Alexander Millar -an insight, but life goes on, and on, and on

A must for any tourist who appreciates a good class, but shop with history, they should visit Jenner's Store in Princes Street. The shop steeped in history is one of those with a Royal crest, etc for supplying to the Queen.
inside it is a lovely maze of old staircases, zigzagging from the basement toy store to the Zest Restaurant and Spa on the top floor.

On the third Floor is the Art gallery, part of the Breeze Franchise with a superb selection of art work ranging from Original oils, inks, pencils, limited editions, etc. I had a chat to Suzanne, one of the specialist staff who had a fabulous original by Alexander Millar, "Party Time".

I see an item in tonight's paper where my friend Gaynor Turner, from McIntyre's, managed to get onto the golf course at Aberdeen and speak to the American millionaire , Donald Trump in an effort to get her friend Clive Spiegel a place on the USA show, "American Apprentice". Well done Gaynor, bonus points all round.

Just popped into my head, we have been so pleased with the way things have been going since the tramworks stopped outside The Mercat Bar, albeit because there is this big dispute taking place - BUT - it never fails, today two "contractors" appeared to replace broken slabs outside the Bar at lunchtime, complete with stone cutter, etc, so guess what - front of the building disappeared in a cloud of white dust while customers were sitting having lunch on the balcony - IT IS NEVER ENDING - DESIGNED TO GRIND YOU DOWN, and I know all about that process by Edinburgh City Council.

Sunday sights in the city

Sunday, headed to town and into the St James Centre for a wander and a chat to a friend of Mrs. B,s In the concourse I met the ape man, chasing a few ladies, and advertising the new tree top adventure park (Go Ape) at Beecraigs park, by Livingston, West Lothian. Outside the Centre were a "kid", a pot belly pig, and the duckings, brought in by the staff from East Links family park, East Lothian, onto Princes Street where the upside down man was attracting as much attention as the multi million pound "tram to nowhere" !!!!

Edinburgh , heading into the Summer.

Bank Holiday weekend in Edinburgh, things are hotting up the summer approaches - or should it be here already? Hundreds of visitors in the town and as usual many groups here on stag and hen weekends. Some are more colourful and imaginative than others, and today's group at Waterloo Place, outside Registry House, were well presented as an American Football team, along with their own pigtailed ra ra girl. Our intrepid shopper/ sorry photographer, working her way from bargain to bargain.

Onwards till it was time for a rest so the Standing order beckoned once more, the Big pole dancer was on duty and as they say, no show without punch, so the family appeared, not that Austen was interested in anything other than his "drink" !!

Changes this week with the new J D Wetherspoon pub opening in George Street on Friday 5th June, formerly the Ivory lounge and being reopened as "The Alexander Graham Bell", in memory of the inventor of the telephone who lived nearby.

The Edinburgh Rugby Sevens are on at Murrayfield all weekend so the Mercat Bar has been busy with rugby supporters - and with so much sport, i.e. Roland Garos tennis, motor racing Grand prix from Istanbul, rugby, on the TV we have a few "birling heids" in the house.

So, with June on our doorstep, things are looking up - the town should be a lively place and well worth a visit.

Graham our birthday boy

I have just discovered that Graham, one of our Supervisors has aged overnight !! Happy Birthday to him - it should be noted that Aggy is NOT his birthday present !!!!

And no sense of humour either

Just to show that despite the fact the roadworks/ tramworks have gone at the moment, we might or might not , or maybe, but perhaps not - eventually get started again, if the Edinburgh City Council and the TIE people can settle their differences. BUT then again, with a new bridge being Built over the River Forth, not that that has anything to do with the City but it could be an other excuse for yet another delay - and in the meantime the bookies are changing the odds as to whether the trams ever run in the City. BUT looking on the bright side we have a new gas main in West Maitland Street, probably the most expensive in the country.

Sir Walter Scott and St Mary's Cathedral

Thursday afternoon , between my visit to the Turkish lads who set fire to my ears and the wine tasting dinner I ended up back in St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerston Place. My main reason for going was to hear the Evensong Service as I was curious to see what happened and hear the choir.
Prior to the service I found Sir Walter Scott's pew ( see attached) so it was nice to see a bit of Scotland's history in the flesh so to speak.

The service, which lasted only forty minutes was very nice, different for me, being used to the more basic Church of Scotland presentation.

It was then back to The Mercat Bar where this month's wine dinner was "Wines of the rest of the world", certainly different with wines from India, Mexico, Israel, Austria,and Scotland - made from "whey" a by product of making cheese - most unusual.

The meal, as usual was excellent with a real variety of dishes to compliment each wine - a good night had by all one again.

Next "biggy" will be the jazz lunch on 6th June which will be a full house.

A Happy young lady, well done.

