Christmas song #21

A blustery Christmas Eve. The farmers sons are up early and hard at work in the barn shifting potato crates. In one fork lift  'Puppy' is seated on the lap of the elder boy. Elder sister is in the other truck with the younger. Both dogs look remarkably happy as if scooting around a barn shifting potato crates in the early morning  gloom is the most natural thing in the world.

There's a tree in full bloom outside one of the student dorms. A tree in bloom in St Andrews at Christmas ? If you look for signs of climate change look no further.

The ice cream sellers continue to thrive. The pavement table might be a tad too hopeful  but the local teenagers are oblivious to the rain showers and seem happy to walk the streets with an ice cream cone  .

'The Font' wonders how many English visitors will understand what parking 'outwith' the marked bays means. Scottish official English can be very Dickensian.

Even the tourist villages down the coast, packed to the gunnels with visitors in high summer, are quiet deserted.

There is a Christmas stillness to the area that is rather lovely. The local shops are already putting up signs in their windows offering 30% Winter Sale discounts. This must be galling for anyone who did their shopping yesterday.

Christmas song #21. An old favourite. The descant at the 5 minute mark is so English :https://youtu.be/l1wHyMR_SCA?list=RDl1wHyMR_SCA&t=246

A substack on how New York has changed :https://theneighborhoods.substack.com/p/meatpacking-district-manhattan

Swedish Christmas goats :https://jonn.substack.com/p/nothing-but-repeats-these-days

The word 'dog' is mysterious :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHiMg-DLick

Artificial sweeteners :https://www.acsh.org/news/2025/12/22/artificial-sweeteners-cognitive-concerns-49879

Australians seem to understand what's at stake better than some others :https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/shadows-of-1795-why-ukraine-fears-peace-built-on-partition/

Christmas song(s) #20

A lovely start to the day. From the village the towers of the old cathedral are just visible in the distance. The farmers wife is happy. She's seen an egret wading in the fresh water pool down by the rock stack and is off to tell her husband and sons. 'Puppy' and her elder sister rush ahead. This is what passes for excitement in these northerly rural parts.

We pick up the Christmas door wreath from the florist . To say she is busy would be an understatement.

The two ceramic dogs are still sitting in the window of the art gallery waiting for new homes.

Chapel door is open.

We pop inside to enjoy the warmth. Is this the only church building in Scotland that's kept as warm as toast ? The organist is practising this :https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/Music_P000_files/P173_Ber.htm which neither of us has heard before.

There are Christmas decorations but they're of the minimalist Presbyterian variety. 

A week ago we said there was plenty of time to get ready for Christmas. Now it's the 23rd. Where did the time go ? Why has the fridge shrunk in size ? Today Angus will drive off to get the Christmas Eve lobsters from Lob the fisherman. 'The Font' will be getting the wee house in town ready for Hogmanay visitors. The cleaning ladies came in yesterday but were surprised to find an  American professor and family were still there. They will be joining the crowds and flying back later today.

Christmas song #20 and what can best be described as a 'lovely' wrap around sound from Regensburg Cathedral :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaLdiWwIN0A&list=RDz5suXifRlVs&index=3

Intriguing discovery:https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/surprising-demographics-physician-mortality

Proof that it does exist. Some Scandinavian humour. 'The Font' finds it side splittingly funny . Angus rather less so :https://youtu.be/OSacz4GHQjs

It's the time of the year when the 2026 entrants are being offered places .The Med School has rushed out a video suggesting they confirm their offers asap as demand is high. There are Scottish accents and then there are SCOTTISH accents. This lad is pure Morningside. When was the last time you heard the words 'dissection' and 'implore' being used in the same sentence ? The enthusiasm makes us smile  :https://youtu.be/4VuJywdNNYw?t=140

A cheery piece about good people :https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/running-towards-danger

A final letter :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mary-queen-of-scots-wrote-this-letter-hours-before-she-was-executed-her-words-are-going-on-display-for-the-first-time-in-years-180987885/

Christmas song # 19

Monday morning and the beach is busy with dog walkers. Most of the folks up and about at sunrise are locals but the first Airbnbers are starting to appear. These are easy to spot. Their dogs look at two miles of empty sand and go wild. Absolutely ' I has died and gone to heaven' wild.

