So - the Egyptian Adventure begins - up, up and away

Friday morning, nice and early, sun not shining but it will be tonight !!

Had a very quiet day on Thursday, caught up with my correspondence, even heard from "Night Owl" in London who seems to have come up trumps, with some more work for me when I get back, but this time in Glasgow - join S B Associates and see the world .

Heading off to Edinburgh Airport soon where we will board a BMI flight to London T1 and meet with William and Sandra at T3. Hopefully we have enough time to use our airport lounge passes and relax for a while !! From there, it is a Star Alliance connection, on to an Egyptair flight to Cairo where we are due to stay till the 2nd before flying down to Luxor to join the "Viking III" boat for a weeks cruise down the River Nile. We believe that the Egyptair flight is alcohol free, with only soft drinks and alcohol free beer supplied - BUT they do allow you to consume your own , so we might be able to pop into the duty free in London - not that we have a problem,

Great excitement when we get back, Mrs. B. will be keen to get to the post where hopefully the arrival of her new "bus pass" will not have been delayed by the actions of the striking postal workers.
As far as the strike goes, I find it very strange - about two weeks ago my friend Declan at the Strand Palace Hotel sent me a letter which has not arrived yet, however, he sent me another on the 26th (during the so called strike) and it was here in a couple of days. BUT - on the other hand one of the so called managers at the City of Edinburgh Council was instructed ten days ago to send us a letter (important) to arrive before the 27th - STILL IN THE POST !!! Allegedly , so we add that to the growing list of "nails in the coffin" - for future.

Long and interesting day

Obviously had a long day on the road, made it to Runcorn, but with a delay at Glasgow as Bob D. had been out all night dealing with a serious crime in Edinburgh.

South to Runcorn, where I met Jill,the "hole in one" lady, so delighted to have managed this feat, got her badge, been there - terrific.

Heading homeward and despite what I say about the white van men , I think it is me who has earned another three points compliments of either Strathclyde's or Dumfries and Galloway's finest, all in the name of either road safety or the community income fund !!!

Today's photos are , firstly , the superb Jewell which I was presented with last night and also of my "Friday girls" who were in yesterday for lunch. The young blond lady, not from Essex, is heading off this weekend to live in Paris as a PA for her GM, I am not sure if she really knows what she is in for , speaks no French, and knows that there is a "Scottish pub" in Paris !!!!!!!!!! But is not quite sure how big Paris really is ?

On a different tack, but masonic - we go each year to Temple old kirk yard, Temple Village as part of the Knight's Templar's ceremonies as they had an encampment nearby associated with King David of Ballentradoch. This week in our local paper there was an article about the discovery of a mysterious carved stone found in a wall by builders who were working on a wall. the stone has carvings similar to Viking monuments in medieval graves and in Celtic carvings.

the stone is now being researched by staff from Historic Scotland.

A rushed week,

Morning - It is not not the case that i am getting lazy , just busy and running out of time with other things on my mind. As you will note it is just a little before dawn once again , and I am up and about to head off again , at relatively short notice down to Runcorn , and via Glasgow. No short cut this time as i will need to go back to Glasgow this afternoon.

Highlight of the past couple of days was the Installation last night at the laird o Cockpen RA , No.500, when I relinquished my jewels, and the door keys to young Dougie Neill, well done Douglas, some young blood to keep us old chaps in place - he with his wing man, Big Ian ,and Sparky mark in the 1st Soj. seat, and a new young un !! Grant of Photogenix by his side.

It was my privilege to receive my IPZ jewel from Douglas, but in this case it was very special, The jewel ws that previously owned by the late William Allan, who was MEZ during the period 1976 - 1977, and returned to the Chapter following his death last year. I was also able to get his apron and sash . Hopefully I will wear them with pride and never tarnish his memory.

There were a few of the well kent faces missing last night, two being Bill Annand and Andy McKeen, who along with No 1 Ian Fraser are out in Indai and Goa, and just to rub salt into the wounds, after their Installation duties in Mumbai are out in Goa. Never mind, I will be off to Egypt for a well deserved break with friends and family on Friday morning - now that the Installation os over and one with.

Need to go - the dreaded white van men are beckoning !!!

Ocean Terminal, the docks and my Doc - again

Sunday morning , weather was now well on the turn with Autumn here at long last , trees discarding their leaves by the barrow load. Wwe were up through Lowries Den later in the day and the "tunnel" / the canopy of leaves is deminishing every day , so now we have the skeletol branches of the trees and sight of the open sky - soon we will be back to an open sky.

With the change of clocks, now one hour back, it really was a long lie in , but up - and away to Bonnyrigg to set up the Temple for the Chapter Meeting of Tuesday nights forthcoming installation at The laird O'Cockpen Royal Arch 500.

On the way back up the roadI saw the shepherd at Pomathorn out on the quad bike with his his three dogs rounding up the sheep - what a life - dedicated - especially in this weather.

Headed into Ocean Terminal for yet another session with the Chinese doctor and his box of needles - he was really good today - felt a real surge of heat and energyin my back while the needles were in , plus a mega deep massage and the strange "cupping" afterwards.

Out in the docks there was a bit of action as a massive ore tanker , A&E , SE, Panama was being moved from its mooring by two tugs , one being the Fidra, a fire fighting tug - named after Fidra Island off North Berwick. I could not find any reference to the tanker on the internet based on all I could see on its bow and stern, strange.

