Just umpteen thoughts

What a wonderful City we live in, Edinburgh,  where our City Fathers are busy axing eight of the local leisure facilities due to "funding problems",   but do not worry - you can have a wee run out to and back from the airport on the tram and have a look at all the other businesses who went down the tubes, thanks to *****.  So now we will have a generation of youngsters trying to emulate our commonwealth athletes,  but how do you throw a discus in a tram.

'Despite the continuing expose of Police Scotland,  with Stephen House and Mr Mckaskill trying to make ends meet and inch by inch destroying what was a Police service, the envy of the World - it is brilliant to see a young Policewoman,  Lynn Black of Haddington winning an award as Police Constable of the Year  for her work as a community constable.

Made it to an Installation at North Berwick RA on Thursday, following a trip to Crieff RA, good night but sad to see that a few of our RA Chapters are in need of support, even from their own members - time to stand up and be counted.

Clocks have just gone back, darkness falling earlier in the evening - to be expected, however, how long will Mr Salmond's innefficient wind mills be able to keep the lights on at night?    10% efficient if that - Greens now might prove to be the end of us -  ( but I remember my Granny telling me to eat my greens - good for me) - wrong sort of greens, but were we hoodwinked ( again- aghast- hands up in horror) never ever has a Politician told a porky ( laughs aside).

Heart of Midlothian FC ( Jambos) managed to save their record on Sunday with a brilliant last minute goal - top of the league, ten games without defeat, well done -  Glasgow Rangers down to their lowest crowd ever  ( just cannot fathom out how they are in the situation they are- has to be greed by somone? - Andy Murray winning at tennis  and his Ma , Judy Murray still up and running in the Strictly Come dancing series.

X - Factor  multiple ??????? but we might still see a reasonable personality crawl to the top of the pile.

BIG BUT - and even a HOWEVER -  after three years in the hands of a variety of NHS specialists, the time has now come to get away for a rest / chill out / holiday - so sunshine here we come - the rest will have to be resolved when I get back.

Weather changing, however,  the Steed has been out on the road,  eventually managed to find myself a replacement over  jacket, nice Goretex unlined breatheable high viz,  does the job brilliantly. Now dried, cleaned and oiled for a fortnight,  and hopefully when I get back there may be news about an addition to the stable.  Might make running south to see Big Tom's new pad in south west France much easier.    ( wee peek at The Scottish motorcycle Touring Group site might be informative).

Pleased to say thet the Mecat Grill is doing well, despite the odd (unusually negative) comment - we even had somenone give us a negative crit evenalthough they were never near the place !!!!!!  We were fully booked and could not accommodate the party - so we were given a negative report on Trip Advisor - which just proves how the system can be a double edged sword.

Happy Retirement to Paul - and birthday to his wife Sheena who were at Aberfoyle last weekend.

A few days late, but comments

Saturday night, mesmerised with the long legs in Stricktly Come Dancing, and rather bored with the X Factor,  will be singers being judged by non singers ;; and only a couple of the singers any good.

I see that there have been another couple of prangs between cars/ taxis and trams in the west end of Edinburgh - a big surprise - NOT.     Had a look into the Mercat, West maitland Street, deid, sad - will take ages, if ever to recover -  Edinburgh Council chiefs, stick your head where the sun  never shines and ignore the businesses you sent down the tubes.

Next smart move by the City,  dig up the historic setts / cobbles, cover them in tar and it will be easier for the next lot of utilities to dig the roads up.

A703 roadworks are now at Noble's Garage and the Nivensknowe junction ( site of the old "Casinao - Miners welfare club), so masses of folks now heading out on the top road (A702) and mid road to Hillend; through Roslin Glen; causing headaches elsewhere - but in the meantime - ASDA and some of the industrial estate based companies are suffering.  Not quite in this area,  but a firm at Duddingston dropping takings from£15000 to £600 a week due to rail works  and on the verge of going bust !!!   From the state of the road in Roslin Glen looks like next landslide might well be terminal.

