Still hanging in there, however -

Once again, losing track of time - days just running away  hard to believe that this is me taking it easy !!!
Grill has been busy , so being kept occupied when I am there,  in the meantime putting in the hours on the "steed of steel",  however, have had to send for an air cushion for the seat as the old posterior needs a bit of TLC after a long run.

IPA are entertaining another couple of Police visitors this week,  two Canadians in town, so hopefully they will enjoy a nice themed meal tomorrow night.

Heard an interesting comment on Radio Forth yesterday,  Robin Galloway had spotted the article about the Cromlix Hotel (owned by Andy Murray)  winning the Hotel of the Year Award -  and after only being open for twenty seven days !!!   seems a bit strange - especially when they were getting praise on Trip Adviser before they even opened.

Shocking tragedy down South with the school teacher being stabbed to death in school by a fifteen year old pupil - shocking - and a terrible sign of the times.  Some people are just downright evil.

Little car has become yet another victim of Edinburgh's badly maintained roads, with a front spring broken due to the "bloody" potholes -  they can spend nearly £800 million on trams and a minimal spend on the roads, - even worse they are borrowing more money to spend tidying up Leith Walk, and even so another Councillor has stated that the tram line WILL be extended to Ocean Terminal as was originally planned - so what will that cost?

Council on the rack again following the scandal over the cremations of many babies at Mortonhall Crematorium over the years - long term cover up now exposed, and so far no one individual  being held responsible.

Still not been able to recover all my lost telephone numbers from the phone that went through the wash - so there will be a few folks wondering why I am out of contact once again - but this time not having  Full Board compliments of the NHS.

Fine food, fun and games at the Mercat Grill

Sunday a.m., still not too clever out, although yesterday did brighten up to give us a lovely evening.

Friday, ended up at the Mercat Grill where we had organised a themed dinner for a group of visiting Danish Police Officers who were being looked after by the Edinburgh Section of the International Police Association.  Collected the lads in Edinburgh in the mini bus, they had just returned from a Nessie Hunting trip to Inverness - (quite interesting, the latest satellite photos which show a mysterious object in Loch Ness) and headed for the Grill in thick mist and heavy rain.  Nice wee group of sixteeen for dinner - very nice menu, and with the traditional haggis being piped in by John McIntosh who gave his version of the address to same.   Mr McInally and Mr Mcneill managed to keep the lads amused while the bar staff plied them with Heverlee lager and a selection of Scottish beers.   Great night and nice to see new members up from Kelso.

Saturday, lazy day - lull before the storm,  as we were back at the Grill in the evening for a Charity Race night to raise funds for the Clik Sergent appeal,      Mr B (jnr) was in good form and we managed nine races, raising around £650 for the fund - a superb night, funny, and all present enjoyed marvellous buffet laid on by Claire and her team, well done all.

Bodes well for the family fun day on 24th May, with events during the day, and bands playing in the bar during the evening.

Edinburgh fun run taking place today, we had a couple in the bar last night who are taking part, not quite sure what they were using to carbo load for the run!! - so the City will again be a no go area for several hours.

Wee advance note about the Erskine motor cycle ride out on 25th May, taking place at the Eskine Home, Paisley, as a fund raiser. last year two hundred and fifteen bikes,  hoping for more this year.

A ramble to catch up

Still standing and inone piece.  So much for taking time out to relax and recover - just not enough hours in the day, irrespective of what anyone says-  or maybe that is just something I need to come to terms with !!

Arrived back from Ireland nice and relaxed until I got within a mile of the house !! - back to square one again.

Saturday we had  wonderful weather so I managed my annual top up of suntan before the weather broke, pulled multitudes of weeds and ended up withs sunburn and a sore back - no doubt like many others taking advantage of such a nice day.

Sunday, up with the larks and off on the stted of steel,  met Mr McInally at Hermiston Gaitand headed for Glasgow where we wended up in the shopping mall at Robroyston withabout sixty other motorcyclistsall gatherered to head for a charity run up to Ballock to Robin's House, a home for seriously handicapped young people.   The run was organised by the Blue Angels , who had called in several other motorcycle groups like ourselves in the IPA Motorcycle Touring Group.   Escorted by two members of Police Scotland's motor cycle section we headed off along the M8 and through Glasgow to Dumbarton, where we met up with a further forty plus bikes and eventually made it to Robin's House.   Quite a gathering of bikes, all sorts, ages, and an assortment of riders, even met a few former colleagues there.

