Murray v Gasteau Wimbleton

Well,

what can I say , I have sat spellbound watching this game for the past three hours or so. Mrs. B. from the start said that Andy Murray would win and was calling the commentators all sorts of names for writing him off.

Sparky Mark and I were at times more impressed with her passion and zeal as she kept getting on at us for not giving as much positive vibes as she was. BUT he won - which means that instead of getting on with my work on Thursday I will once agin have my bum on a chair - no doubt with glass in hand.


Otherwise, today not a lot to report, stripped out the conservatory, the "blind man " came, and he was not really blind - just here to fit them, but, he was Michael Trotter, brother of one of my ex scouts, Callum Trotter, who now lives and works in Alabama, USA , where he is in landscaping and his wife is a specialist nurse. His mum . Rose , is currently fighting cancer -and co- incientillaly I met her later in the afternoon on my trip to TESCO.

I have just had a long conversation with Malcolm Graham , whose wife Norma has just been appointed Chief Constable of Fife Constabulary, the first female Chief Constable in Scotland. Many years ago when i was Crimwe Intelligence officer at Dalkeith I had Norma and her friend Sharon, now Insp. Sharon Simpson working with me in the office - both known by me as scraggy and scruffy - but tremendously enthusiastic officers who have shown just how far female officers can progress in the Police Force. AND the one thing ion their favour is that , as I have said previously " they are both Jock Thompson's bairns", no airs and graces, have worked from the grass roots, and treat everyone as their equal - an attitutude which unfortunately many others fail to adopt!!!

Spain (1) v Germany ( 0) - UEFA Cup Champions

Bit late in the day -a long day , but I have just watched what I thought was a great game of football with Spain deservedly winning the UEFA cup, their first win major trophy since 1964. Their goal scorer Fernando Torres was excellent and it was a shame he was yellow carded and substituted near to the end of the game. In reality Spain should have had another three goals - anyway they won.

It has been a long day, having been in to the Mercat since 7.30 a.m., but I did get the photos I wanted on the way in , a couple of Lowries Den in the bright morning sunlight and the other of my beloved cranes on the Edinburgh skyline.
I hear that a lady whose daughter was getting married in one of the big City Centre hotels phoned the management insisting that they arrange for the cranes to be moved as they were going to spoil the wedding photos - I believe they were advised to contact the City of Edinburgh Council on that one - but we know they would not be of much help !!

We had Eduardo back in the kitchen today - nice to see him and put up with his Spanish banter - he will be happy with tonights result.

Pub was busy all day with some of the hen parties/ stag groups returning for their breakfast and this afternoon the Arsenal Scotland Supporters Club held their AGM downstairs with a good turn out. One group, of 21 ladies from down south hit the town dressed as Robin Hood's last night, apparantly very good.

Home and I managed to get the walls in the conservatory repainted a different colour to save me doing it in the morning and give me time to get on with other jobs.

Andy Murray v Tommy Hass

Unusual for me, but I have just sat and watched the whole of the game of tennis between Murray and Hass, and well entertained we were. Not sure how much to say without being biased, however there is no doubt that although Hass played well and tried hard he was outplayed by Murray apart form the 2nd set where Murray seemed to lose the plot for a bit . We will now have to wait and see what happens on Monday . Must add that the last I saw, Jamie Murray and partner were also playing well in their doubles game..

Back to basics, it was into The Mercat Bar early to help out with the breakfasts, etc, at times just getting in the way of the team, Agnes ( thats not her real name , its Polish and hard for me to say) Shareen, Chris, with Jamie in the Kitchen. Jamie was a bit rough having been out at the Voodoo Lounge till 4 a.m. with two pyjama clad ladies who arrived in the bar just before closing time last night looking for a nightcap !!

Bit of a mad house this morning with the staff all like that WKD advert, playing tricks on each other, etc. and the customers, including a couple of large hen parties were also game for a laugh.

I asked for bacon and beans and as you can see was given what might loosly be called "Nouvelle Cuisine" - NOT. Agnes complained that she was not in the last line up of the Mercat girls so she and Shareen had to do a bit posing. Agnes speaks very good English but finds some of the local sayings a bit harder to understand so they have to be explained , i.e. " You should not drink on an empty head", and " Does your mother know that you are out".

Update on Johnny the Gigalo, he arrived - just passing about 10.30 a.m. heading home, sort of shattered after his night out with the "frauline" - but being a gent , his lips were sealed.

As a bit of a diversion Kevin Price, a Canadian , who reads Tarot cards ( www.kevinprice.co.uk) arrived at the Bar and several of the ladies in the hen parties and the staff took the chance for a look into their future. he is apparantly very good with some extremely accurate statements.. (I think they are all going to win the lottery and meet tall dark handsome strangers - but then I am a sceptic !! In reality I am anything but, having had this done twice in three years many years ago and both reading were nearly bang on.)

So now for a quiet night, and back to The bar in the morning to see what state the hen parties ae in when they return.

Hands that do dishes.

So much for a quiet day helping out in the kitchen , having "blogged" a.m. when sorting out paperwork, it was all go for the rest of the day , helping Claire with the breakfasts and preparing for lunch, etc. Once Struan and Jamie arrived the three of them got on with lunch while I took command of the sinks and pots and pans - just what I spent all these years training for !! But no one bothers you and all you have to worry about is having wrinkly hands.

Pub was very busy so it was good to see the team rattling through the orders - considering that it is all fresh food I am sure that some meals went out faster than in a McDonalds.

By the time I was finished I was struggling to get onto the motorbike for the trip home - and for some reason the roads were busy so it a cheekie me who went straight to the front of the queues - home and then a well earned snooze.

Got myself ready and went to the last meeting of the season for Loanhead RA - Honor, Concord, and Fidelity, which was really well attended - good to see. In addition Bert Waite and Andrew Johnston of RA 500 were given honorary memberships - so it was just as well I went to support them . Unfortunately we had not been mailed before our last meeting otherwise we might have had a bigger turnout.

