On the radar by Easter ?

First Greenland then Iceland :https://www.politico.eu/article/iceland-us-ambassador-billy-long-donald-trump-52nd-state/ . At this rate Scotland will be humming Yankee Doodle and driving on the right  by Easter. 

Down to Edinburgh on the train to see the eye surgeon for the thrice yearly check-up. He's on time and in a jocular mood. Angus wonders why surgeons all wear those padded sleeveless gilets ? Does wearing one signal he's too important to wear a suit ? This morning the eye man is wearing a padded example of the genre in a memorable shade of red with a small 'logo' on the left hand side. After peering into my eyes and having read the eye chart aloud twice to his satisfaction we agree to meet again in four months. I then head off to join 'The Font' at the Society of Scottish Artists exhibition .

The exhibition is showing works by their young graduates. Much of the art is a little too modern for our staid tastes but a few are cleverly executed. This one looks as though someone has shattered the glass.

We decide that Dry January should take a night off. Sobriety will resume again tomorrow. There's a new wine bar on Thistle Street. It has a good ( and reasonably priced ) selection, the service is efficient , you can hear yourself speak ( a factor that seems to become ever more attractive with each passing year ) and it is heated so that it is enticingly ( but not overpoweringly ) warm. It is also straight across the road from the fish restaurant which has become our default dinner venue.

Edinburgh without the crowds is looking at its best. Off season pricing means we try a hotel that is usually priced on the wrong side of  'exorbitant'. The rooms are on sale at a huge January discount. I'd reckon it's barely a third full. 

We find a roof top bar for a night cap. It has a view over St. Andrew Square. 'The Font' thinks the decor is louche in a 1950's Fellini's Rome type of way. It's the sort of decor that appeals to the 1%. A lampshade tilting at an annoyingly jaunty angle is surreptitiously straightened. I wonder if this behaviour  is OCDish but am told it isn't.  We are the only customers. 'The Font' asks for something exotic and gets a drink that the barman calls a 'Last Word'. This is made with green Chartreuse and a variety of other ingredients that are difficult to place. Oddly, for Scotland in the winter, the glass is brimming over with ice.

This morning after buying some fresh pasta from Valvona's we shall head fifty minutes back north on the train.

French humour. Quote of the day :https://x.com/franceintheus/status/2011834406475088202

They survive in the Highlands but I've never seen one. A cousin in Killin claims to catch a glimpse of them at least once a month:https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260112-rare-images-of-europes-ghost-cat

Groceries in New York are expensive for unusual reasons :https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/nyc-grocery-cost-explained

Raise this topic at a dinner party and then stand well back :https://www.aporiamagazine.com/p/why-are-intelligent-people-more-liberal

Moscow changes the syllabus :https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/01/13/russia-plans-new-economics-textbook-reviving-stalin-era-ideas-a91666

" How will the miracle happen today ?" .This writer remains positive amid the noise :https://kevinkelly.substack.com/p/how-will-the-miracle-happen-today