Also in the inner harbour was the SEAWELL, a massive North Sea drilling support vessel.

Home to get rattled into a couple of letters in response to the "rubbish" we have intercepted from the "Council".

Sparky arrived for tea - and we had a real moan about the farce on the TV now known as the X Factor - it is really getting silly with good acts being voted off by the ever so silly public - who are voting for individuals rather than talent.

Damper on the night was a late message from Young Tam Findlay to let us know that his father had died earlier today - our thoughts and wishes are with you and the family.

Here we have, within a family, the classic - within two weeks , a new born baby and then a death - some may well say that within nature there is some form of natural equilibrium, however we all know that this is not true with the World's population forever on the increase.

Absolutely fantastic dinner night at the Mercat

Sunday night and have been so busy time has just flown by, with the result at we now have the highlights of a couple of days.

Worked Saturday morning and then home, quick snooze and all ready for a run into town with Sparky for the extraordinary wine and dinner night.
You will see that all the stops were pulled out and the twenty eight folks who attended had a fantastic meal, superb wines in excellent surroundings - for those who sadly were unable to attend because of other engagements - you missed a very memorable evening.

We had several visitors from Ireland, Nhiph, Charlene and their partners and friends, and also Daniel and his partner, Daniel gave a presentation on the various wines and made the night his treat as it was his birthday.

THE MENU

Introductory glass of Rene Barbierer Brut Cava.
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Seared Scallops with a beetroot and salsa sauce ;

Wine - Picpoul De Pinet , Beauvignac.
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White bean and Coconut soup;

Wine Terra Del Noce Pinot Grigio.
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Smoked Duck served with sun dried tomato polenta and lavender foam.

Wine - Stellar running Duck Organic Shiraz 2008.
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Apple sorbet
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Fillet of beef served with Pont Neuf potatoes and a dubonnet sauce.

Wine - Casa Lapostolle Cuvee Alaxandre Cabernet Souvignon 2006.
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Dark Chocolate mouse served with passion fruit sauce.

Wine Chapoutier Banyules - a lovely sweet desert red.
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Fine cheese platter - including Blue Shropshire; Vignotte; & Organic Cromal .
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All for £25 and including a complimentary glass of Drambui.

What more can one ask for ?

Our chefs for the night were excellent but unfortunately Claire was a wee bit shy so it was left to Andy and Chris to take a bow.

Our various guests were extremely complimentary, and rightly so.

To some, the Mercat Bar is a good place to eat - to others, who know better - it is a first class place to dine.

Still no rest for the wicked

Despite my previous comments, the lovely Sharon at the dentist's surgery was nice and gentle, gave my molars a good clean and polish and prescribed a new tooth paste to help stop my teeth being mega sensitive

it was then off westwards following the "three wise men" stopping off to deliver a nice wee bouquet of flowers to Sheena in Bathgate who is aging gracefully.

She did well recently during a trip to New York where her beloved husband treated her to a pair of Johnny Choos shoes .

So onwards westwards to the Audi Centre, Hillington, for the security exhibition. Must admit that is getting smaller each year, fewer exhibitors, many affected by the recession and similarly the numbers of visitors is falling. But despite this, there were some interesting stands, top of the range equipment, and I certainly found it worthwhile. Must try and get to the SSA Dinner on 23rd November even if I do have a previous engagement the next day.

So home, did a bit work, and then later in the evening headed off to the Mercat where I did my impression of Van Gough ; Turner ; or even McTaggart; painting / or freshening up the "loos" - so at 3 a.m. I gave up and headed home to bed.

Despite my best efforts I still had little sound sleep and was up early to get on with a couple of outstanding tasks, which I eventually manged to do - thank goodness.

Had a call to SAGA home insurance where I spoke with a charming and helpful young man who is going to do a little research for me - makes a change to get some good customer service.

Watching an example of Rogue Traders on Watchdog, the Rogue of the week, a so called tree surgeon who was charging the equivalent of £1600 an hour for cutting down small trees. he could not even get three small tree stumps out - which took the TV boys 90 minutes - just think what I could have charged our William for spending three days digging out his tree stump last year,

Andy Mckeen ; Bill Annand are away to India now with No 1 ( MEZ 1st Principal of the SGRAC of S) Ian Fraser to install the new Grand Superintendent of India and Ceylon in Mumbai - just unfortunate that there is an overlap with my forthcoming holiday week Friday other wise I would have been back there with them. Never mind, I have a good holiday to look forward to.

So, the choice was to watch the rather bigoted leader of the BNP on the BBC in Question Time , or see some gifted artists at work in the Master Chef, no competition - the good food win every time = especially accompanied by a glass of red wine.

Early one morning - before the sun was rising.

Nice and quiet here at the moment, apart from the noise of the falling rain on the conservatory roof. However at this time of the morning, after yet another bad night it is very soothing.

I have just checked out the "tracker" on this blog and I see that the "Michael Hexel" lot seem to be still nice and active and stirring up the populace with their scam e mail.

Tuesday was relatively quiet apart from the receipt of yet another letter from our bungling incompetents at Edinburgh City Council, which had the effect of "lighting the blue touch paper" once more and sending us back into our regular low orbit !!! It looks as though it could go on forever - the outcome was that I got all fired up and took the opportunity to update the ever expanding file of documents we hold - bearing in mind that "what goes round - comes round".

