A late birthday post.

It is no wonder I have nightmares. here I am , 6 a.m. and supposed to be having a long lie, BUT , I woke up in the middle of the night and remembered that it had been Ailsa's birthday yesterday !!!!! Nearly as bad as forgetting my wedding anniversary.
So there we were , Chris and I in the Mercat when Ailsa came in , walking on air, having just had "rub down with a brick" , sorry , a beautiful hot stones massage at Imarnis - as part of her birthday treat, glowing and relaxed. BUT Sir Christopher was all set to take her up town for a treat so off they went .
Picture was taken during recent visit to Chateau Neuf Du Pape, where they were trying to decide how to get these barrels back in their duty free allowance.

Some lovely folks around

Headed into town , and guess what -yes, there he was my digger man , sitting there at 7 a.m. in his van , a full hour before the rest of the squad of so called workmen arrived. They had a tea break at 10 a.m. and then a 75 min break at 12 m.d. - but with all the traffic chaos , noise and fumes , you cannot blame the poor dears , can you. Well maybe !!! Then I hear that they plan to move the Haymarket War Memorial which is causing a real stushie.

However, things brightened up when Mark and Adele Lloyed, from Swansea appeared all dressed up and smart in their Lloyd Welsh tartan - they met at a karaoke bar on 15.8.07, three days later she asked hinm to marry her and on 29.9.07 they were married in Gretna Green , so this was an anniverary trip for them - they had haggis for the first time and also Laphroig whiskey , which is an acquired taste, but liked it. Well done and congratulations.

We had a few new local faces in today for the first time. (I call then Mercat virgins), and all seemed to leave with the promise of a return visit. With Isla and Agneska on duty with me I was certainly kept on my toes.

A familiar face appeared at lunch time , in the shape of Jacqui clark from the Shetland Arts, Lerwick, she had been a daily visitor for about a week a couple of months ago but had gone home. She was in today with her uncle as she is working on a project in the area and wanted to let him see the bar.

She is going to track down Yvonne Manson , Cunningsburgh, Shetland, who worked in the USA with Graham many years ago on the Camp Counsellors USA programme.

Another young couple, Stuart and Sonya called in for breakfast and a beer before catching their flight to Gran Canaria.

Tommy, one of the locals also got chatting and was telling me that in the '70's the bar was called Westwoods, after Harry Westwood a former music hall entertainer and relative of the owner at that time.

Had to go and leave the place in the capable hands of Claire and Jamie in the kitchen with the twosome still minding the front shop.

Had an appointment with my Doctor, but it turned out to be nothing more than checking out some details which had popped up on their computer , however she was telling me that she is off to Vancouver Island, Canada for a year as her husband has a short contract in a hospital over there.

After the sun , rain - depressing.

Sunday , and guess what?

Well - how do I say this , BUT , - there we were back at work, nice sunny Sunday morning when my favourite digger driver arrived at 7.50 a.m. to once again sit in his motor, read papers, etc , and do sweet F.A. till he disappeared at 11.45 a.m. - and on double time no doubt.

Not that I was annoyed, far be it for me to complain about lazy buggers screwing the system!!!! Just why do we pay taxes and try to earn an honest living ?

So - Sunday morning , steady stream of customers but not manic - couple stopped to say that they had enjoyed their steaks last night, and some very cheery folks in from Durham and Newcastle - several just a bit annoyed that their train journey had been delayed by rail works and they had been put on transfer buses by First Rail.

Come lunch time we had Alex (our young Greek Peter Andre look alike); Kate ( whose Dad is involved in the organisation of the London Olympics) ; and Lee ( our latest recruit to the management team).

Home (via the local skip yard) and with the sun still shining out into the garden to carry on with tidying up and also to listen to the BBC radio commentary of Rangers FC beating Hibs - 3 -1, a game which initially could have gone Hibs way.

Penicuik park was absolutely chock a block - a big mini rugby tournament , run by Penicuik Rugby Club.

Wee call late in the afternoon from Princess Kerrin - still busy at the Sportsman's but she has been accepted for a new job next year as a beautician on a cruise ship - well done young lady.

My friend John Ackroyd called from London where he has a senior post in IT with the BBC, at least we know he is still in one piece, doing OK, despite the fact that one of his dogs ( babies) has died. We have not heard from him in ages and were getting a bit concerned, last time he was en route to Katmundo, had a flight round Mt. Everest, etc., so we are guaranteed that folks over there will always have a good BBC reception.

Jo Jo popped in to see us, and poor soul was landed with helping me sort out this computer for an hour or so, till Mrs. B. laid down her foot and stopped me.

Skipped through a few CD's, so Robbie / Caitlin ; Maureen / Craig had a viewing , along with Archie / Tracy and the babies lots of good photos and even more memories.

Now time to rest - long week ahead, working Monday a.m. early again - visit to see my Doctor ; OSM on Tue Plus Graham arrives home; Dentist and Preston Tower RA on Wed ; Glasgow and Runcorn on Thursday for another long day: pack cases and charity Dance at Edinburgh Masonic Club Friday night before heading off on Saturday morning.

Not a good job , a bloody Marvellous one

Back to Saturday a.m. and into town once again - and as I headed into the pub at 7.15 a.m. I saw my favourite digger driver sitting in his van beside the tramworks at Palmerston Place. He sat in that van reading his paper, and was still there at 12.30 p.m. when I left to go home. - in that time he had done no work at all as there were no other workmen on site - so I have no idea how much longer he sat there but that was certainly a profitable morning if he was on time and a half or double time.

In The Mercat Bar, it was the turn of young David, one of our chef's to have a birthday , so Jamie took great pleasure in presenting him with his cake - complete with candles and a card from the rest of the staff . Dave was quite taken by the event !!!

Home to a bit of gardening as the weather was reasonable and place needed a bit of a tidy up before we get away next weekend. Getting seriously annoyed with these boy racers and their cars fitted with megaphone exhausts - there is no need for them, just a bloody nuisance.

Then it was off to see Edwardo who had invited us in to his flat for a bite of dinner, it was lovely, a freshly made paella with a little red wine - a very pleasant evening catching up with his news before he heads off to see his parents in Spain. Never the less , he has a few odd jobs for me and Sparky to do for him when we get the chance.

Watching the final bit of Lord of the Rings, a marvellous story and movie.

Early start again, no rest for the wicked.

Two Graham's at Jake's bar

A sight for sore eyes, or not !! I ask. Young Mr Blaikie and Mr Briggs @ Titanium man on the loose in Jake's bar, Westchester, PA. when they were supposed to be playing rugby. Seems that Terri ( young Mrs Briggs) gave Briggsy a day pass to take a few beers with his pal, which might not have been a good idea.

Jake's bar was a regular haunt for the boys when they fist went to play rugby over there several years ago, and being a rugby pub the antics of them all raised a few eyebrows. GB ( no 20 now lives in PA having fallen for his young lady rugby player, so there he now, with his wife, family and a good job with Snap On Tools.

They had better make the best of the day pass because when they get home - the ba's burst.

