town is beginning to look quite jaunty.

Scotland managed to beat Denmark for a place in the World Cup. The local retailers see this as an opportunity. It will be interesting to see how America reacts to the arrival of the Tartan Army on their doorstep . The celebrations here were something else :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2eJbaqQKyM

A Christmas tree delivery at the delicatessen. The trees are a quarter the size of the one we've had delivered and are four times the price. They look to be the right size for student dorm rooms. The sales margin must be huge healthy.

This was interesting:https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/21/doge-elon-musk-succession-00641110

Of unknown origin :https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/odd-looking-rock-on-mars-is-totally-alien-to-the-red-planet-perseverance-rover-finds

A blast from the past :https://www.coolidgereview.com/articles/coolidge-thanksgiving

Institutional alarm.

A small patch of asbestos has been found in the attic of one of the universities old medieval buildings. The word 'asbestos' clearly induces institutional alarm and things have progressed ( unusually ) quickly. In the space of days the staff have been moved into alternative accommodation and scaffolding has been erected. From a displaced professor walking his labrador by the potato barns we learn that scaffolding prices rose by 40% last year in the aftermath of Storm Henk. Who'd have known ? In the old days builders would often just clamber up a ladder and pull any asbestos tiles out by hand. These days safety and environmental legislation require hazmat suits, filtration masks and a lattice work of metal pipes that covers the entire building - front and back. Before he leaves the professor tells us how much the work will cost. It will make more than a dent in the departmental budget. Three quarters of the cost will be for scaffolding.  I make ( what I hope ) is a suitably impressed whistling noise through my teeth. We agree that in the old pre-enlightenment days before Health and Safety legislation things were cheaper .... much cheaper ...  but perhaps not better.

A blast from the past on the local radio station as we head off in the car. Must have been thirty years since I last heard this :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6VrKro8djw  It makes us laugh.

The Christmas tree in the supermarket foyer displays a certain uber minimal jauntiness. Perhaps more decorations will be added as the day goes on ? 

It's rained heavily overnight but by the time we make it into town the rain has stopped and the skies have cleared.

Town dogs - like their owners - now venture out wearing coats. There's a sudden influx of American 50 year olds. This hints that the next parents open days coincide with the Thanksgiving holidays . Worried looking mothers and teenage daughters can be seen consulting their phones and trying to work their way around the towns three streets. The golf courses are busy with cheerful American fathers and late teen sons discovering that the wind here is quite a thing. There can be few schools where fathers show such a keen interest in their offsprings SAT scores. Demand for this coming year is through the roof up strongly.

We've now found a seventh outlet offering wreath making 'masterclasses '.

Bought this book by Mary Fulbrook. The young PhD behind the bookstore counter recommends it. Fulbrook is professor of German History at UCL and writes clearly and concisely. Not a subject I'd usually rush to pick up but her careful insight into how Germany conformed so quickly to the lunacy of the early 1930's has some eerily contemporary resonance. I'm always nervous of the ' history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme' form of analysis but sometimes it's true.  People are mostly decent but compromise and constrained compliance are very rational reactions to government rules. Are we condemned to making the same mistakes ? :https://a.storyblok.com/f/287853162362820/x/98a6001fc9/ef-epi-2025-english.pdf

New Yorks very unlovely Penn Station :https://www.compactmag.com/article/a-bright-future-for-penn-station/

The Dutch are great English speakers - the French less so:https://a.storyblok.com/f/287853162362820/x/98a6001fc9/ef-epi-2025-english.pdf

Something important has been broken :https://aeon.co/essays/the-cycling-of-phosphorus-is-the-basis-for-all-life-on-earth  The last two paragraphs are very 'Celt'.

Growing faster than light :https://www.universetoday.com/articles/yes-the-universe-can-expand-faster-than-light

Long Covid cure ? :https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/strange-story-nicotine-patches-treat-long-covid

Evolution :https://mikeklymkowsky.substack.com/p/why-every-living-thing-is-noisy-and