Pernickety guardians.

Good morning to the passengers on the Norwegian Star cruise liner who at this very moment are sailing very slowly past the village. We know it's the Norwegian Star because the ship is in close enough for us to read the name on her side. However, the ship is just too far away for us to tell whether people are out on their balconies waving. They will find this mornings weather 'bracing'. Further out there are two more ships  - one owned by Viking and the other by Ambassador Lines. People really will pay for cooler weather.

The second episode of David Olusogas latest series of  ' A house through time ' is broadcast on the BBC. He presents so compellingly that watching it is a joy. This is the first house to feature north of the border and we've already been served up rich dishes of treason and immorality. The programme is a jaunty insight into an Edinburgh that is ' all lace and nae knickers '. I notice he pronounces both 'Wynd' and 'Calton' in an English way . 

12 degrees this morning. We're refusing to turn on the heating until the new month starts. This self denial is becoming more difficult with every passing day. There's no hiding the fact that autumn is now approaching not so much at an amble but at a sprint. Later this morning we'll dig out the winter duvets and take the light silk summer ones to the dry cleaners.

The gutter men show up early at 7:00. I only called them yesterday. They look after the house in town that we let to the Texans which means we are considered 'regulars' and are treated accordingly. You see many houses where the majority of the roof is made of pantiles but the first couple of feet next to the gutters are laid with grey slate. I'd always assumed this was because the pantiles had eroded away after centuries of heavy rain and been replaced with something harder wearing. The gutter man tells me that the real reason slates were laid was because the rats found them too slippery to clamber up. 

At the start of the week there were hundreds of bees covering the lavender beds. The stems were literally weighed down with them. The bees are still there but their numbers have fallen. They work frenetically as if charged by a sense of what's to come. I count a dozen resting on the garden furniture and on the grass around the lavender bushes four or five that have died. Something in the first of the cold nights seems to tell them their time here is done. One minute they're hard at work, then they tire, find a sunny spot where they spend half an hour in a trance and then it's over. The regularity and gentleness of this drawing down of the curtain is remarkable. I'll plant more of the late flowering lavender for them next year. Bees are natures Friar Tuck - always jovial, always busy.

Oddly, the Cabbage Whites remain - and in huge numbers. It has been a bumper year for Cabbage Whites. They seem oblivious to the turn in the seasons.

English villages :https://www.architectureandtradition.com/p/how-did-the-english-build-such-beautiful

Some Irish comedians  thoughts on seagulls :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04HSlQs6Ihs

Small farmers can't compete. A Canadian view :https://lenispooner.substack.com/p/why-local-food-costs-more-canada-small-farms

How many dimensions do we live in ? :https://medium.com/@abdplaysofficial/how-many-dimensions-do-we-actually-live-in-06f19711f0a0

The importance of balance :https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2026-08-18/why-balance-predicts-lifespan-longevity

The age profile has changed.

Rain in England ( some of it heavy ) and the return of Harry and Megan are the stories that lead the BBC news bulletin this morning. There's also a slightly prim  segment introducing listeners to the word " Cuck " . This is a term that's unknown here but would seem to be a favoured insult in American political circles. Over breakfast we try to think of circumstances in which we might use it - but can't: https://www.slangsphere.com/understanding-cuck-from-urban-dictionary-a-cultural-exploration/

The age profile of the dog walkers on the beach has markedly changed. Last week there were young mothers and the occasional 30 something father out with their dogs. These were often, but not always, accompanied by pre-schoolers at that limitless energy phase. Happy dogs and fizzing children make for a grand start to the day. With the schools back the average age has quite possibly doubled  and now it's mostly retirees ( academics if their cheerful 'Good Mornings' are anything to go by ) and farmers wives. We know most by sight and a few by name. All smile and wave. 

In town there's one of those humourous 'dog' moments. An exceedingly well behaved sheepdog finds a wee terrier to be a thing of great interest. It so wants to go and greet the interloper but has been told to sit - and that's exactly what it does. The terrier is not so constrained and has to be dragged away. This is still a town where people stop on the pavement to observe and laugh.

On the shopping street a truck arrives to pick up a skip. We watch as the driver steers heart stoppingly close to a little white Volkswagen that's parked alongside. He does this at a speed and with a certainty that would seem improbable impossible unless we'd seen it with our own eyes.

