The old abbey.

 

Out on the farm track we pass a group of enthusiastic bird watchers. They tell us they're looking for Corn Buntings. Right on cue a small flock of them arrive and perch on the wheat stalks in front of us.  Thank God for bird watchers. In a world gone mad their interest in the villages feathered inhabitants puts everything into proportion. After we go the bird watchers settle down on the grass verge and share their breakfast sandwiches. 

High speed broadband being laid . Seven vans parked in a line blocking the road into town. There is a hold up that lasts all of two minutes. A man with one of those rotating ' Stop - Go' signs oversees the traffic flow. He exudes an overarching aura of boredom. In Italy or France delayed drivers would have been hooting like crazy. Here there is a sort of mild irritation. We're held up long enough to wonder why seven vans are needed. There appears to be one van for each workman. 'The Font' observes that three, possibly four,  of the vans would be needed to carry the large number of traffic cones that have been laid out.

On our way back from the supermarket a detour into the country to the site of an old abbey.

Two motor cycle helmets left unattended on the grass tell us we're in the right place. The countryside is glorious and (motorcyclists excepted) deserted. Eerily so. You don't have to get far off the beaten track to discover that once you stray north of the central belt Scotland is remote and empty. 

Some old monastic buildings used as a hay shed and the outlines of altars and chapels all that's left after 500 years of gentle decay.  The two motor cycle helmets are still lying on the grass when we leave. In its heyday the church only had one aisle - which is unusual. There is a tree which is reputed to have been planted by a saintly Queen in the ninth century.  A small plaque informs us that this is a 'legend' and that the tree is probably only four hundred and fifty years old.

Esoterica of the day. The history of colour charts :https://hyperallergic.com/929139/the-delightfully-saturated-history-of-color-charts/

Beauty on the internet :https://x.com/dog_rates/status/1815869962998652986