Christmas song #3

The evening television news has snippets of the World Cup draw. We are treated to a hitherto unknown peace prize being awarded . The Canadian PM and Mexican Presidents are on their best behaviour and smile for the cameras. Then a group of 'B' list celebrities make carefully scripted and highly anodyne comments designed for an American audience more used to the rules of baseball or the NFL. For the event, Tom Brady, an American football player chosen for his ability to pick balls out of a bowl, wears a black suit, black shirt and black tie. I guess this takes the meaning of black tie to a whole new level .

There's no doubting Scotlands unexpected entry into the football World Cup is good news for local travel agents and kilt shops. Flights are already filling up. Fans planning to travel to see the team in the US (  they're tentatively pitted against Brazil and  Morocco in Foxborough and Atlanta  ) seem keen on the lace up shirt, colourful tartan sash and  medieval bunnet look. This may or may not, depending on the wearers physique and level of sobriety, combine practicality and style. What America will make of the arrival of the Tartan Army will be one of the more interesting cultural developments that await us in the year ahead. The linguistic differences with the Glasgow fans are borderline unbridgeable. Canada with their indigenous Scots demographic will certainly be well better prepared and Mexico may not even notice as the Scots may already be on their way home by that ( early ) stage of the tournament. I look forward to spurious press articles about the people of New Jersey taking the visiting Scots to their hearts. GLWT!

The ladies outfitters on the shopping street has a new - festive drinks party - window display. There seem to be two hem lengths.

A company that arranges bouncy castles for childrens parties is extremely busy. Schools finish here for the Christmas break on the 22nd so school party season is about to kick in big time.

I'm reading this slim little volume for a second time. It's one of those 'read and digest every word ' type of novels and is ideal for the fifty minute train ride into Edinburgh. It outlines a historic and violent dispute between two 19th century  Lutheran pastors in Konigsberg. This might sound dull but in those days theological disputes were passionate and aggressive affairs. A similar dispute at the same time  led to the Zuriputsch riots in Switzerland - an event that led to the popularising in English of the word putsch.

Tucked away on an inside page there's a reference to 'the sin against the Holy Spirit'. This is apparently unforgivable and even more worryingly there is no indication what the sin consists of. In 19th century Prussia the worry of this caused widespread outbreaks of deep depression and sexual excess - particularly amongst wealthy young women with time on their hands. Angus can't help but feel that such a vague  sin sounds deeply unfair. You can't even use the ' I'm sorry officer I didn't know it was a 30 mph zone ' excuse. I'd never heard of it. Have you ?

Very Heavy Metal and very Swedish . Christmas song #3 :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuauC6mkw1k&list=RDUuauC6mkw1k&start_radio=1

We are getting our Christmas chocolates from here this year :https://audreyschocolates.co.uk/

Christmas song #2

Town suddenly empty. The recent graduates ( and their families ) have gone and the remaining students are ensconced in the library as exam week looms. A lucky few who don't have exams are already starting to drift away. In an attempt to cover overheads restaurants that were booked solid earlier in the week are now offering 30% off their menu prices.

The weather remains well behaved. Mild(ish) and largely dry. In a couple of weeks the days will start to get longer. The moon over the last few nights has been spectacular.  By three thirty in the afternoon it's already reflecting off the sea outside The last wee house before Denmark.

In town we're surprised to find that delivery men leave boxes outside front doors. An air fryer and other kitchen equipment sit on the stoop of a town centre front door from nine until the owners return at lunchtime. 

 

'The Font' ordered some things from a shop in Malmo. For each of the last three days FedEx has e-mailed to say the parcel has arrived at their depot in Edinburgh and be with us by 10 pm.  On the fourth day they don't text but they do unexpectedly deliver. The box has been crushed and the contents damaged. The customs people seem to have opened every carton and then drop the contents back in higgeldy-piggeldy. The driver throws the package onto the doorstep rather than ring the bell. By the time we find it he's long gone. Pre-Christmas deliveries are the root cause of much stress. Today a conversation will be had with the Swedish company we ordered from. What's the betting that customs damage is not covered by their insurance ? The seasonal joy of exclusionary clauses and small print.

The supermarket doesn't seem to have its inventories fully under control. A barricade of  cream crackers has been piled up in front of the cheese counter.

Christmas music #2 :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95moNkxIgkU&list=RD95moNkxIgkU&start_radio=1

A rather unexpected Christmas message. Not sure what this British Christmas advert tells us about the state of the world :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L82JuLTmjSA

Institutional memory in foreign services takes decades - sometimes centuries - to develop. It can disappear in a flash. This is not a surprise:https://afsa.org/new-report-finds-us-foreign-service-breaking-point-after-historic-loss-capacity

Christmas song #1

You couldn't imagine a more beautiful sunrise if you tried. Faced with such a fiery display the local dog walkers seem loathe to leave the beach. That's just fine with their canine companions.

