A magical moon last night. Seen from the kitchen window there's a glorious view of the sea and that rarest gift of all this far North - a cloudless, star filled sky. Jupiter remains as jaw droppingly bright as ever.
On the beach a large group of freshers are celebrating with a dip in the sea. It's Raisin Monday - one of those old medieval traditions that has somehow survived into the 21st century. Neither the cold nor the intermittent squalls can dampen the students enthusiasm for a party. Laughter echoes from one end of the beach to the other. In a small town a couple of thousand happy, partying youngsters can't go unnoticed. That in its own way is a good enough reason to live here. The students have been up all night and aren't yet tired. Hypothermia is a condition that doesn't exist when you're 18 years old.
A Coastguard keeps a watchful eye on the revelers from the warmth of his truck.
On our way back to the car a group of first years invite us to a seven am 'rave'. " There's champagne " we're told. We thank them but decline. Pre-breakfast rave imbibing would effectively rule out the rest of our day.
This take on our southern neighbours was interesting :https://x.com/sam_bidwell/status/1847312153415438369?s=46
Architectural oddity of the day. A cube 400 metres high :https://newmurabba.com/en/the-mukaab/inside-the-Icon/
12 comments:
What a beautiful picture of the moon and the sky! I remember hearing about Raisin Day when we visited St. Andrews some years back, but I can't for the life of me recall why the students are wearing what look like diapers.
The nappies look like medical student humour to me!
The evening sky has been magical. Were you able to see the comet? We were thrilled to see it from our front porch.
What a beautiful nighttime sky! My guess that the champagne offered to you was not the French champagne that you and the Font appreciate, but may have brought back memories of your freshman year at the university.
Rottrover and Pam: Thank you so much for thinking about us in Florida on the blog yesterday. We got lucky with Helene and Milton. We're in southeast Florida, in Plantation, 10 miles inland from Fort Lauderdale as a point of reference. Both storms grazed us with heavy feeder bands and high winds...basically tropical storm effects. But nothing like what the folks on the west coast experienced or those in Western North Carolina. As for Jake, one day in 2005 when he was three, we found him sitting on a chair, paw on my laptop, peeking at a weather report of a hurricane developing in the Atlantic. From.then on he was Jake the Weatherdog. known to his many dog pals with whom in my fantasy he barks his head off to move storms safely away. I loved him dearly. Still do.
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That first photo is stunning! Are the nappies a St Andrews tradition? :)
So glad you are okay.
They get set a dressing up task by their academic "parents" ie fellow students in later years who "adopt" "children" from first year.
See my reply to Lisa above! The nappies are a quick dressing up win.
Interesting about England. Thanks for the link. Did you see my comment on your 16 Oct post, as if BMW offered and then sold you a car without telling you know about their known problem which has an unknown time to fix (see the newspaper article from March) your lawyer should be able to get you out of the contract or at least any change in figures should be compensation to you for the delay, not a reduced price for your trade in vehicle.
Thanks for letting us know. All present and accounted for.
Jake! Glad you are well! Friends lost their condo on the west coast of Florida. Had me concerned as I didn't know your location :)
Angus, the photo of the dorms with lights aglow has a very Harry Potter sensibility to it!
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