Spur of the moment

 

Another mild and dry day prompts a  spur of the moment decision to go to Edinburgh for lunch. The trains - there and back - run to the second.  Having a good and reliable public transport system makes spur of the moment decisions like this much easier.

The Poppy sellers at the station looking underwhelmed. There was a time not so long ago when everyone wore a Poppy in their lapel . Now barely 1 in 3 seem to. Having said that how many people have buttonholes these days ? In small towns the 1 in 3 ratio becomes 1 in 2.

Edinburgh busy. The Socialist Workers Party are out in force demanding Keir Starmer bring an end to the conflict in Gaza. They seem to have a rather touching belief that what Britain says still carries some weight.

On Leith walk Italian, Spanish , Indian and Persian restaurants all peacefully coexist.

Doves or pigeons ? Edinburgh is big on pavement art. Further down the road we stop to admire two life sized giraffes.

Christmas stockings for sale. A, J and M have already sold out.  Archies, Jimmys and Morags are in for a good festive season ?

The Christmas bauble display in John Lewis eerily quiet. A lady shop assistant informs us we can 'curate our own' selection. We thank her but leave without buying anything. 

Crackers seem to be selling slowly. Perhaps there will be a mid-month pick up in demand ?

What will people think of next : https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3284866/rent-shelf-bookstores-japan-are-better-any-online-sellers-algorithms

Another substack on the election and its aftermath :https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-8-2024

Memory is more complex than we thought :https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2024/november/memories-are-not-only-in-the-brain--new-research-finds.html

A Mediterranean interlude.

16 degrees yesterday. This is as warm as it gets on many a summers day. By mid-afternoon the beach was busy with townsfolk and students enjoying the sunshine.  The braver students went swimming. The local restaurants, ever alert for ways to bring in the punters , have started advertising 'Thanksgiving' menus. These are hugely popular with homesick American teens. The locals think it decidedly odd that turkey should be eaten so close to Christmas.

Today, the weather forecast calls for grey skies . Instead we are greeted by a spectacular sunrise. The unexciting 1960's era apartment block down by the harbour  glows in an almost Mediterranean way. Welcome to Scotlands Santorini.

Mince pies make an appearance in the farm shop. Angus wonders what preservatives have been added to boost their shelf life and keep them edible until Christmas . Perhaps there are people who start eating mince pies early ?

Last of the summer strawberries. These appear on the counter next to tins of shortbread capped off with wee tartan bunnets.

One of our thrifty neighbours in town has left out a box of cooking apples at their front door. At quarter to seven the box was full. Quarter of an hour later it's nearly empty.

Well I never :https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/11/05/philippines-Guinness-World-Records-rooster-hotel/5001730831321/

Neighbour polling provides a variant perspective:https://x.com/blader/status/1854366739511030065

Who is devastated ?:https://x.com/dhmontgomery/status/1854227522428469573

Looking to the future is what students do.

 

The students are having serious post-election meetings. This is what students do - or at least the 20% of them who are Americans.  For 2028 they're counting on Shapiro, Slotkin or Beshear to take up the torch although they think Vivek rather than Vance will be the opponent. The speakers at the colloquium ( a very college town word )  think that the Senate will flip in 2026 after two years of accelerating inflation. You've got to admire twenty year olds - they always look to the future. Turns out we know - or at least have had a couple of dinners with - the guy who is likely to be Treasury Secretary. Who ever would have thought that Fluoride in water could be such a controversial issue ?

The cheerful Filipinos have finished harvesting the cauliflower field and have now headed inland to make a start on the cabbage harvest. The Portaloo that stood in a  corner of the cauliflower field is transported inland on the back of a trailer pulled by the farmers new tractor.

The large old houses down on the cliff tops are looking very smart. Some have become university lecture halls. Others have been subdivided into more manageable sizes. One is the home of the Principal. The heating bills for these large windowed, heat draining, Victorian buildings must be huge.

Back at the last wee house before Denmark we're waiting for the remaining hay bales to be taken into the barns. The local airbase is again busy. The Russians haven't wasted any time to remind everyone of their presence. Typhoons take off and land all day. Somewhere, beyond the horizon there must be another flotilla heading from Murmansk through the North Sea. 

