Grand Superintendent's Dinner 28.11.09

Saturday was. for me, pretty restful but needed after a long and tiring Friday, when, despite being on the go from 6 a.m., I still manged to make the meeting at Loanhead , RA 305 at night.

So after a long lie in , I did a little wall papering and listed to the radio for the build up to the rugby. Sparky Mark arrived so we sat and watched Scotland lose their match against Argentina, which realistically they should have won - BUT.

Sparky and I headed off by bus to Bonnyrigg for the Annual Dinner held on behalf of the Grand Superintendent, Alexander Foster Moonie, of the Provincial grand Royal Arch Chapter of Mid and East Lothian.

There was an excellent attendance, reduced slightly due to an installation taking place at Newbattle, however all the sister organisations were represented.

Tom Frost, Depute First Principle of the SGRACS was present - nice to see him again as we were in India together two years ago.

The guest speaker was Bro. Tom Crystal from lodge St John Fisherrow 112, who gave a talk on the Life and Work of Col. Bro. Buchanan Dunlop , absolutely fascinating. Col. Buchanan Dunlop was " the Loretto schoolboy who stopped the First World War" - on Christmas day 1914 - while commanding officer of his regiment fighting in the trenches at Ypres, France, he walked between the two sets of front lines singing Christmas carols and eventually managed to get both armies out the trenched where a much documented football match took place with a cease fore for the day. The offensive resumed the following day - but with officers having to threaten men to get them to fight. Bro. Dunlop had a remarkable life and eventually died at home in Bonnyrigg. Tom had read the story and then during his research met relatives of the man and former friends.

This was a very informal night, friends there to meet and socialise, Sparky, Bert and Andrew in good form, while one member proved just how casual he was - white trainers with a suit !!! Just a bit much I say..

As numbers dwindled we moved through to the lounge where I met an old former colleague, George Todd. Toddy - in good form as usual, but not as fit and able as he was, a real strong man in his day. He was one of the "old school" of beat policemen, enjoyed his job , and was always game for a laugh - also one of the hungriest as he regularly ate everyone "pieces" during the night shift while they were out on the street !!

He had one call to attend to and on knocking the door and identifying himself the man inside committed suicide with a shotgun - quite traumatic.

Wee tale,s one night while on the phones in the Control Room, a lady called and asked if he knew whether the roads would be blocked by snow in the morning ?? George thought about it and said that "if I had a crystal ball and could tell you the answer - I would not be sitting here", he did tend to be complained about !!.

On another occasion, one of the local "worthies" arrived at the front desk during the night , seriously drunk and demanding to see the Superintendent, despite being told several times that the boss was not there he insisted on seeing him - so Toddy, after a lengthy argument, went and put on the Supt's braid laden cap and tunic and came back - ordered the bloke out the building , and he went like a lamb.

Long and Busy day / week.

Friday p.m., and I have been mega busy - in the Mercat since 6.35 a.m.. But it was busy and it was good fun with some really nice customers to keep me going ,

lots of youngsters today , from Ireland and Wales, and a few folks from the USA still touring and doing something different for Thanksgiving yesterday.

There were a few of the regulars in today who are coming to join us for lunch on Christmas day , yes we are open , so it should be nice and we will try and make it a sort of family type atmosphere.

Ann and Kate arrived for lunch , and someone asked if it was my fan club , no, but despite being very shy , they are two of the young ladies who can me to part with my clothes !!! But then again , they are both beauticians, and Kate does a mean Hydrotherapy massage over the road at Imarni's.

One of the customers was telling me that Susan Boyle @ Subo is doing some recording round in St Mary's Cathedral in Palmerston Place shortly , thaty should be goood as their choir is excellent.

Anyway , must dash , off to the RA at Loanhead, Honour , Concorde and Fidelity.

Fortunately I am not in the bar in the morning , it should be busy with the Rugby International on tomorrow afternoon, Scotland and Argentine, so i will have a wee watch at it on the TV before my dinner date with our Provincial Grand Superintendent at Bonnyrigg.

Brief update.

How time flies, now Thursday morning , in Edinburgh and it is cold but dry, which makes a change from the constant rain of the past two days.

Tuesday i was on the trot all day, hospital, then Kings Buildings, and the up to Maplin's to get a replacement power cable for the other laptop, bit of a mystery as to where the original has gone - sort of looks like the fairies took it as we have searched the house high and low - otherwise I have put it in a safe place !!! An expensive error.

