What are the sneaky polis up to in Musselburgh area.

Looks like Mr House has his troops psyched up to increase their solvency rate in East Lothian,  yesterday it was a traffic car outside Bookers nobbling folks as they headed out of Musselburgh - remember, one speeder is a solved crime, just the same as a housebreaker being caught !!!   Today, lord knows what was happening but we had three visits from a patrol car, and saw other Police vehicles in the area -   not a problem as we have nothing to hide.  Unlike the Nursery in Edinburgh where they found £65K worth of cannabis in the roof space of an old church in Morningside.

Have to apologise to Buttons, the poor wee soul is a girl, and not a boy as I had stated previously,  perhaps in disguise for the "secret shopper" trip.

Need to watch this space in future,  we have just reinstated / built a new fence at the rear of the Mercat Grill, which has now cut off the casual access route to the field which are used by local dog walkers and unlicensed motor cyclists.

Our politicians are taking part in the next Pinnochio debate on the TV,  who can tell the most porkies wins - what a bloody carry on,  I did not know who the Willie Rennie was,  the one I know was a plumber, and a bit wiser than the politician.

Had some cyclists in at the Mercat Grill today heading from Edinburgh to Haddington, on the old railway line track - time that Spokes folks made more use of the premises a toilet break and a cuppa, if not a substantial meal.

Smart car ground to a halt today in Ormiston, at the Hibs training ground, what a great facility,  RAC were not only on the ball, they were on site within thirty five minutes, had the car started and mobile again in a few minutes - jiggered starter motor.

Anyway, sun is due to shine tomorrow,  with no ice in the morning - had to scrape the windscreen today, so a day at home pottering out back.

The word is out, "Button" was a secret shopper !!!!!

Well, maybe not exactly, but he seems to have been taking to his pals who now want to come to the Mercat Grill for lunch in a couple of weeks,   not quite the jungle drums at work, looks like bow wow works just as well and as fast .  here is another shot of Button who was busy making friends while mum and chums were dining.

Not sure what he was thinking of but it looks kind of lip smacking.

Heading home today came across the newest set of road works on the A701 at Milton Bridge, which are going to cause chaos for another eight weeks.  Bad enough this afternoon at the quiet time with drives cutting up each other and near misses.  Delay times are looking at ten to fifteen minutes, so there are going to be many heated words.       Midlothian Council are certainly doing their best to P*** folks off on the run up to the election.

Lovely sunny day again, makes it all worthwhile.

Well, that's Easter over for another year, the traffic jams will calm down overnight, the tortoise people will park up their caravans and camper vans - back to work to tell how long the biggest queue was behind them.

More work being done at the Mercat Grill, every week a wee change takes place,   and today we had a visit by "Button", nine weeks old, out checking to see how things are going for the doggie weekend,

Beautiful "Pan European" arrived , ridden by Ian "Shakey" Stevens who at long last had popped in to see me for a blether and .  His bike is stunning, just a shame I did not get a photo of it,  next time maybe.  

Easter egg trail today at the mercat Grill, kids not only got eggs but gold medals.

Quiz trail, hunting hi and low, with eggs and chocolate as a reward.

Who were they looking for?,  lying relaxed in the Easter sunshine.

 

Well done Stevie for winning the Voice last night, lets hope he does better than his predecessors. Now all we need is Andy Murray winning today in Miami to make this a great start for the week before his wedding at Dunblane Cathedral next Saturday.Good result for Rangers today against Hearts, pity hearts have lost their good record, now we have to wait and see who makes it to the play offs, Hibs or Rangers.

 

Sorry I never made the run to Robin's House, Balloch, today,  but those who took part in the ride out guys handed over a cheque for £4000 and nearly as many Easter eggs, intact or not after a bike ride.

 

Big hi and thank you to the wonderful Claire, head chef, who produces such wonderful meals at the Mercat Grill

Big lookout for guys who are doing the rounds in East Lothian stealing dogs to be used in dog fighting events, using a white van (what's  new) - sick twats.



Missed out a night, engrossed in the third book in the trilogy.

Finished third of Peter Ritchie's books last night so I can now catch up on other things.  BUT I have to say that they are great stories and I hear that, because of the interest generated, Peter is going to write a fourth book.   Long way to catch up with Ian Rankine, but no reason why not.

