Aunt Eva Singleton, RIP

Had a run down to Durham yesterday to attend the funeral of my Aunt Eva Singleton,  (my mother's sister in law) who passed aw\y lat week aged  ninety six/ Cannot praise my cousin Peter enough as he has had to care for her for the past ten years, much to the detriment of himself and his close family, Jill, Jack and Evi.   It was strange to meet up with folks who could remember me as a two year old !!!
With my current health issues it was a bit of a long day,  twelve hours away from the house so today has called for a bit of a break.     Proud of young Evi who is now a member of the Newcastle Youth Choir and will be singing a classical piece at the London proms in the Albert Hall next week.   A few stories from the past as I stayed with aunt Eva and Uncle Bill in the mid sixties when I was a Cadet in Durham, and through them had a posting in Chester Le Street.

Went South via Soutra, Greenlaw, Coldstream and Morpeth, and came back Ponteland, Carter Bar, Jedburgh, Galashiels and Peebles.       Had planned on using the Steed of Steel but in the end took the car which I suspect was the sensible thing to do.  Did note that none of the reservoirs I passed were very low despite the dry spell.

No photos,  but that man is here in the UK, and as usual lots of arguments about his appearance.   There is no question of the fact that he just speaks his mind and rubs folks up the wrong way.  BUT being the President of the USA he is certainly entitled to pass some comments.  I do believe that he is entitled to certain degrees of respect and there is no excuse of the Mayor of London to be acting the way he has.  The UK is now far too PC , time we clamped down on these bloody dissidents and immigrants who are shafting the system.  I suppose, at my age  I will not be here to see the anarchists get their way.

Not sure what the full story is yet, but I think the police have recovered a container with the nerve agent which was used on the former soviet spy in Salisbury,  will be interesting to hear the followup.

At he end of the day, feet up in front of the TV watching Jane McDonald and Friends, excellent programme, lovely person and great singer, time to relax, and of course a glass of "The Full Fifteen" is a great help.

We had Bill and Ben the flower pot men, but in Tallin, Estonia,

Long afternoon and evening watching the tennis at Wimbledon, the epic semifinal  which Anderson won, although I apparently slept through the second, third and fourth sets!!   I then, either watched the remainder or listened to it on the radio while working outside after the first heavy rain in nearly three weeks, great for the garden.

 Way back in the days of black and white TV there was a children,s programme called Bill and Ben the Flower pot men, with a guest appearance or "Weed".     So, when we were recently in Tallin, Estonia, a stunning city, we stopped for a coffee and beer at a small cafe in the Walled City where they had these decorated flower pots along the frontage. Really nice and eye catching.

 I obviously have many photos but too many to fill up the blog.   We had a slow wander through the old town, and even had a ride on one of the "tourist trains" which was hellish over the cobbled streets, but nice once it got out into the tarmacked main roads in the modern part of the town.   Eventually ended up in the main square for another coffee and beer, which was reasonably priced and not a shock to the system like my friends experienced in Bergen last week  £26 for a latte and £9 for a 1/4 pint -  I would have needed CPR after that.  It was even cheaper than the main square in Prague  where the lovelies, the posers and people watchers pay over the odds for being allowed to preen themselves in public.

The ship, The MV Balmoral was only docked for the day,  but it is certainly a place worth going back to.  The ladies managed to find themselves a small market and treated themselves as usual.

Stadium and power company, St Petersburg

Resorted back to the lap top to get some photos and interest into the Blog.  Thought that as France and Belgium were playing tonight in the stadium at St Petersburg might be worth showing the stadium and adjacent spectacular bridge which is a bit like the Queensferry Crossing. From what we were told by our tour guide the whole seafront which includes the stadium, a motorway, two new bridges, the cruise liner port are all built on land reclaimed from the sea over the past ten years. The cost, in the Billions has caused a great deal of resentment by the locals who would have preferred better housing and other facilities.

