SWEDISH BARREL KNIFE AND MY OLD SCOUT KNIFE

During the current lockdown I was having a rummage about the house and found these two knives tucked away in a box. 

Having started to clean them up I checked out the markings on the Swedish Barrel knife and found that it had been made by John Engstrom and dated 1874, although he did manufacture into the early 1900's.  It would appear that these little knives are quite collectable, not that I have any intention of selling it at the moment .

This knife, which I had attached to my Scout belt and had always thought as being from the Scout shop, turns out to be an ex army issue but dated 1949.  These knives were produced in their thousands, in Britain,  but appear to have been sold to different countries throughout the World. I have another, with different markings,  but have also seen one which was issued to the Italian Navy,   currently worth around £70. 

 

INTERNATIONAL POLICE ASSOCIATION, THIN BLUE LINE AND FRIENDSHIP TOKENS

The Thin Blue Line  badge is being worn by a great number of serving Police Officers as it is in honour of  Police Officers who have died in the line of duty,   the badge shown has been produced by the International Police Association, and may also be worn.   Quite sad that earlier in the year, one of Glasgow City's "elected  councillors" wrote to the Chief Constable demanding that Police Officers remove these badges from their uniform as they did not conform with the Police Scotland Uniform Regulations  !!!!,  what a load of rubbish.    Just so happened to be a couple of days before the hostage incident where the bloke killed the other in the hotel for immigrants,   hope the Councillor wrote and supported the Officers who attended.

There are Friendship Tokens, which you can give to close friends as gifts, started off in the military I think as Regimental tokens,   very nice and an unusual gift.   I am sure there are now collectors of such tokens.   This token and the badge were obviously produced for the 70th Anniversary of the IPA which has a massive membership Worldwide. 

 

Sunshine, bloody chilly, and in lockdown

 It has been a stunning day here, bright sunshine, although the temperature never rose above 0 C,  in the garden it was about -8C,     Despite this, and in view of the current lockdown rules, I did wrap up warm and take a walk round the park and playing fields opposite the house. (Bit nicer than yesterday)

Despite the inconveniences of the Lockdown, being sensible, do we really have an option is we want to remain safe and protect our own lives and those of our friends and family.   Living where I am makes life easier, both now and especially last year during the warm weather when city dwellers really suffered.  So, despite everything, I  may grumble a bit,  however I can have a bigger gripe about the many shortcomings of other aspects of life by our beloved leader  (Empress Nicola)and her henchmen / women within he current Scottish Government.

My biggest concern, following phone calls with several elderly friends today, is the effect the lockdown is having on people living on their own.  Telephone conversations are one thing,  but personal contact really is essential.  One other,  his wife is in lock down in a Care Home, in an area with no Covid, however he will not be allowed to see her at all until such time as the restrictions are lifted,  just cruelty in mind,  there must be away round this somehow.    

THE MERCAT PEN - AS DONATED TO NHS

 Thought I would pop this photo in, just in case someone now in possession wonders what the story is. 

Possibly about two and a half years ago, prior to being admitted for a big operation I wondered what to do for the nursing staff, other than buying cakes and sweeties.     So a couple of phone calls and I had ordered a couple of hundred of the mini torch pens which were distributed and really well accepted.  Since then, between myself,  the LAird o Cockpen RA Chapter and the mither Shed of the Corporation of Squaremen I have bought another 1200 pens which have been distributed to hospitals throughout the Lothians and Falkirk.     I managed to dish out the last few on a surprise visit to the A&E,  ERI , when some of the staff were seen to be using pens from earlier visits.     Time to order a new batch.  

FREEZING FOG, SUNSHINE and FORTY SEVEN FRACTURES !!!

 Under normal circumstances,  with the eco system which usually haunts Penicuik, I would suspect that we would be under several inches of snow by now.  However, for some strange reason this year,  to date we have had things pretty chilly down as low as Minus 6 C but very little snow ( although the DJ on Radio Forth 2 has just given a warning of snow for tonight).    Pavements have been horrendous with black ice, and Midlothian Council, along with most other Scottish Councils have inundated with calls to fill up Grit Bins.    Sadly we still have the opportunist thieves who are cruising the area and stealing salt from filled bins and probably charging folks to salt their paths!!!

Top photo was taken at 2 pm today in Penicuik when it was Minus 1 C,   a short time earlier the second photograph was taken of Edinburgh Castle, from Keir Street, when it was a balmy 3C in the sunshine.

Even in the sunshine great care was needed as the pavements were still very dangerous with black ice.  We spoke to a lady this morning whose sister had been taken to A&E at the ERI with a broken leg following a fall,  she was number FORTY SEVEN in the queue to have treatment.     The answer, same as with Covid is to stay at home unless you really must go out, GIVE THE NHS A BREAK PLEASE

1775 WHISKEY PASSPORT TASTING GROUP

 Thought I should mention the above whiskey tasting group which has been running,  out of the Mercat Bar and Grill, Whitecraig, East Lothian , for several months now.   The Group, run by Graham Blaikie, Neil Forbes and their technical guy, Gregorz Wozuy has been screening live whiskey tasting up to three times a month at 8.30 pm on the relevant Friday night.    Website " https://1775whiskeypassport.com"  gives access and once into the site the live talks are both informative and amusing.  I have no idea how Neil manages to detect the many aromas hidden in the selected whiskies.   For those who wish, you can purchase the whiskies to be tasted, in advance, so you can join in and see if your taste buds match up to Neil's.   For the really keen there is now the opportunity to take out a membership which has various member benefits, including interactive Zoom meetings. 

When the opportunity arises I will start and add some whiskey photos.

COVID MAKES A DIFFERENCE, WHAT A BLOODY YEAR

Well,  exactly a year to the day since my last Blog,  no real explanation, by either myself or the various medical professionals I have seen during this period.    Would be nice to have a reason, perhaps it is ME, or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or maybe even Long Covid,  the symptoms are all similar.   First two might account as to why I was unwell in June 2019,  but if it is the third than I must have contacted Covid earlier than was publically known.     However, suffice to say that for me, just as for other thousands of others, would be correct to say that 2020 has been a bummer of a year.  BUT, looking on the bright side, I am still alive and not an unfortunate statistic of this dreadful COVID pandemic.  

What is strange is that after a year, NO ONE is accepting responsibility for the event,   the Chinese Government is still standing by its cock and bull story that the disease was caused by bats droppings getting into the food chain,  however, another line of thought being that chemist in a bio tech laboratory in Wuhan allowed a research sample to leak !!   Allegedly, the WHO  World Health Organisation, is going to China to visit this laboratory on a fact finding mission,  BUT just what kind of cover up is taking place in the meantime remains to be seen.

There are many hero's in this story, primarily the incredible members of our National Health Service,  those very folks I was praising in the previous post of exactly a year ago.    They, like front line troops have suffered terrible losses through their dedication, and also due to the tremendous stupidity of thousands throughout the world who chose to ignore the advice of the medical experts.   As they say "you reap what you sow".