Rain, rain and more rain.

 'Covering Scotland in concrete'. A local builders van has a motto that makes us read it twice.

The days are getting noticeably longer. With every day that passes we're gaining a good 3 minutes of extra light. This far north the changes are noted and welcomed. We manage to get out for a walk while it's still dry. Heavy rain is forecast to arrive mid-morning and last all day. It's rained solidly overnight and the golf courses are covered in small lakes on which the local oyster catchers and gulls are happily paddling away.

The high tide has brought thousands of razor clams up onto the sand. They stretch along the 2 miles of beach in a band a hundred meters thick. A certain type of dog discovers delight in running over the shells and hearing them 'crack' under their paws.

The local butcher has his own take on a Tomahawk steak. There's something rather charming in this.

The Valentines Day chocolates in the supermarket are ready for the students return.  We're not sure whether the retired Church of Scotland minister with the ' acts of congress' problem would approve of these 'you tickle my pickle' offerings.

Roman houses:https://www.historyextra.com/period/roman/step-inside-a-roman-home/

Common sense:https://bigthink.com/books/ezekiel-emanuel-2/

Big news for farmers :https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2026/01/new-research-takes-another-step-towards-self-sustaining-crops/

Any Poles reading this will disagree :https://www.aei.org/foreign-and-defense-policy/russia-and-venezuela-toward-a-new-yalta/

They're practising this in chapel this morning. The bagpipes give the tune a jaunty air :https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xD6_SLzBXFk

The do's and dont's .

The Traitors is proving to be riveting viewing on BBC 1. We don't watch much tv, and certainly didn't intend to start watching this, but after 5 minutes we're hooked. The casting is beyond brilliant. Who could believe that a group of tetchy strangers sitting around a table trying to work out who is lying and who is telling the truth could be so compulsively entertaining ? Perhaps its secret lies in the way the cast remain uncoached and the outcome unscripted and unpredictable. 

The south of the UK has been pummeled by 100 mph winds. Up here the snow has melted and then re-frozen as a thin layer of sheet ice. Despite the best efforts of the local gritting team the roads are slippery and for the unwary treacherous. The good news is that parking, with so many of the local shops shut for the rest of the month, is a doddle. The little BMW, with tyres as broad as they are tall, has the sure footed grip of a mountain goat.

The local kilt makers seem set for a bumper year. Adverts for World Cup attire are popping up everywhere. It can only be a matter of weeks before the newspapers have to start advising local fans of the do's and dont's of American domestic air travel. Scots fans would be well advised not to attempt to board a flight with their dirk tucked into their socks. Putting it in their carry on baggage won't work either.

Sale time. In the few stores that are open restocking is underway.

Burns Night and Valentines Day offerings have not yet appeared at the bakers. Instead he's reverted to making that old favourite - fudge doughnuts.

By the time we head back out to the coast the weather has warmed up a wee bit and a thick haar is rolling in from the sea. Sleet, snow, ice and thick sea fog. There's nothing quite like Scottish weather. The gritters are back at work spreading salt on the pavements.

There was a time when a tv was expensive :https://www.construction-physics.com/p/how-did-tvs-get-so-cheap

UK politics are odd ( but so is everyone elses ) :https://howpoliticsworks.substack.com/p/politics-in-the-zombie-era

Bowies Life on Mars on the organ being practised on the chapel organ this morning. Is it to be played at a wedding today ? :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvwQBJgRz68&list=RDzvwQBJgRz68&start_radio=1

I had to read this twice :https://www.politico.eu/article/france-delay-g7-white-house-donald-trump-birthday/

Grey and wet

The farmers wife is out walking the dogs. She stops to tell us that she's worried about the two boys going to America to watch the World Cup. " I just don't think it's safe ". Angus reassures her that the chances of a kilt wearing Scottish farm boy being shot in the towns they plan to visit is statistically minimal. Her response, " I guess you're right ", tells me she's not convinced.  For the next five months family dinner table conversations between two football mad teenagers and a worried mother are likely to be a domestic version of attritional warfare. We shall carefully avoid providing ammunition to either side.

It's a grey day. The snow has gone and thankfully the sleet passed us by. This morning there are thousands of crows feeding in the neighbouring fields. They've been massing around us for the last month in numbers we've never seen before. There is something ever so slightly Hitchcockian about their behaviour. Every so often they inexplicably take to the air as one vast squawking mass. 

If you want to play the Old Course come here in early January. Not a golfer to be seen by the clubhouse although the lights in the kitchen are a sign that some of the members are in for their daily routine of bacon, eggs and tatty scones.