Tuesday night it was down to a meeting of RA Laird O Cockpen 500, first night for the new MEZ Dougie Neil in the chair and I was supposed to be sitting back, however, with missing officers i had to do a bit work. Main event of the night was to give Robert Hooker of Prestontower his Honorary Membership -which was very well deserved and received. A few fewer present than expected , but with very bad weather and another installation taking place elsewhere it was only to be expected.

Wednesday, I was off early again , this time to the Premier Inn, Edinburgh to run another of the Chartered Management Institute Neighbourhood Management courses for the lovely ladies from Open Skies Management. Small group of four from east Lothian and Edinburgh. I am not sure about the delegates, but I did enjoy it.

Rain still pouring down , but it was home, fed and then we headed out to Bonnyrigg again for a meeting of the OES, where it took a lot of will power to resist being persuaded to take office in the new session, but I apart from having far too much to do already there is no way I can even attempt to memorise more ritual. But it was an entertaining evening , even ended off with a wee game of bingo !!! just for the fun of it.

Now back at the premier In for Day 2 of the course, and then depending on how I get on and feel it may be a quick run up to Perth tonight for a meeting of the Fair City OSM , but I will need to wait and see.

Nice wee E mail from the USA this morning from a couple of our recent customers to the Mercat, just keeping in touch.

Long day on the road, a bit wet and wild

It was a dry, cold and clear morning when I left at 4.45 a.m., and although dry over Harthill with the TV masts standing out bright with it was a different story a few miles west, when the rain started. It was very heavy and with poor visibility as I headed south and did not clear till I reached Locherbie. From there it was not too bad apart from a couple of small downpours en route to Runcorn. In the Carlisle area there was masses of water where the river had overflowed and turned areas into a vast lake, with the waters edging nearer and nearer to the big Tesco store by the M6.
My usual comments about white van men, and also the Range Rovers, with personalised plates trying to drive over slower vehicles - BUT - justice was done when one was stopped by a patrol car for speeding.
Despite a fairly quick turn round the rain had come on with avengence and things were a bit tricky, and while I managed to escape the worst by heading North things in that area got very bad for a couple of hours.

First time I have done this run on a Monday for a long time and by doing so I noticed a literal convoy of Shearing's coaches heading north with tourists, many of these coaches make for Glasgow on a Monday night, then to Ullapool on a Tuesday night before heading for the Outer Isles.

Heading into Glasgow things were a bit chaotic with warning signs flashing due to an oil spill on the Motorway, but it still did not deter many motorists who chose to ignore the warnings, and on the way out, making for Edinburgh I saw two council lorries under escort spreading sand on what was obviously a slippery surface.

Anyway, another day, another dollar - time to get the feet up.

I should congratulate Susan Boyle on the launch of her new album which sounds wonderful ; Andy Murray on his win at the tennis in the O'2 yesterday ; on the other hand "common sense" prevailed and Jedward made their exit from the X-Factor, and Katie Price@ Jordan decided that she had had enough of ITV's "I'm a celebrity Get me out of here", or is it all part of her publicity machine. I think they should stick in Ant or Dec, save money on one compere and see how the other got on with the Bushtucker trials - I doubt they would make it.

The genuine sleeping policeman

Plenty of sights and sounds on the River Nile cruise, both from the boat and also on shore.

One of the things which everyone highlights is "security" in relation to the tourists. In view of the attacks in tourist resorts over the past years Egypt has recruited thousands of "tourist police" to supplement the normal militia, army and normal Police force - however, there have to be a few questions regarding their commitment and enthusiasm. I have never seen so many people with guns, and would certainly doubt their ability to use them- may publish a few more when I come across them.

From the boat, there was always something happening along the shoreline, or we were being passed by other river boats either overtaking or passing in the opposite direction. Here we have a local boatyard and a few of the women at work in their village.

Mega High at Murrayfield and then the X - factor

Obviously cannot miss out on the event which took place at Murrayfield today, Scotland took on the Aussies, however it looks like Andy Robson, former English coach , has done wonders with the Scottish team - what a game , a team of fifteen on the field at any one time who truly did their best, believed in their ability and did their Country proud with a close win. The score really did not reflect on the game where the Aussies dominated totally and had it not been for the missed penalty in extra time would have won.
BUt - for Scotland it is two wins in a row - bring on New Zealand.

On the other hand , we have been trying to relax and watch the X - Factor, where John and Edward are totally horriffic BUT with the Irish voting for them - anything can happen.

Now trying to comprehend the current series of Katie Price@ Jordan (show) I'm a celebrity get me out of here, which is turning into a real farce. Why are we paying wages to Ant and Dec when one compere could do the job.

