Our martial land.

The large military helicopters seem to have gone but the fighter jets continue to fly in and out of the airbase on the other side of the estuary. They come in over the sea with their noses high and then with a roar of afterburners shoot up into the sky. They do this over and over and over. Our quiet little corner of the world suddenly seems to have become very martial. This morning the weather is bright but there's a cold 60 mph wind blowing in from the west. Heavy rain is forecast. You'd think the strong winds might deter the fliers but they don't.

The students reaction to events in the mid-east has been muted. Usually they feel passionately about world events. So far these are the only posters we've seen about Iran.

The chocolate shop in town is now focused on Easter Eggs. I pop in to see if they have any Dubai chocolate. They don't. They have pistachio and raspberry creams but the shop assistant kindly informs me that they're not not the same thing. 

At five minutes to nine the empty streets in town suddenly fill with thousands of students heading off to lectures. Five minutes later the streets are completely deserted again. The suddenness of this ebb and flow is borderline eerie.

Starbucks dog of the day. The dog clearly thinks the cup of cream foam is taking an inordinately long time to arrive. He looks as I feel after spending time with the insurance company.

The university gardeners have planted out the flower beds just in time for teenage frisbee players to leap all over them.

Life up here on the North Sea coast in March is quiet and predictable. Perhaps it's a sign of advancing years when orderliness becomes a virtue. The six am BBC radio Scotland news broadcast informs us that forecasters are saying the price of oil might hit $200 a barrel. There is a quiet recognition that the law of unintended consequences is in play. The Chicago man has a salutary update this morning :https://x.com/ProfessorPape/status/2031763552239817163

Some Scottish music with an attentive dog :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpzYOvfmhV8&list=RDEMP_mdAbR9HfgSd2a7YFIBjg&index=25

Girl Guides know how to sell cookies :https://www.nj.com/food/2026/03/girl-scout-troop-sets-up-shop-at-weed-dispensary-cookies-are-in-high-demand.html

Talented bees :https://www.sciencealert.com/we-finally-know-how-bumblebee-queens-can-survive-underwater-for-days

The origins of sign language :https://theconversation.com/the-deaf-blacksmith-who-married-in-1576-and-the-history-of-sign-as-a-legal-language-276686

Demographic visual :https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-85-of-babies-in-2026-will-be-born-in-asia-and-africa/

Entertaining especially the insight into how German speakers used to outnumber English speakers 5 to 1 :https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/if-it-wasnt-for-us-youd-all-be-speaking