At the still point of the turning world.

Town is fast filling up. Down by the golf course we watch some visitors taking photos of other visitors taking pictures of themselves on the 18th tee. There are hundreds and hundreds of French tourists who have shown up for tonights festivities. They wear black city coats that are slightly too stylish for the Scottish seaside. The French have that ' what shall we do next ? ' air about them. By 10 am they'll have walked the beach, bought some tartan souvenirs, seen the town and be waiting for their hotel bar to open.

'Decadently' is doing a lot of work in this local hotels Reveillon advert. 'The Font' wonders if a 3 course celebratory dinner washed down with a single glass of champagne is truly 'decadent'. Maybe it's the 'indulgent surprises ' that push it into the realm of  unrestrained gratification.  For Valentines day 'decadent' will be replaced with 'romantic'. The menu will stay the same.

Dogs waiting impatiently outside the bookshop. I stop by to pick up two books - the Taubmanns new biography of McNamara and Gotham at War.

The kilt has been found as has the Sgian Dubh. The sporrans have been put away somewhere so obvious that we I can't now remember where. Two  searches have failed to find them. A third will soon start.

2025 is nearly done and so from all of us here at the last wee house before Denmark best wishes for a 'guid' New Year brimming over with health and happiness. May your 2026 be filled with hope and joy and all sort of unexpected good things that flow from them. May this be the year the madness of the powerful meets reality. May kindness flourish. For friends in less fortunate parts of the world the simplest but most heartfelt of prayers - May you have a year without fear. 

Here, sung as it should be, the song that will mark the arrival of the magic hour  :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMFnqj6aFwY  And for lovers of the song an Oregon version that , in its simplicity and diction , could almost be Scottish :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXNMKtzYrHs&list=RDsXNMKtzYrHs&start_radio=1

What doughty souls

The weather has turned colder and the wind has a distinct bite to it . That may explain why there's no sign of the surfers.

Two indomitable ladies are ignoring the weather and from the cliff top can be seen enjoying a lengthy post-swim chat on the small beach by the castle. What doughty souls.

This morning town is dreamily quiet. The Christmas visitors have gone and the Hogmanay revelers will only start to show up around lunchtime. Lob, the local fisherman, delivers lobster and shrimp ( and some lemon sole ) caught earlier this morning. How's that for fresh ? He tells us all the hotels are booked solid for the next three nights. This is good news for him ... and the price of his fish. In contrast with our provincial quiet big city Edinburgh is already well into Hogmanay season :https://youtu.be/UdX74xCpIRQ?t=46

The farmers artisinal Christmas decorations are still on display. They weren't a great success. The price point may have had something to do with it.

Preparations for the New Year now well underway. The shuttle from Edinburgh airport busy. Angus continues to believe a Grand Cru Chablis is the greatest bargain in the wine world but prices have climbed ( alarmingly )  over the last couple of years. There is the usual debate about who will want to drink a sturdy Bordeaux and who will want a lighter Burgundy.  The obvious solution is to take down plenty of each.

A well known modern composer is interviewed on the radio. He says this is the one piece of music he wishes he'd written. I'd never really listened to it before  :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gec7OUrj87M

Things to remind you that life progresses :https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/medical-breakthroughs-in-2025

These also make me feel good particularly the one about Virginians eating at least one hotdog a day :https://probablyinteresting.substack.com/p/52-things-i-learned-in-2025

Jeans :https://nymag.com/strategist/article/cheap-vs-expensive-jeans.html

The #1 song on the local radio at this time of the year. It made a great 80's beer advert :https://youtu.be/TX9h558Tz1E

The year is racing along .

The days are getting longer. Not long ago it was pitch dark by three thirty in the afternoon, now it's light until nearer to four. Such things are noted in these northerly parts. Soon the mornings will be bright enough for a walk on the beach by eight. The cheese monger continues to look festive and the little restaurant near the post office has taken delivery of some jolly  yellow pavement furniture. In the village the ladies are already  busy decorating the hall in readiness for the Hogmanay gathering.