Birthday treat or what

Had a so called long lie, but having once again had a poor night there was no point . BUT up, and headed to The Mercat bar for 10 a.m. - place was busy , and I was followed in by about twelve others, so it was a case of "have no fear , Stuart is here" - with all hands on deck to deal with the massed throng. It continued like that till 2 p.m. . During lunch time we had a few "Mercat Virgins" in , namely locals who were giving us their first visit, plus tables full of regulars. This included Sharon, Julie and Jan - it being Sharon's ( 21st !! - not) so she was treated to an illuminated plate of macaroni and cheese !!!!.

We had Iona working today , she is from Townsville in Oz same township that our three "Upside down folks" were from who came in on Wed and Thursday. She is not my favourite lady having likened me to Harold Robinson from Neighbours !!

My favourite tramway workmen had all cleared off by 2.30 p.m. and the mini digger driver was sitting in his moter ready to roll - they have a better job than the PM - and less responsibility.

Had yet another run in with the "nice" lady at John Lewis PLC, at this rate the carpet will be done before we can get some kind of resolution.

About time to get changed and ready for the off - another installation tonight - at RA 305 , Honour Concorde and Fidelity, Loanhead.

A day off

Managed a long lie which was a bit of a surprise, although Mrs. B. had apparently been up during the night ill.

Headed off to town on the bus, and went looking for a bacon roll - which proved a bit of a problem. We went into the Waverly Centre which is full of the so called fast food outlets, but at 10.45 the only one who had done bacon and egg rolls had stopped and was back on the plastic burger range. The whole place was plastic cups, paper plates, etc. So we went to Jenners where I managed to get what was described as a "luxury breakfast" , six items and toast, not much choice and most were a bit hard under the hot lamp - however it filled a gap, just.

My non eco friendly bone idle (how many men does it take to look in a hole) workmen - were causing the usual chaos having dug up the road outside at the start of the so called tramworks in Princes Street - this is not even funny any more and these lazy so and so's will be here for years.

Went for a wander round the shop, but with lots of building work in progress it was too noisy - but we did speak to Lindsay in the Clarin's section - she even had a feather duster, perhaps used for remedial treatments. I also had a wee neb at a couple of new pens in The Pen Shop, but at £550 it would need to be able to spell better than me and write lovely script.

Eventually made it to The Standing Order, George Street, to see Archie (Pole dancer) who was later joined by his lovely wife Tracy who had junior ( baby Austin) with her. baby Austin is getting bigger every day and in his carry cot looked like a trainee astronaut getting ready for his space trip.
Had a nice wine , GB , South African, with a bit lunch , also met up with Bert Hamilton who was his usual miserable self - and then we headed for the West End before getting the bus home.

With a good light there was cope to get a couple of nice photos - the lady is on the roof of the National Art Gallery at the bottom of the Mound, then the Scott Monument, nice shot of the Balmoral Hotel, and then the statue of the Duke of Wellington outside Registry House, who was being watched by yet another crane driver whose crane was spoiling our lovely skyline.

Manged to doze off on the bus -not like me, but home to get feet up.

Upside Down people

Into work and opened up before Sir Christopher and Helen (another new start - who is a trained Primary Teacher) arrived. Place was a bit quiet, however we had a very nice (Upside down) family in from the land of Oz, who live in sunny North Queensland, about a four hour drive south of the Cairns. Lisa, Jack and Paul Herman, who have been away from home for a month, but are heading back this weekend . A long flight awaits them, but they have enjoyed themselves, between here and at Lisa's sisters home in Dublin.

My chaps from the USA were back in for lunch , having managed to get to Rosslyn Chapel and the Wallace Monument, Stirling, yesterday - nice run out for them so they were quite happy.

On leaving assisted a father and son from Budapest who were lost and struggling with two massive suitcases, the lad was here to study at the Napier University and father was hoping to get a room and say on hand to help him. Gave them a lift up to the College and wished them luck.

Out to the Bush to hear about a recent theft, bit of a mystery - big who dunit - no sign of forced entry and specialist kit stolen from unmarked box !!

Now time for short rest then off to the OES at Bonnyrigg tonight, their first meeting of the new season, but i have a day off planned for Thursday - hooray!!

A winning day

Despite going to bed in a detoxing state I still find myself up and on the go in the middle of the night , and that is two nights running .
Both morning fresh and fair, with frozen windscreens , although we have to accept that Penicuik has its own little unique eco system.

Just had a look at who views this blog and I see an entry fro Hackettstown New Jersey , so just guessing i suspect that Graham B . has either taken himself , or with Mr Briggs has been up to or in touch with someone up there, perhaps Mary Ellen ??

Tuesday, hit the town early , had four new starts in for training , young Alex (Greek who looks like Peter Andre) , Lauren, Christina and Crystal, with another two coming in this morning. So that was a bit different -.
Was supposed to be at a Security Exhibition so I went up to the EICC , Morrison St., Edinburgh, but it was not there - but the receptionist was a Raymond Blaikie, same family spelling no connection - whose Grandfather had been a Policeman in East Linton many moons ago.
Back to The Mercat, where I checked and found that the Norbain Road Show was on at the ICC, Riccarton Campus, so I headed off there. I am trying to catch up a bit on new security technologies, and found this to be really interesting - plus I won a superb set of top of the range "Stanley" screwdrivers on one of the exhibits.

Made it home at 4 p.m. in time to get ready for the RA 55, at 7 p.m. so aided by Ricky (Pirate) and Mark we headed there. This was despite the best efforts of a fruitcake from Loanhead who tried to ruin us off the road at Milton Bridge - just a wee bit naughty. Photo perhaps.
Smaller group last night due to another Chapter meeting in North Berwich , plus Newbattle lodge being on - maybe it was a good thing as my performance in the chair must have made a few past Principles turn in their graves !! Never mind - if you do not stick your head over the parapet you will never be shot at.

Two Companions from Pentlands RA were present and presented us with some beautiful artifacts from their Chapter which has just gone dormant. Photos later.

Our RA also decided to give a good donation to the Thornton Rose, Ride-Ability Group of the RDA, so that should cheer them up.

Managed to persuade Grant @ Photogenix to take a nice wee office next season , so things are looking reasonable. Installation on 28th Oct when we should have a full house.

Must go - as they say , things to do, people to see and places to go.

Another nice day

Sun actually shone for most of the day and as usual we now have a rather chilly night ahead.

Made it to open up this morning, as planned for next two days. There was a lovely card on the bar from Natali and all the Welsh girls who had been in all weekend, and we had several guys from the USA in who are all staying at the nearby Hilton Hotel.

Full team on with Sir Christopher and Lee, Lorraine, Claire and Jamie - so things were running tickety boo with me able to get away early.

JoJo called in for a quick blether, and has sent a couple of photos for me to add to this blog. One of the two boys while they were in France recently, taken beside one of the water wheels in L'Isle sur la Sorgue.

Home and after some searching on the box managed to get a holiday arranged for 4th October, as we are so fed up waiting for Edinburgh City Council to get their act together. So hopefully we will manage to get some sunshine beofre the winter sets in.

Phone was busy with all Mrs. B's friends calling her, and Sparky Mark has also been on , just ever so ill after last nights session.

Pity that our sportsmen failed to make it in either the Ryder Cup or the Davis Cup - so it is back to the drawing board .

