Many hands make more than the light work

Monday night and trying to stop the aches of the weekend. Thought I was having a quiet day on Saturday as we set off for the town - Mrs. B. took to the shops and me for a wander - firstly past the new tented village parked on the recently laid pristine lawn at the base of the monument in St.Andrew's Square. This was one demonstration in a series taking place around the UK to highlight the raping of the country by the bankers and economists. From there it was onto princess Street - being raped by the tram workers - how many times have we seen the "modern workman" having to redo their shoddy / shabby work - and being paid for by the ratepayer of the City.

In Princes Street Gardens, by the Ross Bandstand there was an assembly taking place before a rally and march through the City by "The Hardest Hit" the disabled, wheelchair bound, etc, making known their plight.

Nice morning so I stopped for a wee seat in the sun at the quiet side of St. John's Episcopal Church and found the gravestone of Anne Rutherford, mother of Sir Walter Scott.
Wee thought to myself, never been in here in all these years , so I had a walk into St John's Church, how beautiful,our City is so lovely and has all these unexpected hidden treasures - hidden in the sense that they are so obvious we never look at them.

But, to continue, on to the Mercat Bar, where chaos reigned as the tradesmen tried to get the refurbishment completed for a.m. Sunday morning's planned opening !!! We thought that another four hands might help so it was home and a quick change then back to get stuck in with sleeves rolled up - understatement - everyone was really "knocking their pan in" / no slackers here, painters, electrician, joiners, tilers and cleaners - and the work went on, and on, and the cleaning went on, and on, and on, and at 5 a.m. Sunday the cleaner arrived to find eight dirty tired folks still working away .

BUT - it did open at 8 a.m. to a champagne breakfast with fans there to see the Rugby World Cup final.

In the meantime- it was bed time for the night shift !! Tired and sore with the unexpected exercise / work. But the old body was suffering seriously when I awoke a few hours later, oh my goodness, paid the price for an enthusiastic pair of hands. So now, thirty six hours on, still suffering a bit, but it was worth as - although the refurbishment is by no means finished, the Mercat Bar is looking good, a big transformation over the course of a week, well worth a visit.