Collected Dr Disaster @ Captain Calamity and we headed off to Bonnyrigg for a meeting at Lodge Dalhousie 720. Good attendance of about 107 brothers but this did include a big deputation of 33 from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Mid and East Lothian. The election of office bearers took place so Craig Gordon, the last of the long line of progressive office bearers will be going to the Chair on 21st November. I even discovered that i am going back to my old office of Assistant Treasurer once again - following a year out.

The Scottish Security Association ( SSA) have a "Scotsec" security Exhibition at the Audi Centre Hillington, Glasgow, which I really should try to attend later today. Depends on how my friendly dentist treats me this morning. The exhibitions are usually very good, run by a small dedicated core of members on the Committee, an with an choice of topical seminars well worth a visit.

The Mercat Bar is having another of their excellent "Wine Dinners" on Saturday night (24th) so I have that to look forward to - four courses and some nice wines - should be able to let what little hair I have down once again.

Sunday / Monday , mixed events.

Sunday started off weatherwise quite nice, however it was not long before the cloud came over and my bright morning turned out ever so raw and dull. My plans for a coupe of hours in the garden were shelved and instead we headed into Edinburgh to my "favourite" shop, Matalan !! Yes, not being a fashion guru, I am happy enough to get many of my every day clothes there.

Home again and onto the computer to try and get on with my London Project, however, I was just not in the mood to concentrate, so it back to Plan B, a nice bottle of wine and an excellent steak for my dinner.

Biggest farce of the day was watching the X -Factor on the TV, some of the acts made a mockery of the word entertainment, especially Cherly Cole's performance - there were better singers in the competition, and the public's voting ever so biased.

Another bad night, up early and into The Mercat bar again, everything was relatively straight forward - I had a nice wee surprise with a small gift waiting for me from my four visitors last week from Ohio and Kentucky - Parky and Helen Thompson, and Larry and Phyllis McAtee.

I left early, had a look at the tramworks and found that while some holes had been filled in other were now ginormous, one in over ten feet deep, with some massive valves and coupling being put in place. I feel sorry for some of the shops on the south side as the workmen are lifting some of the pavement and are right up against the wall of the building where they have had to make connections into the cellars.

Into Torphichen Street where one of the mobile Traffic wardens must have thought it was x-mas, he found a van, unloading timber, but on a red line - so while he was parking his scooter and trying to write a parking ticket on his machine, the driver was closing up his van and trying to move into traffic held up by a red light - race against time for both parties, however, the driver was fortunate enough to get away before the warden could get the ticket on the vehicle.

I had another session on the computer , and this time, thank goodness managed to get my mind in gear and produce some paperwork to show for my efforts.

I am sitting watching this latest BBC documentary series, "Life" with the commentary by Richard Attenburgh, the programme is just fascinating, the photography totally outstanding and the whole thing mesmerising - this is sheer brilliance.

My sad bit of news of the day was to learn of the death of Wallace Meikle, a friend of many years, who was very keen supporter of Town twinning and with his wife Alice had visited our twin town, Lisle Sur la Sorgue, Provence, France, on several occasions. He took the whole thing very seriously and had studied French to the extent that he was extremely fluent. he will be sadly missed within his community of friends in Penicuk North Kirk.

Back to Ocean Terminal, needles and all

I had an appointment at Ocean Terminal with the Chinese Doctor and his battery of tiny wee sharp needles, so I left Mrs. B. to go on a walk about for an hour or so. However, beforehand, I decided to take a couple of photos with remarkable results, the first, looking over the main dock was taken about two an a half hours before the other, when the wind had dropped and the sun had come round - what a difference. In the other harbour, with no wind there was a superb mirror image of the various scenes. I still have grave misgivings about them building the massive blocks of flats on reclaimed land out into the river - having seen the results of the tsunami in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world, I would hate to be living there if we get a real humdinger of a North Sea storm and north east gale blowing up the Firth of Forth.

While I was being turned into the veritable pin cushion, with fifteen needles today, followed by acu pressure, and then a much deeper "cupping" session, Mrs. B. was bumping into friends in the centre. Alan and Carol, Alan now on the mend after his recent heart attack, losing weight and back at work - having a weekend free of babysitting as the bold lap dancer, his lovely wife Tracy and their two angels are off to sunnier climes for a break ( its Ok for some as they say).

AND , she also bumped into the former Joyce Lancashire, over from Troon with her husband for a friend's wedding. Joyce used to be our neighbour in Eskhill, looked after our RGB when he was a "wee dottle"and I was out "socialising"!! Looking very well and enjoying life.

Bit of a problem with the wee camera now as there is dirt in the inside which makes some of the photos look as though they are smudged, but to have it opened and cleaned would cost as much as a new camera (sorry).

Edinburgh Gunners and their support

On my brief stop in the Mercat Bar, I had a wee chat with the Rugby girls, not long back from their trip to Paris last week. They said that they had had a brilliant time away supporting the Gunners and had just managed to sober up in time for todays game against Ulster.

I had to leave before the rest of the gang appeared - which was maybe a good thing for me !!

