Stars.

In the good old days you booked a hotel and that was that. Now a morning is spent trying to communicate with the hotel in Lisbon about arrival times, passport numbers, pillow options and restaurant reservations. You'd think this could easily be done by e-mail but it seems nothing in Portugal is that simple. We are bombarded with messages. This whole process, a young lady at the front desk informs me, is to ' ensure a smooth and seamless guest  experience'. I bite my tongue. The young woman suggests sending a car to meet us but when told the price Angus says we'll take a cab. As an aside TAP, the Portugese airline, is to be acquired by Air France. This, for anyone who tries to make an online reservation for two seats together, cannot come a moment too soon. Their systems have a certain archaic charm.

We look up and the rain clouds have parted. There are stars to be seen ! Our walk from the car to the theatre for the evening performance completed under Mediterranean skies.

When we head back to the car afterwards the streets are wet. That parting in the clouds must have lasted for all of half an hour before the rain returned. The owner of the Italian restaurant remains hopeful that al fresco dining will become a February thing. I'm not sure that even the students are other worldly enough to try sitting outside at this time of the year.

We order an Indian take away. Take aways here are designed for the mega healthy  student appetite. One portion would happily have satisfied both of us. We briefly toy with the idea of eating in the restaurant but it's full, the noise levels are stratospherically  high and the average age of the diners is somewhere well south of twenty - all of whom are conducting conversations with friends six tables away.

A most un-Presbyterian message projected onto the wall of the old town hall.

'The Fonts' favourite store in town is having a sale. Some sales are understated affairs. This is a particularly understated affair.

Life in these northerly parts remains quiet.

Some French history I'd never heard of :https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2797/ball-of-the-burning-men/

All over the news but I'm not sure what to make of this. It seems rather alarming :https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/01/ai-agents-now-have-their-own-reddit-style-social-network-and-its-getting-weird-fast/

Lab grown meat :https://sentientmedia.org/how-to-explain-lab-grown-meat/

More on Ireland :https://www.thefitzwilliam.com/p/most-irish-foreign-aid-never-leaves

Our local Professor of International Relations remains unhappy :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/no-the-guardrails-are-not-holding

An opinion .

 " It's a strange combination :  intelligence without knowledge ". The former Prime Minister of Eire has published a book 'Speaking my mind' about his time in office. His views on the current American President are some of the most interesting  we've read. Another piece of the psychological jigsaw ?

A very February morning on the beach. For once it's not raining. The church elder and his wife see us and wave. They think January was the wettest month they've ever known. Probably twenty runners pass us by - all female students. Males , it seems, do not do Monday mornings.

Not a light on in the hugely expensive apartment block behind the R&A clubhouse. Many of the owners jet in for two weeks golf in July and then jet off again. For much of the year it stands empty. The duplex  apartment under the cupola enjoys views across the first and last tees and is said to be the most expensive in Scotland.

Up the hill the Catholic chaplaincy is having a major refurbishment. Piles of 1950's era cupboards are piled up outside the front door. The renovation is long overdue. I'm glad to see that central heating is being installed. Someone in the church hierachy seems to have decided that piety and warmth can go together. Generations of students to come will thank them.

The ongoing restoration of the fountain seems to have restarted after an extended  Christmas pause. Workmen are busy putting up yet more fencing this morning.

This is beautiful but so is the estimated price :https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2026/master-works-on-paper-from-five-centuries/young-lion-resting

Couldn't work out why one of these caught my attention in town. Looking at pictures back at home I can see that the rear wheel is 'unique' in not having any spokes - which is pretty cool particularly if you're twenty years old and can still enjoy such things :https://www.vergemotorcycles.com/uk_en/

Scottish food :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ3GjAe6ku4

How interesting . What use will it be put to?:https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/unsinkable-metal-tubes-superhydrophobic-surfaces-691642/

Portugese politics :https://cepseu.substack.com/p/in-portugal-a-48-year-long-dictatorship

A smile that's infectious.

