Just when I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, been to the pool, doing a bit more walking, etc, SODS law, had a bit of a mishap and screwed up my back well and truly last Sunday - and being Easter Weekend, and the Easter school break, options for a wee bit of help were limited, so it was back to bed for some serious bed rest.
Double checked with GP on Tuesday so a few more pain killers to munch on, and this time, no alternative but to behave.
Mrs B., RGB and the Johnsons of Chobham all enjoying their trip away in the sun, and as I am not able to sleep, no problem for me to communicate with them around 6 am our time. All returning to normality on Monday next, not happy when I was asked how I was feeling, to reply that my earache had gone!!!!
Certainly not bored, have a good supply of books from the local library, and the only TV I have been watching has been the Cricket 20/20 World Cup from India, thoroughly enjoying it and now looking forward to the final on Sunday between England and the West Indies.
Decided that there was no need for me to buy newspapers each day as it is really only Mrs B doing the crosswords, and as the TV news is generally depressing, not even watching it. No idea how many fibs Ms Sturgeon has been telling, what,s new !!!!
Thursday, 31 March 2016
Thursday, 24 March 2016
After all the rain, Scotland is undeer water once again, maybe not !
Having been more or less housebound for the past seven weeks I finally saw the surgeon yesterday whose words " leave here and never darken my door again" was music to my ears, as he was really delighted with his surgical handiwork. Now I enter a new phase of self induced pain as I will now get back to swimming and exercise and try to build up once again, and obviously all these pummelled intestines will complain a bit!!!.
Home Alone 4 , as they say with MrsB and RGB in sunnier climes along with the Johnsons of Chobham, never mind, I can do as I please without having to worry about getting an ear bashing.
Usually have visitors dropping by or phoning to make sure I am OK and behaving myself, this morning David Black appeared and we headed down to the Barony Castle Hotel, at Eddlestone, to have a wee look at how work was progressing with the restoration of the "unique" stone map of Scotland made by Polish engineers. As you can see it has now been flooded as was the original, showing the various seas around Scotland. Obviously there is still work to be done by the volunteer teams, however there is now sufficient to see to make a visit worthwhile.
Bonus of the day was having a lovely bowl of carrot and red chili soup, nice and warming as it was kind of raw while we were there. Place was quiet when we arrived , however there were couples and groups arriving before we left, some possibly down for the Easter weekend activities.
Wednesday, 16 March 2016
Very appropriate, the saying "The pen is mightier than the sword", add to that
"The pen is more scathing than the tongue" and in the hands of an eejit can be totally destructive.
Might wonder what I am on about, but it has taken me since Sunday to calm down after a negative article was penned about the Mercat Grill. We have spent over four years building up a good reputation, training staff, producing good food, really trying hard every day, and one person, wielding his pen has upset the apple cart, so to speak, destroying morale , reputation, and to make matters worse passed a comment which was totally wrong (a big fat porky).
I have been doing items on Trip Advisor for years and have never once been totally scathing, there is such a thing as constructive criticism .
Just listening to the radio this morning about the chaos around Hillend, Loanhead, Penicuik, area, with queues from Flotterstome on the A702 taking thirty to forty minutes to get through new roadworks near to the Ski Slope.
This reminded me of a time when the late Councillor Marjorie Noble , who was a frequent visitor to Loanhead Police Station, came in one day, about 1967/1969, and spoke to us about the plans to transform Hillend junction - still waiting, no changes made so far, well done Midlothian and Scottish Highways, forty plus years of inactivity sounds about right.
There were proposals to build a dual carriageway from Milton Bridge into Straiton, which brought about the green activists who formed what is still a permanent camp in the Bilston Woods, so it was scrapped. lOoking at the current developments planned for the area, not a good decision.
Keep returning to the so called Freedom of Information Act, I have never seen a response yet as o why Alex Salmond spent a wee fortune on hospitality , good hotel, for him and his missus when he was in New York several years ago. He has kept fobbing off the numerous requests.