The surfers have sensibly opted to stay at home.

There's more life in town where the council workmen are scattering salt on the pavements. Todays weather forecast calls for heavy rain so perhaps the workmen have got wind of a sudden freeze moving down from the North.

Life here in the off-season is quiet. Even the daily bus tours from Edinburgh seem to have headed off to disgorge their unsuspecting passengers elsewhere.

Australian humour:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2uvy_5VMlY

Ancient colour schemes :https://worksinprogress.co/issue/were-classical-statues-painted-horribly/

This song has been on the blog a lot lately but at the 1:37 mark a strange claim. If the song was written in 1788 would it really have been sung as the Union flag was lowered at the end of the war in 1783?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9xFpBZqaY

99% diagnostic tests :https://beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/a-99-accurate-diagnostic-test-heres

Dogs:https://gizmodo.com/some-dogs-can-learn-new-words-by-snooping-in-our-conversations-study-finds-2000707107

A gap in the clouds

The snow has gone but the wind has picked up. We can hear the sea pounding angrily against the shore as we leave the house. The cormorants are enjoying themselves leaping off the jagged rocks into the surf in search of breakfast. They ignore us.

Half an hour later the sun is up and the weather has improved. We use the gap in the clouds to pop into town for a walk. Heavy sleet is expected this afternoon. We lay in an extra stock of milk and bread just in case we get cut off. 30 miles north of here they've had more than a foot of snow overnight. Best to be prepared.

There are workmen beavering away everywhere. The new semester starts on the 25th and this is the time when the university maintenance department are busy getting the place ship shape before 'they' return. 

Some of the university buildings are having solar panels installed. This requires huge swathes of scaffolding to be erected. Oddly, in the buildings where there's scaffolding, there's not a soul to be seen. Go figure ! 

We pass by one of those sad little memorials. Not every 17 year old  leaves home with equanimity.  There's something doubly poignant about a simple bunch of roses with the plant food sachet still attached. Unfussy memory. Over the span of 30 years the sapling has grown into a sizeable tree.

This book is the weight of a couple of  bricks but is full of interesting facts although it's probably means more to a New Yorker.

A very Danish hotel at an affordable price:https://www.brondumshotel.com/

Vaccinations hidden benefits :https://www.insidehook.com/longevity/vaccines-side-benefits-reduce-dementia-risk

Sweeteners :https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/01/06/neither-heroes-nor-villains-uncomfortable-truth-about-artificial-sweeteners-49900

A new AI induced moral quandry. Is this a good idea ? :https://theconversation.com/should-ai-be-allowed-to-resurrect-the-dead-272643

This essay, we're told over dinner, is one of the most insightful things about AI ever written :https://docs.google.com/document/d/19-ajYTp2hwOW9WcirY9OIoSvMdfyivup8LMI92PkS20/edit?tab=t.0

Getting a tattoo

Greenland and Stephen Millers comments about the possibility of direct US military intervention lead the morning news. The poor Danes are bemused as Americas 'unfriending' of Europe continues to pick up pace.  Seen from Copenhagen it's a bit like dealing with an old friend who suddenly leaves his wife and kids, gets a buzz cut, trades the Suburban in for a Harley and moves into a unit on the beach with a Russian waitress half his age he calls 'hot stuff'. Whatever happens next will be interesting - maybe a tattoo ?

The snow has arrived and with it leaden skies and what the morning weather forecast calls a 'grinding' wind.

Out here on the coastal fringes there's a smattering of the white stuff but further north and inland it's deep and drifting. Schools have been closed.

Easter eggs make it into the supermarket. There's still no sign of Burns Night biscuits in the bakers. I'm guessing he's waiting for the students to return.

Five yards further down the aisle advent calendars and shortbread selections are on special offer. The ceaseless round of the commercial calendar is unforgiving.

An urban robin follows us along the road to Starbucks.

The souvenir shops have redressed their windows for the New Year.  Highland cows are out and stag candelabra are in.

We shall be spending our day indoors in the warmth. Sleet and strong winds are expected by late morning.

