Monday / Tuesday - Stats and fatalities

Monday, not a lot to report - up as usual and headed into town but was stuck on the A702 at Hillend for fifteen minutes due to temporary traffic lights on the bend where a wagon had destroyed the safety barrier over the weekend. As usual with the Council, there was no consideration given to the motorist - there was a queue over a mile long heading North and only the occasional car heading south - normally the responsible organisations have the lights manned to try and keep traffic moving.
Had a steady morning and lunch time at the Mercat before heading home to get on with some of my own work - and an early night.

Tuesday - Up at 4 a.m. this morning after another of my usual restless nights, sorted and onto the road by 4.50 a.m. and for once not a single white van man passed me before I reached Glasgow where Bob the man was waiting. Mega quick handover and I was off and heading south.
The M6 is getting worse, three sets of massive roadworks all governed by Average speed cameras - so just about everyone travelling at 50 mph. With the cameras costing so much to install it has to be the case that they do work as it is a means they can recoup the costs.

My white van men did not let me down in the end - one elderly guy near the Morcombe turn off was sitting there happily at about 95 mph. in a wee van - wandering from lane to lane chatting to his wife and grandchildren on his mobile phone. For all it costs for a basic hands free system, perhaps it is time they started crushing the cars being used without a system in place. Do it on the TV before the lottery each Saturday and I am sure the sales of hands free systems would soar, a few range Rovers and a half a dozen white vans in the crusher - problem solved.

Arrived at Runcorn and met with Christine in Reception who is back from her holidays, AND a now a new grandmother, the new baby was born early and only 1lb 12oz, now up into the 2lb area and doing OK - well done, and all the best to the baby.
Kelly and Linda were ready with their paperwork, next stop to see Dick Turpin's sisters who were in good fettle, even trying to sell a fried egg which looked like a rubber doorstop.

Good run north, apart from getting stuck behind a couple of lorries on the two lane stretch of the M74 doing the 2 mph overtake, causing massive tailbacks . Friend Bob was still in the office waiting on Fraser.
Looking at the news tonight, there was a triple fatal accident on a railway level crossing in the North of Scotland near Wick / Thurso when a car drove onto a level crossing totally ignoring the red lights - having sat and waited at these crossings I can see how some folks get fed up and decide to take the risk. Anyway - big one like that, possible that Fraser might have had to go north to deal with it.

Home, out for the count so it was off to bed for a few power zzzzzzzzzz's and recover, which worked a treat - so feeling much better, nice bottle of Kumala Eternal helping with the process.

"GOOD NEWS" tonight according to the Scottish Government, crime figures are the lowest for many years !!!!!!!!!! and all thanks to the many more policeman (invisible) on the beat. I am quite keen to see the official breakdown of the figures as they have been laundering them for years - and this year will be no different, might even be worse.

One hungry spider

This greedy wee chap, a spider of some dimension was looking forward to his dinner arriving . Taken with the wee camera which is not as good as the big one, but a lot handier.

Two photos and more

Using the wee lap top, mainly to prove a point that Sandra's internet connection with Talk Talk is rubbish.

The wee statues were in the park at Staines, and Ann spotted ne outside Tesco's with her flowers and Willie's tickling stick.

Discovered this morning that some varlet had broken into William's garden shed earlier in the week, but hopefully they had been disturbed and took nothing - so it was down to Homebase and a nice new Yale padlock and hasp fitted (properly). So it is now time for the usual Crime Prevention advice as the dark nights draw in, make sure everything is locked up, even windows, get your outside lights working, and make sure that the local Neighbourhood watch Co-ordinator knows of any suspicious incidents. William and Sandra are very fortunate as their local NHW lady is a real gem , right on the ball and who has an excellent rapport with both the local Police and the London University who have many students renting in the vicinity.

Just had word from Mr Dunk, so it will be Runcorn or bust on Tuesday - still no word as to whether it is back to London on Wednesday though.

Took the BMI flight home today from T1 which was quiet with no delay at the check in and secuirty. BUT - just what goes through some peoples minds ? full plane waiting to shut the doors and five passengers failed to turn up so their bags were taken off while we waited - makes you wonder. Lady in front of decided she wanted to sleep so I ened up reading the paper up in the air as there was not enough room for my tum and the table, etc . Bought a bottle of red wine as I do not have enough points on my BMI card to qualify, but I should have had their prices been right and they flew out of London City. Wine was actually quite good compared to the paint stripper supplied by Air France a couple of weeks ago.

Despite everything we landed on time and went straight through and onto an airport bus / city shuttle with no wait at all, so now, believe it not, back in The Mercat Bar for dinner and to wait on RGB and Jo Jo

Pin cushion man

Saturday tea time, lots of sunshine both today and yesterday.

