Some more London snaps , and also

Made it to Bathgate but was disappointed to note thet there were no pink sheep on the Motorola Pyramids this morning - seemingly someone complained to the farmer a while ago saying it was cruel to dye their coats.

Weather was good, warm , but cloudy so we were able to sit outside for our meeting rather than be cooped up - doubtless the weather elsewhere was much better.

thought I would pop these extra photos on the box, two more of Donna and Pauls's three youngest , james was not being too helpful on Saturday, said he preferred to be a supervisor. Their big brother Jordon stayed at home so we did not have the pleasure of his company, but I believe he did a good job of cutting the lawns.

The other two are of the four girls who live next door to William and their friends in pre ball mode, doubtless slightly less formal on their return at 6 a.m.

A few more Windsor images - and this morning ....

ook ages to get to sleep last night , I could not stop getting the feeling that I was digging out under the tree stump !! Having been laid out on the ground for nearly four hours my chest is a bit sore. Other than that my head was " fir birling" as they say , and even Ann just could not get to sleep.

The football was not too bad, saw the Germany v Poland game, which seemed top be going well for Poland and then the two goals came from quick breakaways.

Thought these other pictures from Windsor might be of interest , I am not sure what the duck was doing , he was wandering up the main street near the castle, a bit away from the river, maybe just taking a stroll at his tea break to get away from the tourists.

Queen Victoria stands there in her glory watching all who pass on the road up to the castle and of course the many gargoyls around the castle walls watch down, no longer used for pouring hot oil or just plain rainwater.

Have had a read at my IPA ( International Police Association) magazine, Police World which was waiting for me last night, a great organisation which I have not used to the extent I could. Having said that I have met many very nice colleagues from all over the world who are members. One couple , Tom and Francis Killcullen and daughter Susan , came to us many years ago from Washington DC Police, lived in Maryland, and we went over to see them. Unfortunately we lost touch ages ago although I did send an E mail to the Washington DC Police who did not reply , so i have never heard any more.

Off to sunny Bathgate this morning for a meeting.

Home safe and sound again to sunny Penicuik

Compliments of William we made it to T1 Heathrow in one piece, and then the panic set in once again. I had tried to check in online but the system would not let me so it was back into a queue, waiting for bags to be weighed by a little man with a clipboard, then to get our tickets from a machine which scanned the passports - and eventually to the BMIBABY desk to get our suitcase away onto the plane. By this stage the clock was ticking and I thought we were going to be late - so on to security , where, having kept my boots on the metal detector must have picked up on the buckles, so it was back to the smelly socks and the boots went through the scanner again. But the folks must do their job and do it properly.
Short walk through the quiet terminal and we stopped for a coffee at "Costa Coffee", where it was the usual airport rip off charges, but a reasonable cuppa. Excellent views of the runway and as you see a big JAL Jet arrived from Japan , no doubt full to the brim with camera toting tourists ready to capture our every site.
Called to the plane, and once aboard it took 15 minutes to taxi out to the take off poit with was at the furthest away point from where we were. Take off was from beside the new T5 where they have a Concorde parked outside. We were sitting near the back and this time unfortunate enough to be landed beside six "young males" whose language throughout the flight was appalling and one in particular was obviously not present when basic social graces were being handed out. He just kept on opening his big mouth and talking a load of utter drivel all the way home.
Anyway , it was a spotless plane again, good flight, and we came in over Soutra Isle wind farm; Tranent, and then westwards along the River Forth into Edinburgh Airport. There were super views of The Bass Rock, May Isle, and the Inchcolme Priory.
Graham was waiting for us, but called to say he was still in The Mercat, so just as I was going back into orbit he appeared from his hiding place.
Home, bits of mail to read and some catching up on the computer - very nice E mail from Carol Summors now living in Wales, daughter of the Late George Summors, my former Sergeant at Penicuik and Dalkeith. It was good to hear from her as we have not seen her or her sister Karen for years. George was a well known piper and pipe band adjudicator who in his heyday flew all over the World to judge the many major pipe band championships. His brother Norman, who was the former Pipe major of the Woolmet Pipe band collapsed and went into a coma when playing at a football match and never ever came out the coma before dying in hospital. I once took some French visitors ( Antoine and Francoise from L'Isle Sur La Sorgue) over to Danderhall Miners Club to watch them practice and they were playing the Dark Isle, the hairs on my neck were standing on end.

Enough for tonight.

Best laid plans, etc

So much for going out last night, it was such a good night and with a supply of beer in the house we decided to stay in and have something else instead, and make the most of the so called summer sun.

So it was to the local Chinese carry out we went, but no worries all was eaten and very yummy, this meant that the boys could then sit and watch the football on the TV - Portugal and Turkey, great game with Ronaldo just a bit unlucky.

Then it was the adventures of Laura Croft, not a lady to be messing about with, however , one by one our group diminished as heads nodded and they went to bed.

I heard the last plane come over from Heathrow then all went quiet for about 20 minutes and a final plane come over low, possibly held up for some reason and after that peace. again it was a restless night with the oddest dream about eating mandarins, strawberry jelly and fresh pouring cream !! no idea where that came from.

