Here comes the rain.

Down at the golf end of town things are getting busy. Helicopters ferry the Gods of the golfing world from their Gulfstreams to their hotel suites. Outside the club house super shiny black limousines wait patiently for the first of the players to emerge. After a brief sunny start the weather is soon expected to turn very wet and very windy. Gales are expected on Saturday. That's only to be expected when a tournament rolls into town. The morning radio broadcast informs us that a gentleman by the name of 'Bad Bunny' will be the lead act at the Super Bowl halftime show. We had , until now, been unaware of his existence. Quite why this news item should be featured on a Scottish radio programme is something of a mystery.

The sheep in their paddock on the dunes remain oblivious to the hyper activity that's  happening on the far side of the fairway.

The harbour end of the town might as well be on a different planet. Apart from a few keen student runners it is quiet. The local fishermen are  nowhere to be seen. We can only assume they're far out at sea trying to meet the golfers insatiable demand for the surf part of 'surf and turf'.

At the home of the university Principal the flag is at half mast. The old Chancellor has just died and a weeks mourning is underway. He had been a loyal public servant which is an old fashioned and honourable epitaph. https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/the-death-of-university-chancellor-the-rt-hon-lord-campbell-of-pittenweem/

At the Justin Timberlake/ Tiger Woods sporting venue a team of workers are already at work. Yesterday they installed the new signs across the front. This morning they've taken them down. Someone was supposed to have repainted the facade before they went up. The soft opening is scheduled for Thursday. There is a lot still to be done.  Saturday looks as if it might be a better option. The fit out seems to be progressing on a 'two steps forward, one step back' basis.

The sock shop that's recently appeared in what used to be the juice bar has a minimalist approach to retailing. There is a single table inside piled with socks and , in one corner, an Apple i-Pay machine. That's it.

This I found strangely reassuring and the little video at the end is fun:https://scottsumner.substack.com/p/subjective-time

The answer to this is yes but only when food is involved :https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/202509/are-dogs-as-smart-as-human-toddlers-0

The rarity of fire :https://www.zmescience.com/science/physics/why-earth-is-the-only-world-in-the-entire-universe-that-we-know-of-where-fire-can-burn/

Events at the Ryder Cup still resound here in the home of golf. The word 'classless' is used on the local radio to describe the fans but not in a good way :https://greattransformation.substack.com/p/the-mirror-we-deserve-what-the-ryder?triedRedirect=true

The little things you see when you leave home ( part 2)

We spend our last night away in a trendy boutique hotel in Ambleside. It combines  many ( but not all ) modern comforts with a peculiarly English love of dogs. Mutts and their owners are welcomed in the bar and ( even more entertainingly ) allowed into the dining room for dinner. The hotel very sensibly has a boot room where dogs can be washed after a day on the hills and a dog dining area where the chef feeds them satisfyingly large portions of chicken, gravy and potatoes. Suitably refreshed and revived they then join their owners for the evening meal. 

A recently widowed gentleman in his early eighties is shown to a table by the window. It has the best light for reading. From snippets of overheard conversation we learn that he's been coming to the hotel with his wife every year since forever. He's unstylishly attired in brown trousers, blue patterned shirt, red tie and an ill fitting beige corduroy jacket. Female oversight and colour sense is clearly missing. The man is belatedly joined by his happily rotund black labrador who has been lingering by the kitchen in the hope of more chicken. In between courses the waiters unhurriedly chat to the labrador and his owner as if they're old friends - which they may indeed be. Ear scratches are dispensed. The labrador dozes until the sweet trolley arrives at which point he comes - enthusiastically - awake. The presence of a sweet trolley says all you need to know about the target audience of the hotel as does a table covered in a linen cloth which masks ( what the menu describes as ) a combination of five 'exquisite'  British and French cheeses.

Four fighter jets come skimming above the lake. They're low enough for their outline to be reflected in the water. Within seconds they're gone following the bend in the lake to the right. For some reason we're recently noticing more signs of the military. On our way across the moors we pass a team of soldiers pulling a Victorian field gun up a steep slope. A few locals are out cheering them on. Turns out there is method to their madness :https://www.militaryvscancer.com/field-gun-pull-september-2025/

The journey out of the Lake District takes us across Britains steepest road. We're glad to get onto the motorway and head North.

