Welsh Midges

James and I had a lovely curry with Ewan and Heather tonight at their local curry house, Rasoi. Like last time, the meal was delicious and the restaurant was smart and comfortable, and I was left yet again wishing that we had such a good eatery near our house. It was the first time that I have seen Ewan since his Mum died; we had a pleasant and relaxing evening chatting and went home feeling replete and contented.
We found David, who returned this evening from his Duke of Edinburgh expedition in Wales, lying in bed exhausted and bitter. He was covered in insect bites and said that the Welsh midges are much worse than Scottish ones because they are deterred neither by wind nor rain! He went on to tell us that it rained "the whole time" that he was in Wales, and that the only time the sun had come out for ten minutes he had got burned. He said that when the clouds lifted they were replaced with clouds of midges, and that he didn't see anything of the countryside because of the clouds and mist. David has formed a poor impression of Wales I'm afraid, and was talking darkly of not going back to complete his Qualifying expedition in October. He spoke in a monotone and kept writing "I hate you" on his iPad. I do feel bad for him that he has had such a grim experience, it does sound awful. I don't believe that suffering should be a part of sport and have horrible memories of playing hockey in dreadful weather conditions. Perhaps he will feel differently about the experience and remember some good times when he has had a comfy night's sleep in his own bed.