Brilliant sunshine, excellent photo calls

Contrasting weather here,  Minus 2.5 C  this morning and plus 10.5c this afternoon, and tonight , back below zero once again.

Monday had a wee trip to the city Mercat for lunch before the Johnston's of Chobham headed South on the big silver bird and to return to their work in progress. 

Tuesday, early start and off to Dumfries where I started off with a superb bacon buttie, then out into a brilliant sunny day, cold, but lovely and had two hours wander around a beautiful estate.  seriously upset when I discovered that the battery in my camera was dead and I could not get the pics I wanted.  There was a Shetland pony with a serious attitude problem, thought it was a Clydesdale Horse, a slithery snake which thought I was lunch because I tasted of horse; cows which were of their own violation queueing up to get milked by a robot !! and then having a wee scrub down with automatic brushes - would have made brilliant photos.
On my way home up the A701, over the Devil's Beeftub, and again missed out on some fabulous photo options. Was taking my time, unlike the poor souls who were being captured by the sneaky speed camera which is regularly on that route.   Having said that, I was spoken to on Friday night by a very polite and efficient young traffic Police Officer - must compliment him, and accept his advice.

Sparky Mark, MEZ was in action last night at RA 500, along with Tommy Trout, and Dougie Neil,   even had me as a Sub Candidate which was quite interesting - good night and fist class buffet afterwards - so for those who went elsewhere or stayed at home - you missed yourselves.

Once again, sun shone brightly today,  and I was in the Mercat Grill  where a young "scum bag" popped in to try and fiddle the bandit,  BUT, the eagle eyed Wyze One, spotted his slight of hand before he got the chance to drop the jackpot and young hoodlum fled - so when I get a copy of his photo from CCTV the local Constabulary and pubwatch will get the details so our colleagues will be wised up.

Was hoping to take in a wine tasting on Thursday,  but other tasks must take precedence, and Friday - back up to Cupar (with camera).

Winning ways , engagements, and found again.

Goodness me,  Scotland managed a great win against Ireland at Murrayfield this afternoon, in what was a tense well fought game.  Not sure if the Irish should have gone for a tries rather than take the penalty kicks,  but, in the end, they called the shots and lost.
BUT for me the soul destroying bit of the day was sitting in the Mercat bar at the end of the game and seeing so few pedestrians making their way along West Maitland Street  as the police were directing the thousands up all the side streets because of the dammed tram works and railings still in place.  All the hidden costs of the tram works which no one in authority will acknowledge as businesses fold and debts accumulate.

Never mind, things can only get worse,  our power stations are being closed as we comply with E U Directives, due to their age -  I wrote a couple of years ago about the need for new nuclear generating stations,  but the "greens" got their way,  we will soon have to buy gas from futher afield, and also depend on wind power which costs nearly twice a Kw to produce as gas.   So stock up on candles and dig out the duvets,  no wonder they promoting home insulation and eco boilers.

BUT  I am sure that the Romanian immigrants being attracted here by Mr (fishy) Salmond to ski in Cairgorms, watch the Northern lights, compliments of our benefits system, will all have nice cosy wee homes - no dout leapfrogging the housing ladder in the process - could be that the SNP are going to lose out at every turn and UK wise, UKIP looks like it is gaining a lot of new conscripts. With an Independent Scotland, he can it in Hollyrood and legislate for his "new Scots" who will be looking after those who did not emigrate in State run old folks homes,  unless of course they introduce a "Logan's Run" programme of euthanasia to make room for new staff at B & Q !!!!!

Nice to see the family last night at Kirkburn, where we met to celebrate the engagement of Christina and Martin,  brilliant night, lots of well kent faces, good fun,  but sadly I have to drive home and cope with a bit of snow en route on the M8,  BUT for once it was to the north of the Pentland Hills so Penicuik's little eco system was in our favour for once,  but slight different this morning , white stuff everywhere once the temperatures crept up.

Big find of the week was the recovery / finding of my Squaremen apron, missing for the last six years - so fellow "Squaries"  call off the search.

