And it just keeps on snowing.

We still have plenty of snow here. with fresh falls yesterday and also today, and more forecast in the next few hours.

Monday I was on an open at The Mercat Bar, so after twenty minutes thawing out the car I managed to get on my way. The main roads in Midlothian were not too bad, but as I crossed over into the City of Edinburgh at Lothianburn the Fairmilehead and Commiston Road areas were deadly. Now considering that these are main arterial routes into the City and also main bus routes the lack of salt and grit was causing major problems as the road was just sheet ice.

Into the Mercat, where the Photoshop across the road is generating more interest with his latest swipe at the City Council tramworks, which will be starting up soon.

The Bar was fairly busy, first four clients were from Spain, next two from Oaklahoma, USA, ; and then we had a nice couple from Cumbria who had come across The Mercat Bar on the Internet and from the good comments decided to come looking for us - and they were not disappointed.

Eventually home to get my feet up for a quiet evening. Now we will have several weeks of "whodunnit" as we wait to see who murdered Archie Mitchell in Eastenders; next it was a replay of the "Day of the Triffids" , just annoying that tonight's final part is on so late.

Much milder this morning, only minus 1c which is nothing to the minus 15c recorded at Achnashellac, in Argyleshire, who have had some serious minus readings for the past week or so. BUT with it being so mild the snow arrived again, however with a few breaks between flurries I headed for Mr Photogenix at Bonnyrigg ( hence the wee piccy of Mirri the pup who is enjoying the snow).

Headed home after a heavy fall, Pomathorn was getting bad and I ended up going down Pomathorn Brae with the handbrake on, and made it safely (just), unlike the poor soul yesterday who ended up a tree after his car turned into a sledge on the hill. Even the view from my front door was quite picturesque and clearing snow and ice for an hour kept me cosy.

On a different note , we have the judicial execution this morning by the Chinese Government of the convicted drug smuggler who was from the UK. He was arrested two years ago with 4kg of heroin. It has been alleged that he was duped by professional drug runners and due to his suffering from a bi polar disorder he was unaware of what was happening to him. Going back to my earlier comments on Eastenders we have had an excellent opportunity to see how people can be affected by this illness as is portrayed by Stacy and her mother who are being shown as suffering the same.

I am not being cynical, but I wonder how many of our reputable legal eagles are studying said disorder for future cases.

The Scottish Police forces have been having their annual winter drink driving campaign, and with the new legislation are seizing the vehicles of repeat offenders, they say that the numbers arrested are down, however I would suspect that fewer were stopped due to the weather, etc, but then again , might be wrong.

Where are you now ??

Bit of a quandary now - here within the system I have a Stats Counter which lets me keep track of who is checking out the blog. I can on occasion work out who some readers are, ie, Quinn in California; Dennis in Ireland; Robbie, Phil in the Land of Oz ; Karen in Italy, etc but here I am, trying to track down John Ackroyd and I find that someone else is doing the same.

John headed South to London where he was working in IT for the BBC, travelling all over Europe and Asia, but so far I have not heard from im - ????? Who has.

Where fiction and reality cross over

Boxing Day evening, have had a quiet but super day with an excellent dinner, BUT

Yesterday we had the X mas story of Jesus Christ, which led to our "Christian Festival" and the cause of all our chaos in the shops. Just who was wise / stupid enough to get up at 5 a.m. and queue to get in to the NEXT sale this morning ?

We tell our children all about Santa Clause, and Rudolph the red nose reindeer and they leave out their carrots and milk before the visit!!

We also tell of the tooth fairy and leave pennies under the pillow for that tooth that fell out in childhood.

This morning I was happy and content to watch the documentaries / movies about a V W Beetle car which won a NASCAR race ( Herbie) and a Zebra which won the Kentucky Derby ( Stripes). Me, I was happy, enjoyed it - it was fun and make belief / escapism.

Later it was "2012", the Apocalypse, the end of the world, which, following on to the " Day After Tomorrow" , which once again crosses over from imaginative to the possible.

