Racing towards springtime.

The six am BBC news broadcast reminds us what a blessing it is to live in an unexciting part of the world. Events in Ukraine, Iran and Mexico head the list with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor relegated to fourth place. It seems his security team found him overbearingly arrogant and gave him a code name that was brief and to the point. The BBC deals with this in best maiden aunt fashion by informing listeners that the word begins with the letter 'C'. This is rather racy for the BBC. The US ambassador to Israel has also generated  a little heat by suggesting the boundaries of the middle east could be redrawn. Ramadan wasn't, perhaps, the most diplomatic time for him to voice these views.

We are off to Portugal tomorrow. Here in St Andrews, after a month of unrelenting gales, the weather has become bright and sunny. Over the next week it will, quite possibly, be milder  here than in Lisbon.  Angus is surprised that check-in time at the fancy hotel is 4 in the afternoon. I thought 3 was pretty much standard. Hotel prices seem to get ever higher and the standard of service ever lower.

Three lads are sitting at an outside table having their morning caffeine infusion and discussing Scotlands win ( their second ) in the six nations rugby tournament. After the long winter it is good to see the streets filling up again.  If you overlook the fact that the lads are all wearing hoodies to ward off the cold wind this could ( almost ) be a Parisian street scene. 'The Font' also wonders how many Parisians start their day with a bacon roll.

The whippet with the red coat is off for its morning walk. Whippets seem popular as pets in these parts. Last week we saw one whippet wearing no fewer that three  coats. They must feel - and suffer - from the North Sea cold. 

Apart from Australians ( and possibly Kiwis ) how many overseas students will know what Marmite is ?

Awareness update :https://x.com/ProfessorPape/status/2025214568050446627

Drving from Lagos to Calabar :https://www.1914reader.com/p/guest-post-a-meditation-on-the-road

A political funeral :https://apnews.com/article/zambia-burial-dispute-rival-presidents-bewitched-e8ee0535aaf63f966c2087f52953d0dc

Oman has changed :https://x.com/WillManidis/status/2024489454023405861

Evolving killer mushrooms come to California :https://www.sciencealert.com/californias-death-cap-mushrooms-are-making-new-compounds-scientists-discover

Released 30 years ago this week :https://youtu.be/aGSKrC7dGcY?t=25