Pre-Easter calm.

Town is quiet. There's no sign yet of the Easter crowds that will soon descend on the place. The sky is bright but the piercing Northerly wind might be putting the visitors off. We say good morning to the lady with the Pomeranian and Archie the arthritic labrador and his owner. Posters are going up detailing Easter events. The Baptists will be holding a sunrise service in the anatomy school car park while the Presbyterians will be gathering to watch the dawn from the ruins of the old 6th century chapel on the cliffs. Last year they were joined by a group of Catholic conservatives carrying a  large wooden cross and praying for the restoration of the Latin Mass. This was an 'unusual' comingling of religious beliefs.

We stop off at the doctors for our tetanus and typhoid booster shots. Hardly what we'll need in the Four Seasons in Shanghai but the doctor reassuringly says you can never be too careful. She then adds ' particularly at your age '.  Angus chooses to ignore this. Recently I've noticed that shop assistants have started to ask ' Can I help you' in a tone of voice that hints that I exude an air of mild befuddlement . 'The Font' thinks that with a recession on the way they're just trying to be helpful and  drum up sales. Angus prefers the old days when the local shop assistants used to studiously ignore you.

Back at The last wee house before Denmark there's a small fishing boat sailing slowly along the coast. The boat is right on the sudden fault line where  the deep water ends and a line of razor sharp rocks soar 60 feet up from the deep. A dangerous place and usually only the cormorants venture there . Let's hope the skipper knows what he's doing.

Not a soul to be seen down by the harbour. 

Five new houses are being built on a plot of land within the medieval priory walls. How they ever got planning permission is one of those mysteries that doesn't bear  thinking about.  The builders have taken up a dozen parking spaces to store their materials and tools. Removing parking spots is just what's needed ahead of a busy weekend.

The fancy clothing store has a new window display.  It has something of the '1930's' to it.

Soon, possibly very soon, the calm will evaporate as the first waves of day trippers , golfers and Airbnbers arrive.

Heaven. Just driving along :https://x.com/Arteymas_/status/2038181186871116032

Bones  :https://www.forkingpaths.co/p/when-are-bones-no-longer-a-person

Silicon valley :https://www.goldsea.com/article_details/how-the-ai-race-is-changing-silicon-valley-demographics

The precariat

Radio Scotland explores the impact of the Gulf war on the 'precariat'. This is the first time I've heard this word used in every day speech. It's usually confined to dry economic analysis. The radio also tells us peace talks have taken place over the weekend but that neither the Americans or Iranians were there. The radio says they should more correctly be described as 'talks about talks'.

The run-up to Easter. The local cab drivers are already taking youngsters down to Edinburgh airport. It's a regular teaching week but I'd reckon that attendance at lectures will fall off sharply after Wednesday. $80 flights from Edinburgh to Spanish and Italian sun spots are just too good to miss. We overhear two American girls ahead of us in Starbucks say they've got return flights to Paris for $45.  They're thinking of 'winging it' on hotel rooms. 'The Font' wonders if they know that Paris at Easter is not an unknown travel concept.

Here the farmers daughter is expected to return from Oxford on Wednesday. Her boyfriend from Jackson Hole will be given the royal treatment. The guest room has been cleaned and the dogs are forbidden from going in there for their afternoon nap on the bed. We hope the lad hasn't had a sheltered upbringing and is prepared for the intimacy of life with two Jack Russells. The price of diesel is likely to dominate the dinner table conversation at the farmhouse so let's hope he's also prepared for that. 

This morning the bakers fudge doughnuts are decorated with sprinkles. A small Easter touch.

The gulls are much friskier than they were. It's mating season. Give it a month or two and the town will resound to the cacophonous sound of hungry chicks. There is little that can compare with the concrete shredding sound of hungry seagull chicks.

We pick up some fritillaries from the botanic garden. The garden at The last wee house before Denmark gets pummeled by the wind from the sea. Anything more than eighteen inches tall struggles to survive. We're hoping the fritillaries will prove to be robust enough to weather our coastal conditions.

A poster in the window of a house near the theatre. Evening lectures are still advertised in the old fashioned way. There are always at least four things on every night. This is the attraction of a small and remote university town.

