This sung (beautifully) by an Irish post grad as part of a Sunday evening concert - https://youtu.be/Y-BmOhjbQ44?t=26 A hat tip to St Patricks Day. Afterwards dinner with old friends. One - a former ambassador (ambassadress ?) says that the new UK ambassador in DC would do well to remember Machiavellis advice that the best way to criticize a prince is to praise him for virtues he doesn't have. We all agree that our new man on Massachusetts Avenue will be kept busy troweling on the praise.
Sunday and the town was full of day trippers. The restaurant we chose for dinner busy with nice American grandparents sensibly enjoying off season air fares and hotel rates. They talk to each other about the 'big storm' that's sweeping the South. The St Andrews dining experience has never recovered from the dual hit of Covid and Brexit. There was a time when the hotels and restaurants were full of eager and efficient young Europeans wanting to polish their language skills. Now visas are impossible and getting and retaining suitable staff is the bane of the local hospitality industry. You can gather from this that last nights dinner was not stellar. Angus is horrified that scoop of vanilla ice cream and an even smaller scoop of chocolate ganache ( or Chocolate Summer Heaven as the menu would have it ) costs £24.

The tide is high this morning. We pause to watch the Cormorants and Shags fishing in the deep water where the small burn enters the sea. The field which was ploughed yesterday is being sown this morning. The local crows follow happily along behind the tractor. By contrast the curlews are not at all happy that their routine is being disrupted.
In town the hardware store by the roundabout has a rather desultory display of plastic garden ornaments. Perhaps they're waiting for the new 2025 season garden gnomes to be shipped in from Nanjing ?
The picture framer is open early. He has done an excellent job in restoring the 1920's picture of 'The Fonts' grandmother. Rather than put on a new frame they took the old one back to the underlying pine, re-gessoed it and then applied two or three layers of gilt. It now looks very golden. Perhaps too golden ? Having down sized and already disposed of a mass of portraits we are left to wonder what to do with those that remain. This one may go to Goteborg.
Outside Sainsburys there is some dispute or misunderstanding between two members of the Syrian family who cheerfully sit outside the supermarkets doors in the hope that passers by will give them their change. Two of them have shown up for the Monday morning early shift. Voices are raised. The dispute is soon resolved and one takes up position in the sunshine while the other walks down to the other supermarket. There are some complaints about the refugees but most folk say ' Good morning' and take the view that what they've been through beggars description.