The winter graduation ceremonies are now done and dusted. They bring a touch of colour to this small Northern town. Everyone seemed to be smiling and enjoying themselves apart from the undergrads who start exam week on Monday.

The new university piper leads the twice a day graduation ceremonies down the street.  She is a cheerful soul and a fine piper. I stop to congratulate her and say that I'd heard someone outside the church playing Ding Dong Merrily on High on the pipes. Ten minutes later the carol is being played as she leads the procession down the street from the exam hall. Even the senior academics laugh .

The university Principal is wearing her black John Knox outfit. She has a difficult job. In a turbulent year - politically and financially - she's made hard decisions,  maintained a steady course and managed to balance the budget. These days it seems to be the rule to criticize and never praise our public servants. The reality is that managing student fads and  'passions' while maintaining standards is a difficult task. I wouldn't want to touch her job with a barge pole but I do thank God for quiet, competent people like her.

We're reminded why we came back here from the sun of Italy and France . 800 youngsters ( and double that number of proud parents )  getting on with life is the sort of thing that a big city can hide. Here, in a town of 15,000, the joy and happiness is infectious. There is dancing.

3 weeks to Christmas. Time to link to some seasonal music. A very Bavarian sound for Christmas song #1 :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhUzz1ph1Qk&list=RDJhUzz1ph1Qk&start_radio=1

Daily reading :

Will this, like heated loos, catch on ? A shower seems just as efficient. :https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/japan-launches-human-washing-machine-for-public-use-after-expo-success-9721446

I know nothing at all about Central America  :https://americasquarterly.org/article/reaction-next-steps-in-hondurass-close-election/

A problem for Russian Porsche owners :https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/12/02/hundreds-of-porsche-owners-in-russia-unable-to-start-cars-after-system-failure-a91302

Winter graduation meets the pantomime

The town busy and full of happy graduands and parents. Winter graduation isn't as large as the summer and the age profile is a different one ( there are more PhD's being awarded ) but it's enjoyed just as much. It helps that nature is being kind - the bright, dry, sunny weather of the last few days is forecast to last until the weekend.

On the streets the kilt is much in evidence.

With the sudden influx of visitors getting a restaurant reservation or hotel room is well nigh impossible. Large cars from Wimbledon and Esher glide silently around looking for parking spaces.  We see a man in a camel hair coat and a trilby walking away from a duo tone silver and lavender Maybach. His wife is wearing furs. Neither of us can remember the last time we saw a mink coat. Come to that neither of us can remember the last time we saw a duotone Maybach. After dark the streets are unusually busy ...

... and the shops are staying open late. A piper is playing 'Ding Dong Merrily on High' outside the auld kirk. This is a tune that lends itself to the pipes.

The ' awfy braw' pantomime is sold out. A group of eight year olds are getting off a bus and being shepherded into the theatre foyer. For them the Christmas school outing is the high point of the year. It shows. They are already in the hyper ' It's behind you !' pantomime spirit.  The teachers deserve a medal - or a calming dram or three.

After a rather dull dinner at one of the golf clubs we find a group of sixty or so youngsters out for an evening run heading towards us along the pavement. 'They' seem oblivious to the existence of anyone else. We step off the pavement  into the space between the parked cars to let them pass. Angus mutters. 'They' seem to find anyone over the age of 35 completely invisible.

Things we miss about France. Paris chocolate :https://debauve-et-gallais.com/

and here :https://chapon.com/collections/noel-2025

All our dogs were super intelligent - if you believe the ability to understand the word 'biscuit' in 84 languages is a sign of super intelligence. By every other measure they weren't :https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news/study-suggests-curiosity-and-focus-could-be-key-factors-that-make-mans-best-friend-a-genius

A driven woman :https://www.audubon.org/magazine/meet-woman-mission-photograph-every-species-of-hummingbird-world

What remodeling says about the householder :https://www.coolidgereview.com/articles/how-presidents-change-white-house

An excited graduation goer.

A blustery Tuesday morning. On our start of day walk down the farm track towards the beach we're met by Puppy coming - at high speed - in the other direction.

She's delighted to see us. In the mistaken belief we are carrying biscuits she does cartwheels in the long grass.

Three minutes later elder sister shows up. Elder sister doesn't quite have her sisters turn of speed.

There's time to explore the lobster creels and engage in some ' sisterly ' savaging before they both hare off in pursuit of the ducks in the rock pool. The life of a farm dog is a constant round of adventure and excitement.

Out at sea work on the windfarm continues. There must now be at least eighty of the pylons poking up above the horizon.

In town a three year old girl proudly shows her flag to everyone that passes. She's here to see her uncle get his doctorate in this mornings graduation ceremony. Her  parents are up and out early. A hotel room shared with a lively three year old and a six month old is not a place to linger. Starbucks is already full with proud families - men in suits and women in impractical broad brimmed hats - waiting for the doors of the graduation hall to open. We direct the girls parents to the cafe by the cathedral where William met Kate ( allegedly ). It's warm and the bacon rolls there are good enough to satisfy a small, very excited, graduation goer with a flag .