Following the massive sales fraud perpetrated by VW cars and the diesel emissions two years ago, and the many comments about the harm caused by diesel emissions our beloved Chancellor might well be adding new fuel charges today. Talk about stealth taxes, daylight robbery, etc, the mafia and drugs cartels need to take lessons from these politicians.
Might wonder what I am on about, but it has taken me since Sunday to calm down after a negative article was penned about the Mercat Grill. We have spent over four years building up a good reputation, training staff, producing good food, really trying hard every day, and one person, wielding his pen has upset the apple cart, so to speak, destroying morale , reputation, and to make matters worse passed a comment which was totally wrong (a big fat porky).
I have been doing items on Trip Advisor for years and have never once been totally scathing, there is such a thing as constructive criticism .
Just listening to the radio this morning about the chaos around Hillend, Loanhead, Penicuik, area, with queues from Flotterstome on the A702 taking thirty to forty minutes to get through new roadworks near to the Ski Slope.
This reminded me of a time when the late Councillor Marjorie Noble , who was a frequent visitor to Loanhead Police Station, came in one day, about 1967/1969, and spoke to us about the plans to transform Hillend junction - still waiting, no changes made so far, well done Midlothian and Scottish Highways, forty plus years of inactivity sounds about right.
There were proposals to build a dual carriageway from Milton Bridge into Straiton, which brought about the green activists who formed what is still a permanent camp in the Bilston Woods, so it was scrapped. lOoking at the current developments planned for the area, not a good decision.
Keep returning to the so called Freedom of Information Act, I have never seen a response yet as o why Alex Salmond spent a wee fortune on hospitality , good hotel, for him and his missus when he was in New York several years ago. He has kept fobbing off the numerous requests.
Following the massive sales fraud perpetrated by VW cars and the diesel emissions two years ago, and the many comments about the harm caused by diesel emissions our beloved Chancellor might well be adding new fuel charges today. Talk about stealth taxes, daylight robbery, etc, the mafia and drugs cartels need to take lessons from these politicians.
Friday, 11 March 2016
Maybe too much too soon, that Long and winding road home.th
Took The bus down the street today, missed to connect on home so feeling up to it had a steady walk back to the house. Not bad I thought, however, come tea time, conked out so once again an early bed - however as there is footie on the TV and radio I am about to be occupied.
An advert has reappeared on the TV for "ONE BIG SWITCH.CO .UK"'. Which was last on several months ago . I commented then that was yet another attempt by someone to set up a new company, get cut price utilities, etc, so maybe they never managed to sign up twenty thousand likely customers last time and are having another go.
Like lots of folks we made use of one of these so called companies , but after some negociations with one of the big suppliers have managed to strike a new deal saving 50% on our previous set up.
So not so long ago we were being told by slippery Salmond and his sidekick, Nicola, that Scotland would be afloat with cash from offshore oil revenue!!!! Did not quite work out as promised and the surplus this year is down to £1.8 billion. One paper today even suggested that in the following years it could be down to £110 million. certainly not enough to even line this massive economic "black hole" which we find ourselves staring into, even although our SNP leader has buried her head in the sand and ignoring the experts. Not saying any more,at the moment, however, media have also commented that the Scottish government is planning on giving loans to Scottish farmers who are still waiting to be paid out by the EU agricultural folks , but due to a monumental botch up with their administration and a new super computer supposedly being installed. It is reckoned that this new computer is costing £79million'!!!!!!! WHAT, HOW BLOODY MUCH????, and having just said previously that oil revenue could be down to £110 million, SOMEONE IS HAVING A LAUGH. (All,the way to their offshore account).
Calm down , chill, relax, trying deep,breathing - gone are the days of spending what you could afford to pay for.!!!
An advert has reappeared on the TV for "ONE BIG SWITCH.CO .UK"'. Which was last on several months ago . I commented then that was yet another attempt by someone to set up a new company, get cut price utilities, etc, so maybe they never managed to sign up twenty thousand likely customers last time and are having another go.