Back at home the low tide has exposed the jagged rock formations. Two hundred years ago there used to be a life boat station here but no one has ever explained to me how they managed to get the boat across these razor sharp basalt outcrops and into the sea. There must have been a wooden slipway but if there was it's long since been washed away. In the last war this stretch of coast was garrisoned by Polish troops. An occasional strand of barbed wire and fading 'Prohibited Zone' sign are fast vanishing clues to their presence.  Back towards town there's a couple of concrete gun emplacements but these are slowly filling up with soil from the fields above and will soon disappear. The oyster catchers shriek when they catch sight of us and carry on shrieking until we go.

Certainty:https://miniphilosophy.substack.com/p/why-its-bad-to-be-100-sure-about

This mornings unusual choice of music on the local radio. The Glasgow choir ( linked in the text ) do an excellent job:https://www.classical-music.com/features/works/how-ethel-smyths-march-of-the-women-womens-suffrage-anthem

What a photo :https://x.com/xKnowledgeBANK/status/2089295444966769004

The Brits lose their pride :https://x.com/TomHCalver/status/2088962566164820261?s=20

Not really surprising :https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2026/08/18/hidden-health-cost-dollar-store-groceries

Twas ever thus.

The weather is being well behaved. It pours at night but is bright and sunny in the morning. Today is particularly lovely with clouds on the far side of the bay and skies of the purest cerulean blue above us. The radio informs us that some airbase in England ( I forget which one but think it might have been Coningsby ) has had its first rainfall in 62 days.

This perfect beach weather  is not what the village youngsters want to see as they head off  to school for the first day of term. The sunshine makes the indignity of getting the eight am school bus all the worse. They have an unhappy 'Weather like this should be outlawed' look on their faces.  Twas ever thus.

In the field down by the old bronze age graves a remarkable looking plant.

This morning we go to a bakers in the village along the coast for a baguette. Someone has told us they're the best outside Edinburgh or Glasgow. We're too early. The woman behind the counter shrugs her shoulders and says ' The delivery mans running a wee bit late '. She then goes on to tell us it's his twin girls first day at primary school. He's dropping them off at the front gate before he starts the days deliveries. For us it's a day when nothing happens. For him ( and the girls ) it's a day to remember.

It's the prefect morning to stop and have a coffee at a cafe overlooking the harbour. The coffee is good which is unusual in a part of the world where the gold standard is Starbucks.  The boat that takes visitors out to the Isle of May to view the puffins is full. In fact every seat is taken. The boat trip has been discovered by 'influencers' and to the delight of the crew has become mega popular. Todays passengers are a mix of English, Spanish, Italian and American in equal measure. Just wait until they get out of the harbour and discover the sea breezes. Then they'll really understand what cold weather tourism is all about.

The faces are v. French :https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1q3g6iFluvM

'Hipster' fine dining in SF is now $600 per person :https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/where-to-eat-in-san-francisco

Another of those things I'd never heard about - acoustic ecology :https://aeon.co/essays/worm-munch-matters-the-new-acoustic-ecology-of-the-soil

Are we all sounding the same ? :https://eriksinger.substack.com/p/are-media-and-the-internet-homogenizing

Point #4 says it all :https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2026-ai-index-report

Eristic.

The BBC certainly isn't dumbing down. This morning I learn a new word - Eristic. It describes those who think they're right even when they're demonstrably wrong. It's used in a news segment covering Oman and South Korea. The word 'incoherent' is also used. Natalie Harp is mentioned as is Rodney Cook. This is the first time I've ever heard anything about either of them.

A professor in the village has taken his 18 year old son off to a world famous Italian lake hotel on a long weekend golfing trip. One of those father-son bonding experiences before the youngster heads off to university. It was a disaster. The hotel was full of 'strange' people who sat around the pool taking selfies , at night  most of the couples in the dining room wouldn't talk to each other but would have long conversations on their mobile phones with the volume turned up. If that wasn't bad enough the grass on the golf course was burnt to a crisp and the air conditioning - like the power supply - worked fitfully. The food was a foreigners idea of what Italian food should be at prices that no Italian would pay. A good time was not had by all. He wonders if Mediterranean summers are just getting too hot. To make matters worse the new European digital immigration system was a nightmare. Three and a half hours queueing for entry in the heat of Milan airport was memorable but not in a good way.

