Beguiled by the affable charms of the aptly named Elizabeth Showery (Sp? but thats what it sounds like) who despite having the same damp background as the late (in a career sense) Mr Fish presents the weather calmly, soberly and without Mr Fish's obvious relish in bringing bad news Huttonian decided to risk some golf. Ms Showery had given the Borders some unusually close attention last night and judging by the weather maps the virtual rain was not due to reach Duns until 10am this morning so with a 8-45 start and no holdups I had a fair chance of staying mostly dry. Sadly the fine tuning was not quite fine enough and the Scotch Mist (which is dreich but not quite so damp and nothing like so cold) turned into serious drizzle at 9.45. This was to the ill concealed pleasure of the Gnarled Old Greenkeeper who had set out ahead of me in his full wet weather regalia and the armour plated tractor. He had given me his usual cheery greeting and the local weather prospects in which 'pissing' amd 'down' were in close proximity. Fortunately I was only briefly detained by helping the LMD to find his ball in the rough just off my fairway-he was coming in the opposite direction having set off at about midnight presumably. He was, he said, very attached to the ball which he had brought recently, in 2003, and had' some life in it yet'. I found it and was impressed how happy it seemed with two big smiles in the cover at each end-but not so happy as the LMD who went on his way rejoicing. He certainly did not attempt to bore me with the latest secret of golf, for this vmt, but one good tip I am sure is to play a ball which can fly straight and with the minimum of aerodynamic deviation caused by huge craters on its battered surface.  ¶ 11:02 AM