All white on the night

Just back from Scotland where my son and I watched Dundee United play local rivals Dundee.

The less said about the match (United lost 1-0) the better, but I enjoyed the weekend. We drove up on Friday, stayed overnight in Eaglesham near Glasgow, then completed the journey to Dundee on Saturday morning where we met my old schoolfriend Bill (and his son) who had flown over from Dublin.

But here’s the thing. After breakfast in St Andrews yesterday morning, my son and I set off for Cambridgeshire around noon. Thanks, however, to the M6 being closed south of Carlisle - which forced a long line of traffic to edge, very slowly, across the Pennines towards the A1(M) - we didn’t get home until nine o’clock.

In contrast, our friends - who left Dundee around the same time - were at home in Ireland three hours’ earlier. Well done, Ryanair!

PS. Although it was very cold (and frosty) in Scotland, it didn’t snow. Imagine my surprise, then, to wake up this morning in Cambridgeshire to find it had been snowing overnight and there was a thin white blanket covering the ground.

I’m just glad it didn’t snow while we were crossing the Pennines. Many years ago (46 to be exact) I was invited to spend New Year in Richmond in North Yorkshire. My parents were living in Cumbria at the time and I had to drive across the Pennines in the dark in thick snow.

Unfortunately the radiator in my mother’s eleven-year-old car (which I was driving) developed a leak and I only just made it to Richmond before the engine blew up. Thankfully I found a garage where they made a temporary repair using the white from an egg, but that’s another (true) story …

Below: Tannadice Park, home of Dundee United, on Saturday afternoon