And it just keeps on snowing.

We still have plenty of snow here. with fresh falls yesterday and also today, and more forecast in the next few hours.

Monday I was on an open at The Mercat Bar, so after twenty minutes thawing out the car I managed to get on my way. The main roads in Midlothian were not too bad, but as I crossed over into the City of Edinburgh at Lothianburn the Fairmilehead and Commiston Road areas were deadly. Now considering that these are main arterial routes into the City and also main bus routes the lack of salt and grit was causing major problems as the road was just sheet ice.

Into the Mercat, where the Photoshop across the road is generating more interest with his latest swipe at the City Council tramworks, which will be starting up soon.

The Bar was fairly busy, first four clients were from Spain, next two from Oaklahoma, USA, ; and then we had a nice couple from Cumbria who had come across The Mercat Bar on the Internet and from the good comments decided to come looking for us - and they were not disappointed.

Eventually home to get my feet up for a quiet evening. Now we will have several weeks of "whodunnit" as we wait to see who murdered Archie Mitchell in Eastenders; next it was a replay of the "Day of the Triffids" , just annoying that tonight's final part is on so late.

Much milder this morning, only minus 1c which is nothing to the minus 15c recorded at Achnashellac, in Argyleshire, who have had some serious minus readings for the past week or so. BUT with it being so mild the snow arrived again, however with a few breaks between flurries I headed for Mr Photogenix at Bonnyrigg ( hence the wee piccy of Mirri the pup who is enjoying the snow).

Headed home after a heavy fall, Pomathorn was getting bad and I ended up going down Pomathorn Brae with the handbrake on, and made it safely (just), unlike the poor soul yesterday who ended up a tree after his car turned into a sledge on the hill. Even the view from my front door was quite picturesque and clearing snow and ice for an hour kept me cosy.

On a different note , we have the judicial execution this morning by the Chinese Government of the convicted drug smuggler who was from the UK. He was arrested two years ago with 4kg of heroin. It has been alleged that he was duped by professional drug runners and due to his suffering from a bi polar disorder he was unaware of what was happening to him. Going back to my earlier comments on Eastenders we have had an excellent opportunity to see how people can be affected by this illness as is portrayed by Stacy and her mother who are being shown as suffering the same.

I am not being cynical, but I wonder how many of our reputable legal eagles are studying said disorder for future cases.

The Scottish Police forces have been having their annual winter drink driving campaign, and with the new legislation are seizing the vehicles of repeat offenders, they say that the numbers arrested are down, however I would suspect that fewer were stopped due to the weather, etc, but then again , might be wrong.