Loanhead itself is all bunting and decorations for the Gala day tomorrow - I just hope the weather clears up so folks can enjoy the day and all the colours.
Having come home early I now find that Mrs B is now in Loanhead having gone out with friends - so insead of an early night I will have to do an about turn shortly to go and get her

Sort of on impulse - so to speak

Up with the larks once again - after another poor night, and onto the steed of steel to get into the town sharp and have no parking charges.

Last night , bit of a story , to begin with , In the morning I found an old letter dated 1994 from a friend Kathleen who I worked with in Durham County Constabulary as of 1964. The letter related to a reunion in 1994 to which I attended and met up with lots of former Cadets.
So, on impulse, last night I phoned the number on the letter and after 14 years had a long blether to Kathleen who was not phased in the slightest by this call - it was as though I had spoken to her only last week.

In a way it sort of follows on with something Real Radio did a couple of days ago about keeping in touch with folks you met on holiday, etc, so have a bash , pick up a phone or write to someone out the blue .

Enough - I have work to do, helping Claire today.

Now Russia (0) v Spain (3)

Evening progressing and the game is picking up with Spain scoring a few minutes into the second half.

But back to today and one of my wee pet hates, " smoking at work" - and being a non smoker I will obviously upset the smokers.

Today I arrived at Market Street outside the City Of Edinburgh Council offices and while we were were waiting for the meeting were surprised at the numbers of staff who were coming in and out to have a smoke on the pavement outside. This chappie in the photo was there for 15 minutes before I left, but when I returned about 75 minutes later he was back outside again, this time for another two fags.

2 ND GOAL FOR SPAIN - VIVA ESPANGANA - by Danny Guiso

Stood and stood and then having discarded his fag ends onto the pavement, committiong an offence (2) and returned to work. For me, I find it shocking that we are paying rates for so called administrators to waste time outside while their colleagues were at work. the one consolation when I worked for BSKYB was that when staff left their seat in the call centre they were logged off and only time at their desk counted towards their shift.

At 4.01 p.m. it was like rats out of a hole as staff left the Council offices. - they must of been preparing for their getaway ages before they left. They had folks sitting in cars waiting for them - gone are the days of doing a job for the love of it ( sheckles - greed - no dedication - if they do not like what they are doing = get out)

Just added another of my cranes on the skyline photos - there is another view I must get sometime and there are either seven or eight cranes in the potential shot.

3 rd GOAL for Spain - Fabrigas - its a bit of a walkover , they are just smooth, so on this form they should knock spots off the Germans on Sunday.

End of game , Spain v Germany in the finals

Russia v Spain

Game has just started so we will see it it goes whilst writing about todays events.

Into town early and way to B & Q for some more masonary paint - YES - as I expected the paint I put on the other day was the wrong colour so I am having to change it!! and in a hurry as the new blinds are ready to go up.

From there into the new "Sterling Furniture Warehouse " at Kinnaird Park which opened today - it is lovel, well laid out, open , and today there was wine, juice, coffee and a nice pianist playing just to welcome the opening day visitors. We met one of Graham's friends, Kevin, who was at the Gorgie shop and has been moved down.

Headed up to Market Street, for Ann's meeting with the City of Edinburgh Council folks - two hours later - out she came with a so called promise of yet another answer in another 14 days !! just how long can you wait and see - how do we feel after 36 months of wanting an answer.

Off to The Mercat Bar to update Graham on the days activities - and while waiting my Companion Andy KP of Planet Poland appeared, tired and very busy.

Upstairs, sitting in the sun and along came Paddy, not on his skateboard, but on his bike - without a saddle ( or was it stuck up his B--), anyway he was not able to sit down without doing serious damage to his rectum ( nearly destroyed hum) and he was off to the cycle shop hopefully to get a new saddle. I still have a superb mountain bike worth £1500 to get rid of so Paddy wants photos for prospective buyers.

Great choices today with the new menu - so I had a change and went for the pork escalope with apple which was just mouth watering , so the good news for Claire is that I will not eat all the stak pie, but the bad news is that I will have more pork chops ( as per my nick name) - BUT having said that the tiger prawns were also outstanding - it just means that I will have to slowly munch my way through the new menu. Ann had a feta cheese and walnut salad - lip smacking.

As we went into the kitchen to praise Claire for her good service we found that Johnny the Gigalo has been moved into the kitchen for some training - pity for our lady clients, but we are awaiting a report on how he gets on with his German lady!! Friday night. Sadly Claire refuses to be photographed but Ann and Johnny are not so shy.

I was busy watching the tennis, especially after Andy Murry's straightforward win, and it was just a pity that Chris Eton did not do the business also, but he has time as he is young.

Must admit that the young ladies are delightful to watch - better than the big hitters and smashers of the male game who are a bit boring.

Many years ago when in the Police we raided the house of a "perv"in Musselburgh and found lots of videos of ladies tennis - this bloke had spent hours and hours editing footage of ladies tennis matches so that all he had was a continuous tape with nothing but bums and thighs on it!!

In the meantime ( half time) and Russia are HAVING SEVERAL GREAT SHOTS ON GOAL BUT SO FAR NO SCORE.

The Mercat was getting busy and with the four delightful ladies on duty who could blame the chaps for dropping in for a tea time pint, the twins still cause me problems even when I know them and sober.

So there we were and home for the footie.

Turky (2) v Germany (3)

Well having just watched this 1st semi final of the football I must say that the Germans were more than lucky to win - they did absolutely nothing throughout the game although their 3rd goal was a good one. The Turkish team were very good for a team who were written off by the commentators before the match . I thought that Colin Kazim Richards had a great game so well done.
What puzzles me is why do they have to take these so called experts over to the games and just how much are they being paid to talk a load of rubbish.
Anyway - had a meeting with our UNISON Rep. today to discuss our next meeting with The City of Edinburgh Council staff who are trying to unravel the mess their incompetent managers have got them into - so we wait and see how tomorrow goes.

Tried to get some paint from two different suppliers and considering that we only need about a pint of masonry paint the smallest amount they would sell was five litres.

