Crossed both fingers and toas, no rain today

Great rejoicing as I managed to get the grass cut this evening,  and, even managed a one hundred mile run out on the "Time Machine" today, down the A1 to Duns where I popped in to see Andy at Border Bikes, said hello to the "Steed of Steel",  and then back over the moors via Longformacus , Gifford, and Gorebridge.

Man who has hit the headlines, American Dentist Walter Palmer, has become a household name worldwide having taken himself off to Africa to go game hunting,  linked up with a couple of poachers and lured "Cecil", a lion being studied by Oxford University off the reserve and then shot and skinned it. Massive uproar about the incident, not helped by the fact that he had already caught having killed a bear in the USA.    I am sure that somewhere along the line he will get his "come uppers".

Watching "Police Interceptors"  on the TV, filmed in Yorkshire, very interesting, especially seeing how quickly the Police were responding to incidents.  Staff taking part in the programme seem to be very enthusiastic and well motivated. Wrong to suggest that they are better than Police Scotland, however with the recent adverse publicity it does raise some questions as to the effectiveness of this one massive Force.   
No excuses for the mistakes which were made regarding the recent fatal accident at Stirling,    however, thinking back to my early years in the Police, it was standard procedure to prosecute any driver who had lost control of their vehicle and been involved in an accident.  The Road Traffic Act decreed that you had to be in control of your vehicle at all times, so speeding, losing control and crashing would be an offence.   Nowadays, the majority of accidents are left for the Insurance companies to resolve.

Home to yet more rain.

Start again, having lost previous attempt,

Made it home yesterday after an hours delay at Heathrow,  BA seem to have lost an aircraft somewhere - so it was a bit of a sore bum waiting -  mind you we sat outside Fortrum and Mason's outlet in Terminal 5.  Not sure what these shoppers will do when England introduce the 5p charge for carrier bags !!    No more posing with fancy bags,   mind you, if they pay what these shops charge for their wares then they can afford the 5p.

My seat companion was from Tel Aviv and turned out to be a whisky buff and had photos of his ninety eight bottles of malt at home. Made it an interesting trip home, especially with the complimentary 1/4 gill  (double double) en route.

Arrived home to yet more rain, garden saturated and flowers totally wrecked,  unlike the drought type conditions down south.

As promised earlier,  photos of the two motorcycles I was looking at, and if weather is dry next time, perhaps a wee shottie.

 Royal Enfield

 Kawasaki 900

Managed to find a Lincoln City Police badge when raking in a second hand store in Staines, something to add to my assorted collection.

Where has all the sunshine gone ?

Sunday a.m. here in the London area, and , and of course it is still raining !!   We think they were telling us porkies when they said the weather had been good for weeks.  However, it has obviously been very dry as some of the crops here have failed due to lack of water.

Another day at the shops and in the company of William Hill,  where, despite having had a chat en route to Tom the horse his tips were rubbish and our pennies went straight into the old nags kitty.

Met William's neighbour who produced two motorcycles from the back of his garage , a Royal Enfield Bullitt, immaculate condition, low mileage and a retro 900cc Kawasaki roadster, also immaculate -  photos to follow when I get home.  More bikes to see today I think.

Visited a local Italian restaurant (Il Rustico) last night where we had a lovely meal, nice night out.

Just like home !!!

Well, Friday could have been a typical day in Penicuik, it rained from morning till night with grey skies, a bit windy so nothing unusual for us.   Mind you have woken up to bright sunshine this morning.   Back to yesterday, took ourselves out for breakfast and ended up at the Café at Fairoaks airfield, which is near to the village.   Even discovered that when I win the lottery I can fly down here from Edinburgh on a wee tottie plane-  they actually do runs several times a week with medical supplies.
Headed for the town of Staines ( Scottish word for stones !!!) wherethe ladies headed to a massive indoor shopping complex whilst silly me took myself off for a wander in the wet,  even found a "Greggs" (which has a home base at Loanhead, Midlothian).

Managed to pop into a William Hills, where a small donation was given for the benefit of horses in distress ! or is it me who is distressed as all failed to get a nose past the winning post.

Tea was a real treat, "Scottish lasagne"  (mince and tatties) brilliant, washed down with several draughts of a mild vino tinto.

Not trying to lower the tone of the blog, but I did find an article in the paper yesterday about a new material being used in the manufacture of men's trousers.  material is designed to absorb the odours of flatulence (farts that is).

Ongoing saga about the massive traffic holdups on the south coast, with seventy four miles of commercial lorries waiting to cross through the Chunnel.   Major problems with illegal immigrants trying to get into the UK from France. French authorities seem to be taking very little action.  One thing for sure, this would never have been allowed to happen at a  German port.

Name the day !!!

Not sure if it is an age thing but we were sitting here in the sun - YES - sunshine as I am visiting the Johnston's of Chobham in the region of Londinium (as the Romans may well have said),  Comment by Mrs B about why young Stuart is working so late, this being Saturday - me , I thought it was Friday, and then after a few minutes pondering William had to tell us it was only Thursday!!!   Too much high living perhaps.

Left home on Wednesday afternoon and ran into big tail backs on the A720 city by pass, total grid lock due to the new road works at the Gogar round a bout which are to last for forty weeks. Add this to the folks heading into the town to see Lionel Ritchie what a jam -  RGB took twohours for what should have been a fifty minute trip.

