Fondant fancies.

The UK's political crisis continues to entertain - but not in a good way.  A number of politicians have put themselves forward to replace the current Prime Minister but none of them have deigned to tell us how they will deal with inflation or debt or the lack of  growth. We're back to that old ' Trust me. I'll sort it out on the night ' style of governance. Of course its not just our politicians who entertain. On the local radio we learn that Americas FBI Director has been on a business trip to Hawaii. While there he went on a 'VIP Snorkel' of the sunken battleship the USS Arizona. It seems that a group of veterans think diving on a wreck that contains 900 graves is 'vulgar and cheap'. This is the first time either of us has ever heard the term 'VIP Snorkel ' and our breakfast time conversation detours into an analysis of what sets apart the  VIP option from a mere 'Snorkel'.

Groups of forlorn tourists wandering around town as we pass through on our morning constitutional. One group is led by a guide with an orange flag. Another follows a woman holding a blue flag and wearing enormous gold framed sunglasses. Both guides have cigarettes dangling from their lips. Neither seems to be enjoying life. They must have left Edinburgh on the dot of six so this lack of enthusiasm is perhaps understandable. 

As we get near the language tells us the orange group are Spanish, the blue group Italian. Both guides follow the less is more approach to sightseeing - duomo, capilla, universidad - barked out, staccato style, as each of the towns sights are passed. Sights of martyrdom generate more interest and arm waving. Stragglers are told to keep up. Starbucks ( and its facilities ) is soon full of Madrilenos trying to warm up.

The bakers 'Festival of Chocolate' is in full swing. In the main window Chocolate Belgian Biscuits share the spotlight with Chocolate French Cakes. I bought two of the French Cakes earlier in the week and can report that they have a memorably high sugar content. Why they are described as French cakes is a mystery. They are closer to being super sweet fondant fancies. It should also be noted that the word 'fondant' implies that the filling has a continental lightness that these more solid Scottish examples disdain.

For true chocoholics the side window has a display of  YumYums, cupcakes, doughnuts and some industrial looking Pain au chocolat. With the students in the midst of exams any and everything sells out within minutes of it being put on the shelves.

Back out in the village the farmer is about to plant brassicas in the field by 'The Fonts' cabin. He launches into a long description about crop rotation and phosphate levels in the soil. As he talks yellow hammers, corn buntings and wrens flit in and out of the wild roses that clamber over the old dry stone field walls. 

The ultimate British dining car :https://www.belmond.com/trains/europe/uk/belmond-british-pullman/celia

Opening just in time for lovers of Burgundy heading off on holiday :https://chateaulacommaraine.com/en

The Chelsea Flower Show lifts its ban on gnomes :https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/news/2026/gnome-ban-lifted

Europe v US :https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/yes-europeans-are-poorer-than-americans

The White House Director of Communications posts this unusual photograph. The world of diplomacy is changing :https://x.com/StevenCheung47/status/2054325027659448711

A bridge and what could have been a travel agency.

The slow motion political assassination of Britains Prime Minister dominates the news here.  So far it's all been a bit Et tu Brute but without a dagger. Perhaps that will change today. To jolly things up the BBC plays a sound clip of the American President emerging from a two hour session with President Xi . He informs us that this is ' the biggest and most fantastic summit the worlds ever seen . It's so big I can tell you that in the States no one is talking about anything else '.

This estate agent style hyperbole causes us to  wonder if we should keep a small pied a terre in Edinburgh. We used to have a rambling old flat at the top of the Mound . You can see it just to the immediate left of the castle in this photo. It was unusual for having a Georgian wig cupboard. We rarely used it. In August the Edinburgh Tattoo was held on the castle esplanade and the noise and crowds used to drive us crazy. The military police would diligently search the take away pizza boxes or delivery vans for explosives. This consigned us to cooking at home for the duration. 

There's a little known entrance to Waverley station that leads out towards a side road onto Calton Hill. This is a part of town tourists seldom see. Facing anyone who walks this way is the Regent Bridge. It was  built as a memorial for those who fell in the Napoleonic wars and spans a large deep volcanic gully. It was , in its day, prohibitively expensive to build and subject to huge cost over runs. I'd bet not one in a thousand folk who walk along the road above know that they're crossing a bridge.