BIGGEST MUGS ON EARTH

Spotted an interesting small item in the newspaper,  a couple who have been living in Australia  for the past five years, applied to renew their visa but were found to be living 2 miles and 500 odd yards from where they were supposed to be -  so guess who is about to take the long flight back to the UK. ?    SPOT the difference,  if you are Polish, Romanian, Greek, or even Asian without insurance,  feel free to pop into the UK and claim benefits, sit and watch Sky TV all day, and have your warts removed, whilst born and bred Brits  go to the back of the queue.   Making a mockery of the system is the unemployed lady from down south, with eleven children who is having a £400 k house built for her brood, sadly there is no adjacent field for her horse !!   But she is able to rent one elsewhere for it (at our expense).

WE ARE (OR MUST BE) THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WORLD.   currently our Prime Minister is in India, apologising for the actions of our troops many years ago,   ( no one is Afghanistan is apologising about the killing of our troops, nor are the I R A after all these years -  BUT - we seem to be bending backwards for every other bu**er -  gone are the days of the proud British Empire.
British  banking robbing us blind,  however, the Muslim banks are not allowed to make a profit - borrow, pay it back when you can, no problems -  however, if you are due tax, vat, etc, within our system just go bust and screw the system.
HOW MANY OF OUR POLITICIANS ARE SO FAR OUT OF TOUCH THAT THEIR HEADS ARE SO FAR UP THEIR REAR EXTERNAL ORIFICE THAT THEY CANNOT SEE THE DAYLIGHT.

I would love to stop ranting,  however,  I have just been into town and seen the lack of progress with the tram works,    Churchill once said , "never have so few done so much for so many",  however looking at the tram workers  -  it may be more apt to say,  "never have so many cost us so much and earned so much individually for doing so little and so slowly."   Sadly overseen by such a bunch of incompetents intent on destroying the infrastructure of a wonderful city.

No wonder the peripheral shopping centres are expanding whilst our City Centre and local communities are in a massive decline,  who can blame them with the West End and Haymarket looking like an annex of the war zones of Lybia, etc.

On a personal note,  I did follow Mohammed through the Day care unit at the ERI,  experienced a remarkable session in the Cardiology Unit - totally fascinating how someone can feed a minute rod into a vein and into the heart checking out for blockages, etc, receiving good news on one hand with no sign of damage,  which puts me back to square one as to what the cause of my ongoing problems might be.    But  I am still standing, still working,  what more can a man wish.

All set for a day in bed

Frosty Monday morning following a lovely three days of sunshine.   Stunning skies last night, nice and clear to see the meteors heading towards our part of the galaxy,   I see that the conspiracy theorists are having a hay day about last weeks incident in Russia.

Read your E  mails properly,  I had two from British Gas last week, and would normally have ignored them as I have one of these contracts which pegs price increases -  however, after a lot of fiddling I was able to read them and discovered that they were going to nearly double my monthly Direct Debits -  thoughts !!   bad enough not feeling well physically, but wallet was getting wellied also - so after a phone call to a pleasant young lad down South all was resolved, - nearly -    just shows how we get shafted by these big companies without realising it.

Mercat Grill was busy over the weekend, with a lot more folks coming back to see what is happening there and enjoy a good meal.    The Mercat Bar  had a wedding reception there on saturday,  place looked brilliant, and the whole event went off very well.
Got our race night at the Grill next month - wee fund raiser, should be a good night, just need some happy punters to bet on the races.

Heading off to the hospital shortly for a wee procedure,   Dr says I will be able to play footall afterwards, which is good because I have never been able to play football !!   I have the ERI sandwiches to look forward to, and maybe soup!!!   

Snow, rain, flowers and progress.

The snow blew in and the snow blew out - yesterday, four seasons in two days, from clearing snow to wellies for the floods, and today lovely sunshine.   It is due to these dramatic changes that the snow conditions change causing avalanches which have led to the deaths of several mountaineers this week.
Valentines Day - flowers, chocolates and bubbly for the fortunate, and for the remainder a card, well chosen, of course !!   a bit difficult to find a find a suitable card - reading through the verses, saying to myself, true, not true, she will laugh, not me , etc.  just cannot win.