Friday, we headed off at 9 a.m. , took the bus up to Stains and had a nice wee wander. I left the girls to go "shopping" and took myself off to explore. The town of Stains is apparently famous due to the production of linoleum way back in the late 1800's and there is a sculpture commemorating the same in the High Street. Manged to find the local Wetherspoon's pub , The George , where we stopped for some lunch before heading down to sit by the River Thames for an hour. As I said, the weather was lovely, there were lots of folks about in the High Street , and it seems that the dancing programmes on the TV are making dance classes so popular as three different dance schools were out recruiting.
I even popped into the local community centre in the town , place was very busy, lots of different activities taking place, scrabble, massage, language classes, card schools, and a nice restaurant. Met the Manager, Sue, who runs the show along with a team of volunteers and seems to be doing a brilliant job.

Dropped into William's local club where I spotted this plaque for an English brew "Tea Beer" which will please Mr Allan Senior who is always asking for a glass of tea !!! but he generally is looking for a pint of Tennants.

Home, had a sit in the garden till William finished work, and we then took a light libation, with feet up in front of the TV.

This morning , again lots of sunshine, although it was cool early on - but we were off to catch the bus up to Windsor. Arrived along with bus loads of tourists, and the first tourist spot is the crooked house, which has been like this for a very long time, however, our ladies were more interested in the big shops - so that let William and I off the hook. Headed for the bookies so that William could do his forecast . Sitting listening to the Virtual Racing when I heard a dog's name being called "Swift Malcolm", which was one of the names Carolanne and Dennis use " Swift ---- followed by a name. Too late to put a bet on , and the dashed thing WON.

Up the street I saw a sign outside a Chinese Herbalists offering cheap massage , so I went in , the "Doctor" had a prod or two at my back and neck which were knotted and rock solid and without more ado, decided that I was needing acupuncture - me, I had no say in the matter - and within a couple of minutes I had needles in my neck, shoulders, back, bottom , legs and ankles !!!! he could not speak English , I had no idea what was happening so just had to lie still and hope for the best. After a while I could feel lots of heat generating in my back, a few electric shocks, a bit of muscle twitching, etc. When he did return he drew out the needles and gave me one of the heaviest massages I have ever had - BUT , it was brilliant and seems to have done me the world of good. looks like it was money well spent , although I did resist all his offers for various medicines.

Met the team and we took ourselves down to the Three Crosses Pub to see if Eddie Murphy was on duty, the ex policeman we had met on our last trip there, however he was elsewhere so all we could do was leave a message , after a couple of beers and our lunch.
Headed for the bus which arrived 35 minutes late, and then the driver GOT LOST - took the wrong turning and had to go round the block a couple of times - I think he was very new to the job and by the time we got back to Egham he was about 50 minutes behind schedule.

So , time now for dinner, a glass of wine, feet up and have a laugh at the X -Factor

Tickets now all organised to get home tomorrow.

Sun has got it's hat on, hip hip hip hooray

Just studying the photo in the paper of Sydney Opera house obscured by the terrible sand storms hitting that part of the world. those storms, plus flash floods and even more wild fires - just shocking, and over such vast distances. To think that the Australians have been so eco conscious for years, banning the nuclear powered ships, etc .

And here I am, sitting in lovely autumn sunshine, nice cool beer in hand , it is so pleasant and relaxing - which makes a change for me to sit tranquil and at peace for more than a few minutes.

Yesterday we dragged young Stuart out his bed and headed for his "local!, the Forrester's Bar , about 10 minutes from the house and upset the tranquility of the English countryside - good fun, however the session continued right through till the "wee sma hours" with the obvious knock on after effect this morning.
BUT not to be daunted , we have had a lovely walk out in the sunshine, looked at several of the local "sights", of which there are many as the new term has started at the nearby campus of the University of London - and eventually had a nice wee seat in the sun at the Red Lion in Egham High Street. It was all quiet until the Police arrived with two folks who I presume to be licensing officers and then there was some shouting and bawling going on.

So now, out into the sunshine again, content in the knowledge that I did manage to get a couple of seats on a BMI flight to Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon.

Going to miss the wine tasting tonight.

Up and off and out the Chair.

All excited this morning - up early , bag sitting at the door, just waiting for RGB to get out his bed and take us to the airport - short hop with British Airways to T5 London , this should be fun !!! And will certainly hang onto our bags. Off to sunny Egham to see Sandra and William for a few days , and it looks like we will be hitch hiking up the Motorway at the weekend.

Busy day yesterday , headed for Bonnyrigg to see Mr Photogenix,@ Grant, who was megga pleased to print off the photo of myself and Ali Mcoist - back up the road and had to help make up the buffet for my "Greeting Meeting" last night.