The Starbucks on George Street has an interesting 1970's era frontage with five brass sculptures mounted on triangular granite walls. The brass figures seem to be a strange combination of Jacobite Highlanders and native American Indians. This modernity is out of place in the New Town but it is, in its own way, a quite wonderful piece of architecture. It's certainly too good to be a coffee shop. It has the look of an upmarket travel agency but try as I might there's nothing to be found about its original use or who the architect was. It's the sort of architecture you can walk by a hundred times without noticing it. That in a sense is a measure of its success.

The beaches on the train ride home are the preserve of solitary dog walkers. Five miles outside Edinburgh and the population soon peters out as the big city retreats into the distance.

Far away from big city life mother duck continues to monitor control the footfall on the pavement outside the Shawarma House.

Something bright and exotic in bloom on the banks of the heron pond.

Just another quiet day in a small corner of Scotland. St Andrews is in full on exam mode and the streets are quiet. Two more Gulfstreams and a half dozen smaller business jets fly over The last Wee House before starting their final approach into Dundee. A reminder that the high rolling golf crowd are starting to arrive from Florida.

Spotted on a neighbouring  villages notice board :

The artist on display at the Scottish Royal Academy is Irish :https://www.artandhorseracing.com/kayla-martell#&gid=1726120867&pid=9

The Sahara reveals some surprises :https://theconversation.com/we-found-hundreds-of-huge-ancient-mass-graves-hidden-in-the-sahara-desert-281978

Tectonic movement :https://gizmodo.com/scientists-think-africa-may-be-cracking-along-a-new-tectonic-plate-boundary-2000757562

The summer exhibition

We're on an early train down to Edinburgh for the summer exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy. It's dry and the sun is out but there's a cheeky wind that bites the ankles and quickly makes us seek the warmth of the station waiting room . We're soon joined by a group of a dozen or so American golfers heading to Gullane to play on the course there. They're nervous that the train might go without them knowing. I assure them there are only two platforms and that there will be an announcement before it's due but they treat this information with ill disguised scepticism. The more nervous among them move back out onto the platform in case the train tries to sneak through leaving them , and their golf clubs, stranded. Others, aware of the impact of cold wind on males of a certain age, stick near the facilities. The train runs on time and arrives into Edinburgh a minute early. We last see the golfers looking for the way to the cab rank.

You'd expect the summer exhibition to be packed but tourists seem intimidated by the large RSA sign hanging outside. Braver ones ask the staff at reception what the cost of entry is and seem non-plussed when they discover it's free. Most say thank you and retreat without heading towards the galleries. Maybe they just can't believe anything in Edinburgh is free.

'The Font' thinks this years exhibits are wonderful. Angus thinks there's too much of that brightly coloured installation art that will eventually find a home in the lobby of a municipal office building or hospital where it will bemuse all who come into contact with it.

Some galleries are cold and sepulchral. This one has a friendly vibe with locals walking around slowly sizing up the works they like... and those they don't.

I'm quite taken with a small bright picture of a cat watching the washing in a spin dryer. Someone else has spotted the painting and it's already got a red 'sold' sticker. 

The painter who lives at the end of the village has something on show. It too has a red sticker.

We already have a work by this artist. It catches something about the south of France but it's far too big for the down sized house. We spend a happy hour looking at the exhibits and then head off to Ardfern , the trendy wine bar, for lunch. Angus tries a glass of Uruguayan Zinfandel which the waitress says is a delight. 'Delight' is another of those words which has the elasticity to mean so many different things to different people.

On our way home we stop off at the Edinburgh branch of our local bookstore for a copy of 'What if Reform wins'. They've sold out of all their stock in St Andrews but have phoned down to Edinburgh to ask them to hold onto a copy for us. It has suddenly become a best seller. There is annoyingly no question mark at the end of the title. It turns out to be jauntily well written.

