" I write poetry too ".

The first flock of geese are spotted heading south down the coast towards Northumberland. They honk loudly as they go. A group of them break away and land on the recently harvested wheat fields and are soon busily gleaning the fallen ears of grain. The swallows that we thought might have headed home, haven't. They are busy doing miraculous feats of airmanship in the barns by the cows field.

The farmers wife has been invisible for the last few days. Babies have been born in the village ( two so far this month and a third on the way ) and well honed neighbourly routines have sprouted like wild flowers after rain. Advice is given, visiting parents entertained, dinners cooked ,shopping bought and elder siblings given lunch and sleep overs. News of the newborns progress is passed on by word of mouth and greeted with delight. In a small farming village there is an entrenched feeling that the arrival of new lives pressages continuity. It was exactly the same in the French village. All is well with the world...or at least this small part of it.

With the fun fair gone the shopping street is once again looking recognizable.

The newly restored fountain has sustained some damage to its concrete balustrade. It could have been worse.

For dinner we go to the new restaurant that's opened up where the old Brewdogs pub used to be. In the space of five weeks its been transformed from somewhere tired and dingy into a bright and modern restaurant. We've delayed going to allow time enough for any teething troubles to subside and for the chef to settle in. There is a queue at the front door which augers well. The food proves to be good, the service efficient and the cost reasonable. It was fun and we shall go again. All of the nights co-diners were fellow townies which I think is a good sign. The owner takes the time to come over for a wee blether with each table. This is good PR . Happy locals are the ones who are likely to turn out  for dinner in February.  At the moment the chef is managing three seatings a night. 

Afterwards we pop into the pub facing the divinity school for a night cap. A local mutt decides Angus is a dog person and is keen for a chat and a tickle.  The place is full of tables of hearty young men in shirts and ties with a few tables of golfers and English tourists interspersed among them. There's a summer rugby school on at the university and scrum halves from all over the country are here to hone their kicking skills. Rugby being a conservative game they've dressed for dinner. Some are wearing jackets that they've grown into and are in the process of growing out of. Others wear 'interview' suits. Haircuts are uniformly short and practical. They eschew wine for the volumetric cost effectiveness of beer . When one of them becomes too boisterous the others silence him with a loud shhh followed by silence and embarrassed laughter. Who'd have thought that 20 year olds have ties - let alone wear them? There are some quietly conservative things about life in Britain that surprise even the British. One young man tells the attractive American student working behind the bar that " I don't only play rugby. I write poetry too ". How's that as a line to break the ice ? Her heart seems unmoved by this  revelation of his inner muse. The group finally finish their beers leaving the rest of us to marvel at their boisterous civility and good naturedness.

Practical advice for dictators :https://fridainsight.substack.com/p/how-to-become-president-for-life

English ideas for hot weather eating:https://theyorkshiregourmet.substack.com/p/appetite-in-the-age-of-heat-addled

Men and women respond differently to drugs :https://www.the-scientist.com/female-brains-wake-up-from-anesthesia-differently-than-male-brains-74843

It was quite literally a different world. The hit song from this day in August 1939 :https://youtu.be/U1NeqzYqgEU?t=98

No eclipse for us.

The first of the bramble pickers are hard at work along the hedgerows. It's a young couple who live in one of the small cottages by the stream. He does the picking while she holds a large oblong Tupperware container into which the brambles are dropped. They seem to be immersed in what they're doing but manage to look up and give us a cheerful ' Good Morning '. We leave them to it. They're out early because it's going to be hot today. 28C expected, which for Scotland is unusual.

Nine curlews fly over us heading south. Eight of them in formation together, the ninth trailing along behind cheeping noisily as it tries to catch up. The birds used to be a common sight but there are fewer every year. Their nesting grounds, to which exact spot they return year after year, are slowly but surely disappearing under the towns ever growing trailer parks. Interestingly, after a recent burst of expansion 20% of all of Scotlands static caravans can be found in a ten minute drive around the town. At what point does the beauty that attracts people get swamped ?

The strawberries are at their peak. The Bulgarian lady who stacks the shelves and takes the money tells me they hope to get another six or seven weeks crop before they shut up shop for the year.

The minutes of the recent community council meeting have appeared on the village notice board . They indicate that life in these golf mad parts has its own dangers.

Last night we went into town to watch the eclipse. It goes without saying that it turned out to be cloudy. Around six thirty a large group of Italian school children appeared on the high ground by the bandstand. It would have been a great place to see events unfold but they soon get bored and head off down to the beach to feed pizza to the seagulls. Italian school children have learnt how to project a world weary aura of ennui. In this regard no other nationality can match them....or come close.