On to The Mercat Bar where the outstanding plumbing job was successfully completed at the cost of 82p, so my reward was some nice steak and ale pie followed by a selection of ice cream and strawberries, the new menu comes into effect either tomorrow or Friday so I am looking forward to a sirloin steak or king prawns ( or perhaps both in a surf and turf !!)

Jamie was in on his day off so I took the opportunity to get a picture of him out of his normal working "whites", bubbly Agnes also popped in on her way out on a shopping trip to say hello to the twins and Sarah who had just started.

Today I received a nice shiny medal from "The Order of the Secret Monitors" with an invitation to join "The Order of the Scarlet Cord" at a meeting in Aberdeen in September, this is an old order which is being reintroduced after many years in abeyance due to interest throughout the ranks.

Nice wee letter from Liberec from Chandana / Chandrika our Sri Lankan couple who are doing well and keeping better than they were when me met them in Prague recently.

So bed time once again.

Not the best of days

Tuesday - I headed off and at the plumbers merchants managed to buy , for 82p, a piece of plastic coupling which has held us up for weeks on a wee job in The Mercat. But having said that I looked in Homebase for the same thing and it was not there and the components they had were in fancy packaging and cost three times as much.

Up to SAC at The Bush for my meeting and some work, a nice afternoon and the grounds were in good order so I was able to find a nice quiet corner and read my notes in peace before the meeting .

Home to watch the tennis at Wimbledon and see how Andy Murray was doing ( he did good) but for some reason I began to feel unwell with this on going chesty thing I have at the moment so I ended up in bed at 7 p.m. and out for the count for a couple of hours.

However when I did come to I lay and watched Crime Watch UK, a superb programme which according to the later show last night was very successful. It just shows that the public, despite everything want to try and help and cannot be doing with all the "rubbish" out there in our society .

The latest revelations about the "anonymous" information being illegal is a big blow and the sooner it is righted the better. yesterday I had a conversation with a man whose son was a defence lawyer and was badly beaten up by a client who he failed to get off - the client received a shortened jail sentence, which was reduced and when released called (with friends) on the lawyer, beat him up and threatened to kill him . The lawyer then gave up his job , went back to University, took a Masters degree and now works in a management role in private industry. he and the police know who was responsible but cannot do anything about it.

So now Ihad better do some work for a couple of hours before we head off to Edinburgh.

No Choice of filling

Once again - bad conscience kept me awake, but I still managed to get a lie in till 6.45 a.m. then up and about.

I had to see the dentist at 9 a.m. and when I arrived the place was covered in balloons and photos of Kirsty his dental assistant who is 21 today, hence the photo of her, the Dentist and Dawn the receptionist. Into the big chair and after the smallest of jags I had my mouth frozen for a filling - no choice like you get with a baked potato. It was all very painless which is a change from the days when I used to pass out with fright in the chair, and on one occasion when out cold slid unceremoniously out the chair and ended up flat on the floor, much to the upset of the Dentist and her assistant. My mother , who was small and proper used to go berserk in the Dentists and eventually they refused to treat her so she had to go to the Dental Hospital and be fully sedated before they could touch her.

So off again on my travels shortly - a man's work is never done. Back to the plumbers merchants, paint suppliers and then to do some work for SAC at The Bush.

You must be joking

Back again , panic over at Musselburgh following a few words of wisdom.

So back to today , I was driving back into town and was stopped at the traffic lights at Haymarket and could see the cluster of men on the pavement in their hi-viz jackets. In the photo you can just see eight but there were nine, and not one of them was doing a hands turn - so as gthey say " there is a hole in the pavement and the Council are looking into it" - mega efficient and reminds me of thje other question , " how many men does it take to change a light bulb - but I cannot remeber the answer".

Round into the car park and the car in front had a piece of paper stuck under his wiper blade, being nosy , I had a look and saw that it was there to hide the expired tax disc - perhaps this person is unaware that the DLA computer with be sending them an automated SORN fixed penalty to add to their woes.

Headed for home and the spanking new unmarked white BMW estate car that Lothian and Borders Police are now using to prey on unsuspecting motorists - quite smart, and with a victim who was probably speeding on the A720 City by pass.

So now it is time to get turned round and had back to The Mercat to meet Sparky mark where between us we may well cause a bit of flooding there as we get into our DIY guise.

A learning experience - not sure.

Well, something of a a shock to the system today - headed to open up The Mercat Bar at 0715 a.m. and get things organised for the staff before going to work myself . JP arrived in perfect time for me to bale out before the traffic wardens caught me and alng to Corstorphine I popped to get on with my "own thing". I was working away when the Admin manager said, "its a pity you cannot teach- our tutor has had to call off " so nothing ventured as they say - I ended uip doing a couple of hours preparation on Task management and ended up taking a 90 minute class with thirteen foreign students . I am not sure who was the most bamboozled, but the appreciated the effort, enjoyed some of the team building and task work, and learned what a " cushy number" in the workplace might be.

On my way back into town towards Haymarket I was thinking about the massive hotel that they plan to build and how it will effent the skyline, the photo of the street is one which will never be the same if they put up the hotel at the far end blocking out Arthur's Seat. the other was just unusual with the two cranes, parallel to each other , one in the the foreground and the other in the background.

May have to dash , The Sportsman's Bar is flooded again. Thought I was finished with all that.

Mouse gone mad

I am sitting here, near despondant, having had a bit of sunshine and a reasonable day but now the sky is grey and the heavens have opened - The archers over in the playing fields have managed to finish their competition without the rain, and to make matters worse the mouse on this computer has developed a mind of its own and is scooting all over the screen . I think I might be giving it a bit of static, or something. At least we are not in the typhoon conditions which may have claimed yet another 700 lives off the Chinese coast with this missing ferry - how terrible.

So - so Sunday, up once again having had a shocking night, bad dreams and instead of thinking of lovelies on the beach - as Ann says she does, she thinks of Tom Cruise and those sorts - but for some reason I just cannot get the images of some sweet young thing to calm me down.

Graham was away sharp once again, however we were not far behind him and by the time we reached The Mercat Bar there were several clients in place., and as the morning progressed an awful lot more arrived. One group were penalising each other and the loser left dressed up as a Darlek - and had to sit on the train all the way dressed as such (missed that as a photocall) .

