Blue sky.

Bad Bunny makes it into the Scottish morning news broadcast. This is the second time we've heard of him in the last six months. A well known critic has said they couldn't understand a word he said and that the performance was ' an affront to the greatness of America ! '  A young skier by the name of Hunter Hess has also faced the well known critics ire.

Here on the Scottish coast we wake to a dry Monday morning. Even better there are gaps in the cloud and we can see patches of blue sky. Whoever thought that climate change would make Scottish winters wetter ? The farmer tells us, as he tells us every year, that this is the wettest it's ever been. This year he could be right.

Thousands and thousands of gulls lining the seashore . The overnight tides must have brought in something really good to feast on.

A group of dog owners have found a dead seal pup on the beach. They warn others to steer well clear of it. Labradors seem particularly intrigued by the scent of seal. A large colony of seals live on the sandbars in the river estuary. The recent high tides and strong winds have swept some of the younger ones away. This one looks as if it's just fallen peacefully asleep. A beach warden will be down soon to bury it is the sand. 

Puddles on the golf course bear witness to how much rain and wind we've had over the last month. Longer days are bringing out visitors to the golf range. There must be all of 30 students there despite the early hour.

More posters for the upcoming university election appearing. 7,000 staff and alumni are registered to vote which must make this one of the more 'focused' electorates.  This woman candidate used to be our Ambassador to China and then to the UN. I'm again left to wonder why we can't find and elect politicians of this calibre. Interestingly none of the candidates use their titles in this fiercely egalatarian part of the world. We know who we'll both vote for but it will be a hard decision.

Dreams by country :https://substack.com/@thebagatelles?

A bumper year for pomegranates :https://pajhwok.com/2026/01/30/nearly-23000-tons-of-pomegranates-exported-to-foreign-markets-this-year/

How legible is your writing ? :https://substack.com/home/post/p-185984694

Cairo as an affirmation of life :https://substack.com/home/post/p-185850526

A story stumbled across  in a London  blog on art history :https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/news-events/blogs/so-lonely-strange-country-leopold-ettlinger-scholar-exile

Is a drawing of a foot worth this much  ? :https://x.com/arthistorynews/status/2019471451473027072