Honest lad and Lass, 2011 - ride out through Whitecraig

Busy couple of days, even headed into town on Friday but trip was cut short as I had to pop home to dig into my files. Anyway, Saturday a.m. was the culmination of the Musselburgh Honest Lad and Lass week and the biggest event being the ride out - this year there being one hundred and forty horses.

We had to open up the Dolphin Inn early to host the main party of officials for light refreshments as they watched the ride out pass by on its way to Fa'side Castle and then back to Musselburgh.

Fantastic turn out, much bigger than Penicuik's Hunter and Lass event this year who only managed eighty horses. Never the less there were representatives present from most of the town in the South of Scotland, who hold similar events.

I was not able to spot the unicycle to make up the weeks set, but following the ride out there must have been at least one hundred cyclists ride past the Dolphin Inn taking part in some kind of road race event.

Bicycles , yet more bicycles

Another day at the Inn so to speak, and another couple of cyclists appeared for coffee and cake this morning. They were from the Netherlands and had been in Scotland for ten days covering 1200 km to date, now heading south using the national network of cycle paths and back roads, now making for Galashiels. Tomorrow I need to get either a uni cycle or a four wheeled bike to follow the sequence.

Had to pop down to B & Q this morning and was, like many others, held up at the roadworks at the Whitecraig roundabout. I have no idea what they are doing but whatever it is they are taking their time having been there for nearly as long as the tram works !! and like the tram workers they are not adverse to sitting in the van for long tea breaks.

Home for some tea, cut the grass, wee bit weeding and then decided to blow away the cobwebs by having a quick blast on the "steed of steel" .

I then came across a dreaded van driver who made my motorway white van men look like angels - he was driving an Asda home delivery van on the A702 from Carlops to Lothianburn. This bold chappie was apparently racing a VW Golf and driving like a lunatic - I could not even keep up with him.

Three wheels on our bicycle

Had a couple of days working at The Dolphin Inn, Monday was steady all day and we even went back down last night where I ended up having a good blether to some of the customers I knew and had not seen for a few years.

Today we had these two young chaps in for lunch, having cycled out from the town - the little lad was bright as a button, and his father, a lecturer in Edinburgh was fascinating to talk to. He is a keen cyclist and takes himself off with his bicycle twice a year to various parts of the world exploring and staying with the locals.

Scooting around the countryside this weekend.

Managed to have a weekend off, Saturday a.m. headed for Peebles and had a nice breakfast in the Crown Hotel, before heading off to Galashiels, Stow, over to Lauder and then up the A68 to stop off for fifteen minutes at The Dolphin Inn.

Had a phone call later on from Carollanne and Dennis in Mauchline, so we decided to head over there this morning - as a wee surprise - and arrived about 10.30. Beautiful day, lots of sun shine and Ma's garden was looking as pretty as a picture hence the three photos of the flowers.

Mrs. M. was showing us her phone bill, two calls to the 118118 directory enquiry service and then connected - costs £2.19p and £10 !!!!!!!! bloody rip off, that's why I never use the service - and that's why there was a special feature in today's paper about their, and their contemporaries rip off charges.

We then headed off with our friends and stopped off for a look at Oswald Hall, Auchencruive, one of the haunts of Robert Burns who was friendly with the owners. The grounds are lovely and the river walk is very popular with the locals.

With bright sunshine, a lovely day we ended up at the beach front in Ayr, very busy and even indulged ourselves by having a traditional "fish tea" at the Wellington Cafe - a wee treat. Beach was very busy and despite a bit of a breeze off the sea there were lots of people about, even more arriving as we left.

Said our bye bye's and headed home on the M77, and then through East Kilbride and the M8, nice quiet run and fairly quick.

Had a call from the upside folks yesterday, Rob and Caitlin, who were sitting up having a quiet drink after a late night at the Nurses Ball - lovely to hear from them.

Dolphin Inn has been busy the last couple of days in the restaurant, quite a few folk coming back again, hopefully a good sign - we will certainly do our best and try not to disappoint them.

Long Day at the Office

So to speak - restless night, up and pottering about at 5 a.m. and eventually left at 6 a.m. for the weekly meeting of the Cult, BNI at the Marriot, Maybury. Lovely breakfast before the usual very enthusiastic meeting, great turnout, and some new contacts.

