Scotland rugby , yet another poor display.

Saturday a.m., and it was looking like shovels might be needed again - however with a bit of a struggle , I made it to John Street and then headed for the City. As usual the Midlothian Roads were being treated but the City Streets were a mess - no snowploughs yet. This was the really heavy wet snow, which was bringing trees down and in the borders, power lines.

By the time I reached The Mercat , it was snow zero and rain mucho.

Busy morning, good stag group in from Whitchurch in Shropshire for breakfast then heading off to the Paintball centre.
We had two power cuts during the morning, bit of a panic as whole streets were out, but we managed to get by till it came on again , in time for the rugby international, Scotland v Italy.
This was a bit of a let down with Scotland coming in second once again , and finishing at the bottom of the league by the end of the afternoon. The England team also managed to win second prize !!! after a last minute score by Ireland.
Just a wee bit like the Rangers last minute wine over Celtic this afternoon.

Headed home and passed a bit of a shunt on the Western Approach Road
poor little Kaaa appeared to be the victim of a prang, looked like a case of a red light runner.

home , changed and off for a soiree at Grant and EEYvonne's

Excellent meal, good fun along with Karen and Gary, Andy and Carol. Their two daughters were quiet as wee mice, showing us how to really use computers. very pleasant glass or two of Hendricks Gin to help pass away the evening.

Now recovering from both last night and a session with my Chinese acupuncture expert this afternoon, very effective, heavy acupressure and then a bit of cupping - not for the faint hearted.

Enough - time to do some work.

Bit of a long haul this time - but the Piper calls the tune

Sitting in London City Airport waiting patiently for the flight home. I arrived here at 5 p.m. and have watched a solid queue of travellers waiting for up to 45 minutes to pass through security screening . BUT it would appear that a new search area is about to be opened in the next week or so to help alleviate the problem.

It has been a long couple of days, travelling yesterday, and going on my walkabout last night. But today was really satisfying, my Open Skies management group doing their CMI course were superb , right on the ball, enthusiastic, and have made it all worth while for me - tires out the old grey matter when you are trying to keep up with them. They now have four weeks to complete their reports, but as I am away as of 14th their target date has been brought forward to concentrate the mind.

Nice bright spot of the day was the young waitress in Johnston's Brasserie, very helpful, cheerful, and even remembered one of the groups special requests from the last trip - well done young lady - I even popped a testimonial card in the box for her.

Took these snaps as I came in yesterday, the River Thames with one of the flood barriers near to the airport, then the docks on the flight path in. The man with the landing wands was using them like a pair of morrakors when we landed and seemed to be dancing away to himself.

The plaque for St Mary's Watch House, I spotted on the wall of a church entrance in Soho, and relates way back to 1627 when the original church was built - there is a fairly lengthy history on the Internet, but it looks like there was a watch house, fire station, etc built on as annexes to the church in the 1800's. the church was destroyed by bombing during the World War II.

While waiting for the flight , which is now delayed, I was talking to a very pleasant lady who works for Drake's of London, who manufacture and sell hand made ties, scarves, cashmere, etc. The web site Drakes of London.Com is well worth a look, some very nice items in their catalogue. It reminded me of my days with the search teams when we visited the textile mills in the Scottish Borders and were permitted to buy cashmere sweaters - nice to wear good quality clothing.

So just got to hang on now and hope there is not another delay , just a bit like my previous trip here, and I am expected to get up and into town first thing a.m. - and to make matters worse it is now snowing in Penicuik.

I left before he stopped

Before I left the lounge at Edinburgh my chappie with the phone was on call No 17. Flight left on time despite the fact that I was given a row for tryin to take a photo of the plane - forbidden in Edinburgh as other places, but here we do not get locked up. Does anyone here not know what an aeroplane look like !!!

Flight south was very good, the steward kept me going with Mr Gordon's favourite tipple, thanks, and I managed to read a small book called "Newhaven on Forth, My story of a living village" by Jim park, fascinating memoirs of his life as a child in Newhaven, Edinburgh. He has a tremendous memory of names, streets, and the minute of every day life from his birth in May 1924 .

Into London City airport and only seven minutes to wait for the DLR ( Docklands Light Railway) train to head into Bank and walk through to Monument for the District tube. Past the O'2 Dome, Canary Wharf, etc, the whole area being redeveloped before the London Olympics.

