No news, or very little so far.

We are still waiting on the final funeral arrangements for Grahame Allan, there will be church service in Lauder and then the cortage will make for Edinburgh to the crematorium. Details later as soon as they are available.

Busy day tomorrow, with the Scotland v England world rugby match at 8 a.m., and RGB has an early licence for the Mercat. Everything crossed for the boys in blue.

I hope to try and get down to Bedrule Church, St Boswells, to see Shuggie and Pippa get married, then need to exit stage right and head back home, change, then to Bonnyrigg for the Special meeting of RA 500 Laird O'Cockpen for a working of all the Degrees by reigning 1st Principals.

Sunday, no better, RGB doing the Edinburgh 10km run a.m. and then we have a visit arranged to Hopetoun House, South Queensferry, where Alexander Millar, ( lad to Laird) the artist is going to be present at an exhibition of his paintings - his speciality being the well known "gadgies".

We have made the best of the so called "Indian Summer", but with rain forecast for the night, looks like we are returning to seasonal norms.

Grahame Allan, tributes pour in.

I have to apologise, but with so many lads with the same name, I did spell young Grahame's name wrong in my last entry, but once again my unforgiving "Blogspot" system will not allow me to go in and edit.

We still have no word yet as to when or where the funeral will be held.

The family have had tremendous support from friends, colleagues and the local community in Lauder, which, although no compensation for the sudden loss, has helped a great deal.

Sudden and unexpected death of a close friend

Just where do I start? Devastated, then how are the family feeling following the sudden death of Graeme Allan Jnr, seen here with RGB last week.

How could I have known in January when I wrote of the sudden death of Graeme Allan Snr that I would be repeating this ever so painful process so unexpectedly for his son - and how could I have foreseen this event last week when talking to this fine young man and friend in Penicuik Rugby Club where he had come to see his mate, RGB playing in the Golden Oldies tournament.

Graeme died yesterday, 27th September 2011, following a road accident at a notorious accident "black spot", at 4.15 pm. on the A7 Edinburgh - Galashiels Road, just south of Fountainhall, when the motorcycle he was riding was in collision with two motor cars. From the news items availableI believe that he was airlifted by the air ambulance to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he sadly succumed to his injuries some time later. The A 7 was closed for a considerable number of hours while accident investigators did their work and at the moment they are still seeking further witnesses.

Graeme and RGB were at Penicuik High School together and we had them and others in the house most afternoons On one occasion there were four "Graham's, Graeme,s " in the house at the one time and they revelled in getting me confused. We had surprise birthday parties for him, and his friends, and have many other fond memories .

I can remember when he worked with his father up at the then Snooty Fox, before he set his mind on joining the police - He joined Lothian and Borders Police and was posted to serve in Edinburgh; being a car fanatic and keen motorcyclist he was so delighted later to get a transfer to the Traffic Department where he served, firstly in the City, then Dalkeith and latterly in the Borders

I know that his eldest daughter had, only a couple of days ago been talking to a young friend whose Daddy, a friend and colleague of Graeme's had died very recently, and the wee ones were discussing who would look after him in heaven - his daughter had told the friend that her Grandad would be there to make sure he was OK, looks like Graeme Snr., has now been reunited with his son, and if the lads shape up the way they used to be, then he will have his work cut out !!!

To the family, his wife, daughters, mother, sister and close friends I can only offer our condolences and support.

To Graeme, R I P.

It was a long day behind the wheel

Long day today, headed off at 4.45 a.m. to Glasgow and then south to Risley - roads seemed a bit quieter but there seemed to be lots more lorries. In fact at the big open cast mine south of Lesmahagow there must have been a line of at least thirty wagons waiting to get into the Open Cast - now I can understand why the locals were/ are up in arms.

I stopped for petrol as usual at the Shell garage beside the M6 at J24 the Haydock / Liverpool junction - fun and games taking place withe the place becoming gridlocked following an accident opposite the garage. A female taxi driver appears to have run out of petrol and pulled onto the verge opposite the garage to go for petrol in a can. Having stopped a following car got caught out and has had to pull out to miss her car, that car then gets smacked in the rear by white van man, and as he stops he is rammed in the rear by a lorry. Police arrived very quickly but within ten minutes the area was gridlocked and the M6 slip from the Northbound lane was queuing out all along the M6.

Moral of the story, make sure you do not run out of petrol.

Rest of the day, very nice in the sun and I even had the roof of the wee Tut Tut (Smart car) open for a few hours.