The local farmers all leave a wide strip of unploughed wilderness at the field edges. The butterflies and bees make good use if it. So too do scores of young starlings who are learning to fly.  Anyone coming down the farm track has to slow their car down to the pace of a flying starling with 'L' plates. There are many more starlings than usual this morning which may signal that the local sparrow hawk has moved onto pastures new.

Peggy , the Dandy with a summer buzz cut, emits a loud howl as she sees us heading towards her on the golf course path. Peggy also greets every passing jogger in this way. Her two elder sisters walk along behind in silence. 

The TESCO supermarket has been closed for six weeks. It was due to open today but some of the new chiller display units have been delayed at customs. The new date for opening is September 6th just in time for the arrival of the incoming freshers. 

Yesterdays observation by our lawyer that there's been a huge increase in young American professional families wanting to come and live here is borne out by the 'Donnie Scotland' headline in a local paper. 

Back in the village the last of the hay is being bailed and hauled off for storage. Autumn is drawing close.

Social media bans :https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/society/2026/studying-the-social-media-ban-under-sixteens-australia

Meat allergy:https://www.sciencenorway.no/allergy-arachnids-food/meat-allergy-is-becoming-more-common-ticks-are-being-blamed/2697910

Nothing new under the sun:https://theconversation.com/how-a-19th-century-estate-agent-offered-3d-property-walkthroughs-before-the-dawn-of-the-photography-age-289732

Late summer light.

There comes a time in the late summer when the shadows lengthen and the light around here becomes sharper and more intense. This must be  something to do with shifts in the atmosphere as cold dry arctic air starts to slowly drift down towards us. We're now into that time of year . The change in the light can make even the humdrum look electric. Today the northern sunrise is making the dull dry grass that lines the field boundaries glow like an art installation . 

This change in the light will probably go unnoticed by the village youngsters who are getting ready for the new school term. The funereal looks on their faces tells us the summer holidays have gone by in a flash. The teenagers kick off their new term on Wednesday morning.

Outside the golf club we meet our Edinburgh solicitor. I say he's our solicitor but the firm of lawyers we've used forever has been taken over and amalgamated into a large international 'practice' as their Scottish outpost. As a consequence he's become rather too grand for us. The takeover supposedly enables us to access a 'wider variety of services' but our needs tend to be rather prosaic and corporate restructurings and access to an international network of offices across Asia and the Gulf aren't high on our list of priorities. 

He tells us that the number of Americans wanting to come and live in Scotland has doubled in the last year. Obtaining residency permits is keeping him very busy and, from the looks of his large Mercedes SUV, well remunerated. I think he said nearly 10,000 American families had already applied for Scottish residency this year but it could have been 20,000. We will doubtless bump into him again and when we do I'll ask what the numbers are. He also says that cold weather tourism is indeed a thing. His Edinburgh client base of hotels have never been busier. Tourists that used to go to London for a week are now heading north for some of the time. Volumes are up 15% over last year which is, seemingly, unheard of. 2027 is shaping up to see similar growth with early bookings from Spain and Italy surging.

The cheeky coasters showing a Scotsman displaying his backside have all sold. The souvenir shop has replaced them in its window with tins of shortbread. Westies and Highland Cows are big signifiers of Scotland alongside Loch Ness monsters and stern men in bearskins playing bagpipes.

We are taking a course on AI. Or, to be more precise,'The Font' thinks we need to keep abreast of changes in technology and has signed up to one of those university courses that are designed to keep the towns retired folk engaged . Take enough courses and we could be awarded an M. Litt.

I go to pick up some books that are set texts. The young lady at the bookstore says ' They'll make for interesting reading '. I have yet to be convinced so say nothing.

The course textbook ( I never thought I'd ever have to utter those awful words again ) is a large volume that has the dimensions and weight to turn it into an offensive weapon. It is, I see, already on its fourth edition. We shall attend our first lecture this week. I'll wager the average age will be 65.

Haggis is banned in the US. A summary of things you can't buy in  America :https://notnottalmud.substack.com/p/things-you-cant-buy-in-the-usa-and

Dither until you starve :https://sketchplanations.substack.com/p/buridans-ass

An intriguing insight into Chinese medicine :https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02448-x

52C during the day, 39C at night. Not even being on an aircraft carrier can keep you cool in temperatures like this :https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2088954923681542571

Schools go back this week.