The cheese shop will soon be busy. We stop off for some Stilton. The guy behind the counter has made an early start on making up cheese plates. I wonder if he will be looking so composed by the time he shuts up shop this evening ?

There are parking spaces aplenty. What luxury ! It's difficult to explain what it's like to live in a town that's always full  to the brim to youngsters or golfers and then almost overnight becomes deserted.

We pick up the Christmas garland for the courtyard gate. The front door wreath will be ready tonight. The florist has had over 250 orders. She also tells us that in the summer she gets a thousand orders for graduation bouquets. The demand is spread over four days but getting it right is still an organizational nightmare.

The arrival of the Christmas season means the farm shops crisp offering ups its game. Duck in plum sauce replaces the more humdrum cheese and onion.

Christmas song #19 .There's nothing on earth quite like the wonders of a Christmas 'spectacular' on German television . Dry ice is always a prominent feature.  Although unknown to me the gentleman and three ladies are presumably 'big' tv celebrities north of the Alps :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5suXifRlVs&list=RDz5suXifRlVs&start_radio=1

Blast from the past. How the role of government has changed. A great tear jerker version of The Little Drummer Boy from simpler times. You couldn't imagine a political scene like this on tv today...or could you ? " We're still in NATO right ? " a great line :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_BRd1fegBw&list=RDC_BRd1fegBw&start_radio=1

Not the most festive of links but one that I have recently started to check once a week. Is this wise ?:https://thebulletin.org/2025/12/threatening-ncar-trump-administration-seeks-to-extinguish-a-beacon-of-climate-science/

This guy climbing a skyscraper will be broadcast live on Netflix in the New Year  :https://x.com/AlexHonnold/status/2002807370452509170

Strange but diplomats do have a purpose:https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/the-appalling-broken-record-of-steve

Christmas song #18

The blue and white penguin covered in flashing fairy lights has reappeared. After the rugby club Christmas party it went missing from outside the ice cream parlour. Now it's moved and can be found glittering happily in front of the fish and chip shop. It seems to be in good shape ( bar some 'flattening' around the beak and a slightly crumpled right wing ) and brings a little glamour sparkle to the late afternoon gloom. Local toddlers are delighted.

This morning at sun-up the farmers two eldest lads are at work in the barns. Getting teenagers out of bed this early during the Christmas holidays is nothing short of miraculous and speaks volumes to the power of a promised trip to America. They're using the forklifts to restack the large wooden potato crates. The younger of the two informs  us that they have brown rats in the barn. " Better than the black ones " he adds festively. We move along quickly.

And to lead us into Christmas week proper something that the French would call 'Oh so British '. Nerve racking for the soloist ( and his mother ). Christmas song #18 :https://youtu.be/lBjKniT8a70?list=RDlBjKniT8a70

All you needed to know - and more - about todays winter solstice :https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/10-solstice-facts-everyone-know/

Interesting facts about 2025 :https://snippet.finance/26-snippets-for-2025/

2024. Skimming through this two photos of St Andrews appear :https://danielkalder.substack.com/p/tsdk-no-62-2024-the-greatest-year The same is true for the 2025 update.

Christmas song # 17

The last day of exams. Sympathy to those poor youngsters who've drawn the short straw and are taking a late afternoon paper on  'Antimicrobials - Mode of Action and Resistance'.

Last night we try a fancy new restaurant . The young woman at the front desk doesn't even bother to look up from her phone when we arrive. ' Have you made a reservation ?' said in a tone of voice that suggests she's hoping we haven't. It's never a good sign when restaurant staff are too disinterested to smile. On our way to the table Angus tells 'The Font' that the food tonight is going to be sub-optimal. This is not the actual term I use. I'm told to look on the bright side but am proved right.