On the golf course the foursomes continued to tee off oblivious to the eclipse and what might .... or in this case might not ... be happening in the heavens above them.

Gershwin for a hot sunny morning :https://youtu.be/xDneycZwUww?t=30

Medicine:https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/future-of-medicine

The rise of the American tourist :https://x.com/arpitrage/status/2086828588058235334?s=46&t=fSypFxt84bBHId-do9r5Ag

Long forgotten memories.

We have the central heating  boiler serviced. It may seem unusual to have this done in August but it means when winter arrives we won't have to worry about anything going wrong. The man arrives at six thirty in the evening and goes an hour later. " All's fine Pal" he says breezily before adding " You needed a new timer ". With that he's off.  I also arrange to have the heating oil topped up to the brim. Who knows what will happen to the price as we head into the first frosts of autumn ?

Wednesday morning . At quarter to six the sound of heavy machinery tells us the farmer has started bringing in the wheat. From the bedroom window a cloud of chaff can be seen slowly but surely heading towards the back garden of the house. Like mad things we rush around closing all the windows.

Red Admirals much in evidence on the flowers today. They seem to be having a good year but nothing like the Cabbage Whites which flutter around in swarms. The lavender bed isn't so much covered in bees as alive with them. In our four summers here this is the best year, by far, for bees. There is something rather reassuring about that.

The night of the lunar eclipse. The Scottish weather remains mercurial so we may, or may not, see it. After a bright start to the day cloud and rain are forecast for the evening. There's probably a 50% chance we'll have some gaps in the clouds. An e-mail from the power company drops into the inbox this morning asking us to be prudent in our use of electricity during the eclipse. The loss of solar power may 'stress the grid '.

The fun fair has ended and this morning the whole caboodle is being packed up. The huge tower that winches youthful customers to the top and then releases them into a stomach churning free fall has been very popular. 

This music is playing from the loud speakers as the last of the rides are disassembled :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZANKFxrcKU . I haven't heard this since the age of 2 or 3. My father used to sing it to me as we drove around the island in the family Humber Super Snipe.  I always thought there was something ever so slightly sinister about the song ( the furtiveness of the Teddy Bears aroused suspicion )  although it may also have had something to do with my fathers singing style. It is an interesting insight into how auditory inputs  can trigger long forgotten but clarion clear memories.

I cannot imagine any dog being trained to sit through an MRI scan :https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1137798

The kids at the second ( and final ) summer school session are heading home. They only seem to have just arrived. At the 2:21 mark there's a cameo appearance of the owners sheepdog that keeps a watchful eye on the youngsters from its position by the summer schools front door. It is the best behaved dog we've ever seen :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBda0sfwPR4

Thoughts on architecture :https://www.bensouthwood.co.uk/p/eight-architecture-myths-busted-by

You could not make this up ! Harry Potter fans triumphant :https://www.nme.com/news/film/harry-potter-fans-succeed-moving-construction-project-avoid-dobby-grave-3961714

The beach procession.

Another beautiful, but chill, start to the day here in Scotland. It might get to 18C this afternoon. By contrast London is expecting their fifth heat wave of the year with a high of 35C. 

Last night a huge cruise liner drifted by the end of the garden. It's the closest inshore we've ever seen one. A little later another ship, almost as big, joins it going in the same direction. We stand at the garden wall with a glass of Margaux and watch them drift towards the wind farms and the horizon. If you'd told me ten years ago that cruising round Scotland would go mainstream I would have laughed aloud and thought you quite mad. Until three or four years ago the only folks cruising these waters were hardy bird watchers looking for puffins on the offshore rock stacks. Nowadays the tell tale signs of climate change and cool weather tourism are slowly but surely mounting up.

Sometimes the sheep warily watch us walk by. This morning they completely ignore us. I'd like to think this is because they recognize that we don't mean them any harm but it's more probably down to the fact that by sheep standards life in a grassy field by the sea is as good as it gets so why bother moving ?

We watch as a group of cheerful middle aged men dressed in white hotel dressing gowns process slowly across the fairways towards the beach. The caddies think they might be some fringe religious group but it turns out they're American golfers who thought it would be 'fun' to start their day with a dip in the sea. What seemed a brilliant idea after last nights dinner proves to be less so when they have to stick their toes in the water. It's called the North Sea for a reason. 