Arrival at the Strand Palace Hotel was a bit traumatic , room did not appear to be booked for me, however I did exercise restraint and waited patiently, using the the chill out techniques as taught by master Sparky Mark, and eventually I was sorted and in a warm quiet room.

Off out into the streets , not paved with gold, and checked out the prices for a show at the theatre next door, started at £67 and down to £37 ( but you need binoculars) - change of mind so it was a long walk through Chinatown , Soho, the theatre areas, till the rain was too wet and cold and then back to base for a Hardy's black current juice !!

Now , just have to survive tll breakfast

Room with a view - but not for sale

The classic room with a view, but not any room, a cludgie, indeed , a workie's cludgie ( outside loo - for the uninitiated) sited in Palmerston Place for the use of the tramworkers, all mod cons, heating, running water, etc - changed days. Now I know where they all disappear to when it gets cold and wet.

Sitting in the lounge at the airport, drove over early in case the weather was bad, but instead of snow there is flooding at the roundabout off the A* and in the airport car parks where water wings and rubber dingys are the order of the day.
No queues at all, auto check in, and it was me that was holding up the search queue as i was first and had still to get belt and boots off, good job there were no holes in my socks.

Servisair lounge quiet is fairly quiet although I have a companion who has been on the phone for the last forty minutes calling the world - just waiting for him to ring Bart Simpson !! Just a wee bit annoying - it could be driving me to drink, perhaps.
Don't anyone accuse me of twittering @stuartblaikie, as this bloke takes the biscuit. That is now eight calls so far , not that i am counting.

Terrible to hear of the death of the young trainer in Seaworld, at the jaws of the killer whale, victim number three for the whale it would appear. Just tragic, and having seen them in Orlando it is a shame as they and the trainers are such majestic creatures.

Thought the police in Grampian Region were a bit OTT in asking the staff in the kilt shop in Aberdeen to stop displaying their ABE (Anyone But England) T shirts which have been produced for the football world Cup - but it certainly has given the shop lots of additional publicity.

I keep forgetting , but we have just missed Sandra's birthday again , however as she and William are in Teneriffe. and we could not get over with them , we can just wish her well, not sure which add on to 21 + it is.

That is call No 9 in progress.

Twitters - what next ?

Had a bit of a problem today , tried on several occasions to get signed in on this blog but with no luck. However, to pass time away I was shown how to get a Twitter up and running so I have been popping some bits on @stuartblaikie and @mercat bar to see what happens.

Made it to RA 500 Laird O Cockpen last night and despite the small number present, due mainly to the fact that there was a Provincial Deputation heading into East Lothian and many of our regular visitors were there in their official capacity. It did not detract in any way from the Degree working and our young candidate was initiated in good style by Dougie Neil and his team of office bearers.
Nice to see the "late" Alex Brown turn up, late as ever, and looking reasonably well after his long illness.
Woke up this morning , again to the sound of silence as snow was falling. I was lucky to be on the road early before it got too bad, but as the morning progressed, 8 a.m. and 10 a,m, it was getting deeper and deeper, with an eventual drop of about 5 inches by 2 p.m.

In the meantime , I was working away steadily in the Mercat bar, where our lunch time customers kept us busy. Had to hang on late as I had boobed with Tam's passport application for the baby and he had to come back for me to do a slight correction.

Tramworkers are really pushing on and one of our biggest holes is nearly all filled in - great, look like the revised traffic movements will take place on time , end of next week.

No in the process of packing an overnight bag for London tomorrow, going to be a long couple of days as I have plenty hanging about to do, RGB says that I should just chill out and enjoy it.

Lang Linn and Howe Dean paths

Now Tuesday p.m., however Monday a.m. I was heading for town and went in via Braid Hills Road, which I must have driven hundreds of times over the years , and also walked / crawled whilst on a massive search detail several years ago in relation to the murder of a prostitute in Edinburgh.
I caught sight of a sign on two stone pillars, turned round and found the signs for the Lang Linn Path, then a couple of hundred yards eastwards there were the signs for the Howe Dean Path. wee bit of research and it they are listed as part of the Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill conservation area of which there are are several points of interest. one of the more prominent being the Agassiz Rock which is in the old Blackford Quarry and used for many , many years by local climbers - the rock, so named after an eminent geologist who recognised it as a unique piece of glacial rock from its striations, etc. I will obviously have to take a trip into the Glen in due course.

