Saturday, December 27, 2025

Thoughts turn to Hogmanay

On the morning news we learn that The King will go to America for a state visit in April. The Prince of Wales will then visit Philadelphia  for the semiquincentennial celebrations on July 4th ( the BBC has helpfully suggested 'Quarter Millenial ' as a more easily pronounced alternative) and will also be there for the World Cup.  The price of  tickets for the soccer finals is now reaching 'stratospheric' levels :https://x.com/biancoresearch/status/2003445075842650487   This is a link I won't share with the farmers sons ( the knowledge that seats are going for $52k would be a real mood killer ) although even the keenest fan would admit the chance of Scotland making it to the latter stages of the competition is minimal.

Here we've segued into that  strangely peaceful time of the year between Christmas and the New Year. The Oyster Catchers are enjoying having the beach to themselves.

The bar in town has had a seasonal makeover. Plastic poinsettias have replaced the plastic heather in the golf shoes that decorate the outside window.


In the supermarket there is a queue for fresh milk. What else do people go to the supermarket for on December 27th ? Hogmanay now looms large . A man is busy stapling strings of  Saltire flags to the ceiling tiles. There's too many of them and they're too low so the end result blocks out the light and looks unintentionally gloomy. 

Visiting dogs - with owners in bright seasonal jumpers -  can be found in Starbucks. The place is full and we have to sit on the bar stools up against the oval table by the back wall.


The shoe shop has opened for the winter sale but customers are few and far between.

We haven't heard Auld lang Syne yet but it can only be a day or two before it fills the airwaves. This morning we get Gerry and the Pacemakers from the local radio station :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV5_LQArLa0&list=RDyC_j_dzkaVE&index=9

The worlds oldest restaurant :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-oldest-restaurant-in-the-world-just-turned-300-years-old-180987899/

The future belongs to the young :https://x.com/mastronomers/status/2004334592908505508?s=48  You have to be optimistic.

Wartime diets :https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/wartime-diet-britain-world-war-jack-drummond

Suddenly in the news:https://www.hoover.org/research/religion-ethnicity-and-jihadist-search-holy-war-nigeria

Reasons to like Christmas :https://miniphilosophy.substack.com/p/the-philosophical-case-for-christmas

3 comments:

Lisa in France said...

So nice to hear Gerry and the Pacemakers after many, many years. We are fortunate to have both a good king and a good pope at this moment in time (among many other good people, of course). I liked the Starbucks photo. Charlie also has his own mat for restaurants and seems to like having his own space.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
This is one of my favourite weeks of any year, that fallow space between festivals when we can - if we choose - take proper respite and reflection time.

Excellent article on Nigeria. Having lived and worked there in the 1970s, I witnessed much of the tribal and interstate mischief and there is no question that to strip down any conflict to a simple binary is a grave mistake of stategists. All that aside, I am aghast at the US (i.e. Trump's) intervention... YAM xx

Travel said...

Enjoy the quiet week,