The first geese heading south.

August almost upon us. Here, after the summer period of endless nights, it's now getting dark by ten and there's a decided nip in the evening air after eight. Yesterday the farmer harvested the wheat in the large field by the main road. He's now working his way down towards us. This morning he saw the first flock of half a dozen or so geese heading south. Soon the fields around here will be home to hundreds of them gleaning what's left of the grain before starting their long journey home. The sight of geese, perhaps more than anything else, is a signal that we should order heating oil and make sure the rose in the wine cellar is drunk quickly. After the geese have gone the students arrive.

A snorting noise tells us we have company. 

Puppy is starting her day full of energy. After a good nights sleep she's supercharged. She doesn't so much run as fly down the track. Butterflies scatter on either side as she approaches.

Puppy follows us down to the shore then follows us back along the track to the courtyard. She drops a yellow ball at my feet every twenty yards or so.

When we head off in the car she's still sitting in the barley field and watches us drive away with disbelief. What could be more important than spending a morning throwing a ball ? The farmers wife has given up all hope of keeping her safely confined to the farmhouse garden. The latest attempt involved a sixty foot long nylon rope . Despite being 'indestructible' the rope was soon chewed through.

So starts a sunny Thursday morning on the east coast of Scotland. Town is still super-busy with severe looking men taking a few days R&R on their way back to Dulles.

Have your own Afghan rug made :https://afghanu.com/custom-handmade-rugs/

Swedens walking church is about to walk :https://kirunalapland.se/en/event/kiruna-church-move/

Indonesia progresses :https://www.global-developments.org/p/indonesia-climbs-the-chain

I shall ignore this article:https://www.sciencealert.com/study-reveals-turning-point-when-your-bodys-aging-accelerates

The classics for an AI generation :https://www.alexandria.wiki/home

Layering helps

A gentle sunset last night. It's still (just) warm enough to sit outside until near ten although layering helps. Before we turn in a group of large grey transport aircraft slowly move in formation towards the west. 'Someone' is heading home.

We'd not seen many butterflies this year but the warm weather finally brings them out. Each species seems to have its own micro-territory. The cabbage whites cluster around the top of the track, the red admirals prefer the middle and the peacocks swarm on the thistles where the track makes a sheltered dog leg down to the sea. 

There must be fifty or sixty peacocks which must be some sort of record. They are remarkably difficult to photograph part in due to their 'skittishness' and part due to the breeze which wildly rocks whatever plant they've settled on.

We park in town and observe a teacher with a particularly annoying group of Italian teenagers . She loses it when they wander, oblivious to oncoming cars, onto the street. " This is a pavement, that is the road " she screams in a way that tells us an alternative vocation to teaching may lie in her immediate future. The Italian teenagers ignore her and saunter, slowly, across the road. Italian teenagers take the teenage hormonal thing to whole new levels.

The American hedge fund managers new extension has got to the stage where the old buildings have been cleared away and the equipment for digging out the foundations has been delivered to the site. The view onto the old cathedral ruins from the new house will be 'awesome' although we're told he's unhappy that he didn't get permissions for a basement swimming pool.

Africa's population :https://asteriskmag.com/issues/11/yes-in-my-bamako-yard

Thoughts on India :https://andrewbatson.com/2025/07/27/india-and-the-invidious-comparison-with-china/

Flooding in Oregon :https://thedebrief.org/13000-years-ago-a-catastrophic-flood-scoured-oregons-ancient-landscape-new-satellite-images-reveal-the-lasting-impact/

Medicine :https://www.civitasinstitute.org/research/how-america-became-the-worlds-medicine-chest--and-why-that-status-is-at-risk

A map showing the largest sectorial employer by state. I'm sure the same is true in Europe :https://committeetounleashprosperity.com/hotlines/we-have-to-do-something-about-runaway-health-costs/

Retained warmth.

The village is  home to a number of 30 something academics who make the daily  five minute commute into town. Holiday house swapping is a big thing with this demographic. A chance for local Scots to experience life in other, hopefully warmer, parts of the world. The other side of the equation come here looking for relief from their summer heat. Everyone is happy. 30 somethings with families rarely have anything breakable that's not already been broken so having someone else in the house isn't a risk.  This morning we're passed by a Canadian father and three excited youngsters heading to the beach. Mother, we're told, was up late last night unpacking and is having a 'lie in'. The youngsters are at that age where life is all about adventure and sleep is impossible.