Over the border and a detour to Lockerbie to see the garden that commemorates the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

The garden is set in a non-descript municipal cemetery that could be anywhere in Scotland. A row of memorial trees do their best to break up the symmetry .

Off to one side there's a stone walled enclosure with a dozen or so brass plaques set into the grass verges - more hang on the walls. There's something unscripted about the layout as if the suddenness of what happened rules out anything too planned or formal. Towards the back a simple granite memorial lists the names of the dead. In front of it a memorial marker with the epitaph ' Life is life - Enjoy it '. That seems to sum up the human condition pretty well. Rows of coins have been left sprinkled across the top of the tombstones. The cemetery caretaker says this is an old tradition - the ferrymans fare for the crossing. This is old, old religion of the type we've seen at the Druid site near us.

A couple in truly horrendous matching orange fleece jackets are sitting arms around each other on a bench. We think they're amorous locals but as we get closer we see both are silently crying - tears streaming down their cheeks. We creep past. Just being there seems to be an invasion of their privacy. I'm guessing they have a story to tell.

We're home in time for sunset. It's been a fun trip. The relatively unexplored parts of Britain are a joy. Despite the medias belief that things are falling to pieces civility, courtesy and kindness are not just alive but thriving. We should do this more often. As we drive down the track home we see a huge firework display taking place back across the fields towards St Andrews. The golf tournament is about to get underway. Rain can be expected.

Another thing I didn't know:https://x.com/viprabuddhi/status/1972035696677605500

Behind the Constitution :https://www.coolidgereview.com/articles/francis-hutcheson-american-founders

A stylish bird feeder :https://uk.umbra.com/products/bird-cafe

Go for the coffee shop :https://x.com/TripInChina/status/1972252088211214647

The little things you see when you leave home.

A menu from our journey. Horseradish and apple ice cream turned out to be the surprise of the trip. It sounded awful but was light and delicious. We also agree that the scallops were the best we've ever tasted.

At the old Roman town of Vindolanda we meet a gardener who has seen three Water Rails down by the river. He stops what he's doing and takes the time to show us where the birds are hiding in the reeds. They are extremely shy creatures with a comical gait. The gardener says they only fly at night which seems improbable . At this time of the year the crowds have gone and we - and the Water Rails - have the place pretty much to ourselves.

By the museum a blonde woman and her teenage son stop to ask us if we can recommend somewhere to eat. She's rather stylishly dressed ( perhaps a tad too stylishly dressed for walking in Northumberland ) and in her mid forties. The son tall, rosy- cheeked by the wind and in his late teens. Unbidden the woman tells us that her husband passed away two weeks before the boy started his first semester at Northwestern. " He'd always been healthy ". Now they're coming to terms with the unexpected by walking Hadrians Wall. Something she and her husband had planned to do together. The decision to come here a spur of the moment thing that gives them time to gather their thoughts. They stop off at little country churches. She grieves and worries while the son works out all the practical things that need to be done. As they walk they discuss insurance, the mortgage, health care, unpaid bills, incomings and outgoings. The woman says the weather matches their moods - sunshine one minute, rain the next. 'Just like the dinners in the hotels ' adds the boy with what might just be a hint of a smile. Walking Hadrians Wall seems to be a good way of taking the weight - or at least some of it - off troubled shoulders.

Cartmel Priory was well worth visiting. It is huge , very old and welcomingly bright.

When we were there it was home to half a dozen well behaved dogs out with their owners. Some had opted for a doze in the warmth of the sunshine filtering through the windows by the book stall.

Neither of us can remember ever having seen this many dogs in a church. The old place is none the worse for having canine parishioners popping in and out.