Read about the poor man in India who was killed by a lion , it ate all his body and left only his head - so at least he was identified.

Back to the pub in the morning.

Sunday , sunshine, but

Lovely morning , now afternoon however Mrs. B. still unwell and not getting the benefit. Combination of being run down and this bloody ongoing situation with Edinburgh City Council (now 38 months)

Managed to get the grass cut, but garden a disgrace due to lack of time to get into it.

Local scout grout , 11th Midlothian in their 99th year and starting to plan for their Centenary celebrations next year. I have not had much to do with them for years but had a nice letter to see if I might have any ideas and like to help.

Andy Murray making heavy weather of his match in the Davis Cup against Austria he had better get his finger out. But eventually did the business

Likewise the Ryder Cup is looking a bit closer for the USA who lead Europe going into the final days play .
Pub was chock a block last night, as the Arsenal boys stayed on after their good , some cracking goals staff were run off their feet.
The Welsh girls were back in yesterday and also this morning before heading off to fly back to Cardiff - cheers ladies.

Waiting on Sparky to collect me and then off for a committee meeting of RA 500 at Bonnyrigg. At least we are still doing well, however Pentlands RA was dissolved last week due to total lack of interest for the past two years and not enough office bearers to run meetings.

To Bonnyrigg for the Committee meeting , poor attendance but with many apologies, never mind
it is like the theare, it will always be always right on the night

Have popped in a photo of the highlands and of the masonic chart of degrees.

Seven Hills and seven stills

Once again up at 5.15 a.m. and off a short time later to meet up with my OSM folks at South Queensferry - for the run up to Dufftown. Hamish , the pilot was driving a large Mercedes, Regd. No. H1RUM, which was very appropriate to his hobby and interests. So with the cruise control / autopilot we headed northwards via Dundee and Aberdeen, arriving at 9 a.m. which was good timing , and made us plenty early. Found the local bakery where the lady found three seats and masde us wonderful fresh bacon rolls.

As stated above , Dufftown is surrounded by seven hills, and seven whisky stills, Mortlake, Glenfiddich, Balvenie, etc, infact everywhere you go around the River Spey, there are distilleries, all part of the Speyside Whisky trail.

It is the birthplace of George Stephen, , Lord stephen of Mount Stephen, who organised and financed the canadian pacific railway.

The meeting was held in Lodge St James No 289 which was founded in 1897. The hall was very interesting with a small lounge at the rear which had a smal museum and a large display of whiskeys. The Lodge Mark Token is interesting depicting the seven local distilleries.

The Order of the day was for sixteen of us to go through the Ceremony of the First Grade of the Royal Order of the Masonic Knights of the Scarlet Cord, which was conducted by the members of the North of Scotland region of the Order.

This was followed by a dram of "Glenkinchie", which , despite being in Speyside is a lowland malt from Pencaitland in East Lothian.

We then had an AGM and installation of office bearers and once finished head off to a local hotel for lunch. the weather was lovely, sunny bright and warm so it was a nice wee walk up to the hotel. Despite the function hall being a bit barren, lunch was very good - but soon we were off homewards. Hamish, our pilot decided to take the other route home so we followed the River Spey eastwards, past Grantown on Spey and joined the A9 at Aviemore. This was part of the route that Spary Mark and his friend walked during the past two weeks, and on the way we passed several more distilleries.

The A9 was not too busy so we good time southwards by Pitlochry, Dunkeld and Perth to South Queensferry and then home.

No word from yet from those who were going to Dalkeith for their Malta grade of the K.T.'s

Graham has just phoned from the USA where the wedding service has just finished and they are about to go into the Reception. His friends, Briggsy; Joe Myers;, Tony D. and co are all in good form already , with Bonny and Greg Karabin being left in charge of the babies Briggs.

Enough for today.

Some blood letting and the seX factor

Friday , up dressed and onto the bus again, great thing this bus pass, and with a change at Cameron Toll was soon in the new Royal Infirmary at Little France. However, I discovered that I was ever so early , just about two hours, so had to sit and read and wait, and wait , never the less I was taken at my allocated time.

The infirmary is quite remarkable and will soon be attached to one of the biggest bio research parks in the World. They have managed to bring and display a lot of the old portraits from the former Royal Infirmary which makes the entrance area very interesting.

So my lady Dr. was very nice, had me give lots of blood for various tests, poked and prodded my stomach and chest areas, before sending me off to return later after bloods have been analysed and I have had some more ultra sound tests. Turns out my permanent sore throat has nothing to do at all with my stomach (possible liver) problems - so that's a mystery.

The new NHS computer is marvellous, the Doctor had very few notes as they have been "misfiled" but was able to delve into inner space and get the results of some tests i had done a couple of weeks ago.

Back on the bus and eventually jumped off to walk the last bit to the pub as Haymarket was gridlocked, once again. There was even a silly female person trying to drive the wrong way down the one way system !!! From what I read in the paper tonight it looks like they plan to ban all cars from West Maitland Street in 2010 when the tram system is implemented. There was a superb letter in the Edinburgh Evening news from a local business lady who is going bust in Leith Walk due to the never ending tram works and general chaos.

Into the pub and I found that the downstairs bar was full of lovely young Welsh ladies, twenty of them from Port Talbort, Swansea and Cardiff areas all up for their friend Natalie's hen weekend. Natalie gets married in six weeks time unless someone talks some sense into her / or her fella. They were having a great weekend, and on leaving promised to come back again tomorrow for another breakfast session.

I had just missed Graham who was away on the train , chummed by Go Jo and Graham Allan , to Glasgow airport to get his 4 p.m. flight to PA. , USA. So I ended up helping out over the lunch time rush , before heading home and am now about to head off to Gorebridge for a RA C.C. installation, which will hopefully not be late as i am off at 5.30 a.m. to Dufftown , while the boys here are going to Dalkeith for their Malta Grade.

Missed Stuart Black's funeral at 3 p.m. - R.I.P.

A Pizza please, she said.

With the aid of my wonderful bus pass I headed back into town so assisted by the bus lanes I was soon back in Princes Street, laden with goods from Costco , and still had to hobble ( due to bad back) along to the Mercat Bar.

Surprise, I met , Gordon and Sandra Leitch who had been reported missing !! , along with Go Jo, Graham Allan and Brenda so i had to split myself in two to have a blether.

place was busy but about 8 p.m. David and his Daughter jennifer arrived to join me so we found a quieter corner downstairs.

Great to see David, who like myself is not getting any younger, but he did not have as bad a paper round as me - many mooind ago he lived in Penicuik, then Edinburgh while running his local Company Pentland Copper Craft, but eventually moved up to Allness, to set up other enterprises there. His daughter Jennifer still lives in Town and works for an agency who deal with "green issues" especially matters regarding the disposal of waste. This job takes her far and wide and she has regualr meetings with our Beurocrats in Brussels - very interesting to hear about the work she is doing. The lass had just bought herself a new camera but was not really up to posing.

Turned out she was a vegetarian , and had set her mind on Dad buying her a pizza, so - just to keep her happy we had to get a pizza from next door while we had a fishy dinner, prawns and haddock.