Sun up - bells ringing in the University clock tower so up I got at 6.30 a.m. - had a go at setting up this computer but after 15 minutes gave up - as I do not have enough hair to pull out . Would have been the ideal chance to fire in some photos but now I will wait till get back to Penicuik.
So instead, I headed outside and started to dig like a mole, for nearly three and a half hours, under the stump of the apple tree untill eventually we were able to cut away all the exposed roots and without a trumpet fanfare , success, it rolled over - so now William will just have to burn away at the remains - he is happy and so am I. Lost two photos so they will go in later.

Anyway, having had a wee rest, a can of lager to replace lost vitamins, etc, it is back out into the sun for a couple of hours before we head up to Heathrow and get out BMIBABY at 1640 hrs back home to Edinburgh , Athens of the North.

A day in the garden / building site

Sun has been out all day, so thats where we were. William working on the extension putting up facia board before the roofers come on Monday and me doing some tidying up along the length of the garden and making room. William brought out some new toys for me, A nice new strimmer to get into the long grass and a power saw to tackle the stump of the old apple tree, so a couple of hours of that and the tree stump is down to about 12 inches off the ground - no idea how long it will take to get it down any further. He has been burning the stump but on a night like this does not wanyt to disturb the neighbours. Our students next door have still not surfaced, having been out till 6 a.m.

Donna appeared with her three wee ones, James, Hanna and Rebecca so the ladies were well entertained as baby sitters.

Plenty planes going overhead today, about every three minutes or so, some right overhead and you can actually get the shadow passing the garden.

Have had a look at the Stats so I see that Andrea has been on line, but a new one appeared from Israel !!! If tam and Catherine are haveing as good a days weather in Dominican Republic then they will be OK. Ann met Catherine's mother (Elizabeth) in John Lewis, Edinburgh , during the week.

We are off out for a meal shortly , to the Brasserie Chez Gerard, which we tried to get into on our last visit but they had just been doing a refurbishment and were doing staff training with invited guests rather than the general public. Menu looks good "www.brasseriechezgerard.co.uk", but we shall wait and see!!! So that is a short walk from here and then back to the services club later.
I had better behave tonight after last night episode.

Nice bright morning

The sun is fair splitting the trees as they say, a beautiful morning, and William and I have been for a walk to get the papers, etc.

Had a bit of an "event" last night when I could not breathe properly, got a fright as it was rather distressing and took some time to pass, before I got to sleep. So this morning that was blamed on too much black Sambuca!!!

The music from the College ball went on well into the wee small hours, but all the local residents had been lettered by the College about the event and have been invited to the garden party being held in the grounds tomorrow. We saw a couple of the "lads" heading home this morning just ever so under the weather.

Spotted a nice little Mark 1 Ford Escort Ghia still in good running condition just along from Williams, also a cracking little Morris Minor.

Ladies are off on their travels again, into the Village to stock up with ice creams before Donna and her family appear, which will give william and me time to get on with building work.

I see that Musselburgh races are on today - so the Sportsmans should be busy

Windsor and the Queen was out

Just back after a long day out to Windsor, Donna is presently on the phone to see how we are - and after upteen pints we are just coping!!! Young Stuart has just joined us in time for a trifle of black Sambuca - bringing back memories of the Sportsmans.

Today we all took the bus to Windsor - me and William saving on the fares by using our bus passes - so it was a nice cheap run up, only 25 mins on the First Bus.

Into Windsor and we found that the bands had gone into the Castle but were due back out shortly - so we waited and out they came, Gurkha's followed by the Guards , very good , although Mrs B. had a bit of an altercation with some visitors from the USA over who had the rights to standing on the pavement. ( photos later)

Then into the town centre where we left the girls to go shopping while William and I went to the pub. We found this excellent one, the" Crosses Corner", run by an ex Metropolitan policeman, flying squad, Eddie Murphy , who was covered in knife wounds and two gunshot scars, super chap, 65 yrs old , still playing rugby and an absolute gentleman who has apparantly turned a shithouse of a pub into a good boozer. He was in Cardiff for the Heiniken Cup same as Graham and I. Very keen rugby man, still playing at 65 yrs of age, so he already has tickets for Murryfield next year and is coming to see us at The Mercat. We spoke to one of the local "Bobbies", PC paul Dredge, who was immaculate in his shirt sleeve order looking like a real police man rather than the current para military fashion.
The girls manged to get a "real bargain" each at the shop, identical handbags - bloody hell - how many handbags do they need, and they will not be able to use them at the same time if they go out together !!

Then back onto the bus , where William and I fell asleep on the trip home snoring so badly the driver thought he had a fault with the motor. We then made it to the ex services club, who serve Staropramen beer, they had a good BBQ going - so that saved Sandra from making the dinner.

Got back to the house in time to see the students next door leaving for the Summer ball at the Royal Holloway College, part of london University - they were all looking good in their finary with the lads in DJ's .

Going to try and add photos but otherwise it will be some time next week when I get the chance.