Wee Jeannie Ison MS Johnston

William and Sandra arrived last night, had a few drinks, and then we were up and away sharp this morning to Blantyre for the funeral of Wee Jeannie, the service being held in the David Livingston Memorial Church - the last time we were there was for Elizabeth and Mat's wedding.

Big, big, turnout for the service, of course with so many Johnston's what else was there to expect. Nice to see my brother and sister's in laws, John, Christine, Robbie and Christina; Joe, Christine; Robert with young Marilyn; Elizabeth, Matt and Alison; Tom Isobel and William ; cousins, aunts and uncles, with Marion and Robert up from Cornwall ; Auntie Rita, Elizabeth and Lorraine , and so on.
Service was a bit strange, the Minister let young Marion say her bit but the did not do his prepared speech which was rather sad as many would have liked a nice summary of Jeannie's life.

She was buried in the same lair as her brother, Uncle Miff, and as Mrs B observed, it was a bit noisy in the cemetery, beside the Expressway - so how are folks expected to rest in peace?

Back to the Parkville for tea , dinner and a chinwag with the family and friends, so many people there and hard to get round everyone. Disappointing for William who had late and early flights so we could not get as much time with the family as we wanted,

Auntie Marion, who was on a cruise in the Caribbean when Jean died was saying that she had woken up during the night with the feeling that Jean had passed through her cabin - and was sure that she had died - these feelings I firmly believe in.

So, very much an end of a legend, one way or another - there will no longer be a safe haven for me in Blantyre where I can gossip with a past Matron in the OES, be fed and watered and made to feel like one of the family.

A few more wine night pics.

Just a few more pics from last night, just to prove that when Sir Christopher eventually managed to get the bottle open everyone manged to enjoy themselves.

No 1. (my Boss Katie) was there with Boyd, trying to grow a moustache for charity - then our lady photographer (in yellow), and our group of "mature" ladies who were mega impressed with the evenings proceedings.

Italian style wine night.

Just a starter from last night's wine night at The Mercat Bar, which was with an Italian theme.

Full house with fifty three chairs full of people, so considering those who were unable to attend we now have a core of about eighty to draw from now.

Meal last night was superb, great selection of food, wines were very good and a great night was had by all.

We had visitors from all parts of the Globe , South Africa, Poland, and despite a few problems with translation all was understood.

There was a belated birthday surprise for RGB with a cake appearing from the kitchen for him.

Next one will be 22nd December on a bubbly theme. More later.

Wet and wines

Tuesday night , headed for the bright lights with the first stop being the Standing Order for a quickie before tracking down the squad who were in the Auld Hundred. Table was booked for us at the New York Steam Packet in Rose Street, which was handy as it was a BYOB set up - and we had several nice bottles of wine with us.

There was another group in the place with us , the young lady , Bridget, an "upside down " lady was also celebrating her birthday, so the evening turned out to be fun.

On the road home we stopped off for a nightcap in the george hotel, before heading back to a wet and windy Penicuik.

Long day in the house yesterday , busy papering and painting - however, a couple of calls came in with work in Norwich and London in January and also another Runcorn run on Monday , and one to Birmingham in the pipeline.

Busy next week with Runcorn , and then two days training in Edinburgh.

Missed the Colinton and Currie Cryptic Council last night, but there are only so many hours in a day !!

Wet and wild this morning , looks like the UK is disappearing under a deluge of water, and no respite for a couple of days - the roads are busier which is normal as folks will not stand in the rain or walk when it is so bad , they take their cars.

Wine club tonight , Italian wines with appropriate side plates and a big crowd expected.

Nothing very exciting happening.

Back to normal , or nearly - yet another sleepless night, so no point in lying in bed wide awake (but no cramps for a change)

Seem to have had a recurrence of the dreaded "Gyppy" tummy these past couple of days, not sure if it is changing back to Scottish Water after a few days of paddling in the Nile, however, Saturday , Sunday and yesterday were "slow " days.

Had planned for a recovery day yesterday but ended up working my way through a few essential jobs here, including a visit to see Grant @ Photogenix. Eventually ended up stripping wallpaper and painting for several hours !! So that will lead to more work later in the week. Even Sparky got roped in to help as he was finding tearing paper off the wall quite therapeutic.

Neither he nor his walking companions made it to the top of Ben Nevis on Saturday as the conditions with snow and gale force winds meant that everyone was turning back about 40 minutes from the summit - a sign of good sense .

Wee Jeannie @ Auntie Jean from Blantyre sadly died last week and we now know that the funeral will take place this coming Saturday - with family coming up from all parts of the UK.

