Rejoice! Rejoice!

It has been a tiring couple of days.  Searching the town for cheap gifts, wandering for miles round in a circle, back to St Paul's for a great morning including Greek ginger Christmas treats, and then today wandering again round the shops before joining the merry crowd in Tesco, smiles abounding, at least from those heading for the door!
All this has been accompanied by the joy of watching the Heart of Midlothian do what they are meant to do, stuffing the Old Firm good and proper!  This half is the lesser of the evil twins, but not by much, and while they deservedly have made good use of the vast wealth they have it is clear the Heart of Midlothian are making much better use of the slender resources at our disposal.  This is why the victory is greater than it would have been in times past.
Scottish football was at its best in the 1950's and early 60's.  This is partly because the better players did not wander off into England as the £10 a week limit on wages still applied at the time, most were content to remain at home unless the English club could find a way round the wage limit by acquiring another job for the player, an old and well worn trick.  So when I started to watch football  e expected to beat everyone, and why not, they expected to beat us.  Sadly filthy lucre has ended those happy days and with SKY V pouring money into the feeble English game, and far too little into the Scots one, a disparity has arisen.  Add to this the Rangers chairman and his tax dodging friends hugely increasing costs and running away, supported by the Glasgow media, we now see Scots football recovering slowly from the bad taste of recent days.
So enjoyment is complete when one half of the evil twins lose to the Heart of Midlothian, the other losing also to St Johnstone the day before also brings tears to the eyes of the 'typists' at the 'Daily Record,' and this enjoyment we wish to continue.  The struggles are not over but as one man said "This is not the end, but it maybe it is the end of the beginning."

Now I'm Not One to Complain...BBC Alba!

Now I'm not one to complain but there are many reasons why this is possible.  Kids going back to school has indeed cleared the shops of the dear little brats but however the mums with pushchairs and no consideration remain.  The rain continues to fall when I put my head out the door and the wind continues to blow in the window and unsettle the dust in the room.  The telly continues to rouse an attitude of miffed and on Saturday it once again offered one of my favourite grouses, football coverage!
Now to use TV to cover a football match ought to be simple.  A large area of grass surrounded by lots of people, simple enough.  The players kick the ball and one another back and forth and the camera swings back and forth following the action while the needless commentator, and friend, prattle rubbish alongside.  Simple enough so why is it on Saturday while watching BBC Alba's excellent idea of showing us football some of us cannot reach at 6pm why must it be spoiled by employing what I take to be a woman with no knowledge or interest in football to direct the action?
If I wish to see four or five lingering needless close ups of the Heart of Midlothian's manager I will buy a photograph of him, I don't wish to see either him or several close ups of the Aberdeen manager, a shock indeed is that.  I want to see what is happening on the large green area not what is not happening on the sidelines.  
The fascination with nothing continued with a view of two men wearing what looked like kids sunglasses, funny perhaps but not while the game is in motion, they are not on the field and that is where we ought to be looking.  I consider directors with an understanding of the game and the way it is run also important but I do not wish to see the camera lingering for an age on the Aberdeen chairman and acolytes I wish to see the game.  Our own dear chairwoman is better looking but why we look at her while the game is in play is beyond comprehension, she can see the game why not us?  
Of course TV folks always find spurious excuses for their incompetence and I would like to hear those from the final fifteen minutes of the game.  The Heart of Midlothian were piling on the pressure and a ball was abut to be crossed into the goalmouth and suddenly we found ourselves staring at a ball boy sitting on his stool immersed in the game we could not see!  Why?  A mistake, fair enough, but with five minutes to go and pressure and excitement building as the Hears attack we suddenly are offered a sweeping slow sight of the entire ground for no good reason and are unable to follow what is happening.  
Top this with constant close ups of the back of players heads long after the ball has left them and while the crowd are reacting to things we cannot see and I begin to wonder whether the woman has a fancy for the players or is just incompetent?  This happens in all games these days and in spite of their experience built up over the past few years BBC Alba continue to be the worst at ignoring the game and watching nothing at all during it.
It's time for change!

Nothing Happened Again Today.