Good question but this isn't the answer :https://amgreatness.com/2025/09/26/is-there-any-role-for-the-united-nations-in-trump-2-0/

Flawed (?) diamonds :https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/perplexing-diamonds-from-south-africa-mine-contain-almost-impossible-chemistry

The British Ambassador to Serbia :https://blogs.fcdo.gov.uk/edwardferguson/2024/12/03/renewing-old-ties-the-new-bishop-of-london/

Living in the present :https://amateurcriticism.substack.com/p/how-to-like-poetry

Driving on.

The little hotel on Hadrians Wall was a friendly and unpretentious place. In some restaurants people sit in silence or stare at their phones. Here the staff were friendly and the diners clearly out to enjoy themselves. There was a  backdrop of genteel laughter. That of course may say a lot about the way people go out for dinner in the North of England compared with Edinburgh or London where dining is altogether a more serious affair .

There was one other table set for breakfast . We had expected the place to be full but last nights diners must either be still asleep or have taken cabs home. It's improbable that any of them would have been in a fit state to drive.

The bar was one of those places that could only be English. 'The Font' says it makes an exceedingly good Campari Soda.

Onto Hexham where there is a music festival in the Abbey. Miraculously it's dry although the weather has been 'changeable' and has been torrentially wet overnight. Hexham at weekends is busy. It's a market town and farmers and their wives from miles around flock into the centre for their weekly 'messages'. Parking is impossible but as we circle round the market square for a second time a car pulls out of a parking spot right in front of us.

Inside the abbey we stop and study a large Roman sarcophagus that was excavated and repurposed for the sixth century church that stood here.

For £3.50 ( each ) a guide opens up the old crypt. She tells us where to look to find the recycled Roman inscriptions that line the walls. Angus bangs his head going down the steps and grumpily leaves the hunt for Roman funerary inscriptions to 'The Font'.

My mood is greatly improved by a slice of Pecan Caramel Shortbread at the motorway service area.

In the early afternoon, after a BLT in a riverside pub , the rain has finally gone and  we arrive in Cartmel. Improbable though it might seem this is where a well known three rosette chef trains his staff. As a result of the business this brings in the village has a well heeled picture postcard feel to it. It is now a key destination on the culinary tourism circuit and has an interesting selection of upmarket shops. There is an aura of Farrow and Ball colour chart gentrification to the place. The village is dominated by the 12th century Priory - which is huge. Here is a video of the local theatre companies forthcoming performance in the old Priory. It gives a good feel of the place  :https://youtu.be/NAbAvBihedc?t=2

One final night in Ambleside and then home in time for the start of the golf tournament. The Sat Nav in the little BMW has a penchant for taking us down hedge lined single track lanes without passing places. So far we've been lucky but if we met something coming the other way we'd need to reverse for a long way to find somewhere we could both pass.

This little car is electric and is exactly what is needed for a trip to the Lake District although storing luggage might be an issue  :https://www.austinmotorcompany.com/

The cost of children :https://illuminatingfertility.substack.com/p/how-much-would-mothers-earn-if-they

Blue cheese in France:https://x.com/TerribleMaps/status/1971909957269545338

Now they tell me : https://news.ufl.edu/2025/09/brain-aging/

Hadrians Wall

The weather en route is forecast to be dire but isn't. Even more surprising the traffic on the Edinburgh bypass is supposed to be heavy but proves to be free flowing. We're down across the border hills and through Jedburgh in no time at all. The little BMW has sharp steering and loves these fast moorland roads.

Stop #1 on our quick weekend away is the Walltown Crags section of Hadrians Wall. In summer its thronged with walkers but deep into shoulder season we have the place to ourselves and a herd of watchful sheep we clamber past on our way to the top of the hill.https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/walltown-crags-hadrians-wall/

There is a section of the Wall here that has been built right on the edge of the crag. From up on the small mile fort there's one of the best ( if not the best ) views to the barren North and the rich field systems and affluent valley farms to the South.

2,000 years ago the legions knew what they were doing. This was a sensible place to build a defensive wall. There's not much chance of raiding tribesmen clambering up the sheer rock faces and getting through to pillage civilization around here. Despite the passage of time and the constant battering of the elements there are few topographies anywhere in the world where cultures and history are as clearly delineated.

Our walk over we find a little visited site where the old Roman bridge across the river used to be.