Much I didn't know about Mexico :https://www.kvetch.au/p/54-observations-about-mexico

Some thoughts on Pakistan:https://rshinde.substack.com/p/the-puzzle-of-pakistans-poverty

A French mystery :https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/submarine-wall/

25 thoughts on current events :https://flyovertakes.substack.com/p/25-thoughts-on-venezuelan-regime

A long read about getting to Afghanistan - but worth it. The photos aren't what I expected :https://mattlakeman.org/2026/01/05/notes-on-afghanistan/

A roseate glow

The headlines on Radio 4 are about Venezuela and Iran. For light relief we turn the dial to the classical music on Radio 3. Before we switch stations a MAGA gentleman is interviewed and cheerfully  insists that 'bringing Greenland home ' will give the administration a huge boost in the mid-terms.  In case we are in any doubt he pronounces huge as a long drawn out ' hewwwwge '. This enthusiastic candour must be perplexing our neighbours across the water in Denmark.

The hills to the North covered with fresh snow. In the sunrise they have a decidedly roseate glow . The forecast is for us to have snow by lunchtime but the forecast has said the same thing for the last two days and been wrong.

A Mystery Day Trip bus disgorges passengers outside the chapel. A quick chat with the driver and we discover they left Edinburgh at seven this morning en route for Pitlochry. St Andrews is the first comfort break. Today he has 42 passengers on board. If the snow closes in he will abort Pitlochry and head to Dunfermline. Most of the passengers are Spanish and are hoping to see the Loch Ness monster. For a variety of reasons - not least of which is being on the wrong side of the country -  they are likely to be disappointed. The Spanish passengers are all wearing hats. They use the loos in Starbucks and Pret a Manger, wander round the Quad and then reboard the bus.

It only seems like days ago that Halloween items dominated the aisles. Now we're already onto Valentines Day. We wonder if the retired Church of Scotland minister with the 'acts of congress' problem on his flat kitchen roof approves.

The cloud is building up by the time we come back from our morning walk. Perhaps we will get that snow ?

Ancient tourism :https://thedebrief.org/1400-year-old-artifacts-unearthed-in-the-judean-desert-reveal-an-ancient-industry-of-christian-pilgrimage/

What an amazing thing :https://www.sciencealert.com/unique-golden-shark-caught-off-central-america-diagnosed-with-rare-condition

Let's hope this writer is wrong:https://www.wakeuptopolitics.com/p/there-is-no-trump-doctrine

There's no quick money to be made. Amid the hype this thread is a serious take on Venezuela and raises all sorts of interesting questions :https://x.com/Brad_Setser/status/2007864731626090633

Plus ca change :https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/benjamin-franklin-tried-to-annex-canada

Beyond cold.

Another cold morning made colder by the northerly wind. Think -10 and you're on the right track. The weather forecast informs us that visibility this morning is 70 kilometers and air pollution a healthy 1 out of 10. Snow is forecast for later this morning but there's no sign of clouds in any direction. It's too cold for Archie the arthritic labrador to be out. We great his sister and his owner before cutting our walk short and heading back to the warmth of the car.

The town is now at peak quiet and the streets empty. The holidaymakers have gone and the students are yet to arrive. We go for a pre-dinner drink in the fancy cocktail bar. We're the only customers and the barman serves us and then quickly returns to studying his year two textbook on cardiovascular medicine. He avoids small talk. Many of the  shops and restaurants will stay closed until the new semester starts towards the end of the month.

Even the 5 star golf hotel is closing for a couple of weeks. A note on the front door informs would be guests that the lobby is undergoing ' a superlative transformation which will highlight our Scottish heritage'. The hotel has American owners which may explain the use  of this gushingly un-Presbyterian language. I can only assume they're using decorators from Edinburgh. The local decorators aren't big on superlative transformations.

The mechanical figure in the cobblers window is wearing a badge which espouses a sensible philosophy on life.

Luxury Christmas crackers offered at a 75% discount. Christmas crackers are something that seem to surprise American students. Perhaps this is a tradition that hasn't crossed the pond. In recent years it has become difficult to ship them from Scotland to the US as the American postal service takes the view that they are an 'explosive' device.

The farmers eldest son hard at work in the barn. He's singing ' Is this the way to Amarillo ? ' at the top of his voice. Even the most charitable would say the lad is not a natural musician. This morning he's shifting potato crates with the fork lift :https://youtu.be/myBbOIdwUGo?list=RDmyBbOIdwUGo&t=101 .  He has two more weeks of holiday before the university in Edinburgh starts up again. His younger sibling starts back at school today. For the ( male ) teenage villagers the World Cup remains the dominant topic of conversation.