Despite the early hour folks are also out and about on the sand below the old castle. It's been cloudy overnight and the air has retained much of yesterdays warmth. Unbelievably, the summer schools are already in their wind down stage. Soon the bemused teenagers will be heading home :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3onYec3tDe8 . 

At the garden centre a pretty comprehensive list of rules designed to stop the local teenagers from sniffing glue.

A defiant gull makes it clear that  the 'bird proof' trash cans are his territory. He glares at us to make sure we don't run off with any of last nights discarded fish and chip wrappers.

An idiot owner has allowed their dog off the lead by the sheep field. It's leapt over the boundary fence and badly bitten one of the nursing mothers. The ranger tells us that after being taken to the vet the ewe is nervous but otherwise fine. Two other dog owners saw what was happening and intervened. The culprit ( some form of terrier ) and its owner ran off.

The 13 mothers and 14 lambs have sensibly positioned themselves in the middle of the field.

Radio Scotland is in the groove this morning :https://youtu.be/RsELrcVNzG0?t=102

Must be a summer intern doing the breakfast radio music schedule. This is also played :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlbwLzUZEhk

African borders :https://www.noemamag.com/the-surprising-durability-of-africas-colonial-borders/

The earliest bird song :https://gizmodo.com/this-dinosaur-probably-chirped-like-a-bird-2000631482

The action gets closer.

Press commentary on the visit by a New York real estate mogul to our small and windswept corner of the world has, by and large, been adult and moderate. The use of an old American saying in the Sunday Times made me smile.

The surprise of the visit has been the arrival of so many hangers-on. There again if you're going to conduct trade deals on vacation you need a lot of back-up staff. Today the whole  entourage moves over to the eastern side of the country which means that even more helicopters and large grey C-17's will be flying low overhead and annoying the cormorants. https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/729167/trump-embarks-on-the-first-ever-family-business-trip-by-a-president/

The weather, as you can see, is very Scottish. The rosebay willowherb thriving in these conditions.

Highland coo's remain a favourite tourist souvenir. The one on the right has a light sensitive switch that makes its arm swing up and down in never ending greeting. This, I think, would soon prove to be exceedingly annoying.

The gentlemans outfitters has a window full of light weight summer jackets. Two of the jackets are modeled with Paisley shirts while the third has a Paisley tie set against a black shirt. The lilac jacket features a flamboyant peach coloured pocket handkerchief. Who buys clothes like this ? Will visiting secret service agents wanting to blend in with the 'Scotch folk' be tempted ? Perhaps this is the go to destination for visitors who've lost their luggage ?

For a little town there is a mid-summer menu of world class music on offer.

Tonight we shall go to an organ recital in the Episcopal church. This is a large empty barn of a building built by the Victorians for visiting English. Episcopalianism has always been something of a foreign religion in these Presbyterian parts but somehow the old building and its ageing congregation soldier on. The acoustics are rather fine in that sound echoing way you only find in large churches with lots of brass, acres of ceramic tiles and rows of highly polished oak pews.

The trolley problem - a moral dilemma explained :https://sketchplanations.substack.com/p/the-trolley-problem  You can compare your decision(s) here :https://neal.fun/absurd-trolley-problems/

Tickets for this Royal Shakespeare Company performance are already proving difficult to get. The play of the year ? ( Helpful hint opt for a date after the schools go back in September ) :https://www.rsc.org.uk/born-with-teeth

Keeping the sun off Fido :https://rajtentclubshop.com/products/dog-tent

The Norwegians are further advanced than the Scots is promoting cold weather tourism :https://www.thebolder.no/

A bit long and slow to start but worth dipping into :https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/the-world-of-peter-brown

Hints

The birds already starting to feast on the rosehips. A dozen chaffinches busy pecking away at them this morning.

In town they've started collecting for the Poppy appeal.

Yesterdays newspapers still on display in the small supermarket. The Sunday editions haven't been put out yet by the staff. The lead story is the arrival in the country of a golf club owner visiting his Scottish properties. Apparently 6,000 police are on duty although the 'showery' weather has kept the protesters away.

We're surprised to discover that in the four days since we were last out for a walk on the dunes the sheep have been busy. A dozen tiny new born  heads peeping up from the long grass. The mothers seem exhausted.

