Puncture.

 

The Met Office forecast calls for clear skies and constant sunshine. Down South temperatures are set to reach 30 degrees. Instead we get a stiff breeze and scudding clouds and a maximum of 19 degrees . The Scottish weather hasn't got the message. Down by the sea the eider ducks and their brood seem to be enjoying the overcast conditions.

The blackberry bushes that line the field boundaries and provide safety and shelter for the birds are coming into bloom. We stop to watch three corn buntings darting in and out of the thickets.

'You've got a problem' says the farmer pointing to the back of the car. True enough a nail has managed to work its way into the edge of a rear tyre.

Down to KwikFit where we discover that 1) the tyre can't be repaired because of the location and angle of the puncture and 2) the electronic systems on our model require all four tyres to have tread that's within 2mm's of the others . Seems that ignoring this can cause 'expensive' electronic problems. No one mentioned this at the dealers. We have to order a complete set of replacement tyres at £350 each. A quick check on Google shows that this is indeed one of the ( expensive and impractical ) peculiarities with this model of car :https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1862822 . The manager comes out of his office and joins the group of fitters studying the tyre. He's a cheery soul. ' We'll need to order them in specially. Not often we see this make and model around here'.  He offers us 15% off which is some sort of solace. Angus is once again surprised at how much things cost. We were forever changing tyres on the Skoda and Volvo in  France but I can't remember them being more than a  hundred or so Euros apiece. We also discover the car has a small built in battery powered pump that can be used to inflate flat tyres.

A reason to eats lots of fish :https://www.insidehook.com/longevity/omega-3-benefits-guide

Coffee is good for you :https://now.tufts.edu/2025/06/16/hold-cream-and-sugar-black-coffee-linked-lower-risk-death

Loneliness :https://uwaterloo.ca/news/media/study-loneliness-doesnt-raise-mortality-risk

Great news.

The farmers wife and the wife of the Portugese professor come laughing ( and almost skipping ) along the farm track. 'Great news ! We've seen an otter and two cubs on the beach by the rocks '.  They are delighted. We agree that this is indeed great news. Before going the farmers wife says she's counted fourteen eider duck chicks in the rock pool. They've all survived last weekends gales. This is also great news.

The couple who have rented the house the ' University of Austin ' family stayed in introduce themselves. He's Canadian, she from Wisconsin. They have a four year old boy and a six year old girl. He will be teaching at the university and she, hopefully, will get a job at the local secondary school. She is talkative and stylish. He is extremely taciturn and adheres to the 'crumpled' academic look. We discover that the house by the 'T' junction has also been sold. The new owners are an American family but nothing more is , so far, known about them. 

A Jack Russell  arrives in the courtyard and  heads straight to the kitchen garden where she hunts for something important  in the newly planted lavender. She gives us a look that makes it clear she has work to do and is far too busy to talk to us.

On the breakfast table more roses. They are busy dropping their leaves. The bouts of warmth  continue to spur our northerly, sun deprived,  roses into manic growth.

Along the stone wall by the main road the poppies are going wild. In the sunshine they look stunning. In this mornings half cloud less so. The potato farmer is putting up yet more barns and the excavated soil now forms a small mountain that dominates the view towards the kirk.

English tourists find narrow twisty Scottish country roads to be a challenge. Visitors used to southern infrastructure hurtle along the lanes as if they own the place. This morning we pass a Mercedes and a Porsche that have managed to clip each others wings on a tight right angled bend. No one is hurt but egos have been damaged. We stop to make sure everyone is alright and are told 'the Police have been called'.  It's amazing what happens in a place where nothing ever happens.

Cheese :https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/3500-years-ago-someone-packed-cheese-for-the-afterlife

Students and AI :https://arnoldkling.substack.com/p/student-assessment-in-the-age-of

Tourists and that expensive museum chair :https://youtu.be/RnweJ-xUkZM

More and more pipers appearing in time for the influx of foreign holiday makers. Perhaps people think this is how we live all year round ? :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJuog4XtGtw

On a windy day this would make sense out here on the coast but where would you keep the lid ? :https://www.ladoublej.com/en/homeware/how-to-set-your-table-homeware%2Fhow-to-set-your-table/kitchen/lidded-mug-libellula-DIS0008CER001LIB0003.html

One footed balancing acts.

The headlines in the weekend papers decidedly dour. It all seems to be happening  a long way from here but large helicopters intrude on the Sunday calm and clatter backwards and forwards into the army base on the other side of the bay.

