Triumph.

Sophie was at the vets at seven thirty for a thorough half an hours check-up. This was given by a nice Canadian lady. The family diva needs to lose aq few pounds  and one of her titanium knee joints is getting a bit worn. She's putting more weight on one leg rather than the other.  All in all not a bad diagnosis for a PONette  of a certain age. On our return from the vet Sophie gets out of the car and runs , ears flying, down to the shore. This is known as a relief or ' Thank God I'm out of there ' run.

We look for the seals but this morning they're enjoying the blustery conditions and are all out in the bay fishing.

On the beach the family diva scoots across the rocks in search of sea weed. Evidence, if it was needed , that those titanium knees still work just fine.  She finds a dead seagull and holds it aloft with an aura of compete and utter triumph. ' How wonderful is this ? ' The dead seagull is retrieved from firmly clamped jaws and thrown into the sea. Angus gets the ' What's wrong with a little putrefaction ? ' glare.

Then it's home across the fields. We meet a woman walking a Westie and avoid an American LuLu Lemon clad lady out jogging . One of the local farmers stops his large green and yellow tractor for a chat. The fields were divided among three cousins in the 1890's. The three families still farm them. Each field has its own soil and climate. Some are sandy, others peaty. Today the' farmers off to work the field where the early Christian graves were found. He finds the bureaucracy of burial finds to be a pain. The  Police have to come out each time to check the bones to make sure that there's not been a murder. 

The farmer adds with a laugh ' What they're really doing is checking that there's not been a murder .... recently'. The fields all have names. His field, with the graves, is known by tradition as ' little heaven '. With so many people buried there it's been recognized by generations of local farmers as a special spot. ' I try not to bother their sleep by  ploughing too deeply ' he adds. This explanation is given matter of factly and without any hint of embarrassment. Celtic thinking runs deep even on this 'domesticated' side of the country.

The bodyguard seems a good title for this amazing example of animal behaviour :https://twitter.com/Gabriele_Corno/status/1576474359316860930

Propaganda video of the day. Some North Korean kids go to see a skyscraper and go shopping. The shops and streets  seem strangely empty but perhaps the odder feature is how well fed they look ( party members kids ?) and how  'pristine' their uniforms are :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NTpxT1Lt74