Painting the lamp posts.

'The Font' manages to get another fuzzy picture of  a corn crake inflight - or what we believe is a corn crake. Village opinion is divided. Some think the birds are grey partridge. A few of our neighbours agree with us and think they're corn crakes pausing on their way to the western isles. The corn crakes, or whatever they are , prove to be remarkably wary and difficult to photograph.

A lost gull chick in the doorway of the lady outfitters. The mother sits on a chimney on the other side of the road and calls out to it with a warning shriek that could shred concrete. Gull nesting season is a fraught 'heart in mouth' time for both gulls and humans. Fluffy wee things can be seen wandering across streets oblivious to oncoming traffic. Not all make it.

Three ladies in matching coral pink bathing coats emerge from a small car. They stop and do a small jig on the cobble stones outside Starbucks. Their early morning swim in the rock pool has clearly given them a burst of energy.

The university maintenance team have finished giving the railings a fresh coat of  black gloss paint. They now turn their attention to the old lamp posts. Parking in town is becoming difficult. Give up all hope of finding a space after nine in the morning. The university staff tasked with collating exam results and issuing degree certificates are back at work. I see two  serious looking men wearing ties and with a purposeful air walking along the street.  It is the time of the year for departmental budget meetings.

Things I didn't know about Paraguay :https://cpsi.media/p/thoughts-on-asuncion-paraguay?hide_intro_popup=true

This is apparently worth seeing :https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/06/09/medieval-manuscripts-tres-riches-heuresonce-in-a-lifetime-opportunity

Dogs :https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-06-22/medication-dogs-behavioural-issues-what-the-duck-what-the-dog/105374914

Another head spinning 24 hours. Ghosts Posts of history :https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/perils-middle-east-triumphalism

A rare sighting.

Excitement ! On our morning walk we spot two corn crakes walking along the path ahead of us. They wait until we're within ten yards of them and then with a snap of their wings shoot off into the safety of the barley field. On our way back to the house from the shore the farmers wife and the judge tell us we're mistaken. " You'll only find them on Canna and Iona" says the judges wife referring to two distant islands. 'The Font' has taken a photo which, although blurry, when checked against the RSPB ap confirms that they are indeed corn crakes . The birds are extremely rare ( as in extremely rare ) but do sometimes pause here on their way to the western isles. News travels fast and soon there's a group of villagers sauntering along the path to the shore. We discover from the professors wife that the badgers are having a bumper year but have eaten all the young ground nesting lapwing chicks. There have been three deer born within the last 24 hours ( the farmer keeps on stumbling into them and their mothers ) and the hare population is doing really well after a poor 2024. Scottish village conversations have a rhythm of their own.

The good country clothing store with the rather fine Georgian curved window  has changed hands. It has now re-opened with an inquisitive dog guarding the front door. What better or more fitting welcome could there be to a country clothing store than a canine greeter ?

The weather is back to being Scottish - all four seasons within an hour - but when the sun does come out it's warm and the scent of roses and honeysuckle fills the air.

The town has a golf course and a university. The university end of town , which has been deathly quiet,  is now busy with folks getting ready for graduation week which is fast approaching.

Workmen are sprucing up the paintwork on the iron railings while others are touching up the windows in the administration building. Round the corner the university gardeners are planting out a cheerful border in red, orange and pink. The colours may clash but the overall effect is memorable.

The security and response team are out checking to make sure that everything is looking spick and span. Crime is not much of an issue here. The big thing for the security and response team is lost keys. Chip pan fires are also a thing. This comment is in no ways a slight to the teams prowess but it does say a lot about life here.

A sure sign that summer has arrived. The marquee for the graduation ball is going up. There is a sense of happy expectation in the air as can only be found in very old , very remote and very small university town. I'd almost say it's a feeling unique to here. It certainly makes us smile.

This is being practised in the music centre. Can't be long before Auld Lang Syne is on the choirs menu. Why do fleeting snippets of music caught in the air always sound magical ? :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtHShiXxw4U

Sunday morning travels.

A surprising number of shops in London, like this butcher, look as if they haven't changed since the time of  Charles Dickens. You half expect someone to pop out wearing a frock coat and carrying a goose to be roasted for their Sunday lunch. This morning the streets are quiet. The Sunday papers in the newsagents windows were printed before the bombing of Iran was announced. Most of them lead with headlines like ' Trump gives Tehran one more week '. 