 The MV Balmoral, seen here docked in the new cruise liner dock which can accommodate six large liners at the same time, only issue being that with the really big ships, each disembarking around three thousand passengers there is an amazing logistical exercise to get all the passengers, (twenty thousand plus)  into the city or onto the many tours.  On these days the local museums are packed out.

 This tall spire like building is the office building of the power company, the tallest building for hundreds of miles.  Initially the power company wanted to build it in the City, however there was such a public outcry that planning permission was refused and they had to build it well outside the City.   Due to the relatively flat landscape it can be seen from many miles away. Although not yet completed it is quite a spectacular building.  This photo was taken from the cruise terminal on the other side of the mouth of the river using a telephoto lens.

• 
  

Happy Bunny, something to cheer about at long last

For those who do follow my words you will no doubt be wondering what has been happening, no scribbling for ages !!
However,  today, after seven months the Steed of Steel (K75RT) has returned home, new front forks, brakes, and petrol tank.   I know there are times when the saying “beyond econaomical repair”  means just that,  but there are times when a wee bit faith and expertise overcomes all.  So now, back on the road on the Steed nd RGB can have a go on the 1150 RT at long last.

In the meantime, we have been away on our travels, six of us headed off on the Fred Olsen ship, MV Balmoral, sailed from Rosyth and during following two weeks passed through the Kiel Canal,  to Copenhagen, saw the wee mermaid, the Royal Yacht, And had a good walk about.  next stop the lovely city of Tallin, beautiful, and well worth a visit,    Next stop St Petersburg where the World Vup football was taking place in the new stadium there.   City was heaving with both tourists and football supporters,  too busy and vey hot,  but certainly some stunning buildings to see.   We had to make do with a coach tour on the first day and a trip along the coast of the Gulf of Finland, sea was just a tad nippy for swimming.     Onwards to Stockholm where we visited the ABBA museum, quite an experience and very busy.    next stop Gothenburg (it was raining),   And finally Oslo ( lovely city). Before our final trip back over the North Sea, Force 7 gale did not make for a happy day, spent in bed so a wasted day for most of the passengers and a lot of the crew.
The Ship was excellent, loved every minute of it apart from the Gale,   Food, drink, staff, service,etc, just  the business.  Would have no hesitation in recommending this smaller ship to anyone, hidden bonus, (no children) .   Our group, theee Ann’s, William, Sandra and self,  were kind o9”f notorious, the G&T Brigade, staff knew our room numbers off by heart and the young singers and dancers looked forward to our support during the evening shows. Lots of photos but no idea how to get them into the blog on this I pad,   Not a problem on the other lap top. Cheers

back home and still all go, lots of work to do in the garden, dug up the old decking which was becoming dangerous in the wet, so the area now paved and new trellis fencing erected.   Still at it as we speak, a regular at Beatson,s the builders merchants, and Screwdix ( nice new Titan hammer drill, and several other bits and bobs!!!  Toys for the boys),

Victim of the potholed roads

Well, have written previously about the state of our roads which puts us on a par with many “Third Eorld Countries”,  and had the privilege of admiring one for several weeks directly opposite my house, and in such a position that there was little chance of missing it when parking or turning.   Couple of weeks ago it was filled by the local potholing squad.  However, today when I went to MOT my car, and knowing there was an issue with my suspension, CORRECT, broken spring.  Fortunately the Guys at the Edmonstone Garage were able to get replacement springs deliver and fitted within two hours, so happy bunny, car fixed and MOT’d  all in the same morning.

Gin night at the Mercat Grill on Daturday was excellent, several superb Scottish craft gins, a lovely meal, and in all a brilliant night, other than the fact that as designated driver, I did not get to taste any of them!!!   So , a wee arrangement made for a private sampling at a later date.

Seriously jealous that Ian Buchanan, Doug Wright and Steve Bolton are presently in the USA travelling the famous Route 66 from Chicago to New York on Harley’s.   Granted, due to my current health issues I would never have managed it, but I am still envious.