The streets are now filling up with summer school teenagers . They wander around in groups staring fixedly at their i-phones and looking 'cool'. Many, if not most of them, seen unaware that the UK drives on the left and dart, uncaring and oblivious, off the pavements and into the road. They are at that age where immortality is taken for granted. Faced with these herds of kamikaze pedestrians Angus mutters uncharitable things under his breath. The little car has 'proximity' systems that shriek like an air raid siren whenever a tottering teen steps onto the road and comes within range. The systems are super sensitive and wail frequently. There is a lot of muttering.  Young males, out to impress the teenage girls in their groups, leap onto railings and balance themselves, one footed, on bollards. The teenage girls look unimpressed. In fact they look bored to distraction.

The new chocolate shop has opened. It already looks as if it's been here forever.

A bouquet of flowers on a beach bench. There is something vaguely reassuring about living in a town where the council sill employs someone to place out memorial flowers.

Back at the wee house in town the annual letter has been pushed through the letter box telling us that the graduating students will be holding their farewell ball on the 5th of July. This is an event when the decibel levels go off the charts. The letter seems to have been printed on grease proof paper which may be trendy, cost efficient or a mistake.

Sunflowers in the lobby of the supermarket. Together with the flowers on the bench that's the second time we've seen them today.

Uplifting thoughts :https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/carl-jung-pillars-life-happiness/678009/?lctg=6050e2b7f98ec7553cab3a85

On the radio this charity is highlighted. Usually these things pass as background noise but the youngsters interviewed are lucid and confident. The charity helps disadvantaged kids get into higher education and then with all those things you take for granted like how to write an application letter or what to wear at a job interview . Some are unused to simple things like hot meals. We will probably move them onto our 'meaningful' list:https://upreach.org.uk/

When we stayed in Georgetown last September I'd reckon that around 80% of the hard working staff were Venezuelan. Someone seems to have recognized that if they were all deported farming and hospitality would grind to a halt :https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/venezuela-crisis

The American professor of International Relations here in St Andrews doesn't seem happy :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-update-137-the-two-weeks

Summer storms.

The weather yesterday was dire. Thunder and heavy roof pounding rain. By lunchtime the cold front from the Atlantic and the warm front over the mountains were battling noisily away. Scottish thunder has a deeper pitch to either French or Italian thunder. Gardening will become much easier now that the roses ( and anything else in the garden ) have been stripped of their blooms. Around four we managed to get out for a half hour afternoon walk in a welcome pause in the downpour.

A small tanker has overnighted in the bay to shelter from the rain and winds. That seems a very sensible thing for the captain to have done. This morning the lobster fishermen are out in force and the farmer is in his tractor busily beavering away in the sodden soil. I'm guessing the unrelenting rain is of the sort that will percolate into the soil and make the potato tubers grow. This should make the farmer a happy man or as close to being happy as a Scottish village farmer can get.

Even though it's the Lords Day two workmen are busily at work repairing a window in one of the local pubs. Do they get triple time for working on a Sunday morning ? They seem to be repairing a window sill damaged by yesterdays gales.

More asparagus in the farm shop. At this time of the year we can live on fish, fruit and vegetables that have all been sourced within five miles of our front door. Don't ask me why but local food that's unfrozen and untreated simply tastes better.

Six months ago I read a biography on Chinas President Xi by a former Australian prime minister with a writing style that was very 'worthy'. This new book by a member of the Stanford faculty is ( so far ) much easier going.

'The Font' will be reading these this week. The water company have finished their installation of  a new water pipe and courier access to The last wee house before Denmark is once again possible.

Life here in the run up to graduation week remains delightfully quiet although the influx of summer school teenagers from all corners of the globe continues. They lounge indolently around the counter at Starbucks oblivious to any queueing locals.

Roll on the day :https://bgr.com/tech/electric-cars-with-3000-mile-range-may-soon-be-a-reality/

This would seem to be self evident ( but apparently isn't)  :https://www.csis.org/analysis/canada-may-be-united-states-best-hope-minerals-security

Some Monteverdi :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4lGp50cVBw

Driving rain does awful things to a sporran :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TW40IUTnhA  And here is a pipe band and a large yellow duck :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHVlufhhbCo

Names and expensive cakes.

A week ago almost no one in Europe had heard of Senator Alex Padilla . Now his name is being bandied about everywhere. On the radio this morning a Mr. Marcus Leao is interviewed in Los Angeles. He tells us that he has been arrested but was treated 'fairly'. The gentleman who survived the Air India crash rounds off the breakfast bulletin by giving the BBC some cheery insights from his hospital bed .