A History of Britain in ten enemies arrives in the bookstore. The next time I'm in I must take a peak inside to see who makes the cut. France for sure, Germany ditto. Danes, Vikings, Dutch, Spaniards are probably also included. Who else is there ?

This morning we see a track suited runner pass the war memorial. As he passes, he stops, stands smartly at attention and salutes. He then carries on with his morning jog. This is the first time we've ever seen anyone do this. He's a youngster in his early twenties so he's probably in the military and studying International Relations here.  Sunday morning will see the towns Armistice Day commemoration.  Hearing the echo of the pipes lingering in the still air is about as Scottish an experience as you can get.

German humour :https://x.com/RMogyorosy/status/1854027309252047045

We are all ( on some level ) immortal :https://bigthink.com/hard-science/will-protons-last-forever-why-scientists-are-searching-for-signs-of-decay/

This house for sale is very 'Devon ' :https://inigo.com/sales-list/southdown-barns

Just saw this. College towns are in blue.

By five thirty all was clear.

The men in dark suits seem to have been right in their forecast. Don't know whether to play this :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds2GfiH5y1o or , more probably, as the five thirty news reports indicate , this :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O-WG3eKZS4

Over breakfast yesterday  'The Font' suggests that it might be time for Angus to have a haircut ...  the word ' soon' is added , emphatically, to the end of the sentence. So it is that at nine on the dot I'm in the barbershop located next to the  'artisinal' jewellery store . There are at least three barbers in town all of them proudly proclaiming that they're Turkish. Two other 'salons' exist but both cater to a  student audience with  a taste for the adventurous that Angus does not share.

Inside a Syrian gentleman is sitting playing a computer game on his phone. ' Good morning ' I say cheerfully. ' Howzat ' he replies . The Syrian gentleman, surprised at having an early rising customer,  disappears into an office at the far end of the salon. Left alone Angus notes that above the basin there is a picture of a man who looks just like Kim Il Sung sporting  a luxuriant perm. I think of taking a photo but   the Syrian gentleman returns, without his phone, smiling broadly. He points towards a chair by the window and says ' Wozizyewwont'. I explain that I'd like my hair cut. 'Not too short'. I repeat this  - twice - to make sure there can be no misunderstanding. To add certainty to the outcome I take a strand of hair and hold it a centimetre from the end to show where it should be cut. " Scissor or machine ?" asks my smiling friend. 

Quarter of an hour later I meet 'The Font' in Starbucks. " Goodness " is the immediate response followed by ' You certainly got your monies worth '. The 'not too short' has been interpreted as carte blanche to get hard at work with the electric trimmers. The end result ? That Soviet era prison look.                         .

Tomorrow night there is a book reading by the Queen Consorts son. He will be  spending a few hours sharing his favourite recipes and signing copies of his new book. Angus will not be going but 'The Font' will.

The young lady behind the book shop counter tells me that I simply must read a new book about a serial killer in 1930's London.

Back out on the coast wave after wave of geese fly over.

They're flying high so must be heading towards Montrose basin. There are thousands and thousands of them passing over in wave after wave. If you saw it on a PBS documentary you wouldn't believe it - or the sound they make - possible.

Pre-Christmas trade in town on an overcast day is lacklustre.

They don't speak French - which can't have helped : https://edition.cnn.com/travel/us-couple-dream-life-france-became-nightmare/index.html

Darkness at four.

 

It's starting to get dark a little after four. To cheer everyone up the Christmas illuminations have been switched on. The municipal workmen are testing the light display on the town fountain. The wind has blown the projector so that display is missing the fountain and illuminating the block of flats on the other side of the road.  For St Andrews Day and  Hogmanay the decorative  snow flakes will be replaced by thistles. One council workman clambers up a ladder to remove a traffic cone that some enterprising first year has put on the fountains upper tier. He voices a view about the students that definitely isn't politically correct. We spend a few moments taking it all in before heading off to a seminar on the German political crisis. It seems the governing coalition is about to fall apart.

After an hour and a half in an over lit and uncomfortably warm lecture hall we detour into the trendy cocktail bar for a restorative tipple. We had thought of going for a coffee but 'The Font' points out that it's the wrong time of  day and that Angus will end up saying the coffee tastes like dishwater and the price is outrageous. Much better to aim for a so-so glass of Argentinian Malbec. We're the first customers. In fact we're the only customers. The young waitress informs us that the cocktail bar doesn't really come alive until ten.  Angus discovers the snack on the table are actually a decorations. We chuckle away contentedly.

