The fox in the night.

 

An enormous stuffed stag dominates the breakfast room in the hotel. There's no doubting that you're in the Highlands. While we wait for our porridge we listen to a couple sharing their opinions of Scotland with another couple seated three tables away. ' They don't have coins in this country ' an overheard observation that we find  interesting. 

The hotel does a good job keeping standards up. Finding staff  in a place as  remote as this must be a nightmare. Brexit stopped the inflow of service savvy young Europeans who used to come here each summer. Now, the hotels employ Brits who culturally don't see hospitality as a career. This year we've noticed that service in many places has less finesse.

We check out of the hotel which, despite the OTT decorative style , we greatly  enjoyed. It must be fun in winter when the wind and snow are battering at the doors. Perhaps we'll bring the new car up here to try it out on the mountain roads. Last night the bar was full of dogs - this is usually a sign of a happy place. I counted nine of them. Two foxes had a run in with each other at 2:31. They kept at it for 25 minutes.  The Highlands is quiet. It must be something to do with the sound muffling effect of the mountains. The foxes woke some of the dogs who then woke the other dogs. The breakfast folk also comment on this.

There is even, for all of ten minutes, some blue sky and what passes in these parts for sunshine.

The shops in town are open from Thursday to Sunday. The shopkeepers day starts at 11.00 and ends at 4:30. The talkative hotel guests in the dining room think this is because the locals are lazy. It's more likely to be down to the tourists season being extremely short, the number of visitors being limited and the constraints of trying to juggle their day jobs while making a little extra from their retail sidelines.

The butcher is open every day - all day. He clearly has a sense of humour.

Dog health :https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/crossbreed-dogs-new-study

Learning another language :https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/learning-language-like-a-baby-could-help-adults-learn-a-second-language

Off the beaten track.

The King is at Balmoral so a lot of the small quiet roads have been closed off by the Royal Protection Squad. We discuss a route across the hills with one of the ghillies at the hotel and set off early to Craigievar . When we get there twenty German motor cyclists are waiting in the courtyard for a tour of the interior. There's a brisk wind blowing and they have sensibly opted to keep their bike gear on. After inspecting the new harling and being suitably impressed with its quality, we leave. The National Trust have done an excellent job. They reharl every 15 years - which is an expensive undertaking. One of the reasons we left Scotland twenty years ago was the constant battle of keeping an old house harled and lime mortared against the elements.

Further down the road we take a detour towards an old church. A faded Church of Scotland sign poking out of the rosebay willowherb tells us we're going the right way. This place looks as though its been in use for millenia rather than centuries. There's a brief link to it here :https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/strathdon/kildrummykirkyard/index.html

The church is built like a house but with a bowed end wall. Neither of us has ever seen anything quite like it. At one end there's a belfry with a bell that's pulled by a long metal chain . This dangles down to the ground and clunks and clanks in the August wind.

The porch of the old chapel on the hill above has been around since long before the reformation.

It's full of medieval tombstones. Others are set in the remaining walls of the old medieval kirk. Others are used as paving slabs.

We're there for an hour. No one bothers us. In fact there's not another human to be seen. It goes without saying that there's not a single sign to tell us anything about the history of the place. There's a solitary Commonwealth war grave which is in black granite. I thought all war graves were in standard white limestone. Guess limestone would soon erode in this climate. We set off for lunch at the local inn - but it's full :https://kildrummyinn.co.uk/restaurant/  We'll try again in the Spring.

Into Ballater for lunch. Ballater has a good art gallery. It also is the dog capital of the Highlands. The sun makes our acquaintance - briefly.

This promise of sunshine is enough for people - and their companions - to go and sit outside.

The old station has been turned into an efficient coffee shop. Queen Victorias waiting room has been kept as a tourist attraction. The coffee shop ( indeed all hotels and restaurants this far north in Scotland ) is staffed by enthusiastic youngsters. What will happen when they return to university in a couple of weeks time ?