With Graham B. heading off to the USA a.m. and needing his bed we had to break up early so that I could get a lift home, howwever, next trip down David has promised me a big steak.

English for beginners

Well, sun shone this morning , had a totally horriffic night with cramps, bad dreams, etc, so no long lie despite being off for the day.
Managed to do in my back - yet another muscualr spasm, so I am now hobbling about all crooked.

Mrs. B feeling awee bit brighter so we headed off to Bathgate to see her friend - Bathgate , the birthplace of Sir James Young-Simpson, discoverer of anaesthetic properties of chloroform. ( and I do have the photo this time).

Sat and read a letter composed by a Doctor - it took saeveral readings before I fully understood the content - so much for the attempts to introduce plain English.

We headed off to McArthur Glen , Livingston , where I manged to get a nice pair of light "Walk on Air" shoes to help my feet when on the go all day.
Had a light bite in Chichago, one of the other restaurants in the Livbingston complex - food was not to bad, but the young barmaid was superb , right on the ball - so she got full marks, however, they did lose a few customers who just wandered in and out again without any kind of contact.
Home and able to get my stufff all sorted for my trip to Dufftown on saturday , as I am off into Edinburgh to meet with an old friend, David Mckay, brother of my best man , Graeme, who has driven down from north of Inverness for the night.

rain now on - once again, bus about due so off I go .

Brighter all round , except for

Wednesday now - I was losing track of days etc, anyway , up and away early again to get the Bar opened up, but at least it was not raining and the sun actually shone for long enough to get the doors open for a while , and to chance putting washing on the line.

A few repeat customers in the Bar, one couple have been in six times in four days, and we had two young women from Bo'ness in for their fourth visit in two days, Elaine and Dianne, who were attended a Tribunal round the corner. They found the Bar by accident, enjoyed the food and banter so much they just had to come back - hope the tribunal goes well.

Graham has now had 180 responses to his advert on Gumtree , the lads are now swamped with CV's so hopefully we will have our vacancies in both the kitchen and bar filled soon.

This credit crunch , the carry on with HBOS, AIG and the big banks in the USA is not too clever, but many are saying it has all been brought about by greed, and no doubt while we suffer there will be those who are going to profit at our expense.

I see in the Edinburgh Evening News that one of our Masonic Brethern , Stuart Black, from newbattle has passed away agfter a very short illness. he had developed a tumor on the brain, and when I saw him last was complaining about headaches, etc., so Stuart - RIP.

I was a bit slow today , while at the door I was talking to a Minister ( Reverend) from Aberdeen, and extolling the virtues of our fish which is fresh every day - He said that the fish in Aberdeen were better , but when I thought about it , they all come from the same place, The North Sea !! and having said that we sold so many we ran out and had to place an emergency order for tonight.
Had a surprise when a former colleague walked in and sat down , it was not till I went to serve him that I realised who it was. Bill came to my Department for a bit of R & R many years ago and we got on really well. He has now retired from the Police and is working as an outreach community worker with the Borders Region Social Work Department.

Plans for tonights course have been altered so given the chance , and being somewhat brighter than last night I might even make it to Currie tonight for a provincial visit to their Cryptic Council. BUT !!!

Sparky Mark appeared for his lunch , had the cheek to allege that i had led him astray on Monday night - rubbish , it was all his fault.

Robbie and Caitlin phoned Sir Christoher this morning , so they are well - nice to get these calls, however i am surprised at the lack of contact from big Simon and some of the Musselburgh folks.

Kind of wabbit.

Just home afte a long day at the Inn as they say, left at 0635 , busy as a wee bee, being sort of short handed.

Graham was busy interviewing , having had 82 applicants for five places. Then he is off to
the USA on Friday for a wedding on saturday in Westchester, PA.

We had the continuation of our training course tonight - so soon, if I pass my exam I might be able to do legally what I have been doing for years - BUT the SIA do not take any background into consideration, it is yet another government organisation with a licence to print money for itself. Albeit the proposed aim is to cut the criminal element out of the security industry.

As said, a wee bit wabbit so going to bed.

Monday Holiday - for some

Yet another sleepless night , I must have been really bad when I was young !!! - it get beyond a joke at times, especially when I am not one for the afternoon siesta's.
So off again early into the town to open up at 8 a.m. - on the way passing one of my favoutite sets of tramway workmen. the driver of the mini digger had arrived and at 6.55 was sitting in his car
(relevant) - got sorted and opened, but very quiet due to the holiday weekend and the rain - damp and cold.
So from time to time I was at the door and - just happened to note that our workman in the mini digger - DID NOT A STROKE till 11.45 when he was joined by others. We have World Banks going bust, credit crunches, folks losing money left right and centre and these lazy sods are coining it in off the astronomical charges being laid on the ratepayers, etc for this tram project - at the rate these boys are going , their sons and daughters will be old enough to get jobs with them on the project.
The so called Leith regeneration programme has now been put on hold, house prices are tumbling and land prices are crashing - we are now seeing the results of plain , unadulterated greed.

So my friend Lawrence appeared for his usual tipple, he was saying that there were a team of nurses going around the City , measuring up folks and giving some opinions as to how obese they were - one suggestion is that they start at the Royal Infirmary, where many of the staff already fall into certain categories of obesity.

Still no call back from Rob and Caitlin , but at least we know they are fit, well and working, which is more than can be said for poor Edwardo, who whilst hillwalking somewhere up north fell and broke his ribs. He then had to walk some distance to where he had left his bicycle and then cycle to the nearest town for assistance. He denies that he was playing with a big girl !! His tr5ack record inthe hills is not too clever, having previously managed to get lost for several hours on another trip.

Todays rampage will be about the latest plans to introduce even more speed cameras - front page of the Daily Express - I think that P.M. Gordon Brown , his poncy friend Alistair Darling and the government in general , make Dick Turpin, and Ali Baba look like wee angels. It is bad enough that the so called local "Safety Initiatives" are supporting plain, blatant entrapment on roads around the City and down into the Borders. I have no problem with average speed cameras on busy sections of roadworks - but on open roads !!!.

We had some Irish lads in for breakfast before they headed home - and I thought that I would never meet anyone like COD again ( COD being my worst nightmare come true at the Sportsman's) - one lad was so like him, good humoured but erratic , so when he left he asked if I had any words of wisdom for him - yes " remember , "there is no outside toilet on this flight".
We are now recruiting for new staff at the Bar as several have left to head home, start travelling again , etc. and also having the lovely Agneska away on holiday to see her folks in Crackow does not help. BUT - in response to an advert Graham has so far received 85 enquiries.
Sparky Mark has arrived, no sore feet, enjoyed his hike in the Highlands, saw plenty trees, mostly green , and is looking forward to his next adventure.

Had a wierd E mail allegedly from AOL which contravened every bit of security advice going - they wanted, names, dates of birth , credit card numbers, passwords, Nat In numbers, PIN numbers, totally unbelievable, and with no means of contacting them.
So I have contacted WEBUSER Magazine which I get every two weeks for them to have a look at it.

