An absolutely wonderful Scots Adventure .: Congressional tourists, a limestone surprise and a busy farmhouse.

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Congressional tourists, a limestone surprise and a busy farmhouse.

Scotlands tourism is enjoying an Easter boost. The great and the good are in Edinburgh. Not everyone approves: :https://www.tmz.com/2026/04/01/taxpayers-sponsor-congress-scotland-vacation/?adid=social-tw

Janan Ganesh in the Financial Times is always worth reading. This morning his column contains a psychological take on the man in the White House. The opening paragraph sets the tone .

The American boyfriend of the farmers daughter has arrived for Easter. The two of them travelled up from Oxford yesterday and were met at the airport by the farmers wife. The Range Rover was due to be washed for the occasion but the youngest son - who is now on his Easter school holidays - never got round to it. The farmers wife seems satisfied with the guest. He's apparently 'very tall , very polite and has short hair and an American accent'. The dogs have accepted him which is a major plus. I'm guessing the poor lad is absolutely petrified . The farmer has a certain Presbyterian dourness at the best of times. What he must be like with his daughters 'boyfriend' doesn't bear thinking about.

Down on the beach three metal detectorists are beavering away. Every so often we pass a small pile of disturbed sand where they've dug down to find something. What is it they unearth ? Small change ? Bottle caps ? Or, do they unearth unexpected treasures from far away ?

In the other direction, away from the sun, the beach is quite quite empty. The shoreline here reminds me of Kiawah on the South Carolina coast but without the people ... or the warmth.

Back out in the village the municipal archaeologist is examining the remains of the standing stone the farmer recently unearthed. Its now been dragged up to a corner of the field up by the farm track where it can't get in the way of the harvesting.

Everything around here is either sandstone or whinstone . However, this rock is limestone. Pure white sandstone. If it was a standing stone it would have stood out like a lightning bolt in the landscape . The original colour and texture can be seen in the sections of the rock that have broken in two.