Times are hard.

Times are hard, or so the saying goes,  however - just take a look at the total chaos in the Philippines caused by the recent typhoon there.  With winds of 170 mph,  it makes our stormy days here sound particularly balmy !!    The locals there, thousands killed, townships flattened, are doing their best to get on with life, struggling due to lack of resources, water , etc -  but International aid is on its way, provided they ca get out the airport.

However,  I suppose everything is relative to ones surroundings,  here we are struggling to come to terms with the fact that the major Electricity Companies are once again shafting us by hiking up the prices, literally cartelling,  but will the Government or the shareholders do anything about it - doubt so.
Great article about how much Mr Salmond's wind farms are costing us to erect and at times keep switched off -  under these circumstances, perhaps it would have been better to forget about blighting Donald Trump's seaside view.

On the home front - even more dramatic events are unfolding in Glasgow -  the council caused an outcry by threatening to remove the traffic cone from the Wellington Statue,   only 75000 complaints about that so they changed their mind -  then, someone managed to get up and take the cone off !!!!!

In Edinburgh,  Hibernian Football Club were "parading" Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas as their new managerial team today -   I thought that  horses were paraded -  not professional football managers.    They did a remarkable job at Inverness  Caley Thistle where they will be a great loss,  the Hibs fans will be hoping they can repeat this here in the City.      Just hope the players are hungry enough to learn -  and not be like the guy in the English Premier  Division who said he was too rich to have the hunger needed for the game   !!!   have said this all along, big wages do not necessarily guarantee good players.

Interesting article in tonight's Edinburgh Evening news by a journalist who is writing about the tram works and the many business who have become causalities of the tram project - and by the time the truth comes out, there will be a few more.

IPA No 1 Region , visit by German Officers.

Possibly an age thing,  too much to do , not enough hours and forgetting what happened last.  Trying to recollect -  Thursday worked,  stopped and then worked again till late.
Friday,  worked early  then off to the airport to meet a group of German Police Officers, all members of the IPA , over for the weekend to visit the City.   Had a wee run round the outskirts and then stopped off at the Mercat Grill where they sampled malt whisky and cask ale, and fed on soup and sandwiches.  Welcome to Schotland.

Onwards,  into the City for a Kodac stop at Hollyrood , The Palace and Parliament, up the Royal Mile and then dropped off at their hotel.

 

Evening, we met up again at the Mercat Bar, hosted by No. 1 Region IPA, (Edinburgh), for a Scottish themed dinner,  haggis piped in by John McIntosh,  who did his usual rendition of Robert Burns   "address to the haggis" - total incomprehensible to Scots and Germans alike !!

Thanks to Rod McNeil who had the group bedecked with  Haw Jimmy hats, and presented gifts from our No I region, and accepted an assortment of gifts from our visitors.

 

   Wee bit of  confusion around the work  "horseradish" on the menu being served with the venison,  they seemed to think we were actually eating horse!!!

So, home to bed, and for those who had been night shift on Thursday and gone straight to the airport for the flight - well deserved.

Saturday -  group had a tour of the Royal Mile,  before taking pies and beer at  the Masonic hall, Murrayfield, and then onwards to see Scotland defeat  Japan.

This evening it was a ghostly experience for all as Roddy took them down the Royal Mile on the Ghost hunt.

Just a pity the weather has turned cold - not much warm clothing can be packed in a hand baggage to keep the price down on an Easy Jet flight.

 

Meanwhile ,  somewhere in the sunnier north, our other intrepid group of travellers are enjoying themselves in the Fareo Islands  where it is allegedly warmer than here.

Over the Hills and far away

Not a bad morning,  so after another look at the bonfire,  I headed eastwards on the A1 and down to Duns, Berwickshire, on the steed of steel,.    Nice run down the A1, Police Scotland  Traffic Officers  were operating  near Torness Power Station, and the camera van was actually sitting beside a speed camera five miles further on,  bit more community fundraising.

In Duns,  Andy at Border Bikes gave the steed the once over,  sound as a pound, clean bill of health, before I headed homewards testing my new helmet (long overdue).

For a change I took the moor road from Duns to Gifford,  up past Whiteadder Reservoir,

 This would have been a great run in the middle of summer,  however, with damp roads, mud from fields, fallen leaves,  wandering sheep and the ever present pheasants and partridges -  it certainly raised the pulse !!!
Only other downside was having to clean the steed of mud before putting it to bed.

Into town for tea at the Mercat Bar,  bit of a treat,  nice Ribeye steak, portobello flat mushrooms and a glass of  Shiraz - perfect.

Not the Bonfire I wanted to see.

Last night, Bonfire night, and a bit of a surprise in store for me. 

Heading home from the Mercat Grill , saw a bonfire and stopped for a heat, joined a short time later by others,  but it was a bit different.

This was about ten tons of rubbish, dumped by fly tippers in a public car park, and either set on fire intentionally or by spontaneous combustion.  First on the scene were the Police  followed by the fire service, who had more than enough to do on such a busy night -  but as trees and fencing had caught alight it was necessary to control the blaze.   This "rubbish" consisted of masses of plastic , lots and lots of carpets and carpet tiles, ladies and children's clothing - tiny shoes,   which looked like the contents of hotel clearance or something similar.       Obviously contractors were paid to clear away this rubbish  but chose to dump it rather than pay for landfill fees.

So,   this morning , this was the sight which greeted us,  the fire had burst back into life early on and the fire service had to return to the scene.
The rubbish was dumped there about two weeks ago, and despite a number of contacts the cleansing people had not manged to either remove it, or try and trace the culprits.    It would appear that local authority priorities are changing !!!!

Sunshine on the Honest Toun

What a lovely morning today, despite the hard frost and having to scrape the windscreen.

Off to Bookers and stopped off for a look at a small statue I had never noticed before on the promenade near to the harbour at Musselburgh,  nice little statue depicting the fisherfolks, just a pity it was sandstone as it was already showings signs of weathering.

It was a very still morning, not  breath of wind, ideal for Mr Salmond's wind farms dotted around the country,  just the dab, cold enough to need the heating on,  but not enough wind to fire up the generators - perfect.    Will not suit the many illegals, en route by sea, becalmed in the middle of the North Sea,  who, incidentally will not have to warry about being run down by the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers - only £3 billion over budget so far. However that will not effect the hundreds who already have their Five Euro , One way only,  bus tickets from Romania and Bulgaria.

 

 

Hopefully we have another nice tomorrow, having a (dare I say it - even under my breath), day off , so might try a run on the steed of steel down into the Borders.

 

Fireworks, music, Meetings and Recovery.

Must have been the lull between the storms,  yesterday morning the heavens opened and it looked like wellies were going to be the order of the day, even one of the customers arrived with his on-  wee frogs on each toe !!    But as the hours passed the skies cleared to reveal a nice day - ideal for our planned fireworks display.

So into the evening and a large crowd gathered at the Mercat Grill for what turned out to be  very spectacular fireworks display organised by RGB and thanks to the farmer who allowed our pyrotechnic boys access to his field.- This was followed by music in the Bar , supplied by the local folk group  "The Yard of Ale",  so all in all we had a busy and entertaining day at the Mercat.  Busy day, some new customers -    almost forgot that we had a surprise proposal there on Friday night when a young gent popped the question to his girlfriend much to the delight of the staff and customers.  Certainly a first for us at the Grill, but exciting,

Big change this morning, cool but bright which unexpectedly turned into a beautiful day.   I was up early  and off to rendezvous with Tom MacInally before we headed up to the half yearly Meeting of No 1 region IPA (International Police Association)  held at Castlebrae, Auchterarder, the Scottish Police Treatment Centre.  Spectacular drive up through Glendevon, by Gleneagles - magnificent in the morning sunlight with all the autumnal colours.

What a marvellous place,  opened in 1996 and since then has offered treatment and support to almost 20,000 ill or injured police officers.

However, to day, we had the conference room to use for our meeting, with Representatives from the various Scottish regions (pre Police Scotland) - now very much mixed up. Nice to see Tom Crozier, the National President  in attendance.
Good meeting - interesting ,  great to hear of all the work being done around the Country and of all the visits by overseas offices, and also of the activities by the Special Interest Groups.
Twenty nine local officers are heading for the Faeroe Islands this week, while we have thirteen German Officers coming to Edinburgh.

End of the meeting Tom and I headed southwards in Tom's open top BMW tourer, with my topee very much at risk!!!  benefiting from the bright sunshine, just about as good as an experience as the SMART cabriolet.

Missing days

Did not realise I had been off line for nearly a week.    In that time the strike and threatened closure at Grangemouth has been averted,   the UNITE union backed down  and the owners relented on a full shut down -  the man at the centre of the row resigned from the Union,   a week earlier and the whole fiasco would never have occurred.   But the Union are now defending the bullying tactics by their members.

Energy companies are having a ball running rings around the Government and the public, screwing the nation, cartelling and price fixing -  plenty to gain from folks suffering, financially and physically.  
Sounds a bit like the PubCo scandal which is still ongoing, price fixing and overcharging.

Two days ago I spoke with a friend who had just been made redundant, who loves their job, but is being axed due to cost cutting to please the Government.    Now we have the prospect of  the next batch of E 8 immigrants arriving in their droves soon, to form queues outside the DHS offices, claim their subsidised housing, benefits, medical care, and we know from past experiences that the gypsy element will certainly resort to form -
With child and adult obesity on the increase, a rising local population, and an influx of immigrants we might soon be standing shoulder to shoulder in fear of falling off our tiny island and into the North Sea or one of our surrounding waters -  I suppose one consolation being that by huddling together we will all be warm when the lights go out.   Easy to see why there are so many adverts on the radio advising us to prepare our homes and vehicles for the next big freeze.

Now that will have cheered you up no end,  about the same effect as Michael getting his come uppers on East Enders,  the jokes by Trick or treat kids  last night -   But  I can at least look forward to the fireworks display and music by the Yard of Ale tomorrow night at the Mercat Grill.

Weather has not been too bad, despite the rain, thunder, hailstones - which have not stopped me using the steed of steel this week.

Off to Auchterarder on Sunday for a regional meeting of the IPA, a day off for me !!!!