Found.

The storms have blown over but the seas are still rough enough for the Fishery Protection vessels to be sheltering in the bay.

The gannets are out in force. The gale must have brought the shoals of fish in towards the shore. We stand on the grass and watch the birds climbing and then abruptly diving vertically into the sea. There's a stretch of deep water at the end of the track where the rocks suddenly cascade down and the herring and sand lance congregate. The birds catch rate is high.

A group of enthusiastic tourists being shown round by a student in her red gown. The first young  couples are returning to town to open up flats and start preparing for the coming semester. The start of the new academic year is barely a month away and relationships that have been on simmer over the summer are set to burst - afresh - into flame.

The morning sun is pleasantly warm. We stop and have an Americano at the pavement cafe by the cheese shop. This is one of the few places that still serves decent coffee and hasn't succumbed to using cheaper beans. At this time of the morning we are the only customers.

 

In the farm store they're selling a new brand of candy. I'm not sure this is a name I'd have chosen.

When we get back to the village there's a small crowd standing in the middle of the road by the doocot. This can either signal good news or bad. It turns out to be good news. Puppy has been found. Seems she headed a mile or so off across the fields in the dark amid the worsening storm. In the sheltered lee of a rock stack she found three German teenage boys in a tent. They were finishing cooking a dinner of baked beans and sausages. She happily dined with them and finding herself faced with 80 mph winds made it clear she was in no hurry to leave . ( They may have been less keen on having to share a tent with a super energetic sausage loving Jack Russell ). This morning one of the lads picked up the courage to ask a greenkeeper at the golf course if he knew someone who had lost a dog. The boys had tried to call the number on the collar but the cellular service was down in the storm. Puppy and her family are reunited. As they cycle away Puppy makes to follow the boys. Baked beans and sausages are clearly the way to a girls heart. The farmers wife is smiling again.

Do they ? :https://news.immunologic.org/p/do-all-celebrities-have-lyme-disease

Undomesticated dogs :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-happened-to-the-bone-crushing-dogs-that-once-hunted-across-north-america-180987037/

The marshmallow test :https://psyche.co/ideas/what-the-marshmallow-test-got-wrong-about-child-psychology

These purple socks are great in the Scottish winter. The shop now ships direct :https://gammarelli.com/en/prodotto/socks-in-merino-wool/

Remarkable :https://electrek.co/2025/08/01/drone-drops-electric-bike-to-help-ukrainian-soldier-escape-russians/