This morning huge swarms of crows circling over the village. The farmers sons are up early. They'll be working clearing out the barns over the holidays in return for cash for their planned trip to the States to see the Scottish soccer team. Seats on United Airlines from Edinburgh to Chicago have already been booked and paid for. The two lads and five of their school mates will be travelling together. 'They can keep an eye out for each other' says their mother with an endearing innocence concerning the group psychology of teenage males.

The elder son thinks the crows behaviour has changed due to the warmer winters.  ' We've had 7% more rain this year than last ' adds the younger . This is the sort of fact farmers sons know. I'm sure any American girls they meet on their trip will be bowled over with small talk like this.

In the next village down the coast the primary school children have had a carol service in the kirk. Free at last they rush along the pavement singing and dancing.  There's no doubting the fortitude of local Christmas traditions .

The houses here have terraced gardens that have been carved out of the cliffs. The views out onto the water must be quite dramatic in a winter gale.

We stop off at the cafe by the harbour. You know you're in deepest Scotland when your coffee comes accompanied by lumps of tablet.

Christmas song #17 by the smartly turned out choir of St Andrews Kirk in Chennai. The church has an amazing centre for blind girls with leprosy. The video  is filmed in the old Anglican church down on the beach where Eli Yale was Minister. I don't think we have ever been anywhere as hot as Chennai :https://youtu.be/uuvkSqOTx6E?list=RDuuvkSqOTx6E&t=18

A touch of poetry reposted ahead of tomorrows winter solstice and the start of longer, brighter days :https://poemanalysis.com/sheenagh-pugh/sometimes/

Serious talk:https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/america-and-the-world

Christmas song #16

The Christmas pudding arrives from Bettys. It was supposed to get here on Tuesday of next week but the courier proved to be 'hyper-efficient'. DPD , who were uniformly atrocious last year ( and the year before ) seem to have got their act together. FedEx by contrast seem to have lost the plot. They text to say they're on the way then simply don't show up. There again we're always grateful for any driver who makes it to the end of our increasingly pot holed farm track.

This morning hundreds, maybe thousands , of geese heading south. Most birds migrate by following the contours of the coast. The geese seem to follow an internal compass and head in a straight line inland towards Edinburgh. They come over in four huge, sky filling, flocks. I don't think we've seen them do this before. Perhaps it's because the winter ( so far ) has been mild and frost free and they're only now heading somewhere warmer ?

It's the time of the year when the deer form family groups. There's a small group of four in the field outside the courtyard and eleven grazing amongst the straw bales in the field behind. Out here the deer have no natural predators apart from the cars speeding , well above the 50 mph limit , along the main road down towards Anstruther. There's something about having deer as neighbours that says the world remains on an even keel.

On the beach a crow picks up a whelk, flies vertically up to thirty or  so feet then drops it. The bird repeats this over and over until the shell cracks and it can get to the juicy mollusc inside. 

The bird repeats this trick over and over.

High cholesterol seasonal delights now filling the supermarket shelves.

Christmas song #16 from Goteborg. You couldn't get any more Scandinavian if you tried, The girls all seem happy but the boys look as if they're only doing this because it makes their grandmother happy :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uih9HRW_NT8

More Irish humour:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JHpwbVBeG0

Keeping your brain functioning :https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-invincible-brain/202512/5-powerful-ways-to-strengthen-your-brain-for-life

My grandmother lived to 104. Cold was something she ignored. She also refused to buy loo paper and instead cut up the previous days newspaper into small squares. This article explains a lot :https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-hunter-dna-people-years.html

A story from my childhood :https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20251211-the-heist-to-reclaim-the-ancient-stone-of-destiny

A freebie Christmas tune from that busker guy in London  :https://youtu.be/bYJ6QCqq25M?list=RDFydDhuAYcOI&t=70

Some strategic thinking :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/in-the-world-of-the-strategic-blind

Christmas song #15

An interesting dinner conversation with one of the professors in the medical school. He says that tighter British immigration laws are having an unexpected effect. The number of health professionals ( mostly nurses ) applying for visas to work in the UK has fallen from a rate of 18k a month in mid-2023 to just 600 last month. Hospitals will soon be facing a shortage of qualified staff. He wonders how long it will be before the public wakes up to what is happening. 