Trapped indoors by the rain that has fallen continually since late this morning I can tell you truthfully nothing has happened.  Wullie the wood pigeon sits on the aerial also enduring the rain and does not look too happy about it.  Surely he is old enough to know this is 'summer' and this is how 'summer' is every year.  Nothing on the news today as politicians are either on holiday sunning themselves in foreign climes or on 'fact finding trips' at the public's expense.  I wonder if any 'fact' they find comes to fruition somewhere in the nation?  
Some consider Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, retiring from his duties worthy of comment.  To me the benefit scroungers of the royal family possibly all ought to retire or find themselves something useful to do all day.  At least this man, born on a kitchen table to a deaf and dumb mother somewhere in Greece, did at least keep up a good record of the 'public duties' he undertook.  He opened events, named railway engines and paraded around factories asking all the right questions and feigning interest as he ought.  The fact that he called Chinese folks 'slitty eyed' and questioned Scots workers drinking abilities at work is of course not relevant.  He often said what others wished to say and we must respect a man who endured many a 'Variety Command Performance' without once producing a shotgun and ending all of the tat that appeared on stage to the benefit of all of us.
Some women are heard grumbling about the changes to their pension and whine about the struggle they endure.  They appear in the paper, they are on TV and radio constantly grumbling that they are losing out.  I note none of them grumbled about men working until 65 while women retired at 60!  This went on from the early 50's until recently and not one objection was made then, possibly this was neither 'sexist' or did not upset 'equality' not that men ever get any of that.

 
Searching the cupboards I think I have found something that might help us cope with the kids and mums at the museum.  Either make use of it early and smile your way through the day or wait until home and then indulge for a while as the cares and bruises of the day slink away into the past.  However after six weeks of this I suspect some folks might become addicted so possibly this is not really a long term answer after all.  I might try it later and see if it works.

So the Heart of Midlothian reach another historic moment.  The departing Ian Cathro brought a breath of fresh air to the stilted Scots football world, received abuse from jealous failures and in the end failed to get his message across and obtain the results his style deserved.  Either he or the players failed, it is difficult to know which.  We now await the new man, whoever he is, and hopefully he will be attack minded and capable of leading from the front.  We await with trembling nerves.

Busy

Life in the pre Brexit world has been busy.  
On Saturday I spent the full day at the museum and much enjoyed being on my feet all day. 
My knees are now informing me of their opinion on this.
It was busy and I had spent the days before this running around.
One deed was to buy a new laptop, the old one giving too much trouble, slowing down, bits beginning to fall off, and other glitches that annoy.  It is a few years old now and I suspect unable to get the best out of updated software.
So on Friday morning I spent much time installing things.
The wi-fi would not connect, the plug fell out, the wrong connection appeared, I mistook another for the right connection and spent several long minutes fighting with it before I realised my mistake.  Eventually I got connected and had to follow the Microsoft blue pages asking if I wished to be kept private or be connected direct to the FBI/CIA?/Special Branch/Scotland Yard etc.  After a short lifetime I got things going and now slowly I am converting it for my use.  Sadly some things, such as 'Live.com' are no longer available and I used their gallery for my pictures.  Now I need another way to connect the camera to the laptop without using their phot thingy.  No doubt other problems will arise.
So I have one suitable picture on here, taken in 1844 from Edinburgh Castle looking east.  The new Walter Scott Memorial can be seen sticking up into the sky, gleaming white stone, now somewhat blacker ebven though cleaned in the 70's.  On the hill in the distance Nelson's Monument, an upside down telescope you notice, standing high above on Calton Hill.  In the foreground the early Waverley Station takes shape, the buildings under the camera soon to be destroyed, I wonder how rotten they were by then.
Today I made it to St P's, had a good time, wandered back to watch the Heart of Midlothian lose to Celtic and fell asleep.  The Spring sunshine tempts me outside, well the evening aor now does that, but sleep will be a better idea.  You may be surprised to know that I need my beauty sleep.
Day off tomorrow, I may just sleep on...

 

 I was sent this....

I've Never Been so Happy!

 

I spent the night here.

This was not my intention earlier in the day but after last night's 'entertainment' I felt there was no longer any choice. 

We have had the misfortune of 'Brexit,' we have had the greater misfortune of Donald Trump and whatever that means, now the lowest point for a long time has arrived, a 3-1 defeat by the 'wee team.'. 

In all my 32 years I have never known a more humiliating experience than the one offered by the Heart of Midlothian during the Edinburgh Derby against the 'wee team' last night.  Defeats occur occasionally, usually the fault of cheating refs and diving Hibbys, rarely do the Heart of Midlothian get swept aside by the better team as they did last night.

Now as the European Championships take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at this time of year nobody is allowed to televise football games so as to protect the overpaid self important clubs involved in the Champs league.  This means I could not see the game live and had to rely on the wireless and the comments of the pundits.  However it was clear from this the display was awful.  How it looked to those paying through the nose for their tickets I would hate to say.

Losing 3-1 to the Hibs is not and never will be a good thing but to lose without a fight is terrible, a 'terrible' of frightening proportions.

Why did it happen?  

The new (and as we are constantly told 'young') manager wishes to play classy football.  To do this he has introduced players suitable for the performance of such football and at times this shows through.  However it becomes clear having watched one or two games recently that to succeed at such football a degree of strength is required, this was missing all too often, and not available last night is appears.  Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and others play the type of game we wish to play but add talented players who are strong characters and have the will to fight even against wee teams like the Hibs.  Often they encounter clubs who close them down, hassle them and give them no time on the ball but still produce the goods, this is a trick some of our players have yet to learn.

