Wet Sunday

Sunday - quite a day , started of early with these three ladies from Ohio, USA, Aimee, Caitie and Emily, fresh off the plane -or should I say four planes to get here via Washington, New york, and dublin - a long haul and then the hotel would not let them in till 2 p.m.

We were quiet till about 11 a.m. then all hell broke loose, not enough seats to cope with the numbers who arrived, or hands to get the food out quick enough , then it just went quiet again after 1 .30 p.m.

Headed home listening to the andy Murray match on the radio, and saw the final few games before he won the match - very good, well done, he is certainly improving.
Tried to sleep but the heavans opened with thunder, lightning and torrential rain , so I could not sleep for the racket off the roof of the conservatory.

Sparky Mark arrived like a drowned rat , having been caught out on the hill at Portmore, so he was fed, watered and and we sat and watched a movie - quiet evening.

Now set for a very busy week, and with a back that is giving me gyp this morning - Oh Well !!!

Plenty excitement today

Fun and games today, started off nice and clear with an early morning run into town on the motorbike, however a young deer jumped from a field onto the road in front of me - a near miss with the old ticker taking a bit of pounding.

Went via Brash the Butchers, thinking I was doing well, however, Claire had not placed an order so it was a wasted trip, other than having the pleasure of a chat to John, the Boss.

We were steady this morning, one customer came back in, suffering badly from last night but he had lost his car keys somewhere last night - BUT it is a company car and no one has a second or spare key, and VW say it will take a week to ten days to get a replacement, BUT he lives in Liverpool, so his car will need to be left up here at his hotel till the key is obtained. Lesson there for the learning - always have a spare key somewhere, and never take the keys out when on the booze !!

Had some boys in early his morning to see the New Zealand All Blacks, who failed in their quest to beat France, but the British Lions did a bit better this afternoon, with young Andrew Aitken, nephew of Jim Aitken ( former Grand Slam Captain), in along with Stuart Tait for his stag. Stuart's dad, tam tait, was a PC with me for years, a dog handler in the Lothian and Borders Police, but now retired, a "virgin" visitor to the Mercat.

When i first met "Big Tam" he was an apprentice electrician and also did the papers for george Milligan who had a shop in West Street, Peniuik, way back in 1966. A couple of years later I was chasing a housebreaker and Tam was on the street so I called for him to stop the bloke, he tripped him up , and the bloke was knocked out as he fell - Tam was then told to sit on him till I got back - he thought he had killed the bloke. He later joined the Police and eventually retired a couple of years early on ill health.

Next, great excitement at the bar when four fire engines arrived to a false call to one of the flats along the street - chaos , total chaos, as the lead engine stopped in the middle of the road at the roadworks and nothing could get past - so the traffic backed up along through Haymarket and Dalry. Fortunately the call was a false one with good intent, Lothiand and Borders Fire Rescue Service were right on the ball, good to see them doing their best. Eventually the lead engine was moved into the side of the road and traffic started to move again which did not take long to clear.

New menu about to be introduced at the Bar, that will be fun till we get in to the way of it - mussels, T bone steaks, Cranachan, etc. new names to think about.

Headed home, watching a big black cloud in the sky, stopped off at The Bush where there was a B B Q under way, but they were sensible and had one of the sheds opened up so they could dive under cover. More than could be said for me - the heavens opened up and for the last two miles I rode in a horrendous downpour - my jacket was fine but my waterproof trousers failed miserably, so I was soaked through and waddling when I got off the bike.

We watched Andy Murray make it through to the finals at Queens Club tomorrow, and once again the sun was shining down south, even William and Sandra ( on the phone now) have had a lovely day out in the garden and looking forward to meeting up with us in Dublin next month. Today is the Anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta at Runnymead, near Eagham, so William missed all the celebrations as he was working.

I read about a bloke in the USA who set fire to and destroyed an aeroplane, he was syphoning fuel from one of its tanks, thought there was a blockage on the hose so struck a match to see what was happening - big bang !! no plane !! silly boy!!.

Might even try one of birhday wines shortly>

Kind of subdued now

What a long day, took me all my time to get things done, so last night it seemed a good idea, but today not so. However, we were actually very busy, lots of regulars and once again many more visitors. Nice group of young ladies arrived at 11 a.m. and the group eventually swelled to twelve, who had "drinkies" then lunch. They had found the Bar on the Internet, thought it looked good, enjoyed themselves and we will have them back for breakfast over the weekend - possibly a "Kodak moment " later on.