Mid afternoon, a repeat of the Susan Boyle ( SuBo) documentary, where a most wonderfully gifted person, who has now made it into the public sphere, (despite lives adversities), and has proven by sales of over 1.4m CD,s that she has a magic gift and a world wide audience which will only increase through time.

BACK TO REALITY with a massive jolt, ------------ despite the Christmas spirit we still have thugs running riot in our neighbourhoods, terrorising the innocent and vulnerable, and all who should rightfully deserve their come uppers!!

This weekend we have had an assault on the Pope, and today we hear of an attempt to blow up a North West American airline by a Nigerian who had some form of incendiary substance impregnated into / onto his skin.
This person had entered the UK and was a student at London University - which now raises the issue of the number of foreign students, especially from India, Pakistan, and Africa entering the UK on so called study visas and then becoming entrapped/ recruited by the Al Queda group leading, possibly to what has just happened again.

Rightly and unfortunately this will lead to a further increase in airport security, etc. which obviously will again inconvenience travellers, and lead to greater costs for security. Shame is that for every newly recruited terrorist by Al Queda there are hundreds of perfectly innocent young people who come to us from overseas who just want to better themselves in life and wish no harm to anyone. For years, when working with the search teams etc, we always said that it took an incident to sharpen the mind, and again this is proven to be the case.

Not such a happy x mas message.

X mas day in The Mercat in camera

Now Boxing Day here in sunny Penicuik, and we have just had a wee bit of a snow storm, pity it was not this time yesterday as RGB might have won his bet about it snowing in Edinburgh.

However, a restful and quiet X-mas day was not on the cards for the Blaikie's and Co.

We managed a quick session of unwrapping presents early a.m., and that was after spending hours wrapping on x mas eve , mind you that was for RGB and items for the bar staff bought in the usual last minute rush.

Go Jo and RGB headed off early to see how young Amy and Arron were making out at McMerry .

Reached The Mercat by 11 a.m where Jamie and Andy were hard at work in the kitchen, trying to make up time after a busy x-mas had held them back on their prep work. HOWEVER, not a problem so with a caring team, Mrs b. ; RGB and Go Jo, Sir Christopher and Miss talk a Lot; self and young Scottie the Dining room was all set for our forty guests.

Cutting a long story short , we had a lovely day, our guests thoroughly enjoyed their lunch and all left happy and content, no pressure !!! ( there was a wee bit).

Once we were all tidied up and reset the dining room, we had a brief visit from Tam and Katherine with wee Eilidh, then Go Jo's folks, Jock, Sheila and Supergran Chrissie arrived for a relaxing dinner with the the workers and family.

Some photos of the day - for posterity - in no particular order.

merry x mas everyone

Only 9.30 p.m. here in Scotland but elsewhere in the world Christmas Day has arrived with all the associated excited over Santa Claus ; St Nicholas, etc. little children going wild, not sleeping, carrots and milk on the carpet and the remnants of wrapping paper (enough for a rain forest) waiting to go into the recycling bin.

Still snowing here in Penicuik, and across the South of Scotland, not sure what the conditions of RGB's bet is, but he does have money lodged with the bookie that it will snow in Edinburgh on X-mas day.

After an early rise, a de icing session on the cars, bit of shovelling it was on with the chores again. I even managed to make a big pot of the genuine mince, carrots, onions and peas served up with mashed tatties, a nice traditional Scottish dinner.

Off to town to join in the merry throng of last minute shoppers who are apparently spending at the rate of £1m per second throughout the UK- however I was unfortunate enough not to get what I was looking for - my fault for not buying the gifts when I should have - never mind, I am sure that when the sales start we might be able to source it, and the moths will once more see the colour of my money.

Sparky Mark popped in , on 24 hr call for the gas board for the festive period, and had his first evening call for assistance. There is always a need for someone to be working - so good on you Sparky, and to all those others in the same situation, nurses, firemen, the police, etc.

