Sauna users.

The farmer stops his tractor and wanders over for a wee chat. A chance for him to have a break from 24/7 potato planting. 'Granny' Jack Russell dozes in the warmth of the tractor cab. She's been slowing lately and they're making sure she's always got a member of the family as company. The old lady seems to be enjoying the attention - and the absence of the two younger terriers. In an hour , after the younger children have gone to school, he'll pop home for a coffee and let her sleep by the AGA. The farmer has pre-sold his entire crop to a potato chip maker in Newcastle. 'The price was reasonable' he informs us in a tone of voice that suggests a new Range Rover may be coming along soon. 

There's another glorious sunrise over the beach. This weeks weather has been a  wonderful surprise.

A group of half a dozen people spill out of the new beach sauna . They run about and laugh in that overly contrived ' Isn't this great fun ?' way people do when they emerge from extreme heat into the bitter cold. A thirty something woman in a bikini has been barbecuing sausages on a throw away grill. They sit at at a table and eat these off paper plates. There's a hint of hypothermia inducing frost on the grass so It's a surprise that they're wearing nothing other than swimwear. Usually sauna users quickly don their long padded coats for warmth. Someone has put a vase of daffodils on the picnic table which is a peculiarly domestic touch.

Starbucks , when we get there, already busy with students and dog owners .

The first of the new seasons fresh peas in the garden shop. There's also fresh asparagus. It can't be long before strawberries are in season.

This morning instead of lemon sole we opt for some freshly landed brill.

A week today we head off to Japan. This morning an unexpected e-mail from Palo Alto informs us that ' the departure from Borneo has been delayed due to technical reasons and a new embarkation time for passengers joining in Yokohama will be advised'. I have a presentiment of a disaster/adventure in the making. What sort of technical reason can possibly prevent a boat from getting underway ? Having flown to Borneo how are the 30 Palo Altans taking their delayed departure ?

Lost birds :https://birdhistory.substack.com/p/birding-10000-bc

A pricey new way to see Italy:https://www.orient-express.com/la-dolce-vita/

Cambodian history :https://thediplomat.com/2025/03/cambodia-the-unbearable-memory-of-the-khmer-rouge/

This has the great advantage of being brief . The closing paragraph is to the point :https://www.econlib.org/what-would-true-reciprocity-mean/

A St Andrews professor gives his views of what's happening in the world. This may be more opinion than analysis but the last line seems to sum up the consensus pretty well :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/how-to-make-us-rivals-stronger-101

Swimming hares.

Every day this week has been more cloud free and glorious than the one before. More sunshine is forecast. This morning we watch two hares race  across the sand. They rush into the shallow water and then - perhaps surprised by its alien  wetness  - turn abruptly and head back to the safety of the long grass that lines the shore. It's not only humans who are enjoying the sunshine.

Last night one of the Manhattanites , talking about Liberation Day, voices the view that ' Populism is popular until you live with it for a while'. 

The old cloisters and pends provide intriguing glimpses of sun lit secrets beyond.

Youngsters starved of sunshine are out and about. Even at this time in the morning a sheltered spot can offer warmth. Some of them have bought fudge doughnuts at the bakers and are enjoying an al fresco breakfast. Some read books, others chat.

The renovation of the Aquarium is progressing but I doubt it will be finished by Easter. Men in orange jumpsuits are busy with a concrete mixer.  Work on the old cinema has also burst into life after six months of inactivity. Perhaps the Tiger Woods sports bar will be ready to open this summer ? I also doubt that this will be ready on time.

Golfers are now piling onto the sacred turf. Angus is called over to take a group photo of amiable 50 somethings not once ...but twice. This group of cheerful gentlemen will be moving on to the Trump Golf Resort at Turnberry this afternoon. " It belongs to our President " one informs me with self evident pride. 'Indeed' I reply with a smile.

So starts a Thursday morning in a small Scottish town that is enjoying the Mediterranean sunshine and shedding ( while the good weather lasts ) a little of  its straight laced Presbyterianism.

