Taking five while the Olympics are on

Snow and ice on the TV and pretty chilly here.  Team GB not doing so well as expected in the Olympics,   Bit of a big upset with Elise Christie basically crashing out in all her races.  But great respect for the skiers, snowboarders etc for their either sheer lunacy or bravery in their respective events.    Curling very much like chess, but very skilful indeed,  team GB ladies on the ice later today.
Busy Masonic week,  five days and out five nights, OES, Blues, RA.   Just no time to get bored.  been to Edinburgh, Bonnyrigg , Tranent Andy tonight  Loanhead,   Join the Masons Andy see the world 🌎.
Must have a rant again about the state of the roads , bloody shocking, and at every turn there are roadworks as the Council appears to be using up budgets before the end of the financial year.   Got hot under the collar yesterday with these idle buggers sitting in their vans at the roadworks, controlling the traffic lights as part of the health and safety guidelines,   One sleepin*, one on his mobile and queues in all directions. A disgrace, I wonder how much the tax payers are paying for these so called safety features , probably introduced by some baldy headed bureaucrat with nothing better to do with their time, and being paid to be stupid.

I gather that Donald Fuck, great white leader of the USA is still on the fence with regard to the gun crime,  he will be waiting for the next world disaster to deflect from his domestic problems.

No point in going into Edinburgh before long, will need a bank loan to pay the parking charges.  I Am sure the out of town shopping centres are delighted that the local population are being kept out the town which will soon be the reserve of tourists, beggars and Eastern European pickpockets.

Well done Lizzy, a Gold at long last

Well,  young Lizzy lived up to her reputation and ratings, a Gold medal for being a scary lady on a tea tray.   Another disappointment for our speed skater, Elise, who crashed out again during her heat,  but we have another bronze from an unexpected skier.  USA  eat your heart out !!!! ( just getting carried away).

Had a good day out on the Time machine as I had to go to Duns where Andy found a totty wee nail in my rear tyre so managed to fix the slow puncture and then serviced my brakes which were looking kind of rough.    Gave me the chance to have a bit polish at the Steed of Steel while Andy was working on the Time Machine.     Just a bit cold on the road,  should have ignored the sunshine and dressed like an Eskimo !!  Still lots of snow lying at the side of the roads,  and plenty of working speed cameras on the roads from Duns to Dalkeith.

Breakfast bash tomorrow !! ,  12 md at the Bowling club for a fundraiser for the Penicuik Hunter and lass committee.

School shootings, Olympics and an away day

Just keeping in touch,  but a real assortment of things happening.     In the USA yet another multiple shooting in a school with seventeen deaths, how sad,   but despite all the hoo ha, very little is being done in a country which averages eighty gun related deaths A DAY,    More people killed domestically than in the several wars the USA have been involved in over the past ten years.

In South Korea the Winter Olympics are well under way,  an amazing winter sports complex, and many extremely talented athletes taking past.   So far the UK not doing all that well apart from being able to hurtle downhill in an icy tunnel on a tea tray !!!  Must say that the ice skating is excellent, kind of puts me off watching the Sunday night Dancing on Ice  TV programme,  It was interesting to hear that Christopher Dean choreographed the winning ice dance couple.

Managed a night away,  just a bit difficult to find some free time at this time of the year, so Mrs B and self headed off to the New Lanark Hotel , and just did nothing for  24 hours, thanks to Claire and Annie for the treat.

Had a call from Peter Ritchie to let me know that his next book is being launched by his new publishers on Wednesday 21st in Edinburgh.  That is number two of his first four,  all with variations from the original writings.

Gorebridge Dundas Lodge, 110 years and still going strong.

Made it to the meeting at Gorebridge Dundas 1329 Lodge  last night, turned out to be a celebration of their 110th anniversary .  Good turn out with big deputations from Dalhousie 720 and No 10  Dalkeith,   Very good degree worked by the Honorary Members,  nearly faultless and well worth being there. Well done RWM Simon Fairley for your efforts.

Weather is not so good, just a tide too chilly to get the motor bike out,   ended up at the Gyle Centre this morning then back at the Mercat Grill this afternoon where they had been really busy so new supply of deserts was required.

Last night the Scottish Parliament backed the next stage of a bill to control the powers the big brewers had over their leased premises,  sadly not supported by the majority of the  SNP  members.

German Beer Festival at the Mercat Grill tomorrow night,  good selection of beers and food to be sampled.