It remains miserably wet although not as cold as it has been. In weather like this the students, sensibly, opt to lie in. Parking this morning is a doddle. The days are also getting longer. By eight am the daylight has almost started. 

The Lemon 'Love'  Sponge reappears in the bakers window. Perhaps a homewards bound church goer will pick it up after the morning service ?

An old fashioned Tallow Soap display at the farm shop. Lavender Honey and Wildflower and Barley are among the scents on offer. These will be popular with the locals.

Dancing Westie shortbread tins in the souvenir shop nest to Starbucks.  If I had to buy a tin of shortbread this would be the one I'd opt for. The souvenir shops are a constant source of surprise. Who dreams these things up ?

Have started to read this. It's had  good reviews:https://www.charlesglass.net/a-history-of-modern-syria-the-people-at-the-heart-of-their-own-story/ A young Down Syndrome lady does the super early morning shift at the booksellers. She has a cheerfully efficient air and has a smile that's infectious.

Shakespeare never grows old. The most brilliant thing seen this week ( and possibly this year so far ). The Irish accent helps :https://substack.com/@augmentedman/note/c-203839810

The Maxwell Quartet were in town to give a concert and then spent Saturday doing  'Master Class' sessions with the students. This little piece was never so beautifully played :https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OxxNPuFuMMM

Channeling our Quiet Eye:https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/quiet-eye-training/

What is going on in China ? :https://trackingpeoplesdaily.substack.com/p/pla-daily-editorial-on-purge-of-zhang

How bakers cope with 3am shifts :https://cakezine.substack.com/p/how-bakers-survive-winter-mornings

Ready for action

That's January pretty much done and dusted. Where did the time go ? To say it went by quickly would be an understatement. Between Greenland, Epstein, Iran, Minneapolis, shutdown, Ukraine, more Epstein, threatening Canada and  the end of NATO there's been enough drama to fill a whole year. Here in sleepy St Andrews the arrival of heart shaped 'Love' biscuits in the bakers adds our own touch of excitement to a hectic month. 

The bakers window also features a lemon sponge with 'Love' written in pink lettering, some triple layer ' I love you' chocolate sponges and half a dozen chocolate coated marzipan strawberries. In the far corner three fudge doughnuts in the shape of a heart can be seen. Ideal sustenance for the hungry lover rushing off to anatomy 101. In a town where nothing ever happens the changing seasons seasons provide all the excitement you need.

The local white van men are unimpressed by the bakers fancy offerings. They're parked up en masse outside Greggs for their pre-work coffees and sausage rolls. You can tell the ex-military among them. They reverse in so that they're ready to drive off into action at a moments notice. A number of drivers have moved the no parking bollards and placed them in front of their vans. They'll put them back when they go. That says everything you need to know about Scots psychology.

There are lights on in some of the lecture theatres but the rain ( which has been constant for the last week and looks as if it's here for most of next week too ) seems to be deterring both students and tourists.

The person that puts out the memorial flowers has already been busy. A young thrush pauses and watches us wander by.  This is, as you can perhaps tell, a quiet time of the year.

How many people are there ?:https://davidoks.blog/p/a-lot-of-population-numbers-are-fake

More food for thought :https://novum.substack.com/p/first-contact-with-america

I think this is probably a good thing. If you like snakes you might disagree :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/cannibalism-among-snakes-is-far-more-widespread-than-previously-thought-180988078/

What will they think of next ? :https://thedebrief.org/beyond-mres-the-u-s-army-is-testing-3d-printed-food-for-the-battlefield/

That phones for kids thing again :https://substack.com/home/post/p-186087964

The Guardian reviews a film. Guess one star is better than none  :https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/30/melania-review-trump-film-is-a-gilded-trash-remake-of-the-zone-of-interest

A fun night.

