Our x-mas flowers

Just thought you might like a wee keek at our x-mas gift from Sir Christopher's Ma. She gave us a nice bulb in a box which has blossomed into this lovely flower.

Despite an awfy long day yesterday - and a late night watching movies till we dozed off - washed down with a nice red Cotes Du Rhone, "La Chassse Du Pape", which coincidentally i am also enjoying as I sit and type now whilst watching Masterchef and now America's Next Top Model - so sad!!! But what a contrast, with the Chef,s they have so much talent and get put under immense pressure to demonstrate so many skills.

Our dim witted Models are now in Bangkok, where I will be in ten days time - I see more naturally beautiful young ladies walking past The Mercat Bar on a daily basis than these young women who are not much less than "catty bitches" who depend on top class make up artists and photographers to get the best end result. For some, beauty is skin deep, for some the beauty comes from the heart and soul - there is a massive difference.

So, this morning it was an early rise after a terribly restless and sleepless night, but we beat the madness which has hit Penicuik due to the Water Board digging up the A702 - Jo Jo got the bus to work and it took her two hours to get into town, while RGB waited off, missed the pandemonium, and only took about ten minutes longer than usual. We also had to contend with some snow - and again -just like last week Edinburgh City Council were again leaving themselves open to complaint by having some of the roads ungritted.

In the meantime, I was in The Mecat Bar, where we had tons of rubbish from the busy weekend, now - is there an issue? The Tramworks folks have recruited "The orange Men" to assist with bringing goods into shops and also to get rubbish and items away from the door to pick up points.

So, this morning we had thirty odd bags of rubbish and also boxes of card to be moved, but it seemed as though it was a competition between the orange men to see who could avoid the task!!!! A bit strange, when last week I was in a shop full of the orange men falling over themselves to help the shopkeeper - who told me that he was paying them ?? What for - to do the job they are already being paid for !! And this morning I saw four loading crates of beer into the cellar of one of our neighbouring pubs. Wait till tomorrow - we have forty plus kegs to be moved when Bellhaven arrive - this will be a god game of hide and seek.

The Tramworks are now proving interesting - the holes in the road are getting bigger and deeper - and as they gom down here are all sorts of concrete casings, and in some bits they are through to the rock - if they go any deeper outside the paper shop it might slide into it.

My Oppo from RA Strathearn, MEZ Andy sent me a message this afternoon after getting caught in all the traffic around Haymarket, just a "Red Neck out of his home territory".

The Mercat was fairly busy all day, and we had four young ladies from North Wales, they told me they were driving home and navigating by their Sat Nav - which was sending them home west along the M8 and then down onto the M74 - an extra sixty miles rather out of Edinburgh on the A702 to Abington - point raised - women drivers and maps/ navigation, just about as bad as having a blind pigeon !!!

Nearly forgot - took a walk up to Sommerfield,s, stopping off to hand both my masonic rings in at the jewellers to get them fixed as the swivel pins have broken. Just as I reached Sommerfields a shoplifter ran past me followed by two of the young male shop assistants and took off up a side street. One of the check out girls was saying that he was a regular - they know them all - bloody thieving twats. In tonight's Edinburgh Evening News there is an article about the exclusion zones being imposed as part on bail conditions for convicted shoplifters to deter them from coming back into the area.

Same paper - our wonderful, efficient, caring , compassionate, arrogant and ignorant parking attendants - January 2nd - 1615 tickets; 3rd - 416; and 4th - 89 : so that equates to an extra £48,450 into the Edinburgh City coffers in one day. Welcome to the City.

Odd item - a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S which had lain abandoned in a garage in Newcastle for fifty years was sold this week for £3 million through a car auction in Paris. Brings back memories of an incident which happened near here many moons ago. the owner of a large "statley home" died and left the poremises to his housekeeper, who was just about as elderly as he had been - the lawyers moved in to "assist" and told the old l;ady that the car in the garage , a Lagonda, was worthless, and sold it on to his friend for a couple of hundred pounds. The car which had been up on blocks, etc., was popped back onto its wheels, had oil put back in it , a new battery, plugs, etc, started within minutes and was driven off by one of the lawyers corrupt and greedy / or was that the lawyer friends.