Not sure what was on , or where, but we had a poor attendance at RA Laird O Cockpen, No 500 , however, those who did come were made more than welcome and enjoyed the meeting.
So that was my last full meeting , next one is the installation on 27th October when Douglas Neil takes the chair. One of our older members Jock Hunter died earlier in the morning after a fairly lengthy illness - our thoughts to the family. His son in law, Ray Watson, was a friend of mine for a few years when he was working in the Penicuik area, but we have since lost touch

Going to miss the wine tasting tomorrow night at The Mercat Bar , nice selection of Argentinian wines up for a "gurgle" or "wee swallow", accompanied by some nice food.

Subliminal thinking there - just a flash as I though of one Derrik Mills, but never seen or heard of for ages - he is still owe Mrs B . and Lillian a lunch, knowing him it would be in Lydl's snack bar, if they had one.

Nice to meet Globetrotting folks.

Yet another night with little or no sleep - gets a bit annoying to say the least !! So after a couple of restless hours it was up about 5.30 a.m., and eventually took a ride in the dark into town. The motorbike I photographed yesterday had been knocked over during the night by vandals, so with a little help I got it back onto its stand again.

All set up up nice and early, and then my customers started to arrive, not many locals as this was a holiday weekend, but all parts of the Globe, starting with Spaniards ( five of them); three girls from the Netherlands, one being a mountain climber ( no mountains there but she climbs in an indoor centre and flies over to Scotland to climb) She had not heard of the National Climbing Centre at Ratho, but was going to give it a look - the other two girls worked at the Raddison, Edinburgh.

A number of visitors from the USA, firstly two "young " ladies from Dallas Texas, Norma Farris and Barbara Archibold, who were part of a group of forty nine good folks from the Dallas area who had joined a trip organised by their local radio station, FM "K Luv", to tour Scotland. We even listened into their morning show on the computer and the ladies sent them an E mail with an update of their holiday.

A short time later another couple, John and Joan, from Olympia, Washington State, arrived after a long day on foot exploring the City - looking for the two pints of Guinness promised this morning as a reward for their efforts. Due to leave in the morning at 4 a.m. so they decided to go with a real treat, a nice couple of steaks, made by the fair Claire which they thoroughly enjoyed. I hope they have a safe journey home.

There were another couple in who were over for a conference at the University on stem cell research.

Back to my tramworks theme, we had three gents in, two had flown up from the South of England for the day to examine a broken sewer in Princess Street - damage caused by the tramworks. An expensive little jaunt at the City taxpayers expense.

Looks like my plans for the coming week are all changed, course has been rearranged for the 1st and 2nd Oct. So it looks like Mrs B and I will be heading home whenever!!!!

Sunday and not a day of rest.

I was sitting quite happy watching the x-Factor and keeping an eye on the computer which was showing the status of flights into Edinburgh - it had said that the Dublin flight was due in at 9.38 when suddenly it changed to 9.15 - what a panic - shoes on and out the door at the gallop, but did make it in time to uplift the weary travellers.

Got their gossip en route, so not needing a second bout , I headed to bed to read my little red book for Tuesday !!

Awake at my usual ungodly hour of around 4 a.m. , and up around 6 to potter before heading into the Mercat Bar. Being Sunday I was able to get parked in Palmerston Place, and was a bit annoyed to see that some not too bright hooligan had uprooted some potted shrubs from a nearby doorstep and stuck it on a parked motor cycle - certainly a variation on a windscreen - maybe OK whilst it has foliage.

Round the corner, Andy's bike still chained to a rail, but now minus the saddle !! Might be a hint that he needs to get it moved soon.

The print shop across the road has a wonderful poster in the window about "Trainspotting" / " Tramspotting" - as you will see it had to be photographed in three bits - but the content is really funny - well worth blowing up the page to read the text. ( and Monty the Dog - a real star)

Had what might be a nice wee "con" today , not sure as I know the bloke , but with his ancestral background he could be at it . Called in for breakfast , ordered a double roll, (one roll with two eggs and four bits of bacon) - then after eating half it , complained and said that it was only fair that he did not have to pay for it - I suppose technically he had already eaten nearly a full roll.
( I think he was at it).

Lovely day , as I headed out to Lodge 720 at Bonnyrigg to get set up for Tuesday nights Laird O Cockpen RA 500 meeting. Joined by Tam ; Alex and Robin, not even enough to have a quorum - but Temple was sorted and we are ready to go.
Was listening to the football on the radio in the car, thought Hearts were going to have a lucky day , but the Parkhead crowd were possibly too much for the away team .

Quiet night in I hope.

3 fairly quiet days , but busy.

Saturday evening and how times has just flown by these past few days. I have been very busy during that time, working each day in the Mercat Bar from early a.m., and then once home at night it has been a few hours on the computer trying to get things sorted for next week when we will be in London for a few days, killing two birds with one stone, some R & R with William and Sandra at Egham, and then hopefully the start of my next Neighbourhood Management Course up in London City. So far I have one way tickets for the plane, leaving on Wednesday morning - might have to walk home yet.

