Still hanging in there, however -

Once again, losing track of time - days just running away  hard to believe that this is me taking it easy !!!
Grill has been busy , so being kept occupied when I am there,  in the meantime putting in the hours on the "steed of steel",  however, have had to send for an air cushion for the seat as the old posterior needs a bit of TLC after a long run.

IPA are entertaining another couple of Police visitors this week,  two Canadians in town, so hopefully they will enjoy a nice themed meal tomorrow night.

Heard an interesting comment on Radio Forth yesterday,  Robin Galloway had spotted the article about the Cromlix Hotel (owned by Andy Murray)  winning the Hotel of the Year Award -  and after only being open for twenty seven days !!!   seems a bit strange - especially when they were getting praise on Trip Adviser before they even opened.

Shocking tragedy down South with the school teacher being stabbed to death in school by a fifteen year old pupil - shocking - and a terrible sign of the times.  Some people are just downright evil.

Little car has become yet another victim of Edinburgh's badly maintained roads, with a front spring broken due to the "bloody" potholes -  they can spend nearly £800 million on trams and a minimal spend on the roads, - even worse they are borrowing more money to spend tidying up Leith Walk, and even so another Councillor has stated that the tram line WILL be extended to Ocean Terminal as was originally planned - so what will that cost?

Council on the rack again following the scandal over the cremations of many babies at Mortonhall Crematorium over the years - long term cover up now exposed, and so far no one individual  being held responsible.

Still not been able to recover all my lost telephone numbers from the phone that went through the wash - so there will be a few folks wondering why I am out of contact once again - but this time not having  Full Board compliments of the NHS.

Fine food, fun and games at the Mercat Grill

Sunday a.m., still not too clever out, although yesterday did brighten up to give us a lovely evening.

Friday, ended up at the Mercat Grill where we had organised a themed dinner for a group of visiting Danish Police Officers who were being looked after by the Edinburgh Section of the International Police Association.  Collected the lads in Edinburgh in the mini bus, they had just returned from a Nessie Hunting trip to Inverness - (quite interesting, the latest satellite photos which show a mysterious object in Loch Ness) and headed for the Grill in thick mist and heavy rain.  Nice wee group of sixteeen for dinner - very nice menu, and with the traditional haggis being piped in by John McIntosh who gave his version of the address to same.   Mr McInally and Mr Mcneill managed to keep the lads amused while the bar staff plied them with Heverlee lager and a selection of Scottish beers.   Great night and nice to see new members up from Kelso.

Saturday, lazy day - lull before the storm,  as we were back at the Grill in the evening for a Charity Race night to raise funds for the Clik Sergent appeal,      Mr B (jnr) was in good form and we managed nine races, raising around £650 for the fund - a superb night, funny, and all present enjoyed marvellous buffet laid on by Claire and her team, well done all.

Bodes well for the family fun day on 24th May, with events during the day, and bands playing in the bar during the evening.

Edinburgh fun run taking place today, we had a couple in the bar last night who are taking part, not quite sure what they were using to carbo load for the run!! - so the City will again be a no go area for several hours.

Wee advance note about the Erskine motor cycle ride out on 25th May, taking place at the Eskine Home, Paisley, as a fund raiser. last year two hundred and fifteen bikes,  hoping for more this year.

A ramble to catch up

Still standing and inone piece.  So much for taking time out to relax and recover - just not enough hours in the day, irrespective of what anyone says-  or maybe that is just something I need to come to terms with !!

Arrived back from Ireland nice and relaxed until I got within a mile of the house !! - back to square one again.

Saturday we had  wonderful weather so I managed my annual top up of suntan before the weather broke, pulled multitudes of weeds and ended up withs sunburn and a sore back - no doubt like many others taking advantage of such a nice day.

Sunday, up with the larks and off on the stted of steel,  met Mr McInally at Hermiston Gaitand headed for Glasgow where we wended up in the shopping mall at Robroyston withabout sixty other motorcyclistsall gatherered to head for a charity run up to Ballock to Robin's House, a home for seriously handicapped young people.   The run was organised by the Blue Angels , who had called in several other motorcycle groups like ourselves in the IPA Motorcycle Touring Group.   Escorted by two members of Police Scotland's motor cycle section we headed off along the M8 and through Glasgow to Dumbarton, where we met up with a further forty plus bikes and eventually made it to Robin's House.   Quite a gathering of bikes, all sorts, ages, and an assortment of riders, even met a few former colleagues there.

Our own group left and took a somewhat twisty route through hills and glens and eventually ended up in a viewpoint overlooking the Forth Clyde Canal above Kilsyth - a spectacular view - where  we split up and young Tom and I headed home past the Kelpies at Falkirk, Linlithgow Palace and Edinburgh Airport.

Quick change and down to the Mercat Grill, where we were meeting friends,including Greg Karabin and some of his rugby team from Westchester, PA, who had been over for a week playing local teams, visiting Murrayfield and also watching Glasgow Hawks in action.  Lovely to see Greg again after several years as he had looked after us in the USA and had been here with a younger team previously.

Back into harness again, down at the Grill, busy weekend and also Easter Monday, not that we were complaining,  once again new faces through the door,  just a pity that some of our younger staff have the odd lapse which kind of lets the side down,  rather disappointing after all the effort that the others put into looking after our customers.

Ended up in Edinburgh,  Haymarket still a nightmare with the trams and traffic, and on our way in we see that Midlothian Council are remarking the A703 into Penicuik,  nice wide cycle lanes ( for cyclists who pay no road tax) and even narrower roads for cars, etc.

