Yes we survived the night and the Merse escaped the 120 mph winds of further north. My wind guage recorded gusts of about 65 mph and it was noisy enough for the wife and myself to abandon our south/west facing bedroom and camp in the 'milk'room off the kitchen on the north side of the old manse which was delightfully quiet. Norn Iron got another battering and we seem to have picked the one day that the Ferries were running for our crossing.
Tomorrow to Ould Reekie to reopen my lecturing season. 120 students promised and I hope that I will escape the sleepers of yesteryear. The Middle East is such a 'sexy' topic these days that the students tend to be enthusiastic about learning and 4pm is late enough for most hangovers to have dissipated. One student claims to have connections with Mossad and has already complained to the authorities that the tone of my colleague's lectures is too anti-Israeli thus rather breaking his cover. He may find me even a bit more unsympathetic to Sharon and co than he would like but as an Honorary Fellow I have no line manager and can say pretty much what I like. I also have a Middle Eastern royal amongst my class and she is likely to take exception to anything I say favourable about the Jewish state. So a no win situation. I will shortly be lecturing about her late uncle- a well loved Arab monarch. I did so in the presence of her brother two years ago and he grunted audibly every time I mentioned the late King-whether approvingly or otherwise I never found out. He repeated some of what he thought I had said in his exam paper and nearly failed. Grunting obviously had a bad effect on his other facilties so I hope for a more silent and attentive reception from his sister.