With the students away evening events in the book store appeal to an older audience. Questions tend to be more academic and more direct.

I pick up Volker Ullrichs latest book. I've enjoyed, or at least been impressed by, his earlier works. He may be Germanys leading historian although there are other worthy contenders for the title.

The opening lines of the first chapter are a reminder of Mark Twains belief that history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme.

The wee house in town now ready for Hogmanay. Even the small ( and neglected ) ground floor bedroom has been made ready by the cleaning ladies. 'The Font' thinks it looks spartan but it's too late to do much about that now.  I shall go down later this morning and dead head the roses in the garden. I'll also take the leaf blower as the flower beds are looking a little wild. The year is suddenly racing towards Hogmanay. Later today I shall go in search of my sporran and sgian dhub.

It was only a matter of time before this song made its first appearance :https://youtu.be/CQxbWeJGoI0?list=RDCQxbWeJGoI0&t=128

A polite Scandinavian disagreement :https://www.sciencenorway.no/children-and-youth-vitamins/is-it-actually-dangerous-to-give-children-multivitamins/2590204

The head of the International Relations Department isn't pulling any punches :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-165-why-the-pantomime

This is what Pluto looks like:https://x.com/konstructivizm/status/1578070981947658241

Better than the real John Lewis advert ? :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w97a6jUbbRw

Time to recharge the batteries.

A dozen chaffinches are busy squabbling on the grass by the front door. Their return to the garden signals that the sparrow hawk has moved on. No sign yet of the robins but the full bird feeders will soon entice them back. A cock pheasant sits imperiously on the stone wall by the courtyard and ignores us. There are eleven deer in the old barley field this morning. Nine of them are sprawled on the ground while two stand and keep watch.

The beach seems to be home to every dog - and their owners - within a twenty mile radius. They are enjoying themselves in that uninhibited way dogs do. Of course for dogs every day spent on the beach - whatever the time of the year - is Christmas.

After a spell of mild weather it's suddenly close to freezing. Three surfers rush across the sand . A reminder that cold weather lunacy is alive and well. The new semester is now only a week and a bit away and a few students are starting to return.

The penguin continues to glitter outside the fish and chip shop.

Another oldie on the local radio. Did we really dress this badly in the 70's ?  :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUuPXfS4FM0&list=RDyC_j_dzkaVE&index=23

A mystery. Supposed preponderance of boys born after a war ? :https://x.com/Valen10Francois/status/2004552929584582753

The place to go for those wanting a quiet Hogmanay :https://kyle.scot/

That Thailand/Cambodia thing makes no sense. I'm a little - but not much - wiser for reading this :https://x.com/TomWrightAsia/status/2000422510408679671

Thoughts turn to Hogmanay

On the morning news we learn that The King will go to America for a state visit in April. The Prince of Wales will then visit Philadelphia  for the semiquincentennial celebrations on July 4th ( the BBC has helpfully suggested 'Quarter Millenial ' as a more easily pronounced alternative) and will also be there for the World Cup.  The price of  tickets for the soccer finals is now reaching 'stratospheric' levels :https://x.com/biancoresearch/status/2003445075842650487   This is a link I won't share with the farmers sons ( the knowledge that seats are going for $52k would be a real mood killer ) although even the keenest fan would admit the chance of Scotland making it to the latter stages of the competition is minimal.

Here we've segued into that  strangely peaceful time of the year between Christmas and the New Year. The Oyster Catchers are enjoying having the beach to themselves.

The bar in town has had a seasonal makeover. Plastic poinsettias have replaced the plastic heather in the golf shoes that decorate the outside window.

In the supermarket there is a queue for fresh milk. What else do people go to the supermarket for on December 27th ? Hogmanay now looms large . A man is busy stapling strings of  Saltire flags to the ceiling tiles. There's too many of them and they're too low so the end result blocks out the light and looks unintentionally gloomy. 

