Lobster fishermen and a remarkable howl.

Here in the UK a Cambridge Professor, who 'amplified' his CV, has taken his life. There's something rather tragic and unedifying in the public hounding of a deeply troubled figure. It's a sad story where entitlement and racism mix and neither the university nor the media who hounded him come out of it looking good. The BBC breakfast bulletin informs us that there is confusion over claims that Washington wants to annex the Strait of Hormuz and have it become 'American territory'. Is this official policy or just a passing thought ? No one seems to know. Amidst the confusion I shall continue to take the little BMW down to the garage to have its petrol tank filled once a fortnight.

A beautiful calm morning. From the courtyard we can see a small fleet of lobster boats fishing thirty metres offshore where the sea plummets down into the cold, deep volcanic depths. This is where the best lobsters are found but the poor fishermen are forever snagging and losing their creel on the razor sharp rocks. These then wash up on the small beach where the local dogs find their scents intriguing.

Further along the coast towards town this mornings tide is the lowest we've ever seen . Holiday makers will have to walk across a good half mile of sand to reach the water.

By the golf course we meet what we think are three Dandy Dinmonts. Two of them are getting on in years and process slowly and silently. The third, leading from the front , is a younger dog called Peggy. She is far from quiet and every so often emits a fiercesome howl not unlike the Hound of the Baskervilles. It is a quite memorable sound for such a small ( and in Peggys case friendly ) dog. 

The bakers summer strawberry extravaganza seems to be rather less extravagant than it was.

In a neighbouring village  a rather fine Victorian pillar box. There can't be many of these old ones left. In fact there can't be many post boxes left at all. Letter delivery in the village seems to be down to three times a week as part of the latest cost cutting measures. How long before we're down to twice a week ?  The Postman has largely been replaced by couriers . There must be half a dozen courier companies who wend their way into the village every day.

A small clump of harebells happily blooming on the verge down by the village notice board. This must be a sheltered spot as all the others wild flowers down here have been decimated by the leaf stripping wind that blows up from the bay and is channeled along the lane.

Bikes starting to reappear. A few, very few, students are starting to return and get their apartments ready for the new semester which kicks off in three weeks.

An unusual Saturday morning musical choice on local radio :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkYcKfqFNmM

Animal welfare is seemingly better in richer countries :https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/will-factory-farming-fix-itself

The modern man :https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/men-also-want-it-all

Climate change :https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/environment/how-do-you-squeeze-climate-change-inside-human-brain

The world fertility rate is falling :https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jesusfv/Demographics.pdf