Acts of congress.

The wee house in town is full of first footing neighbours. Some Scottish New Year traditions remain robust. Champagne and canapes are consumed at a healthy rate. One lady is ' keeping busy' by writing a thesis on the architecture of Roman Bologna. She is 82. Her husband has no interest in her studies but enjoys heading off in their little Citroen to Italy for four months of the year. They stay in a monastery which is cheap but not luxurious. The food there is good and the wine, he informs me, better. They take their own pillows as the Italian ones are too soft and give them a 'crick in the neck'. They do not consider themselves to be 'retired '.

All of our neighbours are at an age where they hold exceedingly strong  curmudgeonly views about everything. This ranges from home schooling to the state of the pavements. The recently retired Church of Scotland Minister is having a new flat roof kitchen extension built to the side of his house. He has, we all agree, a grand view over the cathedral from his kitchen sink. He's annoyed because the builders leave their ladders outside at night and students  ( being students ) can't resist climbing up an unattended ladder. " I don't mind them climbing onto the roof so much as the fact that they and their lassies are forever engaged in noisy acts of congress right outside my study ". He's reported this to the university authorities but they've told him that they're not sure what they can do . They suggest the builders put the ladders under lock and key . They also suggest he write his sermons somewhere else. 'The Font' wonders if some carefully positioned  planters with roses or yuccas might do the trick.

By four in the afternoon it's getting dark and the sports bar that has opened up in the old cinema is doing a roaring trade. French holidaymakers who have booked into hotels for three nights are now at the bored to distraction stage of their celebrations. They flock to the bright lights of this ESPN and beer on tap haven.  Messrs. Timberlake and Woods must be raking it in.

The weather on New Years Day has remained glorious. Last year there were gale force winds and torrential rain.

This year the sky has an almost Caribbean blue depth to it.

 The supermarkets are open and busy. The Tesco on the shopping street has the unusual reputation of being the most expensive in the whole of the UK.

Germany and fax machines :https://www.dw.com/en/germany-struggles-to-go-digital-stuck-in-analog-era-fax-machines-paperwork-bureaucracy/a-75206481

Dogs:https://www.sciencealert.com/we-may-be-misreading-our-dogs-emotions-in-surprising-ways

A florist in Sheffield has a great website :https://www.swallowsanddamsons.com/

This view of San Francisco was amusing :https://danwang.co/2025-letter/