Visiting dogs - with owners in bright seasonal jumpers -  can be found in Starbucks. The place is full and we have to sit on the bar stools up against the oval table by the back wall.

The shoe shop has opened for the winter sale but customers are few and far between.

We haven't heard Auld lang Syne yet but it can only be a day or two before it fills the airwaves. This morning we get Gerry and the Pacemakers from the local radio station :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV5_LQArLa0&list=RDyC_j_dzkaVE&index=9

The worlds oldest restaurant :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-oldest-restaurant-in-the-world-just-turned-300-years-old-180987899/

The future belongs to the young :https://x.com/mastronomers/status/2004334592908505508?s=48  You have to be optimistic.

Wartime diets :https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/wartime-diet-britain-world-war-jack-drummond

Suddenly in the news:https://www.hoover.org/research/religion-ethnicity-and-jihadist-search-holy-war-nigeria

Reasons to like Christmas :https://miniphilosophy.substack.com/p/the-philosophical-case-for-christmas

Boxing Day

On the BBC news this morning a correspondent tells us that ' the situation in Nigeria is complicated '. He then starts to run through a never ending list of rival Islamic separatist groups before the presenter says a firm 'thank you' and cuts him abruptly off.

The village hall gathering for the Kings Speech was almost over by the time we showed up. The older generation of farmers stand for the singing of the anthem. The younger generations are too busy stopping five year olds from pulling down the Christmas tree to notice. As always the village dogs do their own thing amid slightly irritated 'shushing' by their owners. We go along for the simple reason it is one of the few remaining 'ties that bind'. It  survives here because it is the perfect excuse for busy mothers to get the table cleared and usher everyone outside. Practicality rules. The choice of a Ukrainian choir for the closing carol well received by all and sundry. :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBtcdGoLP54 

More hopeful golfers are lined up on the first tee of the Old Course. It's another mild morning which makes queuing easier. Local dog owners navigate round them. Bobble hats are much in evidence although a festive few have opted for the elfin look.

There's an air of playfulness among those waiting to tee off. Sometimes there's a dull thud as someone clips the ball and sends it into the rough. This is followed by clapping or comments like ' Have you ever played before ?' Foursomes head purposefully down the fairway under the watchful eyes of breakfasters in the fancy hotels.

Out at sea a group of surfers are enjoying the waves.

By eight thirty the beach is packed with locals and visitors walking off yesterdays extra helpings. In a small, off season town like this people take lots of long walks. The canine population are delighted.

A guitarist and a Scottish singer. The local radio is slowly preparing for Hogmanay with a more 'reflective' choice of music :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC_j_dzkaVE&list=RDyC_j_dzkaVE&index=1

A Christmas Eve school concert . The drummers are very serious. We are now about to enter peak piping season :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5oB-Ka78ss

A Canadian poem :https://lenispooner.substack.com/p/what-we-keep-doing-anyway

History :https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2025/11/the-making-of-a-techno-nationalist-elite/

Christmas Day

Christmas morning. It's mild. The weather forecast promises a high of 7 degrees and a low of 5.The village is already awake. Curtains are open, kitchen lights are glowing and trees are lit and sparkling. Radio 4 is playing 'O come all ye faithful' while Radio 3 has a performance of The Messiah from Leeds. The comingled sounds of a British Christmas. 

Busy mothers wave from behind steamed up windows and shout out 'Happy Christmas '.  "You can't open your presents until your grandparents arrive" being said, repeatedly, to over excited four year olds. The village has a lot of toddlers and they're all discovering that instant gratification isn't a thing. The farmers eldest son lets us know ' I'm off to pick up my granny in Falkirk'. He's proudly driving his fathers freshly washed Land Rover Defender. We'd always thought it was mud coloured but it turns out to be silver. Three young fathers stop for a quick blether.  Faced with domestic chaos they've opted  to take their dogs for a walk. 

