Just a tad tired

Well, after last nights tirade !! I ended up sleeping in the chair till 4 a.m., so I was trifle subdued at work today, however I managed to get through the day without incident.

The photos are in fro Rob and Caitlin , the one of Arthurs seat as a reminder of the day rob made her climb up, and of Alex and Michelle because Alex came in to say cheerio but they had gone. Alex is a rather large chap, a former boxer, very quiet but a bit still very quick with his fist if need be - not one to argue with.

Musselburgh had a wee crime wave over the weekend with three shops being broken into on saturday night, during the evening and all with 100 yards of the pub, straight forward kicking in the front doors and taking cash from tills. One shop was directly opposite the pub and it looks like it happened in front of our smokers who would have been standing outside.

Brian was in with our best behaved customer , Glen the dog, and he was telling me about a nutter who was causing hassle this morning at one his jobs. The bloke, who appeared to be high on something started ranting and raving at Brian and his mate and flung their tools out of the premises they were in. The boys had to call the Police but the chap calmed down and cleared off to leave them to get on with the job.

Cookie has appeared back from "having tea with the Queen" in London, and reckons he will be leaving our fair city to head south at the end of the week and to venture futher from there before going back to OZ.

Krysten popped in for a blether and touched at the heart strings by reminding me that the Budgie had still not reappeared. She now has a psycho cat who is in love with her hamster - we'll see how long that lasts and it starts licking its lips..

Robbie sent an E mail so he is about to start working and get rid of his beer belly - both doing OK.

Had a nice letter from the army today as I had been trying to trace a former friend from the barracks who moved away and we lost touch. They have forwarded my details to him so i will wait and see if he gets back to me.

Having a night in - next three are spoken for.

Not sure where this will lead

I have never gone into the so called big time bloggs to see what makes them work - it might be wonderful to be like the cop in London who now does a great expose but me I just do my own thing, and for why??
Story telling - ok , yes daily events and tales of yore!1

Feelings - thats different - just how far do you go ?
Story:
late 60's we were called to a break in at a local social club at 2 a.m., caught the intruder hiding on the premises, sent him to the local jail with the Traffic cops , then myself, Sgt., and beat PC with committee from the club drank two bottles of malt whisky before we would even consider going abck to the local station to write the report. The capture was on the local papers under " footsteps in the snow" as the culprit had broken in after a snow storm and his footprints led us to the point of entry with no sign of exit - however a big Alsation dog found him under a pile of chairs and bit his bum.

Feelings -
tonight, lots - one being satisfaction that Elaine was on and there is no question as to her her honesty and integrity. It makes me angry when I know, from customer feed back that we do have staff who take liberties with the system, BUT in the pub trade what else do you expect- personally I want to trust all my staff which makes it even worse when I discover that they are ripping me off. There are variations on ripping off, from time keeping to plain theft - and sadly it looks lie the plain theft might be the bigger problem.
In the bible and in Masonic tales there is the parable about being paid the wages for the day, if you accept a wage you do do not then turn round later and complain..

Stealing sugar from your tea - a quaint expression - but how do you cope when every day you have folks who just want to get the better of you, currently I have Mike, a bank manager who askled me for £40 in September last year, but so far has failed to pay it back. Today I asked again and he he would repay it next week - my response was " how many times would the bank charge me late repayment fees for the same loan" - so every month I get a charge, while perhaps the only charge he gets is up his nose!!

I have to accept that in this current financial climate that folks have problems - but I am not a "fu******g" bank", I have the same outlays as everyone else, and I need to work for my living.

Four year ago ago I actually had a good life, was happy, relaxed, fit and healthy, and now. totally opposite. Seems that many, including several we had helped, find it easier to ignore than accept our prediciment.

Our neighbour at Musselburgh has totally abused the system to the extent it has now effected our business , despite the fact that many of the members of the public have op enly reported incidents of drug abuse, nothing has yet been been done by the the Police , who in the meantime are quite happy to report us for failing to clear the pub in time, yet last night, a busy Saturday all staff were out by 0120 hrs.

Still angry ,, but moving on

Pleased Scotland had a good day

1140 p.m. in the Sportsman's and this was to be a night off. However, same applies for a.m. today when i had planned to study a bit of ritual for todays meeting.
Ended up away at 7.45 down to Musselburgh to pick up kegs of beer for The Mercat, then a swift run up though the town, dropped them off and out home for a quick change before i picked up Sparky mark at 1030.#
Meeting of the OSM went well and I was installed into the 2nd office, so in a years time i will not know whether I am coming or going. We took food and tea before heading back to Musselburgh for more beer and then into The Mercat where the rugby crowd had dispersed a bit as the game was underway, but it had been busy. Roads around Murrayfield were deserted so I made it home in time to see the last 20 mins - an excellent result, just a pity they could not have done it in previous games. Sat and watched an entertaining FA cup game when Barnsley the underdogs managed to beat Chelsea, having already beaten Liverpool.
Had planned on sitting in having a quiet night, however the two Karen's who had been to the rugby ended up being late so there was a bit of jiggling about to be done, and I went to see what was going on !!! Girls will be girls. A good job that tomorrow is another day.