Out here on the coast we catch sight of the first of the berry pickers. A woman in a white linen suit and matching broad brimmed hat ( clearly a holiday maker ) is zigzagging from side to side down the farm track snacking as she goes. She holds her mobile phone in one hand and picks berries with the other. They're far from ripe so she may soon regret her foraging adventure. 'The Font' wonders aloud if a white linen suit is the most practical thing to wear when berry picking.

The rain has stopped the wheat from being harvested. I'd expect that to change and for the farmer to catch up during the coming week. 

Talk in the village has now turned to the harvest festival celebrations. There are more than a few hints that the northern summer is drifting gently towards autumn.

If I was eight years old I'd reckon this was the epitome of cool :https://www.tesla.com/tesla-diner  The menu is certainly aimed at an eight year olds palate :https://www.tesla.com/diner-webapp/menu/#8869b4bb-c066-4787-b237-72728628a4ad

Amish kids and allergies :https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/amish-dont-develop-allergies-but-why/

French food goes Japanese:https://www.muraecovillage.com/

Steps in Colorado :https://coloradosprings.gov/manitouincline

Packed to the gunnels.

 

Puppy and her elder sister are out with the farmers wife. It's just cold and windy enough for us to be wearing jumpers this morning. The first hint of autumn? Elder sister has discovered that standing on the old stone field wall provides an excellent vantage point to look for hares to chase. Puppy headed off some time ago in pursuit of crows. Life for a Scottish farm dog is a constant whirl of activity and adventure. 

We're down at the fishmonger as the days catch is still being set out.

Today we opt for lemon sole, crab and two overly large lobsters with thick shells. A thick shell, we are told by the fishmonger, is the sign of a succulent crustacean. 

'A Bonnie Wee Cake' says the sign painted onto the side of a very old Vauxhall  that's parked by the chapel. A quick search on the internet suggests that someone has a busy weekend of wedding receptions ahead : https://www.abonnieweecake.co.uk/

The town remains hectic. The bar in the 5 star hotel on the golf course is packed to the gunnels with stern looking men. It has a very 'Washington' feel to it. Black SUV's and those large Volvo's favoured by upmarket car rental companies are much in evidence. You know they're rental cars because they have that small sign on the petrol filler cap to remind you not to fill it up with diesel. We catch sight of our first MAGA hat of the season. There can be no doubting that the country is hosting an important visitor with an impressively large entourage. Hotel prices have doubled and large helicopters thud away overhead from seven 'til late. In Starbucks a gentleman wearing a Congressional Country Club baseball hat informs his colleagues ' The Scotch folk sure as hell like their coffee weak '. He then informs them what he thinks the coffee tastes like.

Glass gowns :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-do-you-wear-a-gown-made-of-glass-marvel-at-the-eye-catching-history-of-this-unlikely-fashion-trend-180986998/

Some people learn from experience. Others don't :https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/07/study-sheds-light-on-why-some-people-keep-self-sabotaging/

Bird flu has been mild :https://www.statnews.com/2025/07/23/h5n1-bird-flu-immunity-boosted-by-previous-influenza-a-infection/

The ventral ganglion :https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2025/july/ancient-squid-mystery-solved.html

The imperial court.

The number of visitors in town has suddenly risen. Overnight you'd think we'd become the 51st state. Even at six am golfers can be found happily heading towards their early morning tee offs. I'd thought the President might cancel his five day trip to Scotland but it seems he's already on his way. All Police leave here and in Ulster has been cancelled and every chauffeur driven car in the country has been booked  to transport the entourage around : https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scotsman/20250724/281582361673187 . Rental cars, not surprisingly,  are only available at a huge premium. 

Students are doing something artistic in Quad. It is only six weeks before the new semester starts and plans are already being made for freshers parties and introductory lectures. Perhaps more than anything else this early sighting of students screams out that the year is rushing along.

High tide this morning. The houses on the cliff face almost never come on the market. When they do they command Pebble Beach prices. The house at the far end with the balconies that look over the sea is owned by the Chairman of a large US pharmaceutical company. Next door a man who is something to do with Palantir has had his application for a new house turned down because it was 'out of keeping with the vernacular architectural style '.