The golf hotels are busy. Two nights ( courtyard view ) , two spa treatments and two 'gala' dinners for £850 per person draw folks from all over. Faces peer out of garlanded breakfast rooms. Car parks are brimming with Jaguars and Mercedes. People can play the Old Course for free today so there's a line of hopefuls dragging trolleys and wearing Santa hats down by the starters hut. Give it an hour or so and the line will turn into a melee. Someone at the golf club inclines to the theatrical and is playing this song on the ancient tannoy system :https://youtu.be/UnYOzRMrxaE  The Americans in the queue laughingly repeat the 'Melchior spoke' part.

By the university things are quieter. There's not a soul to be seen. Golfers tend not to wander far from the first tee. In fact many of them have no idea there's an old town just yards away. Strip away the tarmac and on a morning like this you can imagine the  wide processional route to the medieval cathedral as it was 600 years ago. Perhaps it's only amid the quiet of Christmas you can see things as they are ? 

We are left to ponder a poster in the lobby of the International Relations Department.

The library, which a few days ago was packed solid with exam cramming teenagers is now closed. The cleaners have left some of the lights on. The architecture with its exposed pipes and ducting  looks very techno-industrial.

Soon the turkey will be in the oven and the day will start to get busy. The Beaune has been decanted and the pudding is already steaming away on the AGA. Champagne will be sipped as the cooking progresses. And so a Merry Christmas to one and all. May you find comfort in the company of those you love, warmth in the memory of those who've gone before and confidence in the capacity of human beings to see the world as it should be. 

Christmas Day music. ' A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices '. The ultimate classic ? Understated good taste :https://youtu.be/e5c4370E2aQ?list=RDe5c4370E2aQ

And a Christmas Day poem :https://carol-egan.com/2025/12/christmas-poem-by-mary-oliver/

Now this is interesting :https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/12/04/why-there-are-only-two-escalators-in-all-of-wyoming/

There is also a bit about escalators in here :https://anchovyhouse.substack.com/p/sacred-infrastructure  

Christmas song #21

A blustery Christmas Eve. The farmers sons are up early and hard at work in the barn shifting potato crates. In one fork lift  'Puppy' is seated on the lap of the elder boy. Elder sister is in the other truck with the younger. Both dogs look remarkably happy as if scooting around a barn shifting potato crates in the early morning  gloom is the most natural thing in the world.

There's a tree in full bloom outside one of the student dorms. A tree in bloom in St Andrews at Christmas ? If you look for signs of climate change look no further.

The ice cream sellers continue to thrive. The pavement table might be a tad too hopeful  but the local teenagers are oblivious to the rain showers and seem happy to walk the streets with an ice cream cone  .

'The Font' wonders how many English visitors will understand what parking 'outwith' the marked bays means. Scottish official English can be very Dickensian.

Even the tourist villages down the coast, packed to the gunnels with visitors in high summer, are quiet deserted.

There is a Christmas stillness to the area that is rather lovely. The local shops are already putting up signs in their windows offering 30% Winter Sale discounts. This must be galling for anyone who did their shopping yesterday.

Christmas song #21. An old favourite. The descant at the 5 minute mark is so English :https://youtu.be/l1wHyMR_SCA?list=RDl1wHyMR_SCA&t=246

A substack on how New York has changed :https://theneighborhoods.substack.com/p/meatpacking-district-manhattan

Swedish Christmas goats :https://jonn.substack.com/p/nothing-but-repeats-these-days

The word 'dog' is mysterious :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHiMg-DLick

Artificial sweeteners :https://www.acsh.org/news/2025/12/22/artificial-sweeteners-cognitive-concerns-49879

Australians seem to understand what's at stake better than some others :https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/shadows-of-1795-why-ukraine-fears-peace-built-on-partition/

Christmas song #20

A lovely start to the day. From the village the towers of the old cathedral are just visible in the distance. The farmers wife is happy. She's seen an egret wading in the fresh water pool down by the rock stack and is off to tell her husband and sons. 'Puppy' and her elder sister rush ahead. This is what passes for excitement in these northerly rural parts.