For me , once again it was " hands that do dishes", but I did not mind being rewarded by Jamie with a bowl of haggis, neeps, tatties and "beans" - a fair treat.

Neeve and myself took post at the door ( as per photo) but I am sure I frightened more away than she attracted, although I did speak to a very nice couple from germany who eventually thoroughly enjoyed a steak.

Mrs B. headed off to the shops once again, but when she came back we left and en route had to pop into Matalan - again one of my favourite places due to the realistic price of things !! Ido not need a Pierre Cardin logo on my underpants. But Ann decided that she should be the model of the day for Mrs. Matalan - or the Matalan Maiden.

Back home and then a wee call to deal with regarding some suspect folks on one of my jobs, which let to an enlightening conversation about how many cars were arriving at night for "a wee social smoke" - se we come back to the driving situation of both drink or drugs.

Athletics on the TV and it is terrible to think that our potential Olympic qualifiers have just paid their own fares to take part in the European Championships in Annacee, France. Compared to other countries our sports set up is a total joke, perhaps some of our top footballers should mentor and sponsor some of these athletes !!

One thing which pleased me was to see that Waynne Rooney asked all his wedding guests to donate money to a charity and gave a large percentage of the money he got from " Hello Magazine" to a charity also - good lad.

BUT what about the two staff in a Lanarkshire Community Centre who have been suspended pending enquiries into the theft of confectionary worth £29,000 !!!! They must have been supplying most of the ice cream men in the area !! And knowing Lanarkshire Council of old, their internal audit set up leaves a bit to be desired, which is doubtless the same position with Edinburgh City Council, and other Councils, whose wastage and leakage is appalling - I see one of the English Council's spent something like£200, 000 on bottled water in four years - me , I just drink out the tap and it tastes fine to me.

Rob and Caitlin have been in touch - is that not just superb - (no joking) they missed the TV programme I was wanting them to look at, but instead manage to get to work !! Rob really must have improved since he went home. Both are doing really well, so long may it continue that way - we all wish them well.

Time to join the G @ T brigade.

A bit more history Battle of Flodden 1513 (Sat 3)

Heading homewards we dropped Jamie the chef off at the Odeon Cinema, where he was probably going to see Sex and The City, which he denied, however this meant I had to take a different road home through Tollcross and onto Morningside Road.

Yesterday when on the bus I had spotted something on the wall so we stopped for a look and it turned out to be the "Bore Stone" which was sited nearby on the Borough -muir in 1513 and the Royal Standard of Scotland was raised above it whilst an army was mustered to take part in the battle of Flodden 1513.

The stone was later returned to the site in 1852 and built into the wall by Sir John Stuart Forbes of Pitsligo Bart.

The photos are of the stone which is set up on a wall and the plaque below it.

The Mercat Staff ( Sat 2)

I went in to this morning just to take extra supplies from Costco, however, the place was very busy so I had no option but to roll up the sleeves and get into the sink to help. Jamie and the new chef David were on and were certainly kept busy right trough from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. when there was a bit of lull . The Clansman Breakfast's were going out fast and furious, normal breakfast with double egg, black pudding a steak and a roll - just what doctor ordered.

Plenty banter in the kitchen which is how they manage to keep sane I think , and poor JP was well on the receiving end today.

One of the customers, Lawrence, who badly injured his foot some time ago has discovered this blog so I promised I would put in a brief line about " picking noses" . Reason being that when I was out topping up th parking meter and passing the Police Station, former District Police Station built in 1908 I saw a car at the traffic lights and the lady driver had nearly lost her finger up her nose !! Its one of these things that folks do when they think no one is looking - like being invisable , same as the folks who continue to use mobile phones when driving thinking they will never be seen, but that could be more dangerous than having a "quiet bogle".

Had a surprise visit from Jim Hannah of "Dash Security", Kirkintilloch / Bishopriggs, Glasgow, my pal who I have not seen for a while. Looking well and another one run off his feet with work.

Back shift arrived, including Johnny the Gigalo , who has been chatted up by a ravishing foreign lady, and Shareen and Neeve who were happy enough to pose once again.

Se having had the most wonderful rib eye steak which just melted in the mouth, along with Ann's chicken fahitas and a smooth creamy strawberry cheescake which you could die for , we left in the rain.

Real Royal Highland Show weather ( Sat 1)

It Never fails !! the Royal Highland Show is just like the cricket, guaranteed to bring on the rain. After three or four reasonable days we end up at the weekend, massive crowds and down comes the rain.

One of the staff was there this morning and came back with a nice picture called the " The Milking Ladies" which she had bought for her father - it was of six cows in a row !!

Anyway talking of hands across the ocean we had a very nice couple in for a drink, Michael and Ann Dyre from Calgary , Canada. They were served by Paddy who was working with Sarah, one of the new staff who is over from a small town called Courtice, in Ontario near to Toronto , so Micheal wanted a different whisky to try so he was given a Bunnahabin, one of the Islay whiskeys, very distinctive with the smell of seaweed ' TCP, but not as strong as Laphroig. They had just arrived and were staying at the Grosvener Hilton.

Once again , back to the rain which has put a damper on the Peebles Beltane Festival, the Lesmahagow Gala day and the Bathgate Gala day, all who received various plugs today on the Real Radio show. Ann's hairdresser was planning on having a BBQ this afternoon and then going off to the Beltane with her friends - big disappointment unless they have a big tent, etc.

Wells fargo !!

Headed into town on the McEwans 100 coach at lunch time, which bumped, lurched , stopped and started all the way in through quite heavy traffic eventally taking about 10 minutes longer to get in. Up to The Standing Order where the bold Archie served up a nice Nottage Hill red along with a light snack. I met several other Companions there who were also going to George Street for the meeting, which although very good was not as well attended as usual. had a few words afterwords with "The Boss" , blaming him on his smoking for giving me a bad chest and also Ian Fraser the Depute No. 1 He is just back from Jamaica on a formal visit where his group were on hand when a police offficer was shot by local crooks. Policeman recovered and the crooks abandoned their car later.

