Golf and gown.

We are off to Hadrian’s Wall so a super quick post this morning. At one end of town the golfers are enjoying the sunshine. Four guys from Princeton pass us on the 15th hole. Seems there is to be a big college championship here next month and they're getting the lay of the land :https://standrews.com/articles/st_andrews_collegiate_2025_team_announcement

Preparations for the major golf tournament are well underway. Last year we met a couple who had bought a $10 million apartment in the block overlooking the 18th hole. They'd come over only to discover their view was completely blocked by the bleachers that had been built outside their windows. They were not happy. Lesson #1 in life - always read the small print.

At the other end of town the students have settled into their daily routines.  On the hour every hour the streets become thronged with youngsters heading off to their next lecture. Some walk on the pavements. Others wander contentedly , oblivious to cars and trucks, along the road.

The antique rug.

In a small place like this no escaping the fact that there's only a week to go before the 'big' tournament opens. The golf end of town has been relatively quiet but is once again humming. The hotels full of affluent gentlemen golfers and their long suffering wives. We see a very famous golfer sinking a shot on the 17th. Tourists consider cutting across the golf course, look at the sign and then quickly reconsider. Full marks for whoever dreamt up these warning visuals.

Three years since we came back to Scotland and downsized. Even now the cellar continues to throw off 'surplus' things to be sold.

An old 18th century Ushak rug is rediscovered. It's brought out to the garage where it is cleaned and rolled up ready for the courier to take it to the auctioneers.

The carpet was left on a shelf in the garage for a week waiting to be collected. During this time the cold weather brought the field mice into the relative warmth of the garage. They soon found the rolled up carpet to be an ideal place to make a winter nest. Last night we get an e-mail from the courier who has found a squashed field mouse and a perfectly formed field mouse nest. Large segments of the fringe have been carefully nibbled away together with an area in the centre of the carpet itself.

The cost of repairing the carpet will be more than its value so the courier will drop it back off the next time he's in the area. Shame. It was an interesting old thing.

A rather sad, but lovely, poem lands in the inbox :https://michaeljudge.substack.com/p/nearer

5 stoic quotes :https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/p/5-stoic-quotes-to-help-you-through

What are they ?:https://www.historydefined.net/what-are-the-stone-spheres-of-costa-rica/

Onto the verge.

A few geese straggling down the coast but the peak of their migration seems to have past. It seems there have been fewer of them this year but that view isn't based on anything other than the flocks we've seen flying by.The UN speech the lead story on the news this morning . There's also a segment on the French President somehow getting stuck in the New York traffic but making light of it :https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CT4v2sAdHwg

Another day when the sky is busy with military planes. Over the bay we see two anti-submarine aircraft and a large four engined tanker sent to refuel them. An even bigger cargo plane flies a couple of hundred feet above the water in an unusual display of airmanship. It's not often you see a plane that low. For good measure a  Navy ship appears in the bay but it's a Fisheries Patrol Vessel which doesn't sound very bellicose. The cormorants are not best pleased to find all this activity going on. They stand on their rock outcrop and glare.

The golf tournament starts in a weeks time. Today the staff are putting up fences to stop spectators from wandering onto the course and getting close to the celebrity golfers . The sheep, so far, seem unperturbed by all the coming and going.

An extra wide load comes hurtling towards us on the road from the beach. The 'Warning Wide Load' vehicle follows on behind rather than ( as you might expect ) in front. We are forced to drive onto the grass verge.

First year medical students starting to drift into class.  This is the first time I've noticed that the lights are on in the lecture halls as we pass by in the morning. The signs of autumn are slow to appear and then they're everywhere.

Disappearing culture :https://www.honest-broker.com/p/is-mid-20th-century-american-culture

Nobel prizes :https://www.the-scientist.com/who-will-win-the-nobel-prize-scientists-make-their-predictions-73490

Novelty socks

The morning radio show informs listeners that the air is remarkably clear. Seems you can see for 70 miles. How you would measure this - or what you would do with this titbit of knowledge - is left unexplained.

Lots of fighter jets flying high and in pairs heading North. I'd usually put this down to training exercises but these days you're never entirely sure. This mornings events in Denmark and Norway are getting just a tad too close to home.

Who'd have thought Tylenol would become so controversial ?

One late flowering Poppy adds a touch of summer to the wind scoured barley field. A solitary out of season Poppy seems a hundred times brighter than its summer cousins.

Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods have taken over the old cinema and are turning it into a golf themed sports bar. This morning a group of workmen are fixing new signs to the front of the building. Can this signify it's going to be open in time for next weeks golf tournament ? The  workmen seem to be bustling around in a most un-Scottish way. Perhaps the promise of a bonus is driving them on ? Will the Tiger/Timberlake duo make an appearance ?

A photo of a sheep arrives, suitably framed, from the photographer in Edinburgh. A blade of grass sticks out of the ewes lower jaw.

The Natural Juice Store that closed ( leaving a pile of unpaid bills on the doormat ) has reopened as a ' Fun for your feet ' novelty socks outlet. The new proprietors clearly think this must have potential.  Angus looks at the socks in the window and decides he is unlikely to become a novelty sock buyer. 

Things I didn't know about forks :https://theconversation.com/the-thousand-year-story-of-how-the-fork-crossed-europe-and-onto-your-plate-today-260704

Hot under the collar :https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-on-food/202509/why-are-men-always-so-warm

Students have better mental health when there are more females in their class :https://www.nber.org/papers/w34269

Autumn.

Cold and bright. This morning we see two groups of deer down on the shoreline. The fawns seem to be doing well although their numbers are down which suggests that one of them at least has fallen victim to a speeding car on the fast road into town. The geese that have been heading south over the last few weeks now seem to have completely gone. The skies are quiet bar the local starlings and crows who continue to glean the wheat fields. 