The braver of them get their knees wet. The less brave ( the majority ) don't even get that far. Soon they're heading bare foot back across the sand. The flimsy hotel slippers they set off in aren't up to the journey and are reluctantly discarded in the rubbish bins by the beach cafe. Bizarrely, this is the sort of scene ( hotel flip flops excepted )  you might have seen here half a millennium ago when pilgrims would wash off the dirt from their journey in the sea before going off to visit the shrine of St Andrew in the cathedral. Plus ca change. We and the local dog owners watch them in amazement.

The fun fair trucks have parked perilously close to the restored fountain. The staff will start dismantling the rides tomorrow in readiness for their journey back to Glasgow. Let's hope the fountain remains unscathed.

I'd expect to see houses with designs like this in London, not Kenya :https://unityhomes.co.ke/silver-hill/

Vegetables :https://www.sciencealert.com/the-worlds-vegetables-are-vanishing-and-its-quietly-wrecking-our-diets

A challenge for psychologists :https://www.sciencealert.com/what-if-the-brain-doesnt-create-consciousness-scientist-proposes-it-might-be-the-fabric-of-reality-itself

Coming to a surgery near you:https://reason.com/2026/08/09/ai-beats-doctors/

Cheeky souvenirs

11C when I get up. A high of 19 forecast . Over breakfast we discuss turning on the heating but agree to postpone doing anything until September. Turning it on in August just doesn't seem right.  In England, the BBC radio bulletin informs us, 25 million people are facing a hosepipe ban. 

A rum collection of stories make up the rest of the BBC's morning news . Gianni Infantino, the man that organizes the World Cup, has issued a statement claiming allegations made against him in the weekend papers were defamatory. These allegations, as so often seems to be the case, have something to do with a secretary, misuse of funds and a hastily covered up affair. I'd have thought that was the sort of legal challenge that was a red rag to the media bull . Being quiet and letting boredom set in might have been a better strategy ? 

This is followed by a story about Italy and Spain continuing to argue over the surge of Moroccan immigrants into Ceuta.The radio says it has become a diplomatic crisis. Until last week I'd bet not one in a thousand folk could find Ceuta on a map. This week it's probably closer to one in five hundred. The final story is about Iranian demands for the US to withdraw from the Gulf and pay reparations for the damage done in the last six months fighting. This intransigent approach, the news reader rather frostily observes, makes walking away from the impasse rather difficult for the US administration. A recently fired retired US Navy admiral is interviewed. He's remarkably eloquent and uses the phrase 'petulant desperation' . The admiral speaks a lot of sense but loses his British audience when he starts going on about some candidate in Michigan and the impact of the war on the mid-terms. This is too much detail for a foreign pre-breakfast radio audience on a Monday morning.

Town looks like Carthage after it had been sacked by the Romans. The fun fair runs until Wednesday.

The souvenir shops have a new 'cheeky' line of product designed to appeal to the influx of fun seeking tourists. What home worthy of its name is complete without a coaster or mug adorned with a Scottish backside ? 

The hydrangeas outside the Classics department are in full flower. The university gardeners have put in place a Mediterranean planting scheme to conserve water and make maintenance easier.  Looking at the hydrangeas through the light sea mist I think someone must have a sense of humour.

These old Stalinist skyscrapers in Moscow are home to lots of retired military so he is a brave man to venture into such confrontational surroundings :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiMdbuFreyg

Had never thought of this :https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/ai-coming-revolutionary-effect-third-world-healthcare

Irish and Scottish are becoming more English ( in pronunciation at least ) :https://eriksinger.substack.com/p/accent-tip-3-irish-and-scottish-nurse

We used to have a flat next to the castle in Edinburgh. During Tattoo time this was the sound that echoed around at night. It was literally impossible to sleep :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhKmoKrZOjA

Copenhagen, but I thought it was Rekjavik :https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/modernist-gothic-in-copenhagen

On the sand.

A decidedly 'fresh' start to the day . We're surprised to find that a young English mother has spread out a blanket at the edge of the dunes. She has a small pile of books and a picnic hamper to keep her, and her excited twin boys, fed and entertained. It's the twins first time away from home and they've woken early. She's of the opinion that getting them out out of their Airbnb and onto the beach will have them completely exhausted by lunch time. Then everyone can have a nap. GLWT !  'He's still snoring' she says  to us. 'He', in this instance, presumably being her husband. One two year old wanders around on the sand relishing the freedom while remaining at all time in her sightline. The other sits on the blanket and has a story read to him. Such different characters. Each and every local dog ( and owner )  is greeted by the twins with the sort of hand clapping enthusiasm that God only grants to two year olds.

