So - the Egyptian Adventure begins - up, up and away

Friday morning, nice and early, sun not shining but it will be tonight !!

Had a very quiet day on Thursday, caught up with my correspondence, even heard from "Night Owl" in London who seems to have come up trumps, with some more work for me when I get back, but this time in Glasgow - join S B Associates and see the world .

Heading off to Edinburgh Airport soon where we will board a BMI flight to London T1 and meet with William and Sandra at T3. Hopefully we have enough time to use our airport lounge passes and relax for a while !! From there, it is a Star Alliance connection, on to an Egyptair flight to Cairo where we are due to stay till the 2nd before flying down to Luxor to join the "Viking III" boat for a weeks cruise down the River Nile. We believe that the Egyptair flight is alcohol free, with only soft drinks and alcohol free beer supplied - BUT they do allow you to consume your own , so we might be able to pop into the duty free in London - not that we have a problem,

Great excitement when we get back, Mrs. B. will be keen to get to the post where hopefully the arrival of her new "bus pass" will not have been delayed by the actions of the striking postal workers.
As far as the strike goes, I find it very strange - about two weeks ago my friend Declan at the Strand Palace Hotel sent me a letter which has not arrived yet, however, he sent me another on the 26th (during the so called strike) and it was here in a couple of days. BUT - on the other hand one of the so called managers at the City of Edinburgh Council was instructed ten days ago to send us a letter (important) to arrive before the 27th - STILL IN THE POST !!! Allegedly , so we add that to the growing list of "nails in the coffin" - for future.

Long and interesting day

Obviously had a long day on the road, made it to Runcorn, but with a delay at Glasgow as Bob D. had been out all night dealing with a serious crime in Edinburgh.

South to Runcorn, where I met Jill,the "hole in one" lady, so delighted to have managed this feat, got her badge, been there - terrific.

Heading homeward and despite what I say about the white van men , I think it is me who has earned another three points compliments of either Strathclyde's or Dumfries and Galloway's finest, all in the name of either road safety or the community income fund !!!

Today's photos are , firstly , the superb Jewell which I was presented with last night and also of my "Friday girls" who were in yesterday for lunch. The young blond lady, not from Essex, is heading off this weekend to live in Paris as a PA for her GM, I am not sure if she really knows what she is in for , speaks no French, and knows that there is a "Scottish pub" in Paris !!!!!!!!!! But is not quite sure how big Paris really is ?

On a different tack, but masonic - we go each year to Temple old kirk yard, Temple Village as part of the Knight's Templar's ceremonies as they had an encampment nearby associated with King David of Ballentradoch. This week in our local paper there was an article about the discovery of a mysterious carved stone found in a wall by builders who were working on a wall. the stone has carvings similar to Viking monuments in medieval graves and in Celtic carvings.

the stone is now being researched by staff from Historic Scotland.

A rushed week,

Morning - It is not not the case that i am getting lazy , just busy and running out of time with other things on my mind. As you will note it is just a little before dawn once again , and I am up and about to head off again , at relatively short notice down to Runcorn , and via Glasgow. No short cut this time as i will need to go back to Glasgow this afternoon.

Highlight of the past couple of days was the Installation last night at the laird o Cockpen RA , No.500, when I relinquished my jewels, and the door keys to young Dougie Neill, well done Douglas, some young blood to keep us old chaps in place - he with his wing man, Big Ian ,and Sparky mark in the 1st Soj. seat, and a new young un !! Grant of Photogenix by his side.

It was my privilege to receive my IPZ jewel from Douglas, but in this case it was very special, The jewel ws that previously owned by the late William Allan, who was MEZ during the period 1976 - 1977, and returned to the Chapter following his death last year. I was also able to get his apron and sash . Hopefully I will wear them with pride and never tarnish his memory.