Edinburgh views and the Georgian New Town

It was such a lovely day, so on way into town to seek out Mrs. B.who was busily "touching clothes" in many of Edinburgh's top shops. I headed up onto the Blackford Hill to the Royal Observatory and had managed a couple of nice views looking East over Arthur's Seat and onto the River Forth. On the road up to Observatory there is a magnificent gateway / arch erected in 1885 in memory of Sir George Harrison, Lord Provost at the time who had the City of Edinburgh buy the Blackford Hill for the people of the City.

Into the Town and passed the rebuilt arch at the site of the Old Meat Market , erected 1884, at Fountainbridge, and then after stopping off at The Mercat I went round into the New Town.

The Georgian Terraces are true works of art, and I think not fully appreciated by the locals who have so much beauty on their doorstep, and the old adage, keep looking up is very true, as there is so much hidden away up in the roof tops.

R I P Betty and John

Bright and very frosty morning today which led into a superb Autumn day, bright sunshine, no wind, which gave us really nice day.

However, I had two funerals to attend, both at Mortonhall Crematorium this morning.

The first was the mother of our friend Sandra, wife of Gordon, Elizabeth (Betty) Meechan, AKA Elizabeth Queen of Moredun, who from the tributes being paid to her was a very remarkable lady. She had seven children and there are currently fifty two grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was a very good dancer and once she retired she started running dance classes and tea dances in Gilmerton. A remarkable lady.

My second was John Housten Spence from Bonnyrigg a member of Lodge 720 and RA 500. Both John and his son Alex worked at Ferranti's and that was where they met my father.I spoke with his son Alex afterwards who told me that Father had interviewed him for his job, then complimented Alex as he had actually interviewed the panel. John had owned two shops in the Bonnyrigg area, but when the supermarkets came on the scene he was shrewd enough to sell up before they destroyed his businesses.

It was just unfortunate the way things worked out as I was unable to follow on and meet up with
the families afterwards.

Despite the early rise my day turned out OK. It was a lovely morning, very clear skies so I may have missed the frost here as dawn broke - but there was a majestic waning moon in the sky and some very clear constellations, the plough being notably obvious.

into Glasgow by 5.40 a.m. where Mr Bob was in good spirits, a bit of a change for him from last week when he took ill,collapsed, passed out and broke his nose as a result of the fall in the bathroom while being violently ill.

The skies were pretty dramatic this morning as the moon set and the sun rose, not a full sunrise with the expected golden orb, but just a mass of crimson cloud hiding the sun until it was up far enough to force me to pop on the "shades".

the M6 is getting worse with road works and I had to cope with four sections of several miles of 50MPH under the average speed cameras - which is a real pain. BUT it still does not stop some from speeding - or stop them using mobile phones.

there was a young lady in a red Micra, who passed me four times, in excess of 90 mph then slowed down to chat on her hands free.

Into Runcorn for a very quick turn round, most importantly to remember to drop off the pies and sausages I had taken for one of the girls.

Home wards, and at just past J22 southbound an accident had just happened so the M6 which had ground to a halt with queues rapidly forming, and some several minutes later all three emergency services were seen heading south to the scene at high speed under the blue lamps.

With no need to go to Glasgow I turned off at Moffat on the A701, the town Moffat was choc a block with visitors and tourists, and being market day there were cars and folks everywhere.

Northwards, I only passed one car between Moffat and Broughton, the weather was superb and it was a beautifully classic autumn day with some intense colouring through the trees and enhanced by the bright sunshine which deepened shadows, ec.

Into Broughton, home of the Broughton Brewery, and also the rebound summer garden, owned by a couple who must spend hundreds of pounds each year and all the money they receive from visitirs goes to charity.

As I was making for Leadburn I was thinking back to the time when the Leadburn Inn was struck during the night by a drug induced driver, which resulted in the building being so seriously damaged that it had to be demolished. I had intended to to stop and get a photograph, but as I approached I could see the blue lights in the distance and sods law, there was a bad accident, with the junction blocked - someone having driven out from the Moffat road into the path of a south bound car on the Penicuik - Peebles road. I actually knew the two Officers dealing with the incident and due to the situation was not able to snatch a photo of either the scene or the "Phoenix" of the Leadburn Inn which is looking really good. BUT i have to question the wisdom of rebuilding the Hotel, especially in this out of town location where motor transport is essential, however, only time will tell, perhaps good marketing, etc will revive its fortunes.
I think my deepest memory of this junction, and the many accidents which I dealt with there was the death of a young female passenger in a car. Someone had pulled out in front of the car which was heading south, the passenger was trapped and as I sat there comforting he before the ambulance arrive the girl, while talking to me leaned forward, and died. It transpired that she had sustained a broken neck in the initial impact and her spinal cord severed as she leaned forward, something which I had not considered.

So, home, and despite the fact it was such a sunny /beautiful day, I took myself off to bed for an hours snooze to recover.

Very early morning call.

4,20 a.m. , yet another nightmare of a night, but now up and running and heading to Runcorn via Glasgow once again.

Had an early start yesterday, in to the Mercat and quite busy during the shift with visitors from all over the World, USA, ( two blokes) who were heading off to Rosslyn Chapel on the 15 Bus using a day saver ; couple from Brisbane over to visit relatives ; a German lady and a Belguin couple having their final meals before heading home, and so on - It was a good day for me - but by the time I reached home I was a bit puggled.

Should have been away to the Installation at Castle Park RA, however Meno appeard with RGB and Sir Christopher and achieved what several others have failed to do - he managed to get this wee Netbook back on air in the house - only taken about nine months !!

