Swimming hares.

Every day this week has been more cloud free and glorious than the one before. More sunshine is forecast. This morning we watch two hares race  across the sand. They rush into the shallow water and then - perhaps surprised by its alien  wetness  - turn abruptly and head back to the safety of the long grass that lines the shore. It's not only humans who are enjoying the sunshine.

Last night one of the Manhattanites , talking about Liberation Day, voices the view that ' Populism is popular until you live with it for a while'. 

The old cloisters and pends provide intriguing glimpses of sun lit secrets beyond.

Youngsters starved of sunshine are out and about. Even at this time in the morning a sheltered spot can offer warmth. Some of them have bought fudge doughnuts at the bakers and are enjoying an al fresco breakfast. Some read books, others chat.

The renovation of the Aquarium is progressing but I doubt it will be finished by Easter. Men in orange jumpsuits are busy with a concrete mixer.  Work on the old cinema has also burst into life after six months of inactivity. Perhaps the Tiger Woods sports bar will be ready to open this summer ? I also doubt that this will be ready on time.

Golfers are now piling onto the sacred turf. Angus is called over to take a group photo of amiable 50 somethings not once ...but twice. This group of cheerful gentlemen will be moving on to the Trump Golf Resort at Turnberry this afternoon. " It belongs to our President " one informs me with self evident pride. 'Indeed' I reply with a smile.

So starts a Thursday morning in a small Scottish town that is enjoying the Mediterranean sunshine and shedding ( while the good weather lasts ) a little of  its straight laced Presbyterianism.

Music from 1977:https://youtu.be/yZjEC4WhCvg

Discovering Australian art :https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/menin/notes

An exhibition by thus artist starts here in St Andrews tonight :https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/entertainment/5133633/standrews-buildings-watercolour-peter-jones-artist/

Rome without the crowds:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/explore-romes-hidden-underworld-city-beneath-city-180986228/

This sums it all up :https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-goes-crazy-on-trade  Perhaps this may have something to do with it ? :https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/does-financial-literacy-decline-with-age/

Edenic.

Tuesday was warm and sunny and the first day this year we've been able to sit outside for lunch. Our table is near the bird feeders and a mass of starlings, buntings and collar doves flit and hop around us as we eat. They clearly think we're part of the furniture. There is something innocently Edenic about lunching with birds. Later we consider going into town for an evening drink but come five o'clock the temperature tumbles and the thought of sitting outside becomes altogether less appealing.

'Puppy' has matured into a personable young lady but still retains the youthful enthusiasm and joie de vivre that warrant her name. This morning she opts to join us for breakfast. I open the front door and next thing you know there's a dog in the kitchen. From the enthusiasm with which our yoghurt pots are licked I'd guess these aren't on offer at home. After finishing we're stared at with an unblinking intensity that signals she'd like more.

The farmer and his son are back planting seed potatoes in the field outside the kitchen window. In the tractor cab the Jack Russell 'granny' is listening to Nick Robinson on the Today programme while sitting snugly and happily on the farmers lap. 

A Spanish tour group is gathering by the Martyrs Memorial. Five hundred years ago political passions here burnt Taliban bright. In fact there was enough passion and extremism to last a thousand years . This may explain the quiet Presbyterian orderliness of the town today. There is something to be said for staid politics .

A steady stream of foursomes heading outbound on the Old Course. A group of gentlemen from Ohio have opted to play without the help of  the local Caddies. Little do they know how treacherous the winds on the back holes can be even on a calm day like this. While waiting for the group ahead to move onto the next hole they limber up and go through calisthenic routines. They hold their drivers over their heads as if they're power lifting. I've never seen this before. It provides entertainment for a group of Italian tourists who, in between eating the bacon rolls they've bought from the coffee shop, applaud them. The Ohian gentlemen are far too serious to notice their Latin audience.

A Kimchi making course being advertised in the Asian super market. A sign of peak globalization ?

This played on the radio this morning . Simple but beautiful:https://youtu.be/7VRw9N9OlPo

The Tully Monster :https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/this-tully-monster-mystery-keeps-getting-weirder

Not my favourite part of London but it's getting better :https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/a-walk-down-victoria-street

Focal dystonia. Had you ever heard of it ? :https://www.gramophone.co.uk/blogs/article/i-had-to-tell-my-wife-i-would-no-longer-be-able-to-earn-a-living-as-a-concert-pianist

Disrespect update:https://x.com/tashecon/status/1907364573612589425

A new month.

A new month and we're now heading off into the second quarter.  Have you ever known time fly by so quickly? I look for April Fools Day stories in the paper but these days it's impossible to determine what is, or isn't, an outlandish hoax. 

It's sunny and there's the promise of another warm day. It got to 17 degrees here yesterday. More of the same is forecast for the rest of the week. Puppy is off by the shore chasing foxes. Her elder sister, who has reached that age where fox chasing has lost some of its allure, races over to see us.

There are two tractors hard at work in the field outside 'The last wee house before Denmark'. The farmers  teenage son is driving one and his father the other. The son ploughs long deep furrows in the soil and his father follows along behind towing a device that plants the seed potatoes. The eldest Jack Russell- a grumpy lady of advancing years -  is sitting on the farmers lap in the tractor cab. They're listening to the BBC breakfast show.  Both dog and farmer seem happy with this arrangement. She's warm and  gets to be the centre of attention while he gets to spend time with an old friend. He waves and we wave back.

The cafe by the chapel is open early. Someone on the staff is clearly finding it difficult to adjust to the clocks changing. Two well wrapped up Spanish tourists are sitting outside sharing a pot of tea. The blue uniformed university cleaning ladies chat to them as they wait for the bus to take them back to Dundee.

An ancient Land Rover ( it's one of those with the split windscreen so must be 70 years old ) is parked outside the post-grad reading room. It has driven up onto the pavement so the caravan doesn't block the road.

There is clearly a story here that involves Alzheimers and bowel cancer. I'd like to give the owner some money and find out what it is but there's no sign of life in the tiny caravan. The Union flags draped around the front are a cheerful touch.

The tomato business :https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/03/whats-the-best-way-to-make-the-tomato-industry-more-carbon-efficient-hint-its-not-local/

This used to be  rather run down hotel but has been beautifully restored as a rental house. It is extremely remote. Once, thirty or so years ago, we thought of buying it but deemed the location too impractical :https://rodelhouse.co.uk/pdfs/Rodel%20House_Desktop.pdf

Australia faces the same challenges to government spending that everyone else does - but is probably better prepared to deal with them :https://e61.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/E6003_5Theme_Report_5.pdf

Chinese Primary school kids to be taught AI :https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-schools-ai-courses-4990306

The April line up in the bookstore looks interesting :https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/st-andrews/