There were a few of the well kent faces missing last night, two being Bill Annand and Andy McKeen, who along with No 1 Ian Fraser are out in Indai and Goa, and just to rub salt into the wounds, after their Installation duties in Mumbai are out in Goa. Never mind, I will be off to Egypt for a well deserved break with friends and family on Friday morning - now that the Installation os over and one with.

Need to go - the dreaded white van men are beckoning !!!

Ocean Terminal, the docks and my Doc - again

Sunday morning , weather was now well on the turn with Autumn here at long last , trees discarding their leaves by the barrow load. Wwe were up through Lowries Den later in the day and the "tunnel" / the canopy of leaves is deminishing every day , so now we have the skeletol branches of the trees and sight of the open sky - soon we will be back to an open sky.

With the change of clocks, now one hour back, it really was a long lie in , but up - and away to Bonnyrigg to set up the Temple for the Chapter Meeting of Tuesday nights forthcoming installation at The laird O'Cockpen Royal Arch 500.

On the way back up the roadI saw the shepherd at Pomathorn out on the quad bike with his his three dogs rounding up the sheep - what a life - dedicated - especially in this weather.

Headed into Ocean Terminal for yet another session with the Chinese doctor and his box of needles - he was really good today - felt a real surge of heat and energyin my back while the needles were in , plus a mega deep massage and the strange "cupping" afterwards.

Out in the docks there was a bit of action as a massive ore tanker , A&E , SE, Panama was being moved from its mooring by two tugs , one being the Fidra, a fire fighting tug - named after Fidra Island off North Berwick. I could not find any reference to the tanker on the internet based on all I could see on its bow and stern, strange.

Also in the inner harbour was the SEAWELL, a massive North Sea drilling support vessel.

Home to get rattled into a couple of letters in response to the "rubbish" we have intercepted from the "Council".

Sparky arrived for tea - and we had a real moan about the farce on the TV now known as the X Factor - it is really getting silly with good acts being voted off by the ever so silly public - who are voting for individuals rather than talent.

Damper on the night was a late message from Young Tam Findlay to let us know that his father had died earlier today - our thoughts and wishes are with you and the family.

Here we have, within a family, the classic - within two weeks , a new born baby and then a death - some may well say that within nature there is some form of natural equilibrium, however we all know that this is not true with the World's population forever on the increase.

Absolutely fantastic dinner night at the Mercat

Sunday night and have been so busy time has just flown by, with the result at we now have the highlights of a couple of days.

Worked Saturday morning and then home, quick snooze and all ready for a run into town with Sparky for the extraordinary wine and dinner night.
You will see that all the stops were pulled out and the twenty eight folks who attended had a fantastic meal, superb wines in excellent surroundings - for those who sadly were unable to attend because of other engagements - you missed a very memorable evening.

We had several visitors from Ireland, Nhiph, Charlene and their partners and friends, and also Daniel and his partner, Daniel gave a presentation on the various wines and made the night his treat as it was his birthday.

THE MENU

Introductory glass of Rene Barbierer Brut Cava.
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Seared Scallops with a beetroot and salsa sauce ;

Wine - Picpoul De Pinet , Beauvignac.
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White bean and Coconut soup;

Wine Terra Del Noce Pinot Grigio.
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Smoked Duck served with sun dried tomato polenta and lavender foam.

Wine - Stellar running Duck Organic Shiraz 2008.
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Apple sorbet
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Fillet of beef served with Pont Neuf potatoes and a dubonnet sauce.

Wine - Casa Lapostolle Cuvee Alaxandre Cabernet Souvignon 2006.
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Dark Chocolate mouse served with passion fruit sauce.

Wine Chapoutier Banyules - a lovely sweet desert red.
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Fine cheese platter - including Blue Shropshire; Vignotte; & Organic Cromal .
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All for £25 and including a complimentary glass of Drambui.

What more can one ask for ?

Our chefs for the night were excellent but unfortunately Claire was a wee bit shy so it was left to Andy and Chris to take a bow.

Our various guests were extremely complimentary, and rightly so.