'Meet the Buchanans' was a delight. We thought it might be a Scottish remake of that Sacha Cohen movie Borat but wasn't. The director deftly allowed the viewer to make up their own mind about the millionaire landowners. The two lucid American ladies, the knowledgeable Scottish tartan weaver, the skilled young stone mason and the emotional Mexican tequila maker ( with a better claim to the title than the new incumbent ) were all figures out of Thackeray. The dogs of the family formed a Greek chorus with their own cynical and sometimes bored view of events and came off as the stars of the show. It would have been so easy to satirize or parody the pretentiousness but the whole thing was carried off with a gentle grace and kindness. The co-director was witty and answered questions afterwards with a disarming charm. We enjoyed ourselves. A wet Scottish January evening well spent.

At the scene of the robbery there's little sign of the excitement that has recently taken place. Closer examination shows that the glass on a side door has been replaced. Todays local paper should give us an indication of how the police ' are proceeding with their enquiries '.

The Six Nations rugby championship now being advertised. Some of the bars are already reserving tables for the Scotland matches. Snack menus from £18 a head are being offered. One enterprising landlord has already sold out and is no longer taking reservations. When it comes to the important things in life like rugby the students prepare well in advance.

If the pre-school selection in the bookstore window is anything to go by there can be no doubting where you are.

The bakers side window is now offering a range of Valentines chocolate boxes. Inside there's no sign yet of Valentines biscuits. These will probably wait until the last of the Burns Night variety have been sold.

This being practised in chapel this morning. Modern but strangely peaceful :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NWd0D1j_YE&list=RD0NWd0D1j_YE&start_radio=1

More on Penguins. 0% in Greenland ( it's the wrong end of the globe) :https://x.com/theepicmap/status/2016583700608405584

Nothing new in these differences ? :https://www.sciencenorway.no/children-and-adolescents-digital-teknologi-gender-and-society/girls-and-boys-live-different-digital-lives-according-to-researchers/2606377

Greenland is a treasure trove :https://theconversation.com/greenland-is-rich-in-natural-resources-a-geologist-explains-why-273022

The East German film and a robbery.

Last night we go to a screening of an East German movie shot in Bulgaria in 1953. The man at the box office tells us it's a Stalinist-era classic. " It stars Konrad Wolf " said in a tone of voice that implies we should know who he is. Afterwards a professor from the University of Leipzig  gives a brief over view of the finer points of the script. This is what you might call 'intense' and extremely detailed. The sell out audience of nineteen year olds and German faculty sat spell bound. Tonight we are going to a screening of 'Meet the Buchanans ' which may be less worthy but will hopefully be lighter. We're expecting it to be one of those fly on the wall critiques of pretentiousness :https://www.screen.scot/film-in-scotland/made-in-scotland/film/meet-the-buchanans . We've taken the decision that at least twice a week ( weather permitting )  we will go to one of the events that take place in the quieter fringes of this small university town. If you're going to retire to a place you might as well make use of what's on offer.

After a week of constant rain the fields on the way out to the heron pond are decidedly water logged.

Pot plants on sale outside the delicatessen. Students are big buyers of pot plants. Most of the plants won't make it to the end of the semester.

Students on the beach this morning. They are standing in a circle laughing. They're there when we arrive and in the same place when we leave. 

Angus goes for a haircut. The usual Turkish gentleman who communicates with me monosyllabically isn't there. Another, younger gentleman has taken his place. The standard instruction ' Not too short ' is given - and ignored.  Since I was last there they've installed small television screens in front of each chair. These play 'Scenes of Turkey ' on loop. I enjoy a trip down the Bosphorous on a ferry before the camera shifts suddenly and biliously to wide angle drone shots of the beach at Bodrum.

There has been a robbery. The golf club maker on the road between the cashmere shop and the good restaurant has been burgled. The local paper tells us the perpetrators were a 'professional gang who fled the scene in a black Range Rover' :https://scottishgolfnoticeboard.com/Home/NewsDetails?newsid=1041  The older villagers view this as another sign that the world is descending into chaos. Angus wonders how many golf clubs can be stolen and loaded into the back of a Range Rover in the space of five minutes. Four or five sets at most ? This sounds less like the work of a Medellin drug cartel setting up their base here and more like some opportunistic thievery by some lads from Dundee with plans to 'shift them' from the car park of their local bar.

