Be a shame not to mention that Stranraer I are now in a play-off spot after yet another away win. The Blues' great form has coincided with the signing of a lad on loan from Hearts who has class & skill that 4th division opponents find hard to deal with. Elgin couldn't handle him at all yesterday.

All 4 matches scheduled for today actually took place, and every team had at least 1 goal to celebrate. Stranraer II only just outscored the Burgh while Lochar won the big one at Blairmount. Mid Annandale 1 Creetown 3 Newton Stewart 2 Lochar 3 Nithsdale 1 Abbey Vale 4 Stranraer II 3 Lochmaben 2

The Beatles, updated: All you need is Hate Twist & Tweet Help! There's a mosque down the road A Hard Day abusing asylum seekers I Feel Fine because I voted for Reform UK All-White Submarine Norwegian Woke www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

1. The League is back. Or at least some of it, though another week of foul weather is likely to cause yet more postponements. Saturday's schedule is... Mid Annandale v Creetown Newton Stewart v Lochar Th Nithsdale v Abbey Vale Stranraer II v Lochmaben Rain is forecast. A cosy day at home beckons.

Left my car unguarded for 2 seconds...

Time for a quick women's roundup & the big news is that Newton Stewart are no longer bottom of the SWFL, having overtaken Benburb by beating them 2-0. Annan are 5th of 11, Gretna 7th & Dalbeattie 8th. scotwomensfootball.com/fixtures-and...

1 Don't usually mention the various Cup competitions that interrupt the SSL but this weekend's South Alba Final at Gretna between Lochmaben & Lochar Jags gives the winner a place in European competition...

SSL table. Misleading, of course, because on PPG Stranraer II are still in top position, but nice for Lochar all the same. No League games next week so there'll be no change till after my birthday. All presents & cards to the usual place xx

A couple of days ago it was all hard talk about how their Operation Overlord II was going to stop the ‘small boat invasion’. Yesterday Danny Tommo and Ryan Bridge were fleeing, tails between their legs and terrified, from a refugee camp in France. Read about it and watch the video here:

Results! Two of them!! Lochmaben 1 Mid Annandale 1 Nithsdale 0 Lochar 6 Reigning champs Lochar Thistle are looking formidable again. 6-0 is a satisfying scoreline. The Burgh went a goal ahead against Mids but had 2 men sent off, including the goalie, & consequently could only manage a draw.

Only the games at Lochmaben & Sanquhar survive. Let's hope Nithsdale's game goes ahead; the season began in July & they've only managed 6 League games. It'll be icy cold at Lorimer Park, mind. Don't fancy it myself; not even with a big coat on.

Tomorrow's fixtures. I really hope at least one of them actually takes place because the winter break seems to have begun very early this season. Let's cross our fingers for the following... Abbey Vale v Dalbeattie Creetown v St Cuthbert Lochmaben v Mid Annandale Nithsdale v Lochar

SSL latest news. Last night's fixture was called off & we can only assume the Blairmount pitch has a drainage problem that Newton Stewart can't afford to fix. The 3G surface was originally paid for by D&G Council but there's no chance they'll be spending any more on it. Squeaky bum time for NSFC.

1 Thornhill FC weren't quite the least successful team ever to exist in Dumfriesshire, but they entered the Scottish Cup 14 times and never won a match. They managed a draw against Vale o Nith but by the time the replay was supposed to take place 4 players had been suspended for attacking the ref.

There's not been much happening in the SSL for a while. Hopefully, the Newton Stewart v Stranraer II match will actually take place this evening. Blairmount Park is a nice ground that's seen precious little action lately. The Top 4 are in a league of their own so it's a treat when two of them meet.

Almost 10,000 people have now signed! Stop the massacre of Gannet chicks in the name of "tradition". Please add your name! petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE...

No SSL results to discuss but Queens returned doon hame fae Inverness after a 4-0 regicide, Annan sank on the Clyde, Stranraer reformed the league table by trouncing The Spartans & Berwick's 3 points seemed certain to elope to Gretna with 15 minutes to go before leaving, but then didn't after all.

Our only League fixture today has been postponed. The table still shows the teams from Wigtown & Kirkcoubrie as the bottom two, but who cares? They are still the funkiest places in Dumfries & Galloway. Newton Stewart's cup tie is off as well. There's definitely a worrying problem with that pitch.

English friends. Enjoy your beautiful countryside and your cities' ethnic diversity and culture. And take those bleeding flags down. Coming off the M1 today was like 1930s Nuremburg. Flags all over the place. Don't let the bloody fascists set your agenda. England is better than that.

Away for a few days - after voting in the by-election, of course - so there'll be no instant update on Saturday's only league fixture, Wigtown v Dalbeattie. I fear for W&G's goal difference; after letting in 15 in the last 2 games there's very likely another avalanche on the way. Chin up, Wigs!

I hope there's not a problem with Newton Stewart's artificial pitch. They've not played at home for a month and their cuptieh against Lochar the night was switched to Wigtown, where I expect it was postponed after another dreich day. Sounds a bit worrying for the promotion-bound Creesiders.

Stranraer. The rough part of town is getting worse & worse...

Stranraer Reserves remain top of the table. They don't play at Stair Park and don't wear the Stranraer FC strip, & nobody ever seems to be dropped to the stiffs or promoted into the first team, so in what way they are the Blues' reserves is a bit of a mystery. I bet they're more fun to watch too.