From the high bar stools by the window its a pleasure watching the world pass by. There's some sort of event going on in chapel . Professors in their gowns and hoods can be seen sprinting across the road so as not to be late.

By the time we leave its pitch black. 

It has to be said the Christmas lights are minimalist. They are the same lights recycled from last year and the year before  ... and indeed from many years before that. This wee town is Presbyterian and prudent to its core. The circling seagulls glow as they catch the light from the decorations. The birds glimmer like so many circling stars. We stand and watch them. Passing students turn to see what we're looking at. They glance at us with that suppressed ' should we call someone ?' look.

This book is brilliant. My knowledge of Canadian history was limited but the constant fear of invasion by their southern neighbours has been pivotal in shaping national identity. I've yet to get onto the chapters about Mexico.

Some calming museum for election day. Todays car radio interlude :https://youtu.be/wwl9cf9uUFQ?t=4

The cauliflower harvest starts.

 

A tractor pulling a trailer with a Portaloo on the back rumbles down the farm track towards the heron pond. It's closely followed by a Ford minibus carrying a dozen or so cheerful Filipino workers. They wave at us like long lost friends. We wave back. Behind the minibus the farmer tootles along in his Toyota 4x4. The cauliflower harvest starts today. 

The arrival of this small convoy disturbs a huge flock of crows who have overnighted in the wheat field. There must be a thousand of them. They circle clockwise over the garden like a large , black, squawking cloud. There so many of them we can feel the air pressure change as they pass by. A thousand crows in flight is quite a remarkable sight. There's also a large flock of pigeons that must number in the hundreds. The pigeons are a less remarkable sight than the crows. 

On the beach the dog owners greet each other. Their dogs leap and cavort with an enthusiasm that reflects their sure and certain knowledge that today is going to be the best day ever. Two student runners are chased by a pack of small mutts. The dog owners laugh. The students pick up their pace.

The laying of the fibre optic cables to the American  hedge fund managers door continues. A small forest of traffic cones snakes down one side of the street where a trench has been dug. The traffic cones block off twenty or so parking spaces used by the local inhabitants. Let's hope there's rapid progress on the fibre optic front this week before tempers start to fray ...... further.

It's bright and mild this morning. Mild means it's a balmy 8 degrees Celsius. There's maybe a score of youngsters down by the sea water pool. Some are swimming, others are chilling. Two alpha males do belly flops to impress the girls. The young women  ignore them.

Work has started on one of the cottages between the castle and the post graduate  flats with crow step gables. Pictures of local scenes cover the scaffolding and safety barriers. This attempt at disguise is a sign that a fancy architectural firm is involved. Big city folk are waking up to the fact that St Andrews isn't a bad place to bring up a family or to retire to. This is what the cottage will supposedly end up looking like :https://rka.scot/projects/the-brass-house/ . The website leaves me wondering what in heavens name is a ' young and ambitious family ? '  Getting planning permission has , I'm sure, been 'challenging'.

'We appreciate your disciplined cooperation ' says a sign where renovation work on the storm damaged pier has started. I'd have though the word 'disciplined' could be dispensed with. It ends up sounding rather totalitarian.

Whoever knew pet cemeteries had such a history ? :https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/10/31/auf-wiedersehen-pet-the-fascinating-history-behind-europes-pet-cemeteries

"Weary wee flipperling, curl at they ease ". That's a sentence you don't hear every day.  This Seals lullaby on the radio this morning :https://youtu.be/kxTghSZupv8?t=53

In the stillness of the night.

There's something magical about winter evenings this far North. 

Free of golfers and tourists the streets are calm and peaceful . After eight the bars and restaurants get busy with students  but in the stillness before then you could almost believe you'd stepped back five hundred years. We stop off, briefly, to listen to a concert in the chapel. 

'The Font' is in and out of the vaccination centre in a super efficient seven minutes. Covid in the left arm, flu jab in the right.  And I thought my time of getting in and out in ten minutes would be a record.

A new Asian supermarket is opening up in town. Over the last three years there seems to have been a huge influx of Singaporean and Japanese youngsters into the STEM departments. Add onto that the Chinese kids at the medical school and you've got a couple of thousand eager customers badly served by the local retailers.  I'll wager the new supermarket will be a great success.

