Reintroduction to cycling.

Clouds to the north of us and clouds to the south but here it's bright and sunny.

Some very alien looking flowers coming into bloom in the long grass down by  the shore. Cabbage whites flit around enjoying the warmth of the new day. 

The starlings sitting happily on the telephone wires look like notes on a stave. All our local birds seem to have had a bumper year. After the ravages of avian flu this is strangely reassuring. We see the first of this years deer - a small wee thing barely visible between mother and father.

Some bright spark at the university has organized cycle tours of the town for parents of incoming undergraduates. We are confronted by a group of doughty Americans trying to master their balance while coordinating their steering. Pavements are their preferred habitat. Once underway nothing can  stop them. They are a cheerful but teetering bunch.  Perhaps they'll get more adept as the day goes on ? 20% of this years intake will be from the US which explains why the bike tours are almost always populated by Californian 50 somethings. A man in a check shirt informs us " I haven't been on a bike in thirty years ". 

Restaurants and bars are getting busy again. On the road in this morning we follow a large black Volvo estate car. It's being driven at a super cautious 23 mph . From time to time it drifts left towards the grass kerb. This is the sure sign of a US family who've taken a red eye  into Edinburgh, hired a car and are now en route with their college age youngster to the university. The driver is discovering that jet lag, having the steering wheel on the wrong side and narrow ( and fast ) Scottish roads make for a challenging start to the day. At the roundabout the car stops while the passengers wonder what to do.

" Look out! The slope is steep and the road is slippery." Perhaps not the most cheerful topic for the first chapel service of the new semester for the assembled freshers but certainly a suitably Presbyterian one.

A new French hotel. Why don't we build more hotels on top of offices ?  :https://www.maisonhelermetz.com/

Some thoughts on an early to bed lifestyle ....:https://www.derekthompson.org/p/a-secret-to-a-long-healthy-life-do

Progress :https://arctotherium.substack.com/p/progress-studies-and-feminization