Happy companions :https://x.com/HeritageMatterz/status/2037878885799395533

The oldest chocolatier in France is 265 years old - and still going from strength to strength :https://www.lameredefamille.com/

Some insights into Argentinian  beef rearing :https://traveldeeper.co/culture-food/the-real-state-of-beef-in-argentina/

Modern Ukranian architecture with amazing thatch roof :https://www.yod.group/projects/design-project-guesthouse-tb7wa-wbck2

An insight :https://x.com/factpostnews/status/2037647438597521898

The clocks change and giant Easter Eggs appear

By accident we watch the first episode of 'Inside Britains National Parks' on the television :https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002tfst/inside-britains-national-parks  The scenery is stunning but the love the farmers have for the countryside is simply wonderful. These are kind and caring folk. If you get the chance watch out for the point in episode 1 where a pig falls into a deep sleep while having his head tickled. Simple but beautiful. 

This morning the radio introduces us to the concept of "looksmaxxing" and a young American gentleman called 'Clavicular ' who is ( for some reason that's not quite clear ) in trouble with the law.  We are told that Clavicular believes Crystal meth is the drug of choice to develop hollow cheeks. What the early morning rural radio audience in the Highlands must make of all this doesn't bear thinking about.  All of a sudden the Atlantic seems to be very wide.

There are three enormous Easter Eggs in the bakers window. The largest must weigh at least 5 kilos. Will they be bought by someone hosting a Chocolate Party ? Is there such a thing ? How would you get them home ?

Nothing has been officially said here about the Kings visit to Washington at the end of April . I'm wondering if the latest temper tantrum about the UK's 'toy aircraft carriers' might have been one jibe too many ? The government seems to have adopted the attitude that ignoring the early morning missives is the only adult thing to do.

Overnight the clocks have changed. We're out at what was five thirty. A young man in a wet suit rushes past us onto the beach. He's singing that old Abba staple 'Mamma Mia ' at the top of his voice. This is presumably a way of steeling himself for a dip into the North Sea. The air may be getting warmer as we move towards April but the sea doesn't seem to have got the message.

When we make it onto the sand we can see him in the distance doing a pre-water warm up routine. We catch occasional snippets of music that indicate he's still singing .

Back into town for our morning espressos in Starbucks. People are standing on street corners for a start of day blether. Wee blethers are very important in small university towns.

Alan Bennett remains a national treasure. 'The Font' is enjoying his latest book and reads out occasional snippets. 

Down by the golf course the British and American flags have been tied to the mast to stop them being shredded in the strong winds. 

Birthday cards seem to fall into two categories. Awful and mind crushingly awful.  Both are equally expensive.  We are delighted to discover that Waterstones, the other bookstore in town, is stocking a new range of cards that combine humour and something approaching good  taste . 

Tomorrow we go to get our booster shots for China.  I wanted to go without ( you're unlikely to get exposed to much in the Four Seasons in Beijing ) but have been over ruled.

A question for Paris in the sunshine :https://x.com/Parisianaes1/status/2037228086438355428

Prize of the week goes to this :https://rabbitcavern.substack.com/p/do-animals-make-art

Who wrote 'There is a house in New Orleans ' :https://www.taylorforeman.com/p/there-is-a-house-in-new-orleans

Hazards in the night sky:https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/something-is-happening-around-earth-inside-2026s-massive-fireball-surge/

American military humour :https://x.com/general_ben/status/2037796824627683432

Simnel cake

The battle with the insurance company over our weather aborted trip to Madeira continues. They promise to 'have made a judgement ' within ten working days. That's what they promised three weeks ago. Is there anything as tedious as dealing with the bureaucracy of an insurance company ?

The Scottish breakfast news bulletin has a story about claims in the The New York Post ( not a journal that many people here have heard of ) that the American President is considering renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself. Trump Strait sounds more like the lead singer in an 80's era heavy metal band.  This story seems improbable but lo and behold there it is :https://nypost.com/2026/03/27/us-news/trump-considers-renaming-strait-of-hormuz-after-either-america-or-himself-once-he-evicts-iran/  

The news also informs us that Tiger Woods ( he of local sports bar fame ) faces yet another alleged DUI charge.

This morning the courier driver arrives with the Simnel Cake from Bettys in Harrogate. A sure sign Easter is (almost ) here. 

