Looking back on the past year, something I rarely do,

It strikes me that 2015 can only get a bit better.  Two confirmed heart attacks, six trips to the ERI for D B & B.,  which was not bad considering the slagging the NHS gets.  I cannot complain, my treatment was first class and staff were excellent, working under adverse conditions.

A brilliant fifteen day motor cycle trip, 3,500 miles, on the Steed of Steel, round Europe with the Scottish Motor Cycle touring Group, commanded by Tom McInally who is soon to leave to live in the South of France ( keeping me a spare bed in the outhouse).  Met up with one hundred and twenty IPA members from around Europe for a great rally.
Later in the year a super holiday at the Holiday Village Coral Sea Resort , Sharm el Sheik,   even planning on going back again.

We have the trams running now in Edinburgh and HRH (The Queen)  has even awarded Sue Bruce, Chief Executive, Edinburgh City Council, a wee something in the New Year Honours list for apparently sorting out the mess -  still no sign of compensation for those who lost out during the debacle.
But do not expect them to run when it is icy, or if one breaks down - they are worse than British Rail ever was.

Sitting here, stone cold sober, compliments of our MSP's who brought in the new lower drink driving legislation,  so, having to work in the morning - no point in chancing it, is there.  Might have to move south or go on holiday before I can enjoy a light libation.

Just home from the Mercat Grill which was very busy, a good sign,  but no late opening as business will be as usual on New Years Day, lunches, etc.    Nice to see business picking up.

Temperature outside tonight, 10 C,  pretty mild considering it was 0 C and lower, a few days ago,  but perfect for the thousands of revellers who have made their way into Edinburgh City for the three days Hogmanay celebrations - hope they enjoy themselves.

I suppose I have just sounded off a bit - like the "last post" of 2014,  all the best.

Must have slept through the Armageddon !!

What a carry on, all for one day when the shops (except for the corner stores) were closed.  Next up it was queues at 4.30 a.m. for sales in town, silly bleeders out to buy up old stock -  worse still, why do we let the shops away with selling stuff at inflated prices one day, and clearance prices the next.

Just like Tesco today, eight packs of Coke for £3 ; two packs for £5;  or if you looked closely a pack of twenty four for £5,   and to encourage people to drink sensibly (Scottish Government policy)  you can buy some beers for a little as 50p per bottle, pickle your liver and /or have a fag and as the new English "no smoking" advert tells us -  "Your body will rot from within" -   just how will the Government earn taxes now -     BUT I forgot,   the Scottish Police now stop a motorist on average every two minutes day and night -  need to start issuing more tickets than warnings now.

Springs to mind, my most hated radio advert,  been running for years ,  Richard F Mackay furnishings in Edinburgh,  have a different sale running every month, same bloke has been doing the voice over for years so I would suspect they just keep rotating tapes.   Even sillier are the tapes made for pre X-mas which are still being repeated despite being dated,

Weather has changed, freezing temperatures, chaos down South where they had an inch of snow, place ground to a halt;  then we have the usual chaos on the trains at X-mas where "essential" works are being carried out - usual lack of communication from the rail companies.   BUT - not enough snow yet for some of the Scottish resorts ;  however, too much snow in the French ski resorts where skiers have been unable to get to the slopes and have been sent home !!!!   what is wrong with walking or using their skies -  perhaps no ski tow's handy.
So apart from their winging -  totally different problems overseas,  one missing Air Asia airline with one hundred and sixty aboard believed downed by a storm;  a Greek car ferry on fire with several deaths; and a Virgin jumbo makes a hairy landing due to faulty landing gear.

Closer to home - more weeping and wailing - Rangers lost again; despite having sacked "super ally";  Celtic managed a draw;  Jambo's doing well;   Glasgow beat Edinburgh at rugby - just one disaster after another for someone.

Watching the "Rock"  on TV , superb movie.

Ba Humbug - perhaps, but it is now over , all bar the shouting.

Shouting to get into the shops on x-mas eve, and even more this morning as folks headed for the sales, big question as to whether there really are bargains.  But shows how much folks are getting ripped off with what is just a commercial enterprise.

Must have been shouting this morning, when the Edinburgh trams could not run because there was icing on the power cables -  add that to the break down on then 24h when all trams were stationary due to a break down.    We can put a man into space for less, and have a space station orbiting with regular connections,  but NO bloody trams - well done our Edinburgh City \councillors who refuse to admit what the hidden costs of the tram project were - officials are still refusing to cooperate with the ongoing enquiry.  Only local authorities can get away with this, well maybe MP's etc also,

Mercat Grill has been busy over the festive period, full house on X mas day, lovely customers, enjoyed the day and our staff did brilliantly.