Referendum over - but porkie pies still in the air, oil in the North sea - yes or no!!    Years ago a fairly reputable geologist once told me about deposits of valuable minerals off our shores but at that time, and maybe not even now do we have the proper technology for deep water excavation.
masonic news,  made it to a busy night at 720 Dalhousie on Tuesday;  Fa'side OES on Wednesday; and RA installation at North Berwick on Friday,  good night there and had a late run up the road on the Steed - attired in my new high viz waterproof, Goretex overjacket.

Current conundrum- modern washing machines,  I remember the time when you could load a macine with dirty washing and it came out clean,  nowadays, I use two new machines, follow the intructions to the letter -  but no luck, still have stains on the end products - looks like you cannot beat the old boiler and the scrubbing board (here in the UK) or even in the stream.

Just like using muddy divits waas equally as good as a brillo pad.

Busy week at the Mercat Grill, as usual new faces and returning customers, waiting list for Xmas already -  but needing a break so off in search of the sun on tuesday and just rest and chill out.

Missed Sheena's birthday on 23rd, so sorry.

Random, rambling thoughts of

I must be falling by the wayside when I am getting phone calls to ask where the last blog has gone !!!
so this will be a series of random thoughts, and in no particular order.

Been to the Squaremen , now relocated to the Royal Scots Club at Haymarket.,    a wee run up to Crieff to see Kenny Jack being reinstalled into the chair at the RA there, and have managed to make it to three different OES meetings, at Portobello, Mid Calder and Bonnyrigg.  Having said that I missed RA at Esk 42; Currie; and Tranent (apologies); and also a ARPOS,   AGM at Fettes last Sunday,   but I cannot be everywhere, and with three different events taking place at the same time which straw do I draw.

Feeling surprisingly good, no blips since my last 24 hr stay in the hospital, so that was obviously the side effects of a virus, which has since cleared from my system.  
Struggling seriously with the "Mindfulness" project,  too many butterflies in the cranium to allow me to sit at peace for more than thirty seconds.

Had a return visit to my "alternative medicine man" who seemed to think I was doing well since my first visit  and if his computer was not "rigged" then I am showing signs of recovery, certainly feeling better/ and calmer !!.

Tuesday, sun was shining so I had a pleasant run down to Duns to see Andy at Border Bikes,  as he was on his own we had time for lunch , a blether before the Steed had an oil change and tweek,   and with a wee bit of luck there might well be an addition to the "stable" in the near future.

SO, bearing that in mind I have spent nearly two days gutting the garage to make room - job well done - amazing what you find and have been hoarding "just in case " for twenty years!!!! and never used, so off to the skip or the charity shop.   Eight pairs of rugby boots !!!!!

Headed to Ocean Terminal yesterday, Edinburgh - a CITY UNDER SEIGE - traffic ground to a halt at Bilston due to the ongoing gas works on the A701,  for TWO MONTHS - bloody chaos - just wonder how much revenue ASDA is losing??   It is a nightmare, so with a long detour ended up stuck in traffic again in Leith Walk -  how many more businesses are going down the tubes to satisfy the ego and errors of our City Fathers ??  who - have just made application for £200 million to get the City Roads back into shape again -   SO one might ask - would they have been in such a s**t state if they had not spent £760 million on the tram project.   Personally _ I avoid Edinburgh like the plague and it is only through necessity I go anywhere near the place.

About to start packing the case for a few days away, looking forward to that soon.

Electoral Register - what a carry on -  now we have to "op out" form the "open Register" which is the one the Councils must sell on to businesses - so opt out now and hopefully cut down on the number of "cold calls/ nuisance calls" we get.      Just a shame that our homes are also now under seige - if I do not recognise the phone number - or witheld- no pick up and the caller can go onto ansaphone - and I will reply.
My Tesco diddle today was actually pointed out to me by a member of staff,   two single packets of digestive biscuits on an offer - yellow tags, great deal -  BUT  next to it, a twin pack of the same biscuits even cheaper !!   and TESCO have had to suspend Directors who made a wee accounting error of Lord knows how many £millions.

Really odd - sitting here with three lap tops doing different things, and for no reason all my current open, new E mails have disappeared - I am still on AOL who is owned by Talk Talk or whoever, but service is crap, and expensive.

Bank of England have announced latest round of interest rates, etc -  no change -   so how come some of the businesses we deal with have increased theri charges from 4% to 25% -  bit of a joke - may be to some but not to the majority.