Like lots of folks we made use of one of these so called companies , but after some negociations with one of the big suppliers have managed to strike a new deal saving 50% on our previous set up.
So not so long ago we were being told by slippery Salmond and his sidekick, Nicola, that Scotland would be afloat with cash from offshore oil revenue!!!! Did not quite work out as promised and the surplus this year is down to £1.8 billion. One paper today even suggested that in the following years it could be down to £110 million. certainly not enough to even line this massive economic "black hole" which we find ourselves staring into, even although our SNP leader has buried her head in the sand and ignoring the experts. Not saying any more,at the moment, however, media have also commented that the Scottish government is planning on giving loans to Scottish farmers who are still waiting to be paid out by the EU agricultural folks , but due to a monumental botch up with their administration and a new super computer supposedly being installed. It is reckoned that this new computer is costing £79million'!!!!!!! WHAT, HOW BLOODY MUCH????, and having just said previously that oil revenue could be down to £110 million, SOMEONE IS HAVING A LAUGH. (All,the way to their offshore account).
Calm down , chill, relax, trying deep,breathing - gone are the days of spending what you could afford to pay for.!!!
Thursday, 10 March 2016
The old sayings, "better late than never" and "it's the thought that counts" spring to mind.
this afternoon I had the pleasure of the company of three of my former colleagues from my days in the Community Involvement Department , Dalkeith., Ben Kelly, Phil Cronin and Iain Stevens, really good to see them and play catch up. HOWEVER, in line with the above quotes I was able give Phil his retirement card, He retired seven and a half years ago and I found the card in the coat I must have been wearing that night - no wonder Mrs B keeps nagging me to get a new one!!!! Phil says he will cherish the card.
I later spoke to Davy Broomfield, also of the same era with the lads and discovered that we had been in the same ward at the same time in the ERI four weeks ago, fortunately he is also on the mend.
I later spoke to Davy Broomfield, also of the same era with the lads and discovered that we had been in the same ward at the same time in the ERI four weeks ago, fortunately he is also on the mend.
Wednesday, 9 March 2016
More than one step forward today
Decided to venture forth a bit further !!! So I went to the Post Office, but cheated by getting the bus both ways. Made it, no problems, so now I can widen my horizons.
Had planned on writing earlier, but not in the mood, So I watched the movie "33". The true story about the thirty three gold miners who were trapped underground in Chile for seventy days on 2010. What a remarkable story, super movie, but appealing to think that the mining company were not found negligent and none of the men received any compensation.
Here we go again, here we have another mega sports personality, Maria Sharapova, suspended for taking prohibited drugs !!! The drug, Meldonium, developed by a Eastern Bloc scientist was developed to increase the supply of ogygen to the periphery of the body and later used in the treatment of heart attacks and angina attacks (which would make it useful for me). However, with rewards in sport so great the medical advisors controlling athletes found it was a performance enhancing drug. Sharapova says she has been using it for ten years, WHY should a fit young sixteen year old need this and then keep using it. BUT. She is the headliner in this case, looking through the Internet there have been track stars, cyclists, weight lifters, and speed skaters suspended in the past two months. $100 million is a lot of sponsorship money to lose, however they cannot take away the money she has in the bank- can they .
Anyway , next - for years I have said "it is not if, but when, so be prepared" referring to the various threats by extremist groups which might affect the daily lives of UK public,. We thought we had got over the Irish problem, even although it meant that the alleged hierarchy of the groups involved managed to wheedle their way into positions in UK . The threat from overseas has never gone away and from current warnings may well be about to escalate.
Now I am sure these murderous scheming types are not going to play by the Queenberry Rules, so when it does eventually happen our politicians will start shouting and looking for excuses as to why the Police and security services knew nothing!!