Sparky Mark called with an update - had a bit of a flood in a house a couple of days ago, and literally "brought the house down" or ceiling , which ended up on the livingroom carpet - well done Mark - he is still earning his title of Captain Calamity.

Not sure who the lady in the hat is, however, she and another eleven passed the bar yesterday, having just arrived in the City, so they are now in possession of our flyers which hopefully means that they might be back for breakfast or a drinkie.

Word from Dan the Man late last night that one of our former neighbours in Eskhill, Mrs. Reaid had passed away on Wednesday - RIP.

Another Masonic Evening.

Just home a short time ago from another installation , this time at The Lamp o'Lothian R A Chapter, Haddington. However, having had a long day I decided to head for home rather than stay for what was smelling like a wonderful meal.

I have always said that Freemasonary , the Masonic Orders, were one of the largest fundraising and charitable organisations in the World, and here is a Certificate from the Shriners, 100Million Dollar Club, acknowledging a past donation from the Haddington Lodge.

I should also acknowledge the death of one of our members, John Houston Spence, from Bonnyrigg. He was a long standing member of both Lodge Dalhousie Bonnyrigg No 720 and Laird O Cockpen RA Chapter No 500. He was also a very good friend of my father as he was a former employee of Ferranti Ltd., Edinburgh, and always spoke to me about him and his involvement with his family whenever we met at the Lodge.

Right or wrong way up.

Tuesday I think, having been in the house all day chained to the computer.

Monday I was in early at The Mercat bar and had my four visitors from the USA in for an early breakfast, Helen Jean and parky Lloyd Thompson from Kentucky and Larry and Phyllis McAtee from Ohio. All have been staying round at the Hilton Grosvenor but choose to have breakfast with us. Fortunately the have a good sense of humour so they were able to cope with me !!!


I had our new chef, young Dee from New Zealand on learning the ropes with Claire. She is quite quiet so no doubt we will get her sorted out in due course.

Sir Christopher appeared briefly, all tanned and looking like a movie star ( the incredible hulk perhaps) heading off to see his new niece at Musselburgh.

Not too busy so RGB and I coped OK, then I headed home, a nice day. New roadworks about to start on the A702 at Howgate, no idea what they are planning to do but the main road is to be shut every night from 7.30 p.m to 4 a.m. - once again we are under siege.

Sparky arrived last night while we were sitting chittering, our central heating had taken a wee wobbly to itself, possibly following a series of thumping by Mrs . B. - but soon we were all sitting comfortably - as they say.

Today I had decided that no matter what happened I was going to bash on with my project work for Brown Owl and Night Owl down south . Easier said than done, acres of papers to read and try to put into some semblance of order, and in between , several E mails to deal with, phone calls, etc., BUT I did get nearly most of my list completed. Problem now is finding the time to finish the rest, next couple of days in Edinburgh and heading back south to Runcorn on Friday - what more can a man want ?

Now the conundrum - do clothes dry faster inside out or upside down ? I really need to know, every time I hang out the washing to dry, Mrs. B. will appear and rearrange it all saying that I did it all wrong !!!

Reminds me of the time, many moons ago when my parents entered in a "Mr and Mrs" Competition run by the Edinburgh Evening News. They reached the finals and in the theatre in Edinburgh the final "Mr's" had to peg out a line of washing - dad did a good job, and they were either the winners or runners up and won a weekend trip to London, which, for them all those years ago, was big event.

Sunny Leith, and more puncture marks

Out and about today, weather was very nice and sunny, headed firstly into the City Centre and the down to Hollyrood to the Parliament Building, and from there down to the Ocean Terminal shopping centre, Leith, where, from the top car park took the attached photos.

Nice clear views right across the River Forth, with the Forth Bridges away in the distance to the West and Inkeith Island, a former gun emplacement during the war, down river to the east. Much closer of course was the former Royal Yacht Brittania, now a very popular tourist attraction. I see that they have opened up a new restaurant on board, now open during the day and it was busy - but of course you have to pay to get on board first then buy your cuppa - bit dear !!

Also anchored, now long term having been there since 13th May was a container cargo ship, the MS Asturia. It was previously in the main docks but has been moved to its present mooring, possibly due to the recession.

While Mrs. B was shopping I popped into the Chinese Herbalists, same chain of shops as I visited recently in Windsor. I ended up having another session of acupuncture which was a bit more uncomfortable than the last, although the wee mannie did say that I had a lot of needles stuck in my back and legs !! He followed it with a very heavy acu-pressure massage, which, again was a bit different, then some more intense "cupping" so my back is now covered in little circle marks, but they will disappear over the next couple of days. So watch this space for progress or otherwise.

Home to the hills, so to speak, but having said that - Sparky Mark called, having been out on slightly higher hills with is pal Davy, now getting into training to have a shot at the Everest base Camp next year - perhaps.

Introducing Miss Eilidh Finlay.

Well, here she is , Eilidh Finlay, home with Ma and Pa Finlay
having been discharged from the hospital this morning. During our visit she slept, sound as a pond, had the odd suck at her thumb, stretched a lot, and unlike the other ladies present, never said a word!!! But doubless, through time all that will change.

Proud Parents, Tam and Katheryn and Granny Reid were present and happy as larks.

