Rain follows us everywhere

Made it London in one piece despite having two hours to relax and chill out in the lounge at Edinburgh airport - Sparky would be proud of us !!! But flight was good, on time and as we approached ran through a big rain cloud. By the time we got to Eagham we needed tea rather than anything stronger.

Just as well I was not at home as I was expected to join in the fun and games at the SESLTA gentleman's dinner at the Original Hotel Roslin - where I believe the boys did have a good evening.

Up bright and early this morning to catch the train (slow one) up to Waterloo Station and being a nice day took myself for a slow stroll to my meeting up in "The City", in the Willlis Building - this was the summer meeting of EPIC (Ex Police in Industry and Commerce) where we had six excellent speakers during the day and some opportunities for networking.

BUT - despite the fact that they have officially declared a drought in East Anglia, parts of Wales and south England, it rained here. There I was, peering out the 15th floor restaurant expecting sun, but it was pouring / chucking it down.

Anyway, to cut a long story short made it back on a faster train to Eagham, then made it to the house for a well deserved session with the feet up.

While out and about the "girls" has been birdwatching and had the pleasure of several visits from a lovely woodpecker to the feeding trays, but they were not fast enough on the camera to get a photo.

Prince Philip and wee Camryn Denny have their birthdays today, and I share mine with the Queen tomorrow so we are going to pop up to London again seeing as how there is to be a big Trooping of the Colours - in my honour - NOT. We had a brief presentation from the Dep Commissioner of the City of London Police who is having his first official ride out tomorrow - they have even named a horse after him - Jack.

Will the sun ever shine for more than 10 minutes

Wednesday night and chilling out as advised by Bob McDonald on East Coast FM, where we visited on Monday - totally coincidental that he told me to get the slippers on and open a bottle of red - man after my own heart.

Had a go at their chat room, but got a bit lost with all these modern abbreviations folk use on the net and texting - is the art of writing in plain English lost.

The Dolphin Restaurant and Bar are going to sponsor a few shows for East Coast FM - over the next few weeks / months.

Weather has been unbelievable, we are watching Andy Murray playing tennis at Queens, and here it is pouring buckets - good for the garden so all my bedding plants (from Euan at Damhead Nurseries) are settling in well.

Big treat (NOT) today as I had my first visit back to see Cruella for five months - dashed sore to say the least, but as she says she was not there to polish, but to work !!!! found lots of knots to untie and knead out, etc. Am I looking forward to the next session ???

Had umpteen phone calls from a "chappie" in India wanting to take control of my computer today, hopefully he was not one of the poor souls who were trampled with the elephants in Bangalore today - Mrs B says they get very excitable when aroused during the mating season but I cannot speak from experience.

All booked up with BMI for my flight to London tomorrow night, off to a meeting of EPIC on Friday in "The City" and then get my dumps on Saturday and see where we we end up for afternoon tea (watch this space) - but I do plan to take a camera and if I see the Queen I will wave at her.

Surprise visit to East Coast FM. Haddington -

the plans for the day were literally up in the air from the moment I got up - no rain again, still dull - but warm enough to head for the big City minus parka, gloves and balaclava !!! after all it is only the 6th of June. (from the clocks it might even be the 7th somewhere in the world)

Brief visit to the Dental Hospital to get another tick in the box and it was down to meet RGB at The Mercat Bar, where Plan A changed to Plan B and then Plan C - which was a trip to Haddington to meet Ian Robertson and the crew of East Coast FM.

This is one of the latest local community run radio stations being set up around the UK and is proving to be very successful despite still being an online service to computer listeners.

We met with Ian and two of the volunteer DJ's, Tony Conlin and Jim Anderson for a blether, gather facts about the station which will hopefully be going onto the airwaves very shortly (when Ofcom gets round to issuing the licence). Jim even managed to get RGB to take part in a live interview, not that he took much persuading . Seem to have lost that photo into the ether - some interesting facts from the station which is receiving hits on the website from all over the world where listeners can also have a wee peek at the live webcam and try to match the faces with the many dulcet tones.

They ran a competition on behalf of teh Dolphin Inn who will be s

29 + 2+10 =2800 if you drink in the Dolphin Inn, Whitecraig

Where else would these sums add up like this ?? but of course to make sense you take a darts team who fund raise all year for a charity and you finish the year off with twenty nine pairs of willing feet, dressed up in assorted costumes and they walk ten miles just for that good cause.

This year the lads and lasses worked hard and after this afternoon's walk they presented Carolyn Thornton, Fundraising Manager, Scotland for "Make A Wish" with a cheque for the tremendous amount of £2800 - NOT BAD for a wee pub - very well done.

Carolyn was delighted to receive the cheque and told the group that with the money "Make A Wish" would be able to send three families away to Euro Disney, Paris, for a holiday / break.

As you can see the team, this year being the best turn out so far, were lucky enough to get a reasonable day for walking, not too hot, and dry - despite the weather forecast, so it was a weary band of "bonnie looking chookies" who eventually made it back to the Dolphin Inn for a hard earned "cool drink".