Music from 1977:https://youtu.be/yZjEC4WhCvg

Discovering Australian art :https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/menin/notes

An exhibition by thus artist starts here in St Andrews tonight :https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/entertainment/5133633/standrews-buildings-watercolour-peter-jones-artist/

Rome without the crowds:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/explore-romes-hidden-underworld-city-beneath-city-180986228/

This sums it all up :https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-goes-crazy-on-trade  Perhaps this may have something to do with it ? :https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/does-financial-literacy-decline-with-age/

Edenic.

Tuesday was warm and sunny and the first day this year we've been able to sit outside for lunch. Our table is near the bird feeders and a mass of starlings, buntings and collar doves flit and hop around us as we eat. They clearly think we're part of the furniture. There is something innocently Edenic about lunching with birds. Later we consider going into town for an evening drink but come five o'clock the temperature tumbles and the thought of sitting outside becomes altogether less appealing.

'Puppy' has matured into a personable young lady but still retains the youthful enthusiasm and joie de vivre that warrant her name. This morning she opts to join us for breakfast. I open the front door and next thing you know there's a dog in the kitchen. From the enthusiasm with which our yoghurt pots are licked I'd guess these aren't on offer at home. After finishing we're stared at with an unblinking intensity that signals she'd like more.

The farmer and his son are back planting seed potatoes in the field outside the kitchen window. In the tractor cab the Jack Russell 'granny' is listening to Nick Robinson on the Today programme while sitting snugly and happily on the farmers lap. 

A Spanish tour group is gathering by the Martyrs Memorial. Five hundred years ago political passions here burnt Taliban bright. In fact there was enough passion and extremism to last a thousand years . This may explain the quiet Presbyterian orderliness of the town today. There is something to be said for staid politics .

A steady stream of foursomes heading outbound on the Old Course. A group of gentlemen from Ohio have opted to play without the help of  the local Caddies. Little do they know how treacherous the winds on the back holes can be even on a calm day like this. While waiting for the group ahead to move onto the next hole they limber up and go through calisthenic routines. They hold their drivers over their heads as if they're power lifting. I've never seen this before. It provides entertainment for a group of Italian tourists who, in between eating the bacon rolls they've bought from the coffee shop, applaud them. The Ohian gentlemen are far too serious to notice their Latin audience.

A Kimchi making course being advertised in the Asian super market. A sign of peak globalization ?

This played on the radio this morning . Simple but beautiful:https://youtu.be/7VRw9N9OlPo

The Tully Monster :https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/this-tully-monster-mystery-keeps-getting-weirder

Not my favourite part of London but it's getting better :https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/a-walk-down-victoria-street

Focal dystonia. Had you ever heard of it ? :https://www.gramophone.co.uk/blogs/article/i-had-to-tell-my-wife-i-would-no-longer-be-able-to-earn-a-living-as-a-concert-pianist

Disrespect update:https://x.com/tashecon/status/1907364573612589425

A new month.

A new month and we're now heading off into the second quarter.  Have you ever known time fly by so quickly? I look for April Fools Day stories in the paper but these days it's impossible to determine what is, or isn't, an outlandish hoax. 

It's sunny and there's the promise of another warm day. It got to 17 degrees here yesterday. More of the same is forecast for the rest of the week. Puppy is off by the shore chasing foxes. Her elder sister, who has reached that age where fox chasing has lost some of its allure, races over to see us.

There are two tractors hard at work in the field outside 'The last wee house before Denmark'. The farmers  teenage son is driving one and his father the other. The son ploughs long deep furrows in the soil and his father follows along behind towing a device that plants the seed potatoes. The eldest Jack Russell- a grumpy lady of advancing years -  is sitting on the farmers lap in the tractor cab. They're listening to the BBC breakfast show.  Both dog and farmer seem happy with this arrangement. She's warm and  gets to be the centre of attention while he gets to spend time with an old friend. He waves and we wave back.