I spent last night, and rediscovered this morning, many needless abusive comments from people who's mental failings have caused them to support the Hibernian, these posted many comments on Twitter and elsewhere which did not enable my cardiac performance to remain normal.  It is too be hoped that those who post such needless and hurtful comments will contract Mumps in the next few days from their kids!

Oh and the trains had stopped by the time I got down there!  Bah!

Storm Doris!

Now who in their right mind would put a name to a storm?    

At the moment winds of around 30 to 60 mph are hurtling past the window.  Policemen are seen chasing their hats, trees falling over, roofs crashing through houses and the media inform us this is the fault of Storm Doris! Doris!!!  What a daft name to give a storm.  

Why do we need to give storms names?  Who decided this?  

Storms have blown across this land for thousands of years, always referred to as 'a storm' or 'strong winds' or just 'bad weather' yet to enable this enfeebled population to understand that a 'storm' is raging we now know it by a name, and not just a woman's name but we vary from a woman's name to a man's name time after time!  What a load of juvenile baloney.  

A storm is a storm, we need not know it's name as we cannot call the police and as them to catch 'Storm Doris' and not just because they are busy running after their hats either. 

Bah!!!

Look at that poor pigeon, he was swaying this way and that and now hours later he has gone and disappeared.  I suspect he will be in Harwich by now, walking back slowly as he canny fight Doris.

You of course will know the 'Nereids' were sea-nymphs according to ancient Greeks (and some young ones I believe).  Fifty daughters of Nereus and 'Gray eyed' Doris!   Doris was a popular name at one time and was indeed the name of Herod the Great's first wife.  He banished her along with Antipas his son for another and bumped that one, Mariamne, off after 'in house' lies and office politics from the women of the palace even though Josephus claims he actually loved her.

Doris is also the area of south eastern Turkey, then called Asia Minor, which the Greeks helped themselves to unasked in that English Imperialist style.  The area including Halinass Halingcar, Rhodes and Kos formed the 'Dorian League' and they became 'pillars' of the community (did you see what I did there?).  Not many women are called Doris today, fashion in names change as quick as a woman's mind...

What...oh!

Friday Life

We walked into the restaurant, she brunette dressed in black, me scruffy leading the way, and the waitress similarly dressed in black showed us a table.  I wandered to the back and she suggested another table while asking about my 'girlfriend.'  Clearly she wanted me also.  I returned to the table for two by the wall and as I sat down I woke up and discovered Justin Webb the middle class 'Islington leftie' attempting to browbeat the Finnish Prime Minister unsuccessfully.  How I wished to return to my dream.
Wednesday was a good day, one in which I read books and slept a lot.  Beginning with a wander up to Sainsburys before the rain began I ignored the world and relaxed in my best day for weeks.  At night I felt a wee bit radge but the next morning I was very radge indeed.  The boss at the museum had a cold and she has given it to me!  The dreich weather meant I was going nowhere anyway so 
I suffered indoors.
Today I ventured out to buy some Corn Bread, fancy bread being one of the present day fads I am enduring, and I got there just as the lass brought one out.  Naturally while having my tea I forgot all about it.  Bah!
I looked in the museum as I passed, heard how the lass had been "busy all day" and was lumbered for a few minutes as she wandered off to chat to someone!  Good job I'm not the complaining type.

On Wednesday night I did however see a revival of the good old days when visiting Glasgow teams were put to the sword.  In my youth this was what we expected, today the mismanagement of money and the league set up has limited this for all clubs, Scottish football is in a bad way.  However in spite of our recent problems the Heart of Midlothian are indeed on the way up again and under Ian Cathro's enlightened coaching we were able to reduce the Rangers Tribute Act to a trembling jelly like mess.  It was wonderful to see!  There is much more to come in this new system and even the Glasgow media must take note. 

I've found a new toy to play with!
One of the lassies at the church has become obsessed with UKIP and lately Donald Trump.  Her facebook page is littered with 'Daily Express' pieces telling of nasty Muslims, good old Donald and the love of Brexit!  
Naturally I am indicating the problems here.
This took her by surprise as she doesn't appreciate how the 'little englander' come 'racist' approach is actually unchristian.  She believes UKIP and Donald trump are Christian simply because they oppose abortion.  No I agree with banning killing children but I 'hae ma doots' that UKIP personnel have much in the way of Christian doctrine in mind.  Their leaders show no evidence and appear more concerned with bringing back a fantasy empire than anything else.  
As for Donald I note his many Tweets on Twitter, always worth linking to them, and while he is seen at prayer with others and has some decent advisers in Christian ways I 'hae ma doots' aboot him also.  The word 'publicity stunt' appears in my mind when such photographs appear and until more evidence is forthcoming I will be wary of our Donald.
Sadly it is clear there are far too many stories for and against almost everyone in the media or online that it is difficult to know what is real and what is half truths exaggerated.  Reading the tweets however there is indeed a man in the White House who requires someone to polish his act somewhat.
I expect to get a loving mouthfull this Sunday...

