Desperate Dan look alike.

A humdinger of a sky last night. Barely a cloud in the sky. Jupiter beaming like a headlight low above the horizon to the East. It's so bright we have to double check to make sure it's not Venus. Behind it the shimmering greens and reds of the Northern Lights. The clear skies and strong wind make star watching a cold proposition so we're out and back inside within five minutes. The BBC says the aurora will be back tonight.

A few golfers around this morning. Two gentlemen from Arkansas stop and ask us which way they should go to find the first tee. They're heading towards the cathedral so have to head back the way they've come. Somehow they've managed to walk right by the Club House. The hotels on the fairways are still busy with folks hoping to get a round on the Old Course now that the summer rush is over and things are 'quieter'.

It's that time of year when youngsters have to start  deciding which universities they're going to apply to. Groups of fathers and sons are being shown around the campus.  Bleary eyed professors are giving lectures on the attractiveness of their courses to wannabe students. Despite the early hour the lectures are packed with eager 17 year olds and their serious fathers. Who knew that father-son days were a thing ? Of course it's possible that the mothers are all sensibly in the warmth of their hotels and will surface later in the day. A small army of students in their red gowns are on hand to answer any questions. Everyone - apart from the 17 year olds -  seems slightly stunned by how early their day is starting. The timetable is presumably set by the need to fly into Edinburgh the night before and fly south again the following afternoon.

Overnight the leaves have fallen.  The pavements suddenly carpeted in them. What a difference a day of strong unrelenting North Easterly wind makes.

Progress on the refurbishment of the hotel next door to the golf clubs continues apace.  The lead that was audaciously stolen from the roof has now been replaced and the internal fit out is under way. The foreman tells us they hope to be open by Easter.

Our first chance to see the new statue of a famous golfer. I'm not sure that the management of the Royal and Ancient have remembered they're in a university town.

The statue's been set on a low plinth. This may be a mistake. How long will it be before some bright first year student places a traffic cone on Tom Morris' head  ? Soon  it will be  a tradition and the retired colonels in the Royal and Ancient will be in a semi-permanent state of apoplexy.

It's never a good idea to criticize municipal statuary and it may be heretical to say this but the new statue reminds me of a now extinct Scottish comic book character called Desperate Dan. 

A frightening insight from a school of engineering :https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/news/articles/2024/10/viruses-are-teeming-on-your-toothbrush-showerhead/

5, 6 & 7 seem to be Scandinavian staples, 6 should be outlawed  :https://x.com/Thomashornall/status/1843992828843806987

Last nights sky this far North was 'electric' :https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/severe-geomagnetic-storm-to-slam-earth-thursday-with-auroras-possible-as-far-south-as-california-and-alabama

Engelsberg always interesting :https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-beginning-of-a-reckoning-the-middle-east-after-7-october/