Left the car an took the bus into the City Centre, popped into the Mercat Bar, early and found it to be busy .

Meetings in the town and then dropped in to see the big Pole Dancer, Archie, at the Standing Order which was busy, but managed to get a bite to eat before heading home.

STV news tonight reported on the result of the Lee McNamara trial, Jury returned a guilty verdict and sentence will be passed on 23rd August.

Popped down to The Dolphin Inn during the evening, place had been busy during the day and there were several clients in for dinner.

Not sure what to do tomorrow, but need to have a day off and out !!! Watch this space.

A dram to liven up the day

Bit of a change in the weather here, not so much rain as we have been having, and fairly muggy which means that we have to keep watering the hanging baskets at The Dolphin Inn. Not sure if it is because of the ongoing trial of Lee McNamara for the death of Steven Curran, and the witnesses are keeping their heads down, etc.

However we have had some very nice visitors to the Inn who have been very complimentary about the food and service - even had some repeat visitors which bodes well for the future.

We have some old advertising pictures on the walls in the Inn, interesting - so hopefully I will add others from time to time.

Making slow progress

It has been a busy couple of days doing lots of little DIY jobs at the Dolphin Inn whilst covering shifts for Billy who is still on holiday, however he is back this week and things will return to normal again, giving me time to play catch up.

Unfortunately we are getting the wrong kind of publicity this week as the trial of Lee McNamara has started at the High Court, Edinburgh where he has been charged with the murder of Steven Curran, the previous Manager of the Dolphin Inn in October last year. There a several of the customers who have been called as witnesses so things are a bit subdued at the moment. there has been coverage in the papers and on the Scottish TV. Seems that Mcnamara's excuse for the assault which led to the death was that Mr Curran had been "winding up" him up so he wanted to "teach him a lesson" - just a bit O T T.

However, we have had some nice visitors to the restaurant who have enjoyed their meals and those who live local have all said that they will come back to see us again, which is good - word of mouth being the best recommendation you can get.

With a change of subject I see that the "Weirs", winners of the £161 million lottery jackpot, have discovered the erring of their ways when they chose to go public - thye have had to move out of their home and go into hiding - hopefully they will manage to resolve their prediciment.

On the other hand, in this current climate of high unemployment, there are several vacancies in the jobmarket, namely senior Police Posts in the Metropolitan Police and for budding journalists in whatever paper is produced to take over from the News of the World !! Lots of wheeling, dealing and exposures following the phone hacking revelations - but not to worry, if no one wants the jobs, there is a long queue of immigrants sitting in France trying to get through the Chunnell or onto the ferries to make a new life here, claim benefits, and send money back home.

Nice wee story on the front of the Daily Record about a gentleman from Perth who met a young lady in Jamaica a couple of years ago, "fell in love" got a visa, and when he brought her into the UK to get married she hopped off in the wild blue yonder a few minutes after the ceremony - to meet up with her boyfriend who is already living here !!

Battle of Prestonpans in stitches

Busy day today, between repairing broken windows, shopping and doing circuits and bumps around Edinburgh in the little "Toot Toot". But on my tick list of things to do was a visit to St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerston Place to see the now famous Prestonpans Tapestry which is on display there till the end of August. What a remarkable piece of work, a pictorial history of the events leading up to the Battle of Prestonpans and the routing of the English led by the much sung about "Johnny Cope".

Far too much to take in during one visit so I will be back, and next time with a decent camera to try and get a few more pictures. Well, well worth a visit.

Stirred by the Daily Express

During my regular daily browse of the Scottish Daily Express I was intrigued to read an item today regarding a visit to Claridge's in London by wealthy socialite and journalist Taki Theodoracopulous and his friends the Marquess of Worcester, Lord John Somerset, plus wives and a friend. Taki, using his latest Spectator magazine High Life column is claiming that he and his friends were ejected from Claridge's and is now calling on a boycott of the establishment. As a reasoning for his outrage he is suggesting that the staff were obviously hoping for "Gulf visitors" bringing their money with them, hence the reason for them wishing to keep the then empty seats available for others. He further suggests that there was a bias against his party because they were white and speaking English !!!!