Breaking news at the moment on the TV about the attack on the Pope within St Peter''s . Rome, by a women who jumped over the security barrier. He appears to be uninjured, although one of assisting priests is hurt. Obviously big questions to be asked about his security screen/ bodyguard, it is a shame that this will be increased and possibly take him further away from his congregation.

Just sad that we cannot have a day of peace in the true spirit of the "festival".

Merry Christmas

Long day on the loose

Made it into the city by bus to find that there was next to no snow in sight. The fun fare and Ferris Wheel in Princes Street Gardens were busy, must have been chilly in the gondolas, but the view would be good.

Made it to the Standing Order where I bumped into a number of people I knew, so while waiting for the "management Team" of Kia and ray to join me and Archie I whiled away the hours with a little red wine.

From the SO it was a wander along to see "smelly" Gillian at Fraser's where I received a liberal dousing of Guerulin after shave.

On to the Mercat Bar where they were holding a wine tasting night, this time all bubbly wines supplied by Cockburn,s Wine Merchants.

Nice group and with Sparky Mark we joined the Axios systems table. Also present was Sandra ( the Diver) from North Berwick, who know some of my friends of old. Sandra is involved with the lifeboat and also the 1st Responders. A free spirit who travels the world - as this picture of her in a shark cage off South Africa shows.

The meal was superb, with smoked salmon, spicy sausage. mussels; aubergine and truffle soup; strawberry mousse and some excellent cheeses.

With Sparky in tow we eventually walked the length of Princes Street and caught the night bus home.

Sadly , today, a man walking down the icy steps carrying his child fell, struck his head and died in hospital.

Rather tired this morning, about eight inches (overall) of snow on the ground, so after some digging we managed to get the car out and joined the convoy to the shops. Bit of a surprise when I met Ian (Shakey) Stevens and Peter (Neebs) Nicholson - who I had not seen for ages.

Home eventually, seriously perturbed by the lazy drivers who cannot clear snow off their cars and drive about with mountains of the stuff on the roof and bonnet which at times does obscure their view and driving.

Whole country suffering ( apart from Bald eagle @ Rab Robertson) who is in for a shock to the system when he get off the flight from Egypt.

Going to be a cold one tonight with projected -5c here and as low as -16 up north - so we will need to keep our "posteriors" covered tonight..

Tuesday - another white morning

Tuesday, a bit early, and another restless night.

Could not sleep again so up and wandering about. The road outside is now white instead of black, so I suspect that traffic chaos will ensue as the dawn breaks and folks try to get to work. Young RGB's bed lies empty so I assume he has had to spend another night in the City.

Yesterday was supposed to me my quiet day but I headed out,made it to Sainsbury's at Loanhead where shoppers appeared to be stocking up for a siege of some description !! But being such a big store I did bump into friends.

Onwards to Bonnyrigg to see Grant @Photogenix, where it was a case of "talk of the Devil, etc" we had just mentioned Andy McKeen ( man in photo with shirt tail out) and within literally ten seconds he walked through the door -.

Headed home to Penicuik where it was only the untreated side roads within the housing estates that were treacherous - worst being outside my friend "the rat catcher's house ( GM Pest Control) which at the top of the town was kind of bad. Hopefully his daughter out in Italy is not having to cope with these conditions, although the weather report for her area is just as bad as here.

Looks like the whole of the UK is slowly grinding to a halt, planes cancelled from north to south; a Eurostar train which is incapable of running when the sun is not shining; roads blocked and treacherous with fatalities being reported daily. The figures we do not hear about are of the elderly who are suffering in their homes with no contact.

Later in the evening, between showers I headed down to our local Tesco store, where the local numpties were having a hey day, snowballing passing cars, shoppers, etc. The Police warned a group of them but within minutes they were at it again so an irate, grumpy old man (me ) took a serious nippy at them to the extent that I thought I might burst a blood vessel !!

Just where do these types come from , where are their brains - just firing snowballs into the windscreens and sides of moving cars a few yards away ? One van driver stopped and they fled as he was intent in wringing a neck. Police eventually arrived again, three in a van, but seemed powerless.