Brief as brief can be.

Tuesday night, been quiet these past two days although we have to congratulate RGB and his staff at The Mercat Bar who were voted the best bar in Edinburgh by their customers this afternoon - well done. They will hopefully get some publicity tomorrow.

Suitcases now packed as we are about to head off into the sunset tomorrow night, meeting the Johnstons of Egham in London then offski, so hopefully I will be able to give a running commentary of the trip and surprise my readers en route

Committee Meeting of the Soutra Isle Conclave of Order of Secret Monitors No 401 last night so that is me all organised for my meeting on 11 th September - just got to learn the ritual !!!

Not even a catch up - just filling in a couple of gaps.

Sunday night and the last three days have just flown by, no timer to even play catch up, etc. Friday was a long session in the Mercat Bar, 0630 to 1800hrs so by the time we made it home it was time to get the feet up. BUT I did manage to get myself "Skyped" - great fun.

Saturday, into town early again and despite the fact it was supposed to be a day off, Bar was busy so I stayed and helped for a few hours till lunchtime.

Again we had a lot of repeat customers from Friday and it was fun. Headed off , popped into Frasers to see the Fragrant ladies, before heading along to see Archie the Pole dancer at the Standing Order. Bit of a session there and back to the Mercat Bar to meet Sparky Mark and RBG for a run home and a much needed rest.
The boys in the poster shop have come up with their latest offering on the greatest non event ever to occur in Edinburgh - the Tramworks.

This morning it was an early run into town to collect the car and back to Penicuik where the sun was actually shining and in the precinct I was most impressed with the floral displays, place was looking nice.
So the sun continued to shine, something of an event for us here this year, but I am sure we will have rain shortly !!

Thursday pm

Headed off into the wild streets of Edinburgh City and bearing in mind that the 40th (Ruby) is imminent managed to source a pressy which I thought was appropriate, although my Mentor Gaynor Turner might not agree , but as she was off with the "bairns" in sunnier climes I had to rely on my own judgement, but give him his due Stephen did concur. I look forward to seeing Gaynor and staff on their latest advert on Sky TV even although I have no idea what she is promoting.

Met up with Mrs B and returned to the Mercat bar where i had a scumptious 10 oz rib eye steak- happy as a pig in s***. what a lovely evening and the place was very busy.

Met a lovely quartet from the land of Oz, Art and Jan McGloskey and Greg and Helen Stanley , from the home of rum, Bundaberg, Oz, heading off a.m. sharp to pastures new.

Town was busy, Festival venues springing up everywhere, so no excuse whatsoever for being bored in the city.

Todays gripe on the " Lets sue every bugger - US style" relates to a so called "dog walker" employed by the Police to walk the police dogs - so when the dog on the leash sees another dog and pulls at it, causing her to be jerked, she is allegedly injured and is now suing the Police for not ensuring her footpath is correctly constructed and because a dog in a kennel was visible to the dog she was walking - WHAT A LOAD OF TOTAL C**P, dog owners deal with this situation every day in life, it is "doggie nature" to challenge other dogs whether on leash, free or just passing - this so called professional dog walker should be embarrassed to even seek this claim, and it also shows how low the so called legal profession are prepared top stoop to make money !!! Charging by the quarter hour at £300 per hour ( minimum).
WE LIVE IN A SICK SOCIETY - WHOSE STANDARDS ARE FAILING EVERY YEAR.

However with these few parting comments, and my Merlot in hand " Bon Nuit - dormir bien"

Hands that do dishes

Thursday 3 p.m. - and guess what, in the Mercat Bar and as they say "hands that do dishes" - no, not fine and smooth but wrinkly and orrible - so much for a free morning - just because the folks I was to meet had been and gone before I arrived.

Saw the Doctori this morning, good result - if you are still standing, walking and talking, you must be alive and well. Unlike the Chappie who featured doing his jive dancing on U Tube while claiming disability benefits - quote " just an oversight - I felt a lot better".
Looks like the Ugandan and Nigerian teams who were running the scams are not alone - our own kindred souls are joining the army of benefit and tax cheats. What really annoys me is standing at the cashiers window at the Cash and Carry and watching the "Corner Shop" traders paying from wads of notes, in cash, and knowing fine well that they are running all the fiddles under the sun and monies are being shipped out the UK to their respective homelands.

Off to the shops

Beggars, buses, birds, and bogus callers.

Wednesday night and watching Gok working his magic on the show, "How to Look Good naked" which I find fascinating, he comes over as being really genuine and certainly has done wonders for folk. His show a couple of weeks ago with the man being the feature was really good.

The Mercat Bar has been busy the past two days so we have all been kept on our toes, plenty visitors from all over the World and many coming in following recommendations. The Bar is one of the three to be nominated as the Best Bar in Edinburgh by readers of the Edinburgh Evening News and RGB will be invited along to a wee ceremony on 12th August at the News Offices where the outright winner will be announced, well done all, and thanks to those who submitted the voting forms.