Suffragettes ; things and Eilidh

Edinburgh was very busy today , big traffic diversions on as there was a parade of around 4000 women in the centre of the town, celebrating the actions of the suffragettes about 1905.

Mrs B said that she had seen Andrew Hardcastle from GMTV along with his wife and daughter in Princes Street when she was on her way up to see Archie and Tracy in the S. O. Perhaps he was up for the parade as Davina McColl was also allegedly in town.

Following MY recent complaint to Edinburgh District Council, which they have so far ignored, I had a totally dismissive response from the Director of Corporate services - so much for a caring Council - Investor's in People !!!! my bot, this lot need seriously sorting out - but they must remember "that was goes round, comes round".

I, along with many others had a SCAM e mail from a firm in Hong Kong , Michael Hexel, trading as HK - NSC. They are running a scam on Domain names , chancing micks. I am now at the stage of just deleting all "e " mails I get when I do not recognise the sender. Our Grant had a virus recently which went through his whole system and could have shut him down - took hours to remove.. And now we Edinburgh City Council supporting a scheme at the Pentlands Community Centre, Oxgangs, called "Computer Hacking for Dummies" , the title is to encourage youngsters to take an interest , but they claim that it will teach them how to prevent hacking.

STOP PRESS - young Baby Finlay will now be known as Eilidh Finlay, how lovely to pick a nice Scottish name, but I might need a phonetic spelling so I can pronounce it properly. Mother and child are still in hospital, but doing fine. May well be able to go and join the OOOOOOh brigade tomorrow, having managed to get a day off.

Stanley geddes ; Scott Dyer ; clippies and jeans.

Feet up, still suffering a bit from a late night and not enough sleep.

Mad dash down the street to catch the First Bus 141 to Bonnyrigg, this has to be one of the slowest buses on earth - takes 30 minutes to get there and goes round the houses. I was thinking about the days when the buses all had conductors / conductresses aka "clippies". I used to know one young lady "clippie" from Loanhead who stood for no nonsense on the bus and if it got wild she was infamous for heading along the bus with her ticket machine swinging, and could empty trouble makers at the double.

I was down early so had an hour with Grant @ Photogenix2, who was up to his eyes in photos - so when things were going wrong it was me who got the blame!!

Into the Lodge for a meeting of the OSM, today was the installation in the Stanley Geddes Chapter, 404. This is actually the Provincial Chapter but was renamed in memory of Stanley Geddes for all the things he had done for the Order of the Secret Monitors over the years. Once again there was a good attendance with visitors from Perth and Dundee to witness the installation carried out by the retiring Jim McQueen BEM, RN Rtd.

Planned on getting the bus home, but someone had vandalised the shelter and taken the timetable, so I misssed the bus and had to wait for the next one - but while sitting there day dreaming was delighted to see young Scott Dyer who I have not seen for a while, a really pleasant surprise - look forward to seeing him at our installation. He was off with his good lady and family plus dog to watch Bonnyrigg playing footie.

Eventually caught the slow bus again - it really struggles on the hills from Lasswade and up through Loanhead - so once on the main road, I spied a No 37 following us , so I managed to jump buses and got home , right to the door.

Today's observation has to be about people wearing jeans - something which I cannot wear, so I have no problem with someone wearing a well fitting tailored pair worn properly, however - when you see some of these objects wandering about , with saggy, torn, ill fitting, dirty, and with bums hanging out - they are dreadful.

Royal Arch Chapter Esk 42 - Installation

Last night along with Sparky Mark, my 1st sojourner, I made it to the Installation of MEZ Duncan Gemmell at Dalkeith .

He was superbly installed , by Andy Mckeen ; Alex Moonie; Bert Waite and John Wright in the presence of his own members, a full deputation from Provincial, several well travelled visitors and "The Boss" MEC John A ( Ian) Fraser, PZ, First Grand Principal, SGRAC of Scotland.

Bit of a surprise at the end of the meeting with MEZ Gemmell made Ian Fraser an honorary member of the Chapter - very nice indeed.

Need to go , off to the OSM Installation this morning.

News on - Amy and also Baby Finlay

I had to promise that wee Amy would get her birthday picture in the blog - here she is with RGB who is attempting to persude her to part with her Teddy , as his is a bit worn out !! ( sorry about the quality, it was taken on a phone and has doubtless gone round the world to get here).
RGB had to be sedated when he got home, the noise from the "waens" was just a bit much - far quieter in the Mercat
Br.

Have just spoken with Tam for an update on baby Finlay, poor child has not yet been named, so I offered up a few suggestions. At this rate we will just have to sent our x-mas cards ( provided the Postal strike is not on ) to Tam , Kathryn and ( It ; baby ; wee one ; etc. ).

I am assured that all that is missing from the bedroom is the "baby". And , mother and child are doing fine.

He says there are lots of the OOOOh element photos on Kathry's facebook, but for me that is a world away.

Barbara ( Bride to be) and her friends from Dublin

In the Mercat and this charming group of young ladies arrived, shattered after a 4 a.m. rise in Dublin and the morning Ryanair "Red Eye" over to Edinburgh.

They were fed and watered and then settled in to keep me on my toes whilst their apartment nearby was being made ready.

In the group were Barbara Mullins ( bride to be , and her sister Aoife; Rachel Adams; Clodagh Fox; Kathryn McGath; Shauna Lawlor; Carol Rice, and Shana De Brun.

