Busy but not a long story

Been an active weekend,  took ourselves through to the Fenwick Hotel, near Kilmarnock, where we attended the wedding reception of Alyson and Tom Johnston,  what a lovely evening , nice to see the family and friends again.

Rather than head for home we were booked in for the night, room was comfortable, and breakfast very good.  Gave us the chance to recover and have a nice steady run back to Edinburgh.

Sunday, Mother's day, and the Mercat Grill was very busy, however, I did manage to get a table and had an excellent dinner.  Prawns, steak and a cheese board, perfect.

Monday, I saw my first live tram in Haymarket, quite a sight -  just have to listen out for the warning bell ringing.

Well and truly oiled,

Had a quick run to Border Bikes at Duns where my friend and mechanic to the "steed of steel" for the past twenty two years, Andy Mimms, did a triple oil change and popped a nice shiny new rear tyre on the machine.

Will be back again just before our IPA trip to get a cursory safety check.

Weather en route was seriously iffy, with thunder and lightning,  enough to give one of the van drivers a serious headache.   But fortunately had cleared and the A1 was reasonably dry for a quick run back to the Mercat Grill at Whitecraig.

I had forgotten the episode a couple of days ago when "Kermit the Frog" passed comment about the Independence campaign -  I had thought that Alex Salmond  would have been an ideal partner for him and his band of "muppets" -  however, in the meantime, sharp as he is, he scored points by lining himself up with Miss Piggy and called the opposition the "muppets".

Still does not get the fact that he is still fudging over the missing money from last year's trip to New  York,  and has the cheek to be off on yet another junket this year - our cousins from over the pond must have a real hoot when he appears with his bagpipes,kilt, haggis and a duty free 1 ltr bottle (hopefully  of Malt whisky).

Up up and away in the morning, home baking for the Mercat and then off through the "West" for a wedding reception.

Where can I get a Gel Pad ?

Just home after a wee run of 140 miles on the steed of steel and my rear most portion is somewhat numb.
I had a meeting in Dumfries so headed down the A701  Moffat Road on the bike,  ever so chilly over the top of the Devil's Beeftub as I went through the low cloud.

Had my bacon rolls, meeting , tour of the estate,  and even lunch before heading homewards,
although not with these fine ladies !!

   I discovered that the Moffat / Selkirk Road was closed so I had to head back on the A701.   BUT never to be outdone I decided  ( was this a wise decision)  to take the single track road through the hills past the Talla and Meggat Reservoirs. The main water supply for the City of Edinburgh.

This photograph was taken at the top of a 1:20 single track hill which was bad enough today, but is a hell of a lot worse with the snow lying.

I then reached St Mary's Loch and took a wee run along top see the statue of James Hogg, the poet, known as The Ettrick Shepherd.

Nearby, the Loch was as smooth as glass so I managed to get two nice mirror images, 

Thought I did well considering that the weather was a bit iffy.     Onwards to the Gordon Arm's Hotel, then over the hills again to Traquair, Cardronna, Peebles and home to Peniuik.   Believe it or not I only had sunshine the last ten miles from Peebles.

So the sun shone on the -

Sun was shining on Sunday, what a beautiful day as we headed north, sun top down, bit chilly - however, Glen Devon was beautiful and with a backdrop of snow covered mountains in the distance - just lovely.

Our IPA meeting, AGM followed by half yearly was held at the Police Treatment Centre, Castlebrae, Auchterarder, a great venue, nice grounds and ideal setting to get away and relax.  Good meeting, well attended and interesting - lovely lunch - a good day out.

Would have been a good day for a run on the motorbikes, despite the flurry of snow at lunchtime,  however plenty of fresh air with the roof down - and I had remembered my wooly hat to keep by thinning head warm.

This morning , nice  run out on the Steed of Steel, usual new route to and from Whitecraig - now doing  the twenty five miles each way, via Portmore, Temple, and Vogrie, helps to get the posterior hardened up for longer runs.

Just have to hope the sun shines again in the morning - wee run to Dumfries on the cards.

Update - received an apology from customer services at Hospedia, thanks,  but I still feel the system at the ERI is obsolete and overpriced.  OK for someone like me to complain, I am able,  but not so many of the other patients.

Two wheels off and running

Not a bad morning today so having been into town early, I "togged up" and headed for Motorad Dalkeith to have a look at the new BMW12RT which I was supposed to see at the open day at Victoria Colliery last Saturday, when despite me being in hospital there were five hundred attendees.

A really smart looking machine, a water cooled Boxer, numerous upgrades and apparently a dream on the road.
There were a few bikes to chose from,  outside were three of the bikes used by the cameramen at the London Olympics  which I looked at a couple of weeks ago between trip to the ERI -

  So I was really surprised to see the transformed version in the showroom , a neat looking pair of wheels -

At some point I will appear with my driving licence and have a run out on one of the newer bikes.
I then made for the Mercat Grill to deliver a fresh consignment of meringues for today's clients,  and decided that a selfie,  me with no make up on might be appropriate in view of the current cancer awareness campaign.  So best side obviously :-

So homeward bound on the steed of steel,  the long way, via Dewarton, Vogrie; Gorebridge, Temple, Portmore and Leadburn -nice wee meander in the countryside.

