Country Roads and speed do not mix.

There is a road safety advert on the TV which says that the majority of accidents happen on country roads, well  here was one we came across yesterday.  Appears that this driver came over a brow of a hill at a junction far too fast, lost control and after demolishing a wall ended up in the field. 

 Not sure how amused the farmer will be when the recovery vehicle has to drive through his crops to retrieve the wreckage.     Another bloke I know had a bit of an bump on Saturday afternoon on the outskirts of Dalkeith,   head on collision, two cars total write offs and he had to be cut free by the fire service,  fortunately no serious injury.

 Wrote about the model aircraft lads a few entries ago,  eventually downloaded he photos to add a bit interest.

 Out on the moor, nice wee manicured runway and taxi ways.

Had to go into Edinburgh this morning, what a nightmare,  easy to see that the Festival is about to start, roadworks everywhere, traffic jams, and cyclist ruling the roost, so to speak.  Good job that the City is small enough to get about by foot as traffic is horrendous and parking spaces are all gone by 8 am.    As  usual the silly season is upon us with hotels, bars and food outlets all hiking up their prices to fleece the tourists - daylight robbery methinks, all in the name of supply and demand.

Tried to get to my motorcycle shops,  TWO WHEELS was busy with no parking available and when I popped across to the Harley Davidson garage at KB,  all gone,  !!!   Now moved to  new premises at Sighthill, so it was home to browse the Internet instead.   My Gold Top boots, which are only about forty five years old have finally given in and will need to head to the great boot grave in the sky,  I priced a new pair of Gold Tops at £369 , but think I will be knocking on 115 years  if he boots last as long, so maybe a cheaper pair will suffice meantime, but then again they do look good .  SPORTSBIKESHOP had a fine selection of goodies to peruse. 

Mrs B. just returned home and commented that she had just seen one of the motor cycle hearses passing being followed by a limo.

What a difference a couple of days make.

So much for all that warm weather and folks moaning about the heat, only took a few hours of rain and drop of fifteen degrees in temperature and the complaints started once again about the cold. Sod’s law of course,  the air show at East Fortune was affected,  the Ladie’s Open Golf at Gullane and the Scottish Seniors at St Andrew’s, both became a bit of a trial withall well wrapped up.
have to admit that the ground needed the rain, and from what we have been watching on the news about wildfires it was needed to dampen things down, too late for Greece and the area of the USA with fire tornadoes.   God help Southern Europe , Spain and Portugal next week with temperatures of 45C forecast.
Terrible multiple fatality in Moray with five dead, mini bus of Italian tourists and a local car, no one knows the cause yet or whether the weather was a contributory factor,  but driving in some shocking downpours has been a nightmare.

Interesting item about the defence lawyer in Glasgow who was attacked, face and arm slashed.  he had been part of a defence team for some real bad so and so,s who kidnapped and tortured their victim who was due  Was he punished for helping defend them, or because they were found guilty!! What is more upsetting to me was the fact that the Scottish Legal Aid board paid the defence team £112000. !!!  rich lawyers and an abuse of public funds.
Mind you, another so called entrepreneur had £15 million from Scottish Enterprise, for a venture which went bust [ although he got wages of over a £Million] and he has now been given £1.5 million to open a distillery.  Who controls these eejits?

Excellent documentary about the Air Ambulance helicopters last night,  there is one privately operated unit in Scotland and the management team are trying to raise funds for a second helicopter here. An excellent charity to support,  the money wasted by our entrepreneurs above would have paid for seven !!!

Mama Mia, Here We Go Again

Question,  what do you do when it is far too hot outside?  A.  Find an air conditioned cinema and watch a good movie.   That is what we did yesterday, having been to Costco (again) headed down to the Cinema at Fort Kinnaird.    Having seen the original Mamma Mia several times we were both very impressed with the new on, very very good. I had a wee quiet sing song to myself, foot tapping, and having watched a couple of documentaries on the lead up to the release it all made sense.  Listening to the lyrics you can appreciate the talent of the writers, as for Cher,  playing the Grandmother she was brilliant, so listening to her version of Fernando means something now.  

The girls posing at the exit from the ABBA museum in Stockholm.

Just to stop any rumours which may be circulating,  it was not me who found the massive gold nugget in a highland stream two years ago.  It was not the South Esk either, so all the best to the finder.

