What rain?

The national weather guessers would have had us believe that the north was going to be flooded today and we would all possibly drown. Their TV maps showed Newcastle and district swamped in swathes of dark blue pixels, one channel had red and orange too.

It's worrying that weather forecasting now has become a source of entertainment, the making of wide mouthed mini-celebs. Each station trying to outdo the other with scarier, wetter rain prophesies, deeper water predicitons and nonesensical warnings. Apart from some pockets of truly tragic flooding, for most of us it's just another bloody rainy day. C'mon, get a grip. Just give us the weather.

We went to Newcastle in rain jackets, jumpers and stout waterproof shoes. It was humid, 17.5c, a bit cloudy until the sun came out at lunchtime and it hasn't rained yet.

Oh - and the picture is of the Millenium Bridge in the open position. It wouldn't all fit on the iPhone so I've performed a bit of cut and paste.

Or in TV terms...

"Here's the Millenium Bridge. It's had to be opened to allow a 20 year old ship through. Will there be enough height? Has the young bridge keeper lifted the deck in time to clear the ships mast, these are anxious times.

Has the skipper allowed for the strong currents capable of dashing him and his 35 hardy souls against the unforgiving banks lining the swirling torrent?

This is the ship that once nearly ran aground on the sand banks at Wallsend with no loss of life and there are fears for the hull. Will it take the strong currents of the mighty Tyne.

Now over to our sponsor who's proud to give us money for this ad break..."

Get over yersels!