Into the Mercat Bar to help out over lunch again and we were busy once again, with several comments from customers regarding the positive articles we have had in the press recently.

Tramworkers are clearing up in front of the bar as the new traffic alterations are due to come into force in ten days time.

Mrs B. arrived back after a two day mystery tour with Glenton tours, which ended up at the Fisher's Hotel , Pitlochry. She and her friend carol, were slightly unimpressed with the hotel and the attitude with staff there towards the big group - without these groups the hotel would be sitting empty !! Bus driver had taken them up via Crieff, and dropped them in the town centre where all the shops were closed on Sunday !! In the meantime the other coach had stopped off at the big Visitor centre which was warm, comfortable and suited those with walking problems.

Headed out this morning - bit between the teeth, and eventually tracked down the owner and had that dashed Hyundie car removed from the SAC car park at the Bush Estate where it has been causing grief for the past few weeks - owner was rather tetchy at being tracked down - worse still he had passed several other bigger car parks to leave it where it was.

With time to spare I popped in to Grant at Photogenix , Bonnyrigg, and then had a wander round Penicuik's sprawling !!!! pedestrian precinct - popped in to speak to the lovely Leigh at "Luscious" ( photographed recently) and also Colin and Nicola with their new starts at Coco Beach. Now got the coming to the wine dinner at The Mercat Bar on 27th March - should be fun.

Off to the Laird O'Cockpen RA 500 tonight where we have a candidate which will keep us on our toes.

St Kentigern's / St Mungo's Church and the Howgate Carrier

Saturday P.M., popped along to the Co -op for a bottle of wine, or two or three - just in one bottle was off !!! perchance.

However, I stray, but from the car park the sun was shining on the belltower of the old St Kentgern Church, which dates back to 1556, the old records say that it was in need of repair in 1648, however as the village of Penicuik expanded the church was far too small so a new church was started in about 1760.

The belltower of the old church was added in 1743 by Sir john clerk.

Within the graveyard is the family mausoleum of the Clerk family who resided in Penicuik House and who are still one of the major landowners in the county.

There are several very old graves within the graveyard, and one I found was dated 1709 on one side, and on the other , as seen was ornately decorated with skeletons.

In 1975 the bell was stolen from the belltower, however, fortunately the local Police , and me being one of them at the time, recovered the bell before it was smelted by the crooks.

The graveyard also sits on a seam of running sand, interesting, as the graves have been known to rise over the years - occasionally causing a bit of excitement.

Anyway, just a bit our of sequence, the first photo is of the memorial to the Howgate Carrier, James Noble and his wife Ailie. BUT, BUT, this is an interesting memorial as , in reality, it commemorates a well known series of stories written by an eminent surgeon, Dr John Brown, the stories called "Rab and his Friends" were / are remarkable, and the characters of James Noble and Ailie are based on a local cart driver John Jackson, who married a Margaret Todd in 1807, moved up to Loanstone and eventually died in 1830.

"Rab" was a giant bull mastiff, owned by John Jackson which, after his death stopped eating , became hostile and was killed by Jackson's successor as a cart driver.

I have read the full story and it is a wonderful essay invoking many emotions, certainly well worth a read.

St.Mary's Epicipal Cathedral, Palmerston Place.

Beautiful bright sunny, but cold afternoon when I left the Mercat Bar to head for Bonnyrigg for a rehearsal of the RA 500 before Tuesday night's meeting.
Car was parked in Jo Jo's space at Axios Systems so while passing St mary's Cathedral in Palmerston Place I managed these two photos. The building is truly majestic, well worth a visit - and I will eventually get back inside or up the spires as promised some time ago to get some real panoramic views of the surrounding environs.

Shetland collies - just a picture.

Heading home through Penicuik this afternoon when I saw this trio of Shetland collie pups being walked along with proud ma, by their owner and his family.

Did a quick tour round the block to catch up and intercept them for the photos.

They are ten weeks old and called Mika, Darcy and Oscar, and are full of mischief.

Ideal for the ooh factor!!!

Cameron - a little "burger" / or maybe dishwasher.