Came home over the M62 to Weatherby, up the M1 and then, for a change, took the A68 up to Castleside, dropping in to see a friend but he was at work, then up and over the Carter Bar, through Jedburgh, St Boswells, across to Galashiels, then Peebles and home. The roads were generally very quiet, but when I did come upon traffic it was slow, holding everyone up - Sunday drivers out on a Tuesday.

Home for a rest but we have had some bad news which I will comment on when I get the facts straight.

Help, call the Polis, baddies at every turn

The Police are certainly kept busy in the town and get around from call to call using their blue lamps, sirens, etc. which are very effective, especially with our motorists who are generally very cooperative.

I did not need to call them out when our local thief, Squirrillious Fluffytailus was spotted in action in the garden.

We have a Nice shiny new Asda store which opened today on the A701 at Straiton this morning, more chaos on the main road with new traffic lights - so we have a large Sainsburys; a Marks and Sparks; Asda all within three quarters of a mile and then in Penicuik, the dreaded Tesco's - so it looks like our small traders are going to take the blow once again.

Talking of daylight robbery, (was I) Tesco were for a long time selling six packs of morning rolls for 70p or two packs for £1. They then increased the price of the six pack to 80p, did away with the two for £1 offer and introduced a three for £2 deal - nice little hike in prices, and the rolls look even smaller . I am not really being miserable, but if you take time and look at the so called deals and special offers - we are being diddled left right and centre - but the Supermarket's do not hide the fact that their profits are increasing all the time, despite the competition - so who is losing out ??

I see that yet another of Edinburgh's better known pubs has just closed it's doors, the "Illicit Still", bites the dust, a victim of these troubled times.

Labour Party Conference is in full swing - (call the Polis) yet another round of "what we will do when we get back in power" - why did they not do it last time - BUT more to the point - they (politicians - pigs in a trough) can they not just stop, have a look at the mess the World's economy is in and decide that it is time to pool our resources, get the best minds together, work with/ and tell the truth to the public and make sure we do not end in the same mess.

If tonight's documentary on Tony Blair was correct, a seriously classic example of someone using their power and influence to line their own nests.

Today's footnote and a sign of the times - I had a delivery man today who asked for the use of a pen, gave him a fountain pen, and he had no idea how to use it - so I had to retrieve it before he damaged the nib - so much for the three R's.

Sunday afternoon out in the town

Busy day on Sunday , up early and off to the Mercat Bar, where we had an occasional licence to allow customers a drink while watching the Scotland v Argentina rugby game, as it turns out we needed it to drown our sorrows after the last minute try against us - better luck next week.

Finished and then headed along to the Standing Order where one of Edinburgh's many animal sculptures dotted around the City was on guard - nice Welcome and Exit notes by the great pole dancer and his beloved !! who were inabsentia - must wish Old Archie belated birthday greetings.

Quick drink and then off to the Balmoral Hotel, for my X-mas treat, a bit belated, but thanks to Go Jo for the present.

Wee problem with my roast beef, however, no fuss and it was replaced quickly. Staff were extremely pleasant, friendly, and the Hadrian's Brasserie was a nice place to spend the Sunday afternoon.

Propped up - and not by the elbow

Looks like it will be another night in the chair, yet last night I made it nearly through the night after supping some cough linctus, only problem being that it suppressed the cough but caused a build up of rubbish which had to be coughed up this morning . But tonight, despite the hot drinks it is back to the chair.
Never mind, will not be a long night as we have an early start for the rugby in the morning , just hoping that Scotland can get it together against Argentina.
What has been happening, yet another day in the Dolphin Inn, where there was a big group in for dinner tonight, kept everyone on their toes, but just what we want - and we are already fully booked for x-mas day !!
In the papers, the lady who has dropped out from having a stall at a local fete in England , she has hand made a collection of "Golliwogs" but was told by the Local Authority that it was not PC. - same with Tayside Police who have written a PC booklet for the Police Officers, cannot say "manning up" or "we have men on the street" as this will offend females, There are strict rules on addressing women, depending on their ages, no " more welcome ladies, or come on in girls" , PC gone daft.

Greed hit the headlines again with yet another City banker losing billions of the banks' money and they had no controls in place - sounds like the Arab Prince from Quatar who had £50 million syphoned from his personal account by an aide before he realised!!!!! I would hopefully know if there was £50 missing.

Messages from the land of the upside down people, we are getting a visit for x-mas from Roz,the mother of Robbie and Scott, we look forward to that - just hope we are still basking in the promised Indian Summer ( is that PC !!) and not up to our dangly bits in snow.