Waiting on the bus home in Princess Street so took these couple of photos of Edinburgh Castle and the listed houses at the bottom of the Castle Esplanade.

Bus home (McEwans) was jam packed and not helped by at least three passengers who had so many bags , and a guitar that they hogged two seats each causing other to stand.

With the sun up, and having had a long day it was nice to have a wee snooze in the garden after dinner - so now we have an enthralling game between Turky and Croatia.

Lost days and nearly doing nightshifts !!

Friday already !! just where does time go, and that's me been up two mornings running from around 5 a.m. just because I cannot sleep.
Yesterday, up with the larks, then into The Mercat bar for 7 .15 a.m. , did a few wee jobs and when Chris and Shereen arrived I cleared off to Corstorphine to do some of my own work till lunch time, then to Bookers cash and carry, back to the pub, and eventually home.

Made a start in the loft and took out the leaky header tank before Dr. Disaster arrived and then , between us and using an array of tools we assembled and succesfully fitted the replacement header tank - yet another job done. By this stage, dehydrating in the heat, and dinner being ready we sat in the garden with a drink taking in "a few rays" as they say before going indoord to watch a great football match between Germany (3) and Portugal (2).

Graham arrived back after his whistle stop trip to Madrid to look at "bricks" , he had some kind of delay at the other end when he arrived, but it had been all go with no recreational time.

I noted that Gordon Leitch had been on the blog site, obviously bored as his good lady wife was away for a pampering session with her daughter to Stobo Castle, Peebles - which from past experiance is really good. Anyway he and Sandra are away next week on a wee cruise to celebrate her birthday , so I hope they enjoy that.

4.30 a.m. this morning - wide awake so up I got, sat and read and eventually at 6 a.m. started painting !! so by the time Mrs B arrived the job was partially completed. However it did take longer than expected to get finished - doubtless she will come home and say she does not like the colour and ask for it to be changed !! again.

Seeing red a short time ago when the mail arrived - nice "Final Demand" letter from a supplier threatening all sorts of legal actions within five days despite having been contacted and the matter resolved - different ball game when I try to recoup monies I am owed, I just get ignored.
It's the same sort of situation with the Council, their staff can tell lies about you, cause all sorts of trouble for you, and none of their managers gives a toss - but were I do to the same to them, you can bet there would be a real hue and cry.

Anyway , morning moan over - once I get sorted here I am off on the bus to town , popping into the Standing Order to see Archie and get some lunch before heading along to Grand Lodge for the Summer meeting of the Royal Arch Supreme Council.

Must say hi to Andrea - who hopefully is doing alright with her teaching in the old US of A. - How can we forget her, we have a wonderful oil painting of the rear of a naked barmaid hanging in the pub, done by her fair hand. ( it was on an old blog ages ago).
Work to do.

Tons of paper work

Following a late night and a couple of bottles of wine this morning had to be treated with caution. With the sun shining I decided to do some paperwork outside but eventually the rain and wind arrived so it was back to roost in the top deck here. But , I have done lots and there is some semblance of arder once again, but still more to do.

With no photo for today , although I did sneak a shot of Ann with a can of beer in her hand, however it was for the buckert having been consumed by Dougie the Painter who popped round. He was sort of apoplectic following a run in with two traffic wardens in the town who were trying to book his motor while was putting coins in the ticket machine 20 yards away - nearly a sudden death ( of a traffic warden).

So I dug out one of the most photographed of our local sights, The Apprentice Pillar at Rosslyn Chapel, mentioned in the Da Vinci Code, and reported to have great masonic meaning. It was carved by the young apprentice stonemason while the master mason was away in Italy seeking inspiration , and it is alleged that when the master mason returned and saw the finished pillar he flew into a rage and killed the young apprentice.
Sparky Mark just off the phone only now recovering from his wild weekend of sambuca and the RA bowling.

Had contact today with David Mackay now living up in the Dark Isle area, good to hear from him again - seems that he has a real pervert living in sheltered housing near to his mother in Edinburgh - not a nice person.
Graham is off to Madrid tonight on business, just to look at some stuff he wants for the pub !! great life if you can get it.
So, a quiet dayso far and a quiet night in store, but up and off to help out in The Mercat Bar in the morning.

Was like paint drying

I have been sitting here for nearly 4 hours doing things on this computer and my heid is nipping - as they say.

I started off this morning going into The Mercat Bar to help for an hour or so but when Shereen (one of the twinns) called in auffy sick I had no option but stay and help J.P. ( in photo) for the morning - JP is quite a character, has travelled widely and we had this chat this morning about some dead mice. He was going on about a Possum in Oz which wrecked a house and folks thought it was a break in.

Popped in another photo of Agnes just to brighten up the day, although she was not in - but we did have another young Polish girl in with her CV.

The bar was reasonable so we were kept busy, but early doors I nipped next door to see the Turkish chaps who set fire to my head and ears after trimming and tidying up what little I had left on the head - great fun when they set fire to the ears.

Eventually I had to flee to avoid the dammed traffic wardens and headed home topping up the petrol tank en route as things will obviously not get any better. Between Mr Brown and Mr (Supercillious) Darling they are doing a wonderfull job at telling major "porky pies - lies) about the state of the nation - the so called rate of inflation is nearer to 10% than the so called 3.5% as is so predicted.

Home - wee jobs to be done, then a good scrub and changed before I saw the Dr. for an MOT - BUT BUT I did not even have to bare an arm - we just had a chat and she decided that as we were waiting for the results of all sorts of tests the best she could offer was a check up to see about the ringing in my ears - the Quasimodo syndrome !!! perhaps. For my cramps she laughted when I suggested that the quinnine in my G & T's was as effective as the prescribed tablets.

Wandered back up the road and as I was coming into the garden spotted the mouse at the bird table next door - so with a bit of patience eventually captured it on camera - now going back a few months we wondered where the tiny feet were coming from - now we know/

Eventually - home - bottle of wine and tried to watch the football, but I was trying to get flights from Edinburgh to Brussels in July for four of us to have a long weekend - pain in the butt - but I eventually got it sorted with BMI and by jiggling saved a couple of hundred pounds.