Putting the 'park' in Park Avenue :https://x.com/MarkLevineNYC/status/1828518023180775574

AI has its uses :https://gizmodo.com/ai-herculaneum-scrolls-computer-vision-transformers-2000481322

Written in difficult academic English but it seems social media isn't good for our children. In fact it's not good at all :https://www.afterbabel.com/p/the-case-for-causality-part-1

The hotel.

Two hours and twelve minutes after we leave the front door in St Andrews we arrive at our hotel in the Scottish Highlands. En route there's almost no traffic and the only thing that's held us up are sheep opting for a nap in the middle of the road.

The hotel we've booked into has a wee river running through the garden. The river may be wee but its surprisingly manic . We quietly wonder how many overly inquisitive guests get swept away but keep this thought to ourselves.

The room we're shown to is decorated in an 'Edwardian' style. Two large chairs fill the window. The chairs are of the 'once sprung' variety that look good but sag if you so much as look at them. As we booked at the last minute we can't complain. Angus asks the tartan clad lady at the front desk if there's anything a bit more spacious but is firmly told ' We're extremely busy'. The word 'extremely' is emphasized in a way that makes it clear this is the last room available and we should be grateful for what we've got.

The cleaning team must curse the ornaments that fill every spare corner. Anyone wishing to retain their sanity would not want to come here with toddlers.

The lobby has one of those pianos that plays tunes automatically and never endingly. A white dog emerges from under a sofa and peers at us quizzically as we come down for breakfast. There is another dog asleep under the front desk but it's too comfortable to even register our presence.

We quickly notice the antler heavy design emphasis. The pop-up Italian restaurant has hundreds of them hanging from the ceiling.

Returning to the room we come face to face with this on the landing.

Look up and there are yet more antlers.

When (if ) the cloud lifts we shall set off to explore the neighbourhood. 

To the North .

This morning the butterflies are out in force. They seem to love the cornflowers that line the farm track. We've barely seen any at all this year but suddenly there are scores of them busy enjoying the new day.

Later today we're setting off in the car and heading a couple of hours North. With the golf tournament over town has a fin de saison feel to it. 

Restaurant reservations are easily made online although the fish place in Ballater is fully booked. We might try this place nearby although it seems to be keen on that 'heavy' decorative style that's been trendy in the last three or four years : https://kildrummyinn.co.uk/

The geraniums have run riot in their sheltered position by the churchyard wall  . They've pretty much covered the bench by the local bus stop .

The adjacent  bus shelter is  home to a small library . This provides reading material for anyone waiting for the bus to Anstruther or Kirkcaldy. We are surprised by someones left behind reading choice. It clearly wasn't interesting enough to warrant taking along on the journey.

What happened to all the birds ? :https://birdhistory.substack.com/p/birds-in-the-colonies

And then it's over.

The ladies golf tournament finished on Sunday evening but the road to the beach is still cordoned off. It was a Bank Holiday yesterday and no one has got round to removing the traffic cones.  We ignore the 'Road Closed' signs and park illegally by the embankment. From there it's a hundred yard walk down onto the sand. It's taken the better part of two months for the infrastructure for the golf tournament to be installed - taking it down should be quicker. The television crews were the first to  pack up their cameras and go. They left in a large convoy at eight last night. This morning the large shiny Mercedes 'courtesy' vehicles are being loaded onto car transporters. We wonder if they're off to another sporting event or if they'll now be sold off.

As we reverse out of our illicit parking spot 'The Font' notices we've been in the place  reserved for the Chairman of AIG. The R&A Captain has a parking spot but remains anonymous. In a golfing town like this to be referred to by all and sundry as ' The Captain' is a sign of true - almost God like - seniority.

Out at sea three young gulls sit on a rock and observe the dismantling of the marquees. The gulls seem mightily unimpressed.

The cleaners are hard at work in the Seafood restaurant next to the club house. The fact that they're hard at work at seven am hints that there was the mother of all end of tournament parties there last night. Many (most) restaurants have seen their service standards fall since Covid but this one has managed to retain a cheerful and efficient front of house crew. How do they do it when so many others else fail ?

