Electioneering.

At first light we make it down the track from the courtyard to the shore. It's so wet we just come straight back home again and change into dry clothes. The cormorants are in their element. High winds, jagged rocks and pounding seas. What could be better ?  Italy play Scotland in Rome tonight so I bring up a bottle of Margaux from the cellar and open it in readiness. In cold, damp weather like this the wine needs all the help it can get.

In town the rain eases off and it's dry for all of ten minutes. By the Belisha Beacons there's a poster urging us to vote in the forthcoming Chancellors election :https://barbarawoodward.org/ . The electioneering is conducted with a reserve and politeness that is strangely out of tune with the times.  Another contender has a Twitter page which is considered rather racy and modern. It is as a neighbour said 'more security services than Foreign Office'  :https://x.com/marksedwill He has started to wear tartan ties in the videos.

The question as to the freshness of the bakers lemon 'Love' sponge is answered. New ones are delivered every morning. Demand is picking up.

Valentines sharing cakes are now flying off the shelves according to the lady behind the counter. Angus is amazed at the price.

It would be churlish not to buy something so I opt for a coffee 'Love'  sponge with piped pink highlights. This is a new line for the baker and the sales lady doesn't know whether the filling is cream or custard. I promise to return and let them know what I think of it. Back at the car  'The Font' simply sighs rather than commenting on the sophistication of my palate.

French humour :https://x.com/Grand_Continent/status/2019805633286156338

Being practised on the chapel organ this morning :https://youtu.be/VwFyzq-AfEo?t=84

Camouflage :https://www.sciencenorway.no/animal-kingdom-biology/why-dont-animals-have-green-camouflage/2609278

Supermarket roast chicken :https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/frivolous-costco-chicken-lawsuit

60's era sideboards.

We dodge a heavy downpour and pop into the uber trendy new cafe in town. It's full of youngsters staring at their laptops in pre-tutorial silence. After last nights opening match in the Six Nations a few of the lads look slightly hungover. We opt to sit in the laptop free zone which is frequented by an older ( and noisier ) crowd of sensibly dressed dog walking pensioners and young mothers with gurgling pre-schoolers in bright romper suits. Pre-schoolers and dogs are soon on first name terms. 'The Font' notices that our chosen 'zone' has been furnished with 1960's era sideboards. Seems that old furniture never dies it just gets recycled into trendy student cafes. I look in vain for a radiogram. Who remembers those ?  We had a Grundig.

At the small kilt makers by the Divinity School a black jacket, black shirt and black tie. Why ? The grey kilt is even more of a fashion travesty. Angus is mortified. Who, why, where and when would you wear this ? 

The lemon 'Love' sponge ( or Valentine's Gateaux as cake purists would know it ) remains in the bakers window. Is it the original we saw last weekend or is it one of a daily batch?

The local branch of Clydesdale Bank has closed down as has Barclays. The Bank of Scotland is being boarded up and this morning a group of men are removing the two external cash machines. The town is now left with three places you can get cash - The Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide and a small outpost of The Trustees Savings bank. Which will be the next to close ? The Royal used to be the bank which we used as students. Angus was forever being called in to address his 'Font' induced overdraft.

More groups of Chinese students seen wandering the rain swept streets. They look glum. Each group is accompanied by two or three older 'minders'.  Some Scottish universities have thousands of Chinese students. St. Andrews only has a handful. Is this about to change ? I'm guessing that after their brief exposure to the local weather many of the wannabe attendees will opt to study in the sylvan climate of southern England.

A great reshuffling ( apparently ) in the world of fashion :https://katebevan.substack.com/p/milan-or-paris-who-won-in-the-great

Polar bears adapting :https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2026/02/a-polar-bear-paradox-is-unfolding-in-the-arctic/

Puzzling tunnels :https://www.404media.co/scientists-keep-discovering-mysterious-ancient-tunnels-across-europe/

The Irish share the same rain humour :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Fw9ErE8Qg

First time ever seen :https://x.com/MAstronomers/status/2019100966407246048

For the serious minded:https://thetwocents.substack.com/p/the-safe-assets-that-werent

Random history video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H05H_chbBRk

'Canyon'.

What a week. In the UK the Epstein files have defenestrated a Prince, an ambassador who is being called traitorous and now, quite possibly, a decent but unexciting Prime Minister. In the US the consequences for the elite and discussion of  the involvement of the Russian security services seem to have been rather more muted.