Made it home safe and sound and nearly dozed off sitting in the garden, but it clouded over for a bit driving me indoors to do some work. Lots on next week, between the Bar I have another job in Edinburgh on Monday, Dundee on Tuesday ; Birmingham and Runcorn on Wednesday ( Thursday to recover - then a "gentleman's dinner in the evening ) and the it all starts again.

I see young Andy Murray is playing in the semi-finals at Queens Club, tomorrow afternoon, good luck once again.

We were just talking about Archie, Tracey,and Camryn as they are now down at Berwick Holiday Park for the weekend as a treat for Camryn's birthday, when the bold Archie gave us a call. They are settling in , and as we spoke Alan and Carol arrived to catch Archie with no trousers on !!! (pole dancers are all the same). Wee Camryn had a blether, thanked us for her presents. She seems to be good at doing her sums so she might get a job doing her dad's books !!

Early night needed !!

Happy Birthday to me

Thursday was a memorable day - 21 again, and again, Up early and we left the house at 8 .20 a.m. for the town with Mrs. B., taking the big red bus.

First stop was the Rutland Bar where we had heard that they did a good breakfast, however, we were very disappointed, started badly with a dirty cup, then the breakfast itself was not too clever, rubbery poached eggs, burnt bacon, and very spicy haggis - not being biased we produce a better breakfast at The Mercat and for a more reasonable price - just not sure how the bloke managed to write such a glowing report in the paper a couple of weeks ago.

Next stop, Fraser's Store to see the Smelly Girls, (Gillian and Kelly) even had a quickie head massage at Aveda.

Princes Street is a proper mess now as they go into Phase 2 of the Tramworks gets under way with the new tracks going down - they are not going down as deeply as I was led to believe, all high tech stuff but they still need two menn with a wooden plank to flatten the concrete base plate.

Into the Standing Order to see Archie the pole dancer, and take in a wee present for Camryn who is six today. Spent a very pleasant hour or so with Archie and a bottle of red wine while Mrs. B. went browsing the shops in George Street. Back to The mercat, grabbed a glass of wine ( f0r a change) then took it into the Turkish barbers for a wet shave and a trim before my massage.
Kate, over the road at Imarni's did a superb job with the hot stones, very relaxing and therapeutic - so eighty minutes later I was feeling great.
Back to the bar where Claire, Jamie, Andy, Alana, Paddy and Iona treated me to a lovely steak and even more red wine - just "parfait" as Pa Larkin would have said.

No sign of RGB or Sir Christpher however they called to summon us along to the Voodoo Lounge where the members of the wine club were having a wee session - so driven by Go Jo we made it along there and from then on the night was just a bit of a blur.

5 a.m this morning, the last thing I needed was to get up and head for work - BUT - I did .

An excellent day, good fun and memorable.

Departed Companions

Sad news of the deaths of two R A companions this week.
Locally , Freddie Wilkie from Prestonpans , and further afield, Pervez Minstry, the Provincial Grand Superintended of India,who I went to see being reinstalled in November 2007.
R I P.

Got one foal, the other was snoozing

Thought the day was all sorted when I wrote this morning , however an appointment I had made last week and was working around was cancelled at 20 minutes notice - Dash !!! or words to that effect. Really knocked me off my stride a bit - however, as they say in the song " picked myself up - dusted myself down and started all over again".

Headed out for some fresh air and tried to get the photos of the horses and foals, but the foals were sleeping on the first trip, then on the second managed the wee brown one from a distance - while the lazy little black one hardly moved.

Wandered around The Bush , some bad fly tipping going on - do these people not realise what a blight this is on out countryside, and the cost to others to clean it up.

Took myself off for a swim , pool was fairly quiet so I worked off my bad mood with a good thirty minute swim and a good broiling in the steam room - even my my next door neighbour ( but one) who was chilling out during her day off.

Young Kirsen from the Sportsmans was on for a blether, place is doing all right , apart from her Colin having had a bad fall and broken his shoulder - busy as blazes for the Ladies day Race Meeting at the weekend, but she was surpried that the ladies were all drinking Corona Beer instead of wine !!