I'm in the back garden dead heading the climbing roses when I hear the geese. At first I think they're going to fly along the coast but the sound draws closer as they dog leg over the rock stack before heading right over the house. They're low. In fact they're so low I can see their eyes. I'd always assumed goose honks were identical but each one has its own pitch and timbre. As they pass I can feel the air pressure change from the flapping of their wings. This is as primeval a sensation as you can get.

The wheat is harvested and bailed. The farmer and youngest son have now made a start on cutting the potato stems down to ground level. Tomorrow, with the stalks removed, they'll make a start on digging up the potatoes. Daughter is still in Jackson Hole with the tall American boy but is due back mid-week to start law school. The boys family own a ski resort. This to the famers Presbyterian ears sounds vaguely disreputable and on a par with owning an opium den. " What sort of business is that ?"  I'd hazard a guess that he'd find any suitors to be questionable but keep this thought to myself. He is however in a good mood. The price for the farmers wheat and potatoes are the best he's ever got and more than justify the cost of the new combine harvester. Crop yields down south have been hit by the arid conditions and prices for Scottish produce has risen sharply.

11C this morning. A high of 18C forecast for this afternoon. Heavy rain is expected in time for dinner. The London news broadcast tells us the national emergency service sent out a text warning everyone in Britain of the danger of wild fires. This is a very London centric view. Everyone in England and Wales got the emergency alert. In a wet and rainy Scotland we didn't.

A young gull wanders along the cobbles looking for food. It stops and peers plaintively at us in the hope we've brought it breakfast.

The town hotels are full of southerner families enjoying the last two weeks of the English school holidays. Here in Scotland the schools go back tomorrow . If your looking for signs that the year is racing on look no further.

Impressions of a Chinese tourist in Washington :https://themandarinfrontier.substack.com/p/three-visions-of-beijing-epliogue

Dining in Florence : https://emikodavies.substack.com/p/is-overtourism-killing-florences

Painting in Sardinia :https://corkscrewnomad.substack.com/p/watercolor-trip-through-sardinia

Lobster fishermen and a remarkable howl.

Here in the UK a Cambridge Professor, who 'amplified' his CV, has taken his life. There's something rather tragic and unedifying in the public hounding of a deeply troubled figure. It's a sad story where entitlement and racism mix and neither the university nor the media who hounded him come out of it looking good. The BBC breakfast bulletin informs us that there is confusion over claims that Washington wants to annex the Strait of Hormuz and have it become 'American territory'. Is this official policy or just a passing thought ? No one seems to know. Amidst the confusion I shall continue to take the little BMW down to the garage to have its petrol tank filled once a fortnight.

A beautiful calm morning. From the courtyard we can see a small fleet of lobster boats fishing thirty metres offshore where the sea plummets down into the cold, deep volcanic depths. This is where the best lobsters are found but the poor fishermen are forever snagging and losing their creel on the razor sharp rocks. These then wash up on the small beach where the local dogs find their scents intriguing.

Further along the coast towards town this mornings tide is the lowest we've ever seen . Holiday makers will have to walk across a good half mile of sand to reach the water.

By the golf course we meet what we think are three Dandy Dinmonts. Two of them are getting on in years and process slowly and silently. The third, leading from the front , is a younger dog called Peggy. She is far from quiet and every so often emits a fiercesome howl not unlike the Hound of the Baskervilles. It is a quite memorable sound for such a small ( and in Peggys case friendly ) dog. 

The bakers summer strawberry extravaganza seems to be rather less extravagant than it was.

In a neighbouring village  a rather fine Victorian pillar box. There can't be many of these old ones left. In fact there can't be many post boxes left at all. Letter delivery in the village seems to be down to three times a week as part of the latest cost cutting measures. How long before we're down to twice a week ?  The Postman has largely been replaced by couriers . There must be half a dozen courier companies who wend their way into the village every day.

A small clump of harebells happily blooming on the verge down by the village notice board. This must be a sheltered spot as all the others wild flowers down here have been decimated by the leaf stripping wind that blows up from the bay and is channeled along the lane.

Bikes starting to reappear. A few, very few, students are starting to return and get their apartments ready for the new semester which kicks off in three weeks.

An unusual Saturday morning musical choice on local radio :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkYcKfqFNmM

Animal welfare is seemingly better in richer countries :https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/will-factory-farming-fix-itself

The modern man :https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/men-also-want-it-all

Climate change :https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/environment/how-do-you-squeeze-climate-change-inside-human-brain

The world fertility rate is falling :https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jesusfv/Demographics.pdf