Another day of rain and wind. This morning the sea has worked itself into a fury and is pounding against the castle ruins. Usually we manage 15-20 thousand steps a day. Yesterday, in the brief gaps between downpours we clocked up a miserly 9 thousand and today doesn't look as if we'll manage many more. The rain is of the schizoid sort that really wants to be sleet. It artfully manages to squeeze through  that small open space between the zipper on your jacket and your neck. Tonight, no matter what the weather has in store,  all the bars will be packed watching Ireland play France in the opening match of the Rugby Six Nations.

Behind us the waves are breaking over the pier. Usually, you can expect a couple of students to be out braving the elements and dodging the walls of water but this morning any daredevils are thinking better of it.

A notice in Starbucks promises a university gift for participating pooches. While we're waiting for our espressos one of the students waiting in line has his name called out by the barista. 'Canyon' is a name neither of us has ever heard before. It  only goes to show the richness of American English. 'The Font' wonders if ravine and gulch were considered before settling on canyon. Gulch would make a great name for a dog - possibly less so for a male child.

The farm shop has freshly made Brownies. They're £1.80 each which seems pricey to me but I've lost all sense of  what's pricey and what isn't since Covid.

Groups of Chinese wannabe students touring the university. Facing weather like this I'd opt to stay in Harbin and study surgery there. What must they be thinking as the easterly wind brings in another band of freezing rain ?

Music from Denmark :https://youtu.be/s7AcPrzTvto?t=193

Special Norwegian forests :https://www.sciencenorway.no/forest-plants/why-is-this-rare-norwegian-forest-so-special/2611192

A Finnish painter at the Met until Easter :https://finland.fi/arts-culture/new-yorks-met-museum-showcases-beloved-finnish-painter-helene-schjerfbeck/

Iran :https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/january/in-tehran?dm_i=7NIQ,2I800,3EISZS,5D3KG,1,0,0,0

Murk.

Light rain and a stiff breeze according to this mornings weather forecast. 'Murk' might be a better way of describing things. It's been wet and cold like this for the last three weeks and looks like there's at least another week of rain and chill easterly winds ahead of us. As we drive into town we pass a large German coach disgorging a group of forty or so glum looking Swabians onto the street outside chapel. A woman with a light wand is shepherding them down towards the golf course. Off season tourism can be a hit or miss affair for those involved.

The last of the new bunkers in nearing completion. In this unfinished state they look more like installation art than sand traps.

It seems bunkers have been built like this ( here at least ) in the same labour intensive way for centuries. The turf is removed from the top and then cut into thin strips that are built up, one on top of the other, to form the steeply angled side walls. Come the spring the grass will start growing and the new feature will look as if its always been there.

The Six Nations rugby tournament starts on Saturday. The savvier bar owners are offering reserved tables ( together with bar snacks and wide screen tv - drinks extra  ) at £25 a head . The offers went up on Monday and we pass three hostelries that are already sold out. The Tiger Wood / Justin Timberlake Bar is among them.

There must be some other way of collecting rubbish in medieval town centres. I know narrow streets and small courtyards don't lend themselves to modern commerce but the sea gull resistant bins outside the fish and chip shop are just plain ugly. You don't see this in Oxford or Cambridge - or do you ? How do other places deal with commercial waste ?

Expanding cities:https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/many-victorian-cities-grew-by-tenfold

Birds:https://birdhistory.substack.com/p/were-not-sending-our-best

What does this say ? :https://www.edelman.com/newsroom/richard-edelmans-6am-blog/insularity-next-crisis-trust

Brexit a decade on  :https://www.historytoday.com/archive/behind-times/brexit-britains-forever-war

The sound of Venice :https://youtu.be/aXBWrNN64z8?t=5

China :https://nbarkin.substack.com/p/watching-china-in-europe-february

Stars.

In the good old days you booked a hotel and that was that. Now a morning is spent trying to communicate with the hotel in Lisbon about arrival times, passport numbers, pillow options and restaurant reservations. You'd think this could easily be done by e-mail but it seems nothing in Portugal is that simple. We are bombarded with messages. This whole process, a young lady at the front desk informs me, is to ' ensure a smooth and seamless guest  experience'. I bite my tongue. The young woman suggests sending a car to meet us but when told the price Angus says we'll take a cab. As an aside TAP, the Portugese airline, is to be acquired by Air France. This, for anyone who tries to make an online reservation for two seats together, cannot come a moment too soon. Their systems have a certain archaic charm.

We look up and the rain clouds have parted. There are stars to be seen ! Our walk from the car to the theatre for the evening performance completed under Mediterranean skies.

When we head back to the car afterwards the streets are wet. That parting in the clouds must have lasted for all of half an hour before the rain returned. The owner of the Italian restaurant remains hopeful that al fresco dining will become a February thing. I'm not sure that even the students are other worldly enough to try sitting outside at this time of the year.

