Christmas music #20 :

The electrician returns with the replacement BMW battery charging unit. To his irritation - and ours - the new one doesn't work either. Looks like we will continue to be petrol driven until the New Year.

Sunday morning. The dog walkers are out on the beach by the pier. Dogs and humans seem oblivious to the 60 mph winds. In fact the dogs seem to think a gale is the perfect way to start a day. The gusts reached 80 mph last night and whistled and banged the gutters at the last wee house before Denmark  like a heavy footed dervish.

In weather like this the lobster boats are safely moored in the harbour. Two of the flats that face the water now have Christmas lights decorating their balconies. As the absentee landlords return for the holidays I would expect this number to grow. St Andrews residents tend to be rather coy in their festive decorations. This is not true of the rest of the country which veers to the Blackpool Illuminations school of lighting. The farmer at the crossroads is BIG on turqoise and purple fairy lights - a  colour combination otherwise unknown in nature.

With most visitors gravitating towards the golf course and the 5 star hotels the university end of St Andrews remains surprisingly quiet(ish) until nine o'clock when the shops open. A mini bus is disgorging a group of Spanish tourists outside the small hotel facing the chapel. What they are doing, or planning to do, in the semi dark hours in the off season is beyond comprehension. The hotel doorman greets them with an aloofness that suggests his morning nap has been interrupted.

The shoe repair and key cutting shop has decorated their mechanical cobbler as one of Santas elves. It hammers away endlessly in their window. This seasonal wardrobe change is an incontrovertible indicator that the festive season is now in full swing.

The grumpy gentleman ( I think we can all agree that this notice has all the hallmarks of a gentleman of a certain age ) who usually writes excruciatingly bad poetry has posted up a new missive on the town notice board. His ire is now focused on the powers that be that run the golf course.

Hard to upstage the pageantry of this. The use of mobile phones is notable. Christmas music #20 :https://youtu.be/Hhrjxix3pAE?t=6

The photos don't do it justice but this if the first mosque to be designed by a woman. It is very beautiful and , on the inside, ethereally peaceful ( which is what I guess any religious space should be or at least aim for ) :https://yabangee.com/the-sakirin-mosque/

An interesting piece of writing - included here for its novelty - that looks at how literature, 'halucigenic' AI and a dead Mexican poet describe the moon :https://willdowd.substack.com/p/the-oak-moon-2024

This seemed a sensible Italian take on China :https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/china-2025-peak-or-deal-with-trump-195327