Some trumpet music :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEQ7Q0YyQqE&list=RDjEQ7Q0YyQqE&start_radio=1

'The' place for lobster rolls  in Milan. Somewhat bizarrely Milan is big on lobster rolls :https://louisvuitton.ristorantedav.com/en/homepage/

Penguins:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/rockhopper-penguins-athleticism-makes-them-daredevils-animal-world-will-warming-climate-slow-them-down-180987846/

This seems sensible :https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/no-china-doesnt-plan-1000-years-ahead

One in five

A super brief blog this morning. All went well with the shingles shot .... initially .... but by mid afternoon the aches and tiredness couldn't be ignored.  I tried watching a mindless Netflix series about Los Angeles policemen but even a regular dose of pyrotechnics and an alarming number of murders per episode couldn't keep me awake. It is a long, long time since I've slept for sixteen hours without a break. A quick reading of the vaccines information leaflet warns that 'extreme tiredness and aching limbs' are a very common side effect impacting more than 'one in five'.

This weeks storms have torn the fishermens lobster creels and buoys from their moorings. The village dog walkers have piled them up on the foreshore in readiness for someone to come and retrieve them

The first tour group of the year spotted. From their dress style we think they must be Spanish. What must the poor things be thinking ? At eight am on a damp January morning the town isn't exactly humming.

Wheelie bags with Edinburgh airline luggage tags a sure sign of the returning student.  This one spotted outside Tesco is a late arrival.

We stop to admire the flowers in the window of the house that always has a table covered in essays waiting to be read and marked. 

The 1950's :https://www.coolidgereview.com/articles/1950s-mirage-cochrane

Correctives:https://x.com/CJFerguson1111/status/2015859422417870858

Brave young woman to go here :https://x.com/sophfuji/status/2015903225715818942?s=20

Life as an Uber driver :https://stevescherer.substack.com/p/my-journey-from-foreign-correspondent

An insight into gratuitous insults :https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/how-canada-became-an-enemy

Spotted in a shop window in town.

The Health Centre was not busy. A hand written sign by the entrance told me flu and shingles shots were being dispensed in the room next door to the cafeteria on the first floor. After giving my name to a serious man at a desk in a small windowless cubicle a nurse met me and took me for my jab. I was in and out before 'The Font' had found a parking space. A second shot is required in nine months time. They'll send me a letter to let me know when. " Don't worry if they give you a date when you're on holiday. We can easily rearrange it " says the nurse jauntily. The NHS has worked like a charm.

 Spotted in a shop window in town. The first Scotland World Cup merchandise.

I think these bags must be made in China. The usual 'Nae Scotland ! Nae Party ! ' motto has been re-rendered as an altogether less demonstrably Scots ' No Scotland. No Party '. It loses something in translation. By the end of the summer residents of North America may have heard this cultural gem so often they'll know the updated words by heart :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvi0GtQCEcQ

Burns products still for sale in the bakers. The angel cake in the shape of the poets cottage was very good. Light and made non-cloying by the mild bitterness of the coffee flavoured roof.

The weather still wet and miserable. The wind has picked up and the rain is heavy. This morning there's no sign of any students. I'm guessing that attendance at  9 am lectures in weather like this is poor. Possibly exceedingly poor.

Can you take hot food onto a plane ? I thought Health and Safety regs would stop anything walking down the aisle with hot food or liquids. Apart from that thought this list of do's and dont's was fun :https://thecontender.substack.com/p/rules-for-modern-life

Our old university Chancellor died and a new one is to be elected. Why is it all of the four candidates are so good ? Why can't we find politicians with CV's like these ? Being St Andrews there is a strong National Security bias. We know one of these people reasonably well and are on nodding terms with two others. Both of us are in agreement which one we'll vote for :https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/about/governance/key-officials/chancellor/  Considering the UK is considered to be a moribund class ridden society it is a joy to see that three of them were 'first-in-family' to go to university.