Off to the supermarket to see if they have the latest copy of Vanity Fair with Susie Wiles's interview . It seems Vanity Fair is not a big seller in these parts. Online the magazine is offering a years access for $1 a month which seems an easier way to read what she's said. Whatever Ms. Wiles purpose in talking the way she did it seems clear ( against the backdrop of rumours that the two men plan to run on a joint ticket in 2028 ) that she likes Mr. Rubio and warns to send a warning that Mr. Vance is 'unusual'.

A few youngsters ready themselves for their morning exam with a quick game of frisbee on the library lawn.

The university shop is now selling its own tartan. This is presumably for foreign students wanting to immerse themselves in local tradition. 

Something exotic is on sale by the farm shops onion display. Another of those things I didn't know I needed .Botivo it turns out is a Scottish, non-alcoholic, drink :https://www.botivodrinks.com/  

Christmas song #15 from the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh. Not all Christmas  services are the same. This one has dancing. The poor fellow third from the right has a serious hose malfunction mid-fling that seems to ruin his concentration:https://youtu.be/oNjZ-dN5M-I?t=1541

Random reads :

The place to be at Christmas if you're looking for peace and quiet?:https://wildland.scot/lundies-house

1/3rd of the House of Lords married Americans :https://x.com/mbateman/status/1992033766185828674

Festive fun. Post apocalypse America(s) :https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/p/americas-post-apocalyptic-maps-reveal

Medieval teeth :https://www.discovermagazine.com/ancient-dental-plaque-is-changing-what-we-know-about-medieval-diets-48410

A tribute to Wilberforce :https://x.com/lefineder/status/1994442317348946074

This has to be satire:https://x.com/PenguinSix/status/2001349474158051709

Christmas song #14

The Post Office is busy. We've bought half a dozen Views of Scotland 2026 calendars and are shipping them off to the Arizonans we met on our Norwegian voyage. The woman at the counter tells me the calendars are 2 centimeters too big to be classed as 'large letters'. They fall in the more expensive 'small parcels' category. Instead of costing £3.40 they'll each cost £11.40 to send. This, she goes on to explain, includes a new and mandatory £0.50 US customs service surcharge on all packages entering America. A redesigned US customs form of great complexity and detail is also required. When did things start to get so expensive ? When did posting a calendar become so complicated ?

The end of term exodus now underway. The streets that are usually busy are now strangely quiet in that way streets in zombie movies are strangely quiet. Dystopian calm.  For the local taxi drivers this is peak season. They shuttle back and forwards to the station or the airport. The 9:34 and 11:34 through trains to London are sure to be packed solid . Those in the know take the 8:34 and then connect in Edinburgh to the 10:00 am Flying Scotsman.

Remnants of a farewell party greet us down on the beach. Local dogs are intrigued by this new addition to the landscape and make sure it is well watered in.

Not everyone is keen to head home. Half a dozen lads are out surfing. I'd wager they're second year medical students. They have the air of hardened party goers and will probably celebrate the end of exam season by lingering here until Sunday. The local bar owners will be delighted. Their parents will be told they're finishing off some 'important' course work. Medical students seem to learn the skill of enjoying every minute of life early on in their course work.

The town fountain has gone - as in completely gone. An area of cobble stones have been cordoned off to remind us where it stood. There is nothing to indicate when it will return. A left behind Portaloo offers some hope that the fountains absence is temporary.

The price of flowers seems to have suddenly sky rocketed. Tulips that were £4 a bunch are selling today for £12. They are now displayed in buckets with the words ' Festive bouquets' inscribed on them.