I raise this as I wonder why some of our Politicians are going to great lengths to investigate the worke done by undercover and anti terrorist teams. It is no wonder we are the laughing stock of the world when we are so politically correct and our media are happy to give some of these wingers breathing space. When you read true life spy stories it makes you wonder just how much of our national infrastructure has been infiltrated to the extent that economic polices are in tatters, we are £Billions in dept and just ripe for a foreign power to pull the plug on us. It was always the Russians or the Chinese who had spies under the bed, but the EU Eurocrats are doing fine job as well.
So check under your bed tonight!!!!
Had planned on writing earlier, but not in the mood, So I watched the movie "33". The true story about the thirty three gold miners who were trapped underground in Chile for seventy days on 2010. What a remarkable story, super movie, but appealing to think that the mining company were not found negligent and none of the men received any compensation.
Here we go again, here we have another mega sports personality, Maria Sharapova, suspended for taking prohibited drugs !!! The drug, Meldonium, developed by a Eastern Bloc scientist was developed to increase the supply of ogygen to the periphery of the body and later used in the treatment of heart attacks and angina attacks (which would make it useful for me). However, with rewards in sport so great the medical advisors controlling athletes found it was a performance enhancing drug. Sharapova says she has been using it for ten years, WHY should a fit young sixteen year old need this and then keep using it. BUT. She is the headliner in this case, looking through the Internet there have been track stars, cyclists, weight lifters, and speed skaters suspended in the past two months. $100 million is a lot of sponsorship money to lose, however they cannot take away the money she has in the bank- can they .
Anyway , next - for years I have said "it is not if, but when, so be prepared" referring to the various threats by extremist groups which might affect the daily lives of UK public,. We thought we had got over the Irish problem, even although it meant that the alleged hierarchy of the groups involved managed to wheedle their way into positions in UK . The threat from overseas has never gone away and from current warnings may well be about to escalate.
Now I am sure these murderous scheming types are not going to play by the Queenberry Rules, so when it does eventually happen our politicians will start shouting and looking for excuses as to why the Police and security services knew nothing!!
I raise this as I wonder why some of our Politicians are going to great lengths to investigate the worke done by undercover and anti terrorist teams. It is no wonder we are the laughing stock of the world when we are so politically correct and our media are happy to give some of these wingers breathing space. When you read true life spy stories it makes you wonder just how much of our national infrastructure has been infiltrated to the extent that economic polices are in tatters, we are £Billions in dept and just ripe for a foreign power to pull the plug on us. It was always the Russians or the Chinese who had spies under the bed, but the EU Eurocrats are doing fine job as well.
So check under your bed tonight!!!!
Sunday, 6 March 2016
Football managers please get copies of Andy Murray playing in the Davies Cupul
So Team GB , alias the Murray brothers (Andy and Jamie )' were responsible for the GB win over Japan this weekend. I would suggest that the majority of UK athletes, inclusive of football players, etc, are all given copies of the three matches which Andy Murray won over the past three days. He is super fit, but also has such determination to win. So now when I hear football managers complaining that their players are tired after a couple of ninety minute games, with tea breaks and all the assciated stoppages, that they be told to get on their bikes, get into the gym and give their lazy selves a good shaking. I was wondering how the tennis teams would react if each member of the team was only allowed to take part in one match!!!
During the week a SNP counsellor was saying that she had just had to cut the the local authority education budget by £18million, all in a day's work, next day Nicola is saying that she will plough all this extra money into education, then we hear that all the Scottish councils have wee pots of cash stached away in case of a rainy day ( not that we know about rainy days here).
Lady in England breeding beetles for sale as a meat supplement, certainly beats maggots in the mince pies !! True story, many years ago one of the day shift at Haddington police station brought in some pies for lunch, most were popped in the oven to warm, but a couple were munched ASAP as the lads were hungry. HOWEVER, there was the sound of popping from the oven and it was found that the cause was maggots exploding in the pies - two violently ill officers hit the toilets.