Rushed off my feet

Sunday a.m. up and off early, there was a magnificent sunrise at 6.50 a.m., sky was brilliant as the sun came up over the horizon as I headed towards Hillend. Made it into the pub where Jeff the cleaner was saying he had not really enjoyed his trip to Leuchars Air base for the air show on Saturday, the cloud was too low so the flights were restricted, however the trains were running on time which was unusual.
The morning rush did not start till 10 a.m. so Jamie and Claire managed to get loads of prep done for lunch and when it did it was hectic , first 19 young ladies from Burnley on a hen weekend appeared followed hot on their heels by another ten or so, and this was the way it was till 2 p.m. when I managed to make good my escape.

Sparky Mark now back from his weeks sojourn in the hills, with his two sore feet and raring to go, he was saying that the visit to Glenfiddich Distillery was first class.

William and Sandra made it home safe and sound from Spain , where the sun had been shining, but they had missed our company.

I see we had visitors from Liberec on site during the week, no doubt our very good friends from the Hotel Babylon, who are also tied in to the Hotel de Paris , Prague. It is good to know that they are well.

We recently had word from The Eden Hotel and Spa , in Sri Lanka, where we were four yearsw ago for a wedding - marvellous spa, all are well and the place has fully recovered from the tsunami.

Met a man from through the west , who was saying how miserable the folks from Paisley were, seems that his grandad was knocked down on a pedestrian crossing when he stopped to pick up a penny, sadly he died, and on his death certificate it said " natural causes" !!! -
Question - how do you make a Paisley omelette ? First you borrow three eggs !!!!

Have spent hours editing the photos from France, Still not finished - but getting there .

Seems that the fuel crises and credit crunch are taking their toll on the the holiday and airline industry, with XL during the week, KS Holidays today and Alitalia, the Italian state airline.

I see Cliff Richard has made history with a No 3 in the charts, so that 50 years he has managed to make it top the top - not that I can recollect having heard it yet.

Up and off early again - what's new!!!!!

saturday variety

Well, what can I say, went to bed "dry" so of course I was wide awake at 4.15 a.m., head "birling" and going over and over as piece of ritual I was to do this morning. Eventually got up at 7 a.m. and all pressed and polished headed to Bonnyrigg where I popped in to see Grant @ Photogenix for a cuppa. He had had his system infected with a bad virus at the start of the week which started with a message on the screen telling him he had a virus and was to download Anti Virus 2008 - which he did blowing everything and making him the 50th person in the locale to do so. Fortunately he had everything backed up but it took three days to get the lot up and running.

He managed to retrieve the batch of photos which I thought I had lost from the French trip, so I eventually left with a couple of CD's but curiously there appears to be a different batch missing - so a wee search is needed.

Off to the Lodge for the meeting of the Soutra Aisle OSM, which went very well except for the fact that I when i stood up to do my wee bit , mind went blank, etc. I just wonder if all the stress and work is worthwhile.

Fortunately there was a smaller attendance than usual - which was a help, and the soup and sandwiches were excellent.

Headed home but stopped off at Thornton farm, Rosewell, where the local branch of Riding for the Disabled are based, and had a word with the organisors and some of the pupils and staff. this is witha viewto raising funds for this excellent organisation. They are making up a hit list for me to look at , and in the meantime are looking around for a couple of old shipping containers to use as shelters for the horses.

Made it home and had just missed a call from the upside down man , Robbie - so I still await his call back

Been watching the X - Factor which is currently still just a hoot while they weed out thousands of these bampots who mistakenly seem to think they can sing - just how far up their bums do they have their heads ?and the current Hovis advert is really clever.

Still no word from the missing William and Sandra, have they been abducted in Spain , or by aliens, perhaps caught up with this latest crash of holiday firms , or even blown off course with Hurricane Ike !! ( which is a horrendous natural tragedy)- will need Paul in Belguim to let us know .

And talking of tragedies, this latest spate of bombings in India is shocking, just what do these people think they are achieving by killing innocents, mothers and children - may they rot in hell.

Spotted an item about John Lewis Partnership and the fact that their takings were down this current period, however, in view of the ongoing disputes which we have with them what else can they expect.

Now a quiet night with an early rise again to open up once more , and then treat upon treat, Sparky Mark has just finished his walk of the Speyside whisky trail and will be back on Sunday p.m.

A real shock to the sytem

Was in good fettle last night when No 1 boy arrived, but shortly afterwards he pointed out that I was working this morning - and I thought he was joking !! But not so , so therefore, off I went, feeling a bit rough this morning - BUT BUT I did have a sound sleep.

Into the town , got the place sorted, wee bit beakfast from Jamie @ Shrek, then Claire arrived. I was on my own till 11 a.m. but with no mad rush , probably due to this being the Edinburgh September weekend and lots of offices closed down. Had a nice group in from Birmingham so they were sent off with a list of things to do - and they were foing to report back on Sunday. Big squad of folks from the USA staying round the corner so they were having a confused time at the auto ticket machine for bus tickets and could not understand our money . They were very pleasant , from Alabama - but not Birmingham !!!

Good wee crowd in over luch time and with the sun shining I was able to stand and do the meet and greet thing at the door, but was wilting ever so.
Then Mrs B. appeared so I ended up having my first ever haddock at the Mercat, very good.

Nice to see Annie and her step daughter up from the Sportsmans to set up the karaoke for tonights birthday party in the downstairs bar.

However, with Mrs. B. a bit out of sorts we headed off homewards - but, I spotted by favourite team of workmen !! the tram chappies, sitting in their motors at 2.45 p.m., and we commented that they were either having a late lunch or another tea break - but it was a short time later that I realised they were waiting to finish at 3 p.m., this being Friday - I was always under the impression that a 3 p.m. finish meant just that , not bloody skiving off early.

Home, and a much needed two hours sleep before I changed and rushed out at 6.40 p.m. to head for Bonnyrigg to attend the half yearly meeting of the Provincial Royal Arch Chapter of Mid and East Lothian. There was a very good attendance with visitors from Glasgow, Renfrew, the Borders, etc. However, with a long weekend ahead, OSM on saturday and working Sunday, I managed to leave at a resonable time to get home and the feet up.

Pole in a hole - and still the sun shone

Not sure where I am at the moment - other than being in the house as they say - but last night was hectic with the training course then the exam - but one question - with multiple answers - "Why do you use doormen ?" possible answer - to stop people enjoying themselves !!!!! - however, that was more up my street, being a crabbit baskit.

So moving on - this morning off early for an open at the pub, quite busy, but the sun was shining so that was nice, I was able to stand outside and have a blether to passers by - at the moment Go Jo is picking on me as I type saying that my spelling and grammar is all wrong.

BUT there I was on the door when the truck pulled up,with four men in it, stopped on the double red line, causing an obstruction to the buses, and traffic as the road is already coned down to three out of four lanes. BUT not to be outdone they started to dig, lifting one slab, 2ft by 2 ft, and with great precision, using their extending tape, went deep into the bowels of the earth before planting a nice shiny pole into the hole. so there we were, witnessing four of the finest hole diggers in Edinburgh, obviously on fantastic , (non - Polastic) wages carrying out this most intricate and delicate of operations - probably only comparable to a Space shuttle launch operatives.

So, anyway , me and Jani from next door witnesses this event - but as it was just an element of movement one above still life we got bored and went back to work.