Christmas song #14 with a local flavour:https://youtu.be/FvjclYC2w5U?t=6

Wednesday links:

English has become easier to read :https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/english-prose-has-become-much-easier

The UK to have its first robot lab :https://deepmind.google/blog/strengthening-our-partnership-with-the-uk-government-to-support-prosperity-and-security-in-the-ai-era/

Welcome to ID for domestic flights :https://lifehacker.com/travel/flying-without-a-real-id-payment-required

Which leads me onto this. Thought this was another example of TDS* but turns out it's true. Can you remember all your old e-mail addresses and phone numbers ? :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi7UGZYY9g4

Disappearing in South Koreans :https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/why-is-south-korean-fertility-so

* Trump Derangement Syndrome 

Christmas song #13

Last nights high tide has deposited mounds of seaweed on the dunes. It can safely be said that the local dog population love the scent of freshly deposited seaweed. We meet a woman out walking a dog that acts like a PON, looks like a PON but is actually a Borderdoodle. She says looking after him ( he's two years old ) is a full time job. Thankfully they live on a farm and have a brood of teenagers to keep him company busy. We leave as the Borderdoodle starts to roll on his back in a large pile of 'pungent' kelp.

The last week of exams. By Wednesday the exodus of students will be in full spate. Serious teenagers who've finished their last papers sit outside the bars discussing the questions they dealt with earlier in the day. Despite the cold some stay like this until final orders are called.

The Indian restaurant has installed three bright neon strip lights on their first floor window sills.  We're unsure whether the neon lights add to - or distract from - the red, blue and green floodlights at ground level. The small forest of olive trees seem to have survived last weeks cold winds.

Soon the days will start getting longer. In this final pre solstice stretch of the year it gets dark by four. On a particularly stormy, cloudy night the light has all gone by two thirty. There's a carol service in chapel and another ( candle light one ) at the old lepers school. Elsewhere our local Episcopalians have an 'Orthodox' evening in their barn of a church while the Baptists have an altogether less formal Christmas 'sing along '. This is very popular with American students. The theatre continues to be packed solid for the pantomime. Last night we see our postman and his girlfriend who were waiting outside to pick up their children from the early evening performance. They let us know that they're going to Benidorm for a week. " We've got a flight frae Manchester next Tuesday at a price ye cannae believe " says the girlfriend. 

Christmas song #13 from Stockholm :https://youtu.be/-IEuxKCB6o8?t=660

Christmas song #12

The five foot tall flashing blue and white penguin that stood guard outside the ice cream shop has disappeared. This may or may not ( but probably does ) have something to do with the university rugby clubs end of term Christmas party .

Forget Christmas. Forget Hogmanay. Some of the local restaurants are now turning their attention to Burns Night. This one promises a 'traditional' three course Scottish meal. Seeing events in 2026 being advertised is a bit of a shock. On reflection 'The Font' is unsure whether the promise of a 'traditional Scottish meal' is the inducement the restaurant thinks it is.

Christmas song #12 . Perfection or at least close to it ?  :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FydDhuAYcOI&list=RDFydDhuAYcOI&start_radio=1

Some seasonal Irish humour  :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1fEZt5NM5I

This Scotsman is very keen on Austin. We continue to hear great things about the university there :https://substack.com/home/post/p-181451599

Contradictory people:https://sketchplanations.substack.com/p/10-contradictory-traits-of-creative

Christmas song #11

 

'Red sky at morning a shepherds warning'. If this old adage is true we must be in for a spectacular storm later today.

Back at home the sparrow hawk is sitting on the stone wall outside 'The Fonts' cabin. For the last three or four days the carefully tended bird feeders have remained untouched. All the smaller birds have sensibly decamped elsewhere  for the duration of the sparrow hawks visit. The hawk is looking happy and well fed which may not be what the local vole population wants to hear.

A group of girl students are saying a tearful goodbye outside Starbucks. Two of them are off to Edinburgh airport on their way back to Toronto. The others have exams next week. The left behind ones are 'vocal' in expressing the unfairness of the exam timetable. The back of the girls airport cab is packed solid with more cases than you'd think possible.

The tree is up in the snug. It won't be moving even though it's unhelpfully pointed out that I've positioned it so the curtains won't close. The tree has already started to disgorge pine needles and the star on top requires 'work' to remedy the list it developed immediately after I put the step ladders back in the garage. It is supposed to be an eight footer but it gets impractically close to the ceiling beams which tells me it's closer to nine. We seem to have lost several boxes of baubles but they will undoubtedly reappear , as they always do, when I start to take the thing down.