The cafe by the chapel is open early. Someone on the staff is clearly finding it difficult to adjust to the clocks changing. Two well wrapped up Spanish tourists are sitting outside sharing a pot of tea. The blue uniformed university cleaning ladies chat to them as they wait for the bus to take them back to Dundee.

An ancient Land Rover ( it's one of those with the split windscreen so must be 70 years old ) is parked outside the post-grad reading room. It has driven up onto the pavement so the caravan doesn't block the road.

There is clearly a story here that involves Alzheimers and bowel cancer. I'd like to give the owner some money and find out what it is but there's no sign of life in the tiny caravan. The Union flags draped around the front are a cheerful touch.

The tomato business :https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/03/whats-the-best-way-to-make-the-tomato-industry-more-carbon-efficient-hint-its-not-local/

This used to be  rather run down hotel but has been beautifully restored as a rental house. It is extremely remote. Once, thirty or so years ago, we thought of buying it but deemed the location too impractical :https://rodelhouse.co.uk/pdfs/Rodel%20House_Desktop.pdf

Australia faces the same challenges to government spending that everyone else does - but is probably better prepared to deal with them :https://e61.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/E6003_5Theme_Report_5.pdf

Chinese Primary school kids to be taught AI :https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-schools-ai-courses-4990306

The April line up in the bookstore looks interesting :https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/st-andrews/

Good tv.

'Adolescence' on Netflix a challenging watch. The start of the first episode is emotionally powerful in the way it catches the viewer by surprise. In fact the opening scene is so intense that nothing else that follows quite matches it. The actor who plays the father is absolutely brilliant. What a role he has been given -  I had to hold my breath at the point where he recognizes what his son has done.  'The Font' thought it excellent, I found the whole thing too disturbing. The viewer is left to agonize over the strange and alien world of incel, manosphere and red pill that many 13 year old males inhabit. 

Seven am and the delivery trucks are out and about restocking stores after the weekends influx of visitors.

The street that leads to the library eerily quiet. Give it another couple of weeks when exams start to encroach on the students consciousness and the footfall in town will pick up. Today all is calm and innocent.

The fancy cocktail bar now serving lobster rolls. Angus would not make a good politician. If anyone asked him a tricky question about how much a can of soft drink costs he'd say 50p - 60p at most. £3 sounds outrageous.  This is why before a broadcast interview cabinet ministers wanting to show how 'real and in-touch' they are have someone update them on the price of a pint of milk or a loaf of bread.

Sunglasses appear in window displays. Hope springs eternal.

Is there a souvenir shop in town that doesn't have Highland Coo soft toys in the window ? They are everywhere.

This is strangely powerful, beautifully read  and not the sort of thing I ever thought would appear on this blog. #12 is a good starting point. The author is a brilliant Russia scholar and is moving from Yale to Toronto - this tells me something  although I'm not quite sure what that is :https://snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-lessons-read-by-john-lithgow

Clever marketing by a Tyneside fish shop :https://rileysfishshop.com/

Noah Davis at the Barbican :https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/noah-davis

The eclipse that wasn't.

Saturday morning saw a partial solar eclipse. The BBC had informed the nation that a colander as a lens and a piece of white card as a screen would provide a safe way of viewing the event. At quarter to ten a small crowd of parents , village toddlers , assorted dogs and passing bird watchers had gathered by the doocot. Colanders, that most mundane of kitchen accessories, were out in force and literally having their moment in the sun. Five minutes before the eclipse was due to happen a sky obscuring cloud blew in from the bay. Five minutes after it ended the cloud sauntered off. The rest of the day was noted for being cloud free. It goes without saying the village thirty somethings were disappointed about the way things turned out although their offspring were too busy creating mayhem in the daffodil beds to notice. The village dogs were there en masse adding to the chaos.

Overnight the clocks changed. The evenings should now be noticeably brighter.  We're rapidly heading towards the northern time when it's light until well after ten. This morning, without comment,  the radio plays this - which I'd never heard before  and is a sign of the times :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s906oiPNN34

This morning the sun is shining but there's  a piercingly cold wind that is likely to be the bane of any amateur gardeners who have planted their Dahlias out too early.