When I last wrote about the bin lorry tragedy in Glasgow, it did go through my mind, wondering how long the "sickos" in our society would take to start commenting on social media,   right enough it has happened already,  but backfired on the writers who are certainly making themselves very unpopular - with folks sending their comments to the Police and hoping for some action.

Looks like the new drink driving limit is going to have a few more casualties,  some golf clubs and out of town pubs are already feeling the effect of drivers cutting back, even on the one pint.  
Nanny State right enough -  George Orwell was certainly a visionary with his writings.

PS -  Merry X-mas  everyone.

Horrendous accident in Glasgow

which happened at 2.30 p.m. this afternoon in the Queens Street / George Square area when an out of control bin lorry mounted the pavement and in the course of the next three hundred yards six pedestrians were killed and at least seven seriously injured and hospitalised.  At the moment it has been suggested that the driver took ill as he was seen collapsed over the steering wheel.    Emergency services were on the scene within minutes and have been praised for their actions.

This has been yet another terrible tragedy for a City who suffered the deaths of ten people a year ago when a Police helicopter crashed into a crowded city centre pub.

Our thoughts and commiserations go out to the relatives and friends of those who have lost their lives and been injured.

Kept on my toes - rather than chilling out.

Had planned on a wee update last night , but feeling out of sorts so it was a very early bed for me, although, I did end up sleeping in a chair most of the night.

But,  Wednesday night, a superb installation for Susan Wilson at OES;, Bonnyrigg, big turn out and a super spread afterwards.     Thursday,  had another run to the dental hospital where dentist took great delight in firing a mild !!  electrical current through my teeth to prove they were still strong and not damaged,  not a treat.     Evening, made it to Loanhead where our RWM, Bryan McKenzie was receiving honorary membership - big deputation from 720, good evening just a pity I had to leave sharp (again). Loanhead have several members who are motorcyclist and members of the "Sons of the Widow" biker group, who are always raising funds for various charities - well done lads.

Friday, mad rush  however I made it to Edinburgh for the meeting of Supreme RA at George Street, nice to see so many well "kent" faces - however, unfortunately felt unwell and had to leave early and head home for bed.    Did drop in to the Standing Order where "Archie the Pole Dancer" was   run off his feet as usual.

Mercat Grill is very busy, and congratulations to the Staff, who have just won the award for Best Pub,  by the Edinburgh Evening News,  looks like a phone call to book a table will be required.  Once again we have come across the anomalies of "Trip Advisor" - where in amongst the good reports was a very negative report -  BUT the writer was traced and spoken to ,  turns out he had never been in the Grill and just felt like being a "dick head".

Chatting to customers in the Conservatory on Thursday, and spotted a new "old" face, new customer, but turned out to be a former colleague  Grace, who I had worked with years ago, along with her husband, but who was able to remind me that we had not met for about eight years - now a regular at the Grill.

Now getting into the habit of watching for other drivers on their mobile phones,  never fails, do not understand it - Police Scotland actually did charge a lot of folks with the offence ( did look at the stats) but it is obviously not a deterrent. Thinking of setting up the Go Pro on the dashboard.

Had a wee visit to BMW Motorad at Dalkeith  today, initially to get my helmet fixed again,  but as they were having their x-mas bash the place was really busy and it was nice to meet folks I knew,  Rennie, who had been on the trip to Europe with us,  missed Dougz and Boy Dougz, who had come over to get a pressie for the boy,  and met some nice folks parting with cash for bright shiny bikes as gifts for themselves.

Windows 8 - what a load of rubbish.

Just spent time updating the Blog for it to disappear into the wide blue yonder.   So  much for this version of windows, and added to the new lap top is doing my head in.
Bit of a Masonic week for me ; Monday - Star; Tonight an Installation with meal and social at 151 Defensive Band;  another Star Installation tomorrow night;  deputation to Loanhead on Thursday; and meeting in  George Street of Supreme RA.

One more Nanny act by the MSP,s as they introduce the no smoking ban in cars carrying children - still does not get round the fact that youngsters could be in a  house with half a dozen adults puffing away like "lums".

Watching the programme called "Secret Dealers" on TV,  just shows how big a set of chancers all these second hand / antique dealers are !!!

Some terrible terrorist orientated incidents around the world in the last twenty four hours - and as previously stated  they will not go away for a long time, so vigilance has to be the watchword.

