Nithered

They say that the British talk about the weather because we have so much of it. Oh, and plenty to spare. 'Nithered' is a good northern word for cold, chilly, freezing, a bit on the Arctic side. 'Margi, you look nithered!' as a colleague of Tony's once bellowed across a room to me. I was blue and shivering and his breath froze in the air as he spoke.

Yesterday was a full day. In the morning I went out dressed for the weather, which was about right for the time of year. A tad cool, but OK for the north of England. By three o'clock in the afternoon I needed to lose a layer. The woman at the greengrocer's stall in the market was turning pink, and the town filled with children eating ice cream. Blossom drifted from the trees.

Four hours later it was a case of head down, shoulders up, and battle the way through the north wind. It was nithering, nitherous, nitherish, it nithereth, I, you he/she/it am/is benithered. The Geordie word is 'caad'. Today, it nithers on. Ah, the ancient kingdom of Northumbria! Much has been said and written about the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, and how peaceful and remote it is, a 'thin' place between earth and heaven. All this is true, but it can also be the most nithering place on earth. It's in the north sea, for goodness sake! It was on Lindisfarne that I heard the expression 'that wind would blow the hair off a nanny goat'. Hadrian's wall is pretty nithering too.

But I hope I haven't put you off coming to our lovely remote county. Even when it's nithering it's beautiful, and welcoming too. And it isn't always nithering.