The murdered goldfish.

The Irish lady who writes children books is out walking her labrador. She stops to tell us that the fancy interior design store in town has been broken into. Some minor damage has been done and a pane of glass on the front door smashed. The Police arrived and found the burglar drunkenly asleep on an eau de Nile silk arm chair in the storeroom. Our Irish neighbour also says that the intruder knocked over a  bowl that was the watery home of a nine year old goldfish called Harry. Sadly, the Police did not arrive in time to save Harry from an untimely death . How much of this is fact and how much  embellishment will need to wait until the weekly paper is published and the full story unveiled.

Weather warnings have been issued. A severe Atlantic summer storm is expected  tomorrow. Winds of 70 mph + are forecast. With the trees in full leaf the impact may be dire. The farmer and his team are working round the clock to get as much of the the harvest in before the storm arrives. This morning he was up at five getting the calves on the village green ready to be shipped across the country to a farm in Ayrshire. By seven they've all gone. Seeing the calves go is another sign that autumn is waiting in the wings.

The beach is already busy with teenagers from the summer schools. Teenagers are of course oblivious to the weather. For them the promised strong winds mean better surfing.

The benches on the bluff by the old archery butts are lined with holiday makers catching the sun and eating their Greggs bacon rolls. The holiday makers seem to know that by mid-morning the cloud will have thickened and  by lunchtime the rain will have set in. This may be their one and only chance to enjoy the sun until mid-week.

The golf course is as crowded as I've ever seen it at this time of the morning. It seems the US East coast is suffering some sort of heat wave which has boosted the number of American visitors.  Across the water in Norway and Sweden the mercury has risen into the 30's. It can safely be said that Norway and Sweden are not prepared for those sorts of temperatures. With the temperatures in St Andrews  resolutely sticking in the low 20's I'm beginning to think cool weather tourism may be a sustainable business model. Further proof of climate change may lie in the car park on the beach which must have at least a hundred French registered motor homes in it.

The sea at the end of the track covered in gannets - tens of thousands of them. They breed on a rock outcrop further down the coast. Are they about to migrate ? :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WCh8alE8H8

Must read of the week. Mother in law on steroids :https://substack.com/home/post/p-168803790

Scandinavia has been having an unheard of 30 degrees plus summer. https://x.com/extremetemps/status/1951384795944001633  T

Can anywhere be more Italian than this hotel  ?:https://thefamilycoppolahideaways.com/resort/palazzo-margherita/