A glut of cherry tomatoes.

The weather proving to be very Scottish. Bright sunshine one minute, desultory rain the next. The last of our visitors has gone so today will be spent with the cleaning ladies getting the wee house in town ready for the new Texan tenants who may, or may not, be arriving tomorrow.

More and more youngsters appearing in the cafes. Not yet a flood ( that will come on Saturday and Sunday with the arrival of the Freshers ) but definitely a strong trickle of fresh faces appearing. Everyone seems happy.

Twelve hardy bees on the lavender beds this morning. Above us flocks of honking geese continue to fly over on their way south. There's not as many of them this year but this is based on observation and without any scientific foundation.The starlings are now turning their attention to this seasons rose hips which seem particularly lustrous.

The souvenir shop windows offer visitors four major options:

1) Loch Ness monsters ( sometimes mixed up with green non-aquatic dinosaurs ) 

2) Smiling Highland Cows .

3) Westies ( or any dog that is white and fluffy ) or  Scotties wearing a tartan bunnet and a badge with the word 'Mac' printed on it. 

4) 'Plaid' Golf club covers for golfers wishing to demonstrate to their fellow country club members that they've been to ( but not necessarily played ) the home of golf.

5) Any ( or all of the above ) printed on a mug.

Scotland is a veritable super power in the trinket market. I'd wager that 90% of these products are made in Chengdu and the other 10% in Bangladesh. 

This morning the cheesemonger has gone overboard with its offering of exotic cherry tomatoes. It seems that the heatwave on the continent has impaired the output of large tomatoes ( anything above 35C and their yield plummets as the plants self regulate and drop their flowers to save water ) but boosted the small tomato crop. The things you learn on a start of day walk.

Overheard outside the music centre some Chinese music :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCthiLvVh7A

Scroll through to get the full experience. Our ancestors would marvel at our good luck :https://ordinaryabundance.com/

How long before a series based on this appears on Netflix ? :https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/alleged-dimethylmercury-incident

For anyone who has ever visited East Anglia its hard to believe there was a time when it wasn't flat :https://gizmodo.com/scientists-discover-a-hidden-supervolcano-buried-beneath-england-2000805057

Stonehenge :https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20260828-the-startling-1960s-theory-that-stonehenge-was-a-prehistoric-computer

Excitement

Razor clams stretching along the beach in  a strip ten metres wide and at least a mile long. Why the sea should throw them onto the sand in such large numbers is yet another of those mysteries that challenge the minds of early morning beach walkers. Dogs love the 'crunching' sound their paws make when they walk over them.

A very famous professional golfer out on the  links this morning. A man with his spaniel tries to take a surreptitious photograph.

Others are less surreptitious. Play backs up.

Back  in the village the cloud cover is beginning to give way to bright sunshine. It is remarkably warm so, for the moment, all thought of turning on the heating has gone. Still no sign of the spare part for the farmers hugely expensive ( and much prized ) cabbage machine.

There has been great excitement in town. Three Police cars were seen drawn up in a line near the church. It's rare to see one Police car let alone three. People stopped to gawp at the sight. Seems a shop owner had observed someone shoplifting. The paper this morning tells us a woman of 40 and a man of 49 have been  arrested. For the local dog owners this drama is the only topic of conversation.

Elgars calmest piece of music ? Ideal background as we enter the final third of the year :https://youtu.be/IwdeqVmXlHk?t=109

The Nepal disaster - some thoughts :https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/what-actually-caused-the-nepal-disaster

An important election :https://x.com/PedderSophie/status/2093978196064506067

The comments about Copenhagen and Edinburgh halfway through were interesting. The rest is written in a modern style that I just don't get. When did UnConferences become a thing ? :https://benyeoh.substack.com/p/you-dont-know-who-you-need-to-meet