But we did have number of romantic souls who turned up at the Mercat Bar and Grill for a specially prepared meal, candlelight and carnations.  had a lady in this evening who was a customer from day one when the pub was first built, and she was so pleased with the current changes.

Just watching the latest batch of adverts promoting on line gambling - not so sure that it is a good thing, made to look so appealing ,  promote gambling, then all these Pay Day loans with exorbitant rates of interest,  so so easy to get trapped into legitimate debt,  let alone the loan sharks of the world.

Mind you, what's worse, that or seeing David Beckham running about in his jockey shorts !!  probably making more out of that than the money he is donating from his wages from the football, or even what his son is making.  BUT  - who can blame them, that's life,  the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

BNI in the morning, cheery bunch, laugh a minute - with a good breakfast,  nice way to start the day,  but Monday looms even closer !! 

Lizards, birds and sport of the week.

For a bit of a change, a few wee animals who I met on my travels on Thursday,  I did ask if the Iguana had eaten the head off the tortoise, but no,  it was safe and sound.

The budgies of course reminded me of the title of this blog, and of our "wee Bluey"  lost and gone forever.

 

 There were lots of other animals , but next time I am up in that part of the World I will take my other camera with me.

So what a week,  Scottish footballers and our rugby team both had good wins,   but the ladies rugby team were soundly hammered by the English.
The only downside of the success on the football field were a couple of numpties, flushed with the win, woke me and everyone for miles around at 4 a.m. with their singing and shouting - pity.
I am sure our rugby supporters will disperse quietly hand head home for a sherry and a bit of shortcake.    Having first been by the Mercat Bar for a nibble on the hog roast -  the sacrificial piggy was devoured in quick time by the fans heading to Murrayfield.

Two good features in the Evening News and Daily Record about 15 yr old Charli Evans,  a young lady from  Bonnyrigg, who had a stroke last year, which saved her life.    Heading down to the Ex Serviceman's Club there this evening where Grant@photogenix and friends are holding a race night to raise funds for the hospital -  even has a couple of "piggy races" in the can, the loser might end up on the spit at our next hog roast !!!! 

Another duvet day - get cut loose again tomorrow

Another day confined to barracks, however all good things must come to an end, and with jobs piling up I will have to head off to Fife tomorrow -  hopefully the anticipated snow will not be too bad.

Interesting report released today about the state of NHS care in hospitals in England,  nursing care is deteriorating as nursing staff spend more and more time doing paperwork and less time in contact with patients.   On the One Show tonight a journalist did an article about her poor care over a period of years , and a lady MP spoke of her husband dying like a battery hen !!     Not a good advert, and the advice from the journalist to folks wanting to go into nursing was -  "if you do not want to care - get a job elsewhere".  Sort of reminded me of one of my nights in the Ward last year, when the nightshift ignored me after several calls for assistance and called me a "wimp", same ward as where an elderly man had a bad fall because the nurse was more interested in fooling about with the cleaner than giving the old man a helping hand - might just have been a couple of small things over the two weeks !!!   but multiply that by X. 

NEXT -  Royal Bank of Scotland just fined £400 million for the LIDOR scandal, but so far only ONE senior member of staff lost his job, and his bonus !!   the fines are to come from the bonus pot !!!  so we, the punters, get nowt and the greedy  conniving bankers get their loot.

Government wanting to have a go at the European Bill of Human Rights, however, not enough support from the House of Commons to do something about it -  however,  they are going to make sure that EU Immigrants have the proper driving licence to drive in the UK -  means they can bring more friends and families here by car.

I see that the Scottish Rugby squad are making a record,  hope they do better with that than on the field.

At least Gordon Strachan's men managed to get a goal by half time - only another forty minutes to go.

Somewhere different to go on a Sunday !!!!