Hope they enjoy the rest of their weekend in Edinburgh.

Welcome to a bright new world - Miss Finlay.

Congratulations :-

We have just heard through the "bush telegraph" that Katherine and Tam are the proud owners (parents ) of a beautiful little girl.

Miss Finlay ( 21 inches tall) appeared at 2.35 p.m. today and weighed in at a healthy 7 lb 3 oz.

Mother and daughter are both well, father is in shock and will probably require strong ale to recover.

In the meantime no doubt Sir Christopher, proud uncle and Miss Talk a Lot (Ailsa) who are browning their bots in sunnier climes will use this as yet another excuse to pop yet another cork "ce soir".

Tam had better get the room finished before baby gets home !!!!!!

Dashed chilly this morning - typical Penicuik !!

Thursday - I think, and it was ever so chilly this morning , that is two days on a row that I have had to defrost the car and scrape the windscreen. Suppose the consolation is that it has been lovely during the day.

Wednesday was a day chained to the computer working on my project , apart from a quick sojourn to the local Tesco's for vital food supplies.

Took a severe notion for a gammon steak, pineapple, fried egg, peas and chips which brought back old memories of '66 / '67 when I worked at Loanhead. used to go up to the Miner's Club , known as the "Casino" at Nivensknow ( burnt down a long time ago) . I used to team up with the doormen , Jim Archibald and his pals, and when we closed up would head into town about 2 a.m. to the Woodville Restaurant , by the Kings Theatre. We would tuck into a nice big gammon steak, and usually about 5 a.m. when the staff wanted to know if we were finished , would all order up a second one !!!

While at the shops spotted one of the local "eejits" out on his quad bike, three times he passed me in the main street just riding around , tooting and waving at his friends , then nearly fell off as he went round a corner on two wheels - classic numpty.

One of my normal contradictory terms is , "I cannot decide if I am indecisive or not" , however, yesterday I spent some time on my own struggling to deal with the the problem of "Collaborative Problem Solving" !!!! so that will be my task sometime in the next 48 hours.

Had a surprise phone call form a very nice elderly gent, Bob Richardson , who was the man we met on our trip to Thailand and who was searching for the grave of his brother who died working on the Burma Railway between the bridge over the River Kwai and Hellfire Pass. Despite his advanced years he is away to Africa next week to visit the Victoria Falls and go on safari. He was saying that he was even considering South America next year and going up to Lake Titicaca - might have to be careful with the altitude.

Gave up on the computer and watched the Daily Mirror awards to our local hero's, excellent programme with some remarkable acts of bravery and determination.

In The Merct this morning , all quiet once more - Claire back in the kitchen after a few days off and she did really well by winning the Champion of Champions tournament for Scottish ladies at the weekend - well done.

Happy birthday to wee Amy today, she is doing well and getting over her last series of treatments at the hospital.

Need to get out and about again , so tonight it will the reinstallation of John Wright into the Chair at Esk 42 Lodge in Council, Dalkeith. Should be at Esk 42 RA tomorrow night but have a prearranged "doo" at the Edinburgh Masonic Club where it is the annual presentation of cheques to local charities.

So much to do

Beginning to lose track of time, thought that it was Wednesday already - just lots to do at the moment.

Monday, I was up at 4 a.m. once more, and no computer to be found so I pottered about then eventually left early for The Mercat. Met the new cleaner who was buzzing around, a young Polish lad, "Z", as I could not pronounce his name.

A few clients in early for breakfast, however it just tailed off and the rest of the morning and evening over lunch. The bloody tram works were relatively quiet up till about 11.30 a.m. and then the usual mayhem started once more. It is getting so bad that folks are walking along the street with their fingers in their ears.
One of the other businesses nearby were so badly affected last week by the noise that they called in the local Environmental Health officers to monitor the noise - they initially would not attend , but when it was pointed out that had it been loud music in a house they would have been on the spot. Anyway, they came, monitored the noise levels, refused to commit themselves and did not even know the regulations - then said that the noise had to be averaged out over twelve hours !!! load of cobblers - as they would never ever get a conviction.

Beloved Angela ( Brown owl) and Bridget (night owl) have me working double time converting my course ( neighbourhood management) from an up front presentation into a distance learning package - got the old grey matter in a turmoil, but getting there. So last night it was a four hour session before I called a halt and tipped into bed.

BUT 1.15 a.m. wide awake once more - this time managed to stay in bed for a bit longer, before heading to town.
Had a very nice German couple in for the second morning running, they were saying that they thought Princes Street was like a building site with the tram works - Edinburgh's disgrace.

Visited Gillian "smelly girl" at Fraser's whose mother died recently and wished her well.

Home at the toot to get organised and Mrs B and I headed for the Scottish parliament at Holyrood where I had a meeting with MSP Christine Grahame. from the outside the building looks a bit of a shambles, however, once inside we were very impressed - beats working in a "Nissan hut". Mrs Grahame was very nice, listened to my story so perhaps I might make some headway.

On the way out met a former colleague, Davie Johnston, who was a dog handler based at Dalkeith, he retired in 1995, just before me - we enjoyed our blether and reminiscing the old days.

Home, but with so much work waiting to be done I had to fore go my visit to Lodge 720 Dalhouse, Bonnyrigg. Needed to get get on with my project.