On the road by the post graduate housing we pass the chef from the Chinese restaurant out with his dog. We say 'Good Morning'. After three years of greeting him he now nods silently at us.

The second week of lectures. The up at dawn enthusiasm of the first week has been replaced by a more relaxed attitude to life. This morning there are parking spaces galore to choose from. Junior lecturers now show up at ten to nine rather than seven.

A group of youngsters are out for a start of day dip in the sea water pool below the castle. One lad ( there is always one in every group ) does belly flops from the pool wall into the deep end.

Christmas magazines ' Celebrating the season of sparkle and joy ' appear in the newsagents.

Dvorak on the radio this morning :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uymTSOYYYC0

Simple illusions:https://sketchplanations.substack.com/p/a-simple-illusion

An English chef in Tokyo :https://www.sezanne.tokyo/

Men and womens differing views on movies :https://x.com/fasc1nate/status/1968918030945001600

Chimps on two drinks a day :https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2025/09/18/University-California-Berkely-chimpanzees-alcohol/5811758217889/

Edinburgh beat St Andrews at rugby :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADIUc4q_PBU&t=6754s

A time of perfect balance

A chilly 4 degrees this morning. Coupled to a bracing 40 mph wind this makes us quickly retreat back indoors to don additional layers. 'The Font' puts on a long black quilted coat which has been gathering dust since April. Angus digs out his ear protecting bobble hat. Both, in their own way, workable antidotes to first day of winter climate shock. Tomorrow is the September equinox. A time when the earth is tilted neither away from nor toward the sun. Sylvia Plath called it " The best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time ". Well up here there's some doubt as to whether we've skipped the fall are now fast heading towards winter. It is however dry.

Usually the pre-dawn quiet of the little beach by the pier is only interrupted by dog walkers. This morning a group of highly enthusiastic teenage kayakers are up and about early. They laugh as they drag the kayaks across the beach to the waters edge. Two of the males bellow as the cold waters of the North Sea lap over their feet. The hardy young female kayakers in their group seem unimpressed. They all finally set off under the watchful eye of a watchful sailing club coach in an orange zodiac.

Advent calendars in the supermarket. The local retailers are now venturing into the foothills of Christmas.

Frog cakes have a starring role in the bakers window ....

... as do fudge donuts.

The fancy 'cocktail ' bar is adjusting its entertainment schedule to meet the needs of a student audience.

So starts a quiet Sunday in a small Scottish town adjusting to the return of 10,000 students while gearing up for a large golf tournament. The tourists also seem to be returning although now the tour buses are fewer and the passengers of a more grand-parently age. Based on the number of buses we see parked by the cathedral this company seems to have a near monopoly on September tours:https://www.tauck.co.uk/tours/scotland-escorted-tour?tcd=sd2026&filters=q:scotland

Sunday morning Schubert :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUhOZYnqEfE

Dog portraits. Published next month :https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alison-friend/dog-only-knows/9781648294785/

Roman cuisine. Not as bizarre as we'd been led to believe :https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/p/would-you-survive-a-week-in-ancient

An essay about going to college in the US :https://amandafortini.substack.com/p/an-education

Interesting history :https://www.nber.org/papers/w34225

A defence against flu ? :https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-death-rays-that-guard-life/

A small ceremony

'They' are up and about early. Four hundred or so students run across the road in front of us. 'They' are still young and enthusiastic enough to be keen on communal events including mass runs at seven in the morning. Will this zest for life survive the cold Scottish winter mornings ? 

We park the car and head to the beach.  As we go we pass the great and the good of the golfing world greeting the newly elected Captain of the Royal and Ancient.  All the local caddies line the fairway and a cannon is fired to get the days play underway. People clap politely and startled sea gulls take to the air. Hip flasks appear. There is a small ceremony which is like the golf worlds election of a new Pope but without the smoke. The members of the Rules Committee emerge onto the clubhouse balcony. Everyone smiles. A young New Zealander in shorts is presented with a gold sovereign for retrieving the new Captains golf ball from the rough. The ancient tannoy system crackles into life and we hear the youngster say ' I'm from Dunedin and it's surreal to be a part of this history '. 

Previous Captains are out to watch the new incumbent tee off. Blazer, flannels and flat caps are the standard plumage of retired committee members. Judges and surgeons seem to be well represented. For the new Captain teeing off under the critical gaze of the games college of cardinals must be an extremely stressful moment. Now would not be the time to splice the ball.

One of the sheep has two white patches below her eyes. For a moment or two we think they are her eyes. She stops and stares at us. We stare back. Last year the sheep were taken inland for the winter but this year, so we're told by a passing beach ranger, they will stay here all year. " They're frae the Hebrides so it's no as if they'll feel the cold ".

A pair of pied wagtails on the turf in front of the lecture halls. They seem completely unperturbed by student comings and goings.

Back at the last wee house before Denmark the wild brambles are still fruiting away.

Life here is settling back into its comforting routines although the temperature is set to fall to just 4 degrees tonight. The decision to turn on the heating was the right one. This coming week we are off to Hadrians Wall and the Lake District. Restaurants have been booked and wine lists carefully studied. On our first port of call there is a very old school St Joseph and on the second night an even more old school Pomerol.

Bird names:https://birdhistory.substack.com/p/chunk-ducks-blatherskites-butterballs

Hotel and private home:https://www.tajhotels.com/en-in/hotels/umaid-bhawan-palace-jodhpur

American history :https://www.coolidgereview.com/articles/tyranny-anatomized