The new developments are progressing at Straiton Park,  but it looks as though there  will soon not be enough parking space for customers !!   so much for progress.

Not sure what to make of the David Moyes debacle at Man U.,  did Alex Ferguson set him up for a payout ?  knowing that the team that he had left were past their best !1  Keep saying it,  but these prima donna footballers should be on performance related pay - and only get paid when they win - that would sort a few out .

Day out in the Irish countryside

Wednesday headed off sharp in the coach out into the wilds of one of the national parks,  very similar scenery as that of Sutherland,  lots of little lochan, barren, peat bogs and mostly treeless.

Stopped off at a small centre near to the estate owned by the Guinness family,  and the treat of the day, as it was a bit overcast and dreich, was the wonderful open fire, fuelled by peat

Could have sat their for hours and ended up with the fireside tartan legs.  There was a wee boat which was supposed to take us on a sail along the Lough,  however, it did not look all that safe !!!  so we gave it a miss.

Thereafter a long run through the mountains and down the wild Atlantic Way, running parallel to the coast. The road was amazing, perfect condition, having been built with Millions of EEC Euros,  running through desolation,  I wish we had the same in the Scottish Highlands,   cost would have paid for upgrading the A9 from Perth to Inverness.   Beautiful large houses everywhere, many built with borrowed money from EEC funds and never paid back due to one of the many loopholes exploited over here.

Passed through the home town of Dominic O,Donnell and eventually arrived in Donegal.   Lovely little town, spotless, nice hotels, and certainly dependent on tourism.    The Priory on the riverside was certainly historic, sacked by the English armies as the monks would forbidden to spill blood so could not defend themselves.

Headed back to Letterkenny which was only 45 minutes away by a direct route.

So far never managed the evening entertainment in the hotel as we are shattered.

This morning, took the day off and walked to and from letterkenny town centre,  30 minutes each way, and not an awful lot to see !!!  Both the night club and pole dancing bar were closed,  but I suppose at 10 a.m. that was to be expected.

Relaxing day, using the pool and spa - no doubt we will end up conked out early tonight,  but with a long run home tomorrow, might be sensible.

Derry, or Londonderry, in the sun.

For once I did not have to row across the bit of the Atlantic between Cairnryan and Larne, we let P & O do the business for us.

Today,  awoke to sunny skies and have had the same all day,  so it made our trip to Derry, or Londonderry, depending on which side of the border you live.

Not sure what we expected, however, the walled City of Derry is steeped in history, fascinating from St Columba, through King William, the second world war and of course the troubles of the 70s etc.   The City is beautiful, very clean, modern, and certainly worth a visit,  and as a City of Culture it deserved its recognition.

The cannons on he City wall were there to defend the City, and are sited opposite the Peace Bridge over the River Foyle, erected recently to denote the cessation of the "troubles",  running from the site of the Guildhall which was bombed by the IRA to the site of the former British Army barracks where a massive pop concert was held on the enormous parade square.

Not the clearest of photos  but this piece of embroidery, depicting a map of Londonderry in a big tapestry on display in the Guildhall, was very good, and the tapestry gave a great deal of the local history.

Back to the hotel,  which is where the "legendary"  Dominic O,Donnell got married,  had a swim in the pool, nice, before dinner.

Tomorrow , off to Donegal for a few hours and then we depend on our Glenton.s driver, Bob,

Maybe thinking about the trip.

Who says old age does not come alone,   lost my phone yesterday, so when I rang it I eventually heard it going round and round in a "synthetics" (how appropriate) wash in the new washing machine.  Stopped the cycle, drained and spun,  but by the time it came out is was soaked.  Now drying in rice,  but in the meantime I have lost 90% of my saved numbers.  Lot to be said for a paper system.   Will need to get numbers replaced.

Today, we left early, joined a coach party in Edinburgh, and made our way to Cairnryan, took the P & O ferry over to Larne,   so are now in Letterkenny, Southern Ireland.    Hotel is very nice, has a spa, gym, pool, superb public bar and food is good.

Have a couple of day trips planned for Tuesday and Wednesday but if we wish we can wander and chill out - just need to wait and see.

He who hesitates is lost

Not only do I get into trouble for not finding time to relax and do my relaxation classes,  but I find I am either too tired or too busy to compose a few lines of this blog.

Took myself to work at the Grill on Thursday, ended up doing just a bit too much so have had to cut back a wee bit the last couple of days.

"Strike while the iron is hot", rings kind of true now -  having been in and out of  BMW Motorrad at Dalkeith more often than the hospital, and was seriously considering getting one of the ex Olympic BMW1200RT's  however, sod's law,  having eventually made up my mind I arrived about two hours after the last one had been bought.  Back to the drawing board and my trusty "steed of steel", now shining and clean after a wee bit of TLC yesterday afternoon.  It will be fun to tour Europe on the bike in June, and it will certainly add a few miles to the clock -  big change from the couple of years where it only did a few hundred miles.

Headlining again- Edinburgh trams, as the road surface in Shandwick Place is beginning to crack up and will need repairing before the rain and ice cause further deterioration in the winter.  It was in this area that I was pursued by two of the so called workmen who had skived off to the bookies during working hours and did not want to be photographed.   Usual story, no commitment by staff who are only interested in getting paid and not doing a good job.  As I say,  some people come to work to get paid, others come to work, show initiative and enjoy themselves.

London Marathon taking place at the moment, amazing with 37,000 taking part.   I met a former colleague last week who is running today, and another next week.  He now works as a taxi driver,  but is an ultra distance athlete who regularly does fifty and one hundred mile races - including the Sahara run, well done.