Our own group left and took a somewhat twisty route through hills and glens and eventually ended up in a viewpoint overlooking the Forth Clyde Canal above Kilsyth - a spectacular view - where  we split up and young Tom and I headed home past the Kelpies at Falkirk, Linlithgow Palace and Edinburgh Airport.

Quick change and down to the Mercat Grill, where we were meeting friends,including Greg Karabin and some of his rugby team from Westchester, PA, who had been over for a week playing local teams, visiting Murrayfield and also watching Glasgow Hawks in action.  Lovely to see Greg again after several years as he had looked after us in the USA and had been here with a younger team previously.

Back into harness again, down at the Grill, busy weekend and also Easter Monday, not that we were complaining,  once again new faces through the door,  just a pity that some of our younger staff have the odd lapse which kind of lets the side down,  rather disappointing after all the effort that the others put into looking after our customers.

Ended up in Edinburgh,  Haymarket still a nightmare with the trams and traffic, and on our way in we see that Midlothian Council are remarking the A703 into Penicuik,  nice wide cycle lanes ( for cyclists who pay no road tax) and even narrower roads for cars, etc.

The new developments are progressing at Straiton Park,  but it looks as though there  will soon not be enough parking space for customers !!   so much for progress.

Not sure what to make of the David Moyes debacle at Man U.,  did Alex Ferguson set him up for a payout ?  knowing that the team that he had left were past their best !1  Keep saying it,  but these prima donna footballers should be on performance related pay - and only get paid when they win - that would sort a few out .

Day out in the Irish countryside

Wednesday headed off sharp in the coach out into the wilds of one of the national parks,  very similar scenery as that of Sutherland,  lots of little lochan, barren, peat bogs and mostly treeless.

Stopped off at a small centre near to the estate owned by the Guinness family,  and the treat of the day, as it was a bit overcast and dreich, was the wonderful open fire, fuelled by peat

Could have sat their for hours and ended up with the fireside tartan legs.  There was a wee boat which was supposed to take us on a sail along the Lough,  however, it did not look all that safe !!!  so we gave it a miss.

Thereafter a long run through the mountains and down the wild Atlantic Way, running parallel to the coast. The road was amazing, perfect condition, having been built with Millions of EEC Euros,  running through desolation,  I wish we had the same in the Scottish Highlands,   cost would have paid for upgrading the A9 from Perth to Inverness.   Beautiful large houses everywhere, many built with borrowed money from EEC funds and never paid back due to one of the many loopholes exploited over here.

Passed through the home town of Dominic O,Donnell and eventually arrived in Donegal.   Lovely little town, spotless, nice hotels, and certainly dependent on tourism.    The Priory on the riverside was certainly historic, sacked by the English armies as the monks would forbidden to spill blood so could not defend themselves.

Headed back to Letterkenny which was only 45 minutes away by a direct route.

So far never managed the evening entertainment in the hotel as we are shattered.

This morning, took the day off and walked to and from letterkenny town centre,  30 minutes each way, and not an awful lot to see !!!  Both the night club and pole dancing bar were closed,  but I suppose at 10 a.m. that was to be expected.

Relaxing day, using the pool and spa - no doubt we will end up conked out early tonight,  but with a long run home tomorrow, might be sensible.

Derry, or Londonderry, in the sun.

For once I did not have to row across the bit of the Atlantic between Cairnryan and Larne, we let P & O do the business for us.

Today,  awoke to sunny skies and have had the same all day,  so it made our trip to Derry, or Londonderry, depending on which side of the border you live.

Not sure what we expected, however, the walled City of Derry is steeped in history, fascinating from St Columba, through King William, the second world war and of course the troubles of the 70s etc.   The City is beautiful, very clean, modern, and certainly worth a visit,  and as a City of Culture it deserved its recognition.

The cannons on he City wall were there to defend the City, and are sited opposite the Peace Bridge over the River Foyle, erected recently to denote the cessation of the "troubles",  running from the site of the Guildhall which was bombed by the IRA to the site of the former British Army barracks where a massive pop concert was held on the enormous parade square.

Not the clearest of photos  but this piece of embroidery, depicting a map of Londonderry in a big tapestry on display in the Guildhall, was very good, and the tapestry gave a great deal of the local history.