Pub was busy, some really nice customers in today, and then we headed for home - to the sun , but Mrs. B. being ever so tired had a wee kip, while I went out to find out why the brakes on the car were squealing, and ended up washing and polishing it - but in the sun.

With sun shining my few flowers in the garden were looking good.

Later we were joined by Mike and Jane who brought over the photos of Shelley and Douglas wedding which we went to at the Black Barony hotel in July, they were wonderful - especially

Accompanied by a few red wines, and for Mike a nice large Aberlour.

Pity now that no 1 son has arrived home, bit of a pain in the bum as he is giving me a hard time .

So - tomorrow is another day.

Mental athletics

Just getting a bit too old for sitting listening to lectures and trying to study. It is bad enough struggling to learn ritual for the various masonic orders, however, I am sure that with a bit of perseverance I will get there. This course is so that I can legally stand at the door of the pub and talk to folk, and if something happens I will not get into trouble with the Police. One thing arose, they needed official ID , but would not accept my bus pass, which was only issued on production of a passport etc. So I think the SIA are a bit ageist.

Made it home by 11 p.m. and have to repeat the same tonight.
The sun is actually shining at the moment, which is a rare occurrence here, but no doubt it will be peeing down later in the day.

The recycling lorry was round at 8 a.m. this morning , and they make enough noise to waken the dead - broken glass has that sound which carries and penetrates.
I still cannot fathom out why they will not take plastic bags, there is a big enough fuss . I see that down south they are starting to check the contents of folks bins and if they are not recycling properly they stand to be prosecuted.
AND - the proposals to make folk apply for planning permission before you can monoblock drives, etc., as they are saying there is less and less open ground available to drain rain water which is adding to the water going into drains and causing flooding.

That machine has been started up in Switzerland which will try to work out how the big bank occurred, so far no big bang here, but if there is no doubt we will have to do without Toblerone and cuckoo clocks for a while.

The dreaded Lurgie

Sat and watched as Mr Murray was so valiant in his defeat last night in New York, never mind, apples with grow again as they say and he will be back stronger than ever.
Nice to know that Caitlin was sitting in OZ same time , but 8 a.m. at her place watching the same match - the marvels of modern technology. But both her and Robbie are doing well, working all the hours god sends, and as she says "like ships that pass in the night" - good thing about that is you never see each other long enough to fall out - normally !! that is.
Keyboard is playing up at the moment - doing odd things. It will not return to the next line for some reason .
Anyway , got up this morning 6.45 a.m. feeling rough as hell, sick and headaches, etc, now both Ann and Graham are feeling the same and have had to go back to their beds.
In the meantime I ran around like crazy doing lots of wee jobs, some of my paperwork before heading out to SAC at Bush and KB - where I had jobs to deal with . But with that pair ill came home to see what was going on - then back to more paperwork before I head out later.
One of my thoughts for the day was that you know when you are getting old because Policemen look so young - for me the biggest shock was when I saw a nice young blond pushing a baby in a push chair in Edinburgh , she looked familiar, and then I realised it was my DOCTOR !!! Going to have to stop as this machine is doing my head in - will change back to the lap top and do the changes.

Now back on the lap top and changed made.
Big news with the fire at Fleetwood Pier, Blackpool, this .
morning - seems that piers are not the safest of places to be on these days , that is the third or fourth in the UK to go up in the past year or so - I think.

Ever so annoyed with Edinburgh City Council - just how much more time do they need to get their house in order , they have written again for a further extension to look into what should never have happened thirty nine months ago !!!!

Heading off to start a training course this evening , but in the meantime munching on a succulent piece of brisket -on toast - I will never make a vegetarian.

Quite a combination

Left at 3 a.m. and headed south on a nice quiet A702 to Abington where I joined the M74 and eventually stopped at the BP station on the M6 at Carlisle. I had been listening to the finals of the ladies tennis on the radio which was a lot more exciting than the papers or the result would have you believe. I look forward to seeing Andy Murray later tonight.

I spotted that I had a tail light missing so had to go on to the next services before I eventually managed to get a new bulb and replace the faulty one . I have a bit of a thing about "one eyed monsters", and apart from that, something as simple as a faulty light can give the Police grounds to stop the car and check it out.

Steady run south to Runcorn , however about 5.45 a.m. all hell seemed to break loose on the roads, it was as though someone had released all the motor maniacs in the world !!! From a quiet motorway, I was suddenly being passed by every car on the road, all desperate to get to their work early - totally dedicated and deserving to be fully committed - so it was with a degree of relief when I reached Runcorn and had the chance to get a wee rest. But as I dozed off briefly Junior phoned to give me the glad news that he had organised a training course over four nights next two weeks and I was on it.

Anyway, when canteen opened I was greeted by the terrible duo, Christine and Sue, with the added bonus of getting fresh food rather than the last of the trays. Wee Christine is off to Orlando with the family at the weekend so she is hoping that the area will not be effected by the hurricanes.

Jill on Reception was waiting for me, and so, fortunately were the folks in the offices I was heading for. Turn out Liam has left, very quiet lad, who was a trained teacher and has managed to get a new job in a local school - well done.

Fairly quick about turn then off northwards again with reasonably quiet roads and then , then this chappie in a silver Astra, (SP05MHV) tried to drive over me because at 75 mph I was going far , far too slow, but as he was on his mobile phone - and remained on it for the next ten miles, northwards on the M74 from Lesmahagow to Larkhall driving at speeds ranging from 75 mp.h. to 95 mph (yes) bloody fruitcake and on the dual carriageway where he stayed in the outside lane all the way - I have said this before , for a token £10 you can get a hands free and these boys in their Company motors should know well better.

Onwards, met Fraser at Glasgow and then home where I just collapsed into bed, old age does not come alone.

One piece of news, the lady who fell outside the Mercat a couple of weeks ago after she stepped in an uneven bit of the road when getting off the bus had popped into The Mercat Bar to see me with a box of chocolates. Transpires that had she has a double fracture which had needed pinned and will cause her bother for a while.

Now looking forward to the tennis so come on Mr Murray - do yourself proud.

2,30 a.m. Monday, but who cares

Well, once again combination of cramps and insomnia - although having watched the current Batman film , "The Black Night" - which is certainly not a kids movie and may well have stirred up the adrenelin - I am up on my feet. However with a long run ahead I am nearly ready to head off to Runcorn , with the posssible chance of a weee nap later in the morning. No need to rush so I can take it easy and still miss the traffic.

Junior seems to be a bitt better so he will be up and running once more.

Some snaps, and a snapper

Just watching the Tv and messing about, so for interest here is the famous bridge at Avignon, as per the well known French song. However it was not photographed by this intrepid snapper - commonly known as Sir Christopher from Scotland, who was with this band of wine tasters who found themselves in a great quandary - what barrel should we open first? , and how many will we get through before we fall down?

Many shades of grey

Sunday - up with the larks and out into a cool grey autum morning (for a change) and off to open up the Mercat Bar, meeting Geoff the cleaner who was still waiting to get in. But not long to get up and running , with the bold Jamie and Paddy seriously jiggered from yesterday's hard graft - it had been really busy.
So we were thankful, I suppose, that we were not rushed but steady this morning - so when Graham arrived, feeling really unwell so had to head back home to bed.
This is the last week for the twins Shareen and Dannielle as they are going to go back and live at home in Stirling - we will miss them but obviously they need to do whayt is best.