The remains are a couple of hundred metres upriver from where a more modern bridge was built. Like the wall, it's quiet bar for grazing sheep who view us with detached interest. In fact the whole of the infrastructure around Hadrians Wall has the feeling of recovering from the stream of tourists who've been here in high season.

We've found a wonderful small hotel in a village with the no nonsense name of Wall. We ( and three other tables ) have a dinner which is the best we've had in years. The food thoughtfully prepared, skillfully cooked  and professionally served. We get the last bottle of the Herve Souhaut St.Joseph which they'd kindly set aside for us. This morning the hotel serves a very Swedish breakfast. 'The Font' is delighted to have Gravadlax  , freshly baked ( and still hot from the oven ) sourdough and cheese. Angus is happier with the croissants which are, to his delight, as good as anything he tasted in France. This truly is a surprise. There was a time not so long ago when Britain lagged in the culinary rankings. This is no longer the case. You just have to do a little homework before travelling.

Later today, when the rain lifts, we shall be heading down to a remote village called Cartmel. This has a Priory that the Reformation seems to have forgotten and is reputed to be one of Britains most magical ( and isolated ) places. Bizarrely, it also has several renowned restaurants.

Golf and gown.

We are off to Hadrian’s Wall so a super quick post this morning. At one end of town the golfers are enjoying the sunshine. Four guys from Princeton pass us on the 15th hole. Seems there is to be a big college championship here next month and they're getting the lay of the land :https://standrews.com/articles/st_andrews_collegiate_2025_team_announcement

Preparations for the major golf tournament are well underway. Last year we met a couple who had bought a $10 million apartment in the block overlooking the 18th hole. They'd come over only to discover their view was completely blocked by the bleachers that had been built outside their windows. They were not happy. Lesson #1 in life - always read the small print.

At the other end of town the students have settled into their daily routines.  On the hour every hour the streets become thronged with youngsters heading off to their next lecture. Some walk on the pavements. Others wander contentedly , oblivious to cars and trucks, along the road.

The antique rug.

In a small place like this no escaping the fact that there's only a week to go before the 'big' tournament opens. The golf end of town has been relatively quiet but is once again humming. The hotels full of affluent gentlemen golfers and their long suffering wives. We see a very famous golfer sinking a shot on the 17th. Tourists consider cutting across the golf course, look at the sign and then quickly reconsider. Full marks for whoever dreamt up these warning visuals.

Three years since we came back to Scotland and downsized. Even now the cellar continues to throw off 'surplus' things to be sold.

An old 18th century Ushak rug is rediscovered. It's brought out to the garage where it is cleaned and rolled up ready for the courier to take it to the auctioneers.

The carpet was left on a shelf in the garage for a week waiting to be collected. During this time the cold weather brought the field mice into the relative warmth of the garage. They soon found the rolled up carpet to be an ideal place to make a winter nest. Last night we get an e-mail from the courier who has found a squashed field mouse and a perfectly formed field mouse nest. Large segments of the fringe have been carefully nibbled away together with an area in the centre of the carpet itself.

The cost of repairing the carpet will be more than its value so the courier will drop it back off the next time he's in the area. Shame. It was an interesting old thing.

A rather sad, but lovely, poem lands in the inbox :https://michaeljudge.substack.com/p/nearer

5 stoic quotes :https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/p/5-stoic-quotes-to-help-you-through

What are they ?:https://www.historydefined.net/what-are-the-stone-spheres-of-costa-rica/

Onto the verge.

A few geese straggling down the coast but the peak of their migration seems to have past. It seems there have been fewer of them this year but that view isn't based on anything other than the flocks we've seen flying by.The UN speech the lead story on the news this morning . There's also a segment on the French President somehow getting stuck in the New York traffic but making light of it :https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CT4v2sAdHwg

Another day when the sky is busy with military planes. Over the bay we see two anti-submarine aircraft and a large four engined tanker sent to refuel them. An even bigger cargo plane flies a couple of hundred feet above the water in an unusual display of airmanship. It's not often you see a plane that low. For good measure a  Navy ship appears in the bay but it's a Fisheries Patrol Vessel which doesn't sound very bellicose. The cormorants are not best pleased to find all this activity going on. They stand on their rock outcrop and glare.