Back to the hotel,  which is where the "legendary"  Dominic O,Donnell got married,  had a swim in the pool, nice, before dinner.

Tomorrow , off to Donegal for a few hours and then we depend on our Glenton.s driver, Bob,

Maybe thinking about the trip.

Who says old age does not come alone,   lost my phone yesterday, so when I rang it I eventually heard it going round and round in a "synthetics" (how appropriate) wash in the new washing machine.  Stopped the cycle, drained and spun,  but by the time it came out is was soaked.  Now drying in rice,  but in the meantime I have lost 90% of my saved numbers.  Lot to be said for a paper system.   Will need to get numbers replaced.

Today, we left early, joined a coach party in Edinburgh, and made our way to Cairnryan, took the P & O ferry over to Larne,   so are now in Letterkenny, Southern Ireland.    Hotel is very nice, has a spa, gym, pool, superb public bar and food is good.

Have a couple of day trips planned for Tuesday and Wednesday but if we wish we can wander and chill out - just need to wait and see.

He who hesitates is lost

Not only do I get into trouble for not finding time to relax and do my relaxation classes,  but I find I am either too tired or too busy to compose a few lines of this blog.

Took myself to work at the Grill on Thursday, ended up doing just a bit too much so have had to cut back a wee bit the last couple of days.

"Strike while the iron is hot", rings kind of true now -  having been in and out of  BMW Motorrad at Dalkeith more often than the hospital, and was seriously considering getting one of the ex Olympic BMW1200RT's  however, sod's law,  having eventually made up my mind I arrived about two hours after the last one had been bought.  Back to the drawing board and my trusty "steed of steel", now shining and clean after a wee bit of TLC yesterday afternoon.  It will be fun to tour Europe on the bike in June, and it will certainly add a few miles to the clock -  big change from the couple of years where it only did a few hundred miles.

Headlining again- Edinburgh trams, as the road surface in Shandwick Place is beginning to crack up and will need repairing before the rain and ice cause further deterioration in the winter.  It was in this area that I was pursued by two of the so called workmen who had skived off to the bookies during working hours and did not want to be photographed.   Usual story, no commitment by staff who are only interested in getting paid and not doing a good job.  As I say,  some people come to work to get paid, others come to work, show initiative and enjoy themselves.

London Marathon taking place at the moment, amazing with 37,000 taking part.   I met a former colleague last week who is running today, and another next week.  He now works as a taxi driver,  but is an ultra distance athlete who regularly does fifty and one hundred mile races - including the Sahara run, well done.

Law for one and a law for another

Sort of going over old ground again,  our lady MP who fraudulently managed to get off with £45K, seems to have been into it for even more - and still no apology.   However,  lady in Tranent made a false claim for housing benefit in 2009, and has just been to court charged with benefit fraud of £5000 -  the Sheriff has now called for a background report before sentencing!!!

Celtic footballer breaks the law by making racist comments about a fellow football player - he now stands to lose his contract with Celtic and has to appear before the SFA  Disciplinary Committee - wonder if they have more "balls" than the committee of MP's who judged their female peer?

Euro MP's visited Scottish prisons a couple of years ago for five days,  based on this piece of "in depth research"  (which might also have been a bit of a junket)  they have decreed that we have to reduce to numbers of people we are sending to jail.  Perhaps we should send all the foreign inmates in our prisons back to their own countries for punishment -  alternatively we should give our offenders a one way ticket to one of these EEC countries and let them run amok there instead of doing so here at home.

Big debate on the radio today about the girl imprisoned in Peru for drug smuggling - looks like she may be coming home to serve out her sentence in Cornton Vale where she can be nearer her family, etc. -  I wonder how many foreign offenders we have in jail are pleading to be sent home to serve out their sentences -  or is prison in the UK the cushy option ?

In great need of a Posterior Pause !!!!