Although Masonic Season is in its quiet period , I missed the Colington and Currie RA Centenary on Saturday as I was out of sorts,  this week. Lauder was on tonight,  St Andrew’s tomorrow and Craigmillar on Thursday.      My proposed Mark Degree on 8 th has been cancelled till a future date.

E&SESLTA had their regular meeting last week,  next meeting will be their AGM on 3rd July at the Queen Charlotte Rooms, Leith .  Where, hopefully a few more of the local membership might attend.

Bit of a bit of a surprise with the weather this year, managed to get all my bedding plants in ten days earlier than usual, and before the 1st June , they are just bouncing out the ground, however , the runner beans which look like the Triffids re being eaten by invisible beasties, just need to wait and see.

Busy time ahead,  just avoiding Facebook, so any news from me will come through the blog.

Bloody EU Regs

Just logged into this blog , first time for a while and straight away a 2arning about the new EU data protection regs.  Like millions of others I have been  inundated over past few weeks with messages from all the companies I have allegedly subscribed to. Just gave me a chance to cancel a few,  time to repeat the exercise already.
Masonic season has calmed down fo4 a few weeks, no more five nights a week and every other weekend for a couple of months.     However with this tremendous spell of lovely weather and light evenings the garden has had a bit of a seeing to, before the normal 1st June deadline.   OK, we might have a bit of fog in the mornings which clears away, but tha isn’t better than the us7al frost which kills off the bedding plants.
managed a few runs on the “Time Machine”. But I st8ll like my own machine, just like an old pair of slippers, so used to it after all these years.    Need to keep my wits about me due to the potholes on the roads, however I have se3n a number of the so called Pothole teams out and about doing a useless job at patching the road.  They are n3a4ly as bad as the lazy so and so,s who sit in their =and watching queues at their health and safety inspired zones around roadworks.

Mercat Grill has been busy as usual and next weekend , 2nd June is the Gin tasting and dinner, I wonder if I will be the designated driver, yet again.

BBC’s attack on Police Scotland

Cannot allow it to pass without comment,   I , obviously did not support the formation of Police Scotland, but our SNP run government were hell bent on the formation. The former Legacy Forces were all doing well apart from Strathclyde which was a law unto itself.
BBC female reporter with big ego, reading a leaked report commissioned by the former chief Stephen House, obviously did have something worth delving into but decided at the end of the programme dto challenge the current Acting Chief Constable Iain Livingston about something which happened seventeen years ago,  not really playing the game, and if he had been a criminal such exposure of events would have not been allowed.   Police have a bad enough job to do, taking a hammering left right and centre , morale at an all time low,   So from me they get nothing but support.

Today,  stuck on the A720 City By Pass due to it being closed under the A702 at the Lothianburn Junction by an accident.   Not a cheep out of our local Radio Station, Radio Forth, Or even BBC Traffic Station,    Radio Forth are too busy trying to generate cash , rather than being the local news station, all the DJ,s need to do is fade the music a bit, read the quickie news and then get on with the show.   And why?  Why? Have the sent a DJ to Orlando to transmit the programme from there,  nearly as bad as ITV in the morning with Andy Peters being paid to promote a quiz for a car and mega bucks from all over the World.  Probably just me being ba humbug as usual.

And while at it,   I did comment some time ago about these blokes who set up traffic lights at roadworks then sit in their van all day twiddling their thumbs,  perfect example now on the A702 at the new roundabout under construction at Mauricewood , by Penicuik.   That is two unproductive wages, cost of a vehicle, etc, every day they are there.  No doubt blamed on the latest Health and Safety Regs foisted upon us by EU Jobsworths.

On a happier note, off to Peebles this evening where their Royal Arch Chapter is celebrating it’s Centenary with the new Supreme First Principle and a team from Supreme carrying out the ceremony.  And as a wee fund raiser, a baked potato night at Tranent on Friday in aid of the Eastern District Order of the Eastern Star.           Cheers.