Penguins:https://x.com/HumanityChad/status/2015411950071783457

The weather is so bad we've booked here for a few days in a months time. Let's hope there's some sunshine :https://hotel.macam.pt/

In Lisbon this little shop is worth a visit :https://www.avidaportuguesa.com/

Auld Lang Syne Edinburgh style :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-5tV-qI3Iw&list=RDo-5tV-qI3Iw&start_radio=1  Look carefully at the end and you'll see one of the bandsmen is retiring.

They're all back.

It's not as windy today but it remains grey with lots of low scudding cloud and some heavy rain thrown into the mix. We see the first snowdrops in the woodland. 

Yesterday two large skate carcasses were washed onto the shore . The Jack Russells found their odour to be 'intriguing'. Puppy discovered that endearing trick of rolling on her back on the rotting flesh. The farmers wife had some difficulty coaxing her away. Overnight the tide has dragged the fish back out to sea. The farmers wife is delighted. She is growing increasingly nervous about the two boys trip to the US. The eldest starts the new semester at Edinburgh today which occasions her ever so slightly wistful comment " They grow up so quickly ".

In town we pass some students doing something 'studenty' over the spot where Patrick Hamilton was martyred. Three of them seem to watching a fourth do push-ups. We pass quickly by. When it comes to student antics it's best not to ask.

Would this attract you into a restaurant ?

We buy a baguette from the bakers.  The lady behind the counter doesn't so much wrap the baguette as carefully embalm it. Rubber bands are carefully placed over either end of the three layers of wrapping paper.  'The Font' observes that if a French baker was to wrap a baguette with this much time and  care the country would come to a grinding halt.

Todays must read. Trips to China are always interesting :https://www.willsolfiac.com/p/notes-on-chinas-alternative-modernity

The Beatles at their best :https://x.com/historyinmemes/status/2015094995674439955

Things that surprise :https://x.com/curatorWH/status/2009657352274981354

This maybe designed to shock. I'm not sure the author is right saying DJT has an affinity for Scotland. If so he shows it in unusual ways. I'm also not at all sure about the premise or the conclusions about 'exceptionalsim'  but the Pimlico Journal is always thought provoking :https://www.pimlicojournal.co.uk/p/americas-turkish-future

We shall go to this. The photos don't do it justice . People still celebrate the aconites coming into flower 900 years after Queens Ermengarde's death - which may say something about the deep rooted traditions around here :https://www.whatsonfife.co.uk/news/2026/01/19/mystery-of-medieval-queens-remains-revealed-in-new-guided-tours-at-balmerino-abbey/

Burns Night contrasts.

Burns night. The university event a measured affair. Black tie and best sporrans for the men and evening dresses with tartan sashes for the women. The Haggis addressed by a local Earl with an accent straight out of central casting. The attendees of an age where their wives tell them to be careful how much they drink and eat. A choir of a dozen or so students sing as if they are professionals and are applauded accordingly. Auld Lang Syne heard for the second time in a month.  By contrast the village celebrations are an altogether livelier event.  Arran sweaters and  cheerful  'party wear' alongside bagpipes and the village teenage 'band'.  86 people had paid for the meal but 97 showed up. This, the village secretary grumpily informs me, required some last minute seating plan re-arrangement. More arrived for the dancing. Labradors and Jack Russells pretend to sleep but keep an eagle eye open for dropped sausage rolls. This year Haggis Wellington with lamb loin was tried out by the ladies in the kitchen. They were told - perhaps diplomatically - that this was 'wonderful'. For the local teenagers the upcoming World Cup is now the only topic of conversation.

The latest copy of Private Eye has Greenland on the cover. No disrespect to any Greenlanders reading this blog but over the last 70 years I've probably spent ten seconds - thirty at most - thinking about the place. Now it seems people in DC have sleepless nights worrying the Russians and Chinese are about to swarm all over it . 

