Old traditions.

I don't think I've ever seen the town so busy. On Saturday afternoon a mixture of Labor Day golfers arriving from Edinburgh airport in their rental cars meet parents dropping off their teenagers at their dorms. Add in the European tourists in their motor homes and a traffic jam of Biblical proportions ensues.  We're supposed to go to hear a former Prime Minister read excerpts from his new book but finding a parking place proves difficult. We head home and enjoy a glass of 2019 Chateau L'Evangile in the garden. This is probably the last night for six months a while that it will still be warm enough to do so.

A group of golfers from Calgary are watched by some Italian tourists and a few student girls. The Canadians golfers are a cheerful bunch. There are more Canadian flags around this year than last. In these undemonstrative parts that may quietly say something.

As of tomorrow morning Chapel will be open for morning prayers. Male students for some reason almost never seem to appear before ten. However, the smarter boys will soon discover that morning prayers attracts lots of pretty girls. By the end of the week it will be standing room only. Doubly so when free biscuits and coffee are being offered. 

'In the beginning' a suitable text for the first Sunday of Freshers week. After the sermon the newbies will put on their red woolen gowns and process down to the end of the pier and back. This is probably the most filmed of the old traditions. A couple of thousand students will be watched by a similar number of  parents :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF8Xs2W7BLM  . If nothing else these old traditions serve as excellent boy meet girl ice breakers. Perhaps that's why they've survived for so long .

In the basement I find an old map of Scotland showing the German Sea. After the Battle of Jutland in WW1 anti-German sentiment became so strong the name was changed to the North Sea and so it has remained. Will  Lake Ontario will share the same fate ? 

Wendell Berry :https://writingteacher.substack.com/p/what-wendell-berry-taught-me-about

Spotting celebrities . Very LA :https://thebrokenelbow.substack.com/p/living-in-la-and-spotting-celebrities

When essays like this appear you know social media has lost it. There is a certain sort of man who thrives on this :https://operationalartofwar.substack.com/p/a-us-invasion-of-canada