Bar was fairly busy and doing what I like doing , i.e. chatting , I am always meeting some interesting people - one customer was telling me he lives half the year in the USA where he acts as a part time advisor for Scottish Enterprise. A retired gent who has built factories for clients all over the World - fascinating.
My Friday Natcho ladies were back again and into the pig pan of mussels for the second week running - good one.

Last two mornings I have had an early visit from six Swedes staying at The Hilton, yesterday, they were literally knocking on the door to get in - at 8.15 a.m.
Nice to see our regulars and wind them up - much to RGB's annoyance. He has been in Dublin for a couple of days to attend the wedding of his friend Philip Quinlin and is hoping that I will be at the airport shortly to meet him off the Ryan Air "shuttle bus".

There was a write up in yesterday's Edinburgh Evening News on a brilliant piece of video on U Tube with Adolf Hitler being told about the escalating costs of the Edinburgh Tramworks - Between the tramworks and the latest budget cuts I think the City Council is going to be in "Queer Street" soon!!. I see that one of the English Cities is having the same problems as we had with the "bin men" and the accumulation of refuse. Their bucket men are similarly facing big cuts in their wages as overtime payments are going to be slashed.

Mrs B. met up with young Archie and Tracy, along with the two "weans" Austin and Camryn at the Standing Order.

Decided to take some fresh air today by watching the game of rugby between Penicuik and Earlston, Penicuik were trying hard but were losing 19 - 3 when the rain came on so I headed home for some shelter - the big talking point was their massive defeat last week at the hands of Duns - when Duns racked up 104 points , which is Penicuik's biggest ever defeat in the clubs history. It was apparently so bad that they had players on the field who were absolute beginners. Cannot knock the boys though, they still turn out and get stuck in. the club really suffered when the after school training and school rugby was stopped several years ago.

Big decisions tonight, will it be The X - Factor, or Strictly Come Dancing - with the clash of these programmes - so switching channels is the name of the game - just to see these crackpots on X factor, and a wee bit class with the dancers.

Bruce Forsyth correctly pointed out that Dame Vera Lynne now tops the Pop Album charts having knocked the Beatles into 2nd place.

Missed out on my masonic duties this last couple of nights, however, meeting of RA500 officials Sunday afternoon and my "Greeting Meeting" on Tuesday night. Our Secretary, Bert, who featured in last weeks "Shepherds Degree" is not too well - so Bert, hang in there and get well soon.
Managed to get a hold of Big Ian Robertson, who is now doing a coupe of shows a week on Leith FM and working on setting up a Community Radio Station for East Lothian - bit of a change from Black Diamond FM.

Need to head of for my taxi duties.

Tue/ Wed and we are making progress.

So , Tuesday really was a bit of a lost day, did some paper work and then ended up in The Mercat Bar helping my mate Jim , from Dash Security, to upgrade our CCTV and while I was up ladders to tidy up cables, etc

Home and had a night in on the computer, and in front of the TV. Early bed and had another read at my Masonic book on the Royal Society, interesting to read about the formation of Boyle's Law , way back in 1606.

Evening without my red wine, and guess what
, 3 a.m., wide awake, and at 4 a.m. massive cramps attack, which is still, ( 15 hours later affecting me).

So, up early again, this time to chaos on the road outside, all caused due to a very serious accident at the House of Muir Farm on the A702 at 6 a.m. when someone sustained massive head injuries. Carlops Road was nose to tail and it was taking 45 minutes to travel the five miles north to the City By pass.

Onto the box one more, and then had to head into Carrick Motorcycles, Leith to get my BMW its MOT. As I had to wait, I took myself off for a walk and took the attached photos of the statue of Robert Burns at the bottom of Leith. I also spied these super crests around the door of No 5 Maritime Street, but I do not know what the building originally was.

MOT was duly delivered and I headed for home - had originally planned on meeting Grant@ Photogenix2 but the shop was shut and as Yvonne's granny passed away last night, rest in peace.

On a different theme I was reading about St Kilda ( the edge of the world) and the day when the Islanders were all taken off and the Island abandoned - it was very sad and graphic to read " Each St Kildan family went into their home for the final time and placed an open bible on the table and a handful of oats on the table - succour and sustenance for the unlikely visitor - before drowning all of their domestic pets".
Very very sad, considering how long the island had been occupied
under such extreme conditions. I am not sure why they could not take their pets with them - but I presume that it might have been that they would have had no immunity at all to the diseases on the mainland.

Now, we hear that the military are moving out so the Island will be returned to the rigours of nature and only visited by humanity for six months a year - the edge of the world right enough.

Home, with something strange happening - real sunshine and blue skies, so despite the fact I had work to do it was out into the fresh air, pulled many weeds and then Mrs B. appeared with bags of bulbs so there I was out in the sun and a wee production line planting out my pots for next year.

