Snow , snow and more snow

You read it first here - Craighouse Drive and the hill - not gritted this morning and so tonight when the bus crashed , not a surprise when the main gritting force were not sent out till about 7 a.m. The A720 Edinburgh City By Pass ground to a halt with this afternoons late flurries, but not as bad as the M25 with a twenty six mile queue. I am sure that Mrs. Gordon Brown was on the phone to get PM Gordon home to clean the paths outside No.10 Downing Street - I did mine this afternoon when there was only about three and a half inches lying - but no sooner cleared than next lot came down.

But - in the meantime the boys from the Superbowl party were still partying on - from the Mercat to the Casino, to the Penny Black ( which is not a gay bar - according to the sign on the wall), and then back to The Mercat - so a good DAY was had by all. I heard that the game was really nail biting with the winning points in the last minute.

I see that a team of underwater searchers have discovered the original HMS Victory which sank in the the English channel in 1744 with tons of gold bullion on board , current value of the bullion is about £125 million. It was found about sixty miles away from where the history books said it was. Its successor was the flagship for Admiral Nelson.

Back to the snows and the all too common tragedies on the mountains, last week we had two died in Glencoe after an avalanche, and yesterday two climbers died in Snowdonia having been caught without the proper equipment.

Brings back sad memories of a friend, Dr Ken McRae who died some 35 years ago when he fell through a crevasse on a snowfield near Blairatholle, Pethshire, and lay undiscovered for some time before the snow melted. He was a local G.P. who always wanted to specialise in eye surgery - he just loved the hills and walking - it was his way of recharging his batteries, but sadly he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Carnage on the roads this weekend , with six men killed in two road accidents when cars left the road and struck houses, in Hamilton a car hit an occupied detached house - which has since had to be demolished, and the occupants were uninjured. Second one was in West Lothian - again three died.

Many years ago there was a triple fatality at Easter Howgate farm on the A702 when five soldiers in a mini car hit the wall of the farm, three died with horrendous injuries and the two survivors were crippled for life. One of the "rookie" policemen who attended was violently ill when he saw all the bodies jammed in the car and fled the scene - this caused even more of a problem as more officers had to be brought in to search for him. He eventually resigned as the "job" was not really for him.

Just spoken to William and Sandra in London , plenty snow there , keeping him well behind schedule with his building - may be that we have to leave him behind when we go on holiday !! If the job is not done - now there is an incentive!!