I suppose we can all dream,

So there I was with time to spare in the town this morning, and needing some photos for the camera I took a wee run up to the Harley Davidson showroom to see what was on display. Quite obviously there are signs that summer is coming, despite the snow

and ice over the past few days as the majority of bikes in the showroom had "sold" tags on them.
There was one bike with a top price ticket of £40K on it, just a wee tad over my budget, probably about £39 K over my budget !!!
Met one of the clients who I recognised from Newbattle, King David, St Bernard ; Cryptic and  Lodge in Council, and also a member of the "Widow's Sons", was telling me some of his adventures from trips to Kentucky, USA., and soon to be off ferrying a Harley to his mate who now lives in Corsica.

Managed to make it to RA 500 at Bonnyrigg last night where we received the deputation from Provincial Grand Chapter, turned out to be a super night and I am sure our candidate really enjoyed the meeting.

Never say never again, just tempting fate.

So, thinking I was doing well, on the road to recovery, and then, took a bit of a funny turn last Monday evening. Suffice to say I ended up back in a bed in the ERI, admitted via A & E and once again have to compliment the staff on their professionalism.  Not sure what to make of the outcome, but nothing serious identified to contribute to "incident" , but my favourite Cardiologist was able to assure me that my demise was not imminent, so now I am perfectly happy to take my pain killers to mask the existing pains from my recovering hernias and sore ribs and just get on with as much as possible meantime.

It is no wonder we are fully demented in the country, one day we have sunshine, next it is snowing, and this morning I was sitting out the wind in the sunshine reading  in the garden when the hailstones came battering down.  Just put on my quilted high viz jacket and stayed out in the fresh air which I am assured is good for me, unless of course I catch pneumonia again !!!
So far, I think that the central heating has been on every day this year, no wonder the utilities companies are rubbing their hands in glee.

Couple of wee treats at the weekend ,  Mrs. B . had a bash at making hand made chocolate caramels, superb, actually awesome ;   and Sparky Mark arrived on Sunday night with a beautiful freshly caught trout - a banquet awaits me.

Nail biting football for a change, and value for money at long last.

Not very often that I compliment football players who I generally rate as being over paid prima donna's  however, having watched two  Scottish Cup semi finals this weekend which went through extra time and into penalty shoot outs, it was certainly value for money and good entertainment.  Just hope that the final between Rangers FC and Hibernian is equally as good.   I was pleasantly surprised at the end of the Rangers v Celtic match to see the Celtic goalkeeper, Craig Gordon approach and shake hands with the Rangers keeper,   unlike the remainder of the players who just left the pitch.  We are used to seeing sportsman type gestures  at rugby and other sporting events, especially at International level, so why not at league level  in football - it might set a positive example to the fans,

Had a wee run to the Mercat Grill this morning where several doggies appeared along with their owners, looking for doggie beer, bacon rolls, and treats.

Next weekend, Saturday 23rd April., there is another wine tasting dinner at the Grill, Spanish themed I believe.

With all the current political hoo ha over immigration and illegal immigrants I have been watching the several documentary type programmes on the TV about the various customs and immigration agencies in Australia, USA, Canada and the UK.  These officers do a brilliant job trying to control their respective borders, but it is difficult to comprehend how stupid some travellers are and how devious the criminals are in their quest to smuggle drugs into the countries. Obviously those officers featuring in the programmes are having to seriously bit their tongues and keep themselves in check because many of the travellers are chancing torags who I would have stuck back on a plane marked "return to sender".

William Johnston Corbett, RIP.

Just thought I should comment on the death of William whose funeral service took place yesterday at Seafield Crematorium where it was a full house with many having to stand throughout the service.
He was my wife's cousin and died after a four year struggle with cancer.  Willie was an ardent  Rangers FC fan, an excellent footballer in his youth, very likeable and always full of fun and nonsense.
Going back a long long time,  (early 1970's) when I used to stay overnight at the house in Bonnyrigg, one day I was getting ready to head off for work and discovered that I had no laces in my work boots, Willie had taken them for his own boots !!, however, there was a Sunday when I was playing cards with his Dad and friends  in the Labour Club, not sure whether it was Willie or John (his brother), but one of them arrived and said I was needed urgently in the house.  When I got there I discovered that one of the lads had found my handcuffs and put them on the other, far too tightly, and the circulation was being cut off to the hands, eventually they had no option but to get me and the keys to remove them !!!
Our wishes go to his wife Gloria, and his family, he will be missed very much.

US Masters amazing turn of events

Not like me but this year I have sat for four nights watching the golf, not just because I was really interested but because I have had to sleep in a chair for the past week.  However, it has been facinating to watch, the course at Atlanta is just pristine and looks to be so difficult with greens as fast as billiard tables.   Turn up of events has been the monumental blunder by Jordan Speith, the three day leader who when so far in the lead dropped four shots and appeared to have been  blown right out of contention. But the good news for the UK is that Danny Willett, the Yorkshireman, who had been plodding along nicely came out of nowhere to win the event at 5 under.
The other remarkable incident during the final day was to to see three "holes in one " at the sixteenth hole, the last one being like a game of billiards with one ball playing off the other to go down the hole.
Thought that the camera operators were totally intrusive at one point, filming and listening to Willett while he was making a personal call home,  it was a good advert for Apple phones.
Anyway, well done, I wish home well, he is made now for the rest of his life.