As usual, it is annoying to have to pay a fortune from a regional airport.

Slowly losing the plot so will try again tomorrow

So as they say tomorrow is another day.

US Open Golf - cliffhanger

Having dozed off last night watching the golf, I discover there is a play off so I have just sat for the last four and a half hours watching an enthralling game between Tiger Woods and Rocko Mediane, which Woods won at the sudden death on the 19th - brilliant. And not being a golfer it says a lot for me to do that.

Anyway , nice day here today , scooted down to Costco and the dreaded "Harry Corry" shop at Straiton with Mrs B. then back and out into the garden to pull weeds in the sun for a couple of hours. Tell a lie, we even popped into the Penideli for a bite of lunch as we were down the street at the Castle warehouse - thats how I come to have the photos of the well in the High Street. It was erected by Alexander Cowan in 1864 on the site of the old well. Cowan was the owner of the local papermill and he had a water supply from Sillerburn Reservoir which supplied the mill piped up into the well for public use. I think that they asked for public donations but only one penny was donated so he paid for it himself.

Just had an nice E mail from a fellow "blogger" in Tayside who has somehow picked up on this site.

Now away to try and find some flights out to Brussels from Edinburgh as we are going to have a weekend away in July in Antwerp with William and Sandra - even had the other Mrs Johnston ( Christine) on the phone today - so it was all go.

Jack High

Nice quiet Sunday morning , making up some sandwiches and then collected Dr Disaster and off we headed to the bowling green at Polton Village.
Only ten of the RA companions present and with a knock out competition planned there were some who were not happy at the thought of only a single game and then sitting as a spectator. Anyway, an executive decision was made and we decided to play a round robin, which meant nine games of 4 ends, with points for a win or a draw - to cut a long story short we ran out of time as everyone was a bit knackered after four and half hours play on a really nice sunny day. But, there was an outright winner in Ross Grant, who was last years runner up - well done.

Sparky was a bit pooped having been out on the lash most of the night and not used to all the excitement on the bowling green.

Got home and found "super athlete" Graham hobbling about as a result of his escapade in Lockerbie on a horse for a day at their annual ride out - poor horse.

Football was good with a real upset in the Turky game, and then I attempted to sit up and watch the US Open golf to see Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood, but fell asleep at 1 a.m. However looks like it will be another seesion today to see the play off.

Mrs. B. has seen the Doctor and it looks like he is not happy with her progress as she has to remain off work for a bit longer - only time will tell.

I see a couple of hits on the blog from Poland so I suspect that Agnes's photo with Sir Christopher is the reason, but still need to fathom out who it is in Portugal who keeps popping up.

The Edinburgh "Moonwalk" went well with Jill Reid completing the course, now all the girls are wanting to do it next year, any excuse to show off their bras.

Getting Agitated

I have just been watching the news about these greedy Shell tanker drivers who are about to hold the country to ransom for an extra £4000 per year , on top of £37,500 they already have.
Some say they deserve it in view of the vast profits Shell are making , however if the cost of fuel was much lower, profits would be lower and the drivers would be not be so greedy. they have no consideration for their fellow drivers who will be forced out of business.

They are worse that the so called Manager's of various departments within Edinburgh City Council who could not arrange a pi** up in a brewery.
I would suggest that you might soon get bored as I launch a personal tirade against Edinburgh City Council following the inadequacies of some of their totally incompetent staff.

On a more positive note - I have just heard that Scotland 's touring team have just beaten Argentina ( for the first time in years) and levelled the score for the tour.

Wine finished - time for bed, and look forward to the bowls tomorrow.

Saturday - a bit different

Little did I know how this day was going to turn out.

Up sharp and did a few wee jobs before I got ready to pick up Sparky Mark, then off to Musselburgh where we popped into the Sportsman' s Bar to a lovely warm welcome from Joanne, followed a short time later by mine hostess, Kristen ( who were obvioulsy happy to pose).

Kristen has had to bury yet another hamster !! I am not sure what she does with them, but claims to have spent two hours trying to give it the kiss of life , or in her case the kiss of death. She then had the cheek to go back to the pet shop and complain that it was not working properly so she got another one - wait and see what happens next. Colin reckons that if anything happen gto him she will pop him into the sulo bin just like that poor bloke in Stirling who was murdered a few weeks ago.

The Stand is now boarded up, something which should have happened a long time ago.

Off to the Masonic hall where we had a meeting of the Roman Brig Conclave of the OSM, reasonable turn out and not a bad degree.

We left sharp and nipped back into the Sportsman's where many of the regulars were present , great to see them again, Jess, Brian ( and Glen the dog), Davy the Bookie, Dour Davie ; Peas, Old Ian, Rob, the exorcists, and others. I did not realise how much I had missed them.

Rob (Lordy Lordy) is just back from Greece, where he was badly injured by a couple of "thugs" who beat him up and fractured his shoulder. He had surgery in Greece before being flown home and then had a follow up operation on Thursday in Edinburgh to pin his shoulder.

Uncle Chick still missing since he was caught with his hand in the sweetie jar, but it seems that there are more regulars now that he and his armpits have left.

Up to Dalkeith masonic hall for a special meeting of Esk 42 Lodge in Council, arranged especially for a group who were over from Jamaica - however, the main party had gone up to Dingwall where another lodge meeting had been sorted for them , which obviously was more attractive with a highland tour thrown in. But we had a good crowd, about 60 and many who had travelled, inculding the Grand Superintendent of Jamaica who did enjoy it. The bonus being that there was a lovely buffet afterwards and I was able to hogg the prawn salad tray.

The other photo is of the original carving for the Dalkeith No 10 lodge dated 1766 and was salvaged and is now on the wall in the lounge bar.

Sparky headed off to the town for a night out with friends to Jongeleurs Comedy Club and I went home via Tesco's to get supplies for the sandwiches at the bowling on Sunday - provided we are not rained off.