Surprising discovery of the day :https://www.sciencealert.com/chernobyl-fungus-appears-to-have-evolved-an-incredible-ability

Dogs :https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/almost-every-dog-on-earth-still-has-a-bit-of-wolf-inside-even-chihuahuas/

The latest thing may have some downsides :https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/11/28/1128511/what-we-still-dont-know-about-weight-loss-drugs/

Esoteric insights :https://bowofodysseus.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-the-thunder-dragon-kingdom

We learn a new word

The weekend edition of the local paper leads with the news that a delivery driver has fallen into a hole in the dark. The poor man is shaken and bruised. How does a newspaper editor tell you it's quiet without telling you it's quiet ?

After an 'incident' involving a six year old and a shopping trolley the minimalist Christmas tree has moved from the supermarket foyer into the space by the sliding doors. 

At the bookshop a rather gloomy stocking filler is for sale on the counter by the cash register. The bookseller says that in the week running up to Christmas the vast majority of the customers are men. It seems the male of the species likes to leave present buying until the very last minute. The technical term for this is 'panic buying'. This is when cook books fly off the shelves.

The festive thistles have reappeared. Last year they were projected onto the fountain. This year , with the fountain away being repaired, they light up the cobble stones in front of the Subway sandwich shop. 

On Sunday night we go to one of those current affair lectures given by a well known professor from the US.  We learn 1) a new word - autogolpe and 2) that all the senior Russian analysts in the State Department have been 'let go' . It can safely be said that the lecturer was not radiating festive cheer.

The BBC team are busy packing up. Yesterday they broadcast the Radio 4 St Andrews Day service first thing in the morning and a two hour slot on Radio 3 in the late afternoon. All being well they will be back in Glasgow for lunch. 

Exams start here next Monday and this week is lecture free and supposedly revision heavy. For a lucky few who don't have exams this means the de facto end of term. The local hotels are filling up with 'bubbly' friends and families of the students graduating on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Seasonal cheer :https://x.com/colmflynnire/status/1995137947205538094

1997 wasn't a good year for Macy's :https://www.military.com/feature/2025/11/12/top-10-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-mishaps-made-history.html

The first words :https://www.sciencenorway.no/language-the-human-body/how-did-the-first-words-originate/2576459

Caffeine:https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-student-contributors-health-and-nutrition/nappuccino-myth-or-midday-miracle

Cling film :https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/this-3-ingredient-film-made-from-food-waste-may-actually-beat-regular-plastic-packaging/

Some writing from Iowa that pops unexpectedly into the in-box :https://michaeljudge.substack.com/p/big-snow-in-iowa-f93

A fantastical place.

Sunday morning. The BBC engineers already hard at work in chapel. There will be a live broadcast this afternoon on Radio 3 between four thirty and six thirty. The sound of a full orchestral version of O come O come Emmanuel drifts across the road towards us. We stop, entranced, by the fish restaurant  and listen. How exotic the music sounds amid the street lights and parking cones of a small Scottish town. You know its advent proper when the BBC show up. 

The rain of the last week has gone and the skies are clear and still bright with stars. The town is surprisingly busy with a mixture of students heading home after a late night and early rising towns folk. A large marquee has appeared on the lawn down by the Classics Department. This will host the winter graduation ceremonies which start on Tuesday. This year 800, mostly post grads, will be saying goodbye and starting off on the next leg of their journey. We learn all of this from a couple walking a dog dressed up against the cold in salmon pink pyjamas. The couple are from Beith and are the ( extremely EXTREMELY ) proud parents of a soon to be newly minted PhD in organic chemistry. He is the first in their family to have gone to university and is off to start work with a pharmaceutical company in High Wycombe. They pronounce the High and Wycombe separately as if its an extraordinary and fantastical location that's not to be confused with ( if there is such a place ) Low Wycombe. Their happiness is infectious and we wish them - and him - well. They observe with a wholly justified 'match that if you can' tone of pride that there could be no better Christmas present.

Somethings have to be ordered now if you want to get them for Christmas :https://www.souschef.co.uk/products/amarena-cherry-panettone-1kg

Dogs :https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03755-5?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20251127

Once again the Scots are included as 'English'. If that had been true would there have been a Revolution ? Discuss :https://x.com/uncle_deluge/status/1991295715436556637?  Here is another take :https://x.com/CoKeynesian/status/1991974111715995964?

Overturning the moral scheme of things. Not everywhere is peaceful :https://snyder.substack.com/p/what-if-trump-wants-goliath-to-win

Like bringing a leaf blower to a funeral . Tips for those heading to France :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXShk6w8cSg