Distant rumblings ...

What a very un-Scottish day this has been! I went out to do the shopping early as usual, with the mist still lying over the water and the car covered in condensation and misting up because of the humidity and warm air seeing the chilly windscreen; we had coffee in the still, warm garden and felt it hot even at 11am; by the latter half of the afternoon it was clouding over and the air was breathless and still. The thunder rumbled in the distance and some rain fell, but nothing like what they've experienced elsewhere, and now the waning moon is rising dull gold over the Firth.

Apart from the shopping and a later trip to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, I didn't achieve much today - I'll blame the weather. [Interesting side note: Omeprazole capsules seem to contain talc even though they're not tablets, and our pharmacist doesn't seem to be able to find any that don't. Anyone?]


I had half thought of having a swim today, so took appropriate gear with me when we went out later, but the gathering gloom dissuaded me and we just had a walk instead, along the deserted shore road in almost total silence, as if all the world was waiting for the thunder. Even the swallows barely squeaked. I walked over some dry seaweed to stand on a gravel bank in the middle of the Ardyne burn where it meets the sea - I was taking photos - and after filming the slow progress of a bit of seaweed on the incoming tide I suddenly realised that my shingle was vanishing and the seaweed was dry no longer and had to leap back to the beach to keep my shoes dry. That's also where I took the photo above, the autumn colour of some of the excessive growth on the beach striking me as being a garden in itself. The sharp-eyed will notice, however, that Japanese Knotweed is taking over this corner as well - that vegetation simply wasn't there a few years ago.

Been watching a programme about George Bush at the time of 9/11: how much more sensible he appears these days, how civilised,  compared with what we thought at the time. Just shows what we've had to put up with since. And the sudden melting of the Cold War ...