A new hotel in Venice :https://airelles.com/en/destination/venice

Latin American problems :https://www.richardhanania.com/p/why-is-latin-america-so-violent

Somewhere in New York where you can get ( a decent ) glass of wine without having to buy a bottle :https://www.aldosohmwinebar.com/about

A revolution.

The UK seems set to have its sixth Prime Minister in a decade. Somewhere along the line we've become more Italian than the Italians. With so much political turmoil taking place locally the American President doesn't feature in the morning news apart from a brief report saying he's thinking of making Venezuela the 51st state.

Bright but bitterly cold this morning. Overnight an unseasonal tongue of Arctic air has swept south towards Scotland. The horse in the field by the strawberry farm looks at us in the vain hope we've brought carrots.

There's been a revolution at the bakers. For the first time ever the familiar fudge doughnuts don't dominate their window display. This morning they've thrown caution, and tradition, to the wind and Deluxe Chocolate Doughnuts take pride of place. These are £2:15 a piece. No one behind the counter can provide a reason  why this culinary regime change has taken place.

Angus orders a whole meal loaf and two Chocolate French Cakes. What any Frenchmen would make of these is best left unanswered.

As I'm leaving I notice another new line. Chocolate and Hazelnut Swish. The Swishes will have to wait until tomorrow.

On the beach a labrador walks along the waters edge. Every so often he looks behind him to make sure his owner is still there. He ignores the squabbling crows and gulls that are fighting over washed up sprats.

The recently restored hotel on the road out to Dundee has burnt down. The entire roof has gone. It had only been open for a couple of weeks after the renovations and upgrade. The place looks very forlorn.

Laughter of the day. Hungary's new PM is sworn in and his mother forgets decorum :https://x.com/tothcsabatibor/status/2053420741949841487

Dunkin Donuts flopped in India :https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/why-dunkin-failed-in-india/articleshow/130972875.cms

Electricity in Spain is cheap :https://janrosenow.substack.com/p/spain-just-became-one-of-europes

Included ( surprisingly ) in a blog about Places of Charm. The accompanying pictures don't entice :https://www.placesofcharm.com/blog/2025/7/27/48-hours-in-riyadh-what-to-do-and-what-to-see

A brave one.

The six am BBC news broadcast is still unsure whether the war in the Gulf is over or is escalating. The presenter observes that oil prices in Asian trading have gone up sharply which seems to indicate the latter. Closer to home the British Prime Minster faces a make or break speech to woo back MP's unhappy with his leadership. It wasn't so long ago that we were led by a succession of performative buffoons and people couldn't see the back of them quickly enough. Now we are governed by someone boring but diligent and people are still even more unhappy. Go figure. 

Our local professor of International Relations sends out this latest take on where he thinks things stand :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/the-us-military-is-failing-facts

Inquisitive faces peer at us as we head up past the village green.

The calves are now at the stage where they're cautiously interested in anyone who  passes by. They wander over to the gate to see us . A particularly brave one sticks his nose through the bars.

It's shaping up to be a perfect day. Down on the beach it's shirt sleeve weather. This is probably due more to the lack of wind than any real warmth in the sunshine. The locals schools have had a seven a side rugby tournament here over the weekend and the sand has been churned up by the presence of players and spectators. It is strangely compacted and unyielding beneath our feet. A ranger stops to tell us that he's seen the first cuckoo flowers coming into bloom. He's also seen hares in the dunes.

Today is the start of the full on exam season so there are one or two students out running in an attempt to clear their heads before their Accretion Physics papers.

This is a small town of distinct and long honed routines .

A little known American painter is back in vogue :https://www.christies.com/en/stories/edward-hicks-the-peaceable-kingdom-6ffd5133f81148af82c5dfb9bf043915

There's so much we take for granted :https://x.com/patrickc/status/2053103361176813791

Can't remember ever having seen this show. The camera work is relaxed and the people all seem real and unpretentious. A different age of television :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwsSbAKs3yo

Will El Nino surprise ? :https://gizmodo.com/chances-of-super-el-nino-approach-100-setting-the-stage-for-the-hottest-year-on-record-2000756197

48C in Africa but the Med is facing a chill :https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2053193399134515617

Monday morning thoughts for those taking exams today :https://sketchplanations.substack.com/p/i-will-study-and-get-ready-and-perhaps

Signs and a guardian

Sunday morning. It's already light by five .We're fast heading to the summer solstice and the time of year when the northerly nights are mild and fleeting. The two deer that have been loitering around the heron pond  appear in the courtyard with a little one. The wee thing's still unsteady on its spindly legs so I'd reckon it can't be much more than three days old.  Everywhere you look life is stirring. A group of bird watchers with zoom lenses are clustered down by the shore taking pictures of the gannets. They are an uncommunicative bunch so we wish them 'Good morning' and hurry on by.