Ladies golf shoes take pride of place in the upmarket clothes store by the cheese shop. We've never seen anyone wear shoes like this.

This cheerful little number on the car radio this morning :https://youtu.be/3VNKAOnce8c

Putting things in perspective ?:https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/what-if-the-united-states-continues

Starbucks and Moby-Dick :https://allvisibleobjects.substack.com/p/coffee-for-the-seoul

The tide is out.

 

The beach quiet this morning bar half a dozen students returning from a night of excess. They strip off on the sand and run down to the sea for a restorative dip . The tide is far out and the party goers have a long, long way to go before toes and water make contact. The wind makes two of them think better of the idea before they make it to the shoreline. They retreat to the shelter of the dunes. Piercing shrieks tell us when the others finally come into contact with the North Sea.

A brilliant article on the US election by Janan Ganesh in this mornings FT. I fear it is behind a paywall :https://www.ft.com/content/75dda875-8398-4299-8969-4974d3b6065b  This from The Atlantic attempts to be optimistic :https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/11/america-trump-democracy-harris/680482/

At the small  bakers  Halloween offerings are now reduced and are being sold at 70 p each. The small bakers  remains peculiarly Edwardian in both its offerings and its  layout. Croissants are not sold. They are considered to be flighty foreign things and therefore to be treated with suspicion. I buy a wholemeal loaf which the lady behind the counter offers to put in her slicing machine. I politely decline. " As you wish " she replies in a tone of voice that makes it abundantly clear that buying a loaf without having it sliced is most unusual. 

Lemon sole, cod , dressed crab and a salmon tail  complete this mornings purchases.

The sunshine seems to have taken the plastic garden gnomes by surprise. When we first arrived the garden bench they stand on was covered by gnomes. Now, passing tourists on the lookout for souvenirs have whittled their number down to just four.

Brightly coloured garden trugs enliven the pavement and provide a perfect contrast to the grey skies that are heading our way.

The town is slowly getting ready for the arrival of winter. Bags of de-icing salt have been delivered to the hardware stores 'garden' department. I buy one bag and shall return later in the day for another.

Filling in a medical form. A brief burst of Scottish humour :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wItIwQ8Xe4E

Winter wind.

 

The first day of the new month is bright and sunny but there's a bite to the wind that hints that snow and frost are on their way. Winter wear is brought out for our morning walk. Within weeks the hilltops on the far side of the bay will be dusted with white. The cheerful ladies who go sea water swimming in the pool below the castle may have to rethink their routine. Last year at this time we were beset with huge storms. This year the weather has been cloudless and calm. Can it continue ? The students seem to be oblivious to the climate and are happy wearing tee shirts.

Seems that something is happening in American politics next week. One of the local professors has views about it that drop into the inbox this morning :https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/election-update-12-is-the-democratic . I'm always slightly nervous about commentators on this side of the pond trying to call events on the other. The two continents are very different places. We'll know whether he's right soon enough although 'unpredictable' seems to be as good a description as any.

In town one of the old houses has two carefully positioned pumpkins above the front door. Their toothless grins makes us chuckle.  Look closely and you'll see to the side an old medieval door that was closed off and replaced with a more modern Georgian one three hundred years ago. The desire for home improvement  is not a modern trend. There were a few Halloween parties last night but the students seem to be keeping their powder dry for bigger events tonight and tomorrow tonight.

There is a commemoration for St Leonard on Sunday night in the little chapel that bears his name. The chapel is hidden down a side street and rarely visited. I'm guessing 99% of visitors walk by without knowing it's there. It has a 'lepers window'.  We know nothing at all about St Leonard.

It's the time of the year when the farm shop switches over to locally grown vegetables heavy in 'iron'.

The farmers wife supplies us with gratis broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage so we buy green beans and peppers.

The  pumpkin harvest has been good this year although from the pile outside the front door demand seems to have been  underwhelming .

You know it's nearing Christmas when e-mails advertising tree decorations arrive :https://www.svenskttenn.com/se/en/range/swedish-christmas-decorations

Intimate annoyance. Despite the gushy prose this was rather fun :https://www.avabear.xyz/p/the-essence-of-love-is-annoyance

Dolly Parton has launched her own wine label :https://dollywines.com/products/dolly-wines-rose