Spoke with Archie the Pole dancer who was recovering from his antics in the Caledonian Brewery yesterday, Alan emulated myself by going home and straight to his bed - whilst No 3 stayed out all night- young hooligan

However, time to do a Sparky Mark and chill out - god help us when he gets back from his trek up Killiminjaro and forgets all this " my body is a temple" and resorts back to real food and a few beers.

Have heard nothing from the land of Oz, so a bit concerned about Rob and Caitlin , their familes who, and also Curly Carly and co who are all within the areas affected by the onging fires raging in eastern Autralia.

Tomorrow - working again , but it will be different as we have a wine tasing in the evening - £10 a go, wine to drink, some of Edu's tapas to eat and then we choose the new wine of the month for The Mercat.

Time to get the feet up - but not for the others.

Felt guilty when I left the Pub after only twelve hours, but the back shift were on , aided by Sir Christopher ( The Laird) who was doing a doubler to help Paddy and the troops as the place was still very busy. David ( Chef) was back after a couple of weeks off, had his exams and a few days up in Skye with his relatives.

Claire is off in the morning with her family for a few days at Centre Park so we hope they get there safely and enjoy themselves.

RGB had been away for the quiet spell up to the Caledonian Brewery to join the Deuchar's party there, so when I went up I discovered Archie ( The Pole Dancer) , Alan, his father in law - ever so alert !!! and one of the Supervisors from The Standing Order.

Attempted to get back to The Mercat but ran into a human roadblock - just unbelievable with thousands of fans streaming back into the City from Murrayfield - they could not get along the footpaths as they were narrowed down with all the fencing for the Tramworks so by sheer numbers they took to the road holding everything up. I got stuck but was able to take a short detour the wrong way up a one way street and get turned and into the NCP car park. Oddly enough I saw a young lady this morning taking photo's of a few hazards and faults around the Morrison Street Car Park.

The bar was kept busy with a good crowd as were showing a replay of the game - just a pity that Scotland came in second.

So when I left, it was snowing again , and a lot worse in Penicuik. Not looking forward to tomorrow morning as the Water Board in their wisdom have shut the A702 trunk road at twelve hours notice to run the new Edinburgh water mains across it - so everything from the south who would normally use the road will head through Penicuik again. The main contractor is Carillion, same as the Tramworks, only difference is that these guys work - so hopefully they will make this a speedy job and get the road open fast.

Photos on the TV at the moment of the devastation in Australia with the death toll rising every hour - it is frightening, and we have no control over nature. However what is also unbelievable is that some of the fires were started deliberately by bloody nutcases.
This, sadly is commonplace as has been seen in many other parts of the world, the USA , Spain , France, etc.

This carry on with bonuses in the Banking industry, I have said all along that it was the greedy money grabbing Bas****s who had brought all this about - did not take a rocket scientist to work that out. By now we have an angry populace who may well consider that Mr Darling and Mr Brown and their cronies are a bit late in taking any action - and our voters might well have an answer for them given the opportunity.

Fun's fun - enough for the day. Just have to see what Monday brings - however it is one day nearer my own holidays - only ten more sleeps, as the bairns would say.

Having a breather

I think bedlam is an apt description for the last four hours as we were jam packed with all these rugby folks, pics to be added when I get home.

The crowds have left for Murrayfield Stadium which has given us the chance to get cleaned up and prepare for the next bash when they head off after the game - we break with normal procedure and clear out all the furniture, so it is standing room only, and rather than table service and the full menu , there is a fast food bar with steak sandwiches, stovies, and giant sausage sandwiches - it all works well but we need a full team in. If we are half as busy this evening we will run out of beer, imagine , "a pub with no beer", cannot remember who sang that old music hall song.

