Traditionally we associate Newcastle, Norn Iron with dry Merse like weather but without the Haar and the Dreich. Huttonian always used to brag that he brought good weather with him. But in the post-Fish MBE era the magic is not working. Never before in living memory can Huttonian have had such a long period-three whole days-without setting foot on the Royal County Down Golf Course (PBUI) Foot could have been set but would probably have sunk from sight and gale force winds: Golf Farce 8 in the jargon would have made, even one hole, unendurable. I could drone on for hours about when I was a boy…playing 54 holes in one day…horizontal winds-lashing rain. Ships foundering in the bay. Lighthouse blown over; steaming corpses unburied in bunkers. No umbrella..not losing a ball..but somehow in later life one plays for enjoyment. It is better at this stage to avoid Purgatory before Paradise

So it will be a Hutton type day. Lazy, Relaxed, watching the sea out of one window, the cascading water in Bath Lane* (well named) out of another and the rain in stereo through both and a third eye scanning the leaden skies for a hint of a break. The nice Mr Deakin promised us a dry day today so I am not optimistic.

May start on the Christmas cards.

* You can't do either in Hutton. Blog-ed  ¶ 6:30 PM