December Begins

You could tell it was December by the chill under the blankets, the struggles of the heating to work properly and the thick, dull mist lying over the town.  Eight O' Clock saw me wander past the many heading into town, few walking but countless others in cars clearing the mist one hand by their movement and adding diesel and petrol fumes to it on the other.  I had to giggle as I saw them moving quickly into work while knowing that later today a long line of similar people will be slowly trundling back out again, grumbling against the hardship of busy roads.  "Catch a bus?" say I to nasty glares and the question "What bus?"  "The bus that would run if you had not all bought cars you canny afford!  Vote Tory, lose buses, increase car ownership, increase pollution and the need for car ownership as there are no buses.

Watching the Heart of Midlothian take the grubby Rangers apart last night I was not in the least surprised to notice the Glasgow press ignoring the famous victory and instead playing this down, emphasising a disallowed (rightly) goal and wallowing in tears that their team had been beat.  A more objective journalist would say the Rangers club ought to have died when it had the chance, the directors are failures and the chairman bogus, the manager out of his depth, his expensive players flops and injured at that, the rest inexperienced and out of their depth and the whole club urgently requires a make over. 
They will not say this directly of course.
However the Heart of Midlothian will carry on as that sort of reporting has gone on since 1890 and before, nothing changes under the Scottish football scene.  This team looked quite good last night however I felt a four goal win was what we required, just winning by two goals to nil was not enough in the circumstances.  Hopefully we can do the same again in a weeks time.

You can tell nothing else happened today.  
I wandered up to the shops for pillowcases, pillowcases of all things, red ones and black ones, that will brighten the odourous  west wing.  Then I sauntered the other way to upset the smiling girl at the Post Office as I posted my last parcel (have you done yours yet...?)  and wandered back home testing my knees with a new exercise, walking too much!

 
The walk back reveals the weather in these parts.  Cloudy yesterday, misty this morning, now as I hobbled round the pretty way far from traffic the sun shone brightly in a blue sky!  Tomorrow we appear to be back to gray clouds!

The sun shining through the trees is a wonder.  It is just a pity there is nothing new or exciting for it to shine upon!  Most of this little town has been photographed from all angles and there is little new to find sadly.

The sun shining on the disused and now some form of accommodation water towers I thought would be a good shot but it was not quite as I saw it.

High above the housing a plane from Stansted airport heads into the sky above us.  At that time of night it may be too early for those heading for the sun therefore I wonder if it is the commuter plane for Edinburgh, Glasgow or Belfast.  It may be heading to Frankfurt or Warsaw, or some distant unheard of airport where it is cheaper for the airline to land.  Once only the rich could fly and now almost everyone has done so at least once.
I would fly to Edinburgh if I could avoid the delays at the airport.  On occasion I have been there early and there has been a delay as a window has cracked on the flight we should take.  The replacement was held up by fog this morning in Glasgow and was on its way to us but held up by air traffic control.  Over three hours extra we waited - patiently - and eventually made it there.  
On another occasion we were also very late in taking off and on arrival at Edinburgh the plane dropped t 700 feet and rose again as the landing indicators on the ground were off and we were again in fog!  We landed from the other end as the passengers decided if we had to continue on to Aberdeen!
The flight is off no more than an hours duration so the waiting on the ground makes the journey seem long.  The view is good mind, usually I find I fly in bright sunshine watching the land below for anything interesting.  I love the view as everything is very different from the air.  There again I am easily pleased.

The Church at the Gates of Heaven, almost...

I've been tidying up the cupboard.  I now have a box half full of old photographs and a large bundle of these set aside to scan into this infernal machine.  How lucky you will be to see pictures taken in the days of the distant past.  Lots of them!
This one of course is Tynecastle Park Edinburgh which you will recognise instantly.  Many moons ago the huge board announcing the home of the Heart of Midlothian stood here but for reasons of crass stupidity this was removed during reconstruction work.  This reconstruction was under way as I passed and we can see inside only because the stand at this end had not yet been built.  I believe it is now home to Mr Smith, author, raconteur and wit, of our acquaintance a man who is lucky enough to sit here weekly and even luckier enough to write about what he sees in the local free press.  Good for him!  Recently it has been announced that the old stand to the right and out of the picture is to be rebuilt.  This will increase the ground capacity and stop folks worrying needlessly re the safety of the present structure.  It is said this stand was completed late in 1914 as the men working on it ran off to enlist in the army at the outbreak of war, a story I have not found evidence for but it does appear likely.