In amongst the crowd I spotted Craig and Margaret Gordon , Craig is the Master Elect of Lodge 720 Dalhousie, Bonnyrigg. They were the heavy squad from the Penicuik Rugby Club, Messers Aitken , Middleton, and Co.

So it is half time now and looks as though Scotland might be runners up again !! but there is still plenty time. May be a bit optimistic - 4.05 p.m. and the score is 21 - 3 for Wales

The R A F display team, the Red Arrows did a fly past before the game, and came in right over our heads , what a racket, and it made the place shake.

Weather has been kind, very cold but a beautiful clear day , with sunhine, and not a flake of snow in sight , slightly different to the catastrophe in Eastern Australia with the raging forest fires, temperatures of 47 C and a rising death toll. As I said the other day - so this is global warming. I note with interest the large ice flo which broke off in Lake Eyrie, with over a hundred fishermen on it.

Time to get back to work.

Still in one piece

Saturday was a long, busy, hectic and fun day - pub was chokka block with the Welsh invaders up for today's rugby international.

I had to leave at 2 p.m. for a meeting of the Ancient Corporation of the Squaremen at the Edinburgh Masonic Club - where they had three unsuspecting candidates and a small but selct attendance of members so that was another story - end result - home and in bed at 7.30 p.m. !!!!

Now set for another busy day so this will be followed up later.

Jeremy left for the USA last night after his flying visit, and according to Jamie - Jonathon was doing his thing on the karaoke on Friday night with his version of Y M C A .

catch up later.

So this is Global warming !!!!

It was possibly only a couple of years ago that we were being told due to global warming we would have vineyards in Kent, the weather in Scotland would be a bit wetter. The use of hose pipes was banned in many parts of the UK and artesien wells were running dry causing subsidence in the chalk downs. NOW - from the news and happening of the last five days we have a "Day after Tomorrow Scenario", which is a bit scary, all these folks trapped in Exmoor, the M5 motorway closed and large icicles falling from the Severn Bridges onto cars.

BUT - "when I was a lad" living outside Balerno I can remember walking up through the snow and drifts to Harlaw and Threipmuir Reservoirs to skate on the reservoir, while crowds were curling and bonfires were burning. In Penicuik there were two curling ponds in regular use within the grounds of Penicuik Estate and another on the Roslin South Road, adjacent to the old Moat Pit.
In 1954 , while living at East Kinleith farm, Currie, right at the top of the Kirkgate the road was blocked for a couple of weeks with drifts over twenty feet deep and it took a tractor with a fork / shovel on the front to dig it out, all carted away by trailer. In the meantime the farmer had to roll his milk churns over the fields to a part where the milk lorry could reach.
We moved into Currie proper on the Lanark Road, and when the snow came I went sledging with the minister's son, Peter Smith who had a superb four seater sledge and we battered up and down the hill at the side of Currie Senior Secondary School. When I needed a warm it was easy to nip into see my Godgather, Ramsay Blair, who had the local smithy next to the school. Peter and myself were always getting into trouble and my Dad and the Rev. Will Smith were forever hunting us for a rollicking.

When I moved to Durham in 1963 to 1966, again we had weather problems and on a morning when Elvet Bank leading into Durham City was blocked with skidding cars , our coach - en route to the Durham technical College would be stopped and we debussed, and working in teams cleared the road by pushing cars up the hill till the gritters got it cleared . This was a very regular occurrence and it certainly helped to be fit.

Back north and in the late 60 's early 70's, Penicuik, with its own little eco system was forever getting blocked in. It was not uncommon for the Police to be out for hours pushing cars, etc. One night I "waded" waist deep in snow getting folks out of cars between Carlops and West Linton , taking them to a stranded coach untill such time as vehicles came over trhe fileds and took them to shelter i West Linton where they were trapped in shelter for two more days. This was a classic for two of our "Edinburgh City Police " traffic officers who were sent from Portobello in their cosy car , town shoes, and light jackets - to help - they were stuck at West Linton for two days also, so it was a case of " Car 42 Where are You?"

