A Night Out

Last night was the first meeting for a while of a bunch of "Past it Round Tablers" known affectionately as the "Old Farts".  The plan was to have a point, go for a curry and have a few more drinks until pleasantly stewed.

We do not aspire to the giddy heights of the "Paddington Bear Club" - a group of City businessmen, who go out on a Friday evening with a label tied to their suit lapels giving their home address and the instruction,
"If found please put me in a taxi - there is twenty pounds in my pocket to pay the fare". They then drink until they are insensible. Not for us, we aim to have a pleasant, predictable evening out and a safe walk home.

Here we are going into the Prince of India, Me, Paul, Colin, David and David. The food and service was as good as ever but some confusion among the Old Farts about whether to have large or small Cobras.

So far so good. We then pay for the meal in readies and head for the door. Stopping en route at the cupboard where they have been safely keeping our coats. It was Paul who spotted him. The waiter, a young lad bent double hiding in the cupboard in Harry Potter fashion. He wasn't up to no good, he was texting someone, out of sight of the management. Truly wonderful! Thank you Rasheed for the entertainment and the material for the Blog!

Chutney Update

So, there I was, waiting expectantly all weekend for the Chutney Festival. Apparently there were going to be lots of jars of Chutney on display and the possibility that there may be a few available to taste. I only learned late on that there were going to be special events, including the highlight of the day, the Pumpkin Rolling Down the Hill. Given that this was all happening at Neidpath Castle, you can see that this was no gentle slope, but a proper hill.



When, however, Mrs Blog tells me it is going to cost £10 to get in, EACH! we had a rethink.

I can only imagine what I missed with the Pumpkin.

Dr Computer helps out

As mentioned in previous blogs I am fortunate to number among my friends David "Dr Computer". Out for a beer with Dr and a couple of friends last night he shared his latest wisdom on passwords.

Use of lower and upper case? No.
Using alpha-numerical characters? No.
Regularly changing passwords? No.

His counsel was, that when asked to, "enter a password of eight characters" entering "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" did not work!

Thanks Doc.

We know how to live

The weekend is here and we (myself and Mrs Blog) have a whole two days to whatever we want. So we are going to the world famous (I jest), Peebles Chutney Festival. I cannot wait. Keep watching this space I will report back tomorrow!

Reginald D Hunter

Managed to find some leisure time last night to go and see Reginald D Hunter with Son-Blog. For those followers who need reminding of who Reginald D Hunter is check this out

Reg was at the Edinburgh Playhouse supported by an excellent Aussie called Steve Hughes - see this one

So Son-blog and I got there early and marvelled at the great seats we had. Fifteen minutes to go and we were thinking - this is going to be a great show!

Then it happened. The really big, really fat guy turns up.

At least he took the hat off! ( I am not joking about the hat either!)

Green Energy

Daughter-Blog was home for a visit this weekend. She was telling us about a new young man in her life called John, a post grad' engineer.

Apparently John is more than just a post-grad' enigineering student. He is an "award winning, post-grad' engineering student with distinction". (Nothing but the best the engineering world has to offer for my little girl).

It seems he picked up his award recently, so I asked Daughter-Blog about it.

"His work in the field of Wind Turbines was "revolutionary"."

Funny - I thought all turbines were "revolutionary"!

England lose at Rugby

I am hiding. I am at home and dare not venture out.

England lost miserably to France in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup this morning. It was agonising to watch so many errors, turnovers, missed opportunities. Worse still, I cannot go out because almost everyone in Scotland will want to talk about the Rugby.

I cannot possibly go on holiday to France this year either. Probably the only place I can go is Australia - if teh ozzies kick off I can always remind them about the ashes.

Swimming is off for a while

Daughter Blog has featured more than most as a subject on these postings and for good reason. To recap, she is 20 and lives in a flat in Aberdeen, writes a food blog - linked to this one.

Three months ago I had to buy a new pair of swimming goggles.

My previous pair had, I thought, been victim to my ageing and lack of memory. I was convinced I must have left them at the local pool. On enquiring, the pool attendant checked and came back apologising that he could not find them. They were a decent pair so I figured that someone, a connoisseur of goggles, had lifted them. Ah well, the new pair were even better

Daughter Blog "Skyped" last night - full video and sound. Her camera revealed she was in the kitchen and was preparing her evening meal. Nothing unusual so far except she was chopping onions and wearing my "lost" swimming goggles! Apparently they stop your eyes watering when you chop onions.

October heatwave

So the UK is basking in temperatures of 26 degrees C. It is the hottest October since records began. Brightonians are sun-bathing on Brighton beach. Next thing will be the complaints,- no barbecue coal in the shops, no bikinis in the shops, no suntan lotion to be had for love nor money, hose-pipe bans and elderly people going down with heat-stroke.

Of course it does not apply to Scotland which is enjoying a continuation of the summer weather.