Rain...

The BBC weather website seems pretty trustworthy, at least for the following day. I’m staying with my sister in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, a village with a cricket pitch at its heart. There’s supposed to be a testimonial match this afternoon for Jimmy Adams, captain of Hampshire, but the weather forecast has a grim uniformity. Rain, rain and more rain. Such a shame: the pitch is ready, the marquees are up and the locals have been bagging the best spots around the boundary with their windbreaks and gazebos. No doubt the bar will be open, come what may, but I’ve spent too many days, over the years, watching two sets of stumps being marooned in a pool of water, while some optimist (probably me) insists “I think it’s brightening up”…