A week or so ago there were swallows darting low over the fields. Now they seem to have gone. Can it be they've upped and offed so quickly ? I thought they usually migrated at the end of August. The departure of the Swallows is that first visible sign that autumn is drifting towards these northerly reaches. Down south  the radio is still going on about heatwaves.

The farmers cabbages are swelling by the day. In places the daisies peak through. I've yet to see any berry pickers but it can't be long before the village pie  makers are out scouring the verges for fillings. This years bramble harvest  looks set to be a bumper one.

The farm on the main road has already harvested its wheat. The straw neatly bound and ready to be stored in the barn. Here the local farmer has yet to spring into action so for the time being we live surrounded by a sea of waving gold. Youngest son stops to tell us he's opened his student bank account. This allows him an overdraft of £1500 and (oddly) a £10 a month meal coupon exchangeable at ZiZis and Pizza Hut. The boy seems to be taking his imminent departure to Cambridge with stoic calm. This may not last the closer we get to September and the start of his first semester.  We guess his mother is less stoical.

An American woman discovers France :https://kimberlyannwheeler.substack.com/p/the-french-behaviors-i-thought-were

Helping others : https://www.piratewires.com/p/the-bezos-list-the-top-20-founders

Earthquake hits the operating theatre :https://x.com/nhk_news/status/2085320462637334778

Surviving :https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-missile-has-hit-your-apartment

Tragedy or malice ? :https://www.theoldmoneyluxury.com/p/the-untold-stories-of-ethel-and-robert

Ne'er-do-wells.

A wonderful morning. The scudding clouds giving way to blue skies. There's a warm southerly wind that makes being out a pleasure. One of the wild flowers that line the farm track has lantern heads that have dried in the recent dry weather and now crackle and snap in the breeze. There was a breakfast cereal that used to snap crackle and pop. I wonder if it's still made ?  

The crows that congregated on our roof have moved down to the  potato barns where they line the field walls, glare at passers by and sunbathe. Periodically they take off in a huge swirling argumentative mass before settling on the power cables which sag alarmingly when they land. Is it the near presence of humans that's made the birds suspicious or have they always been jittery ? When we moved from Scotland to Italy we spent our first night on the road at a hotel in Northumberland. The wire fences on either side of the entrance gate were adorned with dead crows. Probably twenty of them in total. This gave the place a Hammer House of Horrors feel that presumably served some farming purpose. A country warning to crows 'Don't eat my barley !' or ' Don't glean my corn !' or some such thing. I'm glad our local farmers are content to leave the crows to their own devices.... as they do with everything else including the light footed young foxes who scamper on the path ahead of us.

It's a couple of days since we returned from Glasgow but we're still happily commenting on the cheerful service at the restaurant and the hotel . To be greeted with a smile is a delight.

We think we're out and about early but the farmers automated dispensing machine is already running low on strawberries and only large trays of a dozen or more eggs are left. All the half dozen cartons are gone. The second home owners continue to snap everything up.

In town the fun fair is being set up. This has been going for centuries in one form or another. Local residents disapprove of the sort of clientele it attracts. The retired Church of Scotland minister ( the one who raged at the students who 'cavorted amorously' on his new flat roof kitchen extension )  refers to them as teenage Ne'er -do-wells. This is the sort of archaic term you only hear in places like St Andrews or Crieff. The art that festoons some of the rides is so awful it serves as a reminder that aliens must surely live among us. They almost manage to get things right but somehow catching a true human likeness is just beyond them. Two 'luscious lovelies' - as the fair attendees might call them - painted on the side of one ride also serve to tell us the fairground aliens exist in a time that isn't woke.

We stop to read the menu on the burger wagon. It has an exhaustive chip offering. 'The Font' thinks " Chips with any of the two above " will be a favourite of the ne'er- do-wells. Donuts are served in portions of four.

The souvenirs on sale in the local shops tend to the 'tat' end of the spectrum but the candle shop has a new range of mugs and jugs which are a higher order of creation.  The robin and Scottie jugs pass muster although demand for jugs by the day trippers might be limited.

An iconoclasts viewpoint ? :https://www.noemamag.com/why-is-everyone-in-tech-so-sad/

Briefly in the news and misunderstood but Russia and MAGA playing it up :https://www.dw.com/en/whats-behind-the-algeria-morocco-rivalry/a-78258062

Updating high rises :https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/articles/engineering/civil-engineering/2026/a-new-way-to-build-safer-more-sustainable-skyscrapers/

Always worth reading for saying it as it is :https://michaelmcfaul.substack.com/p/july-2026-reflections-on-europe-nato