EBOLA virus,  along with the publicity is causing a great deal of concern,  caused by fruit bats, and also by a seious lack of hygiene in Zaire, spreading throughout the region due to physical contact with the blood and body fluids -  we ( the UK) appear to be doing more to assist than may other European countries.
So - here we are part of the Euro Zone, governed and inflicted by their incessant stream of gobbledygook and trivia - putting up with low powered vacume cleaners, expensive light bulbs, and an immigration policy that is costing the UK an absolute fortune. If you are British, white, born in the Uk, get to the back of the queue.

News tonight that farmers are taking action against the supermarkets who are now charging less for a litre of milk than a litre of water!!

Mercat Grill ticking along nicely, full house already for X mas day, so have a waiting list, just in case.  Lovely customers which makes it all worth while.

Sadly - have to report that we attempted to have breakfast at Frankie and Benny's,  ocean Terminal yesterday ( only our 2nd visit to this Franchise)  and we were BLANKED by staff - stood standing there and felt like the Invisible man - not good, so we had breakfast in Debenham's Cafe where the ladies made us welcome and all was good.
Cannot remember the name of the shoe shop on the first floor beside Waterson's,  but staff were brilliant.

Anyway,  time for bed,  no idea if I am meeting up with Dougz or Co in the Scottish motorcycle Touring Group over the weekend while the weather holds.   Wait and see.

Blackness Castle between showers (heavy ones)

Making up for a period of absence -    Met up this afternoon with Tom and Dougz at Blackness where, due to the heavy rain we found ourselves in Bo'Ness for coffee and scones.  However the rain cleared so we headed back for our photoshoot at the castle, which dates back to the 15th century. A very extensive history which saw it used a  castle, jail, attacked, seiged, and latterly as  Scoltland's main munitions Depot from 1874 to the end of WW1 - probably very handy for the naval dockyard at Rosyth just across the water - as are the two Forth Bridges and the third one now under construction.

 

Tom has several other photos which will be reproduced on the Scottish Motorcycle Touring Group  facebook.

Must have been a long hard day

Losing track of the days,  think it must be Thursday , and just back in from  a RA meeting at Gorebridge where Sparky Mark received honorary membership of the RA  - well done.   Been busy but with little to show so far, tired but still standing and feeling much better than several months ago.

Had a wee run or two out on the Steed of steel,  short runs but pleasant taking the back roads around Temple, Gladhouse and Portmore , easy to get lost but scenic and intersting.

Mercat Grill doing well, and as usual, new faces every week, some tourists , but lovely to see the locals returning after several years absence.

Super article in the new edition of Police World, the IPA magazine, about our trip to Europe and the Dolomites with the Scottish Motorcycle Touring Group in June this year, penned by our own Tom McInally, who sadly will be leaving us soon to relocate in the south west of France.

Had a brief visit from my Best man, Graeme Mackay,  bearing venison and trout,  looking well despite having a fall and ending up on crutches,  bit older than me ( 10 days)  still working very hard and refusing his bus pass !!

Ladies had an excellent trip to Amsterdam, one of the mini cruises from Newcastle,  great three days, train to and from Edinburgh ( thanks to Allison and Russell),  weather was good, bus and barge tour of Amsterdam - nice wee breeak for the them.

RGB back from China where he, along with Brian Maynard and Brian Millar, did their 100 mile walk along eight sections of the Great Wall - each day they walked a sectrion and then were driven for about three to four hours  to a new overnight stay before doing the next bit -  marvellous opportuity to see rural China, live with families , (use the loal community latrine - poo - pongy)   but at the end of the day they raised £12000 for Clik Sergeant charity.

Many many returns of the day to our friend Paul Douglas who was 60 last week and retired last week.  He has bought a beautiful new two berth caravan -  owever, nice as it is, he joins the multitude of tortoise people" who I was always harranging for holding up traffic when I was on my routine runs South on the motorway.

Andy murray doing well again at the tennis,  might pop in for a coffee at the Cromlix Hotel next week on my way to Crieff next week, and with a bit luck get served this time.   So far score sits at Cromlix 30 - Blaikie  0.

Must have been really excited writing the above as I fell asleeep and awoke at 2 a.m. computer on my knee !!!!!!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































x