Our x-mas flowers

Just thought you might like a wee keek at our x-mas gift from Sir Christopher's Ma. She gave us a nice bulb in a box which has blossomed into this lovely flower.

Despite an awfy long day yesterday - and a late night watching movies till we dozed off - washed down with a nice red Cotes Du Rhone, "La Chassse Du Pape", which coincidentally i am also enjoying as I sit and type now whilst watching Masterchef and now America's Next Top Model - so sad!!! But what a contrast, with the Chef,s they have so much talent and get put under immense pressure to demonstrate so many skills.

Our dim witted Models are now in Bangkok, where I will be in ten days time - I see more naturally beautiful young ladies walking past The Mercat Bar on a daily basis than these young women who are not much less than "catty bitches" who depend on top class make up artists and photographers to get the best end result. For some, beauty is skin deep, for some the beauty comes from the heart and soul - there is a massive difference.

So, this morning it was an early rise after a terribly restless and sleepless night, but we beat the madness which has hit Penicuik due to the Water Board digging up the A702 - Jo Jo got the bus to work and it took her two hours to get into town, while RGB waited off, missed the pandemonium, and only took about ten minutes longer than usual. We also had to contend with some snow - and again -just like last week Edinburgh City Council were again leaving themselves open to complaint by having some of the roads ungritted.

In the meantime, I was in The Mecat Bar, where we had tons of rubbish from the busy weekend, now - is there an issue? The Tramworks folks have recruited "The orange Men" to assist with bringing goods into shops and also to get rubbish and items away from the door to pick up points.

So, this morning we had thirty odd bags of rubbish and also boxes of card to be moved, but it seemed as though it was a competition between the orange men to see who could avoid the task!!!! A bit strange, when last week I was in a shop full of the orange men falling over themselves to help the shopkeeper - who told me that he was paying them ?? What for - to do the job they are already being paid for !! And this morning I saw four loading crates of beer into the cellar of one of our neighbouring pubs. Wait till tomorrow - we have forty plus kegs to be moved when Bellhaven arrive - this will be a god game of hide and seek.

The Tramworks are now proving interesting - the holes in the road are getting bigger and deeper - and as they gom down here are all sorts of concrete casings, and in some bits they are through to the rock - if they go any deeper outside the paper shop it might slide into it.

My Oppo from RA Strathearn, MEZ Andy sent me a message this afternoon after getting caught in all the traffic around Haymarket, just a "Red Neck out of his home territory".

The Mercat was fairly busy all day, and we had four young ladies from North Wales, they told me they were driving home and navigating by their Sat Nav - which was sending them home west along the M8 and then down onto the M74 - an extra sixty miles rather out of Edinburgh on the A702 to Abington - point raised - women drivers and maps/ navigation, just about as bad as having a blind pigeon !!!

Nearly forgot - took a walk up to Sommerfield,s, stopping off to hand both my masonic rings in at the jewellers to get them fixed as the swivel pins have broken. Just as I reached Sommerfields a shoplifter ran past me followed by two of the young male shop assistants and took off up a side street. One of the check out girls was saying that he was a regular - they know them all - bloody thieving twats. In tonight's Edinburgh Evening News there is an article about the exclusion zones being imposed as part on bail conditions for convicted shoplifters to deter them from coming back into the area.

Same paper - our wonderful, efficient, caring , compassionate, arrogant and ignorant parking attendants - January 2nd - 1615 tickets; 3rd - 416; and 4th - 89 : so that equates to an extra £48,450 into the Edinburgh City coffers in one day. Welcome to the City.

Odd item - a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S which had lain abandoned in a garage in Newcastle for fifty years was sold this week for £3 million through a car auction in Paris. Brings back memories of an incident which happened near here many moons ago. the owner of a large "statley home" died and left the poremises to his housekeeper, who was just about as elderly as he had been - the lawyers moved in to "assist" and told the old l;ady that the car in the garage , a Lagonda, was worthless, and sold it on to his friend for a couple of hundred pounds. The car which had been up on blocks, etc., was popped back onto its wheels, had oil put back in it , a new battery, plugs, etc, started within minutes and was driven off by one of the lawyers corrupt and greedy / or was that the lawyer friends.

Spoke with Archie the Pole dancer who was recovering from his antics in the Caledonian Brewery yesterday, Alan emulated myself by going home and straight to his bed - whilst No 3 stayed out all night- young hooligan

However, time to do a Sparky Mark and chill out - god help us when he gets back from his trek up Killiminjaro and forgets all this " my body is a temple" and resorts back to real food and a few beers.

Have heard nothing from the land of Oz, so a bit concerned about Rob and Caitlin , their familes who, and also Curly Carly and co who are all within the areas affected by the onging fires raging in eastern Autralia.

Tomorrow - working again , but it will be different as we have a wine tasing in the evening - £10 a go, wine to drink, some of Edu's tapas to eat and then we choose the new wine of the month for The Mercat.