I left mid morning and headed out to Gorebridge for a committeee meeting with the OSM, folowed by a rehearsal for next saturdays meeting. Word was out about a member who is terminally ill in Marie Curie Hospice with a brain tumor, when I last spoke to him he had been complaining about being forgetful, etc, now we know why.

When I went back to the car the tyre was soft, so I had it reinflated en route back into the town and eventualy ened up in the Waverly railway station where I had some of my own work to do. BUT an hour later I had a full flat so had to change the wheel in the station, but at least I was under cover.
Not wanting to head south tonight with no spare tyre I headed out looking for a tyre fitter, but Nationwide were too busy and wanted to close so they were no good, however Farmers Auto in Strathearn Road could not have been more helpful, even although the puncture was not repairable so I had to get a new tyre.
I see that Paul has been viewing from Antwerp, I wonder if he managed to view the wonderful floral carpet which was recently on display in Brussels. His beloved out laws, William and Sandra should be winging their way back from Spain today - no doubt with good tans.

Robbie and Caitlin are still well - they have been on line this morning.

All sorts of fun and games in the Grand Prix with Louis Hamilton winning the race and then being given a 25 second time penalty which dropped him back to third place. I hope that Andy Murray fares better in the tennis later tonight. Might be able to hear it in the car on my way south to Runcorn once again.
The bold Sparky Mark is off on his travels again, this time doing the Speyside whisky trail on foot with a friend - it will be interesting to see how he gets on.

Just an aside

So back to normal, having had the steed of steel serviced I had to pop off to see some real old fashioned mechanics, none of your modern computerised stuff - where I found this wonderful old vintage car, a 1925 De Dion Buton, currently being serviced, but it was out for an airing a couple of months ago. The feel of the bodywork, brass headlamps, the luxury interior, etc - just fantastic. these guys finish their work then spend some time working on their own wee projects, tractors, old machines, and so on - sadly I think their sink was a wee bit choked or was it just an accumulation of soap.

Our Tv licence money

Celebair was on Sky2 this evening , a load of celebs being trained to act as air stewards/esses, etc, then take charge of a plane full of so called celebs all off on a free junket at our expense!! Is this entertainment? And hard on the heels of Scotland being beaten 1 -0 by Macedonia , which again was not really entertaining, and to think that BSKYB/ Setanta paid the SFA umpteen million £££ to buy the rights, thus depriving the majority of the viewing public the privilege of once again seeing the so called Scotland squad being second best. It is a shame that these guys do not have any bloody patriotism, most of them cannot turn up for the friendlies, and when they do play they lack commitment, etc.
On the other hand Andy Murray playing Nedal in the US Open, both were at least trying their best. Getting exciting with Murray two sets up but game suspended now because of the storm.
The X Factor, a good programme with surprising results, some shocking, deplorable, others totally brilliant, a good chance for many to showcase.

Eurovision Celebrity Come Dancing about to start, this should be interesting !!! A few fair healthy bodies on display, and yet another clone of Davina McColl as hostess!!! Been good but as usual the judging is a bit iffy.

But back to today - working in the Mercat Bar all day as it was really busy, some nice folks in and one group of ten who have been in every night for the past five days - which speaks volumes
Staff are doing really well, run off their feet and considering that the Edinburgh Festival is over we seem to be getting a good turn, long may it last. Having said that we are being asked every day for our proposed x-mas menu as many of our regulars want to get booked up.
Had a very nice Fench lady from Paris in this afternoon who was staying at the Edinburgh Grosvenor Hilton, and who has already been in the last couple of days for dinner.

Comments from a couple of locals who follow this blog - and were intersted in our trip to France.

Going to have a go at getting some photos off a memory card, hopefully we will later be able to do a recovery job on the card which corrupted while we were away.

Wednesday - Skalli , and not the wag.

Surprise, surprise, everyone managed to get up, fed, watered, and onto the bus in time to head back up to Chateauneuf Du Pape again, this time to a different cave , name to be added later, but owned and run by the LES VINS SKALLI organisation. This was much better organised with our host being Guillaume Herbinet, who we knew as their brand ambassador from his marketing trips to Edinburgh, there was water, coffee, croissants, etc, available when we arrived, and this was followed by a good presentation on the Company, which own four sites, one in Corsica, two in France ( Cave Notre Dame Dame in the Languedoc , Silene des Peyrals in the Languedoc) and one in the Napa Valley, California, (St. Supery Winery) . One of the ladies managed to doze off and dropped her glass which woke us all up again.

The tour was very good and the tasting which followed superb, there were twenty six wines on display and everyone was good, with many ranging from superb to excellent. Obviously this took a bit of time so we ran out of time as we were due back at the same restaurant for lunch. They had a wonderful gift shop on site with many unique items for sale, but with all the rushing about we did not get the chance to go and purchase anything.

Their best one for me was a Chateauneuf du Pape, caves Saint Pierre, "Preference" - which doubless was fairly expensive , but lovely.

This time lunch was much better, we were inside due to the stronger winds, but he staff were better organised, we had some choice over the menu and our veggies were properly looked after - in addition the wines were bloody marvellous.

After lunch we headed back to the bus - this time up the hill and as a group, where we met the head wine grower, and then followed him for about twenty miles to a vineyard near to Carpentras, where we were taken out into the vines, given a lecture and demonstration of what to look for, taken to a working production line which will soon be buzzing as the vines will start being harvested in the next few days, hopefully the rain will stay away and the winds will dry off the moisture presently lying on the grapes. Some of ladies, complete with high heels have rather muddy, if not ruined footwear as a momento.

This was a really facinating day and the family, staff , were great, so we had only praise for them. By the time we headed off on the bus and reached the hotel we only had about an hour to get organised before we headed out for dinner.

Our friends, Antoine and Francoise met up with us and the group and we headed to a restaurant a short distance from the hotel where we once again had complimentary wines, which accompanied an excellent meal. Graham was able to do small presentation to our host on behalf of the group, a nice bottle of Johnny Walker, before we broke up for the night.

Once again our group split up and the karaoke gang headed to the bar to upset the natives. The more sensible !!! headed home to bed.

This for me was a bit of a nightmare, as I ended up sleeping sitting up in a chair most of the night - but such is life.

So apart from the photos and adding a few photos the last three blogs or so tell a tale.

Tuesday in Provence

Everyone was rather puggled following their hectic journey on Monday , but as I said some blogs ago, they made it for breakfast with the usual stragglers, Graham Harris and Aaron being late for the bus - Aaron said that if he had known I was there he would not have been late. Our coach was very nice and the driver, Jerome, a very pleasant chap, who we later discovered know both Antoine and Francoise, and another driver, Rocco, who had driven a group from L'Isle sur la Sorgue up to Penicuik on a twinning exchange a number of years ago, and who had been great with us when we had problems with our bus.