Bit of an adventure, but nothing to worry about -   yesterday I had an episode of chest pains and ended up in the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, conveyed by a very professional Scottish Ambulance Crew.    However, despite a thorough battery of tests, along sleepless night in a busy and noisy admission / assessment ward, I am now home - fit and well and none the wiser as to what was wrong or why. Probably the effects of one of this winter's many strange bugs circulating. 

But from an observer's point of view, the medical staff at the Accident and Emergency deserve a medal for their hard work and professionalism under extreme pressure.  It was not just a silly Sunday, it was a madhouse and as the day progressed the drunken bampot element arrived, to the extent that  a drunken female were being pursued in the A & E by the Police -  strikes me that there should be a mini A & E at H M Prison, Edinburgh where drunks and fruitcakes could be treated and then locked up !!!   They certainly had no respect for the nursing staff or those who were genuinely ill.

Anyway I now know where folks go on a Sunday apart from Ikea and Costco !!!!!!

Home again now, and in my absence the snow had arrived once more, not a lot, but  hopefully it will be gone tomorrow.

Mercat bar and grill without a C

Really very pleased to see the Conservatory looking so well this morning before a big group arrived - nice that we can alter the seating to suit the guests, and the added bonus was that when they arrived there were several who could not belief the changes in the past few weeks.

Thinking of changing the name of the pub again to the "Mercat Bar without a C"  !!!!   The Letter "C" having fallen off only a couple of days after the building was renamed.   So perhaps it might be worth using as a marketing strategy.

In reality it fell off in one of the recent gales,  which of course raises the question of the construction of the "third" Forth Bridge - which perhaps should have been a tunnel -  in recent weeks we have had both the Forth Road Bridge and the Kincardine Bridge closed at the same time due to strong winds - something which would not have affected a tunnel under the River Forth.  So why have the planners gone for yet another bridge,  perhaps it will make the port of Rosyth really popular with cruise liners -  what a majestic approach with three beautiful bridges.   BUT, as I have not studied the geology of the Forth basin I cannot comment on why there was no tunnel,  might be because of the cliffs on the north shore, maybe the coal and shale deposits , goodness knows.

Just spotted an item in the paper about another scam which has cost the tax payers £billions,  this time in Poland and money handed out by our beloved incompetent bureaucrats in Brussels - so not only are we paying the Immigrants in the UK , who send their wages home, diddle our tax system,  but now we fund them sitting on their bums at home.  For me it is a bit of a shame as I was actually praising some of our Polish workers who have been really good,  in comparison to some of the locals who appear to think that "hours of employment are at our discretion, not our employers"  - parties, hangovers, social events taking precedence over loyalty to the Company.   Perhaps we do a B & Q. and employ retired folks who have more pride in their work.

Must get on the bandwagon again about the overpaid, over rated numpties playing football -  this week we had the revelations about David Beckham going to play in Paris - and his wages being donated to help charities for French children.  -  NOW   which banana boat his media folks think we sailed up the Clyde in !!!    David Beckham, as nice / genuine a chap as you could meet, is part of a massive marketing operation, sadly, involving his children, end result, no lose, no lose - just money in the bank - for the future.     Reminds me of when George Best  came to play for Hibernian in Edinburgh, stadium was full and the Club made a packet for the few months he was there - striking similarity to what is happening in Paris - except for the multiples of £££££££££££'s / Euros involved..

Could go on a bit,  but -  having had a long day, and then enjoyed a lovely bottle of  "Angus The Bull"  red wine - time to do a Sparky mark and Chill out.

Mercat Pens are prize pens.

2 nd time lucky as they say - just hit the wrong key and wiped my last effort.     Anyway, last night I found this photo on one of the cameras taken a couple of weeks ago, in the wee sma hours having safely reached home courtesy of SCOOT.  SCOOT is an Edinburgh Company who get you and your vehicle home in one piece and save you going searching for the car the next day.  The Scoot driver has a tiny wee motorbike in a big bag which fits in the boot of the car,  he drives you home and then heads off back to base on his wee bike.    In this instance the driver was the lucky recipient of one of the sought after Mercat  Bar pens,  which have featured on the Mercat Bar and Grill Facebook site,  but as I do not know how to add the photo, I am doing it this way.