TV really boring these days, far to much politics, so newspapers are full of pages of promises which are there to be either broken or not see the light of day - and we all know what politicians are in politics for - to feather their own nests and enjoy the ego trip.

Papers are currently giving Sir Stephen House, Chief Constable of Police Scotland a hard time so it looks as though he may not reapply for the post when his contract expires.  There once was a time when the Police operated with public support and senior officers were respected by the rank and file officers - sadly neither exists at the moment, so whoever takes over will have a hard job to get both the public and the service back on their side and boost morale.

Car back from the motor hospital, thank goodness, just nee to get the new bike home and in beside its stablemate.

Sparky Mark still heading downhill in the Himalayas, said he was watching an avalanche on the other side of the valley from his bedroom window - disturbed his antics with a local Yeti !!!!!

Easter weekend, confined to the barracks meantime,  but next week must try and venture forth once more, provided I take it easy.   Grill has been very busy, getting busier each week, just going to be interesting to see how the Pooch / doggie weekend on 23/24/25th works out.

Presently watching the final of "the Voice" on BBC TV,  four good acts, so fingers crossed. 

All this walking must be good for me- so much for no wheels.

You do not appreciate how useful the car is until you cannot use it,  currently away for a service and MOT so Mrs B is using the bus and I am walking up and down the street complete with back pack,  not very good for lots of messages from the shops but better for my health.   Lesson learned with this car,  being a motobility vehicle it had never been driven in anger, so to speak, end result, engine was all gunged up -  modern cars are meant to be driven.  Which begs the question, how much damage will be done to cars driving at 20mph to stick to Edinburgh's new speed limits.

Just dawned on me, Edinburgh City Council are pushing to increase the numbers of cyclists in the town, they had better put even more money aside to pay compensation for damages and injuries due to the tram tracks.    The Smart car suffers badly from potholes in the roads which are constantly popping the headlight bulbs, and even burst two front springs.

Not quite in the same walking  league as Sparky Mark who has since reached the high passes on his Himalayan trek and is now heading back "downhill" again - so far so good.

Spent yet another night in the chair, but this time I read till 5.45 a.m. before going back to bed - main reason being that I could not put down the book I was reading so kept going till I finished it !!  That was book two of Peter Ritchie's  Den Herber trilogy,   Shortest Day of the Year; The Red Sky in the Morning:  and tonight I start "Noble Cause".  Peter Ritchie was in the CID when I was at Dalkeith (long time ago) and has worked in some very interesting Departments since then and his books reflect on his experiences.

I see Andy Murray has now got 501 wins under his belt,   long way to go to catch up with Jimmy Conners.

Fair puggled now, after a walk to check out Tesco.

Nice wake up call from Mr Bolton in   Yorkshire,  checking up on me and to give the low down on his new bike, a BMW 1200RT,  very nice and a step up from his Honda Deauville, about the same jump as I am taking. (just a pity I am dehorsed for a few weeks)  but I am sure the exercise will do me good, although too much fresh air might kill me !!!

With back pack I set off, singing "Step we Gaily, here we go""  I set off for Tesco's to make a few purchases,  could have got the new 15 bus service which has just started running past the house,  but the walk, mainly downhill was good for me.
Tesco was very quiet, and I just wonder how many people are boycotting it after the incident down south recently where a Tesco manager refused to serve soldiers in uniform in case it upset is Muslim customers !!  And with Glencorse Barracks nearby here, I would not be surprised if they take their business elsewhere.
Young lady collapsed and was out cold at one of the check outs ( Tesco prices maybe !!!)  and all were awaiting an ambulance.

Front page article in this weeks Midlothian Advertisor  about demands by Midlothian Council Officials for a public enquiry into the handling of the miners strike here all those years ago since the papers were released under the thirty year rule.   I would suspect that the only people who can really remember what happened and when are those who were stirring it all up at the time and who were involved in the politics of the whole thing.    Having said that, one of the incidents etched firmly in the back of my mind was watching miners pickets peeing into plastic bottles which were then thrown into the Police lines. Being a local polis and very much involved with the colliery I knew two of them who were involved with the Union and who later became very involved in local and national politics. No idea if Midlothian intend to call for a public enquiry, where will they get the money for that when they cannot even afford to run a proper recycling service?

No wonder they call me "Victor".