Monday reading:

The congregations reaction to Auld Lang Syne at the end of this is very Italian :https://youtu.be/je3ft4xA81Q?list=RDje3ft4xA81Q&t=141

A Chicago must see in 2026 ? :https://obama.org/  Followed by this in LA ? :https://www.lucasmuseum.org/

A very Norwegian advert for an Oslo hotel :https://thethief.com/  This artists works will be exhibited at the Munch Museum :https://www.munch.no/en/exhibitions/paula-rego/

Even Norwegian cycling holidays seem different :https://www.theslowcyclist.com/destinations/norway-cycling-holidays/

A new addition to Scottish cuisine :https://www.hutton.ac.uk/blog/scotlands-new-superfruit-the-honeyberry/

Dry January

Dry January has begun. 'The Font' buys a bottle of ( alarmingly expensive ) alcohol free wine. The label promises tannic tones but one sip is enough to know that any claimed relationship with 'wine' is purely coincidental. Words cannot do justice to how truly foul it is. Grapes are clearly too sensitive to go through whatever process is required to take the alcohol out of them. I settle for sparkling apple juice mixed with Perrier. I can guarantee that after a few days the cheerful sweetness of this will become unappetizing.  Any ideas on an 'adult' alcohol free option gratefully received.

The radio this morning full of praise for the bravery and efficiency of the US armed forces in removing Venezuelas dictator. One commentator suggests that Cuba now faces an 'existential' moment as it gets all its oil from Caracas. The 'excitement' in the region may not be over yet. Another commentator makes the slightly delphic remark that with America controlling Venezuelas oil reserves Riyadh will need to find new ways to make itself indispensable.

Snow covering the hills on the Highland side of the bay. Here, on this Lowland side of the water there's been a few isolated flurries but they don't settle. This mornings waning moon shines through super chilled air . The forecast says it's -1 but unhelpfully adds that in the wind it feels like -9. 

Half an hour later and the sun is up and the squalls have moved out towards the open sea.

The retired nurse has taped a small bunch of lilies to the wooden post where the 'event' happened.

We think of keeping the decorations up until the 6th but opt to take them down early. The crib is packed into a wooden Chateau Ausone case that has been its home for forty years.

Sunday reading: 

Some of these new museums look stunning :https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/01/01/the-most-exciting-museum-openings-in-2026

January :https://romanticon.substack.com/p/happy-new-year

Nursing homes game the inspection system :https://nicholasdecker.substack.com/p/improving-nursing-homes-in-america

The things this generation of parents have to worry about :https://reason.com/2025/12/31/study-short-form-video-isnt-rotting-your-brain/

Permafrost hides all sorts of things :https://www.the-scientist.com/what-are-giant-viruses-and-are-they-dangerous-73880

Sudden and unexpected.

"We'll know more about the explosions in Venezuela tomorrow morning " says the news reader on the six am radio broadcast. The New Year is already fast looking like the old. Quite what happens to the 30,000 Cuban troops who have been guarding Maduro is left to consider another day. This writer got his (bullish ) views out early :https://substack.com/home/post/p-183340848  Let's hope he's right.

It's below freezing this morning. The local dogs are out on the beach modeling their Christmas outfits. Archie, the arthritic labrador, is not out. It's too cold for him and he's asleep at home in front of the AGA. His owner tells us this is the first day he's ever missed his morning walk.

The crows continue to congregate in huge numbers. Must be a thousand of them out in the potato fields today.

Yesterday, the gas cylinder runs out as the last of the blinis emerge from the oven. The replacement canister is empty. Three months ago the gas man replaced one of the empty bottles but forgot to replace the other. We give him a call and ask if he can come next week. He says that he'll happily tack us on to the end of his delivery schedule and come over in the afternoon . " It's quiet. I should be with you by five ". We are more than delighted when he shows up at six thirty.

An hour later two no nonsense Policemen show up at the gate. It seems the driver got to the main road and had a sudden and massive heart attack. A man out walking his spaniel found him slumped in the cab of his truck which had clipped a parked car and come to a halt by the 'T' junction. The retired nurse was soon on hand and used the defibrillator from the village hall but it was too late. We were the last people to see him alive. The Policemen ask if the man had been acting strangely. He hadn't. In fact he seemed the model of good health. Neither policeman seems to think this is an unusual occurrence. "Life is a fragile thing " says one with a sensitivity that you wouldn't expect from a bearded 6' 6" former professional rugby player. He adds ' we see it all the time '. 

This event casts a sad cloud over the start of the New Year. A bouquet of flowers already marks the spot on the grass verge where it happened.