The bakers have repurposed their basic biscuit with blue icing for Fathers Day. The price has shot up from £1.35 to £1.95.

On the bakers bottom shelf the fudge donuts have also had a Fathers Day makeover. I'm not sure the Fathers Day Sharing Cake at £7.95 is targeting the right price point.

We drive out to the strawberry farm by the bridge. This morning the strawberries aren't so much large as gargantuan. We buy three punnets. The lady behind the counter has asked the farm for extra supplies as it's the local primary schools open day and she's expecting a swarm of parents to boost her sales.

Later this morning the new chocolate shop opens in town. It's bright now but extremely heavy rain and strong winds are forecast for later in the morning. The local farmers will be pleased with this the rest of us - and the chocolate shop owners -  less so.

Things here, as you can maybe tell, are quiet. After listening to the news I'm again reminded that living in an unexciting part of the world with dull(ish) politicians  is a blessing.

Fast tracking animal drugs :https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-secret-fast-track-for-animal-drugs/

Fruit and veg and sleep :https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/research-and-discoveries-articles/eating-fruits-and-veggies-may-improve-sleep

A French shipwreck :https://www.sciencealert.com/as-if-time-froze-frances-deepest-shipwreck-stuns-archaeologists

Drifting gently by and memories of 1973.

 

The track that runs from the potato barns down to the doocot bordered with geraniums. This year is clearly a bumper year for geraniums and for the sprightly  village octogenarians who have planted and look after them . Three of them are out cheerfully weeding their flower borders as we head off into town. We stop and have a 'wee blether' with each of them. In a small Scottish village woe betide anyone who doesn't stop to have a 'wee blether' with the octogenarians. The church elder is wearing his beanie hat and a pair of cargo shorts that his grandson has given him. He thanks us for the copy of the local newspaper. He enjoys reading so every week we drop of  the paper, The Economist, Which and the London Review of Books in his letterbox. All of our neighbours want to know what will happen between Iran and Israel and will it lead to a bigger war ? They all seem determined to head off into town this afternoon and fill up their cars with petrol. Memories of 1973 ?

Asparagus in the farm shop. There are some fancy two seater sports cars parked outside in the parking lot. A sure sign the Edinburgh 'legal' crowd are getting their summer bolt holes ready. As if to prove this point the woman at the cash desk tells us that quails eggs have already sold out. 

One of the sheep stops chewing thistles and stares at us transfixed.

Parking in town - for now - remains easy. 'The Font' claims to have spotted a gaggle of youngsters on the sand by the cathedral. The first of a growing number returning ahead of the graduation ceremonies. A last chance to chat with old friends and get some serious partying in before they start their new jobs in September .

Near Starbucks the new chocolate shop is having the finishing touches applied ahead of its grand opening on Saturday.

We peer through the front door to see how things are progressing. It seems that the shop will also have a cafe:https://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/cocoa-bar-cafes.html. Neither of us is sure whether the students will be big buyers of hot chocolate.

How tastes change :https://www.popsci.com/science/ancient-rome-fast-food/

A theory that will not go down well in Warsaw :https://theconversation.com/were-the-first-kings-of-poland-actually-from-scotland-new-dna-evidence-unsettles-a-nations-founding-myth-258579

Something I didn't want to know :https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/fish-feel-intense-pain-for-20-minutes-after-catch-so-why-are-we-letting-them-suffocate/

Fighting gulls and a trench.

The country clothing store by the fountain has changed hands. The new owner has parked her little white car outside and is busily working on the window display. Did she buy all the old stock ? Will new styles be about to reach this small university town ? Later today 'The Font' will go in and buy something. Small retailers need a little encouragement from the locals. At the other end of the street the new chocolate shop is getting a final lick of paint ahead of Saturdays grand opening. 'Fun and treats' are promised.

Down by the harbour a Great black-backed gull is fighting three Herring gulls for ownership of a dead flounder that's been dropped by one of the fishermen. The Herring gulls dive down on it  - screaming and screeching like dervishes- time after time.
 

The Great black-backed gull finally grabs the fish in its beak and heads off to safety. The noise the fighting birds make is quite remarkable. Many of the bijou flats on the harbour edge have been turned into short term rentals. They're very popular with foreign visitors but perhaps less popular now that the tenants have discovered how noisy the local gull population can be.

The council gardeners were busy at work on the flower beds by the Martyrs Monument all of yesterday afternoon. This morning the fruit of  their labours are there for all to see. Red is clearly this years colour of choice.