Going to be a dry night again for me, need to take the car, so no drinking, not with the new lower lever of alcohol permitted ;  even makes driving the next day dodgy,  but as I have the dental hospital in the morning just need to behave,   HOWEVER   as someone rightly pointed out,  those drivers who insist on using  mobile phones when driving are just as big a menace,  does not make sense when you can buy a set of hands free earphones for about £12 .  Even more galling are those folks driving their expensive "Chelsea tractors", etc., costing in excess of £35k  and they cannot use a hands free.  I saw four drivers in twenty five minutes on my way to work on Saturday morning, including a bus and a lorry driver all chatting away  this morning it was yet another white van man.

Corned beef hash - and an ear bashing.

Good job I am keeping a record now -   on the 5th I made Mrs B, her dinner,  and tonight I did likewise  (lovely creamy corned beef and onion hash), only to be told that it was at least six years!!!! since I had last made the dinner!! Once again a serious exaggeration, no wonder I am nearly bald and what little left is seriously grey.

Under siege once again,  cold callers on the phone who are now ringing in the evening -  so any withheld or unknown numbers are left for the ansaphone, then we call back. 
Now the snow as winter creeps upon us,  yesterday it was big boots and warm jacket with icebound roads around Penicuik, but it did clear up so I headed off to Crieff for the monthly meeting of RA 34 there.  Excellent meeting with three candidates (wise men) who had travelled up from the Midlands to go through all three degrees.  Had confirmation that Christmas had arrived when my car was nearly blocked in the car park by a sled and brass band as the locals switched on their X-mas lights.

Bigger shock to the system when I left to find Crieff and the rest of the County totally icebound, roads were like the proverbial skating rink, so it took ages to travel the twelve miles to the A9 in a convoy travelling at no more than twenty mph, however the main trunk roads had been gritted and were fine all the way home.  Only one car off the road at Dunblane in the process of being recovered, and later on I saw the emergency services en route, I think to a fatal accident which occurred at Broxburn.    That is about four different fatal road accidents in this area in the past few days.  No idea if alcohol had been involved,  but I did hear about a lady driver, who having left home using public transport to go out for a social, returned the same way, and then unaccountably left the house, drover her car a short distance and was stopped and found to be five times over the "new" limit.

At this point, while I remember, I have to confess to using the bus to go to a hospital appointment on Wednesday morning, we were in the midst of gale force winds and torrential rain, so I "wimped out" of taking the Steed of Steel, sorry guys - sense prevailed in this instance while I am still in the physical recovery mode, taking longer to recover than usual with even more appointments to follow.
Downside of the bus journey was when a "Jamaican" bloke got on the bus, mobile phone glued to his large lug, and treated the entire upper deck of the bus to a conversation with his friend in his own local dialect interspersed with the odd bit of broken English.   So, having bitten my tongue rather than get involved in a Breach of the Peace I went to the lower deck and stood for the last part of my journey - just pure ignorance,

Heard a snippet on the radio, unconfirmed so far, that Ally McCoist has  resigned as manager of Rangers FC., if true, a sad day for both him and the Club.  Really sorry for him as he has put his heart and soul ( man and boy) into that club and has done his best to pull it out the murk caused by thieving scheming businessmen -  potentially a bad day for Scottish football.

I see that the Mercat Grill, Whitecraig, is now in the final top ten of local pubs/bars/ restaurants in a competition being  run by the Edinburgh Evening News,  many thanks to our customers for taking the trouble to vote for the Grill.

Winter is upon us.

Winter has arrived (hopefully I do not hear Mr and Mrs Barns laughing in Spain, where they arfe still touring on their bikes) and it took nearly ten minutes to clear solid ice from the car before setting off for work.  AND there they were, first day of Winter,  too cold to stand and wait on a bus, so take the car and cause even more chaos; and there are those who seem incapable of clearing their windscreens, or any windows and drive with a tiny wee square cleared - these are the folks the police should be stopping; and finally there are those who must shovel as much snow on their cars as possible and delight in getting into Edinburgh looking like "Nanook of the North" and want their colleagues to heap praise on them for struggling in to work.

Having just written the above, maybe I was daft to take the Steed of steel out for a run this afternoon to meet up with Dougz and Tom at Livingston,  but the sun was shining, the roads were good,  only the car park at Deerpark was a bit icy - and I did come home before the sun set and the temperature dropped.  

Completely forgot about the Royal Variety Performance being on tonight and only just managed to see the last four acts.   However, seeing Shirley Bassey reminded me of meeting her at the Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre many years ago when they held a gala concert for the Queen during the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.    I had to conduct a search of her dressing room and she stayed there while we did our thing, she later rehearsed on stage, dancing about six inches above my head while I crawled under the staging .    Those were the days when my shadow was slightly smaller and I was agile enough for such adventures.