The police were marvelous. Efficient and kind in a no nonsense way. Statements taken, traffic diverted, family informed and an ambulance despatched with a smooth  professionalism that reminds us how much of our day to day well being we owe to public servants. Theirs is another of those jobs I would not like to have.

Be cautious of self driving cars :https://strangecosmos.substack.com/p/self-driving-cars-arent-nearly-a

Not sure what this insight into the car industry says about the economy :https://www.carscoops.com/2026/01/car-inventory-surge-2024-2025-models-not-selling/

2025's best buildings :https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/15-projects-that-will-shape-architecture-in-2025/

Had never heard of exposomics :https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2535078122

Climate change reflected in insurance premiums :https://substack.com/home/post/p-183243295

The place to go if you're building a new ballroom :https://www.arcstonegranite.com/

Acts of congress.

The wee house in town is full of first footing neighbours. Some Scottish New Year traditions remain robust. Champagne and canapes are consumed at a healthy rate. One lady is ' keeping busy' by writing a thesis on the architecture of Roman Bologna. She is 82. Her husband has no interest in her studies but enjoys heading off in their little Citroen to Italy for four months of the year. They stay in a monastery which is cheap but not luxurious. The food there is good and the wine, he informs me, better. They take their own pillows as the Italian ones are too soft and give them a 'crick in the neck'. They do not consider themselves to be 'retired '.

All of our neighbours are at an age where they hold exceedingly strong  curmudgeonly views about everything. This ranges from home schooling to the state of the pavements. The recently retired Church of Scotland Minister is having a new flat roof kitchen extension built to the side of his house. He has, we all agree, a grand view over the cathedral from his kitchen sink. He's annoyed because the builders leave their ladders outside at night and students  ( being students ) can't resist climbing up an unattended ladder. " I don't mind them climbing onto the roof so much as the fact that they and their lassies are forever engaged in noisy acts of congress right outside my study ". He's reported this to the university authorities but they've told him that they're not sure what they can do . They suggest the builders put the ladders under lock and key . They also suggest he write his sermons somewhere else. 'The Font' wonders if some carefully positioned  planters with roses or yuccas might do the trick.

By four in the afternoon it's getting dark and the sports bar that has opened up in the old cinema is doing a roaring trade. French holidaymakers who have booked into hotels for three nights are now at the bored to distraction stage of their celebrations. They flock to the bright lights of this ESPN and beer on tap haven.  Messrs. Timberlake and Woods must be raking it in.

The weather on New Years Day has remained glorious. Last year there were gale force winds and torrential rain.

This year the sky has an almost Caribbean blue depth to it.

 The supermarkets are open and busy. The Tesco on the shopping street has the unusual reputation of being the most expensive in the whole of the UK.

Germany and fax machines :https://www.dw.com/en/germany-struggles-to-go-digital-stuck-in-analog-era-fax-machines-paperwork-bureaucracy/a-75206481

Dogs:https://www.sciencealert.com/we-may-be-misreading-our-dogs-emotions-in-surprising-ways

A florist in Sheffield has a great website :https://www.swallowsanddamsons.com/

This view of San Francisco was amusing :https://danwang.co/2025-letter/

A hearty welcome to 2026. It will amaze us !

You couldn't conjure up better New Years Day weather if you tried. The sky clear and the sunrise red and pink and golden all at one and the same time. The beach surprisingly busy with people walking off last nights festivities. The three surfer lads have returned. The light frost and 'cheeky' wind doesn't seem to bother them although they don't so much run as sprint across the sand. I wonder if they ever stop to think about life before neoprene ?

Back here in the village Puppy is up at first light to welcome in the New Year. She is full of energy. The farmers sons are nowhere to be seen.  They went on to a party in Crail after the villages White Heather Club gathering ended.

Best, good and every day sporrans were located. There was a moment mid-afternoon when thought was given to going into town to buy a new one. They were discovered in a drawer in the old dressing table in the garage. 'Someone' had put them there.  'The Font' thinks the best sporran is looking a bit moth eaten. It looks a little better after the silver tassels are polished.

The New Year speech of a brave man :https://x.com/United24media/status/2006485952995442929

2025 was a pretty good year :https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/eight-fascinating-scientific-discoveries-from-2025-that-could-lead-to-new-inventions-180987916/

More interesting things :https://zhengdongwang.com/2025/12/21/the-best-facts-i-heard-this-year.html

A realistic perspective on what's going right  ?:https://x.com/DKThomp/status/2006047834819219779

Have just ordered this. Am told it's well written :https://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/charles-sumner-conscience-of-a-nation