We headed off to the village of Chateauneuf Du Pape about twenty miles north of Avignon, one of the most famous wine producing villages in France. The name of the village is synonymous with good french wine but not a lot of people realise that there are many "caves" in the village so you really need to read the label closely to see which particular family or company produced and bottled the wine.

Our cave of the day was to "OGIER" Caves des Papes, which is part of the much larger "Jeanjean" group . the place was very good and we had an interesting lecture and presentation and lecture on the wine production and the company structure, followed by a tour of the facility and then a tasting. Unfortunately, the selection of wines was not quite as good as we had expected and out of the twenty one wines on display only two , a red and white Chateauneuf du Pape , which were the top of the range were to my taste. the majority of the group felt likewise so it was a rather unfortunate choice to present to such a group of discerning and potential customers. From, there our driver took us to the top of the hill in the village where the remains of the original castle still stand, this village was the summer residence of many of the Popes during the ages, and they still have a festival annually to bless the vines and pray for good crops. The castle was bombed and nearly flattened by the Germans at the end of the war when they pulled out of the area.

we had lunch in a lovely restaurant, but it was a fixed menu , with duck as the main course which was not appreciated by all, and they seemed to have a problem dealing with the vegetarians in the group. we paid for the meal ourselves but the wines were supplied by our host of the day - many thanks.

We decided to walk down from the restaurant and meet the bus further down in the village, however, our group being just a bit disorganised managed to get themselves split up and some took the wrong paths through the houses, so poor Graham and Chris had to run up and down hills searching for them - and it did not help when their phones were not working either.

Ailsa was seen nipping into the vines by the roadside and came back with some real juicy ones.

As folks were still a bit tired the bus took us more of less straight back to Avignon, but did a wee detour for me so that I could get some photos of the famous Pont D'Avignon, and so back to the hotel, poolside for some sun and a snooze to prepare for the evening.

Everyone managed to meet up on time so we set off to find the restaurant for the evening - however, Jim Wilkie, being the man he is, managed to get some of us lost !!! but with a mobile phone and directions from Chris Reid we soon all met up - in what looked like a "gay bar" - but the meal was fine, the staff helpful, etc. The usual street singers were on hand, if you liked gypsies or Spanish music , it was fine. Mr. Wilkie managed to keep us entertained with an endless stream of rotten jokes.

We headed back to the hotel, but several had found a kareoke bar so they remained to entertain the locals with their talents !!! which probably closed the bar early and sent everyone except the tone deaf home.

Next

Fun at the Customs / security

Now in Duns and have borrowed this very nice MacBook to play on while Andrew Mimms is working on my bike. His daughter Bridget's boyfriend, young Richard is here working on The Border Bikes website as he is their "webmaster" and making a brilliant job of it.

Having mentioned weight limits we tried to keep our bags within the prescribed, so having been given some nice bottles of wine and no scales available I gave some away to our friends and packed only the one large 1.5 ltr in my bag. Got to the airport, which is tiny, and at the check in discovered that we actually had loads of weight spare, enough for another couple of bottles !! But too late, off went my bag. Then to passport control, charming young police officers, and onto security - where our stuff was being x-rayed, but the lady was also double checking our passports !! then i saw a bit of paper on the machine with MY name on it. As we passed through Mrs. b. was stopped and taken away to a side room and then so was I - where I had to open my bag - but when they saw it was just an extra big bottle of wine there was no problem. I commented on the fact that i had had to leave other bottles behind and the officer thought I had been deprived of them there and was heading off to retrieve them for me - which was nice but a bit late. It would appear that had I gone in with a presentation gift pack at that airport they would have let us through, unlike Edinburgh or the big ones where everything is binned then you are forced into their tax free shops.

Our other surprise for the day was that the plane was stopping off at Leeds / Bradford airport en route, however this proved to be a short stay on the ground (raining heavens hard) but we had nice short hp up to Edinburgh where the views were magnificent as we came in and a lovely bright summer evening . Then took a taxi back to Penicuik - big mistake as we will now need to take out a second mortgage I think - who said the French were bad.

So back to last weeks story - next.

Olh habits

Only been back one night and once again sleepless nights, but having said that I sat up all Wednesday night in the hotel room as I was a"bit off colour"!!!.
Anyway - up and getting ready to go to Border Bikes at Duns to get the motorbike serviced, then to East Linton . Home, hopefully after that but I have a R. A. Installation at Gorebridge Dundas 479 this evening. working Saturday, and Sunday although I need to go to an OES rehearsal at lunch time, then an evening pick up before heading to Runcorn on Sunday night for an early drop on Monday morning.

Back to the past few days, we flew direct from Edinburgh Airport to Avignon with Jet2.Com which was not bad, but it was the pricing that bugged me, once again the offer says , "prices from £xxx, but when you add on all the so called extras, like taxes, meals, booking seats and paying for bags, the price has trebled. We had a 17 KG limit and stuck to it which was fine, and Jet2.Com being bart of Globespan were reasonable. The main group flew from Edinburgh to Marseilles with Ryan Air, had a 15 KG limit and one couple had to pay £100 excess, another £30. what a racket - nearly as bad as the French taxi drivers.

 

I believe the law changes soon and all airlines will have to advertise the full fares from the start so it will be easier to compare airlines - other than the baggage allowances, in flight meals, etc. Of course, we put bags in the hold, but there were still those who managed to call their main bag the hand baggage and they were stuffed up into the racks.

Anyway - off to Duns now , back on air soon.

From sunshine to a sligtly damper clime.

Back home now and needing to recover from a hectic few days in Avignon, a lot to write about and with literally hundreds of photos it will take ages to get it all sorted.
Francoise and Antoine took us to Avignon on Monday and we headed to our reserved hotel, The Citea, near to the Gare TGV, not realising tht there were now two stations in Avignon - our heart kind of sank when we found that the new hotel was a few miles from where we really wanted to be , and worse still the place was still not finished with engineers working in the Reception. The ground floor was still being worked on, although no doubt the rooms were probably fine but we were not allowed acces till later. SO, being a bit perturbed, and with no means of transport other than taxis - and the French taxi drivers make dick Turpin look like an innocent - they are a law unto themselves and with the prices they charge you might as well expect a meal en route - we were charged £8 for a 400 yard drive last night !!!!!! and one of the others in the group spent £120 in two and a half days.
Anyway , Francoise phoned The Grand Hotel, Avignon, where the rest of the group were to stay and it turned out that there was a cancellation so we got a room at a so called special rate, which turned out well for us.
With time on our hands we were able to have a wander around the town do some shopping and then took ourselves back to the hotel for a spot of sunbathing and a snooze by the rooftop pool.
The weather was superb, so after our siesta we found a restaurant, just off the main square, where we tried out their steaks, a bit of a mistake as the so called entrecotes were kind of tough - not quite up to our usual standards. Anyway - it was food.

Back to the hotel and off to bed as the group from the SESLTA Soutth East of Scotland Licensed Trade Association were not due intill after 12 mn and knowing they had just left Marriane Airport, Marseilles, by coach we were not sitting up for them.

Breakfast Tuesday was good, the group were ever so knackered (undestatement) but all managed to get themselves fed and onto the bus for our first day out.

More to follow later- but have to head for Duns and East Linton in the morning.