Would not do if all was straightforward

Heading home now, however, bit of a panic at London Kings Cross - having arrived early for the 11 am train and watched the 10.30 a.m. leave on time,  a bit of a shock to be told that our train was being cancelled due to overhead cable problems at Newark.  Big crowds waiting and all envisaging being crammed into the one train-  lots made their way onto another couple of trains heading north.     Anyway we were able to get on the 11am ahead of the rush and managed to get seats all the way home - . 

Last night we headed back out and went back to the Renaissance Hotel at St Pancreas,  still unable to make it to see the famous staircase,  but we did get a photo at the bottom.      In the bar, the bar staff were kept busy,  I even managed a couple of pints of Bitter and Twisted,  but had to pay twice as much as we charge for it at the Mercat Grill,  The bar staff were very well trained and versed in their products -  found it a bit strange to see them free pouring, which is illegal in Scotland, even although they did have dummy measures as guides.

Orient Express British Pullman, Good Friday 2013

Bit of an adventure today for us,  for years we have dreamt of going on the fabulous Orient Express, from London to Venice,  however, it was never to be.  BUT, at x-mas our beloved son and his beloved Go Jo bought us a trip on the British Pullman which is part of the Orient Express, with the same carriages, lovingly restored, and sent out and about in GB.  So today we arrived at London Victoria Station to join about one hundred others all booked in for which may well have been the journey of a lifetime.

All checked in, and then the train arrived with several carriages, all beautifully restored, and we boarded to receive a glass of bubbly as we settled in at our respective tables - then off we set, heading off for a five hour trip out round Kent, down to the coast and back to London.

This was to be a memorable day, a beautiful five course meal, served in silver service by extremely caring and competent members of staff, all who have been with the Company for several if not many years.  Beautiful food, excellent wines, Port, and sufficient bubbly - an excellent wine cellar for extra dinkies, etc.

For the smokers on board the train stopped at the coast and we were able to get off and stretch our legs, glass of bubbly presented along with fresh oysters, and a jazz band playing on the platform,  just a real treat for one and all.

Not quite sure how the Mercat Bar pen managed to sneak into the photos  !!   But we have to thank the staff, and the chefs (who were out of sight) for a totally marvellous experience.   I will not say that it was 100%, because nothing ever is, but at 99%  we will not complain.  

Had this trip been through the Scottish Highlands with the associated scenery it really would have been a dream come true.

Thanks to everyone, staff, fellow travellers, and of course RGB and Go Jo who gave us the gift. 

Just as cold here - in the big smoke.

Made it to the big City, and it is colder here than in Penicuik.   Our Steward on the train eventually remembered to come back with my top up.
Went to the Renaissance Hotel for tea and scones,  pity they were not quite as good as Mrs. B. makes.  Bit of a wander around the streets, but again, cold beat us so it was back to the hotel for dinner, and now, feet up - chilling out - to use a common phrase, and set for an early night, tomorrow being another day.
Just cannot get used to the traffic and general hurly burly  -  must be getting old.

East Coast Rail, 1st Class travel - maybe

Heading southwards on the East Coast train, and if I was driving at this speed I would have clocked several speed cameras so far.   However, what a change to be sitting comfortable, glass of the vino tinto to hand, although not quite so impressed with the food arrangements.  Found it a bit strange to be offered a sandwich at 10.15 as we left Edinburgh,  which, if accepted was our  only sustenance on the trip - so we held off -  a bit different from the West Coast line where I had umpteen sandwiches on my trips to Manchester.  Staff come up and down with the trolly, but only to see to those who have just boarded. Crisps were nice though !!.
The
Thought we were heading to Euston Station when I was looking for a hotel,  but it is Kings Cross we go into,  good job that the hotel I booked is mid way between the two, or I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN REAL TROUBLE.
Staff quite nice on the train, although our drinks steward got a row for being too chatty by his colleagues. Nice to be nice as they say.
Looking forward to checking out the streets paved with gold, seeing Dick Whittington, and maybe even the Queen if she is at home, and whatever -   got a nice elderly lady in the carriage, complete with mobile phone - and everyone knows where she is going and who she is meeting !!

Steward just lost his Gold Star, said he was going to give me a top up on his way back and forgot.

Looking out at the fields here as we pass,  what a difference a few hundred miles makes with regards to the growth of crops, etc,  but still a fair bit of snow around.   From what I can see, looks like Penicuik was a lot better off than here.
Now looking forward to the next two days.