Sparky Mark, back online after his trip to Snowdonia with his friends from the Kilimanjaro hike - so now he has to to "chill out" once again - before taking up his strenuous duties of disaster and destruction !!!

Nice wee call from our local MSP's office, (Christine Grahame) inviting me in to see her at the New Scottish Parliament in early October.

A day on the road

Wide awake now, which was more than I can say by the time I returned home today after my wee jaunt to Runcorn via Glasgow.

Arrived in Glasgow and young Jill was a bit late , having had a couple of calls during the night - anyway, eventually hit the road to join my white van men - who were in fine fettle today, I honestly thought there had been a full moon!! It was not just one at a time, at one stage there were three in convoy going like the clappers. No 1 flying machine was an alarm engineer from Claymore Lock and Alarm who was really flying, he passed me just north of Moffat on the A74, going like the aircraft I saw at the same place last week - But what was worse, having passed he suddenly pulled back into the inside lane, causing others to slow to avoid him, and when I passed him again he had the usual mobile phone glued to his ear - for commercial companies with men on the road all day, I just fail to understand why they do not have hands free systems.
Next "looney" was north of Lancaster in a Bedford Luton van, working for Wolsley, and the van was jumping, what can you expect at around 95 / 100 mph.

Made it to Runcorn, no Jill on Reception as she had taken herself on holiday (without my permission!!) and then to make matters worse I had phoned ahead for my bacon butty - rubbish, burnt offer of the bacon, but the roll was crap - so perhaps Dick Turpin's sisters should be called the "Incinerator Sisters" !!!

Homewards, but it was a bit of a strain on the Motorway, however when I turned off onto the A701 at Moffat, things perked up. Moffat was bathed in sunshine, and full of tourists and busy.

Headed north east on the A701, up over The Devil's Beeftub, when a very nice sports car came up behind me- so I let him past, and from then on I managed to more or less stay with him all the way to Rommano Bridge before I was blocked off. Another of my pet hates were the camper vans - who were causing long tail backs and making no attempt at giving way.
The John Buchan Centre at Broughton was just opening up as I passed, one day I will take the time to stop and go have a look see.

Interesting thing today was that the Tour of Britain cycle race was taking place running parallel to my route, but in the opposite direction from Peebles to Gretna Green via Newcastletown - and from what I saw on ITV 4 it was a superb race, very scenic and with ninety nine riders, an excellent field.

I remember a story, which took place during the Lockerbie Bombing enquiry, one of the local policeman went into the unmanned Police station at Newcastletown, popped into the ell to use the toilet and the self locking cell door closed behind him !! He was stuck there for hours until someone realised he was missing and went looking for him - no phone in the loo.

A few more miles to go - once again.

Once again , the same old story , wide awake half the night and for no reason, other than that I must have been really bad when i was young!!!

All set to get on the road to Glasgow and Runcorn - meeting young Jill in Glasgow, and she is not "a morning person" I agreed to go through a wee bit later - so hopefully I will not have any problems en route and get home early via Moffat for a change.

Talking of Glasgow, I was sad enough to watch the replay of the "X Factor" last night , and what a poor presentation Glasgow had from ITV, they had a stadium full of hopefuls, managed to get a good showing from one of last years losers - but spent more time showing a silly woman and her supposedly singing dog , "Jazz" - dashed nonsense. One act successful - yet London and the English cities produce act after act and we see little of the good ones.

The judges must have a really good excuse for subjecting themselves to this grief day in and day out - probably called money and publicity.

Must dash - the white van men await my presence.

Got to be one of the worst wines.

Keep coming back to this subject, however, on my flight back from London City last week with Air France, I was unfortunate enough to receive a bottle of the "In house" wine, which was called Chareau Dulca 2007, supposedly a Bordeaux Superior. Now, for me who will generally drink most wines, although I do have a preference to New Zealand; South African; Chilean reds.

BUT this was totally atrocious, and that is an understatement - poured down the drain, which has to be a bit of a positive statement for me !!!

Next flight in a couple of weeks will be a G & T flight !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sarah Hynd - 30 yrs of age, and still smiling !!

So later in the day, following advanced notice from Archie @ Pole Dancer, we headed to the Standing Order where Archie's young sister in law had arrived with lots of her friends, using this as a starter for a night out on the town. It was great to see them all, many having travelled fair distances. lovely to meet the wee group from Durham who knew all the places where I used to live all those years ago.

Sarah was a wee bit embarrassed with her birthday speeches - never mind, what are birthdays for. I reminiced about the first time we met, which was in a "Wendy House" during wee Camryn's 1st birthday party!!!!!! Now just what do you make of that - twenty adults stuffed in a "Wendy House" with a keg of lager!!

We later had a brilliant holiday in Barbados to attend the wedding of Achie and Tracy.

Sorry that Alan and Carol could not make it tonight, but we appreciate that Alan is still recovering from a serious illness and would have loved to have been there - keep on the mend.

