Folks,

Dux:

It seems that those beastly storms that nearly drowned and blew away the eastern half of the US and Canada last week also wrecked havoc upon Britain as well. According to the BBC you had winds clocked very near 80 MPH! Odd how the weather patterns work. More rain is predicted here after midnight tonight and thunder boomers all day tomorrow and tomorrow night...look out. I wonder if I sent up a red balloon with a suitably friendly if ribald greeting that the jet stream would carry it all the way to Derbyshire?

It is a shame that open markets without tariffs cannot prevail. We pay more for British goods as well. Here's an idea. Get out the row boat and load it with goodies. I will get out mine and do the same. We'll row out to the middle of the great wet spot where we'll meet and trade boats.

Congratulations on the birding trip. Although I understand they were previously unseen in Britain, with all that wind last week you may reasonably expect to see some of our blue jays in your garden quite soon.