Here the weather has reverted to form. Cold, wet and exceedingly windy. 

As we walk back to the car we discuss the weather and recent events in Minneapolis. I went there on business one January in the mid-eighties to give a talk to a company called IDS. Forty years on I can still remember the walk back from the clients office to my hotel was the coldest I've ever been with the possible  exception of a later trip to Yakutia which was even colder and where I thought my ears had frozen off. I've watched the latest video footage but have advised 'The Font' not to.

The butcher has 'proper' Haggis for sale. Some folks think real sheep gut makes all the difference to the taste and texture.

The cafe by the cathedral is open and serving breakfast to a smattering of early rising young couples who are getting reacquainted after the Christmas break. Lectures start again tomorrow.

'Hangry' :https://theconversation.com/why-do-some-people-get-hangry-more-quickly-than-others-273617

This isn't helpful:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/play-your-way-sane/202512/screen-time-might-be-shrinking-your-brain

If we were 35 years younger we might do this. The wine is produced locally which leaves me with much to ponder :https://www.expeditions-ducret.com/

This was interesting . Has life expectancy really fallen ?:https://jenka.substack.com/p/the-greatest-life-extension-technology-of-all-time-ea1d322fc5d

Korea and dogs :https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/business/companies/20260122/fate-of-half-million-dogs-unclear-as-dog-meat-ban-nears

A fellow Scot at Stanford ( although I don't agree with him on many things ) talks at Davos. He's always entertaining :https://youtu.be/nHsh38hCEfc?t=3247

The wanderers return

Thank you all for our comments on the shingles vaccine. I shall go along to the Health Centre on Monday for my jab. 

The storm that has been pounding us for the last three days and nights relents. This morning we're greeted by blue skies and some weak sunshine but more ( possibly much more ) heavy rain is expected by mid-morning. The town dog walkers are out in force enjoying this wind and rain free interlude.

Overnight the last of the students have returned and parking has become decidedly more difficult. The secret is to secure a spot before the two minutes to nine lecture rush takes place. With the students back there's also an influx of ageing cars. One of the neighbouring rugby lads has a red Golf that has a rear seat that's home to half a dozen  rugby balls , crumpled medical text books and a substantial number of crushed lager cans. The car looks as though a Big Foot is living in it. 

'The bonniest bird upon the bush had ne'er a lighter heart than she . 'A student  and her pianist practising this morning in readiness for tonights Burns festivities. We pause in the warmth of the chapel to listen :https://youtu.be/ZQ37eTtSQug?list=RDZQ37eTtSQug&t=46 What greater luxury can there be than being a private audience of two ? In its day this tale of seduction must have been decidedly saucy.

For Christmas we sent  twelve 'Beautiful Scotland' calendars to the Arizonans we met on the long dark sea voyage to the north of Norway. We have received twelve 'Beautiful Arizona' calendars in return. This may necessitate a trip to the charity shop with eleven of them. There is a limit to how many calendars you can use. Arizonan calendars are big on pictures of cactii.

The skies are busy with military aircraft. Denmark, our neighbour, is just across the water in one direction. Iceland in the other. The owner of Archie the arthritic labrador is knowledgeable about such things ( her husband used to be in the RAF ). She  says that 90 aircraft will be on exercise today. We all stand and watch as three of those large cargo planes with contra-rotating propellors come buzzing across the bay. They sound like hornets. 

Gorilla viewing glasses :https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristatorres/14-wildly-fascinating-facts-reddit

Do these not exist in the US ? :https://youtu.be/vCW7hKuq71I?t=338

This I thought was a good take by a professor at Kings in London :https://tldrussia.substack.com/p/tldrussia-relaunch-volume-3

Something about the Netherlands I didn't know but is strangely reassuring :https://x.com/DefensieMin/status/2014690226459849092

Mexico :https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/middle-class-mexico-poverty/

Those 'comments' continue to generate anger :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS_Dl33mG5I