A Bit Behind

It seems my brother has pre-empted me. I will sort him out the next time we are in touch. My focus has been on Hester recently, and we have had some very good times. I should also add that our (Robert and I's) recent loss of our mother has meant that both of us have been involved with family matters, rather than blogging.

Hester and I had a Chineese Buffet meal on the Sunday night with her brother and his wife. It was fun although some of the food had probably been around since lunchtime, and it showed.

I remembered that JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter in a cafe in this street. When we left we saw newspaper cuttings which said the place we had been in was converted from the cafe JK used to visit.

Will describe our museum visit in detail soon, but here is a taster.

Here is a picture of my beloved in a space suit. I think it is very becoming. She has other ideas!

More Crooked

I am still dining out on my visit to "The Crooked House" inn with Hester last week. I have shown lots of people the pictures I took. I was a bit upset about her imposing a sherry ban on me. In hindsight she was probably right though. You can't really see it in the interior pictures but the floors are all over the place in the same way the walls are. After a few glasses of my favourite refreshment I very much doubt I would have been able to navigate my way to the door. That would have been very unseemly and embarrassing for a lady.
Still trying hard to do the paraghraph thing. Robert can be a pedantic nerd at times.
I took the above picture in Morningside, which is a posh district of Edinburgh. I also took some pictures of pillar boxes for Robert shortly afterwards, but he can tell you about that himself. If you look at the vertical face of the buildings on the left and then the top of the roof of the building in the distance you will see there is something wrong with the angle. There is an underground stream to the right of the building and it is sliding in to it. Maybe Robert would like to start a new feature on squint buildings but I am done with the subject.
Hester is staying for a few days and we will be out and about snapping away so I am sure I will have more pictures to share with you soon.

Snowscape

Before I went down to see Hester on Saturday I took a couple of pictures when I was delivering. On the right you can see Swanston Village. I have made a mistake with the colour balance but I think the "blueness" enhances the coldness of the scene. It was very slippy, the dark patch at the bottom left of the picture is sheet ice, which I nearly fell over on, seconds before the picture was taken.

I posted a picture taken ages ago by Hester when the re-thatching was in it's early stages. All it really needs now, to be finished, is for the ridge at the top to be trimmed and then capped.

Another blueish picture on the left. Not too clear, but it is a Jacobs sheep. They, unusually, have four horns, two curly ones, which you can't see, and two sticky uppy ones. From this pic I am pretty sure this girl is the one that has only one of the sticky uppy ones in the herd.

Grand Weekend Out

This week is my turn to visit Hester. I ended up taking a later train because I was delivering to Swanston and Damhead despite having changed my duty this week. Because of engineering works on the line the journey is much more complicated. I had to get a train from my usual station to Edinburgh Waverley. From there it was a coach to Lockerbie, about sixty miles south. Finally another train to Wolverhampton, and a meeting with my beloved. I took the above picture somewhere near the England /Scotland border. As you can see it is very "winter snow scene" up my way.

Today Hester and I did a bit of Sunday motoring. It was cold but dry and a bit windy. She took me to the above Inn first. As you can see from the name it is a bit squint. There is local theory that this is caused by subsidence. Hester and I are much more of the opinion that it was built this way. Make up your own mind.

This interior shot gives you another perspective. When I sent it to Robert he said the builders might have lost their spirit level, what ever that is.

The last call of our trip was to Bridgenorth station on the private Severn Valley Railway. Sadly they have been subject to major storm damage and they need a lot of money to re-instate the damage done to their tracks. We saw some smoke coming from the engine sheds but it turned out to be just a brazier. You can see Thomas the Tank engine in the foreground. I thought Hester was joking about there being a full sized one. Couldn't see any Fat Controller though!

New Horizons

This is the van I use on my new duty. I have also invested in a new camera and love using it. Will give the van a name but I have not thought of one yet. All polite suggestions will be respectfuly considered.

I am still getting to know the good burghers of Bruntsfield. They are a mixed bunch. There are lots of students who live there, which is great. They rarely get up before noon so I don't have to go upstairs to deliver to them in the early morning.

I forgot to say that the van has a "Postman Patesque" look about it. Maybe I should get a black and white cat!

Those of you who now feel the need to do "pussy" jokes can give it a rest. I am above such stuff.

Grand Day Out

OK, it is the middle of winter, but Hester and I spent far too much time indoors last weekend. It's such fun to get out and explore. We both love travel and I hope we can do lots of that together in the warmer months to come. We are already planning a coach tour to Ireland. Hester has never been there and I was very young the last time I visited.

Have to keep up the paragraph thing or Robert will be on my back again.

My first pic is of the Pentland Hills as seen from the southern extremities of Edinburgh. The white strips you see are artificial ski slopes. Many years ago when I lived in the area there was only one, now there are three. The lines across the picture are high voltage power cables.

It's not easy to realise from the picture that these animals are Scottish Highland Cattle. They have "Long Horns" which is unusual in this country, and they have very long coats. Again unusual.

Sadly they were quite far away from the fence and my zoom lens was not able to bring them much closer.

You know I love equines. Young horses and ponies in particular. So my last picture will be no surprise. It is so cute. Hester was very moved as well. He was such a cutie.

Fond Farewell

My life is going to change. Next week I start a new duty at work. I have opted to go part-time, because I want to spend more time winding up my mothers estate. There are other advantages too. I will work Tuesday to Saturday. This means that when I visit Hester I can have all day Sunday with her and she can drop me off at the station on her way to work on Monday morning. Unfortunately I will have to wait about 2 Hrs for my train because that is the one where I can get cheap tickets. But I still get home in the early afternoon.

Sorry, I forgot I am supposed to be doing paragraphs at Robert's instruction. It's so tedious.

Given what I have just said I have been doing a nostalgia (it's not what it used to be) trip. I will probably visit them again at sometime, but I have been saying goodbye, for now.

Today was "Famous Author Land". I have had some good times, culminating in the visit with Hester to Alexander McCall-Smith. I know, but won't admit it, that I am star-struck with famous people. I know Hester has clocked me. She is very astute.

On Friday I do Damhead. So many memories. I told you about Arlene recently. I hope Hester and I can catch her eventing in the summer. It would be such a good day out.

I want to wrap this one up now. My life is going through a significant period at the moment. I hope you find the happiness I think is around the corner for me. I want all the best for my readers. You have very good taste.