 
This was I thought a rather delightful shot of St Giles Kirk when I found it but age has ruined the dark bits somewhat.  However turning it into B&W has helped to create a nice enough image of Edinburgh inn the gloom, when is Edinburgh not in the gloom?   Edinburgh is so hard to get to nowadays.  I have nowhere to sleep, no transport and no money so I could make use of the bus pass all the way to Berwick on Tweed and walk from there I suppose?  Maybe that is a bit too far?  I could spend three or more hours in Stansted Airport for a one hour flight and get the bus in from their, or travel by train to Kings Cross and travel by train for six hours or so to Waverley Station.  Just thinking about it all makes me wonder if it would be worth while, especially now the cold east wind is hurling wind up my trouser leg.  I might just wait till Spring, the Haar eases of then and the gloom lightens up somewhat.

It is difficult enough to travel to London just now let alone Edinburgh.  Each weekend for the next couple of months (which means until Spring) they are working on the lines so all trains are replaced by buses from Chelmsford onwards, that's normally a 45 minute journey!  No weekend in the 'Big Smoke' (Smokeless now so what to call it?) for me these days.  In time all this will lead to an improved service or at least that is the hope but the cynical commuter puts things differently!  It does not take much to disrupt a train service, one man stood in front of one just outside the station and argued with the driver for 45 minutes because of a ticket problem.  The friendly travel police took him away.  No train service can be satisfactory all the time but privatisation has made it worse and that is the ideology driving this Tory government today.  Things will only get worse!

 
I wonder where that is?
It looks a bit Londonish to me but I have no recollection of taking this picture.  It is possible I took it on my travels but who knows.  I quite like it.
You can tell I have not got out, not that there is anything to see around here just now.  Instead I cleaned the fridge (bi-annual event) and sorted these pictures.  I ripped up and dumped hundreds in a cruel but required exercise today.  Most were duplicates, many were children unknown belonging to friends, many more were our lot and not worth keeping now and others were just rubbish.  The wheely bin will be heavy next time dustman!  
Work tomorrow, someone skiving off again!

Sabbath Musings

 

At last, and after far too long a break, the football season proper has returned!

The usual start of course, Rangers, the SPFLs friend get an easy start while the Heart of Midlothian play Celtic and then Aberdeen and that one away!  Naturally also today we outplayed Celtic and they steal the game with a lucky breakaway goal near the end.  It was ever thus!  

Also naturally I was informed the game began at three in the afternoon and having been out this morning and rushing home to see the other game between St Johnstone v Aberdeen at 12 I happily drifted into asleep after the game knowing I would miss nothing.  I missed 30 minutes of the referees preference for the visitors as the game actually began at 2:15!! GRRR! It's a disgrace!

Now however as always I am emotionally worn out, I need another rest, my heart has skipped a beat, my nerves are shaking, and my head spinning.  This football wears you out and there is still nine more months of this to go!

 

Olympics, I really don't care!  The BBC is totally given over to this waste of cash and every channel is full of this extravaganza.

Since Lord Coe in his heedless determination to have a Great Britain football team for the London Olympics that we will still be paying for in a centuries time, since he informed the Scots to 'F. Off! when the Scottish Football Association refused to play ball I have lost any lingering concern for this 'Team GB' an absurd way to describe the team anyway.  There is no 'GB' and there should be no 'Team GB.'   It ought to be called 'Team UK' but because some in Northern Ireland don't like it so that part is omitted to allow them to choose whether to be GB or Ireland.  Yet Scots are forced to be GB, it's a disgrace!

Rarely will I watch any of the late night offerings, most of which will concentrate on England, sorry, 'Team GB' anyway.  I am glad some football will be available to take the mind of things.

It is at least better than tennis!

Cup Final Day Again

Scotsman

What an interesting afternoon's football.  The Scottish League Cup Final and once again the wee team failed in a cup final, poor Hibernian built themselves up to expect a win and got beat with the winning goal coming in the last couple of minutes.  Oh dear oh dearie me.

Normally on such occasions, and there have been may, I would laugh at my Hibby friends, today however has been different.  I just could not laugh at a man who was so down he needs to be on suicide watch as the bus makes its long slow way back from Glasgow into Leith.

As a supporter of the Big Team, the Heart of Midlothian, I understand the emptiness, anger and confusion that follows a defeat in a major tournament, after all we have been there rather too often ourselves.  Indeed when I started to follow football the Heart of Midlothian won this cup themselves in 1962 ans we all expected this behaviour to continue, it didn't!  Indeed in spite of many attempts at both cups and the league itself we were bereft for many years.  Woe and dissolution are not unknown down Gorgie way.