Sunday morning is a great time to travel. It takes barely ten minutes to get to Paddington from the hotel for the Heathrow Express. This runs on time and is empty apart from a womens football team heading for their six am flight home to Glasgow. They have a happily disheveled post celebration look to them.

Security, as might be expected, is rigorous but all the scanners are fully manned and we're through in thirty seconds. There's a stunning view of London from the aircraft window. The river front from the Ministry of Defence (in the lower left) to Waterloo Bridge outlined in the sunshine . Today, the flight goes on time and takes a mere forty minutes.

At Edinburgh the United flight to Chicago has landed. United use a Boeing 757 on the route. It must be the better part of 30 years old. I'm not sure about crossing the Atlantic in a single aisled aircraft. BA had 757's with extra fuel tanks on the Edinburgh to New York route  in the 90's but they retired them long ago.

A hundred yards from the front door of The last wee house before Denmark the world is very different from the hustle and bustle of the big city. No sea mist this morning and there's a cloudless sky. It's pleasantly warm. For us the priority is checking up on the eighteen eider duck chicks . They're all safely paddling around in the rock pools under the watchful gaze of their mothers. That's good news for a turbulent world on a  fraught Sunday morning. 

This being a Sunday the BBC morning radio broadcast cheers us along with the sound of some happy Nigerian Anglicans :https://youtu.be/BqgzbA_Fd54?list=RDBqgzbA_Fd54&t=145

The bike in a bag.

Another 30 degrees plus day in London. We skip the super expensive breakfast in the hotel and head off for croissants and coffee at the small French street cafe.  At seven this is already busy with dog owners and their pooches avoiding the heat. We rank the croissants a 9.1/10. They're almost as good as those at the cafe opposite the LeClerc supermarket in Toulouse. Sadly, we have yet to find anywhere in Scotland that comes close to these levels of culinary artistry. They're playing the national anthem on the radio in the cafe kitchen. A quirky constitutional nicety for Prince Williams 43rd birthday. 43 ! I guess that means he can't be referred to as the 'young prince' any more. 

A quick visit to the David Mellor shop. Our twenty year old coffee maker is still  functioning but showing signs of advancing age. We don't like the new design - it's too busy.  The staff will see if they can find one of the older models for us. https://www.davidmellordesign.com/

To the French pharmacy for all those little things we got used to having  :https://en.roger-gallet.com/c/shower-soaps

The breakfast place on Marylebone High Street sells Nougat Sticks. Angus has never had a Nougat Stick. The Font and I have different views as to whether it would count as one of my five a day.

One of those marvelous old Mercedes that looks great but you know keeping it on the road is a labour of love. It has a remarkable 'overhang' at the rear which forces pram pushing mothers to divert round it .

We sit at a table outside for dinner. In the evening the heat of the day has eased and the temperature is on the pleasant side of warm. London really has become the crossroads of the world. We spend three hours over dinner watching the passers by. 'The Font' notes that not a single person is wearing a tie. They've become extinct and now not even 'City' types wear them. The young , largely Australian and South African, crowd at the pub on the Corner are corralled behind a rope and prove to be both well behaved and quiet. A solitary security guard tells anyone who moves onto the pavement to get back on the right side of the barrier. The restaurants wine list has a  Pouilly-Fuisse at an attractive price. This is fun but , oddly, for these crispest of wines  is as buttery as a Meursault. This makes us wonder if it's been mislabeled. The restaurant is having a Provencal week. We order Sea Bass to share and are surprised to discover it's been deep fried. Strawberries come from the same farm that supplies Wimbledon so our choice of dessert is easy. All in all a fun evening.

A gentleman sitting three tables away from us finishes his dinner and says goodbye to his companions. He then unpacks a small bicycle from what appears to be a shopping bag, presses a couple of buttons and Voila! he pedals off on the perfect urban transportation. Of all the global mega cities London has perhaps become the most laid back.

The security camera at The last wee house before Denmark shows that the garden is wrapped in a deep impenetrable sea mist. The temperature there is 13 degrees. Here it's 27. What a difference 500 miles can make .

Questions for any Canadian readers. Where is fun to stay in Montreal or Toronto ? Suggestions , please, for restaurants ( with a wine list - Canadian ice wine is very good  ). Is end of September too late/wet/cold to go ?

An unusual item at auction :https://www.christies.com/stories/battle-of-trafalgar-union-jack-flag-from-the-hms-spartiate-c3f23cd0428d4528bef698ca3c1296f9

Some wonderful piping :https://youtu.be/cTRQqCHbN3U?t=1674

London is HOT !

