Oh how the weather gods must have chortled as they concocted their latest wheeze.

'Give them a few days mild, a bit of rain, soften them -and the ground - up, then hit them with another blast to remind them that winter is a long way from being over'.

Anyway as a result of the latest freeze up, Ayr's match against Selkirk at Philiphaugh was cancelled, creating further problems in what is developing into a real nasty looking fixture backlog. Ayr were certainly luckier than some on Saturday however, Selkirk at least having the sense to call the game of before Ayr travelled, unlike some clubs who persuaded the opposition to make the journey to their ground only to have the match, which had no hope of going ahead anyway, called off an hour before kick off with the only winner the bus company.

This leaves Ayr now with five postponed Scottish Hydro Premier 1 matches to fulfil, against Heriots, Hawks, Dundee, Melrose and Selkirk with the match against Currie having to be re-scheduled since their match at Malleny on March 6th won't go ahead since Ayr will be in Cardiff fulfilling their final pool match in the British and Irish Cup. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that on Saturday Ayr travel to Musselburgh in the first round of the Scottish Hydro Premier Cup, a match they would expect to win, and if the do they will have to fit in the next round of the cup as well.

Given all this, you can imagine that the person who suggested to your correspondent that the weather had been ideal for the hardy curlers who were out a couple of weeks ago on the Lake of Mentieth and the husky dog sled racers at Aviemore so he couldn't understand what the rugby and football people were going on about got less than short shrift!

Assuming that the match at Stonyhill does go ahead on Saturday, Ayr will have a much changed squad out anyway since five of the regular side will be involved in the Scottish Club international against France at Netherdale on Friday night (highlights on www.scottishrugbytv.com) but they should still come away with a win to set them up for their third match in the British and Irish cup against Birmingham and Sulihull Bees at Millbrae (kick off 4pm) the following Saturday.

The Midlands side are toiling in bottom slot in the Championship with a points deficit, a situation caused by the fact that they were deducted points after going into administration late in 2009. A new management team and an injection of finance has rescued the club- at least in the short term - but they have lost to Rotherham Titans at home 29-0 in the championship and 52-10 in the British and Irish Cup. Given that Ayr beat the Titans at Millbrae, form suggests that the Millbrae men will continue as Scotland's most successful side in the tournament with Pontypridd next up at Millbrae after Birmingham before the final pool match in Cardiff.

There is a huge amount of top class rugby to come and despite the fixture backlog, there is a quiet determination among the coaches and squad that this season, whenever it ends, will again be one which Ayr can look back on with pride both in terms of the league and as one of Scotland's representatives in the British and Irish Cup.

Finally I received an e-mail this week from former Ayr center Nick Lavelle, now back at home in Australia. This was part of his message:

" I hear you guys have had a good spell of cold weather over the xmas break. Maybe we can do a swap and you can send some of it over to Oz. We have had a uncomfortably hot summer here"

There really is no pleasing some people!