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

Look-maxxing again. This probably helps me understand it a little more  :https://www.taylorforeman.com/p/looksmaxxing-ourselves-to-death

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

An electoral surprise.

The man with anger management issues telephones from France with the news that the current mayor has been voted out and a new one voted in.  This was one of those 52-48 electoral surprises that no one expected.  The outgoing mayor is not happy and has been less than gracious. In his concession speech he observed  how apt it was that the new mayor owned the local septic tank company. He then went on to describe why. 

The ploughing in the fields around the last wee house before Denmark is finished. Yesterday the farmer unearthed another bronze age cist and what he thinks may be a fallen standing stone . The local policeman will be called to come out and certify that the unearthed bones are not 'recent'. 

We stop off at the Botanic Gardens for some plants for the rockery. The cheapest ( but not cheap ) and healthiest plants can be found in the Botanic Gardens. The plants here also seem to have a higher survival rate than the ones imported from Holland. 

We also pick up half a dozen primulas for the garden table.

Since we were last here they've invested in a large wooden pergola. On a chilly morning this proves to be remarkably warm and wind free. We order two cups of coffee.  There was a time when you only found blankets in Austrian and German ski resorts. Now they've made an appearance here. They are most welcome.

Alongside their Easter offerings the bakers have a full range of sugar heavy  'old faithfuls ' on display. 

A half lobster roll on sale at the fast food shack facing the chapel for £22. I no longer have any idea whether that's a lot or a little. By the time this current bout of inflation kicks in I'll wager it'll seem like good value.

Only humans have white eyes :https://www.forbes.com/sites/scotttravers/2026/03/22/why-are-humans-the-only-primates-with-white-eyes-an-evolutionary-biologist-explains/

The things you learn :https://thedebrief.org/rujm-el-hiri-israels-mysterious-stonehenge-of-the-east-is-not-alone-new-research-reveals/

French humour :https://x.com/VarlanOlivier/status/2036124039022797309/photo/1

Radio Scotlands morning breakfast music reaches a new level of obtuseness:https://youtu.be/VCrpUsLd5kE

Things do get better :https://x.com/GermanEmbassy/status/2036025543653499317

The new cafe.

Two weeks to Easter Monday. Less than a month and we may be ( or may not be ) flying off to see the west lake in Hangzhou. The year has picked up its pace. On Friday and Saturday nights the green Northern Lights were swirling away on the horizon over Boddin Head. Last night , when we wrap up and venture out into the garden with a glass of Pommard, there was nothing. On the radio this morning a man tells us the North Koreans have been helping the Iranians with their long range missiles. We turn the dial to the classic music channel which is a less fraught way of segueing into the new week.

Two tractors hard at work as we set off on our morning constitutional. A month ago we were averaging 12,000 steps a day. Now, with the sunshine, it's closer to 20,000. The farmer is deep ploughing the field on the left , his youngest son dealing with the field on the right. Eldest son, up from Edinburgh, drives out on a buggy with coffee and bacon rolls. The heavy rain earlier in the year has pushed their plans back and they're racing to get the sowing schedule on track by Easter.  For the younger lad the next three months bring Easter, his IB exams and then the excitement of  America and the World Cup. Life is peculiarly hectic when you're seventeen.

The elder Jack Russell is also up and about. She waddles over to see us. Her joy ( and a wildly waving tail ) makes it difficult to walk in a straight line. Younger sister is confined to the farmhouse garden while the ploughing is underway. As we walk down to the shore we can hear her complaining about the unjustness of it all.

The golfers are out early. The Old Course already busy, the golf academy even more so. Local fathers and teenage sons are out getting an hours putting in before work or school.

The new cafe above the Golf Museum is now up and running. It's called The Claret and serves one of those all day menus. It doesn't open until 8:30 so we're too early to try it out today. Bacon rolls are £6 which, by St Andrews standards, is reasonable.

So starts a new week in a small quiet Scottish town where nothing ever happens.

Very Italian. Bookstore by day, cinema by night :https://giuntiodeon.it/en

Unusual fact of the day. A higher % of Sikhs in Canada than India :https://x.com/mrsunshinebaby/status/2034859082960839119/photo/1

Hadrians Wall was more peaceful than we'd thought :https://aspectsofhistory.com/hadrians-wall-strategic-masterpiece-or-monumental-folly/