Jack Robert McCarthy - welcome to the world

I was interrupted tonight in the midst of my next blog with a brilliant chat on Skype to the Upside down people,   Robbo , Caitlin and baby Jack,  born five weeks early - at four pounds and at 6 a.m. Aussie time he was looking a lot better than his parents !!!
Fabulous,  just a pity that I am not in a position to pop over and give a bit of advice to these 2virgin" parents.

Well done and great to hear from you, and I believe that the Grandparents are as happy as dogs with two tails.

The sun shineth upon the righteous

No, not off on my holiday, although I was supposed to go to London today for a meeting tomorrow, however, circumstances mean I have to be here.  This plane , was one of many, which flew over the office I was in yesterday, probably about one hundred feet of less above.

Headed to the nursery yesterday for some bedding plants, but despite the hot weather I am still conscious of the old adage " don't cast a clout till May is out" so I will wait a few days and let them harden off a bit more.  In the meantime I am joining the regiment of fence painters - fortunately the stuff is water soluble so I can return to my normal colour in a shower, great stuff "skin"
Sleepless night again last night but it meant I was up early again and headed for the Mercat bar on the steed of steel with hammer and saw to do a bit of DIY - just one of the many things on my "to do" list .   Bit scruffy however there were a very nice couple of visitors from the USA who were not put out by my manky appearance - hopefully they will accept the invitation to come to the wine lunch on the 2nd June.

NOW - great consternation - the sun is shining, but there might be rain !!!  maybe, last night there were great thunderstorms in West Lothian with some flooding and disruption,   BUT - should I keep my wellies on and risk having peely wally legs (no sun tan) -  might just experiment with self tanning cream, having sat in the dentist's chair and listened to the two "ladies" discussing the pro's and con's of said application.

I was on one of the sites I visit yesterday where some "gentleman" had decided that they should dump an old van some weeks ago to get rid of it.  The Local authority eventually tracked them down under the powers through the Civic Amenities Act and someone arrived to take it away in a  big fancy Range Rover, jump started the motor and then drove it away, flat tyres, no Road tax, etc, so lord knows where it is now!!

One good tune - Maple leaf fans

Four visitors from Canada arrived at the Dolphin Inn this afternoon, just passing en route to Glasgow and ended up having a meal, thereafter in the course of conversation ended up swapping a Maple Leaf hocky jersey for a Mercat bar hoodie top.  Compliments to Tom Burle, from the Toronto area.

Dedicated to Uncle William

Saturday 19th May 2012, fun and games !!  maybe not for some,  however, it was the Scottish Cup final between Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian, (hearts v Hibs) the proverbial Edinburgh Derby, but sadly it had be played, by tradition in Glasgow at Hampden Stadium - the so called home of Scottish football.  So thousands of the "faithful followers" made the journey through to the "West", loads of congestion, massive Police presence to prevent trouble, etc, and give them credit they were well behaved.

So, the game kicked off, however, it looks as though the Hibs players turned up for the appearance money only, but with no heart for the game - the end result was that a ten man Hibs team was well defeated by Hearts to the tune of 5 - 1.    There were many Hibs supporters who were so disgusted with their team's lack of performance, obviously poor from the start of the match that they were leaving the stadium within twenty minutes of the kick off..

We were very fortunate in the Dolphin Inn , in that the customers watching the game were very good humoured, made the best of a bad game and in general the  Hibees present accepted the defeat,  and fortunately the Jambos did not make too much of a meal of events. 

However, as I said to one young lady supporter today, "tomorrow is another day" and Hibs could very well pick up the Cup next year.

It was just a bit unfortunate that our Scottish Cup Final was overshadowed by the European Cup Final, brilliant and exciting game with Chelsea beating Bayern Munich in a nail biting penalty kick shoot out -  well done.

Terrible statistics for NHS Lothian - whose fault ?

I was in one of the outpatient units at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, yesterday and as usual there were details on the notice board about the numbers of patients who failed to turn up for their appointments. I have in the past fogotton to write about them, buton this occasion .

Figures for this one clinic broken down and with costs :-
Last month - 395   =  £54115.00
Six months - 2278 =  £312086.00
Year  -          4378  = £599786.00 which is equal to the salaries of twenty four nurses.

Considering that NHS Lothian have recently been taken to task over waiting lists, etc., the management are on a hiding to nothing if you look at these figures and then multiply them through the many other clinics around the Lothians.

Think about them - unusual items for the wall.

During my vist to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, I spotted the latest art exhibition on display near to OPD 4,  this one features a series of pictures which are all X-Ray pictures of various items, from suitcases, helmets, even motorcycles, which are then coloured in - very effective.  so if you would like something really unusual to adorn your wall - you know where to go with your wallet!!!!

Visitors from Boulder City

My day second day off and again I ended up in The Mercat Bar, this time to meet with friends who were in for lunch.  Whilst there I had a "wee blether" with Marilyn and Peter, visitors from Boulder City, Colorado, USA, who were on a whistle stop tour of the UK.  Gave them a few ideas bout Edinburgh, today they are off to St Andrews, and en route will pass the iconic Forth Rail bridge - where yesterday plaques were unveiled to commemorate the workers who died during its construction.  They will be heading to Inverness later in the week to look for the elusive Nessie - a quick pop over to Dublin for the day !!! before heading off.     Hope they have a lovely time.