Free Tram rides in Edinburgh

Looks like we have hit the jackpot -  a free trip on the Edinburgh Trams and a tour of the Gogar Depot, before the track is open top the public -  bloody marvellous, from the amount of money the business has lost it should be free travel for family and friends for life!!!  Even a chance to drive the thing.

Heard an advert for F1 motor racing, extolling the differences a 100th of a second can make between winning and losing -  which does not quite make sense having heard that last weekend's Grand prix turned out to be a bit of a farce as drivers were being told to nurse cars to save the engines, and then the other driver scoots past - does not sound like a race to the line to me - so it makes a mockery of the sport, what happened to trying their best.  Perhaps teams should only be allowed one car in each race.

Thought that the Government were trying their best when they announced that immigrants would have to wait five years before qualifing ofr social housing -  too good to be true,  our puppeteers at the EU have already put paid to that .  

Have a wee trip organised, off to London in the morning on the train -  more news to follow.

Mercat Bar and Grill fundraiser for CLIC

Busy night at the Mercat Bar and Grill, Whitecraig,  last night as friends and customers had fun at a race night organised as a fund raiser for the CLIC  fund.  Good crowd had fun between the races, a super raffle and an auction - with the proceeds expected to be in excess of £2500.  Top prize in the auction was a weekend for two at Gleneagles Hotel,  however, many, many thanks to the local and other businesses who donated prizes as gifts

Whisky - 49 Club luncheon

  Luncheon at the Whisky Heritage Centre yesterday with the 49 Club was 1st class,  presentation was by Rachael Barrie, Master Blender of Morrison Bowmore Distillers, who now has the members either drinking whisky naked or drinking naked whisky !! What an excellent speaker and fascinating subject. 

looks good to me

Smells good

In unison - off we go

Not much left, head back

All gone - happy days.

Scottish Whisky Heritage Centre

Oldest bottles in the collection.

A trio of tipples for lunch

Part of the collection of 3,400  whiskies.

Scottish Whisky Heritage Centre in the High Street, Edinburgh  has the largest collection of whisky in the world, with over 3,400 bottles.  The collection, initially privately owned is now owned by the Diagio group.   Totally facinating place to visit and with an excellent restaurant serving first class food, what more can a person wish.  There is a facinating tour of the history of whisky in the cellars with a shop selling a wide range of product before leaving.

No snow in St Peter's Square, but there is here.

Tuesday a.m. and the snow has reached Penicuik once again , so today, no heroics, no joining the convoy of snow clad motors (owners too lazy or stupid to clear them) to try and get to the Mercat Bar and Grill,  will just wait for things to quieten down a bit and clear up before heading out.  11.30 a.m. still falling lightly, and when I went to clear the paths it was four inches deep out the back,    even had a lady photographer stop and take my photo while clearing the cars -  another of my obsessions.
    
It is  giving me the opportunity to watch the inauguration ceremony of the new Pope, St Francis,   in sunshine (very jealous), and from the fabulous St Peter's Square and Basilica.  We visited the Vatican a few years ago and it is certainly a wonderful place to see, irrespective of ones religion. We were lucky enough to get booked on an early morning visit, so made it in before the crowds and without having to queue,   the Sistine Chapel was awe inspiring and the guards were doing their best to try and stop folks taking photos, but all you heard was the clicking of camera shutters.  Anyway,  I hope he is able to bring a bit of stability to the Church after the recent upheavals.
Interesting to note that there are no aircraft or helicopters buzzing around Rome this morning to disturb the proceedings, plenty digital cameras in action though, even by members of the choirs.   Spoke too soon, just heard a helicopter.

Mercat Bar and Grill was nice and busy over the weekend, couple of big groups in for meals on Saturday which kept us all on our toes,  just what I  needed after a full day's training course,  and on Sunday we had a lovely group in for a family gathering using their daughter's (Megan) 18th Birthday as an excuse.    The majority of the family and friends arrived around 5p.m. as planned, however, there were a couple of car loads, from the Glasgow area,  who became very geographically embarrassed (lost) and did not arrive till 9 p.m.    Sounds a bit like the lady who thought she was on the M25 and four hours later stopped off at the Washington Services, Durham, for directions !!!!

Just as well I did not put my bet on over the weekend , would have lost my pennies, with both Hearts and Scotland losing their respective games,  but it might have been a good double if I had gone the other way.

49 Club having lunch this week at the Whisky Heritage Centre, somewhere new and different - might manage to make it, but then again !!