Brisk walk before breakfast today, then changed into bike kit, end of the street - right or left, east or west - big choice.      Unfortunately I headed west on the A702 towards Abington and into the rain, mist and winds.  At Abington, instead of taking the M74 South, I chose the A74 which runs parallel, superb, only one motor going my way and he was behind me till he turned off at Crawford.  Road was fast and at times I was keeping pace with vehicles on the adjacent M74.  At Beatock it was onto the A701 and into Moffat.  I found that the Selkirk road had reopened after being closed for some time just outside Moffat due to a landslide,  so onwards, into the wet, with a tail wind and wound my way eastwards through the valley towards St Mary's Loch - a bit hairy at times with lots of water, mud and debris on the road.   This was second time unlucky,  by the time I reached the waterfall , grey Mare's tail, it was impossible to see and photograph it due to the rain and mist.   On my last run by St Mary's Loch the weather was calm and I took a couple of great photos, however, not the case today - really disappointing.  Did consider heading on to Selkirk, but by the time I got to the Gordon Arms it was a left turn and over the moors to Innerleithen where I was surrounded by lots of mountain bikers who were taking part in a Enduro event.   Change of route, not to Peebles this time, but cut off through the Golf Course and then over the "Granits" towards Heriot and Middleton.  Wonders will never cease, and the sun actually came out drying the road for about thirteen miles before the rain came on again. Right up on the top of the hills I stopped to check out on a cyclist who had stopped. The young lad had cycled all the way from Edinburgh via Peebles to Innerleithen, watched the Enduro event and was then heading back to the City via Gorebridge - really keen soul. 
At this point I turned off my accustomed route, taking a back road,  however, some kind person had turned round a few of the road signs !!!  so I ended up on some rather narrow farm roads, following the sun through farm yards, until I eventually arrived in Temple Village, previously known as Ballantraddock, and one of the bases used by the Knights Templars after their being hunted out of France. The church there is used annually for a service of remembrance.
Took fifteen minutes to get from Temple back to Penicuik and home.   Round trip was 110 miles with only one stop for a much needed posterior break - going to have to review the seating on the bike as my experimental gel pad does not seem to be fit for purpose.

Interesting couple of days.

Despite the sort of grey skies over past few days things have been brightening up.  Managed to get a run out on the motorbike, although, despite the fitting of a gel pad, am still suffering from a tender posterior. Need to work on that before I head off for fifteen days in the saddle,  but still have time for that.
Met up with cardio rehab staff yesterday who are planning on enrolling me in one of their programmes for a few weeks.

Today,  having read all about Andy Murray's hotel near Dunblane opening on 1st April, we decided to take a run up to the Cromlix for a coffee.   However,  when we eventually found it, a wee bit off the beaten track in a lovely country estate, we were met by staff who told us that it was reserved for a private party and we could not be accommodated. But, they were kind enough to give us a quick look around and I have to say that restoration work is superb and the newer parts of the alterations blend in nicely.  There is a private chapel in the building, beautiful, calm, serene (perfect to chill out when stressed!!)

 I hope  the hotel does well, and know that it is already fully booked for the Ryder Cup in September, which takes place at the nearby Gleneagles Hotel.   Having been told it was not possible to get a coffee we took ourselves off to Gleneagles Hotel, which was as busy as usual,  nice coffee with a wee biscuit.

 

We could have had a coffee at the nearby Castlebrae Treatment Centre in Auchterarder ( run for injured or ill Police Officers), but decided to wait for lunch.

 

Heading home wards to Edinburgh, and needing a nice lunch we detoured via Linlithgow where we were able to get a table at Livingston's restaurant.  Lovely meal, nice surroundings, great staff, and were able to watch the squirrels and birds feeding in the garden.  Chef denied that he had a squirrel dish on the menu !!!!   Even had the boss thinking about doing Gretna style weddings over the old anvil in the garden.

 

Home now and watching the final of "The Voice",   bit coincidental that Will.I Am took his finalist, Jermain,  to meet prince Andrew, Duke of York, who was launching an "Ideas" programme at Buckingham Palace.   Prince Andrew is the patron of the Police Treatment Centres and his photo hangs on the wall in the beautiful dining room at Castlebrae. 

Just need to see who wins tonight,   bit of a joke when Cheryl Cole, who cannot sing to save herself, called in live to Will I Am  on the show.  It annoys me when the so called stars who mime on stage have the cheek to be critical of these up and coming singers.

 

On a totally different vein,  we are always saying that politicians are like pigs with their snouts in a trough,  latest travesty of justice being the female MP who managed to scam £45K with the usual two homes, expenses thing -  gets investigated by her peer group, has to pay back £6k  - stands up and does not even have the decency to apologise for what was a straight forward fraud. Jane Doe fiddling the Council would get jailed - M.P.'s  no way - a law unto themselves,  and she will get a pension when she retires -  time Mr Cameron and his buddies cleared out their house.