Long day at the lodges, well done RWM's Allison and McKenzie

Been a long day, not long home and have just caught the tail end of the X Factor these acts are actually doing not too bad, it will be a close final and up to the fickle public at the end of the day .

Headed to the Grill a.m. to open up and do some chores,  then home for a wash and change and off to Newbattle to a meeting of St Bernard De Clairveax,  big turn out and an excellent lecture by Andrew Brown from Crieff .  Managed to rush out the door at 4.30 p.m. and just made it to Tranent in time for the 5pm kick off at the 1112 Lodge Nisbet installation where Brian Allison was taking the chair.  Needed to be there as I had promised Brian a year ago that I would attend, however I had not realised that it was also 720's Installation  where Brian MacKenzie was doing another year- apologies in this instance.

Grill was busy today, and our friend Allison and her pals had a humungous Pablova for desert packed with ice cream, etc. as a birthday treat.

Today Police Scotland Officers were having a fun day stopping cars and trying out their new breathalysers with the lower limit.     Tried to work out last night how long it would take for my system to absorb my intake of vino tinto, and be 100% sure that if stopped I would not have any residual alcohol left -  as I have said before , this new act will put the willies up many drivers.

Fatal accident this morning on the M8, however not a drivers fault, appears that a pedestrian caused the accident.

Been a few days again

Great excitement in the household today,  Mrs B, (exaggerating as usual) claimed that I had never prepared her dinner during the past fifty years (not even known her that long), so bull by the horns and after the ensuing chaos in the kitchen - tomato soup, corned beef roll, and alka seltzer -  I jest, had this been the case I would not be writing this blog.   So steak, French fries, onion rings, grilled tomato, (and mushrooms for me) with Blossom Hill for elle, and a superb Turner Road 1912 Shiraz (comp of Tesco half price offer).    Two happy contented bunnies ce soir.    Short memory - or is it a sign of too much Rose,   (sweet Carolyn take care!!)

Was watching Zoe Ball doing her thing on the BBC 2 Strictly Come Dancing nightly round up,  -  smashing young lady who should have been comparing the main show rather than the numpties who replaced Sir Bruce.

However, before I get back to more mundane happenings,   the Lovely Go Jo, matures by yet another year tomorrow, an early happy birthday to her - hope she enjoys her surprise treat.

Stop Press - we in the UK buy two million cans of baked beans every day - and they have the cheek to blame cattle for affecting the ozone layer.

So, listening to the pre X-mas adverts we have garages offering £3k / £4k off the price of new cars; and Arnold Clark giving £300 off second hand cars -  which (using my abacus) would equate to a discount of £30k for a token one hundred cars at one of their big outlets - so looking at that, and the massive glass and hi tech showrooms and garages -  just how much money are these motor traders making from the punters.  Worse than that are the garages charging £75 /£100 an hour to repair cars - tiddle that for a joke.

City of Edinburgh have just announced that they intend to spend yet another £400K on another feasibility study to look at extending the trams from York Place to Leith  ( the original route)   this is after they have just spent £9 million reinstating Leith Walk after the original tram works debacle.  AND they have even suggested that the trams are a roaring success (cloud cuckoo land and heads up external rear orifices spring to mind as attributes for the Councillors).

Still not 100% fit enough yet up to be hitting the road on the Steed of Steel yet,  the after effects of my holiday infection took a bit more out of me than I thought -  but , getting there now.

Now Ms Sturgeon settling in to her new home at Bute House as 1st Minister,   from reports on the media looks like she is a bit more "far left" than slippery Alex,  so  watch out income tax going up soon.     
Was thinking back to reading George Orwell's book, (1984) recently and every day we see more and more Big Brother type influences on our life style. 

New drink driving laws came into force today,  not that I really have any objection,   drink does cause accidents,  however, looks as the employed motoring public will bear the brunt of this initiative  to curb the drinking habits of the Scots.    It will make no difference at all to those who do not drive; those who head for the  supermarkets who are competing with each other to flog cases of beer and cheap spirits, even undercutting the big commercial wholesalers, then sit at home with their bottles of cheap cider, etc , get blootered ,  domestic unrest, and head for the streets to stagger in front of the unsuspecting sober motorist.

While on this theme - these dammed cyclists who insist on riding bikes wearing dark clothing, with no lights, etc are a total no no;  blatantly  ignored by the Police, who seem to also be ignoring the one head light wonders (cars) -  intent on reaching statistically orientated targets set by their "Superiors" !!! 

Saturday, Off to the KT,s followed by an Installation at Lodge Nisbet, Tranent, taking the car - no drink.