Party time

 'They' are up and about early. It's an old medieval holiday designed to let students go off and buy raisins to see them through the long dark winters. In the 1400's it was a matter of holding off scurvy and having something to tart up the blandness of your oats. Today it's become an excuse for the town to become one vast fancy dress party. 

Down on the small beach there must be five or six hundred youngsters. There's probably three times that number on the bigger beach by the Old Course. Their  shrieks and Walrus like bellowings can be heard from the far end of town. 

Dog owners gawp at the partying youngsters. To the students anyone over the advanced age of 25 is somehow invisible. By this I mean not just invisible but completely invisible. They are at that glorious and unrepeatable stage in life where they're immortal and the universe revolves around them. Let them enjoy it while they can. Soon life - and babies - will intrude.

A string of makeshift bonfires line the sand and attract those suffering from North Sea exposure. Other students find more 'intuitive' ways to keep warm. H M Coastguard, prudently, have two trucks keeping an eye on things.

Later today there will be more parties and an enormous foam fight on the grass behind the Quad. First years think this is exciting. Older students view it with the special form of institutional disdain that a year or twos seniority can bestow. In this respect it's no different from the Navy - although foam fights are less common there.

Back out here in the village it's calm. On our way home we see the body of a young deer lying by the roadside. It's been hit by a car at the spot where the 40 mph speed limit changes to 60. This is sad as we've seen the deer and a sibling in the wheat field by the house for the last couple of weeks. This morning the surviving adolescent is looking lonely and forlorn as it grazes between the haystacks.

The weather, as you can see, continues to be perfect . The lack of cloud cover has one downside. It is nippy. Barely 2C this morning.

There's something old fashionedly charming in this U Nebraska video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BriW_TVTDY

You could have asked this question at anytime in the last 30 years :https://unherd.com/2026/10/is-france-about-to-default/?edition=us

A bartenders view of the world :https://www.insidehook.com/cocktails/bartender-your-drink-order-says-you