There will be dancing on the lawn.

A quick morning chat with the Manhattanites. Last week Iran was the big thing. This week its Senator Tillis and Zohran Mamdani. The Manhattanites are somewhat sympathetic to the former but consider the latter to be the devil incarnate. 

The young eider ducks are now learning to fly. Eider ducks are not aerodynamically svelte. In fact they have the shape of small flying anvils. We stand and watch a group of youngsters launch themselves off the rocks on the shore by the harbour. Some manage three flaps of their wings before barreling into the water. Others manage six or seven. Mother eider ducks are big believers in the old adage " if you don't succeed .... ". Chicks are pushed back onto the rocks to try again and again.

There's a couple sunbathing on the storm wall down by the small beach. It's barely seven and although the sun is up the temperature is struggling towards double digits. The Scottish summer is short enough for people to use any and every cloudless moment to soak up a few rays. The BBC breakfast broadcast informs us that it may get to 34 in the south. Such extremes are unlikely to trouble us here.

A solitary Sheltie stands and stares at the ocean. It is completely lost in its thoughts. Is it overawed by the majesty of the ocean or dreaming about breakfast ? Finally the dog hears the calls of its owner and bounds off.

Outside the Catholic church a car towing a ridiculously small caravan pulls up. A woman gets out of the passenger door and runs inside leaving a young man to wait. Two minutes later she reappears and the car and caravan head off. 'The Font' observes that two people sharing a caravan that size would be acrobatically intimately cosy. Perhaps the young woman's popped in to do  some form of super quick penance ?

People in strangely formal attire up and about and strolling through town. Excited parents who've already had breakfast in their hotels. They haven't thought about what they're going to do to pass the time until the start of todays first graduation ceremony. Physics and astronomy kick off the season.

The lawn in Quad is looking very smart. It has been trimmed to perfection. For the last two weeks tourists have been chased off it by a tall man in a black tee shirt and trousers. At night the gates that lead to it from the street have been padlocked shut. It is the pride and joy of the university gardeners and groundsmen. Today , and for the rest of the week, it will be home to dancing. Even lawns have their moment in the sun.

The cost of a summer barbecue :https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-cost-of-summer-cookout-in-2025.html

Helicopter cash :https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2025/06/27/witnesses-helicopter-dropped-thousands-of-dollars-onto-gratiot-avenue-detroit-michigan/84391286007/

This was interesting  challenging :https://www.codastory.com/rewriting-history/my-mother-tongues/

Cosmology :https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2025/05/adam-riess-hubble-tension/682980/?lctg=6050e2b7f98ec7553cab3a85

Ostensibly about peacock kings but there's a hint that the author is really writing  about current politicians :https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n03/tom-johnson/who-plucked-the-little-dog