Although tired and weary after a long day at work I am moved to respond to the item which I thought was totally unfair. Not wishing to diminishing his held beliefs and observations.

My observations as as follows I recently , along with my wife, speaking with a "Scottish accent", and my brother and sister in law being white and English, and certainly none of us who could be claimed as wealthy, found that we had no problem, on two occasions, in gaining admission into this excellent establishment. We found the staff to be extremely sociable, helpful, and enjoyed both visits, where we had both drinks and sampled the wonderful cuisine. From our observations there was a visible cross section of society both dining and drinking and all appreciating the ambiance. ( Hence my previous blog relating the the last visit on 11th June). The decor of the building is to be admired and the history in photographs of past visitors make good viewing.

We will certainly be returning there at some time in the future when back in London and if the budget will stretch that far.

I am somewhat at a loss as to what Mr Theodoracopulos hopes to achieve by these allegation as I am sure that these highly trained staff would not have asked him to leave without proper justification, but I am sure that Claridge's will carry out a thorough investigation into this alleged incident. He and his friends are free to visit the Mercat Bar, Haymarket, Edinburgh, or the Dolphin Inn, Whitecraig, Musselburgh, and sample our fine cuisine at any time provided they, like every other customer behave in a proper manner whilst on the premises.

I am sorry that this gentleman and his friends found himself in this unfortunate situation, but from the way were received on the premises by the staff and other clients I would certainly not be calling on such a boycott.

He. like many others, perhaps should take heed of that saying by our Scottish Bard, Robert Burns " o' er the gift to gie us , to see ourselves as ithers see us"

A challanging Day for someone

Day started with the discovery that the enemy, Squirrilius Fluffytailus, had forced entry into the birds nut feeder by chewing right through the plastic peg holding it in place. lets see how they cope with the replacements - need to watch in case they force their way into my tool kit.

Working at the Dolphin Inn this morning when we were visited by a lovely family of six, who had been staying at the nearby Premier Inn and were looking for a breakfast. Not usually available,however the ladies in the kitchen soon rustled up an appropriate feast tomsuit their palate which the family thoroughly enjoyed. They were really nice and as one couple are regular visitors to Edinburgh they have promised to come back and see us again.

Very nice comliment at lunch time when one lady, who has been in three times in the last five weeks, said that the improvements in the premises and food were "jaw dropping" - a compliment indeed.

Home in time to cut the grass which was either needing cut or looking for a sheep to graze it - my elderly neighbour, 90 yrs old this year had me in for a coffee - only problem being that by the time I had finished it he had forgotton and was offering me another !!

Early night, leading to an even earlier morning as I am off again on my travels - not on a donkey like our famous and local author , Robert Louis Stevenson ( who lived at Swanston Village on the opposite side of the pentland Hills from here) - but in the mind blowing Smart car - so white van men beware !! long run tomorrow, Glasgow, risley and Wetherby for starters and then it is a case of wait and see.

Up and down to Whitecraig

Tuesday night and despite it being a lovely evening had to give the bowling a miss due to problems with my stomach - possibly post op, but until I see the Dr. I will not know.

Have been working at The Dolphin Inn the past two days and now getting into the hang of things- by the time Billy gets back from his holiday I might even have managed to complete my work experience.

off South again on Thursday, nice long run and time to play with the white van men - but having said that, there were seven on the A720 City By pass this morning as I left the Sheriffhall roundabout, and it was like the Whacky Races" as they fought for position and raced for the A1 Roundabout at Grenada Services, it went through my mind that they must have been watching the British Grand Prix on Sunday. I am sure there are speciality races for transit vans and half these guys would do well on the race track.

Bit of a carry on with the demise of The News of the World, part of Mr Murdoch's empire - looks like the privileges attached to Corporate responsibility / liability have downsides also.

It will be interesting to see how many fall as a result of the current problems - share prices tumbling at BSKYB, might even play into his court by allowing him to get some floating shares at knock down prices.

BUT as far as I am concerned, my subscription to BSkyB is being cancelled, although that has more to do with the new Digital TV service which has eliminated the need for an overpriced service - whose sales team are tasked with increase the annual personal spend of every customer - with healthy bonuses and fancy days out for the top rated team.