Have missed out on yet another couple of R A meetings this week, apologies to the Companions, but these old bones are struggling at the moment, and with a long run South on Tuesday next week could be lost also - although we do have a special meeting of RA500 Laird O'Cockpen next Saturday which will hopefully be very attended. Just a pity it clashed with a wedding we had been invited to down in the Borders, all the best to Shuggie and Pippa.

Poor Sparky Mark went fishing up near Crieff today, and on his return to the car found it to be very sick ,he called the AA ( the other one for motors) and after a great deal of hoo ha, they managed to find him, fix the fault and he made it home in one piece.

RGB was telling us that there is talk of the Performing Rights people putting up the annual fee for playing music in public places from £tens to £hundreds, which will be yet another blow to the licensed trade - everyone will stop playing background music, vicious circle - many people will stop coming in, no more impromptu sing songs, etc.

Taking five

Really weird, just had another attempt at editing (spotted another mistake) and system will not let me do the correction - anyway, having five minutes before I head off too open up at The Dolphin Inn, this time when I am supposed to - last two days attendance were purely voluntary I believe.

Yet another night spent sleeping in the chair, made it till about 3.30 a.m. in bed then had no option but get up, hot drink with loads of honey and was soon out for the count again.

Dan the man just called, sunning himself by the harbour in Torquay - weather a dashed bit brighter than here, however, every day I am in awe with Penicuik's own ecosystem - can be raining and miserable here, yet the minute I get to the Gowkly Moss roundabout, or Hillend on the A702 everything changes for the better, BUT good news, the sun is due to shine again today.

Going to work on the "steed of steel" today and will have to take the long way as the Police are dealing with an accident on the A701 at Glencorse Barracks - that road is busy enough at the best and we had yet another fatality recently at Gowkly Moss, that was three serious crashes in a one hundred metre stretch by the graveyard with four young men dying - last one involving two young soldiers from the Barracks who had been performing at the tattoo.

While working away in the house yesterday watched "Deal or No Deal" (in the background) and saw a very deserving young lady take a gamble to become the fourth person to win the £250,000 - well done.

Short and sweet and correvting mistakes.

Have had a really frustrating time trying to amend last nights blog - name of course was Nick Clegg, and there were uncorrected spelling mistakes, due to the early hour of the morning, but despite several attempts to edit - the system just would not allow it. Gremlins galore and most annoying.

I did try to comment on the defeat of the Mighty Glasgow Rangers FC last night. a shame that their manager "Super Ally" Mcoist is taking the blame, however why should he, when he played he put his heart and soul into the game, did his best, plus, and each week I listened to the radio or watched the TV to see if super Ally was going to score - not now, there are very few in the UK game who you can expect to try and score every game - they lack spirit at the top level - you need to get to the smaller teams where the guys are playing because they want to, not for the inflated fees they are getting. It would be interesting to see how many would still be playing if they were only getting £250 a week !!!! Even Hearts ( the puddings) managed to get beaten on penalties.

So today, another day off, I was down at the Dolphin at 7.30 am to set up for a small group who were using the facilities for a training, then home to sunshine, a nice day, a good drying day in fact - perfect for the washing.

Ended up having a quiet day to myself as Mrs B. hit the town with her friend and the twosome took themselves to the cinema to see the new version of "Jane Eyre" which they enjoyed.

Computer being pinched by RGB so time to sign off for the day.

Still up but not through choice

Night No. two sitting up in a chair in the living room, where hopefully I will get a sleep in due course. Tried to get to sleep in bed, but as soon as I lie down I start to cough my daft head off - and the only solution is to get up, have a hot drink and settle in the chair. Only consolation is that I am able to catch up on my E mails, due to to technical problems during the day with the WI FI at the Dolphin Inn.

Looks like I have been unfortunate, now suffering from a bit of flu, probably brought on my the changeable weather, but was really hellish all weekend and it looks like I was one of many who picked up a bug, vomiting, etc, while at a meeeting in a hotel in Edinburgh - quite a few people affected, guests and folks like me who were attending a meeting.

However, must not complain, there is always someone a lot worse off - so it is raining here, but there are forest fires in Menorca; no £1 coins in the Royal Bank of Scotland, local branch this morning; no money in the Greek kitty;!! and even less in the USA., Earthquakes in the Himalayas; more off Japan (not much publicity about that).

David Clegg spouting forth at his Annual Conference - he says " no way will the Euopean Bill of Human Rights be revoked - "It is here to stay". I hope not - it is costing us a fortune.

Work has restarted on the magical Edinburgh Tram system, I think that maybe the chaps from "legoland" stand a better chance of finishing the job.