Squaremen / Standing Order / and sound up.

Sitting watching the X - Factor tonight with Mrs. B.who is continually talking to herself, because, I am not paying any attention !!! If we were judges I am sure there would be bloodshed as we cannot agree at all. But we do wish Simon Cowell a happy 50th birthday.



Anyway - before I forget, I had a rant the other week about the governments proposals to make car drivers responsible for accidents involving pedal cyclists - I am toyally against thjios having watched hundreds of incidents where cyclist have blatently flouted the law by riding on footpaths, ignoring traffic lights, no lights, and many incidents of dangerous riding. Yesterday, firstly I saw a young lad whose bike had ended up under a "Chelsea tractor" and had a seriously bent front wheel - went though my mind about all the things they got away with - then literally twenty minutes later witnessed two traffic officers booking a cyclist in The Meadows - about time.



So - busy morning in The Mercat, met a lovely mother/ daughter pair in for their first time ( Mercat Virgins) despite the fact they live locally - enloyed their breakfast and will be back again.

Left sharp to head for the Standing Order to see Archie the pole dancer, who has a bad leg following a slip ( training for his next act maybe???), and ended up helping , so maybe I can get a job there with a good boss rather than RGB!!!!



Headed down to the Edinurgh Masonic Club for a meeting of the Order of The Squaremen, great meeting, three candidates who enjoyed themselves inluding the members who were in great fettle.



Headed back up to the S O where I discovered that the great pole dancer had absconded!!! so it was home on the bus - with a nice wee chat to Russell Imrie, a friend and also a local Councillor with Midlothian Council -
so now - if only I could get peace to watch the TV

Jock Hunter, Brother and Companion.

Earlier in the week I reported on the passing to the "Grand Lodge "above of Brother / Companion, Jock Hunter from Bonnyrigg, 720 and RA 500, who had been ill for a number of years
His funeral took place this afternoon at Mortonhall crematorium and was extremely well attended by frinds and family from all over the UK . The service was excellent, carried out by a retired minister from Musselburgh.who gave a very nice and sometimes humerous summary of Jock's life.

When I arrived, last (due to traffic) I met with his son in law, Ray Watson , who I have not seen for about ten years, so nice to see him again, as he along with wife Elaine and daughter Melissa have moved away due to his work.
After the service, I eventually managed to make it to the Masonic Lodge, Bonnyrigg, where their friends and family were having a tea, etc. a good turn out showing tremendous respect for their friend.
Jock Hunter, rest in peace.

Beers and spirits

Fun day at the Mercat Bar this morning , our "friend" Donald appeared and decided that he would try a Drambuie as it was on a promotion with the chance of winning a nice hip flask, so two drinks later , he was the proud owner of two hip flasks, presented by Katie and Kelly.

The "Miller man" arrived on site with some of the new promotional T shirts so it was yet another chance for a photo call , easpecially having the three girls on hand to model the T shirts and give us a flash of the bottles. But not to be outdone RGB and the Miller man insisted on posing too.

RA installation team - and aircraft

Thought I should pop on a couple of photos, the group of smart young gents is the very expert Team who carried out the first class installation at Prestonpans on Thursday night for the Forrester's Royal Arch.

My airraft were not quite racing to take off at London Heathrow last week , followed by a ouple of shots from the plane as we were coming in Edinburgh Airport, looking over the River Forth and the Forth Bridges.

Noise and more noise.

Time just runs through your fingers and with little to show - or as they say time waits for no man and marches on regardless.

Wednesday, trying to recover from the Runcorn run so it was a planned day in the house, however I did manage to make some time to have a swim - and wonders upon wonders , the pool was just about empty , just myself and two others - which makes a change from battling with the "weans" during the school holidays. All that was missing was a session with Cruella but as she was busy it was a case of "not today Josephine".

Managed to get some work done on the computer but putting together a distance learning package for the college is not a ten minute job - lots of time needed on this one.
Took myself off to the shops later on and explored Penicuik's latest shopping attraction, yes, the new LYDL store is open , "pile em high and sell em cheap", and it is a nice enough shop - a few bargains to be had, etc.

Out in the evening to Bonnyrigg to a meeting of the OES, which, being a Visitors Night was really very well attended. I ended up being the substitute candidate, which was actually very interesting - having to concentrate and pay attention instead of sleeping at the back.

Into the town this morning where the noise of the tramworks is reaching totally ludicrous proportions, folks are passing with their fingers in their ears, three mechanical picks all battering away at the same time - just when will it stop ? Total nonsense, we could not open the doors or French windows and it being such a nice day as well. God help the poor clients in the nearby beauty salon who were going in for a bit or rest and relaxation.

Got a bit niggled when I heard about a friend who genuinely got mixed up with hospital appointments , three in three days and missed an important examination. No way could they get it rescheduled for weeks and weeks, however the same surgeon is quite happy to carry it out four days later privately at the bargain price of £600. Could he not have just told his NHS ward to bring the patient in on Saturday and do it there rather than head off to the next town and do it along with his other Private work - greedy B, in fact greedy big B. We even hear of Doctors flying in from Europe for a day or two days at the weekend to work in NHS hospitals to cover for our own Doctors who are creaming it from the rich or the needy.

Off shortly to an Installation at Forresters R.A , Prestonpans, so I had better get a shift on and put on the good bib and tucker, wash behind the ears, etc.