Down by the shore a reed bunting seems completely unbothered by our presence. It perches on a tall, wildly swaying, strand of marram grass with a dexterity that even the most accomplished of acrobats would admire.

You'd think the council would invest in traffic lights with motion sensors. On our way to the fish shop we have to wait for what seems to be an eternity ( but is probably all of two minutes ) while the red light blocks the empty street. Angus mutters.

On our way back from the fish shop we see a sign for a 'Duck Race '. I'm guessing this involves small yellow plastic ducks rather than the real things. How would you arrange a starting line for ducks ?

No sooner are we back home than the wine order for Easter arrives. We've found a single bottle of the Grgich Hills Fume Blanc. This was the wine President Reagan served to President Mitterand when hosting him for a July 4th dinner in the US embassy in Paris. Many retailers claim to have it but few ( if any ) do. This will be saved for Easter. Tonight we'll try a new Pouilly-Fuisse. A friend in France, where drinking well at a reasonable price is a national obsession, recommends it. This is our first shipment from a supplier located in Prague. The wine comes in a impressively thick cardboard box with a padded interior. It has taken four days to clear customs and get here which seems reasonable and is almost as quick as ordering wine from London.

Unknown neighbours:https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26032026/scientists-discover-new-deep-sea-creatures/

Perfect imperfection. A heart felt honesty in this obituary that is usually lacking :https://robertc12.substack.com/p/remembering-robert-trivers

As always when you dig deeper you discover things you hadn't even heard about :https://theconversation.com/the-four-types-of-dementia-most-people-dont-know-exist-278124

Female psychopaths, Still think men win the category hands down :https://www.sciencefocus.com/wellbeing/female-psychopaths-difficult-spot

Serious corner. Garnering attention here. Guess NATO is dead :https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/2037505958708982270

Dog bath day.

Another cold blustery North Sea morning. At least it's not raining. As we head down to the shore we meet the kirk elder and his wife who are returning  from a walk on the beach with their dog. She is a keen knitter and today both are wearing new bobble hats. She's had a bit of trouble with making the bobbles. Hers is vaguely round but his has the dimensions and indeterminate shape of a small plump hedgehog. It lolls to one side. Today, it seems, is their dogs bath day. Both the elder and his wife are well into their eighties so preparations for  dog bath day are carefully planned. To make polite conversation I ask if they'll wash the dog in a bath or a shower. " We'll put him in the bath in the ground floor guest room so he can't do any damage '. They say this as if it's the most logical thing in the world. Their large brown furry and exceedingly affable mutt seems blissfully unaware of what is about to happen.

Soon we meet another familiar dog. For the last couple of weeks,  Archie the arthritic labrador, has slept on in front of the AGA in the kitchen. Now the days are getting noticeably longer and warmer he's allowed out to join his sister. He wanders slowly across the sand to see us. His tail is wagging in that twenty to the dozen way that is particular to old dogs. His owner recognizes that he's entered the 'long walks that cover little ground' stage of life. Once he gets home he'll sleep in front of the AGA until lunchtime. His appetite remains 'healthy '. 

The wind and the tide are doing their thing again. Cresting waves come face to face with the northerly gusts and where they collide jets of water shimmer into the air.

I pop into the bookstore to thank the guy behind the counter for recommending this book. It's particularly well written and the best history I've come across  of the hopes raised by 'The Thaw' after Stalins death and the disillusionment in Russian society that followed.

The university looking particularly Hogswartian this morning. The sound of mass catered breakfasts echoes across the lawn.

On the grass there's a small bunch of roses. Someone always remembers to put out flowers for the birthday of student 'early leavers'. This, we both agree, is extremely civilized behaviour . 

The week started off with us looking at bits of stone in a field. It ends with us discussing canine bathing rituals with our village neighbours. Through it all one man has managed to dominate the news headlines. Now it seems likely that the King will be making a state visit to the US on April 27th. A suggestion that the trip be delayed due to the war was seemingly met with an 'incandescent' response. I take my hat off to our new ambassador in DC. His cannot be any easy job.