Sailing ships and the Royal Yacht Brittania

Not quite a day off yesterday, as I did end up at the Mercat Grill twice and the Mercat bar once,  but in between we ended up at Ocean terminal, Leith , where I had my usual wander.   There seemed to be quite a bit of activity around the Brittania, which is again proving to be a great attraction ,  and berthed nearby was one of the sail training tall ships in from Denmark.

Bit annoyed to see very little progress in West Maitland Street with the tram works -  couple of weeks ago it looked like they were taking giant leaps,  however, back to toddling about by the looks of things.

Off for a day's training at the Hilton hotel today and down to help out at the Mercat grill tonight where we have a number of bookings.

Good luck to the Scotland Squad in Paris this afternoon , and Hearts tomorrow when they travel through to Hampden Park for their Cup final game. ( but I am not daft enough to put a bet on for the double).

Cryptic Council, Hermitage of Braids

Snow seems to have sneaked away for a few days, but if predictions are correct we will have more over the weekend.
Last night I took myself off to Dalkeith to a meeting of the Hermitage of Braids Cryptic Council, initially to get away from the computer,  however when I arrived at the lodge, jam packed with members from all over the World.   We had four Frenchmen,  five visitors from Burma, three from Bermuda ,  the First Grand Principal of the Royal Arch, Ian Fraser, the Grand Scribe,  members of Provincial, and so on -  If I had been sitting in the T.I.M.'s ( Chris Nicol)  seat I would have been having kittens with such an attendance.
The whole meeting was an exceptional experience, with the visitors from Supreme; from the Far East; from Provincial; and locally -   T. I. M.  did a  superb job,  and there were two local members in addition to the three members from Bermuda progressing through the degrees-   eventually two of the Bermudan officers were iniated into chair positions, and amidst the workings, Glen Merritt was given Honorary membership.

As is normal with the unexpected evenings,  this turned out to be a brilliant experience for all, and a big miss for those who could not make it.
Nice to get a chance to talk to Ian Fraser, First Principal of the Royal Arch,  on home ground between trips around the World promoting the R A. - having a few days in Edinburgh finishing off with teh Supreme Council on the 15th -  just a pity I do not have a ticket for the meeting and dinner.

Slow snowy roads lead to Whitecraig

Bit of a shock to the system yesterday morning to awaken to pretty heavy snow fall, and of course, during Sunday night, and with bad roads, the snow ploughs do not come out !!  BUT - the numpties do !!  - lots of the Sunday drivers who decide not to take their usual bus to work, but then clog up the roads with extra cars all travelling at 10 mph or just sitting still - covered from top to bottom in snow as they are too lazy and stupid, suffering from the "look how bad the snow is" syndrome -  I was under the impression last year that the Police were going to treat them as being guilty of reckless driving.
It took me seventy five minutes to complete my twenty minute run, and that was by taking along detour as the main road was stationary.
However, it did make for a nice picture of the Mercat mini bus before we cleared the snow from the car park.
This morning was a different story, main roads were clear, everything moving, including the several snow ploughs who had nothing to do,  but I did reflect that had they been out in the traffic yesterday, they would not have been able to move.
Busy night at the Mercat Grill last night with one of the darts eliminators taking place, and one of our lads has made it through to the next round.

New menu up and running, some nice tasty dishes added,   well worth a visit - and today's creme brulle proved to be a hit.

Mother's Day at the Mercat Grill

Mother's day, been and gone -  but not with a whimper,   we had a full house today of happy families which has really made the day enjoyable for the staff.  So nice to have such nice customers, and we had folks who were booking up for return visits within the next few days -  AND  one lady is coming back tomorrow  with a special request for Creme Brullee - so looks like Mrs B will be mega busy, as we also ran out of the our feature sweet, the phenomenal meringues.

Big darts  tournament at the  Mercat Grill tomorrow night, local singles tournament so busy night ahead.   And remember,   we have a race night coming up on 23rd.

Where will this day off lead me to.

No fear of a hose pipe ban yet - rain once more, and with temperatures dropping we may well be in for more snow.   Made for a bit of a miserable day off, however, as we ended up at the Almondvale Centre, Livingston, no problem,  it is a wonderful Centre and with such a brilliant facility it is no wonder that the shoppers stay away from the City centre - I certainly enjoyed my wander, just a shame it was a Friday afternoon which is one of the busier days there.

Great excitement, one of the Edinburgh trams actually carried passengers today -  BUT from the depot at Gogar  out to the Airport and back -  which happened to be the easiest section of the track to construct with no complications like the City sections. Could become a new tourist attraction !!! maybe, but still no benefit to the long suffering traders.