Was looking for my bowls so I ended up along at the Penicuik Bowling Club which was good to catch up again never having been there for months.

Tricky Ricky ' Pirate of the Roads came along to see me so we ended up with a couple of drams and for me a good bottle of wine - in essence - a good , but long day.

Its Friday now - and the town is busy

Up, up and away in the words of Superman - we were off to Ikea at Loanhead, where having found that they did not have what we wanted, discovered that Mrs B. had left an important package in the house we had once again to face these bloody awful and unnecessary roadworks at Ploverhall on the A701.

However having returned home she received quite an important phone call - so chance was a good thing , but I must get the new phones and ansaphone up and in place - perhaps a parrot would be handy. On that theme I see an article in the paper about Mark the parrot who is wonderfully rude with lots of bad language.

Into town once again and with George Street jam packed with motors and no spaces I had to let Ann out at The Standing Order so that she could go and give Archie a present for Tracey's "bump" and a birthday present for wee Cameron who was four yesterday. So for me it was into Morrison Street car park and then round to The Mercat Bar which was very busy with lunch time diners. The staff were kept on their toes assisted by Graham and Sir Christopher but eventually things calmed down.

I was able to get a couple of pictures today of Sir Christopher and Agnes, Agnes our Polish girl who was a bit upset with the late draw for Poland last night , and who got things a bit mixed up a couple of weeks ago when a chap asked her to go with him to The Livingroom - which she took to be an invite to his house and not to the bar in George Street. Sir Chris and Sir Graham are away to Lockerbie tonight to take part in their annual fete / border ride out, etc, bearing in miond that Graham was a past Penicuik Hunter's Lad. The difference this time is that the horse will have needed to have its porridge for breakfast and rather than blinkers it will nead ear muffs!!

Ann had been into Fraser's Store at the west end to see the girls on the Channel counter so I received another late birthday present of a nice "Allure after shave balm".

"Johnny the Gigalo" as you can see is back and in good form , perfectly happy to accept calls from genuinely interested ladies, mature or otherwise!! He forgot to give me his mobile number.

Struan is back from a rather wild trip to Palma Nova and admits that for him five days of solid drinking was too much.

Any now home, nice bottle of my birthday red wine and about to watch this evenings football.

Tomorrow - Saturday, being another day - and I have a sort of busy masonic weekend to look forward to.

Double Trouble at The Mercat Bar

This was turning out to be an eventfull day!! So we called ahead to make sure that food was still on and ordered a nice steak, etc. for me and a fish for Mrs B.

Arrived and unknown to me Graham and Chris had managed to get a new member of staff , Dannielle being the twin sister of Shereen who has been with us for a while. I found it odd that I was being slightly ignored and it took a wee while for the penny to drop. As you can see they are nearly identical twins, so if you visit it might not be the drink causing the double vision.

Mys steak sizzler was excellent, and then I heard the music system playing "Happy Birthday to You" and lo and behold out came the girls with a surprise treat from Claire in the kitchen - so what more could a man wish for?

To Tam and Joanne , you are looking well, I should be in Musselburgh on Saturday but it will be morning and perhaps for a few minutes after my meeting before I head up to Dalkeith.

Thursday - Ocean Terninal

Having managed all our "chores" and dropped off supplies at The Mercat Bar where we also bumped into Kerrin @ Little Princess and her friend, we headed down to Leith to the Ocean Terminal Complex.

Ann did her usual touchy feely thing with clothes and perfume in Debenhams while I wandered off and ended up getting a half hour back massage at "The Relaxation Station" in the main gallery. It was one of those where you just kneel on the stool type chair and get worked on through your clothing - the girl was very good, certainly dug deep and this morning I can feel the benefit of it.

The two pictures, one obviously is The Royal Yacht Brittania, a wonderful ship well worth visiting, full of history and absolutely immaculate for its age. The other is the HMS Jura, named after one of Scotland's Western Isles rather than the whisky I think. Used by the Navy but I did not go down to find out what for . The weather was nice and the main dock was as smooth as a mirror.

We then got tickets for the Ocean Terminal Vue cinema, movie - "Sex and The City" which was Ann's choice. Maybe next time she will want to go and see "Narnia" as she had a wee seat in the chair on the way in.

Bought our coffees, etc and took our seats before she told me it was a "Girly" film , obviously based on the Cult TV series which she had never ever seen. However, I must say that I actually enjoyed it. It was funny , well written , some lovely ladies, good fashion , some excellent scenery !! especially where Samantha is lying naked on the table covered in strategically placed pieces of sushi - and then her phone rings!!!

The version of "Auld lang Syne" sung at the new year sequence was amazing and a beautiful part of the film. From a ladies perspective, and as I was the only bloke in the cinema I suspect that they appreciated some of the male actors more prominent attributes. The writers and directors did a god job turning it into a one off movie. Then it was off to The Mercat Bar.

Must be Thursday - I put the bin out

Despite the best efforts of the red wine, I still woke sharp, and not being an idle type was up and raring to go. Allthe better when i found yet another two good bottles of red wine, compliments of Graham and jani ( from the restaurant next door to the pub) lus a voucher for a massage at Imarni - which I look forward to.

Post arrrived and with it a nice wee note from the Post office so say they had a letter but postage was incorrect so I had to pay more to get it. Seems this is the latest ploy if you have "old" friends, you underpay on the postage and let them use their hard earned pension to pay the difference !!! Turned out to be my card and present from William and Sandra - much appreciated.
Anyway , have been out to Costco, the plumbers, and down to see Grant @ Photogenix, and am now getting reading to head off to the cash and carry , and then , if I am lucky will get my dinner in The Mercat.

So some more later.

My pleasant surprise this morning

Was awake very early this morning and just lay till 4 a.m. before getting up.

First thing I spotted out the bck window was a hedgehog , who I have never seen in the garden before, so it is for the watching in future.

Away about 4.45 a.m. with a slow run through to meet Fraser in Glasgow, could have gone faster as he was waiting for me - but then off again at 6.30 south.