British Airways leaves Edinburgh on time and arrives ten minutes early into London. Getting into Heathrow without delays is always something to celebrate. The plane is full of Canadians and Americans who know that the quickest way to cross the Atlantic is to fly into Edinburgh. On a good day, with a healthy tail wind,  you can do it from Boston or Philly in five and a bit hours. After day or two recovering from jetlag what better place to connect with London or the rest of the continent ?

The flight has a bouncy Glasgow crew who enjoy bantering with their passengers. Three sixteen year old boys from Portland order champagne and try to brazen it out with fake ID's when challenged about their age. They might have got away with their ploy if it had been a London crew. As it is they're firmly told what they can do with their champagne order. They settle, muttering and complaining, for Cokes. " In America we always get champagne ". Good try guys. Their parents have sat well away form them as any parents of teenage boys would sensibly do.

London when we get here is  hot. 32 yesterday and 34 degrees + expected today.

We're up early. 'The Font' has chosen a trendy hotel which is big on style but low in creature comforts. The room looked to be a reasonable size on the website but turns out not to be. We have to choreograph our movements in the limited space left by the  right angular furniture. The room does have ferocious air conditioning which is rare in the UK but in weather like this very welcome. We manage to sleep well despite the soft mattress and soggy pillows. The bathroom shower requires a PhD in fluid dynamics to operate which causes Angus to 'mutter'. Continental breakfast is £53 + VAT which we both think is outrageous. A full English would come out at £78 pre-tax. We head off to the little French restaurant a couple of blocks away . It has great croissants and we manage to get the last table outside. A labrador sheltering from the sun under a neighbouring table watches us take every guilty  bite. We pay £14.58 for our coffees an croissants.

London in the cool of  dawn on a sunny morning is hard to beat. Just us and local couples out walking their dogs. We stop to admire a rather wonderful door and the intricate brickwork chimneys on a large house.

We used to live in this brightly coloured cul de sac ( you had to reverse out onto the main road ) ...

... and then when more space was needed we moved all of a hundred yards to the next street down which was double the size but much less colourful. We kept a base in London until eight years ago but I'm not sure we'd like to live in a big city again .We most certainly wouldn't want to live in a big city if 30 degree temperatures in June become the norm.

We see the doors open and pop into St Columbas - the Church of Scotland in Chelsea. We've been in for weddings, funerals and christenings bit have never had the time to look around.

It has gloriously deep perspectives  graced with row upon row of columns and arches. In its spartan regularity and simplicity it's rather like that hidden and forgotten gem the Garrison Church in Delhi - https://apollo-magazine.com/the-tragedy-and-triumph-of-a-british-architect-in-new-delhi/

By the time we reappear outside the streets are getting busier and the ponies are being taken out for their morning walk in the park. Traffic, which is usually cut throat in its aggression, stops and placidly makes way for the ponies.

Labubu dolls . The big thing in toys ( seemingly ) :https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4ydxlm9n9o

Why did I not know about sand batteries ? :https://www.zmescience.com/research/inventions/sand-battery-finland/

Maybe this is why Blogger is playing up:https://gizmodo.com/this-large-and-unstable-sunspot-just-slammed-earth-with-its-strongest-flare-yet-2000617387

Ancient dogs :https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/early-farming-societies-forged-bonds-with-ancient-dogs-in-the-americas

Scaffolding.

Posted late. The power people have been working on the village electricity connection and it has irritatingly been on and off all day. Every time I've tried to access Blogger the power has disappeared. We're now heading down to London for 'The Fonts' birthday.

The local inn has a warm welcoming bar. Just what is needed on a brisk June evening on the Scottish coast.

We're left wondering when was the last time anyone asked for a Moscow Mule ?  A group of eight American golfers in the Snug are working their way through the whisky shelf.  They're three malts down with five more to go. The golfers have ordered chicken burgers which are an unusual feature on a Scottish pub menu. The chef, who comes out to sat hello, has discovered that chicken burgers are a thing with visitors and students. During term time he can sell up to 300 on a Saturday night. It seems that demand for chicken burgers is growing while sales of burgers are falling.

The garden store is open but there's no one about. We're looking for some climbing roses. We'll try again tomorrow.