Snow this afternoon, no wonder I was feeling a bit chilly when out for my brief stagger along the road, one step at a time.
During the week a SNP counsellor was saying that she had just had to cut the the local authority education budget by £18million, all in a day's work, next day Nicola is saying that she will plough all this extra money into education, then we hear that all the Scottish councils have wee pots of cash stached away in case of a rainy day ( not that we know about rainy days here).
Lady in England breeding beetles for sale as a meat supplement, certainly beats maggots in the mince pies !! True story, many years ago one of the day shift at Haddington police station brought in some pies for lunch, most were popped in the oven to warm, but a couple were munched ASAP as the lads were hungry. HOWEVER, there was the sound of popping from the oven and it was found that the cause was maggots exploding in the pies - two violently ill officers hit the toilets.
Snow this afternoon, no wonder I was feeling a bit chilly when out for my brief stagger along the road, one step at a time.
Friday, 4 March 2016
Resorting to Planla B , an electric razor
much as I enjoy a wet shave with a decent bush and nice shaving soap, it Is bit much while I am dozed up with anti coagulants, one slight Slip with the razor and the cut transforms into a stream of blood which lumps of toilet roll will not stop.
Reunion social for ex E division officers and friends tonight at Tranent, pity I am missing it yet again, but cannot be helped.
Davies Cup tournament starts today with Great Britain in action against Japan, hopefully the young Murray brothers are back on form, and Andy has not had too many sleepless nights with baby.
Talk about taking a "nippy"' this fruitcake ruler of North Korea is sanctioned by the UN, so he lobs several million $'s worth of missiles out to sea. He rules by terror, his people are poor, but he can still chuck millions away. As bad as some of these African despots.
I listen to Ken Bruce on Radio 2 in the morning and enjoy his "Popmaster" quiz, possible total,of thirty nine points, with participants regularly getting thirty plus, me , I am luck to get three or six points.
Last night there was a comedy version of the word quiz "Countdown" on late, very, very funny, worth watching if you have a sense of humour.
Spotted an item in East Lothian paper, proposed planning application for new houses in Whitecraig, Wallyford, and plans and Q /A sessions going to be held in the Mercat Grill beginning of April.
Had a bad twenty four hours yesterday, hopefully back on the mend today.
Reunion social for ex E division officers and friends tonight at Tranent, pity I am missing it yet again, but cannot be helped.
Davies Cup tournament starts today with Great Britain in action against Japan, hopefully the young Murray brothers are back on form, and Andy has not had too many sleepless nights with baby.
Talk about taking a "nippy"' this fruitcake ruler of North Korea is sanctioned by the UN, so he lobs several million $'s worth of missiles out to sea. He rules by terror, his people are poor, but he can still chuck millions away. As bad as some of these African despots.
I listen to Ken Bruce on Radio 2 in the morning and enjoy his "Popmaster" quiz, possible total,of thirty nine points, with participants regularly getting thirty plus, me , I am luck to get three or six points.
Last night there was a comedy version of the word quiz "Countdown" on late, very, very funny, worth watching if you have a sense of humour.
Spotted an item in East Lothian paper, proposed planning application for new houses in Whitecraig, Wallyford, and plans and Q /A sessions going to be held in the Mercat Grill beginning of April.
Had a bad twenty four hours yesterday, hopefully back on the mend today.
Wednesday, 2 March 2016
Renewed a TV licence last week, keeping in good standing, and of course
helping the nanny goats at the BBC to keep us entertained. Got a reply toning the saying that the licence fee would mean I could more of the old programmes !!! And of course some new ones!!
Anyway, another subject - steak and good beef. Now, for long enough we (scots) have been promoting Scotch Beef though the Scotch Beef Society, and any establishment involved in the scheme has to sign up and keep records for inspection by the Society's inspectors showing the providence of the beef. In the last two years we have had cases through the court which allow products to be protected , just like Champagne, I.e. Arbroath smokies, Stornoway black budding, Cornish pasties, Harris tweed, and of course Scotch whiskey.