Getting sorted for a Runcorn Run next week, probably Wednesday , but have to detour via Birmingham first !! so that will be a seven hundred odd mile round trip - better that the near nine hundred which was originally on the cards. Just means that I will miss my bacon butty at Runcorn for breakfast - but I will find out what their lunches are like.

Mrs. B . had a "wee job" for me to do - to clean the oven of all the burnt on stuff - took ages, but at least she was pleased with the end result.

Andy Murray started his competition at Queens well by winning his first game three sets straight - hopefully he will do OK on his lead up to Wimbleton.

I was watching the TV and the news about the Drugs Squad officers in London who have been suspended for sticking some drug dealers head in a bucket of water !!! So bloody what - what rights do they offer the poor souls who they sell their drugs and crap to ? It would appear that the criminals did not complain - it came from other Police officers who were being enquired into regarding a theft - which makes a difference from the time I recovered a so called stolen motor bike all wrapped up., oiled, etc- reported by a London police Officer - but then I learned that he had put it where we found it and claimed off his insurance - when we passed it on to the Met they did nothing and he eventully manged to get out early on ill health with a full pension. He was a total shit who I had dealings with even before he joined the Police, BUT - his father was Polis ( bent) who had friends - enough said as it was a long time ago and things have changed greatly. First we have prisons which are full of poor innocents - not a guilty man there ; then we have a Parliament - full of criminals who have written the laws so that they are doing nothing wrong because it is within the rules; then we have Policeman whose hands and feet are tied left right and centre , and their clients who can committ all sorts of crimes against the community and then sit like the proverbial three wise monkeys supported by bent lawyers who have no morals at all. I had a fellow Scout leader who was studying law at Aberdeen University and he packed in his course after his first couple of visits to see lawyers in action at the Court - he said that they had no morals at all - he is now a very happy and successful teacher in Edinburgh. Another friend of mine is now a Sheriff sitting on the local circuit, when he was a youg lawyer we used to call him out with our detentions, he always got them to tell the truth, and then when they pled guilty would put in some ecxellent "pleas in mitigation" , but he never ever knowingly defended anyone who was lying/ or guilty.

More to write later.

Bit cloudy today with rain in the offing

Well, Tuesday I managed to get sorted out for another job down south, I think. It was off then down to Bonnyrigg to see Grant @ Photgenix who was working hard, looking well and recoving from his bad elbow - wee chat and then off to Costco.

I was supposed to be there to buy a cake and a shoe rack and came out with a full trolley - a new Karcher power washer ( early birthday present for me). During my browsing I met Mrs McKay ( 1st ) - Jeanette, who I have not seen for years and her daughter Louise with the Grandchildren - Jeanette had no idea who I was but Louise did as I must have met her and her dad more recently.

Headed home via the Bush, all quiet there, and then went looking for a new foal which I have spied in a field off the A 702, but it was too far away to get a picture , might try later today.

Home and built up my Karcher washer, and the shoe rack, so that was a bit of occupational therapy for me - before the bowls. Enough said, that was a waste of time, I should have stayed at home - played terrible, but then, with no practice, what can I expect. My excuse was a sore back, which will need sorted in due course.

I see that it is Prince Philip's 88th Birthday today, well done Sir, and that he is presenting Gold Award Certificates at Buckingham Palace. I remember receiving my Gold Award Certificate ( a very long time agao) in the Great Hall at Edinburgh Castle, it was a great experience. Subsequently, over the years, I was present on a number of occasions in Holyrood Palace where he was presenting awards there.

Looks like Gordon Ramsay is causing a great stir in Oz, getting back as good as he has given - the way they are taking it , they might well want to put him on a tall ship and send him home - storm in a tea cup / soup bowl. I wonder how many of his critics are able to run a marathon and do the fund raising he does.

Checking the Tracker, I see a hit from the USA looking for Pentland Copper Craft, business of Mr McKay, formerly in the Old Police Station, West Street, Penicuik - which brings back memories - and having said that i missed Graeme McKay's birthday last week - he has always been older than me!! ( by ten days).

I made a mistake with the wine tasting night , it is the 25th - so hopefully Lawrence and Go Jo have got their diaries sorted.