We order an Indian take away. Take aways here are designed for the mega healthy  student appetite. One portion would happily have satisfied both of us. We briefly toy with the idea of eating in the restaurant but it's full, the noise levels are stratospherically  high and the average age of the diners is somewhere well south of twenty - all of whom are conducting conversations with friends six tables away.

A most un-Presbyterian message projected onto the wall of the old town hall.

'The Fonts' favourite store in town is having a sale. Some sales are understated affairs. This is a particularly understated affair.

Life in these northerly parts remains quiet.

Some French history I'd never heard of :https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2797/ball-of-the-burning-men/

All over the news but I'm not sure what to make of this. It seems rather alarming :https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/01/ai-agents-now-have-their-own-reddit-style-social-network-and-its-getting-weird-fast/

Lab grown meat :https://sentientmedia.org/how-to-explain-lab-grown-meat/

More on Ireland :https://www.thefitzwilliam.com/p/most-irish-foreign-aid-never-leaves

Our local Professor of International Relations remains unhappy :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/no-the-guardrails-are-not-holding

An opinion .

 " It's a strange combination :  intelligence without knowledge ". The former Prime Minister of Eire has published a book 'Speaking my mind' about his time in office. His views on the current American President are some of the most interesting  we've read. Another piece of the psychological jigsaw ?

A very February morning on the beach. For once it's not raining. The church elder and his wife see us and wave. They think January was the wettest month they've ever known. Probably twenty runners pass us by - all female students. Males , it seems, do not do Monday mornings.

Not a light on in the hugely expensive apartment block behind the R&A clubhouse. Many of the owners jet in for two weeks golf in July and then jet off again. For much of the year it stands empty. The duplex  apartment under the cupola enjoys views across the first and last tees and is said to be the most expensive in Scotland.

Up the hill the Catholic chaplaincy is having a major refurbishment. Piles of 1950's era cupboards are piled up outside the front door. The renovation is long overdue. I'm glad to see that central heating is being installed. Someone in the church hierachy seems to have decided that piety and warmth can go together. Generations of students to come will thank them.

The ongoing restoration of the fountain seems to have restarted after an extended  Christmas pause. Workmen are busy putting up yet more fencing this morning.

This is beautiful but so is the estimated price :https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2026/master-works-on-paper-from-five-centuries/young-lion-resting

Couldn't work out why one of these caught my attention in town. Looking at pictures back at home I can see that the rear wheel is 'unique' in not having any spokes - which is pretty cool particularly if you're twenty years old and can still enjoy such things :https://www.vergemotorcycles.com/uk_en/

Scottish food :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ3GjAe6ku4

How interesting . What use will it be put to?:https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/unsinkable-metal-tubes-superhydrophobic-surfaces-691642/

Portugese politics :https://cepseu.substack.com/p/in-portugal-a-48-year-long-dictatorship

A smile that's infectious.

It remains miserably wet although not as cold as it has been. In weather like this the students, sensibly, opt to lie in. Parking this morning is a doddle. The days are also getting longer. By eight am the daylight has almost started. 

The Lemon 'Love'  Sponge reappears in the bakers window. Perhaps a homewards bound church goer will pick it up after the morning service ?

An old fashioned Tallow Soap display at the farm shop. Lavender Honey and Wildflower and Barley are among the scents on offer. These will be popular with the locals.

Dancing Westie shortbread tins in the souvenir shop nest to Starbucks.  If I had to buy a tin of shortbread this would be the one I'd opt for. The souvenir shops are a constant source of surprise. Who dreams these things up ?

Have started to read this. It's had  good reviews:https://www.charlesglass.net/a-history-of-modern-syria-the-people-at-the-heart-of-their-own-story/ A young Down Syndrome lady does the super early morning shift at the booksellers. She has a cheerfully efficient air and has a smile that's infectious.

Shakespeare never grows old. The most brilliant thing seen this week ( and possibly this year so far ). The Irish accent helps :https://substack.com/@augmentedman/note/c-203839810

The Maxwell Quartet were in town to give a concert and then spent Saturday doing  'Master Class' sessions with the students. This little piece was never so beautifully played :https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OxxNPuFuMMM

Channeling our Quiet Eye:https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/quiet-eye-training/

What is going on in China ? :https://trackingpeoplesdaily.substack.com/p/pla-daily-editorial-on-purge-of-zhang

How bakers cope with 3am shifts :https://cakezine.substack.com/p/how-bakers-survive-winter-mornings