'Exams in progress'  signs tell you all you need to know about the monastic silence that has fallen across the towns bars and cafes.

Down by the Shawarma restaurant the female duck that calls this stretch of pavement her home is asleep on one leg. She spends her nights like this.

Her partner remains resolutely on guard and quacks in irritation at anyone who gets too close. His quacking is her cue to put down the other leg. Of all the places ducks could think of nesting this has to be the absolute worst.

On the 1st tee a group of American golfers are waiting to tee off. Players in the know come here in May and September when the weather is better and the crowds thinner. An increasing number summer here. Yesterday we saw two Gulfstreams and three Citations drop into the local airport. They seem to come straight over 'The Last Wee House before Denmark' before throttling back their engines and turning onto their final approach. Senators and Congressmen , as opposed to the merely wealthy, avoid contact with the plebs at the airport and get to land at the local air base. The perks of public service. 

Sunday morning Beethoven :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BHiyYuAhJ0&list=RD8BHiyYuAhJ0&start_radio=1

National parks. The good and the bad :https://viverricious.substack.com/p/i-went-to-americas-worst-national

Current affairs :https://snyder.substack.com/p/on-superpower-suicide

Insights into the real China ( For perspective the population of a small city in China is still liley to be more than the entire population of Scotland ) :https://chinaunread.substack.com/p/i-moved-back-to-a-second-tier-city

Some become great literature. Others don't :https://luisrdomingos.substack.com/p/books-in-purgatory

The golden age of travel :https://fabioaprivatecorrespondence.substack.com/p/the-last-ships-of-state

Good coffee ... and bad.

In exactly three weeks the farmers two sons and a group of their mates head off to the US for the World Cup. The younger boy finished his bac exams yesterday. He now has to wait three whole weeks for the departure date. The farmers wife is steeling herself for the fact that there will only be one topic of conversation at the dinner table for the rest of this month. Three weeks can pass by very slowly when you're seventeen ... or possibly even more slowly if you're the mother of a seventeen year old football fan.  The church elder stops to tell us he's seen half a dozen yellowhammers down by the heron pond. This year they are, sadly, on the red list.

The election results were as expected and the 'grim drubbing' duly took place. On the news the 'grim drubbing' has transmuted into a 'brutal drubbing'.The Liberal candidate in these rural and staunchly unionist parts doubled his majority despite his support for expanding a caravan park onto the towns green belt.

'The Font' observes that on our recent trip to China the coffee was uniformly good. Not once were we served a bad cup. The same cannot be said about Scotland. At the trendy cafe we are served two cups of something that manages to be acrid and palate searingly astringent in equal measure. The students, who start exams today, seem happy with this caffeine laden assault on their senses. After three sips we quietly leave.

The farm shop offering all sorts of tomatoes. We opt for some of the heritage varieties.

Last year strawberries were £3:30 a punnet. This year the price has risen to £3:60.

At the super trendy cafe porridge comes with poached rhubarb and lovage.

A new apothecary shop has opened up. It's very lovely but I'm left to wonder if the locals and students will be big buyers.

A detour to the bookstore to pick up a book that everyone has been raving about.

Roman glassware :https://thedebrief.org/this-ancient-roman-artifacts-weird-properties-point-to-evidence-of-1600-year-old-nanotechnology-scientists-say/

That lightbulb moment :https://x.com/PplRegretting/status/2052708732417798262

Megaregions :https://x.com/jjohnpotter/status/2052600623762375044

It's never too late to release an album :https://x.com/historyrock_/status/2052715005540184449