Which of course reminds me that Slippery Salmond is heading off with his entourage to New York on another junket - and who has still not accounted for the missing funds from the last trip.

 

Was bouncing around the City of Edinburgh thinking to myself that the £740 million spent on the disastrous tram project might have not only saved my suspension, repaired the roads, and certainly the schools which are falling down on pupils.   Somewhere else in the news we heard of the sad death of Margo McDonald, who fought her heart out over the massive overspend on the new Scottish Parliament building -  £44 M to £400 plus million, trying make people accountable for yet another Scottish "Public" disaster. 

Mrs B met her not so long ago and in conversation she was a real lady, very natural, and even offered a visit to the Parliament building - a very very genuine person who will be sadly missed by her friends and admirers. 

 

 

Power to your light switch

Not too bad today, the mists had cleared at low level, and using the steed of steel made getting through the town a bit easier. I was heading off to the Western for an appointment, even bumped into a couple of the nurses who looked after me during my two stays there, nice to see them again. 

Back on the road and while stuck in traffic, I was thinking how good this would be for tourists,  just bring a flask, packed lunch, picnic chair and they could take in the many wonderful sights of the City while waiting for the traffic to clear, or even admire the many sets of roadworks in progress.   What a guddle, it looks like the Council are having a spending frenzy before the end of the financial year.
Even had to wait for one of mega expensive trams to pass during a peak time practice run.

Pity the Council did not prioritise the repair to the wall in Liberton High School which collapsed killing a twelve year old female pupil - so sad, a needless death which will prove a monumental headache to somebody.

Headed out to Whitecraig, and just off the A68 stopped to watch the men running the new cables onto the high pylons -

  Certainly not a job for somebody without a head for heights.   Bit of a climb up the pylon, then out on the cross arms to the relative safety of the running gantry.   The one in the photo is quite big,  but they have small ones which they use to traverse from pylon to pylon - not for me.

 These engineers look as though they will be in the area for a wee while,  which might be like mana from heaven for the local "tinkies" who are forever out trying to get the scrap cable.  On one job elsewhere they were threatening the guys and getting them to drop cable to them.  Pity the cable was not live when they collected it.

Fifty Shades of Grey

Sadly not the book which I am sure would get the heart racing,  but the skies above Edinburgh which may rightly be causing an area of high or acute depression !!  Just have to keep taking the tablets so to speak.

Couple of items relating to Midlothian Council,  particularly the planners who as we know do not always get things right first time !!   Several weeks ago there was the usual chaos with roadworks at Glencorse Barracks, where the traffic islands which were put there as a traffic calming measure were dug up and removed as they were just a nuisance.  The remaining islands still remain a hazard with driver's damaging tyres, wheels, etc.,   and where they are placed opposite of near bus stops traffic grinds to a halt.

In Dalkeith, Barrat homes are now building on the site of the old Eskvalley College,  and from the looks of things reminded me today of the old Pete Seegar song,  Little Boxes,  made of "ticky tacky"

Quite astonishing how close they are, cramming as many homes onto this site -  neighbours will not need to phone each other, or knock the door,  just shout across from window to window -  hope they have no problems on the site like at  nearby Gorebridge.
In Gorebridge, on a four year old site built over old mine workings, houses are now being affected by gas rising from the ground below- with residents being decanted elsewhere, and each week even more are being affected.    Down south there is legislation requiring a special membrane to be placed beneath the founds of  houses built over mine workings,  but here,  someone from planning apparently allowed this condition to be waived.    So for a saving of about £500 could be that a number of houses may have to be demolished - oops.

Bit in the paper about a clamp down on "fly tipping",  go no further than the travelling peoples illegal camp site near Smeaton colliery,  there are piles of rubbish lying, lots of gardening waste, etc.  Looks like these guys are touting for business gardening, etc, where  the customer pays to have the rubbish dumped properly,  however, no worries for these guys - leave it behind them when they move back to their site which is being refurbished by the Council,  and then the Council will also have to clean up the midden they leave behind.   Law unto themselves  when it suits.

So Wednesday is another day,  April 1st and all the spoof items passed - spotted a couple - good one about the tram ticket machines in Edinburgh, built by a spanish company only accepting 1 Euro coins,  and the Council going to have people on duty to exchange the currrency !!!  Mind you, with all the controvesy it could well be true.   The saying that the trams have done more damage to Edinburgh  than an earthquake is also correct.