Autumn Arrives

Public holiday today - slept half of it away and feel like a half-shut knife following a birthday party at the Club last night. That was two late nights (or early mornings, actually) on the trot and the ageing Pickering constitution is not what it once was - recovery is very slow these days!

Highlights and lows since the last post:

Lows:

Only one, really. A rattle from underneath the car necessitated a visit to a local tyre and exhaust centre - no names, no product placement or free advertising here!
I always get a sense of foreboding before visiting these places - and I'm never disappointed. 'We'll have a look at it in five minutes, sir' ...
Forty minutes later, it's 'Would you like to come and have a look at this, sir?'. Well, no, actually but it's a rhetorical question and I dutifully trudge out to inspect the underside of the car (as if I have a clue about what I'm actually looking at).
How often have you heard: 'It's just a bolt worked loose, we've tightened it up and everything's fine now. Go on your way and have a safe and pleasant journey'? No, me neither! Two hours, one exhaust and two tyres - a nice round £300 - later, I was on my way ...

Highs:

Caroline's birthday this week, and, because of work commitments, not one family outing but two. A film and a meal at Ocean Terminal with Knutt on Wednesday then an Indian meal at Far Pavilions in Craigleith with Brian, Kevin and Nicola on Thursday. It was the first time we'd been there and it was very good - not over-priced, a wide-ranging menu and beautifully prepared food. No pubs round about to go for a drink beforehand or afterwards, but other than that it was excellent and a really good night.

Despite feeling distinctly jaded yesterday we managed to do some gardening, clearing one planter and started the process of planting autumn flowering heathers and bulbs for the spring. The summer display was way beyond expectations and if the latest plantings are even half as successful I will be delighted. Having a coffee in the garden on Saturday morning I spent some time watching the autumn leaves drifting down - the trees are changing colour, it's getting dark quite quickly and it seems we've moved into autumn already.

Another 'highlight' was Hibs' result at the weekend - not the performance, just the result. St. Johnstone were the better team for much of the game - had they taken their chances early on the result could have been very different. As it was Hibs had two half-chances in the first half - and took them both. It was a strange game altogether, next to no atmosphere and as quiet as any match I can remember.
Good result though, and some signs of some decent football to come, but I have an uneasy feeling that tomorrow's League Cup game - against the same opposition - may have a different outcome. My prediction: goalless draw, Hibs got out on penalties.
Felt sorry for Hearts yesterday, too. Playing with a centre-half up front due to their lack of striking options Hearts got off to a dream start with a goal in the first five minutes. Celtic weren't great - booed off at half-time, which must be a worry for Tony Mowbray - the Old Firm fans aren't noted for their patience.
However you always felt that there would be a come back, and so it proved. To lose the game deep into injury time must have been soul destroying for the Tynecastle men - even if was entirely predictable.
My Dream Team didn't do too well (no shock there) but my titanic struggle with Brian in the BBC Scotland Predictor challenge continues apace. I have reduced the gap to a solitary point - as John Collins once said 'I am a proud man today'!

The Week Ahead:

Apart from the League Cup it is going to be a busy week at work. Deadline is this Friday and there is a lot to be covered and written up.
It's party conference season: TUC last week, this week it's the Lib Dems. I wish someone would pay me £1 for the number of times the phrase 'tough choices' will be trotted out - I would be a rich man come the end of the conference season, I fancy.
My own 'tough choices' will come later this week when I agonise over which clothes to send to the charity shop - too many clothes, not enough wardrobes. Tough choices indeed. The other, more pressing tough choice: ready salted or cheese and onion crisps to go with a sandwich as I write. Sometimes there's just too much choice ...

Back next week - who knows, I may even get back to Sunday posting! In the meantime the tough choice has been made. It's official - it's Ready Salted for me.

I leave you with a picture of Mahon harbour - hard to believe that was only three weeks ago ...

Blooming Amazing!

Late posting again, can't seem to get back into the old routine of posting on Sundays - too many other more pressing things to do. Sunday evenings are almost invariably spent at the Unionist Club with my dad, while Sunday morning and afternoons - indeed the whole weekend - just seem to fly by and we're then into a new week again.
Anyway, the highlights and the lowlights of the last ten days:

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. I've got tomatoes! Despite my scabby wee shrivelled tomato plants looking distinctly sick before we went on holiday, we returned to find them bowed over due to the weight of the fruit they were bearing! Two 'crops' of wee cherry tomatoes have been picked so far, and they were very tasty too.
I am now almost self-sufficient in food - if I only eat tomatoes (soup, tomato salad, tomato ketchup, tomato sauce crisps) - and I am proud to be doing my bit for the eco-system. I have gone Green - although that may be due to eating too many tomatoes.

2. We called into the Jinglin' last Friday - it's been a while and I thought I should check the progress (or lack of it) of my Dream Team. I seem to have an amazing knack of picking players who are, basically, piss poor. Before their name goes down on my team sheet they are world-beaters, the moment I submit my entry they turn into complete duffers! Last season my players were seized by a collective lurgy - if they weren't injured they were dropped - and this time round I seem to have selected a bunch of assassins: five different 'stars' have been sent off so far this season, and we've hardly begun!
Anyway my team lurks around mid-table - quite respectable for me - but the shock is that Caroline's team sits proudly at the top of the league! She was joint Manager of the Month in August, resulting in a prize of five drinks, which went immediately.
In the past, Brian or I have picked teams on Caroline's behalf - after all, what do girlies know about football? - with limited success. Picking her own team she is now competing with the elite. Clearly beginners' luck, although if she is to triumph again I will gladly share the spoils of victory. I'm not proud!