The cake was beautiful, made for Sarah by a friend, a true work of art.

Two sunny masonic Days plus

Just a quickie to show I am still in one piece. Arrived at Mercat with RGB and Scotty on Friday a.m. to discover that I had been taken in under false pretenses, just to get him in as Jo Jo had taken his van. I was supposed to be off and could have been sitting in the sun at home - so much for being told to hide the sunglasses !!!

So I just stayed and helped out , for the fun of it, the nice customers help make my day - and two of my ladies who always, always have nachos , had a brainstorm and ended up with a massive dish of mussels - which they really enjoyed.

Home, and out sharp to the meeting of Provincial Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Mid and East Lothian - where I submitted my resignation simple because I just cannot guarantee to make all the meetings officially, but will not stop me from going. Good meeting , then home to try and brush up on ritual for today - fell asleep with the book in my hand.

Up sharp again , fabulous morning - more sunshine and onto the bus to Bonnyrigg. Popped in to see Grant who was heading off to a weeding, then along to lodge. 1st Degree meeting of the OSM , which for me actually went OK - so I was a bit happier with myself and performance. Good turn out of visitors from all over Scotland.

Stayed for the meal, did my speech to the Visitors, which was a bit unorthodox, then onto the bus to meet Mrs B at the Mercat and from here ( where I am writing, we will, once fed be going back to the Standing order for a wee surprise party - more to follow. BUT - having just had a superb siloin steak - with trimming, what more can I say, other than that I will never ever be a vegetarian .

Save a tree - you must be kidding!!!

In this era of computerisation I received this "Pro Forma" from the finance Department of of om clients yesterday.

It took ages to download, used up gallons of ink, and i then had to cut and selotape it together.

Just imagine the size of the ring binder required for this lot !!

Another thing which gets me going is the GMTV morning quiz, it is so inane - I wonder how many seriously have trouble working out the answers each day , and are then daft enough to pay £1 to phone in the answer.

Today's question is :- Fill in the missing word.

"A man is said to be as fit as a -------.

a. Drum

b. Fiddle

c. Guitar.

So now we are likely to have no Vauxhall Motors soon , a complete demise of a once strong motor industry, and the report about to be published about the failure of MG Rover will show that the "fat cats" robbed the company blind - whats new.

Supreme Grand Shepherd - spoof par exellance

Headed off to Dalkeith last night for a meeting of Esk 42 Royal Arch , which was John Wright's last meeting in the chair. His successor, Duncan Gemmell was present so we look forward to seeing him installed next month at which event hopefully the Supreme 1st Principle , Ian Fraser, will be present .

HOWEVER, after the official meeting there was an extremely funny working of a "Spoof Degree" which John and friends had produced for his great pal, Bert Waite. Bert, a Welshman, through and through , is always the "butt" of various jokes about sheep, etc., so he was invested into the Order of the Good Shepherd. A really well thought out and presented "Spoof", and Bert was really thrilled to have been set up in such a brilliant fashion.

An "Essex Girl" from the USA

This young lady from the USA ,( the lovely bubbling Katherine) along with five of her friends arrived for breakfast on Wednesday, so having had a bad couple of days, another one started!!! Not really , she and the others were very nice and she promised to come in for the next few mornings just to test my blood pressure. If she gets me in a calm, tranquil mood she may even get the "Bucks fizz" she keeps asking for.

Just pausing to reflect

Sort of shattered this morning , but what can you expect after the events of the last two days.

The London City Airport lounge slowly emptied last night, staff were heading home and I thought we might get issued with blankets and pyjamas as the minutes passed into hours and with flights leaving the departure board was slowly clearing.
My saving grace was having the wee Netbook, being able to use the free wi fi , and also watch a movie which Grant @ Photogenix2 had loaded for me earlier.
Eventually at 9.20 p.m. or thereabouts we were put on board an Air France plane which had come in from Amsterdam I think. At this stage there were only twenty two passengers left for the flight so I presume some had transferred over to British Airways or earlier Air France / City Jet flights to Edinburgh using transferable tickets.
Once on board there was hardly any comment made about this delay, other than a brief apology and a joke about a pilot breaking an earlier plane - which was a very marked contrast with the way we were treated by National Express and the shorter time delay on the train !!!
We had been given a £5 voucher in the airport, but with the cheapest pint of beer at £4.70 !! - (dearest was £6.70p - robbing bleeders) although I did get a toasted pannini for less.
Worst nightmare for me was to discover that the wine on board was really rough, and the sandwich was solid dough.

Plane landed and we parked up (somewhere near the Airport as one man put it) we then were bussed to the terminal and fortunately for me RGB and Master Liam Wilson arrived within seconds of me reaching the pick up point - home to bed - perchance to sleep, to dream, etc.

The very, very late Mr B. how much worse !!!!