I wonder how many more millionaires there would have been by now?it

Last night, choice on the TV was a three way one,  The Voice, Britains Got Talent and The US Masters Golf, so I watched the golf on the lap top, and The first round of BGT, then switched over to see which poor soul had drawn the short straw and won the Voice!!   However the point I am about to raise is that BGT is sponsored by "The National Lottery" !!!!!   And as we all know the lottery is shafting the public left right and centre.
I am old enough to remember when the idea of the lottery was first mooted and Sir Richard Branston offered the services of his Virgin organisation to run it, however Camelot were given the contract.
From what we are now experiencing with Camelot, the only people making money and benefitting from their activities are their own shareholders.   SO with hindsight I am sure the British public and our charitable organisations would have been much better off with Virgin running the operation.  TIme methinks for a total boycott of Lotto.

As a follow up from my last scribbling so, it is noted that all Scottish schools are to undergo structural tests to ensure that they are safe places to educate our youth. One paper did pop in a sentence which suggested that the  out skin walls which fell down were not properly tied into the inner walls and the air space gaps were too large.  Perhaps we should allow Leggo to quote for any future building works and have several rolls of Gorilla tape handy for tidying up the corners!

Doggie Coffee morning at the Mercat Grill next Sunday, so if you are a really good and caring owner you might be lucky enough to get an invite to attend by your pet and be treated to a cuppa and a bacon buttie.

The pyramids are still standing, so are the numerous lighthouses around the UK,

BUT this morning Councillor Andrew Burns of the City of Edinburgh Council had to announce that a number of the schools in the City were having to be closed as they could not guarantee that they are safe. HOW /WHY? , what is going on?  I heard him being interviewed on the Radio this morning and despite numerous attempts by the interviewer, he still has to give the reason why.
NO doubt we will discover that it was either cost cutting by the builders / architects,  workmen on bonus rates cutting corners,  The gable wall that did fall down in the recent storm and the reason how all this came to light, did not look as though the outer skin was tied into the inner one!!  Basic bricklaying ,   But with all these instant builds, with no warranties, I am sure our ancestors, real workmen will be turning in their graves.
So much for the city paying a fortune for expert consultants, just one disaster after another.   AND. Reading about the anticipated rise in sea levels over the coming decades, the new builds along the shore of the Forth may well end up under water, but based on current happenings they will have either fallen down or been pulled down by then.  happy days.

Confessions of a geriatric !!!! before someone else "cliped" on me

Well and truly grounded now that Mrs B is home,  I had to admit before she even arrived home at the house that I had taken a tumble down the stairs on Easter Sunday,  doing my impression of "Eddie the Eagle", which was quite appropriate as this was the week the movie was released. Perhaps I was chanting "Bum diddy bum" as I bounced down the stair on my backside, but I know differently !!!  as the air turned several shades of blue and the wallpaper began to peel from the wall.    I suppose it could have been worse if I had taken a header rather than a slide towards the waiting glass front door.
Anyway, eventually sought medical advice, so now have damaged ribs , bruised "botty" and an "awfie" pain in my side, and numerous comments about being a silly old codger  to contend with.  So I just need to keep taking the tablets.

Once again Police Scotland taking a bashing for not responding to a call about a "broken window", which eventually turned out a week later to be the scene of sudden death in Edinburgh.    As one writer correctly pointed out that if the Police had to attend at the scene of all broken windows officers would never get out of some of the housing estates in the City,  where where the caring neighbours, health visitors, social services, etc.   So much for Care in the Community or even a caring community ~ ostrich syndrome strikes again.
I see that there is a call for a public enquiry into the last so called botch up where the two were found dead after the crash on the Stirling motorway,    however, to date no one has yet said why the car crashed, was it driver error, etc, that should be the first priority.

I remember many years ago watching an episode of "Yes Prime Minister" where the civil servants were battering out a snow storm of media announcements to hide an important piece of information,  and guess what,  our beloved, Ms "selfie" Sturgeon, did likewise to hide the £10 billion trade agreement signed with the inscrutable Chinese.

Thinking back to the "Cold War" and all the rumours about the Soviets and other nations recruiting agents and having so called "sleepers" in high places,  makes you wonder these days when all our major industries are disappearing.  Lord knows what will happen when the money lenders pull the plug on the USA  and Europe .

I think our off shore tax havens will be St Kilda , Isle of May, the Bass Rock, -  it will be interesting to see who up the cudgel to hammer our tax avoiding leaders,  cannot see HMRC being brave enough, they are quite happy persecuting small businesses, rather than tackling the offshore crowd (who claim that they are not breaking the law, just bending the rules they helped write), or the black economy driven by cash in hand tradesmen and immigrant shopkeepers ( just stand at the cash desk at Costco or Bookers).

Winning ways for the Westies

must say that I have been enthralled for the past couple of weeks watching the 20/20 world cricket tournament from India,  today's final between England and West Indies was marvellous, at first it looked as though England were going to get hammered,but then they pulled back and ended up with a reasonable score. West Indies went to bat, and they then struggled and for most of the game it looked as though they were going to lose , then in with seven balls left thenWest Indian  batsman scored four sixes on the trot to win the match - brilliant.
My pal Dave, now living in Barbados has just messaged me to say that the party has already started out there.
And as total contrast I have just switched channels on the TV and am watching the baseball from the USA !!!  No comparison, have seen more exciting games of rounders in the park.
Kind of lost the plot with the TV last night, found Ant and Dec boring, The Voice was appalling, no wonder the participants get nowhere and then go back to their old jobs.  So I ended up watching the Scottish ladies curling team in competition at Perth, much more interesting.
Mrs B home tomorrow so time to "face the music" once again.
Nice to know that Edinburgh City rakes in the highest amount of Parking Fines in Scotland, money in the bank, and now the bus fares and tram fares are being increased - but not to subsidise the cost of an extension to the tram route.
Real pain in the backside, I have loads of photos stored on another computer, and guess what, I cannot remember the password and have no idea how to get into the thing to retrieve the photos. IS it me, an age thing perhaps??