The dream lasted 36 hours - I think

Thursday a.m. , no sun, took to my bed, and then - was it real, a big shining sun in the sky and a nice shade of blue very rare to this part of the world - would it last, was it real? So like everyone else I was out there in the garden, listening to the birds, catching a few rays, etc and of course all had to be curtailed for the evenings session of BGT (Britain's Got Talent) - hope the Queen has been looking in to see all these foreign acts desperate to win the £100,000 to add to their state benefits !!!! never mind, I did fall asleep eventually and like many when I awoke on Friday, it was still there, the sun - too much - am I dreaming, was I dreaming - no , I have the sunburn to prove it!!! But as they say, all good things must come to an end and this morning it was back to the status quo - no need to water the garden, no worries about a hose pipe ban or drought here.

STOP PRESS - just been blown away listening to the 12 year old American girl who won the USA version of BGT, Jackie Evencho, totally mind blowing, what a voice, it was no wonder one of the USA judges said she was like an alien when she opened her mouth and this fantastic adult operatic voice burst forth from such a tiny person.

I had planned on having a quiet day at home, number crunching, shuffling paper, yawn, yawn, however a short phone call changed my plans and I ended up back at the Western General Hospital, as a visitor to see my Uncle Walter and either cheer him up or cause a relapse. Walter, still a young 88 year old is still very keen on all sorts of motor sports and even made it to Silverstone last year for the British F1 Grand Prix. He was interested to hear about my recent photographs of the rocket car, the Red Bull F1, and especially the sidecar combination from The Dolphin Inn, now in the Isle of Man for the TT. As a youngster I remember my father taking me to see him in Edinburgh and Walter taking me for a spin round the block on the back of his motorcycle - no helmet, but who cared !! Anyway - he was looking good, enjoying the food, the relative peace and quiet and will hopefully be home soon.

The great tram debate continues with work on repairing the unused 500 yards of track along Princes Street being put on hold rather than disrupt the Festival tourists. I think there should be a ban on pedal cycles who are obviously responsible for the damage to the tracks, but they need to keep an eye on the tracks as our local scrap metal thieves might well target them having stripped the lead off most of the church roofs in Edinburgh - I do not think the scrap value will be anything near the £430 million spent so far, otherwise the Council's property folk would have had it dug up and flogged off.

Back to The Mercat Bar to meet Mrs B. and remind the staff what I looked like, having been inabsentia for the past few months, had my Sunday roast (roast pork) a day early, and then headed up to see Sir Christopher and Miss Talk a lot at Hendricks Bar - had a tottie wee tipple and headed home to browse the web and get stressed over BGT - I like the Scottish singer Jai - but only the public vote will tell, and guess what - HE DID = well deserved.

Total Dizzy this morning

lay awake most of the great, "Great Expectations" and not the Charles Dicken's version, just waiting for the sunshine - so here I am, shorts on, sunglasses, covered in P.20, lager in the fridge, BUT - so shining golden orb in the sky - in fact it is ever so chilly, grey sky once again - what an ill divided world. Having said that I would rather try and cope with this moderate (ha ha) climate than be at risk of floods, famine, tornadoes, earthquakes as happens elsewhere on our Planet. So it is time to either get warm clothes on or go back to bed.

On the radio the projected fantastic weather has been changed to a "quite nice day" !!!!

We have watched BGT (Britain's Got Talent) the last few nights, bit of a joke - with French, Polish, and a Thai lady last night who mimed !!! add a geriatric poodle, a geriatric guitarist, etc, it is no wonder Simon Cowell was suggesting that the world has gone mad - if there are any Aliens tuning in, they must be shaking their heads in disbelief at our antics.

Great excitement in Penicuik and the environs, big Digital TV switch on yesterday, so we have now got more than four channels on terrestial TV - tough luck to Mr Murdoch and his gang at BSkyB, there will be a few more customers cancelling their contracts.

Tesco are claiming that the sale of three cases of beer for £11 yesterday was a technical glitch which they could not not correct at the point of sale, just another example of irresponsible marketing - so much for the Government wanting to strive for a sensible drinks culture !!! - no doubt Tesco will recoup their losses by putting the price onto something else.

Be positive - be positive - or keep taking the tablets.

1st June, must be summer somewhere !!!

It certainly was not summer there this morning so turned over for a lie in and a head full of strange dreams - perhaps an analyst would be a help.

Anyway, we are apparently going to have our summer here in Penicuik during the next couple of days - watch this space.

My photographs were all taken last week when I saw the sunshine catching these blooms. the young ladies just happened to be within camera range and oblivious to my snapping. I have no idea who No.1 is however No 2 gets regular comments from me, being no other than the dreaded Cruella - my masseuse, who I have to summon regularly to straighten me up - no pain no gain.

Off now to look out the sunscreen for tomorrow - fingers crossed.