Schools go back this week.

I'm in the back garden dead heading the climbing roses when I hear the geese. At first I think they're going to fly along the coast but the sound draws closer as they dog leg over the rock stack before heading right over the house. They're low. In fact they're so low I can see their eyes. I'd always assumed goose honks were identical but each one has its own pitch and timbre. As they pass I can feel the air pressure change from the flapping of their wings. This is as primeval a sensation as you can get.

The wheat is harvested and bailed. The farmer and youngest son have now made a start on cutting the potato stems down to ground level. Tomorrow, with the stalks removed, they'll make a start on digging up the potatoes. Daughter is still in Jackson Hole with the tall American boy but is due back mid-week to start law school. The boys family own a ski resort. This to the famers Presbyterian ears sounds vaguely disreputable and on a par with owning an opium den. " What sort of business is that ?"  I'd hazard a guess that he'd find any suitors to be questionable but keep this thought to myself. He is however in a good mood. The price for the farmers wheat and potatoes are the best he's ever got and more than justify the cost of the new combine harvester. Crop yields down south have been hit by the arid conditions and prices for Scottish produce has risen sharply.

11C this morning. A high of 18C forecast for this afternoon. Heavy rain is expected in time for dinner. The London news broadcast tells us the national emergency service sent out a text warning everyone in Britain of the danger of wild fires. This is a very London centric view. Everyone in England and Wales got the emergency alert. In a wet and rainy Scotland we didn't.

A young gull wanders along the cobbles looking for food. It stops and peers plaintively at us in the hope we've brought it breakfast.

The town hotels are full of southerner families enjoying the last two weeks of the English school holidays. Here in Scotland the schools go back tomorrow . If your looking for signs that the year is racing on look no further.

Impressions of a Chinese tourist in Washington :https://themandarinfrontier.substack.com/p/three-visions-of-beijing-epliogue

Dining in Florence : https://emikodavies.substack.com/p/is-overtourism-killing-florences

Painting in Sardinia :https://corkscrewnomad.substack.com/p/watercolor-trip-through-sardinia