It was one sunny afternoon while standing in Edinburgh's Princes Street waiting for the open top bus carrying the victorious Scottish Cup Winning Heart of Midlothian side of 1998 that our agony ended.  That day the thousands gathered knew only one phrase, "I've waited forty years for this!"  And many of us had!  Forty long despairing years and at last we broke through.  Indeed we have since won the cup a couple of times again and it has become a bit of a bore really.  The Heart of Midlothian of course won the Scottish Cup, the oldest football trophy in the whole world, poor Hibernian today failed to capture the League Cup, the second of the cup trophies one they have managed to win within living memory.  

The Scottish Cup Hibernian have indeed had their name carved on this prestigious trophy however the last time this occurred was in 1902 a day so long in the distant past that had any of the players survived until today they would be 114 years of age older than they were on that day.  Few if any have survived.  

Man has flown, even to the moon, discovered radio waves, television, microwaves, and fought two world wars and suffered severe depressions worldwide yet in all this Hibernians failure to win the Scottish Cup has been a failure they cannot endure.  Still across the city we find it a giggle.  

So my friend sleeping on the bus home, enduring bad dreams of loss and pain, will not have to endure my sniggers at his teams failure again.  My emotions were touched at his cry of "Doom, Doom!" All the way along the M8.  All is loss and his wife and child, who will suffer also as he is being raised in this sad support of Hibernian, will see their man reduced to a shattered shell yet again.  We all know what this pain is like, we have all been there, just be glad it is him and not us.Those horses will have clipped clopped back into the garage with the Hibs open top bus once again.

 

Debating

This football lark is a funny old game right enough.  Two men sitting in different sides of the stadium see two completely different games.  Facts are blinded by bias.  Situations that are clear to one are disbelieved by the other simply because they wish it to be so.  Sadly this can continue for years into the future and no fact can ever cause this to cease.
Sunday was one such situation.  Hurrying home I switched on the Heart of Midlothian v Hibs derby in the Scottish Cup, a game we usually win, and sat back to enjoy another rollicking 4-0 victory.  This by half time was what I was expecting as we swept aside the wee teams puerile attempts at football in spite of the kicking they gave our better players and our manager deliberately giving Hibs a chance by playing two men who were not fully match fit.   The kicks led to three our our noble players being replaced as injury forced them from the field, brutal Hibs tactics continued unceasing to the end I must note.  The injuries and a rather strange desire to sit back and wait for full time led to Hibernian stealing two goals, one from a fluke of a header and the other while assaulting the goalkeeper, and this brought a great deal of rejoicing from the lower orders in the visitors stand.

Inevitably this led to wasting much time later that day attempting to transform the somewhat over the top reaction from the Leith faithful who saw a draw as a significant victory.  I suppose as a wee team a draw with a Big Team is indeed a victory and it was important for them to make the most of their temporary position.  However I fell it was my duty to keep them sane, a near impossible idea I realise.
Many rude and needless words flew from the enemy as they considered themselves victorious.  I have required to remind them of the proverb:-

Haughtiness leads to a fall

Pride leads to destruction.

They will not listen.  I indicated the fact that sitting in a stadium full to the brim was an unusual event for them and this may be playing on their minds, minds that are easily distracted,and the noise generated must have been an alien sound  for them, but they still would not listen, possibly they are deaf.
Reminding them of the overall statistics did not hinder the wee lads attempts at argument, facts as you know are not acceptable to them.  Indeed several clear penalties as well as the assault on the goalkeeper appear to have been missed by standards that Willie Collum would be proud off.  I suspect sitting in the 'Roseburn Bar' for an hour before the game might be at the root of their failure to accept facts.
Now the whole weary business must be done again in a week or so's time.  Once more our gallant boys will suffer bad decisions and many knocks as they continue our noble effort at football education in Leith.  Will they be grateful for this free lesson?  I somehow doubt it.  
Now I discover they are unable to show this game on live TV as it clashes with European games, have Hibernian deliberately chosen this date to stop people watching them humiliated I ask?
It's a disgrace!

The successful Hibernian team on the open top bus 

the last time they won the Scottish Cup!

Musing

An item caught my eye the other day that lingers in my mind.  It was one of those celeb things that irk me so much. This one featured Brooklyn Beckham the son of the failed footballer and his stick insect wife.  These two have made a living by posing, him with a dumb expression that comes from his head and she by pouting in the same posture she has used for these past twenty years.  Neither have actually done anything, he was an overrated player who Fergie dealt with correctly while she sang feebly in a band based on 'Girl Power,' a power invented by a male by the way.  Later she was making an album when the recording studio stopped her as it 'would not sell.'  How lucky are we?
Anything is used to gain cheap publicity, cheap publicity which brings them in millions!  
There children similarly are being used for publicity and Brooklyn, named after the place where he was conceived and isn't it lucky he was not conceived in the Balls Pond Road!  Anyway he apparently has an Instagram account, whatever that is, and is followed by some 5.8 million people according to the ever reliable 'Daily Mail.'  Five point eight million?  The lad is only sixteen!  
What has he done to earn, or been given this following?  Indeed why does anybody follow the Beckham's in the first place?  The pair of them are as false as a six pound note for crying out loud, and there is nothing there!  
Millions follow these people for what reason, what do they get out of following two grossly over rich people who do nothing?  He played football she has her own fashion designs (does she actually design them?) and they have children, what is there here?  How can a sixteen year old who has merely posed with dad have such a following?  
I have done nothing, been nothing, failed at everything I have touched just like them so where is my following making me millions?  Where are the companies desirous of my presence where adverts for their products are being made?  If you wish a nobody then here I am!
Bah!

