Quaint village and events

Home again, safe and sound after a good flight up from Heathrow by Virgin Red -  once again there was a delay, caused this time by an inbound plane with problems,  but at least the crew kept us informed, and of course we were able to get a wee G & T on the flight.

Not sure what that problem was, however, the incident on the US flight yesterday which was forced to land in Glasgow, a ploy by asylum seekers -  not even locked up -   I am sure that if their case was so clear cut the US authorities would have helped !!!!   However,  here we are again, UK taxpayers footing the bill -  methinks it is time for a radical change in this Country.

Saturday,  we had another run into Woking where William managed to pick a couple of winners,  unlike me - so perhaps I should give the ponies a miss.

Popped in to the tiny village museum in Chobham, very very interesting,  formed by a group of the locals and each week they are being handed small items / treasures - well worth a visit.  The village is very picturesque, and was visited by Queen Victoria who was reviewing thousands of troops on the nearby common.

Home, changed and headed back to Woking where we had dinner before going to the theatre,  dinner in the Azzurro Restaurant, in the Peacock Centre, was excellent, nice steak, glass of wine,  and then things went a bit downhill,  we had good seats in the centre of the stalls to see a play,  Sherlock Holmes best kept Secret,     sorry to say it was just not our scene, and we , along with several other chose to leave at half time -  sorry,  think I should stick to musicals, and of course - looking forward to seeing Susan Boyle in Edinburgh which will make up for that debacle.  Pity,  there was a good cast,  but it was too dark a setting, a bit disjointed, and hard to follow the story.

Sunday, and again we had poor weather so no chance of sunbathing before we headed to Terminal 1 Heathrow and then home to Scottish sunshine.  Well done to Andy Murray for his win at Queens Club,  hopefully a good omen for Wimbledon.       Not such good news with Heart of Midlothian football club who have announced that they are going into administration,   shame for all the loyal supporters who have been buying shares and season tickets.

Nice day today, made it to the Mercat Grill, where the staff were recovering from a very busy day yesterday, going to have to make more seating available soon.

Sunny Surrey

Currently in Chobham, London,  where having left the sun at home it was cool and windy yesterday,  however that was all change today with warm sunshine. 
Came down on the Virgin Atlantic Little Red service yesterday, which was good,  even got a complimentary drink en route.     Met at the airport by the Johnston's of Chopham  and were soon in  lovely Surrey countryside.     Nice to see their new home , despite the fact it is a building site -  but will be nice in due course. 

 A brief wander round the village, whose church,  St Lawrence,  dates back to the 9th Century,  lunch at Pascha Turkish restaurant, nice plate of mussels, boss was excellent so we have some new dressings to try.

This morning had a run out to Woking, excellent shopping mall,  The Peacock Centre, wee wander, and then headed over to Windsor chocca block with bus loads of tourist.  William and I made for William Hill Ltd,  had a bit of a flutter, then headed for home and spent the afternoon basking in the sunshine.

Were thinking of going to Brooklyn Race track tomorrow,  but as there is a big event taking place, and we do not have much time,  will need to wait till next time.  

Clickety Click

Clickety click,  two fat ladies, big day today, and I must thank everyone for their condolences !!!  thanks for the stream of greetings.

Good lady woke me at 6 a.m.,  turned over and went back to sleep -  reminded me of when we first met.   she looked at me, I looked at her and something passed between us  -  " it was a double decker bus"-  we were in the same room , she rolled her eyes at me,  "I picked them up and rolled them back to her" -  she used to be a red head,  "no hair just head" -  the old jokes are the best, and those were three of the late Chick Murray's favourites.

Headed off early down to the Mercat grill with their latest batch of meringues,   home,  jumped on the bus and headed for town -  into the S. O. to see Archie, the big Pole Dancer,  wee glass of vino tinto -  no  it was  "Private Bin",  excellent.

Outside, and the rain had come on -  sort of interesting to see that all the big shops had stocks of brollies near the front doors -  so Mrs. B.  bought her 9th or 10th to add to the collection.

Up to the Scotsman Brasserie for lunch,  bit of a disappointment,  choice was not the world's best, but the food was good (overpriced), atmosphere non existent, staff, when they did talk to us were very nice-  shame,  but I will not be adding it to my list of must become a regular. They had done a great job turning it into a hotel, and it brought back memories going through the front door -  into the main reception area where we used to go to submit our adverts for the papers.  Met three lovely young ladies from Bergen, over to the City for a few days retail therapy.

Along to the Mecat Bar,   once again tramworks are a frigging disgrace,  but what more can I say or do - no one gives a toss.    Had my ears set on fire by a nice Russian lady working in the Turkish Barbers.
Female staff  from the bar were in for a "ladies bonding session", few drinks and a nice meal - hope they enjoyed themselves.

British Lions appear to be doing  OK on their tour in the Land of  Oz -  four out of four so far  -  keep up the good work.
Steed of steel in fine working order,  been out for a run the last couple of nights, so it will take me a bit longer to regain my confidence "and take the stabilisers off"  !!!

Dinners and Celebrations

The thought of a hose pipe ban worries me, after this bright spell and with my new bedding plants in place,  I need either rain or a hose to feed my babies -  however,  not to worry, rain is in the air tonight and more to follow later in the week - so summer must be over for this year.

Had a busy week, between the pubs and things.

These young ladies,  all "Sisters" in one sense (OES) were in for dinner on Friday night, becoming well kent regulars.

Change of subject, bicycles - and the mad cap scheme to make motorists liable in all cases where there is an accident involving a cyclist - how many times have I seen cyclist riding on footpaths, going through red lights, wrong way up one way streets, and riding in the dark without lights and in dark clothing, etc.    I am generally quite anti cyclist,  however, this morning I watched a taxi in Musselburgh take several side swipes at chap on a racing cycle, blatantly aggressive and bang out of order.

