Kick starting life.

Today marks the start of a new semester and the town is fast settling into its familiar routines. This morning it's quiet. In fact it's very quiet. In dorms and apartments youngsters are waking up and wishing they hadn't been tempted into going out for a 'quick' drink with their new friends last night. They're also wondering why in heavens name they signed up for a course  that has a lecture at  9:00 am on a Monday morning . 

In the harbour we stand and watch a fat eider duck bobbing around in search of food. If you concentrate you can just about detect a faint hint of warmth in the sunshine. One of the local skippers waves from the back of his boat and says he'll be going out every day from now until mid-October, weather permitting. He's taken a large - 'we'll buy all you can get' - order for fresh lobster from the upmarket caterers at the upcoming Dunhill golf tournament. Seems that Surf and Turf is still considered the height of culinary sophistication amongst the golfing fraternity.

Not a soul to be seen in the cathedral grounds. A curtain seems to have been drawn over the tourist season. Even a week ago the day trippers from Edinburgh would have been lined up waiting to get in. Oddly, there are thirty or so German camper vans parked in the old abbey car park. It must be some sort of German holiday.

By seven am junior lecturers with a busy day of teaching ahead of them are starting to arrive in town. The early bird catches the parking spaces and gets a coffee and a sandwich from Pret a Manger before it gets busy. Behind the closed curtains youngsters in student flats are trying to ignore alarm clocks and succumbing to that age old temptation to spend just five more minutes under the snug bed covers. In an hours time, when the alarm rings again, there will be widespread panic when they realize they've got 30 minutes left to get showered and dressed , grab something to eat and run to their classrooms.

Three American golfers are heading down the shopping street towards the golf course. Their Edinburgh cab driver has dropped them off at the wrong end of town and now they're hauling their clubs half a mile to the Old Course. They are not happy.

Some calming music on the morning radio as we drive back from town :https://youtu.be/xgGNn96MJpY?t=126

The newest in-store restaurant in Paris :https://rh.com/gb/en/paris/lepetit

Arvo Part:https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music/2025/09/arvo-part-the-holy-minimalist-who-defied-the-soviets

Food waste:https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/09/zapping-food-waste-with-a-jolt-of-electricity-could-release-its-true-potential/