We aren't the only ones ignoring the No Entry signs. Local residents are moving the traffic cones so that they can use the angled parking spots.

We spot the first groups of ' young people '. A sure sign the tempo of the year is accelerating. The new tenants arrive in the house in town next week ( Texans ) , Freshers week starts on the 9th and the semester proper kicks off on the 16th. We are once again left wondering where the year has gone. The three cleaning ladies are due for a four hour deep clean this afternoon and we're praying that the gardener has time to swing by and  get the borders ready for autumn.

Heard on the radio this morning :https://youtu.be/f6pOLBqthd4?t=6

The mask debate rumbles on. This in the BMJ :https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj.q1843.full

Which end is which ?

 

Yesterday, they cut the barley in the field that lies between the cottage and the sea. This morning the farmers two teenage sons are up at first light loading up the bales and driving them down to the barns. The two sons race their tractors through the stubble at a speed that hints this is as much 'fun' as it is work.

Puppy is also up and about early . She joins us as far as the foreshore where she tires of our company and heads off in pursuit of a family of Partridges.

Lob, our local fisherman, is heading off into the bay with a deckhand and his sea dog labrador. The dog settles contentedly in the bow with the wind fanning his ears and a look that could almost be a smile. The other fishing boat is already at sea and a good five hundred yards ahead in a race to the best lobster grounds. It's a national holiday and the restaurants are keen to get all the fresh lobsters they can. Lob promises to drop off some langoustine - if he catches any. He'll only be out for a couple of hours as a cold blast of Arctic air is expected mid-morning. The oil supply vessels are already heading into the bays sheltered anchorage. We are now back into 'coat' weather for our morning and evening walks. Last night it was dark by nine thirty - which was a shock.

The main beach still hasn't opened. Or, to be more precise, the security barriers haven't been taken down yet. We meet the Chinese chef and his Puli. We say good morning. The chef nods inscrutably.

Even up close it's difficult to tell which end of the Puli is which.

How clever of the Dutch to have invented this :https://uk.stoov.com/products/ploov-45x60-canvas-midnight-blue

A sound of France played on the radio this morning |:https://youtu.be/PXQh9jTwwoA?t=4

Squiffy roof tiles.

Last day of the big golf tournament. The main beach has been closed for the last ten days so the local dog owners and their pooches have relocated to the smaller sandy beach by the harbour. ' Back to normal tomorrow ' we say to the chef from the towns sole Chinese restaurant. He is accompanied by his Puli. The Puli has its hair tied above its head in a most un-Puli like bob. This has the sole advantage of keeping the hair out of its eyes. We're not sure the Chinese chef speaks any English. He nods in reply.

A yacht heads out of the harbour. We stand and watch it . It's not often our morning walk is punctuated with this much excitement.

A woman , presumably the wife of the skipper, closes  the lock gates,  and then rushes - waving -  along the quayside towards the yacht. ' I'm coming - I'm coming ' she shouts out in case her husband forgets she's there and sets off without her. The yacht pulls in close to the harbour wall where she leaps onto the bow of the boat. Leaping while wearing a life vest is rarely a graceful proposition.

The local museum has been closed for the summer so that the heavily wood wormed roof beams can be replaced. After months of work ( wood worm is always worse than it's thought to be ) the scaffolding has been taken down.  'The Font' notes that the roof pantiles on the left are laid in straight lines which then become increasingly squiffy the further to the right you go.

We manage to get a table outside Starbucks . As we leave two courtesy vans for the golf tournament arrive. By the time we're 50 yards down the road a long queue has developed that stretches all the way along the pavement. 

