Today should be the start of real life in 2006 as people skid back to work. Skid being the operative work as neither in the Scottish Borders nor in Northumberland have the roads people bothered to grit the roads and it is now (at 10.am) -4C .and the Hutton/Berwick rush hour has seen some spectacular accidents especially on the main road from the bypass leading into Berwick which is steep, slippery and lethal. A neighbour has reported, with some glee, that a car going down Castle Terrace has careered into the garden of a 'posh' house thus(on her part) revealing a certain class bias in that a posh house is any one bigger than theirs. Huttonian is relieved that his golf is 'off' given that getting to Duns along our narrow and untreated roads would have been very hazardous.
Talking of real life we can now expect work to resume on the Huttton village hall. No sign yet. The other big event for 06 is the Hutton an Paxton Horticultural Show in August. Last year was billed as the 99th Annual Show so a fuss is to be made of the 100th. This may yet be a problem. It is true that the show in its present form was established in 1906 having enjoyed a sporadic existence in the 19th century but apparently, according to a local historian, the event was not held in the First World War years so it is not entirely accurate to claim 2005 as the 99th annual show nor, obviously, 2006 as marking the 100th. The historian has suggested calling it the 'Centenary Show' entirely accurate as an anniversary without actually giving it a number as part of a series. Whether the Show committee will agree remains to be seen but there is no reason why they shouldn't for the sake of historical accuracy; how the count reached 99 in the absence of at least 4 shows (and possibly more in WW2) is in itself something of a mystery.
Whatever the event's designation Huttonian believes that 2006 will anyhow see his tomatoes belatedly given the recognition they deserve. They should have swept the field in 05 but sadly we were away for the show, otherwise the red of the amazing fruit would have been reflected in the colour of the card indicating its position on the winners rostrum.