Sunday, off to an IPA  No 1 Region meeting at Auchterarder,   and in the meantime, still no word from Hospedia.

Grinding to a halt

Heading to town this morning I commented on how the out of town shopping centres were effecting the shops in the City Centre.  We headed to Ocean Terminal and I then went to the Outdoor Warehouse at Granton -  big mistake, long delays due to roadworks at the Starbank Inn.   However,  that was only the beginning,  I then got stuck in roadworks after roadworks trying to get back through the centre of the town. So I have now changed my mind about the peripheral shopping centres.  The City fathers must live with their heads stuck up their external orifices if they cannot see what is happening.  Pothole city,  and now, as a fund raiser they are complaining that not enough motorists have been charged with blocking junctions -  do they really want to totally alienate the Police from the public.

Just a reminder - trams are nearly ready to run, lots of great comments about them, apart form the fact that route is not long enough, and once they hit the city centre, everything else may well grind to a halt - only time will tell.

On anther track, big feature about discount furniture warehouses mismarketing their wares-  no mention of Richard F Mackay warehouse,  their voice over man on the radio must not only be due for retirement but must be fed up promoting sale after sale after final sale after mega sale at their premises. just one after the other event,  just where can one get a guaranteed bargain these days.

Only consolation,  the steed of steel was in fine fettle, nice run out through the countryside later on before the rains arrived, perhaps a precursor of worse to come -  might even by pass summer and slide back into Autumn again - and no hose pipe ban either.

Hospedia - lacking in communication skills

Perhaps I am a bit naive, but I did think that Hospedia would have at least have acknowledged receipt of my correspondence, but no,  looks like their Customer Relations are in denial.

I have just looked at their website, looks great, lots of big words, fancy jargon, and super looking interactive media units -  just a bit more modern than the Units installed in the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, which , as their own operator told me were obsolete, so I could not use E mail.  Might be that they expect everyone to have fancy smart phones.    If you cannot maintain the service, do not make it a selling point.

Obviously communication is essential, and it always has been , letters, semaphore, mirrors, smoke signals, pigeons, etc -  the inhabitants of St Kilda,  the World Heritage Island in the Atlantic off the West coast of Scotland used what they called "ships" to get messages to the mainland.   They were small wooden boxes attached to floats - a message was placed in the hollowed out centre of the "ship" this was sealed and then cast into the Ocean to drift with the tide.  In a recent "posting" the tiny "ship" was found by a fisherman, washed up on the coast in Norway, some six hundred miles away.  BUT, at least the message was received !!     Come on Hospedia - play the game.

Slowly returing to what ? Normality

Yup -  yesterday I was pottering at 1 a.m. and today on line early doors for the first time in a while. What would normally be a social whirl of Masonic and motorcycle events, has for this past couple of months evolved into a stream of varying NHS appointments !!   But being positive -  I was out at Bonnyrigg last night to the OES for the first time this year - good night and excellent attendance.  Was even joined by the wife of my friend  "Mr Peacock" inveterate traveller and member of 151.

I had in the back of mind plans to do one of my daily diddles about Tesco, but in the excitement of all that has happened have forgotten what I had planned -  but give the old grey cells time to unravel.

I do know that I am particularly perturbed by Mr McCaskill's daft proposal  about removing the need for corroboration in Scotland.  Way back in the dark ages when I had to make a choice about staying south of the Border and joining an English police force or returning North (home)  I chose home as I did not believe in the fairness of the English system. Albeit I ended up working on my own a great deal in a County Station,  but that meant you had to work hard to become involved in the local community who then supported you and became your backup and corroboration when needed.   
Perhaps Sir Steven House and his high ranking English counterparts never worked in the Community -  or alternatively, the para military type Police we appear to have on the streets these days do not integrate as well as "old style bobbies" did.
Bit in the Evening News recently that Police Scotland are getting into a right fankle with some of their proposals, shutting Police stations and moving into "Community Hubs",   and I even spotted ( what's new) that their new or upgraded Computer system, (cannot remember the budget figure) is £10 million over budget already .  Bit of Deja Vu, as this happened with the original L and B Police System which was so bad we relied on paper systems running parallel for a long time.

Missed out on a trip to the IPA meeting in Litchfield at the weekend,  but should make it to the No 1 region meeting at Auchterarder on Sunday - along with some of the No1 Region IPA Motorcycling Touring Group who are off around Germany, Italy and France in June.

Not such a good report for Hospedia

Having been full of praise for the hospital staff at Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh,  I am totally the opposite with regard to the facilities offered by Hospedia who supply the TV, radio and internet services to the patients in the various wards throughout the hospital.

They have the franchise for the service which is totally exhorbitant to the patients offering service packages from £5 for eight hours to over £50 for packages which include e mails and movies.

