Shimmering light

It's the time of the year when invites to festive events arrive. Angus would happily ignore them all but is told that would be 'standoffish'.  We settle on going to three St Andrews night gatherings on the strict understanding we'll spend exactly twenty minutes at each . This requires making small talk ( and drinking unremarkable institutional 'sparkling wine ' ) before returning home. There is that annual discussion about what smart casual means. Does it - or does it not - mean I should wear a tie ? You can be sure the academic gatherings will be tieless and heavy on beige corduroy jackets while the golf club will exhibit a more conservative - almost 1930's era - approach to dress. At the risk of appearing like an ageing wild thing to the golfing circles I dispense with the tie.

Parking proves to be easy. On a Friday night with the light shimmering off the cobblestones the town looks rather Dickensian. 

Down at the college end of the main street things have taken on a Hogwarts look.

The lecture halls are floodlit in Saltire blue and white. Perhaps this has been done to celebrate Scotlands soccer team and their qualifying for the World Cup ? Last year a more calming thistle purple was used for the illuminations.

With parking proving to be easy there's time enough to spend ten minutes in chapel listening to  the organ scholars preparing for the St Andrews Day service. You rarely find a warm church but the chapel is as warm as toast - a feature that is much appreciated in the Scottish winter. The music is good and we have the place to ourselves.

Saturday morning is cold - not bitterly so but chilly enough to make me thankful I put on an extra layer. The cold doesn't seem to trouble some teenage party goers :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7nXluH2its  It's difficult to tell if they've got up early or are returning from a night out. This is, I'm sure, not the way St Andrews Day was celebrated when we were students here. 

Swedish word of the week ( and yes it is illogical ). As for the Julbock don't even think of going there :https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3t1CLq5YqtY

Pity the porcupines:https://www.sequencermag.com/the-mystery-of-the-missing-porcupines/

A moon less ordinary :https://x.com/MoundLore/status/1994153758113333465

A kindness additive :https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-found-a-weird-way-to-make-people-kinder-add-batman

The end of a civilisation :https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/decades-long-droughts-doomed-one-of-the-worlds-oldest-civilizations

Danish dog scarves :https://teklafabrics.com/product/pet-scarf-chestnut-stripes