back to good old maritime again

Last night the temperature shot up to 4 degrees, having barely surpassed zero for the last 2 weeks. With that it began to rain, good old fashioned rain like this country is supposed to enjoy in November and December, and not the icy conditions that have caused such havoc here and much hilarity in other countries where metres and metres of snow are the norm from October onwards. Apparently, countries like Norway like to close their news reports, you know, the "and finally slot" with comical little items about non-polar countries being brought to a standstill by a mere dusting of the white stuff. Personally, the anarchist in me loves the chaos brought about by nature (though I'd probably feel a little differently if I were stranded overnight in a snowdrift)

COMMENT: SO WE DIDN'T GET THE WORLD CUP. SO WHAT?

I was listening to Radio 5 reporting live from Zurich on Thursday while the nation was agog with anticipation. I mean, with such luminaries as the PM, Saint Beckham formerly of United and Prince Willie Wales, how could we lose? Quite easily, it turns out. What are we to learn from all this? First, that DC has a lot less political nouse than we might have credited him with. Putin was a lot sharper. Declining to make the trip himself (well, he probably knew it was a shoe-in weeks ago) and pouring scorn on Cameron's desperately misguided decision to show up in person. Second, that FIFA is riven with corruption at the highest level (no news there) and thus it is demonstrated that he who bribes biggest, does best. Hence Russia, now virtually a criminal state, and Qatar, fiefdom of a family so rich its fortune has to be measured in trillions, rather than mere billions, could not lose. My wife put it best, I thought:
"it's just like the Eurovision Song Contest", she said. "Now everybody hates us, they all get together to make sure we're screwed" Wise words indeed...