Then, it was not a case of running out of salt and grit, we had a strike by the snow plough drivers, and with road which were absolute sheets of ice - we would stand in the middle of the road at the bad bend near Hillend and just keep cars passing each other apart by just pushing them sideways.
On a memorable night - at the top of Lowries Den, the A702 was a sheet of ice and we were trying to slow cars down two hundred yards away from the bends but they just kept skidding past us. After a few hours in the freezing cold,( now about 12 m.n.) the road was gritted, our boss Sgt. George Summors contacted the Office to tell Lucille our typist and Margaret the cleaner ( who had stayed on waiting for us - to get the kettle on and to go get the bottle from his desk drawer - so when we arrived it was large mugs of hot steaming coffee seriously laced with a good whisky - that turned out to be a good night !!!

The snow was also the cause of a couple of night shift Officers being complained about !!
The green keeper at the Penicuik Bowling Club arrived one morning and there, straight across the bowling green were two sets of footprints leading from the gate, straight across the bowling green to the main door and then round the building as the Police had been checking the doors - but of course the footprints in the snow turned to ice with the likelihood of the ice damaging the grass rather than the blanket of snow protecting the green.

The other week I wrote about the man we caught by his footsteps in the snow, and from the papers i see that several other "silly works" have been caught similarly during the past two weeks.

Masterchef - eat your heart out!!

As an avid viewer of the Masterchef programme on the Watch Channel at the moment I am amazed at the skills of these amateur chefs who have to work under extreme pressure. At the moment they are down to the last three for the finals - so tonight when Mrs.B. asked me to make the dinner , it was my chance to really impress.

So there it is - a teepee of french Fries, fresh vegetables (sweet potato, onion, pepper and broccoli - reheated in the microwave) with medium rare corned beef ( Tesco's finest) dressed with beetroot, and topped with Sarson's vinegar - as there was no ketchup left.

Just not quite up to Claire, David and Jamie's standard, but it did fill a gap - so I do not think I will be in next year's Competition

Somebody cares

Having had a bad day yesterday and not enough time to put finger to keyboard it was nice to know that someone had missed my daily ravings. ( Thank you Laurence).

So what did happen - just peed off , not enough time or peace to get on with what I wanted to do - however, I eventually did some work, took off in the snow which was very light (none in Edinburgh) and saw Grant at Photogenix who worked his magic with the photos of our three Old / sorry Past Masters. His wee dog is enjoying its swimming classes as part of its physio programme - doing well and hopefully will be able to walk properly.

Up to Costco for a nice big chocolate fudge cake - yummy- then to The Bush and eventually home.

Last night it was over to Newbattle Lodge where Dundas RA have relocated following the sale of their premises in Gorebridge. Good crowd in attendance and super mini steak pies as part of the buffet - a few were disappointed, Simon "two pies" and Bill -"I'll just have three" .
One of the Companions now coming back is still involved in a serious court case against the Health Board which he and his family are having to fund personally - he was saying that one of the opposition Q.C.'s is earning £3000 per day !!! No credit crunch for him.

On the subject of lawyers, one of our regular customers, a mature lady Gwyneth, sadly passed away at the weekend having died in her sleep. May she rest in peace.

Standing at the door of The Mercat Bar at lunch time I spotted an old face from my days at Edinburgh Crystal Glass - who I stopped and we had a chat. Just as he was asking about Sir Christopher , the said laird popped out the Bar fro a chat . Eventually our man had to leave as his parking ticket in the Morrison Street Car Park (N C P ) was due to expire and he did not want "booked". BUT about an hour later as I was leaving in my car, I spotted him and discovered that his car had been boxed in by some stupid clowns. I missed the chance of taking a photo, but there were at last another six cars all boxed in , front and rear, and impossible to be moved. Just what part of their rectums do they keep their brains in - it's either that or that they do not look at what is happening when they park , possibly in the dark.
So, our man had been waiting an hour or so for the N C P Mobile (immobile) response unit to turn up - hope he had sandwiches !!! And he was late for appointments.