First light and we have a visitor. The wet and muddy paws are a clue that someone has already been down on the beach chasing the Shags. Life for village dogs is good. In fact it's more than good - it's wonderful and made even more wonderful by some slivers of buttered toast. Our visitor disappears when she hears her owners dog whistle.
The local plant shop has a huge collection of snowdrops. It's their specialty and keeps them busy in February and early March. I'm always surprised at the price people will pay for a pot of snowdrops. The walk through the woodland to the church already carpeted in them.
The new portable sauna now up and running. It is , as the beach warden forecast, proving to be extremely popular with students. Perhaps that's why it's called a 'Wild Scottish Sauna'.
The tide far, far out today. The rugby team have discovered that if they run in groups of three, rather than as a cohort, they can avoid the enthusiastic attention of the local dogs out on their morning walk. Last night France beat Wales 43-0 in the first match of the six nations rugby championship. This is a surprise to the local rugby playing crowd https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oope9PBMbt4 It does not auger well for Scotlands chances.
I pop into the book shop to pick up a book that's been on order for the last three weeks. A local lady is up a ladder looking for something interesting on 17th century Spain. She greets me with a cheerful ' It's a lovely day ' as I head to the cash desk. I've never seen a customer up the bookstores ladders before.
Angus retreats to Starbucks with his new book. A few weeks ago we were the only people in Starbucks. Now its packed solid with talkative students and townsfolk coming out of hibernation.
So starts a quiet Saturday morning at the start of a new month. What happened to January ? To say it raced by would be an understatement.