As we drive along the farm track back to the last wee house before Denmark we're surprised to find thirty or so dog walkers coming in the opposite direction. They're enjoying a communal outing. The dogs race past us, off the lead, and head towards the potato barns. Their owners, plus a solitary Golden, follow along behind. The downside to these days of near 24 hour light is that dogs and toddlers are awake and raring to go at five in the morning. 

The water board workmen have dug up the road and promptly gone on strike leaving an impassable trench severing one side of the village from the other. Our fifteen minute detour along a rough farm track looks as if it will last until next week. 

Are whales trying to talk to us ? :https://www.zmescience.com/science/oceanography/scientists-stunned-to-observe-that-humpback-whales-might-be-trying-to-talk-to-us/

Climate change :https://www.talkingclimate.ca/p/are-we-really-doomed

A (proposed) Saudi ski resort provides a different perspective :https://www.neom.com/en-us/regions/trojena

Dinosaurs :https://bigthink.com/big-think-books/the-mesozoic-myth-dinosaurs/

Patterns on the suns surface :https://www.sciencealert.com/stunning-solar-curtains-phenomenon-revealed-on-the-sun-in-new-images

Nitrates free bacon, roses and sprinkler systems.

New born black lambs in the farmers field. The farmer wanders over to tell us that this is the driest summer since Victorian times. This is a somewhat vague statement but is still a surprise. He plans to set up his GPS guided irrigation system again in the potato field by the courtyard. The farmer goes on to tell us his daughter has returned from three weeks in Greece with her English boyfriend.  ' English' is said in a tone of voice that may hint at paternal disapproval . The daughter will soon be opening up the strawberry hut in time for the onset of the tourist season. This will ( hopefully ) provide her with spending money for her next year at Oxford.

Nitrates in bacon are apparently very bad for you. 'The Font' used to get nitrate free bacon from Marks and Spencer but they haven't yet recovered from their recent denial of service attack. Thankfully, Waitrose do an Ulster sourced alternative. Bacon, to his delight,  is back on the Angus breakfast menu.

Last week we'd seen the grounds men at the golf course installing irrigation pipes. This week the local paper informs us these will eventually be attached to 1500 sprinklers. There was a time when irrigation, like air conditioning, would have been the last thing you'd think of in Scotland.

The warm weather and recent rain has driven the roses into a frenzy of growth. An hour a day is spent trying to prune them hard back. It's that time of the year when every vase is full and the house smells like a perfume factory. In fact both houses smell like a perfume factory. The roses that line the sun gilded  garden walls at the wee house in town are also blooming as if its going out of fashion.

Another of those bizarre wee ceremonies that occur in Edinburgh at this time of the year. I keep on telling folks that Scotland isn't at all like Brigadoon then things like this appear . At the 0:26 mark the mouth of the lady in the striped shirt says it all. Over it all a statue of John Knox looks dourly down  :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EI8UVGyJM0

Big thinking:https://bigthink.com/the-future/what-happens-the-day-after-humans-create-agi/

Creatine- not just for rugby players :https://stories.tamu.edu/news/2025/06/09/creatine-is-safe-effective-and-important-for-everyone-longtime-researcher-says/

Mitochondria :https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/06/maha-casey-means-mitochondria-wellness/683085/?lctg=6050e2b7f98ec7553cab3a85

Restricted legroom

It's a DOGE eat DOGE world says the presenter on the BBC breakfast radio bulletin with a touch of wry humour.

We downsized from the big Volvo to the small BMW to make parking easier. That logic can't be disputed. The new car manages to fit easily into parking spots the old one couldn't. What we didn't allow for is the legroom - or the lack of it - in the rear seats. You could fit three tall  Scandinavians in the back of the Volvo but you'd be lucky to fit two six year olds in the back of the BMW. With a stream of family and friends heading here for the summer the practicalities of what is effectively a two seat car became the topic of conversation over dinner last night. Why is it neither of us tried out the rear seats when buying it ? We also discover that the boot is the size of a postage stamp. Perhaps a second hand Land Rover as a back-up is the solution ?

The calves on the village green are getting bigger . They're also getting braver.

A group of them rush over to greet us as we set off on the morning walk. We're out early because the water board is due to start work installing a new lead free pipe in the middle of the village. The workmen will be here until Saturday. Until they go the only access to the house is along a long and bumpy farm track. Thankfully, the Edinburgh builders have finished installing the new windows and terrace doors and won't need to make the detour in their low slung vans. At one point there were eight of them busily hammering away.

Cornflowers appearing everywhere. Every week a new flower type seems to come into bloom while the prior weeks wild flowers fade gently away.

By the sand dunes a seafood outlet has found an ideal position to tap the lunchtime beach crowd.

