Third day in a week to Ould Reekie and I am beginning to feel like a native. After living in the bleek Merse Edinburgh has no climatic terrors for Huttonian. Especially after a neo-fish meteorogical attack which cause some collateral damage. A totally unforecasted assault on the North East partly caused our Raeburn cooker and oil fired central heating to shut down and one viscious gust smashed a large pane in a westward facing bedroom on the second floor. Not ours thank goodness but next door. We have working shutters but the wind whistling through the broken glass threatened to force them permenantly open so we had to keep them closed with the help of a stepladder and two heavy mattresses . The wife is now coping with all this destruction as I contemplate the pleasant task of keeping 70 students awake and receptive for an hour or so this afternoon. Such a nice prospect that I will generously donate to the Princes Street mendicant and his camaflaged jacketed wee dog-not a good tactic I think as the dog is so well concealed that well meaning passerbys might miss him completely-thus totally destroying the point of his presence. Yes 50 p well spent.
The Berwickshire leads with the hoary old story of Berwick joining the Borders thus changing sides for the 14th time-from Scotland to England being in 1482. The advantage to the Borders is obvious-13,000 more tax payers but less apparent is the gain for Berwick. Spittall and Tweedmouth in the same conurbation would have to come too and they have never been part of Scotland so would hardly welcome such a retrograde step. No chance but the old chestnut will crop up from time to time when there is a dearth of real news.