This is Cameron and his Mum, both regulars to the Mercat Bar, who called in in for lunch today. Young Cameron, managed to demolish a large Mercat Burger and chips and enjoyed it so much he toodled through to the kitchen to see Andy and Chris, the chefs tthank them - BUt - he was more interested in the big sinks !! Looks like mum will need to do some refurbishment in the kitchen at home so he can do the dishes there.

Eastenders stole our thunder

9,30 p.m. , great excitement, we have learned that Stacy killed Archie and Bradley jumped off a roof and is now written out of the programme.

My comments relate to the fact that in the recent "Best of Britain, 14 days of Love competition, where clients were asked to recommend their respective best sites, etc. Anyway, in the national competition we believe that the Mercat Bar has been voted No 1 small business in Scotland and No 2 in the UK. We were led to believe that there was going to be a feature on the "One Show" tonight to publicise the promotion and our success - however, with the massive coverage of the live TV programme we think our promotion was kicked into touch - but now we have to go to the press to see what coverage , if any we have had.

Busy day - and at the Mercat Bar as well

Twas another early rise and off to Hermiston Gait for the meeting of the BMI chapter there - this time without the missing RGB who was en route home from his trip to Capetown along along with Sir Christopher where they been frightening the sharks, amongst other things - along with a group of publicans sponsored by Drambuie.

Super meeting of the "cult", who really are very well motivated and this chapter is currently rated No 2 in Scotland. In their midst I am one of the "oldies" but they can still get the old pacemaker beating.

Had to leave early sharp and headed back to the Mercat where young Fiona was opening up on her own ; but no need to worry she was on the ball and all was fine.

First group in, off the Cardiff flight were Laura, Jessica, Gaynor, Mel, Kirstie, Hannah, Sarah and Kelly; who have arrived for the weekend to celebrate Laura's impending marriage.

Couple of meetings and then the girls / ladies from the Tesco Bank arrived for lunch - which turned out to be a surprise announcement by one of the ladies that she was going to have a baby - great excitement as the photo of the baby in womb was circulated round the table. Congratulations to the mum to be, we look forward to seeing you all again when she starts her maternity leave.
Lunch was steady and passed quickly and then when I got back from the bank there was a very nice group of ladies in from Falkirk, just off the train at Haymarket, in for a drink before they headed off to the Noisettes concert at The Cinema tonight - hopefully there will not be a repeat of the power cut which cancelled the concert on Monday night at the last moment and caused a serious amount of grief,

Headed to Booker's before it closed and then back to the Mercat where RGB and Sir Christopher were back in the fold - and chris had even managed to get the faulty phones fixed.

So now we are back to normal - or are we ?????

Check it out - the blog,

Fair trockled this evening.

It has been a day and a half, for want of a better expression.
Arrrived at The Mercat bar and had a nice start by having to unchoke drains !!, Jack of All Trades, then discovered that the upstairs phones were not working , which turns out to be the result of a visit by the BSkyB engineer yesterday who replaced a cable but failed to realise what else the cables were doing !! So despite my best efforts all I could do was resite the remote and at least have some contact with the world till Mitch our techie whiz or Sir Christopher gets back.

About 1145 we had a momentary power cut which caused the computer and tills to crash - but ours came back to life seconds later. However, unknown to us this was causing havoc in the many offices nearby where the power was still down - so at 12 md or thereabouts our doors opened and in trekked lots of folks, given an extended lunch hour till the power came on - so there we were, three on the floor, two in the kitchen and a FULL house, every seat taken. BUT no one was in a real rush so we were able to get everyone fed and watered to their satisfaction, however I am sure that Claire , Andy, Jamie, Alana and myself have all lost weight with all the running up and down stairs, etc. As they say, how time flies when you are enjoying yourself.

In the meantime, outside, the tram folks were thumping and banging, filling in the great big hole having sorted the gas leak - I just had to turn up the volume on the Golden Oldies (70's today) to drown out the noise.
Mrs B. appeared at lunch time, to be dispatched to assist in the kitchen ( hands that do dishes), which was very much appreciated.

Time flew and I just made it to the bank on time before it closed.

Now getting organised for another early rise in the morning to go to the BMI breakfast meeting (cult) to represent RGB, and myself of course.

