Sleet chance of play

London Leprechaun reports on a day without cricket but lots of alternative activities for snowbound supporters, ranging from spotting ghosts to crosswords and an oxymoron just for this thread.  Read the headline with a Durham accent and you will get the (snow) drift of the day. 

On the train up yesterday afternoon I travelled through sunshine, rain, bright blue sky and thunderous grey, all to the accompaniment of the commentary on day 2 with a backdrop of amazing sound effects of the wind blowing rather more then a gale. Listening to Middlesex fielders struggling in the wind did make me wonder what I was doing heading towards this winter scene. Is it really the cricket season?
I brought a snow shower with me from Durham which made me even more dubious about this trip, although a brilliant blue sky two minutes later did make me a bit more optimistic.

Lumley Castle looks rather good in the sunshine, even if the heating in my room does not work.

The first thing to report about today - Day 3 - is that I was not disturbed by a ghost although I may have caught a picture of her at breakfast. I must say there are not many hotel breakfast rooms that look like this these days.

Could this be the ghost

The second thing to say was that I woke up to, had breakfast with, and started to walk down to the ground in brilliant sunshine, and even though it was cold, out of the wind it felt reasonably warm. But within two minutes I was seeking the shelter of a castle stone arch as it literally pelted down with hail/snow. Sadly that was the pattern for the day as the strong wind helped blow blue, grey and extremely black clouds over the ground all day. It was one of those days when you just sit around waiting for the inevitable which thankfully came around 4pm.
So what do you do as an away supporter in a small town far from home where it is very cold?

• You make the most of the nice members’ lounge where you can get tea and coffee (although it is more costly then Lords!) , a reasonable lunch – the soup was nice today and get a view of the cricket or today, lots of covers. MCC please note in the Lord’s development.
• You enjoy the great picture of Dawid Malan struggling to keep warm:
• You play word and other games on mobile devices thanks to the free charging points
• You enjoy some good Twitter banter about the weather. Look for Ben Stokes version of the umpires inspection
  You keep an eye on Middlesex expats. Well done Neil Dexter and Adam Rossington – not quite a Glen Turner domination of the innings but pretty good anyhow
• You keep up to date with the 2nd XI at Radlett – nice to see Ryan Higgins having a good match
• You watch the nice members’ lounge gradually empty as sensible Durham members give up long before the umpires have the final word
• You read a proper newspaper with proper ink that you have to wash away and even try the proper crossword
• You wonder why, when you booked this week for a new bathroom to be installed you chose to come to Durham to escape builders. It is rather nice in Spain at the moment.
• You take the positive that Don had a day off from long conversations about the overrate with the umpires

And then at four pm the day is put out of its misery just as the weather is at its best and you leave the ground bathed in sunshine. (not that it lasted) and surrounded by spring sunshine. Bit of an oxymoron there.

Spring blossom and snow. Today's oxymoron

I hope that tomorrow’s report is not going to be a ditto of today.