To some, the Mercat Bar is a good place to eat - to others, who know better - it is a first class place to dine.

Still no rest for the wicked

Despite my previous comments, the lovely Sharon at the dentist's surgery was nice and gentle, gave my molars a good clean and polish and prescribed a new tooth paste to help stop my teeth being mega sensitive

it was then off westwards following the "three wise men" stopping off to deliver a nice wee bouquet of flowers to Sheena in Bathgate who is aging gracefully.

She did well recently during a trip to New York where her beloved husband treated her to a pair of Johnny Choos shoes .

So onwards westwards to the Audi Centre, Hillington, for the security exhibition. Must admit that is getting smaller each year, fewer exhibitors, many affected by the recession and similarly the numbers of visitors is falling. But despite this, there were some interesting stands, top of the range equipment, and I certainly found it worthwhile. Must try and get to the SSA Dinner on 23rd November even if I do have a previous engagement the next day.

So home, did a bit work, and then later in the evening headed off to the Mercat where I did my impression of Van Gough ; Turner ; or even McTaggart; painting / or freshening up the "loos" - so at 3 a.m. I gave up and headed home to bed.

Despite my best efforts I still had little sound sleep and was up early to get on with a couple of outstanding tasks, which I eventually manged to do - thank goodness.

Had a call to SAGA home insurance where I spoke with a charming and helpful young man who is going to do a little research for me - makes a change to get some good customer service.

Watching an example of Rogue Traders on Watchdog, the Rogue of the week, a so called tree surgeon who was charging the equivalent of £1600 an hour for cutting down small trees. he could not even get three small tree stumps out - which took the TV boys 90 minutes - just think what I could have charged our William for spending three days digging out his tree stump last year,

Andy Mckeen ; Bill Annand are away to India now with No 1 ( MEZ 1st Principal of the SGRAC of S) Ian Fraser to install the new Grand Superintendent of India and Ceylon in Mumbai - just unfortunate that there is an overlap with my forthcoming holiday week Friday other wise I would have been back there with them. Never mind, I have a good holiday to look forward to.

So, the choice was to watch the rather bigoted leader of the BNP on the BBC in Question Time , or see some gifted artists at work in the Master Chef, no competition - the good food win every time = especially accompanied by a glass of red wine.

Early one morning - before the sun was rising.

Nice and quiet here at the moment, apart from the noise of the falling rain on the conservatory roof. However at this time of the morning, after yet another bad night it is very soothing.

I have just checked out the "tracker" on this blog and I see that the "Michael Hexel" lot seem to be still nice and active and stirring up the populace with their scam e mail.

Tuesday was relatively quiet apart from the receipt of yet another letter from our bungling incompetents at Edinburgh City Council, which had the effect of "lighting the blue touch paper" once more and sending us back into our regular low orbit !!! It looks as though it could go on forever - the outcome was that I got all fired up and took the opportunity to update the ever expanding file of documents we hold - bearing in mind that "what goes round - comes round".

Collected Dr Disaster @ Captain Calamity and we headed off to Bonnyrigg for a meeting at Lodge Dalhousie 720. Good attendance of about 107 brothers but this did include a big deputation of 33 from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Mid and East Lothian. The election of office bearers took place so Craig Gordon, the last of the long line of progressive office bearers will be going to the Chair on 21st November. I even discovered that i am going back to my old office of Assistant Treasurer once again - following a year out.

The Scottish Security Association ( SSA) have a "Scotsec" security Exhibition at the Audi Centre Hillington, Glasgow, which I really should try to attend later today. Depends on how my friendly dentist treats me this morning. The exhibitions are usually very good, run by a small dedicated core of members on the Committee, an with an choice of topical seminars well worth a visit.

The Mercat Bar is having another of their excellent "Wine Dinners" on Saturday night (24th) so I have that to look forward to - four courses and some nice wines - should be able to let what little hair I have down once again.