Flights from the south are very expensive due to the rugby international at Murrayfield on Saturday, Scotland v Australia. Pub will hopefully be very busy, however, I was going to miss that due to the Installation of Craig Gordon into the chair as RWM at Lodge Dalhousie Bonnyrigg 720 - so I will also miss that now.

Today is RGB's birthday so looks like we are out for a celebration dinner in Edinburgh this evening,

X - Factor, and the wrinklies

Saturday night, and two sad 60,s sitting here watching the X-Factor on the TV, I find it hard yet to pick out someone who is in the same league as Leona Williams, or even the wonderful Susan Boyle - but that is my opinion.

It is a bit sad that Miss Dolly @ Cheryl Cole is sitting there, who cannot even lace the boots of any of these singers - miming in public and with an electronically generated album.

Bit unfortunate also was the recent incident when one of young Amy's friends was taken South to see the show and three of the four judges came out to meet these special children - BUT - Ms. Cole elected to remain in her dressing room and ignored the children - why? Busy with her make up !! Sorting out her wardrobe which has to be perfect to the n'th degree, or just full of her own importance ?

Mrs. B. reckons that Simon should fasten up his shirt - not as sexy as he might think. personally I like the young lady in the M & S advert dancing through the trees in her underwear.

Soutra Isle - Order of the Secret Monitors

Saturday a.m., tired and out of sorts, but headed off to Bonnyrigg for a meeting of the Soutra Isle Conclave of the order of The Secret Monitors, where we were working a 2nd Degree.

Very good attendance with a Provincial Deputation present, but also a surprise visit by Michael Stuart Shearer, the Supreme Ruler of the Province of New South Wales, Australia, who was accompanied by his Deputy Don Savage. They were over in the UK for the Installation of the new Supreme Ruler of the Order which took place in Birmingham.

Our own Supreme Ruler was delighted with the day, bearing in mind that he will be handing over the Chapter to me in March 2010 !!!

Our Provincial Supreme Ruler, John Lawrence Ward Reid was in his usual excellent form and gave our "upside down" visitors a rendition of an Aussie folk song - which unfortunately they did not know the words of !!

A good day, and good meal which was completely demolished by the brethren - thanks to Janet Moonie for her efforts.

Our 2nd day in Cairo

So it was day 2 in Cairo and we were off for part of the day with Alvira our excellent guide. We headed out through the city to the Mohammad Ali Mosque which is situated in the Citadel and built in 1830

from the ramparts of the Citadel you can see all over the City, that is when it is not shrouded in smog - I think the view will be fantastic on a clear day. from the same viewpoint and others you can see over the rooftops - big question, so many houses are unfinished with the upper floors ready to build on- families over there allow for upward extension.

Through the smog we were able to see the pyramids in the distance, but only just !!

In the distance from the Citadel were the quarries were all the sandstone for the pyramids was cut and moved over over the City.

Within the quarry there is now a large new hotel being built.
We stopped off for lunch at one of the "tourist " restaurants, packed out with bus trips - but the meal was OK.

Our biggest problem, which was consistent throughout was trying to cope with the street vendors who hassled, haggled, and tried to con you at every turn. We regularly had to "run the gauntlet" of the traders who failed to understand that if they had given people a bit peace they would have stopped to look at their wares.

Still rushing around - but Ma Piggy just paced herself.

Thursday

How time flies, and getting nowhere fast, or it feels that way.

Back to the Mercat Bar this morning, and a serious shock when I arrived at the NCP Car Park, Morrison Street. I had my £7.10p clutched in my hand but discovered that they had changed scale of payments and had removed the 6 to 8 hour slot so now I have to pay £9.50p in the 6 – 24 hr segment for my 7 hours – a daily increase of £2.40p which equates to a 33% increase – what a robbing shower of thieves, for the privilege of parking in a goods yard with inadequate lighting which has not worked for nearly a year, full of potholes, and which floods regularly. What more can I say?

Into Dewar Place and obviously far too much to expect an improvement in the tramworks - now a year after the start and the hole on the road there is bigger than ever, it must be costing hundreds of thousands on this one small section of the project. I believe that yet another article appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News saying that the whole project is now nearly two years behind schedule.

Bar was busy all morning so I was kept on the trot till time to head home. Then it was a very quick change and off to do one of my own jobs, it was fascinating as I was able to watch a pregnant sow giving birth to her piglets. While watching two of the piglets popped out and within a couple of minutes were wobbling about on their little legs and trying to find a teat to suckle on – just a marvel.