Congratulations to Gillian on her engagement to Martin. She is seen here with the other "fragrant ladies" at her work posing for Mrs B., well done

Penicuik's water well

No problem guessing what the weather was like this morning - heard the rain before I saw it, so, head back under the duvet for a bit longer.

Visits to the Dentist and Doctor, where I saw the poster about "children learn what they live" which I thought was very good. Home and then off to play bowls with the "old men" - the retired chaps - which is always a laugh and was a bonus as the sun came out for most of the afternoon.
The picture is of the old water well in the High Street, Penicuik,
which was built with funds from Mr Cowan of Valleyfield Mill, aided by the donation of 1p from the Townspeople.

Dog Training Class - maybe not.

Not sure who was training who this afternoon !! This young man was teaching his dog to retreive a stick, but dog had problems fining the stick, and then would refuse to part with it. The owner did his best by getting down to "doggie" level, but the wee dog was not so daft and kept running off.

National Crime research Council and Safe and Secure

Sunday night had a nice steady run down the M6, lovely evening, and ended up at Runcorn by 12 mn.
Monday a.m. nice and bright, and had my tea and toast from Chris at the Canteen while waiting for the Office to open, which was fortunately early which meant that I was back on the road North again by 8.30 a.m.
Couple of real nutcases on the road, a young lad in a go faster toy who was making use of every inch of the road, overtaking - undertaking, just madness, other man was in a Renault cargo van, who overtook as the M74 narrowed from three lanes to two, on a downhill stretch and was doing over 100 mph and had to brake savagely to get into line behind a slow moving lorry - another example of stupidity.
Made it to Glasgow and home with plenty time to go for a swim while the pool was quiet.

Tuesday a.m.
Sitting quietly working away at home when I had a call from the impressive sounding "National Crime Research Group", purporting to be carrying out a Crime Survey on behalf of the Home Office, and suggesting that four participants in this area would be eligible to receive a free security alarm system for a home. I did tell the caller that if she was selling anything I did not want to know, however she insisted that the survey was legitimate !! and I decided to play along. She asked a number of questions about alarm systems, security, etc, saying that it would make sense to have an alarm system monitored by a National monitoring system as the Police no longer responded to domestic alarm calls. Her next move was to suggest that a Security manager from S A S ( Safe and Secure Security Systems) should call me to explain further.
SO - a few minutes later a young lady from SAS in Glasgow called and attempted to persuade me to accept a "free" alarm system, however I had to pay a "one off" monitoring fee and also for the installation only - so the young lady was sent on her way rejoicing.
Between the two calls I had done a quick search on the Web and there are a number of derogatory comments regarding both the National Crime Research Council - which s just a marketing company with fancy name and the Safe and Secure alarm company- whose selling and marketing ploys leave a lot to be desired. There are a number of people around the UK who are regretting ever having contact with the Company.
The Police Community Safety Department ./ Crime Prevention Officers are interested in any company who bend the truth, etc., use out of date statistics, and in some cases even falsely quote Police Officers when selling.
In all cases people are advised to use recognised Alarm Companies who install to British Standards and EU standards - when in doubt, contact the Police and seek advice.

Sun shine - in Scotland - hard to believe.

Sunday evening , lovely day - and have just pottered about in the sun, in the garden , however, Mrs. B. took herself off this morning for a walk and did twenty miles - YES, before lunch time - all part of her training in for the MOONWALK Cancer Research marathon on June 19 th.

Yesterday was a different kettle of fish , woke up early, and found that Mrs B had a "foreign body" in her eye, so rather than mess about we headed straight to the A & E Dept, at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. 7.10 a.m. and they were still coping with a backlog from the Friday night and were promising to try and see not emergency cases within three hours. There were still some of the drunken / drug affected numpties hanging about the A & E and from their actions they were obviously regulars, just a pain in the backside ( not treatable). So two hours later one happy bunny walked out the hospital and headed home minus a piece of grit which had somehow got under the eyelid. I think these nurses and doctors deserve a medal for dealing with all these "casualties", and it is a sad state of affairs that there is a need to have regular Police Officers on duty there full time.

Quick change for me and I headed down to Bonnyrigg where young Grant @ Photogenix was tasked with clearing and saving lots of photos from two cameras whilst I headed to a meeting of the Stanley Geddes Conclave (No 404) of the OSM. Fairly short meeting so I was able to get away, collect my photos from the bar where Grant had left them for me and headed home - to find - NO WIFE !! - but a note , gone for a walk. It was very hot and the last thing needed was a long trail in the head, however, she appeared a very short time later , and covered in blood, having taken a tumble on some loose rubble on the footpath, fortunately not far from home. Having said that a motorist whio saw her reported it to the Police who were nearby on their quad bikes and an Officer attended and made sure she was able to manage the last wee bit home.
So that was it , a quiet weekend, plenty sunshine, and now - just about to head off for a slow run South to Runcorn to do a job early on a.m. Monday and get back to Glasgow by early p.m.