The Catholic Chaplaincy has a new, young and ( we're told )  politically active priest. In the last six weeks an old 1950's era Formica kitchen has been removed from the Presbytery , walls knocked down and a new open plan 'drop in' communal dining area installed. This morning old furniture is being taken away. Builders are about to move into the main building to bring it out of the 1890's and into the 21st century. Double glazing has been installed and the doors and window frames freshly painted. New plumbing is promised along with 'remedial' works to the roof. The new incumbent seems to have exceedingly good connections in Rome or wherever these capital investment decisions are made.

The butcher is just setting out some lamb which makes this evenings choice of dinner nice and easy.

We have made a booking here for some Swedish cooking :https://www.restauranthjem.co.uk/  It's also right on a stretch of Hadrians wall that's great for walking.

Grounded thinking :https://www.thenewatlantis.com/collections/how-the-system-works

'The Font' tells me this is fascinating :https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/six-little-red-dots-nearly-broke-universe-black-holes

The things people do :https://theconversation.com/orlando-bloom-tried-to-clean-his-blood-to-get-rid-of-microplastics-heres-what-the-science-says-261203

This takes some nerve :https://www.rediff.com/news/report/fake-embassy-scam-up-man-posed-as-west-arctica-envoy/20250723.htm

Busy bees

You know you're in the Highlands when the big story in the local newspaper is the winner of the local agricultural show. This year 'Girl Power' dominated the field with the very lovely Cadran 4th taking 1st prize.

The 'big birthday' celebratory dinner was exceptionally good. The wine list everything we'd hoped for and the service warm and attentive. The menu featured local wineberries which aren't something you see every day. The chef trained at a restaurant in France ( Les pres d'Eugenie )  that was frequented by not one, but two, generations of Polish Lowland Sheepdogs. 

The hotel considers itself to be very grand. We are less convinced. It used to be stellar but now 'good' might be a better description. The corridors are long and have a hint of 'The Haunting' about them. The staff , with one or two exceptions, seem to think smiling might devalue the experience. This is what happens when private equity companies take over old and distinguished family concerns. Prices soar, maintenance is gently deferred and corners are quietly and imperceptibly cut. There's an equally grand hotel in La Jolla that's gone the same way. 'I remember when' opinions  like this may be par for the course when you reach a certain age.

After an enjoyable breakfast we're on our way early. We spot three eagles on the walk down to the car park. 

An hour and a bit in the car and we're back here on the coast . On a good day you could do it in 45 minutes but high summer is the time when the utility companies think it a good idea to dig up the roads to lay new pipes. The contraflow system on the M90 is particularly dire - it adds twenty minutes to the journey.

The bees are out en masse. I thought that this was an ok, at best, year for bees but this morning there are thousands of them busily at work. One has a bright white band on his back. On the evidence of this morning I'd upgrade 2025 to being a bumper year for bees. The sound of thousands of bees happily enjoying themselves is one of lifes most basic pleasures.

China loves hotels with the word Vienna in the name :https://towardsdatascience.com/i-analysed-25000-hotel-names-and-found-something-unexpected/

Dogs :https://www.sciencenorway.no/can-animals-also-get-sunburned/2533345

Spiders:https://news.arizona.edu/news/tiny-fossil-suggests-spiders-and-their-relatives-originated-sea

Delayed celebrations.

Last night we meet the farmer who says the Swifts that live under the eaves of the potato barns have started to head back to Africa. The swallows and House Martins will stay for another five or six weeks before following them on the long journey down to Mauritania. The farmer also tells us the council has given approval for the caravan park to expand onto the field the curlews use to feed on in winter. The curlews are an endangered species and deserve better.  Static caravans 1: graceful and unassuming birds 0.

The Begonias outside the church are enjoying the current ' wet one minute, warm the next ' summer weather.

Down by the 16th tee a local dog owner is walking his dogs. Perhaps another, more realistic, take is that his dogs are walking him.

They look ferocious but are as gentle as lambs. They pass us going one way and reappear ten minutes later going in the other.

We pick this up in the local bookstore.

Angus had a 'big' birthday on Monday. We are now heading off to celebrate in a hotel restaurant which 'The Font' booked a year ago. Tonight was the closest opening they had available. Angus has called ahead and spoken to the sommelier to see if there any hidden ' gems ' that don't appear on the wine list. It seems that there are some 'bin end' Pomerols the thought of which puts an anticipatory spring in my step and a whistle on my lips.