Jim Straughier - R I P

Just a brief note tonight to report on the death last week of my "second dad", Jim Straughier, from Darlington. Jim died last Tuesday and would have been 90 yrs old on Friday past.

Way, way, back in the period 1964/ 1965 and 1966 I used to spend most of my weekends off from the Police cadet camp at Sedgefield, with Jim and Lillian at their home in Darlington. There were times when their son Michael, who was also a police Cadet, thought that his parents was treating me too well - it was a bit of a joke, me with red hair, fitted in perfectly with the rest of the family - who were all red headed and Lil would often joke to her neighbour, mrs alcock, that i was the long lost son she had abandoned years before.

Jim worked for years as Manager in the massive NAAFI warehouse in Whessoe ( I think) Darlington, and when i was there for the weekend I would go with him on a Sunday morning and get a shot on the fork lift trucks.

On my return to Scotland in 1966 I remained in regular contact with Jim and Lil who visited my parents up here and we all remained friends. It was not unusual for me to arrive at their door at odds hours without warning, when heading up and down the A1 to and from the Prince's Trust Camps I helped with at Caister.

For poor Jim, whose health deteriorated seriously in the relative short past, it was probably a blessing in disguise that he passed a way peacefully in his sleep to be reunited with his beloved Lillian.

Our thoughts are with the family at this time, and it looks very unlikely that I will manage it south for the funeral on Tuesday.

Bottle it and sell it to the south

Total chaos in parts of the city as we had a quarter of the months rainfall in three hours - cars under water, houses flooded, and lots of damage.

But, it still did not deter the diners in Mulberrywalk, seated in the muggy conditions with their brollies up as the torrential squalls passed over.

On my way from Whitecraig I attempted to drive through Dalkeith - however the ongoing works in the High Street, make the tram workers look energetic - or so I thought - but the real start turn was a diversion due to a main junction being totally blocked, which led into Tesco's Car park (handy if one required provisions to survive till the road reopened - or direct into the local cemetery - never to reappear again - even the workers did not know where the Diversion was !!!!

Into Edinburgh and then found that Palmerston Place was being dug up again by our beloved tramworkers - or should have been but the guys were sitting in their van clocking up the overtime.

The great tram drama continues - with yet another expose of how much money has been paid to lawyers, PR and spin Doctors.

NOTE - just remembered that the beautiful tapestry depicting the Battle of Prestonpans is now on display in the nearby St Mary's Cathedral.

It seems that the weather is the main topic of conversation by most of the population, and we certainly have something to talk about now - probably even flooding in the Edinburgh Canal basin where there was a gala today with barges and houseboats: T in The Park, in Fife , probably got a good drenching; the Tall ships are in Greenock for the weekend ; the Scottish Open Golf at Royal St Georges, Inverness, stopped twice due to storms - and all around the country crops being badly damaged.

HOWEVER - it is an ill divided world, with a massive appeal underway for the millions in Somalia and Kenya suffering yet another drought - strange how their politicians manage to live in splendour whilst the people suffer - and in Somalia, the pirates who maraud the oceans - taking millions in ransom money - certainly do not invest it in the welfare of their fellow men.

Another of my current gripes is a hard hitting, grating, advert on the radio by the Payment Protection Partnership - a quasi legal set up operating the usual US style No win No fee practice hitting at the banks who allegedly miss sold insurance to clients - obscene.

Bernie's boots were made for walking -

a most interesting Bernie Large dropped in to The Dolphin Inn this morning for a pint of Strongbow and to duck one of the many thunderstorms we had today.

Young Bernie, who has a blog of his own(coastwalkerunplugged.blogspot.com), set off from Land's End 70 days ago on the day of the Royal Wedding, 29th April and has been zig zagging his way back and forth across the UK with the intention of reaching John O'Groats.

He walked up through Cornwall, then up the Roman Wall dividing England and Wales, meets up with relatives wherever they live - crossed the Pennines to the east coast, then back west again along Hadrian's Wall, then back to the east and visited the Border abbey's at Melrose and Jedburgh , through Lauder to Whitekirk and then headed for the Quay at Edinburgh stopping in to have his pint at Whitecraig. He aims to visit two hundred pubs en route.