We pick up the Christmas door wreath from the florist . To say she is busy would be an understatement.

The two ceramic dogs are still sitting in the window of the art gallery waiting for new homes.

Chapel door is open.

We pop inside to enjoy the warmth. Is this the only church building in Scotland that's kept as warm as toast ? The organist is practising this :https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/Music_P000_files/P173_Ber.htm which neither of us has heard before.

There are Christmas decorations but they're of the minimalist Presbyterian variety. 

A week ago we said there was plenty of time to get ready for Christmas. Now it's the 23rd. Where did the time go ? Why has the fridge shrunk in size ? Today Angus will drive off to get the Christmas Eve lobsters from Lob the fisherman. 'The Font' will be getting the wee house in town ready for Hogmanay visitors. The cleaning ladies came in yesterday but were surprised to find an  American professor and family were still there. They will be joining the crowds and flying back later today.

Christmas song #20 and what can best be described as a 'lovely' wrap around sound from Regensburg Cathedral :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaLdiWwIN0A&list=RDz5suXifRlVs&index=3

Intriguing discovery:https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/surprising-demographics-physician-mortality

Proof that it does exist. Some Scandinavian humour. 'The Font' finds it side splittingly funny . Angus rather less so :https://youtu.be/OSacz4GHQjs

It's the time of the year when the 2026 entrants are being offered places .The Med School has rushed out a video suggesting they confirm their offers asap as demand is high. There are Scottish accents and then there are SCOTTISH accents. This lad is pure Morningside. When was the last time you heard the words 'dissection' and 'implore' being used in the same sentence ? The enthusiasm makes us smile  :https://youtu.be/4VuJywdNNYw?t=140

A cheery piece about good people :https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/running-towards-danger

A final letter :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mary-queen-of-scots-wrote-this-letter-hours-before-she-was-executed-her-words-are-going-on-display-for-the-first-time-in-years-180987885/

Christmas song # 19

Monday morning and the beach is busy with dog walkers. Most of the folks up and about at sunrise are locals but the first Airbnbers are starting to appear. These are easy to spot. Their dogs look at two miles of empty sand and go wild. Absolutely ' I has died and gone to heaven' wild.

The cheese shop will soon be busy. We stop off for some Stilton. The guy behind the counter has made an early start on making up cheese plates. I wonder if he will be looking so composed by the time he shuts up shop this evening ?

There are parking spaces aplenty. What luxury ! It's difficult to explain what it's like to live in a town that's always full  to the brim to youngsters or golfers and then almost overnight becomes deserted.

We pick up the Christmas garland for the courtyard gate. The front door wreath will be ready tonight. The florist has had over 250 orders. She also tells us that in the summer she gets a thousand orders for graduation bouquets. The demand is spread over four days but getting it right is still an organizational nightmare.

The arrival of the Christmas season means the farm shops crisp offering ups its game. Duck in plum sauce replaces the more humdrum cheese and onion.

Christmas song #19 .There's nothing on earth quite like the wonders of a Christmas 'spectacular' on German television . Dry ice is always a prominent feature.  Although unknown to me the gentleman and three ladies are presumably 'big' tv celebrities north of the Alps :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5suXifRlVs&list=RDz5suXifRlVs&start_radio=1

Blast from the past. How the role of government has changed. A great tear jerker version of The Little Drummer Boy from simpler times. You couldn't imagine a political scene like this on tv today...or could you ? " We're still in NATO right ? " a great line :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_BRd1fegBw&list=RDC_BRd1fegBw&start_radio=1

Not the most festive of links but one that I have recently started to check once a week. Is this wise ?:https://thebulletin.org/2025/12/threatening-ncar-trump-administration-seeks-to-extinguish-a-beacon-of-climate-science/