Why you should avoid fizzy drinks on a long flight  :https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/what-ultra-long-haul-flights-do-to-your-body/

Sight suffers in space :https://www.universetoday.com/articles/what-if-a-trip-to-space-changed-your-eyesight-forever

26% of Americans are Costco members :https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/22/just-how-many-americans-are-costco-wholesale-corpo.aspx

A ( partial ) solution to nuclear waste :https://interestingengineering.com/energy/waste-eating-nuclear-reactor-stellaria

Burly visitors.

 

The American President is due in Scotland at the end of the week. The town suddenly full of 'burly' young American men with short haircuts and serious unsmiling faces. We assume they are a Presidential 'advance' party and are here to acclimatize by playing a few rounds of golf.

The sheep grazing down by the golf course are blithely unaware of impending visits and world events. They are simply happy with the wild flowers in their field. One pauses, briefly, to watch us as we wander by.

Angus pops into the local Kurdish barber for his monthly haircut. The barber asks 'What you want ?' I explain and he pretends to listen. Some routines never change. The end result is always exactly the same. I note that inflation has hit the hair cutting industry. What used to be £15 has suddenly risen to £20. In addition to the Kurdish hair dresser the town also has a variety of barbers that serve the student demographic.  Angus avoids them because they are a) much more expensive b) have Stygian lighting and c) employ trendy staff with alarming nose piercings who gyrate to Charli xcx's latest sounds while they work. 

Mist and drizzle this morning. This is typical weather here in July and August. May and September tend to be sunnier and drier.

Handel in the Strand :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIhBWwPmnm0

Whatever next ? :https://www.popsci.com/technology/robots-in-china-subway-7-eleven-deliveries/

Waking up :https://gizmodo.com/brain-scans-reveal-why-waking-up-is-sometimes-such-a-difficult-experience-2000631441

Plus ca change :https://providencemag.com/2025/07/dominance-to-dilemma-the-rewards-and-risks-of-strategic-prioritization-for-twentieth-century-britain-and-twenty-first-century-america-1/

Humid.

Overnight it's rained heavily . This means that when the northern sun appears from behind the clouds it manages to be both hot and cloyingly humid. Northern sun - perhaps because it's so unexpected - has a ferocity all of its own. 

A dozen or hares are spotted as we walk down to the beach this morning. The larks seem to have moved on. There's no sign of the farmer. The heavy rain seems to have interrupted his schedule for harvesting the wheat. Puppy is being kept tied up on a long elastic rope in the farm garden. She has taken to following the combine harvester and her complete absence of fear brings her alarmingly close to the blades at the front. Until the wheat and barley are safely in she's grounded. This, as you can imagine, is not something she's happy about particularly as her more sensible elder sister is allowed to roam free.

The Japanese youngster who's here writing his PhD on corn buntings is nowhere to be seen. We can only assume he's headed back to Osaka for the summer. I guess everyone deserves needs a break from counting corn buntings. If he's reading this we can confirm that they're thriving.

The shopping street is humming.  With every AirBnB in town taken for the English holidays the Tesco and Sainsburys supermarkets are busy as soon as their doors open at seven. 

One of the village eighty five year olds , a retired professor of philology, has bought a new vehicle. We're rather surprised to see him draw up in a parking space beside us. He's traded in his sensible dark blue Vauxhall saloon for a rather jazzy Volkswagen electric van. It is, he informs us, easy to get in and out of. " The seats are just the right height and the views great " . He adds that he and his wife can make it over to Falkirk to see her sister  on a single charge . "Can you believe it's as smooth as a magic carpet with no noise at all and of course it has electric wing mirrors". We stand on the street and express what we hope is suitably enthusiastic approval of the new purchase. He seems as happy as Larry.

A very English piece of music on the BBC this morning :https://youtu.be/ckt1mAiq5Uo?t=13

Reflections on Spain:https://www.betonit.ai/p/reflections-from-spain

Measuring time :https://contemplationstation.substack.com/p/how-to-expand-time-the-neuroscience

Iceberg cartoons:https://steinbergdrawscartoons.substack.com/p/icebergs

Surely this is a crime ? :https://hypebeast.com/2025/7/liquid-death-x-fruity-pebbles-cereal-criminal-sparkling-water-release-info