We go into town for a pre-dinner walk. There is a peculiar emptiness to the place that tells you everyone is recharging their batteries ( and their wallets )  before the Christmas blow out. There are a few students sitting at tables outside the local bars  but they have that killjoy ' I would have another drink but I've got a Particle Physics paper tomorrow ' air to them.

Very Scandinavian. Christmas song #11. There is something about the simplicity of the Sami reindeer herder amid the Kings and Princes that catches the radical message of Christmas. The Crown Duchess of Luxembourg looks bemused by this exotic sound :https://youtu.be/dgSad-3qUNs?list=RDdgSad-3qUNs&t=66

This week even the choice of typeface has  become political :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXbW42uTKYo

I usually don't like transcripts of conversations but this one works  :https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-with-adam-tooze

Nothing going into investment:https://ridl.io/the-decline-of-russia-s-railroads/

A locals views on gratifying the regime :https://ivodaalder.substack.com/p/dont-be-fooled-there-is-no-deal-on

Christmas song #10

On our way down to the heron pond the farmers two teenage sons stop us for a wee blether. They are keen Scotland supporters and reckon they can go to the World Cup on a joint budget of £7,000. This is the sum of their two bank accounts and what they reckon they can earn by doing additional work around the farm over the Christmas holidays. They want to know if £65 a night will get them a hotel room in New York. " That should be no problem at 'aw " says the elder with the logic defying certainty that is peculiar to seventeen year olds. Angus isn't sure where you can find a hotel for that much anywhere in the US but suggests they Google the prices of hotels in Philadelphia and use that as a base to travel from. This is a 'letting them down gently' strategy. The cost of food doesn't seem to have entered into their calculations.  Basic tickets for the Haiti-Scotland game ( ie those seats that are high up in the stands and where the view is partially obstructed by a pillar )  are going for $265 if you can get one. Slightly better 'Standard' tickets are going to cost $500. A single seat for the final match will cost more than their combined budget. This is an expense that is unlikely to face Scots fans as they may be home well before then.

The Christmas tree is up and the creche has been set out on a shelf on the half landing.

Considering it comes from the Communist era Czechoslovak Socialist Republic the creche has survived being dragged around for the last four and a half decades in remarkably good condition. One of the angels has had a dual wing malfunction but this is soon put right with a dab or two of super glue. The creche may yet move.

We pass a dozen chaffinches sitting sunning themselves on the long grass down by the 4th tee. There's a crackling sound in the air as they open the seed pods with their beaks and hoover up the goodies inside. The second I bring out the i-Phone to take a picture eleven of them fly off. Can you see the remaining one that's unbothered by our presence ? If only someone would make a phone with a great zoon lens.

A few students hurry along quietly  getting in a few holes before the ticket office opens.

The beach sauna is busy. It's being used by four pretty girls and one Scots lad. Every so often they charge down onto the beach and then, ten minutes later, return to warm up. Someone has put a Christmas wreath on the side of the sauna. Every day the town quietly becomes more festive. This may come as a surprise to J D Vance who seems to think we follow Sharia law and traditions.

Only 72 views so far for Christmas song #10 from Linkoping in Sweden. Some of the echoing chords have a very medieval sound that wells up:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5haGB3_ypc&list=RDl5haGB3_ypc&start_radio=1  The girl fourth from the right seems to be feeling the cold.

Weekend reading :

The all important role of sleep :https://www.sciencealert.com/one-critical-factor-predicts-longevity-better-than-diet-or-exercise-study-says

Irans water problem isn't getting better :https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/irans-water-crisis-a-national-security-imperative/

Coke shows how not to do it :https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/how-coca-colas-calories-out-myth-backfired-spectacularly/

The success of Singapore:https://www.richardhanania.com/p/human-capital-not-industrial-policy

Amsterdam hip :https://www.dylanamsterdam.com/

Young journalists uncover some interesting facts :https://www.digitaldigging.org/p/they-droned-back