This guy climbing a skyscraper will be broadcast live on Netflix in the New Year  :https://x.com/AlexHonnold/status/2002807370452509170

Strange but diplomats do have a purpose:https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/the-appalling-broken-record-of-steve

Christmas song #18

The blue and white penguin covered in flashing fairy lights has reappeared. After the rugby club Christmas party it went missing from outside the ice cream parlour. Now it's moved and can be found glittering happily in front of the fish and chip shop. It seems to be in good shape ( bar some 'flattening' around the beak and a slightly crumpled right wing ) and brings a little glamour sparkle to the late afternoon gloom. Local toddlers are delighted.

This morning at sun-up the farmers two eldest lads are at work in the barns. Getting teenagers out of bed this early during the Christmas holidays is nothing short of miraculous and speaks volumes to the power of a promised trip to America. They're using the forklifts to restack the large wooden potato crates. The younger of the two informs  us that they have brown rats in the barn. " Better than the black ones " he adds festively. We move along quickly.

And to lead us into Christmas week proper something that the French would call 'Oh so British '. Nerve racking for the soloist ( and his mother ). Christmas song #18 :https://youtu.be/lBjKniT8a70?list=RDlBjKniT8a70

All you needed to know - and more - about todays winter solstice :https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/10-solstice-facts-everyone-know/

Interesting facts about 2025 :https://snippet.finance/26-snippets-for-2025/

2024. Skimming through this two photos of St Andrews appear :https://danielkalder.substack.com/p/tsdk-no-62-2024-the-greatest-year The same is true for the 2025 update.

Christmas song # 17

The last day of exams. Sympathy to those poor youngsters who've drawn the short straw and are taking a late afternoon paper on  'Antimicrobials - Mode of Action and Resistance'.

Last night we try a fancy new restaurant . The young woman at the front desk doesn't even bother to look up from her phone when we arrive. ' Have you made a reservation ?' said in a tone of voice that suggests she's hoping we haven't. It's never a good sign when restaurant staff are too disinterested to smile. On our way to the table Angus tells 'The Font' that the food tonight is going to be sub-optimal. This is not the actual term I use. I'm told to look on the bright side but am proved right.

This morning huge swarms of crows circling over the village. The farmers sons are up early. They'll be working clearing out the barns over the holidays in return for cash for their planned trip to the States to see the Scottish soccer team. Seats on United Airlines from Edinburgh to Chicago have already been booked and paid for. The two lads and five of their school mates will be travelling together. 'They can keep an eye out for each other' says their mother with an endearing innocence concerning the group psychology of teenage males.

The elder son thinks the crows behaviour has changed due to the warmer winters.  ' We've had 7% more rain this year than last ' adds the younger . This is the sort of fact farmers sons know. I'm sure any American girls they meet on their trip will be bowled over with small talk like this.

In the next village down the coast the primary school children have had a carol service in the kirk. Free at last they rush along the pavement singing and dancing.  There's no doubting the fortitude of local Christmas traditions .

The houses here have terraced gardens that have been carved out of the cliffs. The views out onto the water must be quite dramatic in a winter gale.

We stop off at the cafe by the harbour. You know you're in deepest Scotland when your coffee comes accompanied by lumps of tablet.

Christmas song #17 by the smartly turned out choir of St Andrews Kirk in Chennai. The church has an amazing centre for blind girls with leprosy. The video  is filmed in the old Anglican church down on the beach where Eli Yale was Minister. I don't think we have ever been anywhere as hot as Chennai :https://youtu.be/uuvkSqOTx6E?list=RDuuvkSqOTx6E&t=18

A touch of poetry reposted ahead of tomorrows winter solstice and the start of longer, brighter days :https://poemanalysis.com/sheenagh-pugh/sometimes/

Serious talk:https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/america-and-the-world