I was listening to the various suggestions about workers being allowed to go home as soon as workplace temperatures reach 30 C , no doubt the first to complain and head home are the types who (pre E Mail) loved to send postcards home saying how wonderful it was at 33 C .   One lady said the air conditioning at her work was so good she had to take a hot water bottle !!!  and Mrs B was on a bus coming from Edinburgh when a lady, coat on , closed the windows as she did not like the breeze.  Never mind, they will soon be moaning about the rain, flooding and cold.

Still too hot here for comfort.

Missed a couple of nights, busy all day and just a tad too tired to sit and concentrate.   In the meantime Penicuik weather has been bearable, not the oppressive heat being experienced elsewhere in the UK and across Europe.   I see that one hospital in England with no air conditioning had fire alarms going off as temperatures  reached 50C .  Wildfires all over Europe with seventy four deaths in the Athens area of Greece yesterday.  Water shortages becoming a problem, even in Norway rivers are so low that fishermen are sunning themselves on the banks ( ask Sparky Mark who was that man).
Not sure if I commented earlier but with thousands of new homes being built, all needing water, the water companies need to have a serious look at their provisions in the future, and before water becomes the dearer than whiskey.

Was at Costco again today, and as usual the disabled spaces were occupied by a selection of nice cars!! Certainly a sign of the times when the big companies, including BMW are advertising for motability clients!!!  I am sure that there are large number of disabled clients who do need their wee scooters,  but for some it is just an excuse not to make an effort to walk on their own, perhaps making them lazier in the long run.

Terrible acid attack on a young child in London  a few days ago, with three suspects under arrest - just shocking, and then today we hear of another attack, in Birmingham when a woman had acid flung in her face buy a passing cyclist / moped rider.

Sort of following on, with the previous comments about motor cycle thefts in Edinburgh there was another bike stolen in Musselburgh yesterday, a bike used by a "stunt rider"  was taken from the back of a lorry and it is thought that up to four people would have been involved .  So bikers be aware

A birthday; Abba and a lovely lady soldier (in Oslo)

So  far in these recent blogs I have avoided using folks in the shots.,  however, during our trip on the MV Balmoral, Anne had a birthday and our two marvelous table waiters, Kushtie and Raj are seen here posing with her on her birthday.  They were superb and really looked after us at every meal (wine glasses always topped up). 

 When we visited the ABBA museum in Stockholm,  made it nice and early so we managed to miss the long queues which build up as the day progresses.  A fascinating insight into the lives of ABBA , so it was good last night to see a documentary about them on TV, on the day following the premiere of the new Mama Mia movie. (which I will be off to see whenever).  I hear that Cher (in the movie) is about to release an album of ABBA songs.   There were lots of guitars, either used by ABBA or collected from the  many rock legends who they were friends with

 Could not write something about this exceptional group without posting a photo of them,

 In Oslo we visited the Palace and were in time to see the changing of the guard, and apparently just missed the Royal family.    We found this lovely young lady soldier who had been posted on the perimeter of the grounds to look out for suspicious folks like these (note the bag lady)

A few birds and a wee dog, self explanatory

Edinburgh, Bike theft capitol, what a reputation

Title speaks for itself, Edinburgh is now getting so much adverse publicity about the escalating numbers of motor cycle thefts taking place.  Reached the point that  many motor cycle tourists are being advised to avoid Edinburgh as some bikes are being stolen within hours of them arriving in town. Not content with taking the bikes, joyriding and then abandoning them, they are being ridden recklessly, by lunatics who have a total disrespect for not only the law but for the safety of others and quite happy to see someones pride and joy destroyed and a holiday wasted.  Hate to say it,  but sadly the Police are finding their hands tied at every turn and there is little or nothing which can be done with juvenile offenders,  time to take the parents to task, or bring back the birch.

Even in the rural areas similar events are occurring daily and today a farmer out at Mount Lothian by Penicuik had his "tatty quad bike" stolen.  Working tools for these men, not toys, downside here is that two collie dogs will have to walk to work!!

Saw an item on Facebook where the immigrant thieves in Paris  were targeting moving coaches in the city, pulling open side lockers and dragging cases out, under the noses of the passengers above.  The EU countries who agreed to accept the immigrants are certainly paying a high price and I am sure we will soon be ruing the day we did so.    This country is becoming so Politically Correct it is no wonder that the crime rate is escalating out of control. 

Despite the rain, and not being a fair weather biker I had a wee run down to Duns today to see Andy at Border Bikes.  As I had to go via the Grill I went down the A1 which was very busy northbound with holiday traffic, many of the "tortoise people" (caravans) on the move.  Good for our economy,  but kind of frustrating when you get in a long tail back.