Beware the wind

By quarter to six the fields outside the wee house are busy with tractors. The farmer is planting potatoes. His 17 year old son is out there helping before he heads off to school. Two Jack Russells are happily asleep in the warm cabin of the lads tractor. The boy starts his baccalaureate exams on the 27th. You'd expect him to be panicking but he seems quite relaxed about them. The same can't be said for his mother. 

Tractors with trailers laden with seed potatoes rumble past chapel. I wonder how many university towns feel the passage of the seasons so strongly ?

The supermarket is big on tulips. They're on special offer at £3.22 a bunch. I'm guessing someone over- ordered.

Restaurants and hotels have started advertising for graduation. This is a bit of a shock. It only seems like yesterday the new year started. The lady who used to run the kitchen store by the bakers appears at the front door of the hotel on the seafront. She's given up the shop - people buy their kitchen ware on line these days and the struggle to turn a profit was a losing one - and is starting off in a new job as hotel manager. She will do well at this.

The wind this morning is strong enough to be whipping the sand across the beach. It stings the ankles. Instead we opt to walk across the golf course.

Another controversial royal visit . We know it's controversial because the newspaper headline tells us so. Everyone involved has sensibly decided to act as if these visits are solely and exclusively to do with celebrating 250 years of friendship. The royal couple don't appear to be having fun :https://www.dutchnews.nl/2026/04/dutch-king-and-queen-in-us-for-controversial-visit-to-trump/

Helium. More important than you thought  :https://www.construction-physics.com/p/helium-is-hard-to-replace

Breathing is yours and yours alone :https://www.psypost.org/your-breathing-pattern-is-as-unique-as-a-fingerprint/

Green jackets and Augusta :https://golf.com/news/history-strict-rules-masters-green-jacket/

Japanese trains :https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/the-secret-behind-japans-railways