Canadian smoke.

The weather has been heavenly. Cloudless and warm. As we approach the town we're surprised to find that there's a sea mist rolling in. Even more surprising is that it's rolling in from the landward side. Turns out that it's not sea mist at all but smoke bearing air that the jet stream has driven north from the wild fires in Canada. We sometimes get sand from the Sahara but neither of us can ever remember seeing smoke from the other side of the Atlantic.

Friday afternoon saw a mass of students returning and they all seemed to be in party mood. 99% of them must now be back. The shopkeepers are happy. The university brings £500 million into the local economy which is why you will find that  any complaints about the students youthful high jinks are done sotto voce. There are those who think the university should expand but the powers that be sensibly think 8,000 undergrads and 2,000 post grads is as much as the towns medieval infrastructure can cope with. Student accommodation is already some of the most expensive in the UK.

The start of a new semester brings with it supermarket shelves stocked with exotic things aimed at young, international, palates. We buy some pomegranates. These used to be cheap in France but are an eyebrow raising £2.50 each here. We shall squeeze them and mix the juice with champagne for a pre-dinner zinger.

The price of petrol up again. We detour into the garage to top up the tank.

The life guard hut is sitting empty on the beach. It can't be long before it's taken down for the winter . We, and the local dog owners, have the beach to ourselves. The students tend not to be early risers. 

Over the estuary two of those large twin engined helicopters used by Special Forces are doing touch and goes. The sound of their rotor blades causes the sand beneath our feet to tremble. The fighter jets have also been busy screaming off towards some Russian threat out towards Norway. Our daily reminder that the Arctic has suddenly become a 'turbulent' place.

For the grand price of £1.07 each we bought some house plants from Tesco. They have survived  outside in pots for the last five months and have outlived just about everything else in the garden . A policy of benign but total neglect has benefitted them enormously.

The local bird watcher informs us that the Barnacle Geese heading south from Svalbard are taking a migratory route down the west coast into England rather than the east coast route that passes over the village. This , he says, is not unusual.

Childrens books here always use Scottish names. 

Assisted suicide was narrowly rejected by parliament this week. The mood was supportive but there was a feeling the safeguards needed strengthening. Canada gave  reason for thought:

https://www.dordt.edu/in-all-things/the-cautionary-tale-of-euthanasia-in-canada

Modern music :https://salemlola.substack.com/p/echoes-and-inventions-a-modest-listeners

China ... again :https://www.feelingthestones.com/p/off-the-beaten-track-the-three-gorges

A source on forgotten writers :https://libcom.org/article/roussenq-paul-1885-1949

An insight into what the Iranians are thinking ? :https://x.com/SohrabAhmari/status/2097125217256587348