Now in Dalkeith waiting for the lodge No 10 to open where there is a meeting of Esk 42 Cryptic Council due to start shortly. Last night’s meeting of Esk 42 RA was fairly quiet , not helped by the fact that the building was very cold.
The Lodge is next door to a kids nursery and for the last half hour there has been total chaos as parents have been zooming in and out to pick up the kids – the parking is shocking with cars being abandoned, then there are some wonderful exhibitions of reversing.

Just home after the meeting - small number present , but with five candidates it turned out to be a great night with everyone present getting involved.

Up sharp again for another session in the Mercat, but bigger day on Saturday with Scotland playing Fiji at Murrayfield, and me having an OSM meeting at Bonnyrigg in the middle of a shift.

Egypt, the pyramids, sphynx and start of the hols.

So. it was off to Egypt to see the sights. Flew out of Edinburgh to London where we met up with William and Sandra and where Gordon and Sandra eventually told Mrs. B. that they were going with us as well

Flew out two hours late with Egyptair, no drink on the plane, but we had made up a little with three hours in the lounge in London!!
Landed at Cairo and it took the plane 20 minutes to taxi in to the terminal building, then we had health checks, immigration, and had our first run in with the locals looking for tips.

met our local rep and headed for the hotel by mini bus. Journey to the Sofitel Sphinx was 40 km and took nearly an hour through a city with a population of 18 million which swells daily to 21 million. En route - now 1 a.m. our rep was trying hard to sell us various trips - so into bed, thirsty as there was not even bottled water in the rooms, at 2 a.m.

Up again at 8 a.m. and picked up at 9 a.m. - then we discovered that the pyramids were within walking distance from the hotel, and we could have done it all ourselves. BUT the local guide - Alvira was excellent and made the morning very interesting.

First stop was the Great pyramid of Giza, then up onto the plateau for a view of the adjoining two before heading on to see the Sphinx - all within the one massive complex.

Short of time at the moment so a bit rushed.

Out of the complex, which is very well organised, and has to be considering the thousands of folks who visit every day making tourism the third highest income for the country.

We had cut our day out short but the Company still managed to get us into a papyrus centre to see how it was made and then to try and sell us their wares. They made out that the work was all original and produced by the students at Cairo Art College - what a load of rot , we saw so many of these so called centres and there was papyrus paperwork all over the place, and off course you then had to start the haggling. BUT that is another story.

Heading off with Sparky now to RA Esk 42 at Dalkeith.

Here's Harry

Thought I should get these on line before I get a call from Harry asking where they are. Not sure who adopted who while on holiday, but this young man from Winchester decided that we were needing some company to keep us on on our toes. He was really good fun, RGB kept sending him off on obscure missions from one end of the boat to the other, and Harry in turn was always trying to get us into the pool. He was as good as the lads at cards so if they lost it was into the pool again !!

Good lad Harry.

Sadness and tributes

This was written in the early hours of the morning but with no Internet connection available at the time so it was not posted. This has to be a head clearing exercise as I seem to have lots of doom and gloom to cope with in the last 36 hours, not helped by the change in mood caused by this return from the bright sun of Egypt to the dark overcast skies of Scotland.

This is now the morning of the 11th day of the 11th Month when, at 11 a.m. we will remember our fallen from the Great wars, both old and current. We had a stark reminder last night when we saw the images from Wooten Basset where six more of military were brought home from the conflict in Afghanistan. More distressing is the fact that a number were killed by a so called ally working with them. This is a strange war fought against strange people using terror tactics - they do not consider these to be acts of treason, but heroism - I beg to differ.
On the same vein there is the USA Army Officer who has killed his colleagues and is now in custody for this act, again based on his beliefs /connections with the enemy.

Back home and the news was also grim, a close friend is trying to come to terms with three deaths in his extended family at the weekend, caused in a car accident as they returned home to Livingston, West Lothian, on Sunday evening. His sister and four year old nephew died on Monday morning and the husband / partner, critically injured at the time died yesterday afternoon.

Young Amy, had a bit of a set back and is also in hospital again, but hopefully only for a few more days.

Alex Lawrence, a stalwart Freemason for many years, a member of the Lodge, the Royal Arch, and several other Orders died a few days ago so he will now have joined his brother Jim – may they rest in peace.

Hopefully my next post will be on a lighter note.

all over - suitcase full of dirty clothes, etc.

Bit of a bummer - internet access was very limited during the past ten days so it will take me some time to catch up. Never the less we had a good time, the sun shone , suffered from the usual tummy bugs - BUT it is all over, back to reality and work.

So i will play catch up later.