Dangerous situation - potentially

Heading for work this morning , and once again noted that nothing had been done about this broken tree part way up Lowries Den, the broken branch is hanging like the proverbial "Sword of Damocles" and will eventually break away possiblylanding on some poor unsuspecting motorist.

Steady in the Mercat Bar this morning and over lunch with a number of tourists through the doors.

Young Connor Boyd was in with Katie (No 1) and was delighted to tell us that he had been accepted for the Lothian and Borders Police and is heading for the Scottish police College in July - well done.

Headed home to make the nest of the sun, but our joy was short lived as a passing thunder storm decided to drop its contents on top of us.
BUT it did dry out , and in anticipation of some better weather I cleaned up the BBQ and did a test firing - ready for a steak or two - maybe.

Black Barony , bees, balloons and Lamas - yes!!

Turned out to be an interesting day - or I think so.

On my "To Do" list was a visit to the Black Barony Hotel, Eddleston , to have a look at the unusual "Stone Map of Scotland" designed by a Polish map maker during the war when the Polish forces were stationed at the hotel. On our way up the drive we met the black Lamas, lovely beasties, looks to be a full family.

Nearby were, what is apparently a rare sight at the moment, namely bee hives, as bees were dying off throughout the country last year.

Up to the front door with this unusual saying - "Prepare to meet thy God", not sure what it means - but how appropriate is it for couples about to be married!!!

We headed into the estate which is lovely, nice walks, ariel runways, rope swings, nature trails, etc, and then there is the map - sited in a large pond, it must have been quite a sight when it was built during the war, surrounded by water, a near perfect map of Scotland. Sadly it has been allowed to fall into disrepair and when we spoke with one of the receptionists in the hotel she was saying that the group who were trying to get the pond restored were meeting with no success in their efforts to get funding. The Hotel, run by the DeVere Group is very nice, it has a tie in with the Scottish Ambulance Service who at one stage had sole use of the premises but now seem to have a sharing arrangement.

Heading out we could see some wind turbines in the distance and in this setting they are a serious blight on the countryside.


Home and in the evening we just missed the hot air balloon taking off from the playing field over the road, with the wind from the west it well be over the North Sea by now.

Was Wednesday a bit of a bore or

Thursday a.m. - shocking night, hardly any point in going to bed - need a good cure fro insomnia, and worse than that - the sky above is sheet grey this morning- where the hell is the sunshine.

However, yesterday probably sounds a bit boring, swim, massage, walk, bowls, garden and masons !!

In the Pool at 9 a.m. with the early birds, showers were freezing so one guy - covered in tattoos jumped into the Jacuzzi and sat there with bubbles obviously doing and going where bubbles go. Did a few lengths, had a warm up in the steam room and then headed to see "Cruella" . She was in her glory, lots of knots, aches and pains to untangle and said that it was the worst state i had been in for a long time - no pain, no gain- but I did feel a lot better afterwards.

Took myself off on the bus to Habbies Howe, and walked back - passing the Midlothian Council road men who are supposed to be sorting the roadside drains - once again the JCB driver was lounging with his feet up and on his mobile phone - and that was both times I passed in a 45 minute period. The two men in the van were playing cards - but by that time they were maybe on their lunch break!! Obviously not on a bonus payment scheme.

Not many out for the bowls in the afternoon , but it was a laugh, the "senior" players really enjoy the company and are a bit more forgiving with novice players.
Off to the RA 431 Colinton and Currie last night with Grant @ Photogenix to give the members a bit of support.
This Chapter has been struggling a bit recently so the 1st Principal Bob Philips and his office bearers have made a big effort for the meeting which was well rewarded with a superb Deputation from Provincial, led by Alex Mooney, and also a big Dep from Esk 42 led by Duncan Gemmell who were supporting Andy McKeen who was given honorary membership during the evening. Very long meeting, started at 7 p.m. and finished at 10 p.m., followed by a dinner of the traditional "mince and tatties". C & C were inaugurated in 1918 so the members would like to see a bit of a resurgence of interest and try to make it through to their Centenary - no reason why not, just a few more bodies needed.

Quadbiking Police Officers, sunshine and shrubbery.

Is this or was this our summer, need to wait and see what happens tomorrow.

On my travels this morning I spotted two of Lothian and Borders Police traffic officers on their quad bikes in Penicuik, They looked very impressive on this occasion, if they were after a tesco shoplifter - might need to tie them on the back. The last time I saw them they were doing a tremendous job and were up to their axles in deep snow and heading out to help stranded motorists on the A702. They might be able to catch the quad biking fruitcake who is causing mayhem in Penicuik.