In the financial page of one of the papers today there was an item about the Co-Op investing money into the marketing of products as being grown in the UK. HOWEVER! A couple of days ago some ultra bright plonker in the EU has come up with the recommendation that all foodstuffs, where relevant and if sourced within the EU should be packaged and labelled as "Product of Europe", what a load of cobblers. I wonder if our Hollyrood marvels will encourage this, or for once standby our producers.
Not been a good day today, back to bed early and munching pain killers once again.
Anyway, another subject - steak and good beef. Now, for long enough we (scots) have been promoting Scotch Beef though the Scotch Beef Society, and any establishment involved in the scheme has to sign up and keep records for inspection by the Society's inspectors showing the providence of the beef. In the last two years we have had cases through the court which allow products to be protected , just like Champagne, I.e. Arbroath smokies, Stornoway black budding, Cornish pasties, Harris tweed, and of course Scotch whiskey.
In the financial page of one of the papers today there was an item about the Co-Op investing money into the marketing of products as being grown in the UK. HOWEVER! A couple of days ago some ultra bright plonker in the EU has come up with the recommendation that all foodstuffs, where relevant and if sourced within the EU should be packaged and labelled as "Product of Europe", what a load of cobblers. I wonder if our Hollyrood marvels will encourage this, or for once standby our producers.
Not been a good day today, back to bed early and munching pain killers once again.
Tuesday, 1 March 2016
Another new month, March, more snow on its way , but no hose pipe ban yet
Seriously peed of yesterday to discover that my recently discovered enjoyable programme, Supervet, is no longer on the TV. So it is back to the radio in the meantime - but if powers that be get their way I will have an hour long Scottish news bulletin to look forward to !!! Lord knows what local rubbish the BBC will dredge up to keep us spellbound for sixty minutes.
If the FA and SFA would agree to the use of TV cameras at matches as a fourth referee, on the same lines as the rugby do, then we could watch replays of the prima donnas taking dives and cheating. Could lead to fines , bans, etc, but there could even be an Oscar type award for the most entertaining performance.
Just dawned on me that Ms Sturgeon might be tempted to spend more time in Scotland doing photocalls and interviews On TV instead of swanning off down to London to perform for the crowds in central London. She is certainly not helping to unite the UK., not that she wants to anyway - just muddying the waters like everyone else over the Exit EU debate.
I see the UE types have shelves their plans to force us to use lower powered kettles, toasters and vacuum cleaners toil after the debate. Bit like their light bulb legislation, now costs us more than ever for so called long lasting bulbs.
An excellent expose in the Daily Mail about Tony Blair, it is no wonder that politicians have such a hellish reputation for being like pigs in a trough.
On a much cheerier note, had a visit today from Kai Monk, home on holiday from Australia, so really nice to see him again, looking so well and enjoying life.
If the FA and SFA would agree to the use of TV cameras at matches as a fourth referee, on the same lines as the rugby do, then we could watch replays of the prima donnas taking dives and cheating. Could lead to fines , bans, etc, but there could even be an Oscar type award for the most entertaining performance.
Just dawned on me that Ms Sturgeon might be tempted to spend more time in Scotland doing photocalls and interviews On TV instead of swanning off down to London to perform for the crowds in central London. She is certainly not helping to unite the UK., not that she wants to anyway - just muddying the waters like everyone else over the Exit EU debate.
I see the UE types have shelves their plans to force us to use lower powered kettles, toasters and vacuum cleaners toil after the debate. Bit like their light bulb legislation, now costs us more than ever for so called long lasting bulbs.
An excellent expose in the Daily Mail about Tony Blair, it is no wonder that politicians have such a hellish reputation for being like pigs in a trough.
On a much cheerier note, had a visit today from Kai Monk, home on holiday from Australia, so really nice to see him again, looking so well and enjoying life.
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