Last updated 21:48, Wednesday, 12 March 2008

I WASN’T going to watch the Scotland v England rugby international on TV on Saturday. I thought I couldn’t put myself through the agony of another ignominious defeat.

But Dick and Irene arrived, so together we settled down with some foreboding, it must be said. It was too wet to go for a walk.

Well, I can only thank the weather for us not missing a good game and an excellent result, although we sweated it out in the last 20 minutes when one English try and conversion would have swung the result the other way.

Eventually, on the welcome final whistle, the underdogs had won. OK, we didn’t cross their line but neither did we allow them to cross ours. Does it take an encounter with the Auld Enemy on home ground to strengthen their resolve? It must do as we got the same result two years ago.

All the recent defeats prompted one rugby commentator to speculate on what it would be like to have a Scottish side made up of Borders players only. At the moment, the team is comprised mainly of players from city clubs. A Borders players’ Scottish team would show an inherent fighting spirit passed down through generations.

THE refurbished Gilnockie hall is worth a visit, if only to see the impressive backdrop to the stage.

What an inspired choice to depict a group of Border Reivers crossing the Esk on their return to Gilnockie Tower. And who better to paint this stirring scenery than a local man, retired art teacher Alex Drysdale, always an eager participant in Gilnockie events.

IT seems that TV actors are joining the other ranks to go on holiday. We’ve read Lenice Bell’s account of her charity ride on horseback through the Andes when Emmerdale actor Christopher Chittel was one of the team.

When Anne and Ken Halliday went off recently to tour Costa Rica, they had Nigel Planer, the actor who made his name in the comedy series The Young Ones many years ago. If you remember, he was the very tall one, whose height came in very useful in Costa Rica.

WITH a new comedy series Empty at present on our screens, one of its stars, Langholm resident Gregor Fisher, has been the subject of a number of interviews. He was at the receiving end of One Final Question, a weekly feature in the Radio Times. One of the questions was what does the C stand for in Rab C Nesbitt? And Gregor’s answer: “I haven’t got a clue”.

On the Richard & Judy Show, he was asked what he thought of the latest fashion shoes – the ones that should have high heels but are high without the heels.

He was asked whether he’d consider wearing a pair and the answer was words to the effect that he’d cut a right dash in Langholm walking to the Co-op wearing them.