Met up with Mrs B. and we headed to Dobbie's nurseries, which has to be a fine example of legitimate daylight robbery - and good on them if the public are daft enough to keep pouting through the doors and paying such daft prices.

Superb restaurant, but no bargains, full High Street prices, and we met the dreaded tiny Miss Finlay along with Ma and Granny - she was in fine fettle, and the poor wee soul looks just like her dad !!!

Home and later headed to the bowling club for my Tuesday Walkinshaw, however, the greens were already occupied by teams from Penicuik, Musselburgh. being a lovely evening there was a good crowd spectating.

Watching the TV news, what a state this country is in, we now cannot deport terrorist suspects "in case they get hurt" - what a load of rubbish. We have an open door policy to let these folk in but when they abuse our hospitality we cannot get shot of them.

On a similar theme, last night we had an item about a youth worker, caught at work viewing images of children, suspended, dismissed - then after appeal he gets reinstated, given compensation and is now fighting for even more from Edinburgh City Council. Another example of the Council being totally contrary !! - they even had two sets of consultants working on a project to redevelop a site, but both sets of experts had been given totally opposite sets of instructions - waste of time and money - but then it belongs to the ratepayers,

A stroll in the Countryside

Relatively nice day today, but only just - where the blazes is our summer or are we going to sit under a clouded sky for yet another year.
Headed out for a walk again as it was not too hot, and took ourselves up Lowrie's Den onto the A702, which on the Silverburn Straight was like a race track as drivers tried to clear the queues formed behind slower vehicles on the bends or hills. Not helped by the sheep who decided to have a wee wander on the main road - bit of heavy braking taking place and last minute swerving to avoid mutton on the menu. ( or fresh lamb chops). No "Green X Code" for these babies.


Struggled a bit with sore legs following yesterday's stroll into Edinbugh. Mrs. B. thought I might appreciate a lift home on the local bucket lorry, but George Allison, pilot of the Vulture, reckoned that I would be quicker and safer walking as they had a lot of bins to collect out in the countryside. Not like Benny Hill's song of old when he would have just said " OK - jump up on the cart"

Ended up having a slow stroll home wards, even managed to give a French couple some directions, they were certainly impressed with my linguistic skills.

The local Midlothian Council have roadmen replacing drains on the back road, but being such a nice day the JCB driver was having a wee snooze or sunbathing in his machine - good job if you can get it.

Spent the rest of the day pottering in the garden, sorting out some hanging baskets in the hope that frost does not get them, apart from a quick swim, and also waiting for my motorbike to be uplifted for repair - but I presume that this being a local public holiday, plans were knocked on the head.

But tomorrow is yet another day.

Ailsa and Darren's engagement doo

The VIP area of the The Mercat Bar was jam packed last night to celebrate the engagement of Ailsa and Darren, having popped the question and accepted whilst recently on holiday.
Nice crowd, all enjoying themselves, nice buffet, etc. a good night was had by all. Now up to Gordon and Sandra to either dig under the mattress or buy a suitcase and ladder before next April.

Edu - amigo and man of the moment

Last night at the Mercat, where we were heading to an engagement party we met Edu, along with his parents and partner. Edu, a good friend of the family, a graphic design artist of some skill, is also a keen chef and it was he who helped us set up the original kitchen, menus, etc, at The Mercat

His parents, who are over on holiday from Spain do not speak a word of English, and had a somewhat confusing time with Mrs. B. doing her best to make them feel welcome.

Aching all over - my fault.

Sunday night, not just taking it easy, incapable of moving !! Foolishly decided to walk into The Mercat Bar this morning with Mrs.B. to collect the car which had been left while I drove another one home. Big mistake - ten miles on hard footpaths, and me with no training at all.
Set off with great gusto till I reached the first hill, then the old heart thought that its world was coming to an end , but once up Mauricewwod Road it was downhill for a bit . Passed the field with the blue lambs in it, obviously so that the farmer can identify them - round the corner a few of the cheecky chaps were playing, just like kids the enjoy climbing, while another was playing with an old bottle.

Further along the A702 I took the two of the wee white boxes, a sampling study of growing crops - I just like the symmetry of the design, just a shame they were not perfectly in line !!

On through Fairmilehead, seven miles and my legs were beginning to suffer, three miles go and getting a bit slower - knees not happy with the downhill sections.

Into Ardmillan and spotted this plaque high up on the wall above Lums Dun, the chimney sweep's shop, and dating back to 1887 when the buildings were obviously erected.

Eventually reached the Mercat, three hours from home - just a bit puggled and ready for a nice hearty breakfast!

Headed home and then, believe it or not, went for a swim, some steam and a soak in the tub.

Never be an athlete again.