Ended up working late last night so I was unable to make it for the whole evening, however I eventually made it late on to see how the intrepid sportsmen were managing down at the Tranent Lodge- good was the answer,  happy lads, and they were enjoying themselves - so I left them in peace and went back to clean my pipes.

Back to tonight, attended at Bonnyrigg Lodge Dalhousie, where there was a surprise party for Robbie and Irene's Silver wedding anniversary -  quite a surprise when they arrived and found the hall full of family and friends, lovely night had by all, and thanks to the girls for organising it so well.

Pleasant surprise- Upside folks on my doorstep

Not sure what has happened with the weather,  but four days on a row is very much like our summer and autumn rolled into one - still no excuse for our winter fuel allowance to be scrubbed!!! considering we had the central heating on last week.
However,  last night I had a surprise call from Rikkie and Kevin,   from the land of Oz,  but who were Edinburgh.   Last seen by me three years ago when we travelled together in the USA.    Met up later in the evening at the Mercat Bar for a drink and catch up - and as I paid for the drinks, I now have to make my way to Stockton, NSW so that he can return the compliment.

At the time of writing, they are now heading home, via Dubai, long trip and should be there by Thursday.
Bit of a coincidence as another couple from the same trip, and also from the Land of Oz, are stopping off to see me in a couple of weeks.

Have to compliment our intrepid Dart team charity walkers on Sunday who raised nearly £1400 which is going to the Radio Forth Children's in Need Appeal.

BUT  I am not amused at the Puppeteers in Brussels who are wanting to reduce the power of our vacuum cleaners,  in an effort to save electricity -  me , I love my Dyson, especially on full blast when the dreaded dirt bugs are getting laldy - even my "Henri the Hoover" at the pub -  what would I do without their immense sook?

All the best to Kai and Lindsay who are heading off to Perth, land of Oz to start a new life,

Not sure what has happened to my new car, a VW Golf,  car dealer is trying to tell me that the onboard computer is confused since I bought it, and cannot cope with my style of driving - piffle - far too much technology in motors these days,  plug it into a computer and change a part - what happened to good old fashioned motor engineers.   I have a wee flash back to the well known and late "sonny" Swinton who used to tune the twin carbs on Jaguar cars using a rubber tube against his cheek.   And a few nights ago I was speaking my friend, Subaru man,  a real motor engineer, whose sons are building car engines from scratch, modifying motors - no time for drugs or TV games (old school).

Missed out on my bowls tonight, as I was not home in time,  and next week busy -  so sadly I have had , once again, to scrub my ties at the bowling club.

Next few days - going to be busy - plenty booking so far.

I might just sleep tonight - aided by.

Sunday evening,  what a beautiful day, so we cannot complain about the weather.

Went down to the Mercat Grill early today to let our charity team in, before they headed off on their annual walk.

Must give lots of praise,  they set off on the annual ten mile hike, down to the Stair Arms, and then back to the Mercat for a well earned drink and buffet,  well done, and all wearing costumes, most designed to suit boxers and jockeys on a last minute sweat .

 

Once again, some magic customers in the dining room, even had Kerrin (Little Princess) and "Big" Michelle in for lunch - lovely to see them again.    Thought we might be quiet as it was such a nice day,  however, got really busy later on.

 

BUT  in the meantime, I had not been idle,  finished painting the garage,  did a few jobs in the garden, then RGB and Jo Jo appeared with fodder for the BBQ  so we had a lovely evening in the garden, nice meal, few beers, wines, etc.,  and I even lit my camp fire and sat out till late -  very pleasant but I did not reach the stage of singing "Ging Gan Gooley" or cooking marshmallows -  quite happy to sit with a dram of cask strength "Glenkinchie" and meditate  before the dieing embers, -  much more peaceful than the tele. 

The never ending story.

Many (even many more) years  ago I was going up Ben Lawyers, Pershshire, and just as you got over one rise, thinking that the end was in sight, there was yet another, and then another  - end just kept stretching away.  Similarly - and it is me back on my bandwagon again -  just when we thought they were going to take down the barriers and open up the roads at Haymarket / Shandwick Place, following the horrendous tram works,  -  it has been discovered that the last batches of concrete laid were faulty !!!  so it all has to be dug up again and relaid - this time at the contractors expense -  that does not take into account the additional strain on the local businesses once again.

Beginning to think that I am jinxed with motor cars these days, all five cars I have driven recently have ended up in the garage for a variety of reasons / repairs - and I still need to get my steed of steel an MOT.

Three days of sunshine,  totally unheard of - managed to get some painting done and a few weeds up and out -   however, took  a break and headed down to Dobbie's of all places,  arrived and place had been evacuated with the fire service in attendance - and just to add to everyone's misery - the heavens opened and it poured buckets  (but not in Penicuik we discovered later)   should have stayed at home -  but instead we headed down to the Mercat Grill and had a lovely dinner .  Nice to sit with the customers, enjoy the meal and hear favourable comments.

Listening to the "Voice" on the TV, guy just murdered a Gene Pitney song,  but  it a bit better than BGT on the other side which is beginning to look like that most of those in the final will be staying up past their bedtimes. 

I see the British and Irish Lions started their tour off in style with a resounding whacking of the Barbarians in Hong Kong.    I hope they are in the same form when they play in Oz -  just to annoy Phil, father of  Robbo and Scotty.

Hopefully Sunday will remain sunny so that the members of the Darts team and supporters can enjoy their annual charity walk.