The window and door fitters have finished and gone.  They've done an excellent job. While we're out some scaffolding is delivered to the courtyard. We discover , after several phone calls, that this was dropped off in an 'administrative error'. The scaffolding has come all the way up from Edinburgh ( they must have set off at seven ) and to Edinburgh it will eventually return. The exact timing of its removal remains, for now, vague.

Puncture.

 

The Met Office forecast calls for clear skies and constant sunshine. Down South temperatures are set to reach 30 degrees. Instead we get a stiff breeze and scudding clouds and a maximum of 19 degrees . The Scottish weather hasn't got the message. Down by the sea the eider ducks and their brood seem to be enjoying the overcast conditions.

The blackberry bushes that line the field boundaries and provide safety and shelter for the birds are coming into bloom. We stop to watch three corn buntings darting in and out of the thickets.

'You've got a problem' says the farmer pointing to the back of the car. True enough a nail has managed to work its way into the edge of a rear tyre.

Down to KwikFit where we discover that 1) the tyre can't be repaired because of the location and angle of the puncture and 2) the electronic systems on our model require all four tyres to have tread that's within 2mm's of the others . Seems that ignoring this can cause 'expensive' electronic problems. No one mentioned this at the dealers. We have to order a complete set of replacement tyres at £350 each. A quick check on Google shows that this is indeed one of the ( expensive and impractical ) peculiarities with this model of car :https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1862822 . The manager comes out of his office and joins the group of fitters studying the tyre. He's a cheery soul. ' We'll need to order them in specially. Not often we see this make and model around here'.  He offers us 15% off which is some sort of solace. Angus is once again surprised at how much things cost. We were forever changing tyres on the Skoda and Volvo in  France but I can't remember them being more than a  hundred or so Euros apiece. We also discover the car has a small built in battery powered pump that can be used to inflate flat tyres.

A reason to eats lots of fish :https://www.insidehook.com/longevity/omega-3-benefits-guide

Coffee is good for you :https://now.tufts.edu/2025/06/16/hold-cream-and-sugar-black-coffee-linked-lower-risk-death

Loneliness :https://uwaterloo.ca/news/media/study-loneliness-doesnt-raise-mortality-risk

Great news.

The farmers wife and the wife of the Portugese professor come laughing ( and almost skipping ) along the farm track. 'Great news ! We've seen an otter and two cubs on the beach by the rocks '.  They are delighted. We agree that this is indeed great news. Before going the farmers wife says she's counted fourteen eider duck chicks in the rock pool. They've all survived last weekends gales. This is also great news.

The couple who have rented the house the ' University of Austin ' family stayed in introduce themselves. He's Canadian, she from Wisconsin. They have a four year old boy and a six year old girl. He will be teaching at the university and she, hopefully, will get a job at the local secondary school. She is talkative and stylish. He is extremely taciturn and adheres to the 'crumpled' academic look. We discover that the house by the 'T' junction has also been sold. The new owners are an American family but nothing more is , so far, known about them. 

A Jack Russell  arrives in the courtyard and  heads straight to the kitchen garden where she hunts for something important  in the newly planted lavender. She gives us a look that makes it clear she has work to do and is far too busy to talk to us.

On the breakfast table more roses. They are busy dropping their leaves. The bouts of warmth  continue to spur our northerly, sun deprived,  roses into manic growth.

Along the stone wall by the main road the poppies are going wild. In the sunshine they look stunning. In this mornings half cloud less so. The potato farmer is putting up yet more barns and the excavated soil now forms a small mountain that dominates the view towards the kirk.

English tourists find narrow twisty Scottish country roads to be a challenge. Visitors used to southern infrastructure hurtle along the lanes as if they own the place. This morning we pass a Mercedes and a Porsche that have managed to clip each others wings on a tight right angled bend. No one is hurt but egos have been damaged. We stop to make sure everyone is alright and are told 'the Police have been called'.  It's amazing what happens in a place where nothing ever happens.

Cheese :https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/3500-years-ago-someone-packed-cheese-for-the-afterlife

Students and AI :https://arnoldkling.substack.com/p/student-assessment-in-the-age-of

Tourists and that expensive museum chair :https://youtu.be/RnweJ-xUkZM

More and more pipers appearing in time for the influx of foreign holiday makers. Perhaps people think this is how we live all year round ? :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJuog4XtGtw

On a windy day this would make sense out here on the coast but where would you keep the lid ? :https://www.ladoublej.com/en/homeware/how-to-set-your-table-homeware%2Fhow-to-set-your-table/kitchen/lidded-mug-libellula-DIS0008CER001LIB0003.html

One footed balancing acts.

