IN MY history books, Amazons were the stuff of legend.

This race of all-women warriors stood tall in Greek mythology. They were not, it seems, ladies to be tangled with.

So I had to have a wry smile this week when I read of one Amazon whose travels had been delayed. By snow.

Isn’t that just grand? And we all think we are failing in some way if we are beaten by a few inches of the white stuff.

To be fair, this particular Amazon had almost 6,000 miles and a fair stretch of water to cross before completing the journey from South America to London.

But this week, snowbound Britain proved too much for our doubty traveller and like many more she found that modern-day technology quickly gets grounded when the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Wonder what the warriors of old would have said to that one. “Sorry girls, no fighting today, my sandals just aren’t up to all this icy stuff.”

Hardly. Amazons I’m sure were cut from tougher cloth and would have defended their corner of the ancient world whatever the weather.

So it’s good to be able to report that my particular Amazon should finally be with us – tomorrow.

That’s when the Royal Academy of Arts will open its doors on the first major UK exhibition to showcase portraits by the artist Edouard Manet.

When the press got a sneak preview earlier this week, one of our Manet’s was apparently missing.

His painting of The Amazon (1875) usually resides in the Museu de Sao Paulo Assis Chateaubriand in Brazil but had been duly loaned out, crated up and sent to England.

But when the press turned up at the London exhibition there was a note where this particular picture should be.

It said simply: “The painting is on loan from Brazil and its arrival has been held up because of problems at Heathrow.”

Hopefully, our Amazon friend will finally arrive tomorrow. After all, it’s a long way on horseback from Brazil.

Oh didn’t I tell you? The picture isn’t of an ancient warrior but of a genteel looking woman dressed in the tight-fitting black riding habit of the nineteenth century in which Manet painted, matched by a black silk top hat.

Manet’s L’Amazone is an equestrian who looks as if she could have dealt with the snow at a canter.

I will be trotting down to London before the exhibition closes in April just to make sure that she made it.

It just hadn’t better snow.