IT IS a truth universally acknowledged that for two days of unbroken sunshine with soaring temperatures, a Brit must be in want of a camping chair.

The sight which told me that summer had finally arrived with a bang in Newport was of a pensioner taking her camping chair to the side of Cardiff Road, opening it with a flourish, and sitting on it while placing her floppy white hat firmly on her head.

Olympic torch relay, I am ready for you, it said.

Like any good Brit waiting for any major event. Covered up, sitting down and waiting patiently. Happy.

I have seen the same ritual performed in a layby on the A470, the camping chair folk patiently chewing doorstep sandwiches while looking at the distant mountains as cars rushed by towards Brecon.

Not for us the long-haul climb to a more scenic picnic spot. Wherever we lay down our camping chair is our home.

At the back of the car at the local boot sale, beyond the boundary of the local cricket field, newspaper over face in the queue for Wimbledon, watching outdoor Shakespeare in a castle grounds, at Glastonbury or fishing by the side of a canal.

You can drag us around an antiques market for hours, or force us to listen to Wagner in a park, but you will never, ever be able to take away from us one inalienable British right: A good sit down.

Anyone else hear that Elgar?

THE fact that 100,000 people turned out to see the Olympic torch as it passed through Gwent proves there is a real appetite here for some good news.

We've all had so much of the recession, the lingering struggle in the Valleys to recover from the massive job losses in mining and steel a generation ago, the difficulty in getting Newport's regeneration moving quickly enough, falling household incomes and rising prices.

So to put all that aside for just one day was wonderful, and so was the chance for some of the hardest-working and community-minded people in Gwent to be rewarded with their day in the sun.

Let's now hope for some golden moments for Welsh athletes at the games themselves.

AND finally...

AS WE are already staging the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, it would have seemed somewhat profligate for the UK to have won Eurovision and be faced with the bill for hosting it, wouldn't it?

So when veteran crooner Engelbert Humperdinck scraped into last-but-one place in this year's contest, a cynic such as myself couldn't help wondering if that had been the plan all along.

Humperdinck, however, said he did his best for Britain and added: "I sang it from my heart.’’

Hmm. Maybe they just don't like us, then....