BBC

Some years ago this man, Mark McGhee, attempted to become the manager of the Heart of Midlothian.  He changed his mind at the last minute and avoided meeting the then chairman, one Mad Vlad Romanov, he who himself has disappeared from the face of the earth to avoid his debtors. 
Instead he awaited the call to become the manager of Celtic football club, a club he once played for but was rather upset when the job went elsewhere.  However he was appointed manager at Aberdeen and got the fans behind him at the start by claiming "I really wanted the Celtic job but this was all that was on offer."
Such ability to endear himself to the fans was enlivened some time later when his players, many of whom did not like him or his attitude, got stuffed by 9 goals to nil from the Celtic team.  Marks response was to say "Well it's really only three points," while giving the clear impression that he cared not a jot.  His team floundered and he hung on until sacked, the integrity of walking away from a failed job as not in his character and so he left football for a while.
His friend Gordon Strachan, the man who left Celtic and opened the avenue for Mark to think the job was his, took our man as his assistant when he got the Scotland job, a job he, Strachan has been  doing reasonably well in the circumstances.  Circumstances that have failed us by the way.  Recently Mark undertook a new job as manager of Motherwell football club, a major part of Scotland's football world.  The team were struggling somewhat in spite of containing many decent players and Mark McGhee has turned them around and seen them rise up the table and it will be no surprise to find them finishing the season in the top six come May.
However I suspect McGhee has a purpose in all this and Motherwell football club play only a bit part.  I suspect our man will be hoping the present Celtic manager gets his jotters come May and our man reckons that by doing a good job at Motherwell will allow his name to be put forward (by him and his agent) in the hope that he will at last get the Celtic job he so desperately desires.  
One slight objection to all this was the visit of his Motherwell side to Tynecastle Park which as you know is the home of the Heart of Midlothian.  This the team he rejected, this the team he claimed during the week would not be allowed to 'bully' his team and this the club that did not bully but did defeat his Motherwell side by SIX goals to NIL! 
Tsk!

You will have noticed that Mark McGhee was pictured standing in a snowfall.  That is because it is freezing around here and up there the snow was falling so hard many games were off and some abandoned half way through.  Here we merely had a smattering during the night that had gone before I woke and the sun shone through the freezing air all day.   
I hope those of you in climes where 40% of heat are causing to you complain realise how difficult it is to type when frostbite gnaws at the hands!  Drinking tea is hard when you have to chip the ice off beforehand.  I sit hear with my feet on the heater and an icicle on my nose. 
Bah!

Saturday Stroll

I strolled along the murky river bank this lunchtime thinking it would make a change from the usual route.  Recently the council have upgraded the are with tarmac pathways and landscaping the grasslands however as I came in from the far side I noticed they had stopped half way!  What was the point of that?  Halfway down there is a small weir and from then on there is just a dirt path.  As it has been raining for yonks this is a near impassible swamp in places and muggings was trying to slither through here.  My opinion of the council varied with each slide into the mud.  

  
The sign at the bridge warning of either danger or punishment for playing or drowning in the river has as yet not had itself renovated.  Possibly the cash ran out just as they reached the weir and so it has been left to a later years budget.  Under this Tory government and Tory council it will be put back more than ever now.  
Note the sludge like effect of the rain on the water.  So much has slipped into the river with all this rain, the banks are eroding and the weight of water is rushing through at places tearing the banks down as it passes.  This is a small river just imagine what is happening elsewhere?  

 
The locals are car lovers in these parts however I am not so sure about the owner of either of these two.  As I recall they were standing there when I delivered up this road many moons ago and now with new houses built next door they appear to possess this small plot of land all to themselves.  Maybe someone lives within?  I should have knocked.  However it may be the owner is spending some time at Her Majesty's Pleasure in one of those ageing prisons that are so overcrowded we often release murderous thugs early from their sentences.  Possibly they will return one day and be somewhat surprised  that nobody has put some sort of ticket upon them.  These are not the only hulks slowly falling apart, and I don't mean me either.  When I think of it a trip to the inlets where yachts are stored usually reveals several eroding away and one or two well under the water.  Maybe this chap owns a rusting boat also?

