Hurricane Bawbag

The Scots, and indeed those of us in Northern Ireland, are battening down the hatches in the face of horrendous storms. The locals have nicked named it Hurricane Bawbag, though the pesky Germans are calling the depression Friedrich.

However, I'm hearing of blackouts in the North of Ireland (Donegal, Derry and Antrim) as well as Dumfries and Galloway, Clyde and Central Scotland. But it doesn't stop there being a little bit of humour to lighten the mood. The hashtag #HurricaneBawbag top trended not just in the UK but World wide.

Although it appears to have blown away Sky News's atlas, because they say (see above) that "In Northern Ireland, Malin Head was hit by steady winds of 58mph and gusts of 80mph." Malin Head may well be wear generations of my ancestors lived, fortunately with a bank of earth sheltering them from the Atlantic winds. It may well be the most northern point in Ireland, but it is not in Northern Ireland.

There are rumours circulating that Hurricane Bawbag may just be Sir Alex Ferguson still going through post-game analysis with his players after yesterday's Champion League performance. But it appears that the storm may also be making a bit for Olympic trampolining gold as it has been gathering equipment.



Of course even when the lights are oot there is still a guitar that can be played and a Bob Dylan classic that is calling out to be rewritten.



Update while the mainstream media shied away from using the term Eddie Mair did ask should he use in on the PM programme on Radio 4. In the words of a famous Scot Magnus Magnusson he however started but did not finish reading out the Wikipedia page entry. Apparently scrotum is not acceptable language in drivetime, though bawbag was.

Philip Schofield also fell foul of trying to anglicise the term later in the evening. When he tweeted:

Just looking through my timeline! Scotland! Are you ok? And who thought to call the hurricane ball bag?!!

For hours he was getting people correcting him or telling him to get his Glasgow Accent out or check with Lorraine Kelly or John Barrowman on how to pronounce it.

However, the SNP's Rob Gibson MSP did give Bawbag a namecheck on Scotland Tonight