Have just finished reading Andrew Stewart's publication on (The Harbours and Environs of East Lothian and Berwickshire), which was very interesting, and has given me the notion to head off along the cost and visit some of the places mentioned. Cove Harbour with its access by tunnel through the cliffs, and its history of smuggling. The Battle of Prestonpans in 1745 where the Jacobites fought with the Royal Army led by Sir John Cope, which was the inspiration of the song "Hey Johnnie Cope" Seacliffe Harbour, the Hidden or Secret harbour, one of the smallest in the country and the nearby Seacliffe House used as a secret base by a naval research unit during WW 2 . The tragic deaths of 189 fishermen in October 1881 trying to get back into Eyemouth harbour in the face of a storm , and Eyemouth now the home of a large fishing/ maritime museum. A fascinating wee book, well produced and researched in the same manner as his previous book on railway bridges. Well done Andrew.

Old memories of antics within the Nick.

While in Glasgow morning yesterday Fraser commented "I see you are wearing your "Meal Medals", not sure what he meant, he pointed out the several stains on the old fleece I was wearing !!! evidence of several squelchy egg rolls no doubt. This is why it is perhaps time I got my own Donald Duck eating aid (bib). But having said that, it is nothing to the state I have seen some jackets in after a kebab or curry, or the silk ( stained) tie.

Headed for the toilet and met the cleaner lady, who has been there for years,and having not heard me got a fright - this reminded me of two lady cleaners we had at Dalkeith Police Station way back in the 60's and 70's, Nan and Barbara, and it was surprising that they never had a heart attack at some of the tricks the boys got up to. One morning, as they arrived at 5 a.m to start work they opened up their cleaning cupboard and found a full size skeleton standing there - both ran out screaming. All sorts of things happened to them from being locked in cells, power switched off, scary things dangling on fish wires, men under sheets, etc. But despite our best efforts they always came back for more.
Nothing has changed as this cleaner was saying that a couple of weeks ago she could not get in to clean a toilet and kept peering under to see the feet under the door, however when she called in the Sgt thinking something was wrong he checked and found that the guys had stuck a pair of wellies on some pants and locked the door from the inside making it look as though someone was sitting ( contemplating , perhaps !!)
On similar theme, my former landlady , old Jessie McQueen , who was our cleaner at Loanhead, came in one morning , and found the late Bill Baxter, curled up on the floor cuddling the toilet bowl. Getting no response from his she scuttled round to the nearest Police house and knocked Bill Scott out his bed to help. When Bill arrived he found that Baxter was just ever so under the influence !! having checked out a few of the local pubs on the nightshift ( the good old days).

There was a young policeman, Bill Smith, tall thin, and fit as a fiddle - who one night , despite wearing boots and a full length greatcoat ran a young housebreaker into the ground. But, he came to work one dayshift still well under the weather from a party the night before - there was a break in reported at Alex Paton's electrical shop, in the Loan, loanhead, just round from the Police Station - so Bill attended and was to wait for Alex to arrive - so when Alex did eventually arrive, Bill was slumped in the doorway sound asleep oblivious to the fact the Loanhead was coming to life and there were many pedestrians passing the shop !! just letting him sleep.
The old boiler man about the same time ( late 60's) came in about 4.30 a.m. every day to stoke and clean the coal heating furnaces, and worked every day for five years before asking for a day off to go to a funeral, and then the boss discovered that he had never had a day off or a holiday !!!! Can you see that happening these days - no way.

A new hole - or was it an old one but bigger

Nice surprise this morning , after a few days when we seriously believed that the tramwork people were about to leave the road reinstated and clear, I arrived to find an even bigger hole in the road.
Turns out , or so they say, that when they tested the new gas mains installed last year by Carillion a leak was discovered, and it has to be found and fixed before the gas can be diverted into the new pipe and the old one sealed off. Unfortunately, the fact that gases do not leak straight upwards there is a bit of a search going on for the offending fracture.
For the record, this set of works started in August 2008 and was scheduled for five weeks !!!!!!!!!! now we know why the price has gone through the roof, the atmosphere and the stratosphere - but do not for any reason ask the overseeing committee at Edinburgh Council what is going on - they have no idea at all. from what I gather there were plans to open up Palmerston Place, shut Manor Place and close Shandwick Place this weekend but with the gas leak that is now postponed.
Biggest treat is still to come, when they try to decide what is to be done about the underground air raid shelters at Haymarket and the West End ( stage whisper - no one wants to even think about it !!)

HOT OFF THE PRESS :- Have now heard that the gas leak has been fixed and backfilling is taking place as I type - the men are even working from 7.30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The new traffic set up is due to be in force by 27th February.