The possibility of improving this are to make it an attractive spot in summer will probably never happen while we suffer under George Osborne's 'austerity.'  However even if money was spent the place might still be a wee bit rough.  People pass through from the town to the dwellings on the south side and while dog walkers and eejits with cameras may find pleasure in this it might take a lot more work to make this wee part of the town acceptable to all.  I think it may be worth it in the long run.  

My day was excellent and this was topped of by watching the Heart of Midlothian defeat the miserable Aberdeen by one goal to nil in the Scottish Cup.  The arrogance of the Dons in thinking they are bigger club than the Heart of Midlothian!  This was shown today when the one goal ought to have been joined by seven or eight more.  Onwards to the next round and dubious refereeing from the Glasgow mob.

Dreich Saturday

This morning the plan was to rise at six thirty, cycle around for a while, visit the fruit & veg man, shop at Tesco and post the last two Christmas cards.  A simple straight forward day.  As I rose just after seven the wireless announced rain, I peered through the condensation soaked windows at the gray clouds and the drizzling rain to confirm their suspicions.  The bike faded from my mind, the veg could wait and I suddenly considered a slow breakfast important.
I eventually managed the shopping, lots of almost but not quite gone off fruit amongst it, one day I might take some of his 'eat quickly' fruit and stick it in a large vessel and let it ferment.  It might turn into a nice fruit liqueur!  Nothing then happened.
It didn't happen later on either.
The last cards entered Royal Mail's keeping, I wandered through Amazon looking for the last two gifts and had to stop myself spending large sums on myself!  Why do they offer books I want but not books I require for others?  I find other shops often have a similar problem.  I am still looking for the other books...

 
I then spent lunchtime watching the Heart of Midlothian up at Aberdeen.  I could have wished the game to have been rained off!  It was not very good.  We eventually lost to a lucky goal.  I spent several minutes in tears then went wandering through the charity shops to cheer myself up.  I succeeded in this the simple way by not spending any money.  That at least was a good thing today.
The rain continues, the clouds promise to remain all week, I promise to keep wearing my 'Bah Humbug! hat at work where it serves a purpose.  I wish I had bought more I could have made a packet selling them!  Bah!
I'm going back to bed...

Saturday Meandering

What a brilliant sunshine day today.  Naturally I stayed inside, I don't want this to become a habit or I might start enjoying life.  It has been a restful few days, I only went into the museum for half an hour on Friday, I came out two hours later, these women do talk, but it was less busy than I expected.
For some strange reason having had almost no books to read a few days ago I appear to be finding them everywhere, I landed two in the museum, and there appears to be a growing pile in, er, well several places.  Three by my bed, a couple here, a few in the loo, and several on the shelf waiting patiently.  Funny how few in the family read anything but a tabloid paper.  They have the brains, why do they waste their lives like this?  

As you are asking yes the Heart of Midlothian still top the league.  A win against Partick Thistle today by a mere three goals to nil was the least we would expect.  I listened on the Hearts radio but it is not as good as seeing pictures.  Indeed the Hearts radio output has never been good since Donaldson left to make money in far of USA.  In those days the three men worked well together, it was like being with your mates at the game.  Today the commentator does his job, Jimmy Sandison also but there is no 'spark' no humour, no life to it.  This is a shame as it would be good if the element of enjoyment of sharing the game with mates returned.
Still we are top of the league and doing OK all things considered.

 

I'm annoyed.  Indeed I am somewhat peeved.  The media are showing video clips of an aircraft crash at an airshow.  A Hawker Hunter jet, once the best in the world, attempted a loop the loop and the pilot misjudged his angles or had a problem on the way down.  The plane crashed into the ground near a roadway and several are believed dead. 

That in itself does not irk me, such tragedy's do occur though rarely at UK airshows these days.  The problem is the video taken at the time is shown complete until the moment the aircraft hits the ground then the picture 'stutters' and restarts moments after the crash.  Why?  Are we not supposed to see the plane hit the earth?  Is this a legal thing?  Could it be considering the victims on the ground?  I wonder.  It appeared to me to be yet another of those 'nanny' like things which bedevil society today.

There are warnings on almost every packet saying 'This could contain nuts,' things that get heated warn 'This could be hot' and signs everywhere say 'Mind the step' or 'Slippery when wet.'  What happened to common sense?  

I agree some situations warrant a warning sign but most are posted just because daft folks sue simply to make money, the majority are not required.  I doubt hindering the death of an airplane requires a two second blurring of an accident.  Good grief I came into this world just after a war, fifty million died yet nobody held up a warning notice. Would it have helped to erect one on the Polish border? 'War making can be dangerous, contact your solicitor.'  Plane travel is safer than any other form of transport these days but in the fifties accidents, even at airshows, were common.  Why have we become so namby pamby these days?  

It is time for a return fo some 'stiff upper lip' and some 'common sense.'