Wise to keep your peepers on the map behind the weatherman’s shoulder - Susan Morrison

Storm Antoni brought rain and high winds to Brighton, but not Edinburgh (Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images)

In 1944 almost 133,000 Allied troops waited to cross the channel and launch D-Day. They waited on the word from the weather man.

A chap named Stagg from the Met Office called it. The weather on June 6 would not be great, but would be as good as it got, and so the great enterprise was green for go.

Could have done with Stagg’s accurate prediction this week. Back in the winter I thought a walking tour around St Andrew Square would be a lovely thing.

A stroll in the sun, waving my arms about, sharing my love of the filthy history of the New Town.

Last week, Liam Dutton on Channel Four weather was weary and wary. A storm was coming, he said, so furious that they had named it Antoni. Quite why we have taken up this American habit of naming forces of nature is beyond me.

In my younger days, storm fronts and unseasonable weather remained unnamed and were only referred to as “a bit windy”. Oh, said the weathermen, it’s going to be terrible.

Lash down the children. It’s gonna get biblical.

To think I have reached this age and not been smart enough to keep my eyes on the map. On the national weather, it’s always wise to keep your peepers on the weather map between the left pocket and the shoulder on the weatherman’s suit.

That’s usually where our neck of the woods lies. And whilst this Antoni one was wreaking havoc over bits of England and the West, we were hiding by Liam’s shoulder, hardly even getting a mention.

As an aside, I really must commend Liam for his tailoring, second only to our own Seán Batty.

Best cancel, I thought. Don’t want folk getting droochit on a dreich day.

More fool I. We did get teeny weeny tropical downpours, but they naffed off to Fife fairly quickly.

So. I believe summer has returned, do come and join me on a fun filled walking tour of a little bit of the New Town. In future I’ll put my weather forecasting faith in Judith Ralston.