A gap in the clouds

The snow has gone but the wind has picked up. We can hear the sea pounding angrily against the shore as we leave the house. The cormorants are enjoying themselves leaping off the jagged rocks into the surf in search of breakfast. They ignore us.

Half an hour later the sun is up and the weather has improved. We use the gap in the clouds to pop into town for a walk. Heavy sleet is expected this afternoon. We lay in an extra stock of milk and bread just in case we get cut off. 30 miles north of here they've had more than a foot of snow overnight. Best to be prepared.

There are workmen beavering away everywhere. The new semester starts on the 25th and this is the time when the university maintenance department are busy getting the place ship shape before 'they' return. 

Some of the university buildings are having solar panels installed. This requires huge swathes of scaffolding to be erected. Oddly, in the buildings where there's scaffolding, there's not a soul to be seen. Go figure ! 

We pass by one of those sad little memorials. Not every 17 year old  leaves home with equanimity.  There's something doubly poignant about a simple bunch of roses with the plant food sachet still attached. Unfussy memory. Over the span of 30 years the sapling has grown into a sizeable tree.

This book is the weight of a couple of  bricks but is full of interesting facts although it's probably means more to a New Yorker.

A very Danish hotel at an affordable price:https://www.brondumshotel.com/

Vaccinations hidden benefits :https://www.insidehook.com/longevity/vaccines-side-benefits-reduce-dementia-risk

Sweeteners :https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/01/06/neither-heroes-nor-villains-uncomfortable-truth-about-artificial-sweeteners-49900

A new AI induced moral quandry. Is this a good idea ? :https://theconversation.com/should-ai-be-allowed-to-resurrect-the-dead-272643

This essay, we're told over dinner, is one of the most insightful things about AI ever written :https://docs.google.com/document/d/19-ajYTp2hwOW9WcirY9OIoSvMdfyivup8LMI92PkS20/edit?tab=t.0