There's already a Mothers Day queue in the bakers. A group of fashionably  dressed  American girls returning from a Saturday night party agonize over what to buy. They settle on pink concoctions with icing sugar flowers on top.  From their conversation it seems that they intend to eat the cakes while thinking of their mothers. There may be some method in this ' I bought a cake and thought of you'  madness.

The all purpose biscuit has been repurposed .

The Gothic sponges have sold out and replaced by more anodyne offerings in yellow or lilac with Happy Mothers Day piped on top. These artisanal creations are retailing at £16.99 . 

Farmcations go up market :https://fowlescombe.com/  and here :https://loumafarmandretreat.co.uk/

The earthquake explained :https://nautil.us/what-caused-the-devastating-earthquake-in-myanmar-1200737/?_sp=23d0d0fe-f3d5-41c3-98fd-2cb520dd3011.1743275800270

Why did the Scots never think to do this ? :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-the-irish-pub-became-one-of-the-emerald-isles-greatest-exports-180986252/

Scented statues:https://www.npr.org/2025/03/25/nx-s1-5332367/ancient-greece-rome-statues-smell-study-research

Delish !

Daybreak. The brisk westerly wind sending the clouds scurrying madly across the sky. The daffodils that have seeded along the edge of the large field are whipping madly to-and-fro in the gusts. All the fishing boats, bar one, have wisely headed back into the safety of the harbour. Puppy, her sister and the farmers wife can be seen walking by the shore in the far distance. The farmer has been at work since five planting out seed potatoes - the whine of the tractors engine rising and falling as it battles the thick clay soil. As we walk yellowhammers, wrens and corn buntings flit in and out of the canopy of thick brambles that trellis the old stone walls. The crows , which have been absent for a week, have returned. A hundred or so are  breakfasting contentedly on the recently sown barley field. 

In some places you can experience all four seasons in a day. In Scotland they can all come and go in an hour. This is one of those days. For a while it's warm(ish) and we have near cloudless skies.

Ten minutes later the clouds are back and we have the outline of a full rainbow arcing across the bay in pursuit of a squall.

By the time I've made it into town the air is nippy but the skies are clear again. This morning the bakers best selling fudge donuts have the word 'Mum' piped on them in white icing. Mothers Day is on Sunday and it is clearly a big thing. They also have a selection of  yellow sponges with piped blue and orange carnations and the timeless phrase 'To Mother with love ' emblazoned across the top. These are so Gothically remarkable I think of buying one. Perhaps tomorrow ? In the window of the new student drop in hub an amplifier and a turntable are just visible. Is this how they mean to keep non-students out ?  Anything that hints at a DJ and the sort of music late teens listen to will deter any but the bravest ( or deafest ) of the towns older inhabitants .

Two weeks today and we should be on a flight to Tokyo from Heathrow. Overnight  we receive an e-mail from the wildly enthusiastic trip organizers in Palo Alto ( I have an image of them all looking like Lily Tomlin in Grace and Frankie ) with a list  of places where we'll be eating. One stop over is described this way : ' This restaurant is best know for bukubuku cha - a tea made of polished brown rice with an unlikely top layer of mashed peanuts. The cold beverage is served in a lacquer bowl and stirred with a bamboo whisk that produces a layer of foam on top. It's refreshing and unique and totally delish ! '. Over breakfast we debate whether a place noted for its 'delish!'  rice tea is a restaurant or a cafe.  It is improbable that either of us will ever describe something as 'delish!' and I am left with the sinking  feeling the Californians are going to find us rather staid and undemonstrative travel companions. 

Changes in Kerala :https://aeon.co/essays/how-did-kerala-go-from-poor-to-prosperous-among-indias-states

The Smithsonian :https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/03/28/trump-aims-to-remove-improper-ideology-from-the-smithsonian-with-new-executive-order

The great filter :https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/03/all-by-ourselves-the-great-filter-and-our-attempts-to-find-life/

Without wine sales restaurants couldn't survive :https://x.com/econcallum/status/1904963379703529578