Saturday, April 6, 2024

The return of the moustache


To our surprise the landscape gardener phones to say he's going to start work this morning. Although unexpected this is one of those 'good' surprises. After six months of unrelenting rain I'd expected him to come up with an excuse to delay. The landscape gardener is extremely serious and extremely taciturn ( can you be clinically taciturn?) so any form of communication is welcome.

'The Man from Moscow' showing on Amazon Prime. Ewan McGregor tries to bring some gravitas to the role but there's something slightly too breezy about his performance. I'm not sure whether it's supposed to be a comedy or a tragedy. The moustache he grew for the part is a thing of wonder. Over the last couple of weeks I've noticed that pencil moustaches are becoming a thing among some of the students. 

The Lindt chocolate bunny has been granted a stay of execution by our trip to London. It's luck is about to run out.


The postman stops his van for a 'wee blether' and tells me that everyone is complaining about the rain. ' Even the old timers are saying they've nae seen anything like it '. The postman is heading off to Dominica for two weeks with his girlfriend. He's shopped around and found that the same holiday is 45% cheaper if they fly from Manchester rather than Glasgow.  He adds that his girlfriend is happy to drive them down to Manchester. This might be my cue to say driving to Manchester would be a Postmans holiday but some things are best left unsaid.


A break in the clouds lets us get down onto the beach for our start of day walk. It goes without saying that the weather forecast expects there to be solid rain by mid-morning. The weekly forecast also features rain .... and lots of it.


Work on the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse is now finished. Some gardeners are busy planting heathers in the new flowerbeds and some workmen are putting up fencing. Now the outside is pretty much finished I expect they'll start work on the inside. The new portico has been well done. It's barely noticeable although the stone work looks freshly quarried and unweathered.


Four golfers and a caddy are waiting to be the first outbound foursome of the day. They seem oblivious to the cloud building up to the north.

Sending  a letter. Warning to any Harvard grads out there - be prepared to be shocked :https://youtu.be/CyytCU9_T6Q?t=640

300 years ago :https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-passion-of-bach/


11 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

The exceptionally wet east coast weather this year had prompted many an Aberdonian to search for cheap flights to drier, warmer climes. Gail and Nobby have now fled to Torridon where, most unusually, the ground is much drier. We stopped en route for a walk on the beach at Nairn, where a nice American lady from Delaware gave Nobby enthusiastic ear scritches while telling Gail she lives a block aware from the Biden family home. "Such lovely, lovely people". She asked me to pray for the future of America, the women in particular.
Cheers, Gail.

WendyAnn said...

Heaven for me this morning - those 2 wonderful sea photos .......... and the Lindt bunny!
Wendy (Wales)

Camille said...

Rolling my eyes and slapping my forehead while watching the 2nd video. Conversely, a very young IT person at work corrected a simple problem with my laptop, in what seemed like nanoseconds, after I had fiddled and fumed with the dang thing for an hour. Go figure.

Travel said...

Hope the landscaping goes well and stays well watered - not washed out to sea.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
It must be said that Storm Kathleen has certainly put an even heavier dampener on travel and visiting plans. I am seriously reconsidering my route. The landscaper will have some heavy work with all the waterlogged ground. YAM xx

Stephanie said...

Glorious skies and Brahms. I wish the Lindt bunny had come to live at my house. Enjoy!

Coppa's girl said...

The Lindt bunny looks remarkably serene and obviously unaware of the fate awaiting it!
My friend living in Cornwall has complained about the constant torrential rain they're having. Any day now I'm expecting to hear that the whole of the UK is under water.

Jake of Florida said...

Please do!!!

Lisa in France said...

The letter video was amazing - but then I remembered how my daughter had to teach my husband how to text.

rottrover said...

That Brahms! Many years ago, when I was in college and writing letters home, I had a huge boxed set of Brahms symphonies. That video took me right back there. So beautiful. Looking forward to photos of the landscaping.

Kten said...

I am now concerned about a Gentleman from Moscow, it is on my to watch list as it was one of my favourite books of recent times.