Customer service costs nothing, but the lack of it !!

putting pen to paper so to speak, as steam coming from my ears following a trip to Cameron Toll Shopping Centre this morning.    I was in to have a bit of engraving done by my friends in Timpson’s shoe repair shop.  On my way in popped in to Clark’s shoe shop where a nice young lady(Lynsey) greeted me, however being set for other task I left.  Saw Kevin at Timpson’s and organised his wee task for me, to be collected next week.    On my way back through the store, spotted a Trespass Outdoor shop, and having made a purchase last week in their shop in Livingston I decided to go in and make a repeat purchase,  oops,  not to be the case as the two staff were far too busy talking to each other so both myself and a lady customer were ignored.  I ended up walking out and they lost a possible £60 sale.  from there I looked into Shoe Zone, that is all I did as the two zombies on duty stared right through me,   Left there and went back into Clark’s where a second assistant (Nicola) greeted me. No fuss, no hassle and I made a purchase, leaving the shop a happy bunny with a new pair of shiny shoes.   Three excellent staff who were a credit to the Company,  just proves that good customer service does count.

Change of subject,  lots of frustrated motorists about to be stuck in two sets of road works starting on the A701 next week,   One set for three weeks at Ploverhall, by Bilston, and the other for a week at Captains Road.  Not a journey to look forward to for a while.   Our planners have once again shown how bad they are.  Certainly will not be using that route or shopping in Edinburgh if I can avoid it for a while.

German Beer festival at the Mercat Grill this Saturday night, food and entertainment all organised.

Busy Masonic week,  Star, Conclave, Lodge, Chapter and another Lodge so far !!!!

Checked out the Steed at Border Bikes

yet another week passed without a scribble, just not like me.  But despite previous adverse comments, today I was asked when my next epistle would be on line.
So,  start simply,  because I had to do my Costco run this morning en route to the Mercat Grill I was in the car and decided that time being against me I did not have time to go home for the Time Machine. I then headed east along the A1 and down to Duns to play catch up with Andy Mimms at Border Bikes.  He has been caring for the Steed of Steel for me and now after 26 years the petrol tank has kind of sprung a leak, so a new one / second hand one is now required ASAP so I can back on my favourite pair of wheels.   After my blether and cuppa I stoped off at the Black Bull Hotel, Duns , fo4 a quick hello with the Boss, who is a member of our E&SESALTA group, wee chance to meet personally rather than the phone calls.
Back onto the A1 where it became a case of “any speed you can do I can go faster”, I was certainly going fast enough, next someone would race by me, and within  minutes someone else going even faster would pass both of us. Quite surprising the speeds some people travel at, AND are obviously watching their mirrors as they kept slowing down to check out the following faster cars,  “just in case”.
Watching TV over the lap top, and Mrs B commenting about the overpaid presenters, soaking up our license fees.   Just because they are on the tele does not automatically mean that they have sensible opinions or comments.    In their defence most of them earn less than some of our illiterate prima dona football types who can hardly sting a sentence together.
Masonic season underway so being a member of several different organisations mean s that I spend a lot of time out at the moment. Blues, RA, KT,s, Conclave , Squaremen, Corkies, and OES.    New 1st Principle of the Royal Arch being installed next month due to the retirement of Iain Fraser on Ill health.
Things looking up at the Mercat Grill, excellent Australian themed wine night last week,  next up a German Style beer festival on 10th Feb with funds going to Rotary International.
Good luck to Scotland in th Six Nations Rugby which kicks off tomorrow.

A kind of poke in the ribs.

Couple of days ago I was asked why my blogs had deteriorated over past year and I had to be honest and say tha5 I had been put off by a “friend” who was more than derogatory about mine.   However, while I’ll i obviously had little to write about as I was not leading my usually active life, and in addition , I do not know how to get pics from this I pad into the blog so have to remember to take a camera with me and use another lap top to do the blog, and that one appears to have a virus.

Anyway, snow here has me suffering from PMS.  [parked motorcycle syndrome),  creeping into the garage and checking that the optimiser is still keeping the battery live.

Masonic season well underway,  so this week it was the OES,   Tuesday, missed the lodge due to a snowstorm, Wednesday, the OES was cancelled due to the adverse weather again, Thursday , made it to Castlepark RA at Bonnyrigg,  bit chilly, but good meeting.   Today was at a District event for the OES so congratulations to Martha and John Black for their appointments as WM and WP of the Eastern District OES.

Back to the snow again,  just a bit annoying when I get home and have no parking* space because the folks up the hill behind us feel they hadve a greater need of getting to work than we do, so , in fear of being snowed in they discover that they have a pair of legs capable of reaching their car if it is on apiece of the famous black strip.

Mercat Grill has a couple of great nights coming up,   27 th January an Australian themed wine night, food and drink at £25 if precooked,  and on the 10th Feb a German beer night (£15) food and beers as a fundraiser for the Rotary International.

Nice wee touch tonight by Ian Stevens one of my old Department, who put up a pic of a Vandalbuster ruler, which we designed and produces way back in 1988 at the start of our successful Schoolwatch programme.  in those days I had a marvellous proactive team of guys working with me.

IPA (International Police Association) still active,  next regional meeting for me is in Stirling on 11th February,  work being done now for Friendship Week in 2019.

The E&SESALTA  Now has a countdown on the trip to South Africa in January 2019, a week of visiting wineyards, with the option of an add on holiday.