Basels best hotel reopens. It is very Swiss :https://www.lestroisrois.com/en/

A new offering in Aldeburgh :https://the-suffolk.co.uk/

Pets and medical small print :https://beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/no-dogs-allowed-questioning-pre-surgery

A nine armed octopus:https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/the-nine-armed-octopus-and-the-oddities-of-the-cephalopod-nervous-system/

The Versailles like hotel.

The good weather brings out the weekend crowds. By late afternoon the town is jam packed with day trippers. We try to get an early evening glass of wine in one of the hotels overlooking the beach but parking is impossible and every table is taken by German tourists.

On our way home we detour to the large 5 star hotel near the village. The hotel is an enormous faux-Versailles  construction that's popular with wealthy Chinese and Malaysian golfers. It has a fleet of large BMW 4x4's that shuttle guests back and forwards to the airport. Such is the current demand that the BMW's have been supplemented by half a dozen large black golf club swallowing Volvos . In the car park there's a rather fine Tesla in a kind of matt green. We both wonder if its politically acceptable to be a Tesla owner. Last week it wasn't but who knows what the political orthodoxy is this week?

Although it's sunny the outside terrace bar is closed. It has a wonderful view over the coast towards the cathedral. We wander inside to a cheerless and charmless lobby notable for its battleship grey gloom ( we both agree that battleship grey wall paint is a brave interior design choice this far north ) and a collection of over sized sofas with a 'zingy' pattern. The hotel was developed by a gentleman from Atlanta who thought it a good idea to have a five story atrium as its focal point. He'd clearly never been to Scotland. In the summer sun the atrium warms up like an oven. In winter it's impossible to heat. The question of what to do with a five story, barn like,  atrium also seems to have been left unaddressed. From the balcony we can look down onto the atrium floor below where a large screen television is playing footage of the Los Angeles riots to a group of Singaporean golfers marooned at a solitary table. Pity the poor waitresses who have been dressed up in tartan skirts with matching tartan sashes and scurry around in the half gloom . They may be enjoying their work but if they are they're hiding it well.

Today the Edinburgh builders come to replace the windows and terrace doors in The last wee house before Denmark. The old windows were supposedly double glazed but triple glazing and a super secure fit are necessities rather than luxuries here in the winter.

How chivalrous !

A group of lanky eighteen year old Canadian boys are heading off to the golf driving range. They're wearing tee shirts with the logo ' St Andrews Golf Experience Summer 2025 '. They stop to talk to some Italian girls sunbathing on the lawn in front of the library. The Italian girls are here for a six week intensive language course. The young golfers offer to meet up later to help them with their English. How chivalrous ! We have now entered that time of year when parents send their late teen youngsters off to summer schools in Scotland for the holidays. Parents like to think there is a limit to the mischief that teenagers can get up to in a small Scottish coastal town. Teenagers have a different view. For the university  renting out the empty halls of residence is a nice source of revenues.

The university gardeners have branched out from their usual highly colourful  begonia infused uniformity and have created a Japanese Zen garden in front of the anthropology department. The use of gravel will- hopefully- be less obvious when the plants finally grow.

Today the tour groups are starting early.

Down by the first tee things are getting busy. The time keeper is hurrying the foursomes along to stop a traffic jam developing. Golfers about to set off on the sacred turf are in no mood to be moved along and mill around having their photos taken. Two gentlemen discover that shorts are not approved attire. They head back to their hotel to change into golf 'pants'. Unflattering comparisons with golf courses  'Stateside' are voiced. We leave the golfers explaining to a surprised Scottish couple with a whippet that the management here would benefit from a trip to Fort Myers ' to learn how things are done '.

On the beach two ladies are raising money for the the RNLI.  They talk to the passing dog owners. Behind them a woman is busy clearing out bracken from the dunes. It may be early but in summer people are busy. Anew electronic sign has been installed. It tells us todays water quality is excellent.

Italian archeology :https://reason.com/2025/06/06/the-dreadful-policies-halting-archeological-discoveries/

The end of Turkmenistans top tourist attraction :https://www.sciencealert.com/infamous-gateway-to-hell-fire-could-finally-stop-raging-after-50-years

Things to be thankful about :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/articles/carnivorous-plants-have-been-trapping-animals-for-millions-of-years-so-why-have-they-never-grown-larger-180986708/

There may be a benefit to chickpeas :https://www.sciencenews.org/article/chickpeas-cholesterol-beans-health

Forgotten stars of the 60's:https://www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/p/which-stars-are-being-forgotten-the