Flash Activated

Thank goodness for the meeting with Marchmont this morning, otherwise I would have been blip desperate enough to have subjected you to a delightful photo of the drain outside on the patio 'going its dinger' with the rain this morning.

But with Wednesday being open door day when his Lordship is otherwise engaged, I invited Marchmont to trip lightly over the Meadows for a coffee, only to discover that his Lordship and acolytes had second thoughts about walking in the hills in mist and drizzle and had called the expedition off.

His offer to remain behind his door was accepted and we ladies were free to have coffee and a free ranging conversation, only lightly touching on blipping, other than my request to blip the visitor - the drain will have its day on another occasion, I'm sure.

Apart from the rain which has stopped for the moment, it is the temperature which is a talking point today: it's really chilly, in fact it's b freezing, not to put too fine a point on it, and people have resorted yet again to anoraks.

This makes watching the Tour in their lycra shorts and shirts hurtling down the Alps in sunshine even more addictive.

Go for it Voeckler and Cavendish, you're my men in the yellow and the green.