Well, after Sunday's escapade I thought it could not get any worse, but , believe it or not it has -

In the interim I did have a good day with the third session of the neighbourhood management Course, my ladies were First class and seem to have coped with my somewhat unorthodox teaching methods !!

So, back to the tale of woe - finished the course and met up with young Declan Cassidy, the Sales Manager at The Strand hotel, had a wee blether and a glass of wine, before heading for the tube at Covent Garden, reached the platform after a decent in the lift to discover that my next connection on the Circle line was cancelled long time as someone had managed to fall onto the track and died as a result. Obviously a very sad and unfortunate incident which has caused serious inconvenience for the thousands of commuters trying to get home.

So it was by a different route I headed east to the Docklands, where on the way a number of the escalators were also out of order with folks huffing and puffing up the non moving stairs.

Absolutely delighted to get to the City airport, shoes off, belt off and through the security to discover that the flight was, yes , DELAYED, initially for one hour, and now for two and a quarter hours. Lady at the customer service desk was unable to offer me digs for the night !! so hopefully a plane will arrive before the airport closes for the night at 10 p.m.

Not much I can do but take fluids and compensate for the dehydration caused by this air conditioning.

Certainly an adventure to date - good job I am on my own.

For the further adventures of the late Mr B . watch this space.

The late Mr. B or Nightmare on the national Express

My goodness, Sunday turned out to be a day and a half - understatement. Up early as usual after another restless night, pottered about and got all packed for my trip away.

Sparky arrived at 11.30 a.m. and we headed down to Bonnyrigg to the Committee meeting of the OSM - Soutra Isle, and arrived to discover that we were nearly an hour late !! with members wondering where we had gone to . However, the meeting, which was well attended finished and the office bearers remained for a somewhat chaotic rehearsal, just like the theatre, you just hope that it will be all right on the night , so to speak. Poor Mark was somewhat bemused as he has never been to one of these rehearsals before.
Left about 1 p.m. to head into town to catch my 2 p.m. train from Waverly - sounds simple, But - we ran into long queues of traffic about a mile from the station so I decided to get out and walk - this was the wise decision of the day , as everything around the Royal Mile, was stationary due to a parade assembling near the Worlds End Pub ( notorious for the double murder many years ago). passing through the parade spotted an ancient !!! motorcycle cop, another "Sparky" who i had not seen for ages causing mayhem in the road - so he and i had a conversation over his radio via his mate.
Into the Station in good time, managed a beer and was waiting on No 11 when the 2 p.m. train arrived - found my seat, sat down and waited , and waited and waited. Guard kept telling us there was a signal fault East of Edinburgh ( Drem) and that the train before us (1.30) was also held up. About 2.40 p.m. we were told our train was cancelled and we had to join the other on platform 2 - so there we were trying to get a full train packed into another full train !!! just like pouring a pint into another pint - does not work , No seats, bodies everywhere and tempers getting frayed. The Guards who I had passed were saying how stupid it was and then disappeared for their own safety.
At 3 pm. the next batch of passengers , for the 3 p.m. London train arrived and they tried to jam in as well !! getting worse - and then eventually we were told that the train was going to be diverted across country to Carlisle and then back over to Newcastle before going down the East Coast - so off we set. Problem then was that we were being slotted in between other trains and had to keep stopping and starting , and that the route from Carlisle to Newcastle is not high speed so we were over two hours late by the time we reached Newcastle. Due to the crowding the buffet car was not opened but some of the more vocal passengers raided the car and set off down the train dishing out "free" bottles of water, etc.
We were at Peterborough, two hours late, when things began to return to a semblance of order and seats were again available for everybody . Some folks had been sat in the toilet corridors, for four hours, and even the toilets were failing due to the strain.

Eventually arrived at London at 9.05 , some 2 hrs 20 mins behind schedule, onto the Tube and when I did get to the hotel, there was no reservation for me !!! Got that sorted and it was 10 p.m. before I had a a sight of a bed!!

Quick wash and took myself out into the night air for a wander, pizza and beer.
So now we wait to see what this fine day has to offer.

A (First Class) day in Glasgow

Headed for Glasgow on the train from Edinburgh, accompanied by a number of the Tartan Army making their way the International between Scotland and Macedonia ( which we won 2 - 0) eventually.

Took ouselves off for a walk in the rain and saught shelter in the St Eonochs Cetntre, Frasers, the Princes Mall where we had lunch at D'Arcays; the Buchannan Galleries; john Lewis.

Eventually made it back home on a quieter train , First Class for some peace and quiet, and have to say that the staff were superb ( both ways). Our Steward on the way home was superb and had a wee wind up with one of his friends which kept everyone on the train guessing.

Home to Edinburgh to The Mecat where I met Ian Anderson , a former social worker from Dalkeith who was a member of one of my Crime Prevention Panels in Midlothian, nice to see him again apart from the fact he seemed to think my shadow was a bit bigger than he remembered!!!