Friday should have been quiet.

Had to dig into the folders for some photos for tonight having found nothing of interst to click at today, and Mark likes pictures as he finds the writing hard to underststand !! - not true.

1st is of a female (obviously) marching band who appeared at this years tattoo,and the other is what happened at the Castle when Mark tried to fix a cooker in the restaurant !! ( no - it is the one o'clock gun going off).

Ended up at Gorebridge last night where due to unforseen circumstances I was invited to give a brief talk about my trip to India with the RA in November, and one of the others did likewise on a recent trip to Tours in France by members of Esk 42.

Started on some of my own things this morning but had a call to look at a wee problem at The Bush which turned out to be of interst as a couple of the lads involved were the sons of locals who I have known or had dealings with for about forty years, going back to the good old days when I was a local "Polis". However they were just young lads trying to make their way in this big bad world.

Headed off to Ocean terminal with Ann, still in search of the elusive New Balance trainers but with no luck so went to see a movie instead. it was called "The Jumper" , a bit futuristic about folks who could jump from space to space - like going on holiday without an aeroplane, which I always thought would be good.

From there, up to The Mercat, which was busy and I had a nice omlette while Ann had a fish the size of a whale., and we both had a blether to Claire and Duhai in the kitchen who were being kept busy.

Compliments to Jamie who worked a blinder on Thursdayand without whose aid we would have been gooosed.

Tomorrow should be very busy with the rugby being on.

Home to get the feet up and have chosen a bottle of Tesco's Kumala " Eternal" Shiraz cabernet Sauvignon. However apart from typing I am phoning folks, Ross Grant who is now recovering from a perforated duodenal ulcer and doing OK. Big Ian, but he is out galavanting, and others, just to keep in touch.

Weekend to be busy with OSM and work so I will not be bored.

Our workers

Today I found myself becoming more and more upset by our great British "workforce". Started off as I tried to get out of Penicuik and found a second road closed with barriers, so I had to turn round and head down the main road through four sets of road works in two miles with more obviously about to take place as literally hundreds of cones were being put down near to Straiton. At about every set of works I passed there were hardly any workers so I am of the opinion that the firms getting the contracts do not have the manpower to do the work so they put a token force on show and just let the jobs drag on, much to the inconvenience of the long suffering motorist. Very much a case of "there is a hole in the road and we are looking into it".

Having made it to Musselburgh where Chick was having his usual bottle of Bud for breakfast, off via the car wash to Bookers where their food stocks were not good so I had to head up and across town to the Longstone Depot. En route passing this crowd of "workers" at Fountainbridge just watching the world go by. On the Slateford road, long queues caused by the gas board who are taking an eternity to get their work done, again no work being done and a gang of men sitting in vans, quite content to cause mayhem with their temporary traffic lights.

At Bookers met the new butcher, Colin, a friend of old who gave me a couple of nice steaks to sample, which I did later for dinner, but they were not as good as those we get for the Mercat.

Back to the Mercat, then back again through the gas roadworks and eventually made it home.

Out this evening to the RA at Gorebridge where I discovered why the road was closed this morning - the country road is being resurfaced !! why - when it was in fair condition and our main roads are full of potholes !! just does not make sense.

Good result for Scottish football this evening with Rangers beating the German team 2 - 0.

Sort of wasted journey

Went to Livingston where we wandered round most of the sports shops looking for a pair of "New Balance" trainers, and believe it or not - impossible. Considering the size of the place and the choice of shops not one stocked the type we were looking for , so it will have to be Dalkeith.

Gave Wetherspoons a miss - bad decision - and eventually stopped for a cup of tea at Greggs "patio restaurant" near the Asda end, where the place looked like the Council yard, staff were dressed like bin men and the tea was cool and made with recycled dish water - obviously not looking for any Egon Ronay stars.

Seriously cackled by the time we got home so it was feet up and sit at peace reading for an hour or so, which was a bit of a luxury - accompanied by a proper cup of tea!!

Gave Beth a call in Yorkshire where she is still searching for a new job and a millionaire toy boy, but if she can get the millionaire she will not bother with the job!!

Later - a very nice bottle of "McPhersons Full 15" red wine to accompany my dinner and even later my neighbour Mike, who had repaired the lighting in the garage for me - tempted me with a very pleasant smoky Island malt.

Dan the man got a bit of an ear bashing later on, but he is a good listener, thanks.

So now it is off to Bonnyrigg, Musselburgh and Edinburgh for the day with options on either Prestonpans or Gorebridge tonight.

International call centre

Wed a.m., and having had a good sleep - or a reasonable one I am feeling a bit brighter.

made it to 720 last night where there was a full house, all seats had bums on them + incuding the extra chairs brought in.

E mails this morning from both India and australia - good to know that all are well. Caitlin sent a long letter with updates, and from India my friend russell has eventually got back intouch having been looking after an ill friend for some weeks.

Going to try and have a day off - ( at the shops according to Ann) before we get sorted for the weekend.