I had a call from a gent at Google this morning trying to get me to advertise, I was under the impression that I would already pop up as a Security Advisor if the right words were keyed in, must be wrong.

Danish Police Visit Lothians I.P.A.

Sunday night I attended a function in the Police Club, York Place, Edinburgh, hosted by the Lothians Branch of the I.P.A. ( International Police Association). Our guests were a group of twenty five Danish Police Officers, and an officer from Romania, who were visiting the City for four days. This Group have been doing these annual "trips" all over Europe for the past thirteen years where they make contact with local officers through the worldwide network of the I.P.A.

During the course of the evening there was the usual exchange of gifts, with the Danish handing over Police caps and some beautiful personalised IPA badges to Glen Brown, our President and Rod McNeill, who had assisted with this visit.

There were a number of local members present, and also Tom Crozier the National President, who witnessed the presentation of "Loyalty Awards" to members with more than twenty years membership. I received mine, despite the fact that I have been a member since 1967, but there were others present who had been in the organisation longer than me. However, the gesture was much appreciated and I am sure that the Executive might well get round to producing awards to the longer serving members in due course.

Our Heros' in Action

By special request, a few action shots of the Penicuik Golden Oldies - before they took to their hot tubs, "Deep Heat" rubs and the drinks that reach the parts other drinks do not reach. Not that this has broven a great success as there are several well crocked bodies today.

With luck the selectors will look the other way when picking the next team to take on the USA (Uther Side of Auchendinny) team !!!!

Golden Oldies Rugby - Penicuik - 2011

A long and at times chilly day at Penicuik Rugby Club today where the club were hosting a Golden Oldies Rugby day - so provided you were over thirty five years of age you could play, and as you will see there was on veteran aged eighty four !!

The valiant Penicuik team actually had a very successful day despite the distractions on the touch line - in the forms of the organisers.

Considering the fact that everyone had to play four games, there was only one injury, who, after a trip to the hospital made it back to the clubhouse on crutches.

We had one team who were sponsoring a cancer charity as all the players had suffered from some form of cancer - they did very well.

It was good to see so many spectators attending, many former players from all over who were very supportive.

I look forward to next years repeat event.

Meercats, crocs, etc, where will it all end.

Something a bit different tonight, thought the cheery Meercats were doing well and it reminded me of karaoke nights at The Mercat Bar -(two Graham's , Billy and Shrek) !!! Meanwhile, with all the recent rain we have had there was a bit of a panic as this crocodile was seen sunning itself in the Melville Crescent Gardens.

And of course, even stranger things were happening in Glasgow yesterday where Buchanan Street was turned into a garden, with young ladies handing out Nature Bars to the pedestrians.

Had an early rise today as RGB, self and Andy Mac. were doing the business at the Friday breakfast meeting of the BNI at the Marriot Hotel, Maybury. Good attendance and a fun meeting today, even I was given a contact for work .

Helped out for a shift in The Mercat Bar, nice to see some of the regulars again, having missed them while down at The Dolphin Inn - and then headed home on the bus, where the driver really made great time and got me home early - however this will not be the case for a long time as the dreaded tram works recommence tomorrow with Princes Street being closed off again for the next year. Will probably give me the chance to get plenty "still life" pictures which I will happily send on to the Council and publish on this blog.

49 Club - September 2011 lunch

Train to Glasgow to attend the monthly lunch of the 49 Club held today in the "Green Room" at the Glasgow concert Hall, which was a very nice venue, although we did miss a PA system for the guest speaker.

Lunch was lovely with a sea bass and couscous starter, lamb and veg main course, and apologies - but I cannot rember what the sweet was , but it was very , very nice.

Bit of a change today as we had a surprise wine tasing where members had to try and work out where the wine came from and what it was - good fun, and fortunately our wine tutor was spot on which just proved how good she was.

Next treat for the day was when I, along with one of the other students on the recent wine tasting course were awarded with book prizes for coming out tops on the course which had been sponsored by the 49 Club.

Prior to the course my main criteria for selecting wine was a) screwtop; b) price and C) red !!!! What can I say ?? I have a better understanding of the different grapes; production methods; variations in taste due to soils, climate, etc., but I still have to be guided by the taste on my tongue and not the notes or price on the label - everyone's taste is different - but in my case I still find it hard to work out how prices for individual wines can at times be so expensive. From what I can understand, the UK market no longer purchases expensive/ upmarket !!! wines, so overseas producers are selling the "better" wines to Foreign markets such as the Chinese, etc.

Or I am I personally just being distracted by the current economical climate ????