Truly fascinating and not what was expected :https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/5-seriously-strange-wildlife-chernobyl

Humour:https://robertc12.substack.com/p/how-america-lost-its-sense-of-humor

A dispassionate view :https://carnegieendowment.org/europe/strategic-europe/2026/03/taking-the-pulse-is-it-natos-job-to-support-trumps-war-of-choice

French cheese day :https://x.com/PatrimoineRural/status/2037477553774968944

A northerly wind.

So they've finally  installed a female Archbishop of Canterbury. It's taken 1400 years but despite the worst fears of the  traditionalist crowd the world hasn't come to an abrupt end. We catch snippets of the ceremony on the evening news. It all seems very happy and civilized. The archbishop looks relieved when it's all over and even the future King smiles  :https://youtu.be/MjLK48OWDRc?t=6746 . 

Bitterly cold this morning with a strong ( and I mean strong ) northerly wind. . The air as clear as crystal. We can see all the way up the coast to Arbroath. Where the southerly tide mixes it up with the northerly wind the waves are forced upwards and form a wall of water a couple of feet high. It looks as if someone has just passed by on a jet ski.  I don't think I've ever seen this before.

The town has emptied out and is once again quiet. Parking remains easy.

The milkman has made his deliveries to the university before the administration staff have shown up. A quart of semi-skimmed delivered to the doorstep. This is a very small university town sight.

The camelia has had its moment in the sun. It's looking worse for wear after yesterdays winds. Amazing to think that the first flowering of the year is drawing to a close.

British humour :https://x.com/NoContextBrits/status/2036585101413257335

Concise French humour :https://x.com/FrenchResponse/status/2036715419961094423

I can think of one dog breed that is impossible to train :https://www.popsci.com/environment/most-trainable-dog-breeds/

Stuck in a bathtub :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/popular-lore-claims-that-william-howard-taft-got-stuck-in-a-bathtub-new-research-sheds-light-on-the-legends-forgotten-origins-180988386/

So Danish. Couldn't see it happening in the UK :https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/the-happiest-election-in-the-world?hide_intro_popup=true

We look at a piece of stone.

We wander out to see the standing stone that the farmer has unearthed . The New Zealand and Canadian families are already there. You grab your excitement where and when you can in a small Scottish village on the North Sea. The farmer tells us he was happily ploughing when 'clang' one of the blades hit something unexpected. The 'clang' in the sentence is stressed for effect. There's one large block of rock about five feet long and four feet wide. Next to it a wider , tapered, portion that's sheered off and is maybe three feet long. Smaller pieces have fallen off as he's dragged it over to the field boundary. The farmer thinks its a standing stone.  'How would you know ?' asks the Canadian man.  The farmer, perhaps rather brusquely, points out that it's the only stone in a field of deep sandy soil.  The Canadian man seems unimpressed. His four year old is fascinated.

Later today the local policeman will dutifully meet with the local archaeologist to certify that the bones that were unearthed aren't from a recent murder. The policeman will 'tut' to make it clear he has better things to do than supervise bronze age excavations.

In the university library there's an old parish chronicle written by a 17th century kirk elder who said that the whole area from here to the north of the bay was once dotted with stone circles. They were wiped from the landscape by Presbyterian ministers who thought them to be unholy reminders of an 'older' religion. 'Keyholes to the very gates of hell' as the author described them with Taliban like fervour. Perhaps this one was simply pushed over ?

The seagulls are enjoying the ploughing. It's great for unearthing worms.

Down on the Old Course we take in golfs most iconic view.

The golf academy already busy. First thing in the morning, before work starts,  it's a very egalitarian place. Husbands and wives, fathers and sons and local teenagers all make it their home. All share the same intensity but not all have the same dexterity.

So starts another day in a part of the world where excitement comes in the shape of a large piece of stone in a field.

At auction in Glasgow. Someone wanted to record their family dog :https://www.mctears.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-73----marion-rodger-hamilton-harvey-scottish-1886---1971/?lot=407296&so=0&st=&sto=0&au=1908&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=0&pp=96&pn=1&g=1

Very French :https://x.com/francesafetytra/status/2036184875980693781

History :https://thebulletin.org/premium/2026-03/the-evolution-of-a-conspiracy-minded-culture-a-historians-view/

Coffee is good for you :https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/21/turns_out_your_coffee_addiction/

China and science :https://scholarstage.substack.com/p/china-and-the-future-of-science