Arrived at Runcorn and met my pal Jill on Reception who had missed me - due to the last run being sort of nocturnal . Anyway had lots of stuff for the two offices and collected bags to take back , before heading to the canteen for a cuppa.

Lo and behold - and much to my surprise my two "highway robbers" were back behind the counter, having "left" as I was told some time ago. Really good to see them so we had a good chin wag - I reckoned that they had been locked up for the prices they had been charging the staff for meals, etc, but they said no. Turns out that they wanted more time to themselves to socialise as they are pals and having left the Company organised shorter hours to get them back.

Good - cause they make a great Coffechoc and bacon buttie for me to eat as I head north.

So as promised I have had to put them on the blog and Jill will print off the photo for them in the morning.

Currently watching the football Switzerland V Turkey, with the score at 1 - 0 after 42 minutes, and it is pouring with rain in Switzerland - just as it is here in Peniuik, which does not amuse me.

managed to see some of the earlier game though drooping eyelids, a good result for Portugal.

Mrs B. has surprised me by managing to find and produce a fancy birthday card off the computer.

Calling a halt as there may well be food and wine on the go - I even had a nice chocolate eclaire with a cuppa as my birthday cake.

SN08BARY

This has to be the most pretentious number plate I have seen for a long time. It was not today , but a couple of days ago on black Range rover in Penicuik driven by a "flashy" blonde.

It just sprang to mind during my run south today , Motorway was fairly quiet and I hear tonight that fuel sales are down 20% which might well have a say in the matter.

One boy racer nabbed by the overhead camera as I came north , I could see the camera as could the others in our "clutch of motors, but he salied by on the outside and anchors on far too late.

Six police cars, one van and four North Wales (Dyffd Powes) police bikes all seen on the one 20 mile stretch of the motorway.

And , who says that an ashtray on a motorbike is a useless thing _ I watched a man get onto his Honda Gold Wing motor bike in Glasgow and ride of smoking his cigarette which was not affected by a breeze as the screen on those bikes is so aero dynamic.

Long run today ,away for twelve and a half hours, so a short nap is needed before I submit my next installment and news of who I bumped into (met I mean).

And before I forget no word from our TV viewers in Oz!! I wonder why?

And I am not 70 today as has been suggested.

Many bumps on the head

As I said earlier, there was another story.

Sitting outside the Crown Offices at 25 Chambers Street, Ann commented on the four busts built into the frontage around the big bay window. So nothing ventured I went into the reception desk where I met a security officer from "Mite". I was not sure if he knew but on asking about the busts he had some knowledge from memory but then handed me a full print out about them . It turned out that the frontage was that of the former Henderson Trust's Phrenological Society which opened to the public in 1878 the two busts shown are of Dr Franz Joseph Gall and Dr Johann Gasper Spurzheim. In the papers there are also photos of their death masks. Dr Spurzheim introduced Phrenology to the Edinburgh public in 1816. Their beliefs were that the brain was the seat of the mind and had localised organs which determined the personality of an individual. They also believed that the contours of the skull reflected the contours of the brain. ( so they shaved your head and read your bumps) !!

At one stage they had 2500 items from skulls, brains and death masks in Edinburgh , but the biggest collection was held in London with 5000 casts and skulls.

There are now apparantly only about 300 intems from the original collection but I have no idea where they displayed or if they are still in storage.

Well that was a bit different!!!

Spain are currently beating Russia 2 - 0 at half time. and I am up early and away to Glasgow and then south - many happy returns.

Ian Fawcett - R.I.P.

I have just heard that Ian Fawcett died within the past couple of days, aged 70 years.

Ian was another former Police Officer in the old Lothian and Peebles Constabulary who worked with me for a while in Penicuik, and then he was transferred to the CID and based at Dalkeith.

When I worked with him he was a very quiet individual, who enjoyed tinkering with and rebuilding cars, and then after he was allowed to purchase his first house he really got into into the big time DIY , extending his house at Waulkmill, Penicuik, then built another in Auchendinny, and latterly was living in Peebles and renovating his house there. Way back you always had to live in a Police house and had to apply to the Chief Constable for permission to move out which was generally refused unless you had at least ten years service.

I remember that he loved smoking cigars and always had a small one on the go - at one time I came back from holiday and gave his a supply of large cigars which he used to smoke at night but they were so strong that he ended up burning his throat.

To his wife and family I send my condolances.

Tuesday - Not a good day so

Went to our meeting with UNISON, and parked outside the Crown Office in Chambers Street, opposite the National Museum of Scotland, but there is yet another story for the writing .



Parking charges are now up to £2 per hour in the centre of the city.

The photo is of Greyfriars Bobby , probably the most photographed dog in Scotland if not the UK, and star of a famous movie about how he stayed with his master who died in the nearby churchyard, just about 100 yards from the statue in George IV Bridge.

Anyway had our meeting , headed home trying to get paint ( traffic warden outside the shop hunted us); wanted a new phone from Comet , who only had the display set and none in stock ; sainsburgh's had a set but they were glued in place so you could not get a feel for them. Got held up in the endless roadworks on the A701 between Straiton and Milton Bridge, which seem to be designed never to finish and are being carried out at the convenience of the builders "Crummoch" with no consideration whatsoever for the commuter.





So, so far it has not been a good day.

Just something different.

Spotted these in the pub run by the other "Eddie Murphy" in Windsor and thought they were interesting .

He had the Barman's prayer up on one board but there is a bit of a flash back off it.

The notes were all framed and there were four in the set all depicting characters from "Only Fools and Horses" and were an excellent set, given to Eddie by a friend as a present.

Presently watching Holand v Italy which is quite a good game with Holland having just scored a goal. However the earlier one between Romania V France was a fair result as the French really did not try too hard in the first half, hopefully this game will be much better as they are the "pool of death" and need to win.

Mrs B. found an old lottery ticket which turned out to be a wee winner for her, it just pays to check them out rather than chuck them out. The money is better in her pocket.

I do believe that Sparky Mark has just appeared to cause chaos and advise me on the leaking header tap, which looks like a burst weld.

Off to town in the morning for yet another meeting with UNISON.