Some Sunday morning Bruckner :https://youtu.be/udZCjXbwkzk?t=1

They found a synagogue in the back :https://www.thespitalfieldstrust.com/

Have you noticed how few insects there are this year ? :https://druidproject.org.uk/

A German visitors view of the US. Do you agree or disagree ? ( I see many people think he was being rude - but he seems to have been making simple observations ) : https://x.com/oledoteth/status/1825915655444640216

Pirouetting birds

 

I'd thought the swallows had all gone but in the late afternoon a dozen or so show up in the garden. We stand and watch them roll, whirl and gyrate above us. After ten minutes they wheel and head south flying low above the wheat fields. We're now, just, into our third year here and these regular village visitors are almost family. Both of us quietly thank them for this private - and spectacular -  end of season show. 

Outside the kitchen window the sparrow flock are busy pecking at the bird seed 'The Font' has sprinkled on the grass. I thought there were 30 chicks in the latest brood but it's probably closer to 50.

In town a young gull has figured out that there's food inside Tescos.

Every so often it darts towards the sliding exit doors. It gets a little closer each time before prudence kicks in. I'd reckon that by tomorrow it will have summoned up the courage to venture inside.

The souvenir shop ( it claims to be a Craft Shop but 'Craft' is clearly an extremely elastic term ) has some skull goblets in the window. Who ( eight year old males excepted ) would buy them ? Why would anyone think they're even vaguely Scottish ?  As we ponder these questions our attention turns to an ever so slightly unnerving owl that has taken pride of place in the middle of the window display.

The range of plastic Loch Ness monsters on offer seems to be ever widening. It is unlikely that the stern lady golfers are going to be the target audience for these. They may, however, be taken with a  sweat shirt with the words  'Ambitious and Cunning' emblazoned across it.

This weekend is a nationwide bank holiday. That ,added to the crowds already here for the last two days of the golf tournament , means that the town is bursting at the seams. After eight in the morning parking becomes impossible. Tonight there is a 'concert' :https://www.randa.tv/home  Goldman Sachs baseball caps are much in evidence.

How we store memories - in triplicate :https://www.livescience.com/health/memory/the-brain-stores-at-least-3-copies-of-every-memory

Mandatory retirement ? :https://theconversation.com/why-dont-more-politicians-retire-a-medical-anthropologist-explains-how-the-us-could-benefit-from-a-mandatory-retirement-age-234989

Short shrift

Seven am. There's already a line of cars waiting for the strawberry hut to open . The strawberry hut has now moved from 'cash only' to Apple Pay which must be a sign that the business is doing well. The hard working Polish lady behind the counter tells us she hopes to keep harvesting until mid-October. Considering the weather and the shortening days that would be some sort of miracle. This morning 'The Font' also picks up two punnets of blueberries. The Polish lady has started producing her own range of strawberry jam. This is where the grade 2 berries that don't meet the 'look test' end up. 

Wealthy Pebble Beach golfing ladies may ( or may not ) be tempted by the latest fashion displayed in the couturiers window. A kilted, golf playing Tiger is an unusual fashion statement. Perhaps the best that can be said about it is that it's a conversation opener.

Half the population of Japan and Korea seems to have arrived overnight. The golf tournament is now moving towards its final, big money, climax. Despite the extremely changeable weather tickets for Friday and Saturday are almost sold out.  Heavy rain has led to delays so the first players once again tee off at seven. https://womenandgolf.com/news/tour-news/2024-aig-womens-open-facts-player-stories-tee-times-and-how-to-watch

The Police have been out setting out yet more traffic cones. Parking purgatory meets cone chaos. We walk up to the chapel to listen to the early morning organ recital.  This end of town is completely quiet. What a difference 400 yards can make.

One of the residents has  attached a hand written note to his windscreen saying " I live here ".  The traffic warden has given this information short shrift and ticketed him. The resident is refusing to move his car. I'll put money on it being towed by lunchtime.

Neither of us had heard this piece played on the radio this morning :https://youtu.be/wwl9cf9uUFQ

How others see us . What can I say ? Shortly after the 8:37 mark we get the comment ' Nice grass' :https://youtu.be/PMW5ivGUhWo?t=516