Lodge 720 Dalhousie Bonnyrigg - RWM C. Gordon

Despite being a bit tired !! I headed off to a meeting of Lodge Dalhousie Bonnyrigg , No 720, along with Sparky Mark,

Very good attendance and a superb 2nd Degree worked by the RWM Craig Gordon and his team. Tried to get a quick snap of Craig as I have not had one since he went into the Chair, but of course he had to blink, and I did not notice till now - but he is a fine looking figure, so I will try and get a better picture next time.

Worst run on the M74/ M6 and A701 for a long time

Home in one piece, but I am not sure how - that has to have been one of the worst runs to Runcorn I have had for a very long time.

Very hard frost first so i had to watch for black ice on leaving home, through to Glasgow with a bit sleet on the side of the road over Harthill.
From Glasgow south I had thick fog, snow, sleet and at Lancaster a sudden burst of heavy hail stones which turned the motorway into a veritable skating rink. the Astra a few cars in front of me lost control and he skidded into the central reservation and then spun back into the centre lane, stopping facing ongoing traffic - and a white Vauxhall in front of him hit the brakes and shot over the hard shoulder and down into the trees at the side of the motorway. As I was in the outside lane I had no option but to keep going - there were cars stopping to assist.
Reached Runcorn and had a fast turn about, no Christine and Sue in the canteen , one sick and the other on holiday.

Back onto the M62 and within five minutes had ground to a halt - it then took twenty minutes to get by the cause, which was a five vehicle crash on the eastbound lane, a lorry and four cars. It took over an hour before details were being broadcast on Radio 2.
Onwards, and not sure if the man from the Cumbria Road Safety Initiative took my picture from his van parked on a bridge in the middle of nowhere - busy gathering yet more money for the coffers !!

Not having to go back to GlasgowI headed off through Moffat onto the A701 and up over the Devil's Beeftub where I caught up with the midweek "Sunday drivers" - 50 mph maximum and down to 30 mph on the bends - not one , but three of them building up a nice queue - so it was a long slow journey for nearly fifteen miles before I did a bit of passing.

Yesterday it was steam from the ears in the pub, today these slow drivers, I am sure someone wants me to blow a gasket !!

Early morning thoughts

0420 hrs, standing here typing and my alarm has just gone off in my pocket - bit of a fright. I would love to have said that I had , for once slept right through till now, but - things like that only happen in fairy tales.

Had a busy day at the Mercat yesterday, kept busy with a steady turn of guests, some lovely folks so I was happy enough - although i have to say that I did emit a few burst of steam from the ears - apoplectic - at one point , but that did pass.
Young Scottie was on helping me over lunch , this is his second last day at the moment as his bags are packed and he is off to the land of Oz to see his folks and attend his brother's birthday bash - we will miss his cheefrful little face - and cheek !! But he will be back soon.

When I eventually did get home, I had a big piece of typing to get on with so, having dozed off for a bit,there was little time to play catch up.

Watched a replay of the "Britain's Best Dancers" competition , and, although he was good I am not sure if the wee 10 year boy, Akai, was really what the competition was all about - the finalists were excellent - I thought that £100,000 to this little lad was a bit much when a community dance team would have benefited a lot more, however, it was a national vote.

Terrible train crash in Belgium yesterday, again they claim a driver ran a red light, but it has shut down the Eurostar route once again.

About to head off to Runcorn , via Glasgow where hopefully Fraser will also be up and out his bed.

I always have a look at the "tracker" for the blog , and I am curious as to drops in on the Blog site, i did ask some time ago who it was that lived in Mountain View, California, so if that regular reader would like to drop a comment i would love to hear from them.

Someone used that old Billy Connelly line about the "jobbie wheeker" as a search on google last night, that was a really funny story he told during his discourse in one show about aeroplanes and the disposal of "waste".

And I keep seeing that the conmen used the Ross on Wye post box address still seem to be causing concern , I did think that the trading Standards agency were attempting to close them down a couple of years ago, but , like the rest of their scheming, thieving, counterparts they are always out looking for an "easy mark".

Up, up and away " .

Esk 42 R A Annual Charity Valentines Dance

A selection of the "beautiful people" who were well on form last night at the Valentine's Dance held in the Masonic Hall, Dalkeith, Midlothian.