Bit of excitement today with a strange hit and run accident outside at Palmerston Place, not sure how it really happened but a truck cut round in front of a bus, striking the front and smashing the windscreen then drove off. It must have overtaken the bus then swung right across the front. Fortunately the incident will be on the CCTV system in the bus and there were pedestrians on the kerb..

I see that the stationary tram in Princes Street has had its 60,000 th visitor - looks like it will remain there till the new depot is ready at Gogar - just as I said a couple of weeks ago.

We have a new beggar on the pavement in West Maitland Street, yet another to the growing army of beggars of all nationalities who have appeared just as the Edinburgh Festival kicks off. It is just like a case of "running the gauntlet" now as you head along Shandwick Place into Princes St - beggars, charity tins, pipers, you name them we have them - and I thought that the seagulls ripping open the bin bags were bad. According to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee the seabird population in this area has declined dramatically over the past ten years - blamed on Global warming which has apparently accounted for a reduction in the numbers of sand eels in the Firth of Forth and them being replaced by pipe-fish which are not good feeding for the sea birds.

We are still getting the cold calls from marketing companies, and from the continuing numbers of hits on the Blog, the National Crime Research Group (scam) is still being used on hundreds of households every day.

These Companies risk a fine of £5000 as it is illegal to make direct marketing calls to households without first checking the Register held by the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). Any household can register with the TPS (Tel 0800 398893 for auto service and 01932 414151 - for the information pack) and within 28 days of registering all calls should stop, and numbers will remain barred until the registration has been voluntarily lifted.

If you are getting automated calls these can be barred by contacting "Silent Call Guard - Tel. 0870 444 3969 for the automated service .

Thursday, having a day off of sorts - things to do, people to see and places to go - as they say !!

Nice ships in the docks.

Not a bad day today, but certainly not the summer we were promised - however considering the catastrophic weather/ floods, etc they are having in other parts of the world - a years worth of rain in one day in Pakistan - just puts things into perspective.

Had an appointment at Leith this morning so when I was finished I popped along to Ocean Terminal to see what was in the harbour - two nice new support boats for the North sea, one sea going tug and an undersea well support ship.

Good to see all the posters and banners up in the Leith area, pictures of ken Buchannan the boxer, a "son of Leith" - good idea.

From there out to Kings Buildings where I came across a couple of the "tinker types" raking the skips for scrap metal - and according to them "WE HAVE PERMISSION SIR !!! Did they chuff so they were not long it scooting off before the secuirty team arrived. Seems to be a large number around the town, they had taken over the Park and Ride at Straiton and as usual left the Council with a big clean up job - no respect for anything.

Sunshine Sunday, tennis , grand prix , athletics and all

Sunday night and I am ever so knacked, long day and a busy/ hectic one. I was in the town early, a lovely morning and was really shocked at the numbers of seagulls bsy tearing the bin bags to shreds looking for food and the resultant mess on the streets and pavements. We are not getting to use Sulu bins, and not permitted to shoot or kill the seagulls. The only "cull" taking place annually is when the pest control officers can get to the nests and break the eggs.

The Mercat was busy from early doors and I had my two tiny helpers, Wee Beccy@ Half Pint and Triona who were well and truly on the trot from first thing, well done ladies - we did not have time to have a mental breakdown !! maybe later/ Shrek and Dominic were also on the ball in the kitchen so our clients did not have long to wait.
My Canadian couple from yesterday had left me a very nice letter of thanks - much appreciated.

Nice German couple in today, sort of bullied through the doors , but they enjoyed their breakfast, had a haggis taster complete with whiskey drizzle, so will be back for dinner later.

Broke my self inflicted abstinence and had a glass or two of "le vin rouge" while watching a movie and then the European athletics.

Currently watching Andy Murray playing tennis in the US Farmers Classic tournament in Los Angelas . there is a surprisingly small crowd at the event and from the occasional shots we see of the crowd they seem very undisciplined / rude compared to the crowds we have at Wimbledon, Paris , etc. In fact from the apparent disinterest /boredom being shown looks as though many have free tickets !!! Andy playing Mr Querrey who is defending his title well/ Murray not quite on his game, lacking sparkle, mother not there to support him and seemingly in the process of changing his coach again. Not totally impressed with the commentators and there occasional inane comments. Querry has just won, his first win over Murray, well done, and in this match the best man did win - Andy had better pull up his socks beore the New York Open.

Well done Mark Webber and Red Bull winning the Hungarian Grand prix today, but again it was ever so boring, a big procession, with Mr Shumaker being a bit naughty and paying the penalty for being so daft, he has to drop ten places at the start of the next race.

For those who believed in fairy tales, blue moons, humpty dumpty, flying pigs, etc. I see that Jordan@ Katie Price and her husband Alex have hit a rocky patch in their "Dream Marriage" - I mean , six months of wedded bliss between a half baked botox bimbo ( who knows how to minipulate the media) and a poor cage fighter, well out his depth- what can he expect ?
Personally, without the avid support of the Sun and News of the World newspapers and their "readers" this couple would have disappeared into oblivion a long time ago. Fortunately the musically litertate have acknowledged her lack of talant while the colouring book and crayon brigade have been throwing away their pennies on the scribblings of a ghost writer.