Into Edinburgh Airport and had my first trip through the new security search area, long queues,so it took a while to get through,  Mrs B used it last week and it took longer to get through the queue than the flight took to Belfast.

The airport is really quite smart now, lots of good shops, bars etc, certainly going upmarket as it gets busier.

Flew to London with British Airways, which left on time, arrived on time, plane was new, spotless and comfortable and the two double G & T's en route went down a treat.    Terminal 5 London Heathrow, no problems getting out or being picked up.

As I have said already, sun has been shining all day which is a treat for us, pity rain is forecast for tomorrow.  Another day, another story.

A few more days of life,

Sunday was good with all the sport etc taking place.  So Andy Murray fought back after all for a fantastic win at the tennis.  Young Mr Dunne, eventually lost things a bit, dropped several shots at the Open and did not even manage to win the Silver medal for the best amateur player,  hard luck -  but at least folks know who he is now.

Monday, off to the airport to collect the three Ann's who had been having a bit of an away weekend in Belfast which they all seemed to enjoy -  caused a bit of a stir in the village pub when their host appeared with three women in tow.

Longish run down to Ayr to do a job there,  despite the bad weather took the motorbike and enjoyed the run,  the roads were pretty busy so there was no point in playing heroes, just took my time and dodged the potholes.     the road from the A74 through to Muirkirk was really busy so it looked like a lot of the "heavies"  were cutting across country to avoid the M8 which was closed at Livingston due to a multiple crash , fire and fatality.

Popped into Mauchline to catch up with Dennis and Carol Anne who I have not seen for ages, good wee blether - lovely to see them.  Lovely museum to Robert Burns in the village, pub named after Poosie Nancy, and nearby a statue to "heilan mary"

Folks have gone on for long enough about the beggars on the streets of Edinburgh, one every fifty yards it seems, from genuine homeless to the Eastern European run by the  gangs - saw one lady last week being dropped off by her minders and settled in for the day.  However, latest incident happened when a tourist told a beggar he had no pound coins in his pocket and was then then stabbed in the stomach with a syringe.  He was bleeding badly, sought help at the Scotsman Hotel where he was staying and was taken to the hospital for treatment.  The Police managed to arrest the culprit,  but it does not reflect well on the City,  where there have been numerous complaints about the beggars over the past few years.

Now getting "fantoosh" new modern bus shelters as a French company have won the contract, so the old shelters are being removed and these new objects are popping up in their place - you can charge your phones, go interactive, lots of things for the hooligans to vandalise,  however, when the wind blows, there is little or no shelter from the elements,  design over practicality.

Into the Royal Infirmary yesterday, still amazed how many folks / and patients are happily puffing away at their fags under the NO Smoking signs.   BUT the Doctor did comment on the fact that despite everything I was still hale and hearty looking !!! 

Sport - spoiled for choice.

Despite a couple of days of  rather non summery  weather which has put me off having a ride out on the motor cycle,  and after a couple of very early rises, which necessitated a wee bit of a snooze in the afternoon - lots of sport on the TV to watch.

Open Golf at St Andrews has shown how fickle Scottish weather can be, any time of the year, causing a major upset by stopping play all day yesterday and forcing play to take place tomorrow,  some of the players were complaining about the weather  ( fair weather golfers!!)  heard it all.  One consolation being that those who can go tomorrow will get in for £10.    Big scramble for hotel beds tonight as many thought they would be heading for home this evening - so bet your boots some folks will make a lot of cash tonight.   Nice to see two Scots sitting in the top six at the moment.  Young Eddie Pepperrel playing a blinder at 10 under and then goes and whacks a ball into the side of the Old Course Hotel  !!!  Double bogey in the offing methinks.
Shame that Tiger Woods seems to have totally lost his game, some commentators are suggesting that he might retire from the game, others are saying that he just has to let his coaches sort out his problems - still a crowd puller.

Davis Cup tennis taking place, Andy Murray not doing well at the moment, just hope he can pull something out the bag, otherwise it goes to match four later in the day.  Maybe he should not have played in the doubles, where he may have picked up an injury, or  is just tired.

Tour De France, going well, very spectacular, with todays route affected by heavy rain and making roads a bit dangerous.   Bad incident yesterday with a spectator throwing a cup of urine over Chris Froome, the tour leader,   inexecuseable  behaviour, seemingly brought about by comments based on speculation in the French press, add to that riders of the Sky team being punched, just not on.    I said the same thing a while ago when thinking back to the actions of the striking miners who threw bottles of urine over the Police on the picket line at Bilston Glen.
Drove past there yesterday and despite what everyone said when the colliery closed, there are now many more people working on that site than ever did when the pit was working.

Test match at Lords,  looks like England will need to build a wall in front of their wickets to avoid a good hammering by Australia and the match finishing today.

Mercat Grill has been very busy this past two weeks which are normally a bit quieter due to the Edinburgh holidays which finish today - had a 91st birthday, few assorted birthdays, reunions, a christening and a funeral party.

Mrs B and her two friends currently over in Northern Ireland for the weekend, interesting trip to see the Titanic exhibition, and a tour of the Belfast region, Newcastle and surrounds yesterday while the sun was shining.

Going to have a different day tomorrow with a job to do in Ayr, in the morning, and later in the week off to London.