The golf tournament starts in a weeks time. Today the staff are putting up fences to stop spectators from wandering onto the course and getting close to the celebrity golfers . The sheep, so far, seem unperturbed by all the coming and going.

An extra wide load comes hurtling towards us on the road from the beach. The 'Warning Wide Load' vehicle follows on behind rather than ( as you might expect ) in front. We are forced to drive onto the grass verge.

First year medical students starting to drift into class.  This is the first time I've noticed that the lights are on in the lecture halls as we pass by in the morning. The signs of autumn are slow to appear and then they're everywhere.

Disappearing culture :https://www.honest-broker.com/p/is-mid-20th-century-american-culture

Nobel prizes :https://www.the-scientist.com/who-will-win-the-nobel-prize-scientists-make-their-predictions-73490

Novelty socks

The morning radio show informs listeners that the air is remarkably clear. Seems you can see for 70 miles. How you would measure this - or what you would do with this titbit of knowledge - is left unexplained.

Lots of fighter jets flying high and in pairs heading North. I'd usually put this down to training exercises but these days you're never entirely sure. This mornings events in Denmark and Norway are getting just a tad too close to home.

Who'd have thought Tylenol would become so controversial ?

One late flowering Poppy adds a touch of summer to the wind scoured barley field. A solitary out of season Poppy seems a hundred times brighter than its summer cousins.

Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods have taken over the old cinema and are turning it into a golf themed sports bar. This morning a group of workmen are fixing new signs to the front of the building. Can this signify it's going to be open in time for next weeks golf tournament ? The  workmen seem to be bustling around in a most un-Scottish way. Perhaps the promise of a bonus is driving them on ? Will the Tiger/Timberlake duo make an appearance ?

A photo of a sheep arrives, suitably framed, from the photographer in Edinburgh. A blade of grass sticks out of the ewes lower jaw.

The Natural Juice Store that closed ( leaving a pile of unpaid bills on the doormat ) has reopened as a ' Fun for your feet ' novelty socks outlet. The new proprietors clearly think this must have potential.  Angus looks at the socks in the window and decides he is unlikely to become a novelty sock buyer. 

Things I didn't know about forks :https://theconversation.com/the-thousand-year-story-of-how-the-fork-crossed-europe-and-onto-your-plate-today-260704

Hot under the collar :https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-on-food/202509/why-are-men-always-so-warm

Students have better mental health when there are more females in their class :https://www.nber.org/papers/w34269

Autumn.

Cold and bright. This morning we see two groups of deer down on the shoreline. The fawns seem to be doing well although their numbers are down which suggests that one of them at least has fallen victim to a speeding car on the fast road into town. The geese that have been heading south over the last few weeks now seem to have completely gone. The skies are quiet bar the local starlings and crows who continue to glean the wheat fields. 

On the road by the post graduate housing we pass the chef from the Chinese restaurant out with his dog. We say 'Good Morning'. After three years of greeting him he now nods silently at us.

The second week of lectures. The up at dawn enthusiasm of the first week has been replaced by a more relaxed attitude to life. This morning there are parking spaces galore to choose from. Junior lecturers now show up at ten to nine rather than seven.

A group of youngsters are out for a start of day dip in the sea water pool below the castle. One lad ( there is always one in every group ) does belly flops from the pool wall into the deep end.

Christmas magazines ' Celebrating the season of sparkle and joy ' appear in the newsagents.

Dvorak on the radio this morning :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uymTSOYYYC0

Simple illusions:https://sketchplanations.substack.com/p/a-simple-illusion

An English chef in Tokyo :https://www.sezanne.tokyo/

Men and womens differing views on movies :https://x.com/fasc1nate/status/1968918030945001600

Chimps on two drinks a day :https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2025/09/18/University-California-Berkely-chimpanzees-alcohol/5811758217889/

Edinburgh beat St Andrews at rugby :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADIUc4q_PBU&t=6754s