3. Work is picking up after the holidays, and I was delighted to attend the formal 'opening' of the revamped Drylaw Park last Friday (before hitting the 'Dream Team' bevvy, naturally!) The former Easter Drylaw Recreation Ground is looking very good and was packed with kids and their parents, and I hope it gets the chance to stay that way.

4. A trip up to the Pentlands on Sunday afternoon. I don't think I've ever spent any time there before and it was truly peaceful - not too many people about despite the unseasonably good weather. It's vast, there's a lot to see and I'll go back again soon.

LOWLIGHTS:

1. Hard to believe, but the shops have started displaying their Christmas stuff, and we're weeks away from Halloween!

2. Brown and the 'c' word. What a lot of fuss over nothing! Our country is £trillions in debt. Is there anyone out there who thought that Gordon would be able to steer the nation back to economic stability without having to slash public spending? These are clearly the same people who believe the Christmas season starts in early September! It's a pity it took Brown so long to admit the inevitable and say what we've all known for so long, but that delay won't be a surprise to his many critics, who point out that he has a long history of 'previous' in terms of obfuscation, prevarication, omission and bare-faced lying.

3. Scotland's dismissal from the World Cup. A valiant effort, but alas too late - again ... at least we can cheer on England (whisper it, but references to '66 have already been made!) Believe me it's going to become intolerable as the event draws closer - either stop watching TV and buying newspapers, emigrate, or go out and buy an England top and support our lovable neighbours!

4. Hibs letting the side down again on Sunday. Chance to go third in the League, playing the (pointless) team propping up the table. Result? Defeat, of course! Hibs are looking a lot more purposeful than last season and there's a lot of positives so far, but consistency clearly still eludes them. Come back Mixu, all is forgiven! (I jest, of course).

See you next week - or maybe Sunday. Tomato tart for tea tonight - yum yum!!

Back to Reality

I'm back in toon.
I've had a tremendous holiday - the first time I've been abroad for two weeks for over twenty years, and for now at least I've got the tan to prove it!
Our holiday took in Paris (very expensive but a beautiful city), Barcelona (a very modern city with some stunning architecture)and seven days sailing the Med, dropping in to various wee coves and towns along the Menorcan coastline. There were so many sights to see and things to do; simply an unforgettable holiday.
There's nothing worse than boring people with your holiday snaps; we took over 900 between us, so the two above are just the tiniest of samples - I'll post more when time permits.
Got back to Edinburgh on Friday evening - temperatures were a bit different than we've been used to and I think jumpers and long sleeve shirts will be the order of the day now. Vests, teeshirts, shorts and sandals will be stored away for another day (probably wise in the interests of sartorial elegance anyway.)

Lockerbie - smoke, mirrors and more questions than answers
Didn't see or read any UK news while I was away, so catching up on the latest twists and turns of the Lockerbie case which broke just before we left Edinburgh. Seems more and more info is being leaked out, and the focus has shifted to deals done by Blair's government to ease trade and tap into the economic opportunities offered by dealing with Libya.
When the news of the prisoner release broke I was disgusted by the line being peddled by the BBC - that this move was a major mistake by the Scottish government that will result in an anti-SNP backlash. Whether is was or not, whether it will or not (and I doubt it) is really not the main issue - and the BBC knew that full well. I don't know whether the convicted man was guilty or not - there are certainly enough grounds to question the verdict, including the with-holding of potentially crucial evidence - and I fear that, now, we never will.
Qui bono? Mr Megrahi certainly, but there are shadowy other parties who will be very happy to put this story to bed too.
There's a huge story in there waiting to come out but the chances of a public inquiry now appear slim - doubtless to the huge relief of the Washington and Westminster governments, despite their synthetic 'anger' over the release. In the pragmatic world of international world of diplomacy (certainly when huge contracts are at stake) yesterday's bogeyman becomes today's best buddy. The whole thing stinks from top to bottom, and the families of the bereaved deserve better. Just who planted that bomb, and who knew?

The Highs and Lows of Scotland
After the humiliation by Norway last month Scotland looked a bit more polished against the mighty Herzegovina - although it may have been a different story of the visitors had had their shooting boots on. I was struck by the number of ex-Hearts and Hibs players on display - I wonder how many would have made the frame had they still been plying their trade in Edinburgh? Whatever, we're in for another rollercoaster evening on Wednesday when the Dutch masters come calling. Another hiding, or a glorious victory against the odds? Neither, I fancy - expect a heartbreaking last minute defeat, that's Scotland's style. And if the impossible was to happen and we do beat Holland, expect more misery in the playoffs. It's in Scotland's psyche - glorious failure. So I won't be booking my ticket to South Africa just yet. And yet, and yet ...

Keith Waterhouse
Sad to hear of the death of the incomparable Keith Waterhouse. 'Billy Liar', which I first read at High School, was one of the finest novels I ever read and remains a favourite to this day.

Back to Basics
Back to work tomorrow - 400+ emails to trawl through (95% of which will be of no interest whatsoever, inevitably). The X Factor is back. My Fantasy Football team is already looking slightly distressed, and I am struggling near the foot of Radio Scotland's Predictor League (5000th and dropping alarmingly) in less than a month. It's cold and miserable outside; the central heating's on.
After a fortnight of high adventure on the open water (I will not regale you with my tales of derring do on the heaving seas for now), it's back to reality. It is nice to use a shower that doesn't throw you around when you're in it, though! Welcome home!