Three weeks and a day to the election. So far we've received one leaflet from the SNP candidate and another from The Liberal Democrat. Not a peep from anyone else. The other parties seem to have decided our constituency is a two horse race.
The fields covered in a strange golden light this morning. The sun, caught between two layers of cloud, has an intensity that you could almost cut with a knife.
19 of the 24 young sparrows have survived into their second week. They scamper around on the ground under the bird feeder looking for grain. We also have 3 Jackdaw chicks. We know this because they let their mother, and the world, know they were hungry at 4:13 am. Sleep and the croakings of a hungry Jackdaw chick are incompatible.
In town the third day of graduation ceremonies. Six university porters ( five gentlemen and one lady ) are proudly carrying the 15th century maces along the street. The figure of the Principal in her flat bunnet follows on behind. She has a different speech for each of the ten events and somehow manages to maintain and exude enthusiasm all through the week.
About 1 in 10 of the new graduates are wearing kilts. Assuming 25% of the students are Scots and adjusting for a 40-60 gender split that seems about right.
Everything is well ordered apart from adoring mothers who run across the road to kiss their offspring. Male students at the receiving end of this adoration want to die of embarrassment. Other students cheer the mothers on. Two policemen stand at the side of their brand new Skoda EV patiently answering questions from Spanish tourists wondering what's happening. Angus quietly wonders how a Skoda EV would perform in a high speed car chase. There again high speed car chases are not common in these parts.
There are another six of these happy ceremonies to go before the students go and the town settles down into its summer torpor and prepares to welcome the inrush of golfers.The carpet layers have finished as have the painters. The roofers have knocked a pantile off the roof but promise to be here today with a replacement. Three swallows are nesting in the vennel that runs between the Wee House in Town and our neighbour. On a day when nothing seems to be happening a lot is.
7 comments:
The sunrise is spectacular.
EV can be fast, but your Volvo would probably outdistance them on a full tank.
I love reading about the graduation ceremonies and parades. I'm sure this will last for a lifetime for the participants. Does St. Andrews have a commencement speaker like the US schools do? Another highlight this week was Roger Federer's commencement address at Dartmouth. These are dark times, but that just makes the good things, and good people, stand out more clearly.
How lovely and reassuring to see these graduations take place as they have over time.
Are the blue-robed students graduate students? You must be grateful that there are no seagull chicks in your garden!
Undress
For honorary Doctors, a black silk cassock with buttons and cincture of the colour of the appropriate degree hood and with full sleeves.
For ordinary Doctors (DProf, DPerf, PhD), a black stuff gown of the Scottish MA pattern with the appropriate degree hood.
Full dress
For honorary Doctors, a silk gown of the colour of the appropriate degree hood or a black silk cassock with buttons and cincture of the colour of the appropriate degree hood and with full sleeves.
For ordinary Doctors
DProf: Blue silk gown with white facings with the appropriate degree hood.
DPerf and PhD: Blue silk gown with the appropriate degree hood.
EngD: Peacock blue silk gown with the appropriate degree hood.
MD: Medici crimson silk gown with the appropriate degree hood.
Thank you, Anonymous!
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