Cauliflowers.

Five deer happily grazing in the cauliflower field. Do deer eat cauliflower ? Maybe they're eating the grass between the plants ? The winds blowing towards us so we pass unnoticed behind them. A group of 20 herring gulls are bathing in what remains of the lake in the potato field.  The farmer finally got round to digging a drainage channel to deal with the pond that grew to the size of a football pitch. Now the ponds  shrunk so that the gulls and three large crows can barely all fit in it.  The Fieldfares are still sitting in  a circle in the ploughed field where they've been for the last four days. A resting spot before heading off on the long journey across the sea to Denmark ?  There must be 200 of them in an absolutely perfect circle. What can they be doing ? Fieldfares song, en masse, has a beautifully twittering quality. As we head back up the  track they rise vertically into the air where the sun catches them. For five minutes we watch them circling overhead - salmon pink in the dawns light one minute, black against the blue sky  the next. 'Puppy' and her sister come and join us although they have no interest in the Fieldfares.

Tourists returning. In town we see cars with Italian, Bulgarian and German plates. There's also a beat up Mini convertible from Liechtenstein  but it has a pile of dirty clothes on the passenger seat that  hints at a 'student' owner rather than a tourist . 

A tray of Hot Cross buns emerges from the ovens and is placed - still warm -  in the bakers window.  Angus is much more interested in a Cadbury's Cream Egg Cheesecake in the Italian delicatessen. In my book any recipe containing Cadbury's Cream  eggs is the epitome of  haute cuisine.

The garden outside the kirk looking very jolly. There's a concert on here every day during Holy Week. Between the daily lunchtime concerts in the University music centre and what's going on the the auld kirk we're spoilt for things to do. 

On the shopping street a woman from Scottish Television has set up a camera and tripod and is stopping passers by to ask them their views on the illness of the Princess of Wales. The Princess was a student here so the thinking is presumably that the townsfolk will have some special insight into the matter. 

Down by the chapel there's a competing TV station doing the same thing. The STV woman does the interviewing and the filming herself. The other channel has an interviewer and a cameraman. Both stations seem to be having difficulty finding anyone to talk to them. The townsfolk have a vow of omerta when it comes to the 'young' Prince and his then girlfriend. What students do when they're here is never discussed in public. There is something rather reassuring in this widely shared and unfashionable  reticence.

Herbs in salads :https://emilyrnunn.substack.com/p/herbs-in-salads-to-make-you-feel

Slow writing :https://themillions.com/2024/03/the-virtue-of-slow-writers.html

Ageing :https://www.librariesforthefuture.bio/p/lff