Not sure what to make of the Daily Record today who published a photograph sent to them by a convicted murderer from his prison cell, complete with a rough transcript of his threats against fellow prisoners,   were they condoning his actions ? or by openly publishing his messages, the prison authorities are now aware of his possession of an illegal mobile phone and will hopefully have carried out a serious search of the jail, and if they were lucky will have found other phones and even weapons which will have upset his fellow cons.

So much for Amazon's on line shopping with guaranteed delivery dates,  still waiting after three days for something I could have collected at Machine Mart !!!  or Screwfix -  on line shopping slowly destroying our walk in shops. - latest victim being Thomas Cook,

Afraid to say the petulant Justin Beiber, has now outgrown his boots and joined the ranks of the overrated spoilt brats, talentless prima donnas, who do not deserve the public adulation which they thrive on,

Have recently completed a distance learning module on the computer, allegedly capable of being completed in one hour,  so two and a half hours later - done -  but will probably need to do it again to try and ensure that I have understood it, then again I might just read the hand book of instructions.

Big game tomorrow - Scotland  V  Wales at Murrayfield, all the best to the boys,   here's hoping for a good days business, however, if the Police, Council, and tram works live up to their recent expectations we can guarantee to be the loser once again.   So if you see a sign advising to shop in Edinburgh's West End Village, you have witnessed yet another waste of public money.

Never mind,  Mother's day on Sunday and one thing is certain, we will not be letting the good ladies down who come for lunch at the Mercat Grill.

Another day on the road, and things

Trying to chill out,  but after a long day with a fast run to Risley via Glasgow (twice) and a busy foggy motorway, my head is still scrambled.     SO, rather than go on about white van men, camper vans, etc,  I thought a picture of young Colin ploughing the field at the rear of the Mercat Grill on sunny Monday was more refreshing.   At the point of taking the picture he had just extricated himself and plough after getting stuck in a boggy bit of the field.   Modern tractors and ploughs certainly make life much easier -  I can  remember seeing fields here being ploughed by a man behind a Clydesdale horse, then the old Massey Ferguson tractors which were open to the elements.

Tuesday night managed to get to a meeting of 720 Dalhousie Bonnyrigg, where there was a fairly good attendance to witness a 1st Degree, 

Hospital yesterday morning nice and early, even bumped into a friend in the waiting room but as I was taken really quickly did not have a chance for a real blether - anyway, he might be there the next time I am in for the follow up tests.

Had the wee car up town with me and had forgotten again how bad the roads are, the poor wee thing was nearly shaken to bits on the cobbles which are getting worse and worse - no way are they ever put back the way they were  - BUT -  I did see that the tram rails are on the verge of being joined at Palmerston Place -  however that does not mean that they are any closer to being finished or even trying to move the barriers a bit.

News from chilly Westshester , PA, that the rugby team run are coming over on 9th June for a trip to Edinburgh -  something to look forward to.

Mother's day on Sunday, good crowd booked in to the Mercat Grill already.

Baby hamsters

Just thought you might like this picture,  three of six baby hamsters, size of my thumb, born three days ago- complete with fur and all. 

Need to back to the unit and have a go at handling one of the snakes !!!!  

BMW's new 1300 motorcycle.

Now Sunday night, been a busy few days with work in Cupar, Fife,  back at the Mercat Grill,  however, yesterday  I did manage to fit in a quick visit to Dalhousie Castle, Bonnyrigg, where Motorrad  were holding a launch party for the new BMW 1300 motor cycle, what a beautiful machine,  but as I said to one of the lads,  big change from my K75RT -  which gives me all the protection from the fairing, etc.  never the less an ultra modern piece of technology.

Friday, had a day out to Cupar to do some work,  but the College there was quiet with the students on a day off while the staff had a comtemplative day to do their self assessments ( is that the same as hugging a tree ?).   BUT the weather was beautiful, and has been for the past five days, so it was an enjoyable day out.
Saturday, as already said,  fancy new BMW motorcycle, then down to the Mercat Grill,   had planned on making it to the Squaremen,  however, with a call for a driver at night,  no way I could fit everything in, so sadly the Squarries had to get the go by.   BUT   back to the  Mercat Grill for the evening, headed for Mcmerry,  edge  of the World ( according to the Flat Earth Society)  where Wullie Easton and friends took advantage of our courtesy coach and headed for the Mercat Grill to celebrate his 70th Birthday  - well done ( need to look at another  blog -  maybe).