Sun or rain ? The weather can't seem to make up its mind. At least it's mild. Yesterday, in the highlands, a UK high of 19.6 degrees was recorded in the village of Kinlochewe. That's more than unusual for the north of Scotland in January. In fact it's rare enough in June let alone January .
A few surf boarders in the water by the pier. The sea is calm this morning so it will be a day for paddling rather than riding the waves. A boxer dog stands on the sand and barks at them as if to say ' Don't you know you'll get wet ?'
The retailers in town are now turning their attention to Valentines Day. Burns Night posters are being taken down and admonitions to ' Treat the one you love' are being put up. The so so hotel on the sea front is offering a variety of ' magical cocktails to celebrate the wonderful day'. It's not as if the students need much prompting to celebrate.
We stop off in town for 'The Font' to pop into Tesco's for some peppermint tea. The cheerful Syrian gentleman is sitting cross legged on the pavement outside with a paper coffee cup in front of him. Every time anyone stops to drop off some small change he smiles and says thank you. Children being taken to school by their mothers are his most successful demographic. He then pours the money out of the cup and puts it in his pocket. There is a lady outside the candle store on the other side of the road (possibly his sister ) and another gentleman ( his father ?) with a pitch outside the other supermarket at the other end of the street. All are unfailingly polite and seem oblivious to the fact that the town has become largely cash free. They retain a good mannered optimism. I can't remember the last time I saw, let alone used, coins.
Every home should have one :https://miko.ai/products/miko-mini
Not sure what this tells us :https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68071695
12 comments:
As a grandparent with two littlies who soak up a lot of cash, I have realised that teaching children about money is now much, much more difficult. When everything is put on a credit card, it's all very theoretical. Therefore children will be a couple of years older before they really understand it. In my opinion!
One last bit of Burns: Last night as I was reading the historian Jon Meacham 's book about Abraham Lincoln, "And There Was Light," I learned that Lincoln, in addition to reading philosophers and the Bible and Shakespeare also read Robert Burns. A timely fact for the season, no? The book, like Meacham's other works, is fascinating, well,-researched and documented and presents a whole picture of this great man...his flaws as well as the virtues we've learned about since kindergarten. And also how perilous his times were...not so different from today in many ways. History can be oddly comforting in anxious times.
About a mile down the road from Kinlochewe, in one corner the Beinn Eighe Visitor Centre car park there's a thatch roofed structure to provide shade so dogs left in cars don't overheat. Given the northerly location and the fact that the car park is shady already this has, to me, always seemed overkill. But given yesterday's weather report, perhaps not!
Cheers, Gail.
Goodness - hard to believe - but the temperature in Kinlochewe yesterday was just three degrees cooler than the 22ºC here in this part of Spain! This morning our skies mirror yours - overcast and rather threatening, though rain would be most welcome.
A marked contrast between yesterday's town and this morning's - it's positively thronging today.
It was 7 degrees where I swam at Loch an Eilean yesterday morning, but the windchill was horrendous.
I wish I lived on the sea shore
Very unseasonable weather here in the northern hemisphere, it was 80 degrees F, in the Washington DC last Thursday.
Finding coins on the sidewalk was such a thrill as a child and even now as an adult. Now finding a coin on the pavement is a rare occurrence due to not many people carrying cash or else their attention is on their phones as they walk. I'm sad that my little grandsons won't know this childhood celight.
That article on the hermit crabs was interesting - I'd seen a TV documentary about something similar but a bloke was wandering along a beach with a bucket with a few select shells in the bottom. Whenever he found a crab using a plastic home he would pop it in his bucket and wait, and it seems that given the choice the crab will abandon the plastic in favour of a traditional shell.
I agree with Jake of Florida. The Meacham book is quite good. I'm still pleased to find a stray coin on the pavement.
Valentine’s Day has become so commercial. I was born on the 14th and after one disastrous meal of exceptionally bad service at a well-known restaurant, catering only for a certain demographic on Valentine's Day last century, my partner decided to never again go to a restaurant or buy overpriced flowers on the 14th of Feb. Over the last 30+ years he has instead bought me rose bushes, then picked homegrown flowers for me, taken me away to remote locations and we have tired beachside camping holidays. He always cooks me a nice dinner on my birthday with special wines considered to be a treat, so not all is lost. However, commercialism still rules in NZ as my local supermarket already is displaying hot crossed buns!
And Life of Riley, you are right about avoiding resturants and florists but I have already sampled the delights of those hot cross buns.... but I agree it is too early - I saw eggs at The Warehouse recently - sigh.
Tigger's Mum - I saw that crab video too - was heartwarming to see them select their new home.
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