The headlines in the weekend papers decidedly dour. It all seems to be happening  a long way from here but large helicopters intrude on the Sunday calm and clatter backwards and forwards into the army base on the other side of the bay.

The streets are now filling up with summer school teenagers . They wander around in groups staring fixedly at their i-phones and looking 'cool'. Many, if not most of them, seen unaware that the UK drives on the left and dart, uncaring and oblivious, off the pavements and into the road. They are at that age where immortality is taken for granted. Faced with these herds of kamikaze pedestrians Angus mutters uncharitable things under his breath. The little car has 'proximity' systems that shriek like an air raid siren whenever a tottering teen steps onto the road and comes within range. The systems are super sensitive and wail frequently. There is a lot of muttering.  Young males, out to impress the teenage girls in their groups, leap onto railings and balance themselves, one footed, on bollards. The teenage girls look unimpressed. In fact they look bored to distraction.

The new chocolate shop has opened. It already looks as if it's been here forever.

A bouquet of flowers on a beach bench. There is something vaguely reassuring about living in a town where the council sill employs someone to place out memorial flowers.

Back at the wee house in town the annual letter has been pushed through the letter box telling us that the graduating students will be holding their farewell ball on the 5th of July. This is an event when the decibel levels go off the charts. The letter seems to have been printed on grease proof paper which may be trendy, cost efficient or a mistake.

Sunflowers in the lobby of the supermarket. Together with the flowers on the bench that's the second time we've seen them today.

Uplifting thoughts :https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/carl-jung-pillars-life-happiness/678009/?lctg=6050e2b7f98ec7553cab3a85

On the radio this charity is highlighted. Usually these things pass as background noise but the youngsters interviewed are lucid and confident. The charity helps disadvantaged kids get into higher education and then with all those things you take for granted like how to write an application letter or what to wear at a job interview . Some are unused to simple things like hot meals. We will probably move them onto our 'meaningful' list:https://upreach.org.uk/

When we stayed in Georgetown last September I'd reckon that around 80% of the hard working staff were Venezuelan. Someone seems to have recognized that if they were all deported farming and hospitality would grind to a halt :https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis

The American professor of International Relations here in St Andrews doesn't seem happy :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-137-the-two-weeks

Summer storms.

The weather yesterday was dire. Thunder and heavy roof pounding rain. By lunchtime the cold front from the Atlantic and the warm front over the mountains were battling noisily away. Scottish thunder has a deeper pitch to either French or Italian thunder. Gardening will become much easier now that the roses ( and anything else in the garden ) have been stripped of their blooms. Around four we managed to get out for a half hour afternoon walk in a welcome pause in the downpour.

A small tanker has overnighted in the bay to shelter from the rain and winds. That seems a very sensible thing for the captain to have done. This morning the lobster fishermen are out in force and the farmer is in his tractor busily beavering away in the sodden soil. I'm guessing the unrelenting rain is of the sort that will percolate into the soil and make the potato tubers grow. This should make the farmer a happy man or as close to being happy as a Scottish village farmer can get.

Even though it's the Lords Day two workmen are busily at work repairing a window in one of the local pubs. Do they get triple time for working on a Sunday morning ? They seem to be repairing a window sill damaged by yesterdays gales.

More asparagus in the farm shop. At this time of the year we can live on fish, fruit and vegetables that have all been sourced within five miles of our front door. Don't ask me why but local food that's unfrozen and untreated simply tastes better.

Six months ago I read a biography on Chinas President Xi by a former Australian prime minister with a writing style that was very 'worthy'. This new book by a member of the Stanford faculty is ( so far ) much easier going.

'The Font' will be reading these this week. The water company have finished their installation of  a new water pipe and courier access to The last wee house before Denmark is once again possible.

Life here in the run up to graduation week remains delightfully quiet although the influx of summer school teenagers from all corners of the globe continues. They lounge indolently around the counter at Starbucks oblivious to any queueing locals.

Roll on the day :https://bgr.com/tech/electric-cars-with-3000-mile-range-may-soon-be-a-reality/

This would seem to be self evident ( but apparently isn't)  :https://www.csis.org/analysis/canada-may-be-united-states-best-hope-minerals-security

Some Monteverdi :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4lGp50cVBw

Driving rain does awful things to a sporran :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TW40IUTnhA  And here is a pipe band and a large yellow duck :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHVlufhhbCo