A walk in the City

Must be Wednesday, and it has been raining (again) , worse to come, forecasters are suggesting 30C plus in the South east of England, while we on the other hand we will get more rain - but no hose pipe ban !!

Edinburgh trams ground to a halt again, this time caused by five baloons on a piece of string ( not City Councillors) which became entangled in the overhead wires - so £740million project stopped for a couple of hours while the power was switched off -   need to give the drivers a pair of wellies and a fishing rod with a stanley blade taped on the end !!!

Beggars out in the city - not sure why, story about one immigrant who reckons he will be able to send about £40k home to his dependents -    we are certainly mugs,  money in the bank gains no interest;  means we are not entitled to any benefits, so perhaps we should just fritter any income away then joing the benefits queue.   Felt a bit like that this morning at the chemists when I had to stand in line with  the Methadone crew.

Had a wee wander through the town this morning and for the first time saw the plaque in the Grassmarket where a German Zephlinn dropped a bomb in 1916 - and took time to read the boards outside the pubs relating tales of Biddy Milligan and The Last Drop where the public hangings took place, probably not as vicious as the actions of the current middle eastern terrorist groups.

Fortunately we live in a society steeped in history, a beautiful city which attracts visitors from around the world and has raised comment from many over the years.

He would certainly get a surprise at the changes now, as would John Muir, our East Lothian explorer who is also renouned around the World.

 

An IPA motor cycle section weekend in Wales

Winding the clock back to last weekend and I found a few photos of my trip to Wrexham with the IPA British Motorcycle section.

Here we are heading off on Saturday morning from the Premieto one of their r Inn, Town Centre , Wrexham,
then it was off into the wilds of Welsh Wales .   We did stop, as I reported earlier, at the Ponderossa on top of the Horseshoe Pass , where I spooted this unusual replical of a Ural Combination.

The car park was very busy, although the Police did tell us that there were a lot less than usual,

Really strange how we had no problems with our bikes in Europe, leaving them unattended, not a problem,  yet in Edinburgh we had three knicked by the local yobs.  In Italy  Mr McIinally and the guys took the micky out of me when I was seated in the shade.  Here we had our own security man who made it his business  to keep an eye on the  bikes , cheers Mr Foulton.

 

 

 

A walk in the high park.

Home after my trip to the shops,  but I did stop for a super bowl of mussels in white wine at the Mercat Grill, excellent - and for me a change from my usual choices.

Changed and out for a walk, before the rain came on -  same route as yesterday, into the Penicuik Estate, and over the hidden bridge

Had a quick look into the Lost Garden but was out for a walk, not a "gander",

In the days of Baby Blaikie, on the Tv you had the choice of windows on children's TV, square, round, etc,  but for me it was a gate and in the distance, a sight well worth restoring which must have been amazing years ago,

.  Next time I should be into the garden for a closer look.

Many moons ago when Penicuik House was occupied by Sir john and lady Elizabeth Clerk, there was literally unlimited access to the esate , roads and paths, however, the current occupant, Robert Clerk, has imposed a few restrictions which do give his family a bit of privacy,  so my only views of teh new Penicuik House were somewhat limited.

Nice wak, nice day,  but I am having a serious look at using walking poles and having a bash at Nordik walking - much more effort need

ed but more beneficial.

Not a room with, but a car park with a view.

Managed a bit of a day off today, down to the pub with a new consignment of meringues and baking, then home , changed and off to Ocean Terminal.

Rooftop views, on a still clear day of the harbour ,

 Beats doing the window frames at the pub, but not quite as bad as painting the forth Road Bridge.

Another of Tesco's Daily diddles.

Was in Tesco's today when Grant called and he asked if I had spotted any of thier "daily diddles" -  not much time but I was a bit intrigued  to see the pricing of their semi skimmed milk.

One litre, 90p ;  box of six one litre cartons - £2.50,  BUT a box of six 500ml cartons was £2.95p !!!!! and the box with twelve one ltr cartons was £10.80p !!!!!     I wonder who works these out or how stupid they think we are.  Perhaps they overprice the 500ml cartons as they will be a popular size for lunch boxes.

You need to have your wits about you, the Brie ; yogurts; etc need looking at  and the sauce and salad creams are a real trap.

The Wonders of nature.

What a superb day today,  with weather like this who needs to travel,  |BUT, with rain forecast tomorrow we will be back to normal.

Just thinking that nature is wonderfull,  these flowers are in my front garden, and change inappearance depending on the weather, so here are today's changes.

This evening headed off for a walk to maintain my diary, so huffed and puffed up the hill and on a whim decided to take a walk into Penicuik Estate, but being adventurous took a side track through the field. Now, having lived here for forty odd years and within a mile of the place I found a bridge over the glen which I had no idea existed.  Wrought iron decorated railings and there were two plaques in memory of locals who appear to have died in the area.  A short distance away I found "Penicuik's Lost Garden"  which I always thought to be in another part of the estate.    There is a community group who have taken on the Lost Garden as a long term project, it must have been an incredible place pre war when it was in its haeyday.  Gives me an excuse to walk back up there again.

Early Bird calling

Still not enough hours in the day and have been up since 4 a.m. this morning. Hopefully we will have another warm sunny day like yesterday, no point in trailing the countryside when we can relax in the sun in our own back garden.

Back in time , our weekend in Wales finished off with another run out around the Welsh and English countryside along the border  and then back up over the Horse Shoe Pass.  The Ponderosa Restaurant was busy and there were about one hundred bikes in the car park.  The local Traffic Police were out in force following yet another motor cycle fatality in the area the previous day.

 They had the radar gun out to catch some of the real speed merchants.  Headed down the Pass, but was surprised to discover that it was really only one bend, which was pretty tame compared to the Dolomites.

Evening meal, bit of an improvement as we ended up in the local Wetherspoons pub, decent bottle of wine and a Sunday roast.

Monday morning, headed north, homewards and managed to avoid the many "scattered showers" which were dotted about the country.   Five hours, sore backside due  to the burst air cushion, never mind it has since been replaced, excellent service by the distributor.

Busy as ever at the Mercat Grill, big clear out so as usual yours truly is being kept on the hop.

 

Not a good advert for Edinburgh when three German tourists had their motorcycles stolen from Grove Street by some of the Pilton yobs, who were spotted on Facebook  with one of the bikes.  No wonder that my companion over the weekend , Graham, would not go and leave the bikes unattended - but a poor advert here for Edinburgh.

 

As predicted, trams have been halted twice so far due to traffic incidents in Princes Street, no way to detour a large tram full of pensioners on a free jolly to the airport with their bus pass.. 

 

World Cup football has been not too bad, although the Holland v  Argentina game was kind of boring,  unlike the Germany v Brazil game which showed how the game should be played.  No diving, no heroics, lots of skill, to prima donna players, just good old fashioned skill - hope they repeat their tactics in the Final.

 

Finished the cardio rehab programme,  only have a final assessment to complete next week.