O-Dear!

It’s only a game -in theory. In reality it is so much more. The battle with the ‘Auld Enemy’ for the rugby Calcutta cup takes on the trappings of something more akin to Bannockburn or Flodden Field.

The confident English rugby team came to Murrayfield yesterday, expectant of success, knowing that they had won 24 out of their last 25 rugby matches. Their Australian coach Eddie Jones had been disparaging of Scotland, suggesting the ‘darlings’ had been talked up too much during their Autumn successes.
Well we gave him and his team a bloody nose and ‘sent them homeward tae think again’, as the rugby anthem Flower o’ Scotland says. Our boys done good and the Calcutta Cup is back here after 10 years. Never has the Murrayfield roar drowned out ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ so comprehensively.

Back in the here and now, we have yet another bright sunshiny day, but the ‘Beast in the East’ is sniffing at the door sending the temperature tumbling.
I have a lunch with daughter #1 and granddaughter to look forward to, but also a difficult letter of condolence to write. It’s not a bright sunshiny day for everyone.