The topic du jour.

The Old Course already busy by six thirty. The outside breakfast patio of the large 5 star hotel packed solid with American golfers gorging on cholesterol and caffeine. The patio has truly wonderful views of the fairways. The golfers clap when they see someone play a particularly good shot. Some stand up and shout encouragement although such behaviour is frowned on by the less demonstrative locals. The hotel sensibly provides outside breakfasters with thick blankets to hang over their shoulders to ward off the wind. All of the blankets are being used which says something about the bracing nature of the weather here in early June. From the snippets of conversation we catch I can report that Elon and the Big Beautiful Bill are the topic du jour.

Graduation now a month away. The university gardeners are busy planting out the flower beds.

The university seems to like cheerful regularity in their planting schemes. 

Once a year a group of librarians come into the wee house in town and cull the bookshelves of anything that might be of interest to the university library. They settle in the downstairs office and scan the titles against their on line ' nice to have list '. Books that make the cut are put in plastic boxes that are picked up by a group of men from the 'estates' team. Later this month they will come out and do the same sifting at the last wee house before Denmark. This keeps the house from filling up to the roof with books. 'The Font'  is delighted with this arrangement and notices that the Scots librarians all speak with a Highland lilt and still  pronounce the 'h' in which, where ,when and who. 

Home cooked meals:https://www.acsh.org/news/2025/06/02/new-study-challenges-homemade-meals-health-halo-49518

Pretend jobs in China :https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-05-31/going-to-an-office-and-pretending-to-work-a-business-thats-booming-in-china.html

Musings of a Nobel prize winning economist  :https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/we-are-no-longer-a-serious-country

Concrete :https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/the-beauty-of-concrete

Saharan sand heading to Florida :https://gizmodo.com/a-gigantic-cloud-of-saharan-dust-is-barreling-toward-florida-2000610200