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.
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7 comments:
Hari OM
I should think the professor is delighted... with that particular vehicle he would get two full round trips to Falkirk and still have enough left for local shopping. (The Buzz touts just shy of 300ml range.) YAM xx
Going from Scotland to Osaka in late July is a counterintuitive move from a climate perspective. Coming from the East Coast, where June, July, August are the best months of the year, my brain never really caught up with the reality that they are the worst in Japan, going from the rainy season directly into the typhoon season. This resulted in annual disappointment. Now I am trying to make the reverse shift here in southern France, where July has been just glorious this year, apart from a few days during the heat wave at the beginning of the month. The WSJ had an article last week about how the VW electric bus has flopped in the US, in part because of Trump, in part because of a recall and in part because it costs $60,000.
Looks like a sensible van, they are a bit expensive here in the USA.
I love the Iceberg cartoons. Very expressive in a minimalist way. It seems the new van is sitting well with the world! Where do you find those interesting links so early in the morning!
JoAnn in Maryland
Was shocked to discover how much these things cost. I would think ( but don't know ) that our canny old neighbour bought a low mileage demonstrator at a 'bargain' price from the VW dealer in town. The colour scheme might be just a wee bit too vibrant for most Presbyterian tastes and might have warranted a suitable discount..
I didn't think the new VW vans were available yet in the US, and with 30% tariffs I don't think we'll see many - though I think they are really cute! I also understand that many or our Spanish-speaking immigrants as well as many wishing to leave central and South America are going to Spain. Sounds like a much better choice than here, in ICE- raid central.
Lovely scabiosa (pincushion flowers) along the path. It's reassuring to know that a close watch is being kept on Puppy. We'll welcome her return to her normal activities.
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