During my third stay I  took a package because the Olympic games were on and because I wanted to deal with e mails -  not quite so easy,   the  e mail system was so slow it would not download anything for me and when I called to complain the operator said that this was because the system was now too old and obsolete !!    Tried to see a movie but the images were so bad I gave up.

Thought that I might have learned my lesson,  no - booked on,  after trying six of the card dispensers, to see the Rugby Internationals on Saturday past ( not that Scotland were worth watching)  however, fifteen minutes after switching on and into the game the system decided that it had to defrag or test itself - so about twenty points against Scotland later, it came back online.  Called the Operator again,  who just apologised, and eight hours later the system switched off -  robbing so and so's

More conerning was the fact that there was already £5 credit left in the unit I was using, but when I registered the new card they deleted the credit -  an added cash bonus to Hospedia - taking money for supplying no service - and a point not lost on the staff who feel it is a total rip off -  Would not be so bad if Hospedia were to send the unused cash back to the Ward to be used for the welfare needs of the patients -  in this case my ward was needing a new base unit for the relatives waiting room TV set.

This is just not my view this is a feeling being expressed by just about 100% of the patients.

Sort of in the same vein -   the site of the old Royal Infirmary was sold to developers by the Health Board for £30 million,   but the new hospital cost £170 plus million, some £10m over budget  and as part of a PPI iniative -  the car parking facilities cost from £1.30 per hour, with staff receiving reduced rates on the nightshift.   Money spinner all round with the PPI folks rolling in cash.   Many relatives are paying a fortune to use the car parks, sometimes for long hours when family are seriously ill -  why can they not do the same as some cinemas and stores do - give a free pass out to those who are visiting or who are attending clinics?

Outwith my control

To put the record straight,  I have had four trips (three by ambulance) to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, since early January, last "demob" being yesterday.

I have only praise indeed for the staff of the Scottish Ambulance Service who responded the the three 999 calls - they are very professional and I just cannot comprehend the "eejits" who abuse them when they go to their assistance.

To the staff in A & E who dealt with me on arrival, superb, very caring and working constantly under pressure.  At no time was the A & E  Dept quiet so I ended up initially on trollies in the corridor,  but being attended to.   Certainly gave me the opportunity to see the constant stream of time wasters who were being brought in, drunk, abusive, substance abuse, etc, who again were abusing valuable resources.

After one trip to CCU, I ended up in the same ward on three occasions -  again the staff were exceptional,  from the highly trained Cardio nurses to the ward assistants - and despite the fact that the hospital is always struggling to find bed space there was never an attempt made to send anyone home early.

My consultant and his staff in cardiology were very helpful and made some extremely difficult procedures appear very simple and straightforward - it is easy to see why the ERI  is a recognised Centre of excellence in the field of heart treatment.

A big thank you from myself, friends and family.

Just filling in

Been a few days since writing, few ups and downs, but making headway again.

Hopefully Scotland's rugby team will be able to emulate their football counterparts who had a wee win in Poland last night - fingers crossed.

Spoke to a friend yesterday who was involved in helping someone move house,  the lady concerned was a bit of a hoarder and during the conversation mentioned that she had a garage but did not know where it was as no one had been near it for fifty years !!!  Long story short, the garage was eventually traced and there was a 1947 motor car in the lock up which had never moved for fifty years - tyres were inflated and are still holding air.  Someone now has a nice wee restoration project.

Much debate about the wearing of the burkha by women,  the French having banned the wearing of it in public places.  Up till now I have not paid much attention, but yesterday there were two different women in the street, totally masked. Now these folks can walk through customs without removing same,  they are actually quite threatening,  yet according to the experts they are not required by their religion to wear them.   I cannot go into a garage without removing my crash helmet - something wrong there.

Still not back in the writing mode - later perhaps

From Bad to Worse

What a mess this World is getting into -  now that the Olympics are over we now have rising tensions over the Russia / Ukraine situation, with the USA and Europe siding against Russia.   Further east we have China and Japan facing each other and again the USA are in a quandry, this time they are duty bound due to some treaty to support Japan, totally opposite to supporting China against Japan during WW2.
In the UK it would appear that we now have a new set of rules for Immigrant criminals !!!  Rumanian arrives here, eleven days later he steals fifty odd bottles of whisky, gets caught, taken to court,  but when offered a Community Service Order gets off because he does not understand enough English to follow the Supervisor's instructions !!!   I wonder how he was able to brief his lawyer, or did he get legal aid and an interpreter -  one way bus ticket needed - or a Hercules over the North Atlantic offering an open door policy.

Tram Jam, great fun in the West End of Edinburgh when an ambulance stopped on the tram tracks to deal with a life threatening incident -  tram out on a fun run could not pass so chaos ensued with traffic piled up for ages.   Someone even suggested that they fit road wheels to the trams so they could detour round such hold ups.
Have ventured out, on four wheels and two wheels having had the all clear from the Dr.,    but not fit enough for anything dramatic yet, so a further respite for the staff.