Scrapped my previous post since it turns out Wigtown v Nithsdale did take place at the Tram after all. Can't imagine how, but well done anyway. Score: Wigtown & Bladnoch 0 Nithsdale Wanderers 5 Nithsdale move to 6th. Wigtown could do with a break rather than hosting Dalbeattie next weekend. OMG.

Nae fitba at Blairmount Park the day, Puss. Might as well go indoors and sit in front of the fire.

Hey Hey Donald J. How many kids have you killed today? www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

#FloodlightFriday Queen of the South. In a perfect world all floodlights would look like this.

Finding myself among Leyton Orient followers today. Fair enough. Mon the Os!

1 No point in previewing this week's SSL fixtures since they're both likely to be postponed. Threave have an interesting Demolition Cup tie away to Irvine Meadow XI but the Big One in the region is an SPFL relegation 6 pointer between Annan & Edinburgh City, who have gone right off the boil lately.

Leave our animals alone, please. The only effective way to protect our environment is to bring rural Scotland into public ownership. The landowners have been having their way for centuries & they are still calling the tune. See the Galloway National Park fiasco for a perfect example.

Cats & fitba.

This snootypants could have told me that Wigtown's game had been switched to Dumfries on Saturday, but chose not to do so. It's a cat thing.

If the football was boring at Tarff Rovers, folk could always take a wee stroll and enjoy the riverside. It's still a beautiful world; we could have saved it but were too lazy & selfish to do so. Best appreciate it while we can, because our fairy godmother is not going to come & rescue us.

Just as well I didn't go down to Trammandford Park in Wigtown on Saturday because the match against Lochar was played at a school field in Dumfries, 57 miles away. The SSL website, written by a robot, didn't give out that information. so I guess some poor souls probably turned up to an empty field.

Good to see Stranraer on a wee run in the SPFL. I don't believe Reform UK will win the council byelection on 20/11/25 but if that catastrophe should happen the shame will be hard to bear, & I certainly won't be able to bring myself to enter Stair Park again. Share a stand with fascists? No thanks.

Wigtown & Bladnoch only managed a single point last season, and they have just 1 point again now, but it wasn't always so. W&B won the title as recently as 2014 & 2015. Things currently aren't good, but at least W&B won't be wound up owing HMRC £70 million, unlike another club we could mention.

CORRECTION Please ignore what I said on Friday. St Cuthbert have not won the title more times than anyone else. Stranraer Reserves have won the League twice as often - 16 compared to 8 - and next in line are Threave Rovers with 13. Tarff Rovers also won 8 championships. Not even close!

3 matches were off. The game at Lockerbie was OK because it was played on an artificial carpet, but I didn't expect the Wigtown match to be on. That's why I didn't go to see it & I'm very pleased that I didn't. Results: Mid Annandale 3 St Cuthbert 2 Wigtown 0 Lochar Thistle 10

What makes professional football clubs think they don't have to pay their debts, like the rest of us? People & businesses are waiting for their money from NCFC, & probably won't get it. Meanwhile their fans are protesting because they keep losing. What do they expect? www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

#FloodlightFriday St Cuthbert Wanderers have won the SSL title more than any other team, but they'll not be doing so this year. Kirkcudbright really is a great town. I'd live there myself if I could afford to. The football ground is next to, and I imagine sometimes in, the pretty River Dee estuary.

The SWFL South includes 4 teams from D&G, and at the weekend Gretna and Newton Stewart played against each other. Gretna began on 1 point, Newton on zero with a -27 goal difference after 3 games, hoping for a change of luck after having met some formidable opponents. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VP7...

Coming up: 8 November Creetown v Abbey Vale Dalbeattie v Newton Stewart Lochmaben v Nithsdale Mid-Annandale v St Cuthbert Wigtown v Lochar Can't see the Wigtown pitch surviving the week's dreich weather. The Big One at Dalbeattie is probably doubtful as well, given the forecast. It's pishin doon.

Our 11 teams have barely caught up with the internet age, except for Dalbeattie Star, whose website contains damn fine match reports with just the right amount of home town bias. Read all about it... www.dalbeattiestarfc.com/match-reports

The Auld Firm match has ended with Rangers moaning and griping again. It's too tedious for words, but fitba - and life - doesn't have to be that way. Some of us like it calm, peaceful and with a low carbon footprint. Only £4 at the gate and no need to buy an online advance ticket.

2 If only they'd known in advance about the reorganisation, Threave would have stayed in the Sooth. The best solution would be to come back home next season so the League isn't reduced to only 9 clubs and Rovers can more or less guarantee themselves promotion. Good for the SoSL, good for TRFC.

1 We'll lose Dalbeattie and Newton to the new Lowland League West at the end of the season. Ironically, Threave Rovers, probably the best non-legue side in D&G, won't be joining them. Their brave move to the bottom division of the West has, in retrospect, backfired...

I can speak with authority as a member of the prostate cancer generation; closing our public cludgies will definitely not "improve the experience for residents & visitors." In fact, just reading this article made me need to go for a wee. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Today's results: Lochar 2 Abbey Vale 0 Lochmaben 3 St Cuthbert 3 Mid-Annandale 2 Newton Stewart 3 The other 2 games were bogged off following the rain. Well done to Mid-Annandale for coming close to an unexpected point. Lochar are now 3 points ahead of currently off-form Abbey Vale.

Lochmaben played some nice football and were 3-1 ahead for most of the second half, but they can't defend corners or free kicks for toffee. St Cuth's big defenders came up and took advantage with 2 headers so all that good work came to naught. Cracking match, mind. This was nearly a late winner...

Dogs in cafes. Number 1 in a very irregular collection. The Stove, Dumfries.