My Next Girlfriend in Edinburgh with Royal Bank of Scotland

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Thursday, this was going to tbe the Festival day for us.

Caught the airport bus into work, it was raining and horrible.  Not much to report on during the day.  Left work promptly at 5.10, back to the airport on the bus changed into my jeans and tee shirt, and then back into the city.  It was still pouring with rain.  Next time I’m in Edinburgh I must bring a waterproof jacket.

Met up with various people (Simon Stone, Mary Devine, Ed Aldridge, Danielle Anderson, Willis Scott, Brian Swann and Morag Monteath)  for a meal at Panchos Villa, a Mexican restaurant, on the High Street.  Had a convivial meal and some red wine. 

Next it was on to the Pleasance where we met up with Campbell Purvis to see a comedy show by Brendon Burns.  The Pleasance is centred on a courtyard where we had a beer before the show.  Around the outside of the courtyard are various rooms where the events were located. We were destined for the Cavern. This started at about 10.  Brendon is Australian, the show was funny and was of course filled with the F and C words all the way through.

Afterwards, at last it had stopped raining, a couple more bars, (I will get their names later on, the last I think the last was the Star bar, over the Cow Gate.).  Here we started to lose people as they left to go on home, Ed, Mary and I tried the underbelly, decided it was hot and damp, so went to Whistle Binkies, which was definitely hot and sweaty.  Here we saw two sets by a band called My Next Girlfriend a five-piece rock band paying a mixture of classic rock (Rolling Stones), punk, funk and their own creations.  Well worth listening too.  We left at 3.35.  Caught a taxi back to the hotel, in bed by around 4.30.  Up and out at 7.30 on the bus and into work by 8.30.  Hardly worth paying for a hotel!!

What horrible weather in Edinburgh and RBS

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From the title, you can see I am back in Edinburgh.  I flew up here on Tuesday.  It was wet and raining as I left home, just a continuation from Monday.

I arrived in Edinburgh late, (air traffic problems because of the bad weather), to a wet raining, low cloud base day.  I think it never stopped raining all day.  My hotel is out at the airport and is called a quality hotel.  Quality indeed.  The festival appears to have used up all the hotel rooms in Edinburgh.

In the evening had a few drinks with Simon Stone and Andy Laing at Tiles.  Afterwards walked up to the Grassmarket for a quick meal at the The Petit Paris.  I was greeted like a long lost friend by the young spiky haired waitress.  She wondered where I had been for the last few weeks.  Had a nice meal of deep fried filo wrapped goats cheese, followed by Sea Bass fillets done in an Olive and Tomatoe sauce.

Then it was back to the hotel out by the airport.

Saturday BBQ at home

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Today has been a magnificent day.  Clear blue skies all day, virtually not a cloud to be seen.  It was interesting lying in the garden watching the thistle down being blown around at over 100 feet above ground.  Sad me even got the binoculars out to watch the down blow by on the thermals, and the occasional Easyjet flight coming in to land at Luton.

Day started off by returning the flower containers to the florist in Thame.  Nice full English breakfast at 10 in the café in Thame.

Evening we had a BBQ, steaks and burgers from Waitrose.  One of the few weekends we have been able to eat out this year.

Delicious petrol sign stolen

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Learnt today that George had had his delicious petrol sign from his Mazda garage stolen during the week.  He explained that he had seen a similar sign in the West Country many years ago, and decided to place one on his garage.  The sign was always a talking point for many people who drove past his garage.  He did say he had one complaint, eighteen months ago from a schoolteacher, who said he should not be encouraging children to drink petrol. 🙂

Plough and Anchor decking

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This Friday was a relief from Thursday’s storms.  Started off a wonderful day, never clouded over completely, but there were some very nice flat-bottomed cumulus clouds around.

Popped out with John Curd, John Mitchell, and Tony Diggory for a lunch time drink.  I had a couple of pints of Abott ale.

Picked Rosemary up from work, fairly late, and then to the Plough and Anchor for a drink.  It was very pleasant sitting outside on the new decking area under the rush roof with all our friends from Kingswood and Grendon.

Barbara and Tony were there with their new offspring Thomas.  He is so quiet and amenable.  Quite how he managed to sleep through Brimstone playing at Selina’s wedding is anyone guess. Not sure Barbara appreciated the comment from a guest who mentioned that this was Thomas’s first Rock concert and maybe he would become a Black Sabbath fan.

Selina and Grahams Wedding

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Today was Selina and Grahams wedding.  It was a lovely hot day, and she looked beautiful in her silver gothic dress and shoes.  Selina and I arrived at the registry office in plenty of time, completed the formalities and entered the wedding chamber at 13.30.

Soon she and Graham were man and wife.

Now it was back to the house where we toasted the bride and groom, and then ate a small lunch of quiche and sausage roles.  Present were close family and friends from afar.  We managed a small Blasdale cricket match.  The wicket was a bit rough and hard, causing the ball to bounce rather erratically.

Now it was on to the main event at the Buckinghamshire railway centre.  Here we had the covered railway station until midnight, and we had a locomotive and rolling stock in steam.  So there were plenty of train rides and the opportunity to ride on the locomotive, blow the whistle and control the engine under the watchful eye of the engine driver.

The meal was supposed to start at around 8.00, but started a little later for one reason or another.  Excellent meal put on by the Plough and Anchor.  Started with melon and summer fruits, then on to salmon with oysters and prawns, beef, chicken and a vegetarian Thai curry.  The afters were the excellent tiered chocolate cake made by Rosemary and several British cheeses.

A band called Brimstone started to play some seventies rock music.  They played ZZ Top, Black Sabbath, AC DC,  Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and by special request White Wedding by Billy Idol.  I thought they were very good, and so did most of the others at the party.

John and Carol Curd took the official photographs for the wedding.  These will be appearing on the website soon.

Final final preparations for the wedding of Selina and Graham

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This week Rosemary and I have been on holiday.  This was the week to prepare for the wedding.  Many of those small jobs, which I have been meaning to do, were done this week. 

Repainted the skirting boards on the stairs.  They had become so chipped over the years.

The chip paper on the ceiling in the living room, it was coming off.  Managed to stick the edges down and repaint.   But this was only a temporary solution.  It must all come off and be reapplied before it drops off one day.

The downstairs loo.  Well this was a real embarrassment.  One of the rooms that had peeling paint when we first arrived here 17 plus years ago.  We never touched it, and it was getting worse.  A quick blast with the sandpaper and several layers of emulsion sorted that out.  The room was almost respectable.

The new bench from the salvage yard in Oakly had been delivered and dropped by the drive several weeks before.  We could not move it on our own.  This week we painted it a nice Sage green, mustered a group of strong men from the Plough and Anchor and moved it to the brick area by the honey suckle.   I don’t believe anyone thought it could be quite so heavy.  No one is going to nick that bench.