Eventually, out to Penicuik, and after a lot of walking had our dinner at The Craigibield, but honestly - I should have stayed at The mercat for my steak

Stewart's mico brewery, Loanhead

Friday , p.m, made it home and headed back to Loanhead to see how Steve Stewart was doing at his open day at his mico brewery - answer being, very wll , with a great response, so much so that he ran out of beer, burgers and sausages. And to make my day, on of the lads helping out was doing his brewery course at Heriot Watt Uni , was a flat mate of or young chef Chris who is coping with his lady friend ( our neeve) good day had by all, but what else do you expect with such good beer.

H & S and Holidays

Butterflies as promised the other day, however the poor things would have drowned today with all the rain we are having.

Took my medicine like a man last night and fell into bed at 10 p.m., to waken bright as a button at 5.30 a.m.

Despite having the day off to get organised, there was no way I was getting a long lie as the Water Board contractors arrived as promised and drilled and banged, but got my wonky manhole covers up and replaced.

Tried to get in touch with the railway people, but they like many other organisations, have a better record at sales than after sales !!

Headed into town to see Alan and Arlene at KB, both up to their eyes in Health and Safety paperwork - looks like it will soon be impossible to get tradesmen at all due to all the red tape being generated by our wonderful bureaucrats.

Headed off to the Mercat Bar where everyone in West Maitland Street was being subjected to the most terrible ear battering from the blokes who were marking the roads at the junction - did not take a photo but they are moving the temporary pedestrian crossing all of six feet - just how much is this insane project costing with all these enforced moves made to be compliant to H & S, etc.

Young Liam Wilson has done well, he had got himself a place at Aberdeen University where he is going to study Architecture, so we will lose a good member of staff and his Mum will get a bit of peace and quiet !!

Headed home, and after a couple of long phone calls managed to get us sorted for a birthday Holiday to Egypt at the end of October which was the wish of Mrs B. so not only will she go on holiday with some old relics she will get the chance to see many more - between Cairo and sailing down the Nile from Luxor. Something to look forward to.

back to the bar in the morning, then out to an Installation at Newbattle of Dundas R A at night.

A long long trip

Nice early rise today, but surprisingly, after everything I say - i woke during the night but dozed off and needed the alarm for 4.20 a.m. Off on the road, and the very first motor to pass me was a "white van man" - going like the clappers - as usual.

Through to Glasgow to see Mr Dunk - crabbit old fart - looking forward to his bottle of port tonight.

Southwards without incident , but past the M56 and the M6 was very busy - including all the fruitcakes on four wheels.

into Central Birmingham, made a mistake and took the wrong exit but it was only a case of up and over.

Arrived at the office but could hear alltrhe fire engines etc, nearby, so when I left I was stuck in a jam because a certain "black" gentleman had sort of over run the roundabout and ended up in a garden which wa going to need a good tow truck to get him out.

Headed north and into Runcorn to see Jill and Lorraine, and despite 96 hrs notice , the ladies were still not organised !!! so what's new?

Weather was not brilliuant heading home, and there was a spectacular three care crash near en route, otherwise a good run. Passed two sort of high tech Metropolitan Police vans, plus two army type motors near Carlisle - odd.

At abington was passed by an Audi, doing about 110 mph, not wasting time - and then I tagged onto a motor cycle who sat at a steady 85/90 all the way into Glasgow. ?????? What is the speed limit.

After my stop at Glasgow I decided to go across country, Newmains, Carluke, Carnwarth, and West Linton to miss the chaos at Hillend on the A 702, and made it home by 5.15 p.m. 720 miles since leaving. bit knackered, but nothing a drop of red wine cannot cure.

call from William and Sandra in Spain, sunburnt and happy.

Some have a cheek and others are cheeky !!!

Missed all the traffic chaos at Hillend, which was already starting at 6.45 a.m. , and the traffic report said that they were working all night - not true.

Into the Bar, opened early and raring to go, with a few in for breakfast.

Late morning this group of lovely young art students from several art colleges in Southern Ireland arrived, over to take in some of the arty things at the festival. They were a real cheery bunch and doing their best to wind me up, said they were my worst nightmare come true!! However, I said that having been married for 39 years it would take more than them to upset me. So girls, Adeline; Orlagh; Evelyn; Linda; Ciara; Michelle; Niamh; Maria; and Grianne - hope you had a nice trip home and enjoyed your trip.

A white van arrived at 0830 hrs and parked in the loading bay, while the driver, a tradesman went to work upstairs - the van was still there five hours later !!! But - there was a nice blue Disabled drivers badge on the windscreen , which was all that was stopping the driver getting booked.


Left sharp to do a couple of jobs on the way home. So now, sitting having a quiet night in before my long haul to Glasgow, Birmingham and Runcorn in the morning.

Bit jealous of William and Sandra who are sunning themselves and taking red wine in Spain for a few days.