From Edinburgh, he will walk the Union / Forth Clyde Canal , via the Falkirk Wheel, to Glasgow then north using parts of the West Highland Way - to Fort William, up Ben Nevis, then through the Great Glen to Inverness and thereafter by way of the beaches to John O'Groats - well done.

His good lady wife is driving their camper van, and while he averages about fifteen miles a day she gets to visit the shops or find the evening's parking, and then walks back to meet up with him.

AND - none of these new fangled Sat Navs/ Tom Tom's, gold old fashioned navigation with the trusty Ordnance Survey map and a compass.

Well done Bernie, and his blog is worth a read also.

Bonnie dining room and a forever widening circle of friends

Awoke at 4 am to the sound of pouring rain, so chappie was right yesterday when he told Claire and I that if we watered the plants at The Dolphin Inn the heavens would open !!!

Have added a few more pics from last week's wedding, dining room looking nice, and Billy the manager was in his glory, Manager's perks getting to wipe stains from ladies frocks.

No prizes for guessing the mystery speaker, send answers on any old grubby £5 notes. Nice touch to get the chefs in to say thank you for a job well done.

Headed to town last night missing the bowls, to attend the monthly meeting of the Lothian and Borders Police Branch of the I.P.A. (International Police Association). Edinburgh gets quite a few requests for hospitality from all over the World so the committee are always meeting new "Police faces" regularly, just as our counterparts do for our members when travelling abroad.

My next visitor is the Secretary of No 18 Section, USA, based in Richmond, Virginia, travelling around Europe and Scandinavia on a cruise ship and calling at South Queensferry for a days visit to Edinburgh and Environs.

Need to finish with another gripe - getting fed up with these adverts which claim that certain products will do "up to" certain performances. Obviously Broadband speeds of Internet connections; petrol consumption of cars; etc., but mine is with "Loo Bloo's" claiming to keep the toilet clean and fresh for up to four weeks - I reckon that we are lucky to get a week out of ours !!! and it annoys me.

Things hotting up - weather amongst other things

Last thing on Friday night we had a nice sunset from the rear of The Dolphin inn, then everyone headed home wards.

Saturday, had a phone call from friends, Craig and Maureen who we had first met in Barbados when they were married at the same time as Archie and Tracy - so we arranged to meet them in Edinburgh and did so at St. Mary's Cathedral, Palmerston Place.

Got there and found them in the sunshine waiting for a bridal party to appear for a ceremony in the Cathedral. Girls being Girls, we had to wait to see the bride arriving - lovely. But, in the meantime we met Max and Annette heading into the church, looking pretty as pictures.

We eventually made it to the Mercat Bar for a bite to eat and eventually along to Princes Street Gradens where we left the family playing on the climbing frame.

Sunday, headed to the Dolphin Inn to help out, good job as we became very busy, very quickly and with the weather so nice everybody wanted to eat outside - where some were soon being well sunburned - . My treat for the day was the arrival of Karen, Michelle and "Little Princess", our former staff from the Sportsman's Bar - lovely to see them and hopefully we will see them again soon.

Home in time to get the BBQ on (no doubt like millions of others), and managed to cook off a lovely trout which Sparky Mark.

Another nice day today so it was compliments of "steed of steel" and down to the Dolphin Inn this morning - nice wee lunch time rush - need a few more days like this!!!

Seasons in the Sun

My belated birthday present eventually arrived - a beautiful painting by Alexander Millar, whose general themes are based on "gadgies" who he saw in his younger days.

Wedding Vows for Colin and Nicola

and the sun shone - so we all had a busy and enjoyable day - which started off early with hairdressers, makeup, photographs, and the rest of the paraphanalia associated with weddings.

Colin and Nicola were married at Dalkeith Registry Office, the first couple to be married in the new wedding room at Fairfield House, which was lovely.

Very nice ceremony and followed by photographs in the garden after which the party headed form the Dolphin Inn, Whitecraig, for the first wedding reception there under the new management team.

The meal was first class, prepared by Claire, Jamie and Gary, served up by Billy and young Jamie - brilliant.

No complaints from anyone - well done all