Catering contrasts

Whilst in Edinburgh yesterday I had occassion to have coffee in Debenham's restaurant at Ocean Terminal. The coffee cost £1.60 and a small macaroon biscuit was £1.35 Both were ok but I suspect there is a premium element to the cost based on the proximity of the Royal Yacht Britannia which is berthed outside the restaurant window.









Later, in central Edinburgh, we tried a new restaurant called The Sizzling Scot. When we went in we told them that we just had to eat and run as our baby sitter needed to be relieved by 9pm. The service was excellent and the wait staff were very pleasant. We ordered steaks and 10 minutes later two large plates of appetising food arrived and we tucked in with gusto. The verdict; we need to go again for a more leisurly visit to allow for starters and desserts!
If in Edinburgh try this place, it really was very good.

A roadtrip with the kids

Wednesday and Daddy has to go to Aberfoyle to visit Dounans Outdoor Centre and, although Mommy does not want to come, the kids are happy to oblige and so, bikes in car, off we go on another adventure. Pictures can be viewed at Aberfoyle Adventure

Friday and Mommy decides to enlist the kids' help in baking a birthday cake. Although her birthday is not until tomorrow we all get to have birthday cake for dessert this evening. I'll post more pictures after Mrs Ted has actually had her next birthday.

Croissants from a cash machine?

On Saturday, as I was busy working on my computer, my wife and kids set off for the Biggar Show ahead of me. They also took my last £10 note with them so, when I was ready to follow , I first had to pay a visit to the cash machine. Normally the local High Street Bank machine is either out of order or has a long queue on a Saturday but today it had an enormous line of people waiting at it. So I drove on by and went to the Co-Op machine (HEB equivalent) There was no queue there - because it was broken! Oh well, the good thing about the Co-Op is that you can get cash back at the checkout so in I went to find an item of produce, which I did not need other than to justify my presence at the till, .... and that is how we ended up having croissants for breakfast on Sunday.

After breakfast we embarked on a trip to Livingston to buy a present for one of Eddy's little friends who is having a birthday party next Saturday. We arrived at lunchtime, had chicken and chips from KFC, and then braved the Toys R Us store with Eddy and Little Ted. They were very restrained really - for 4 and 2 year olds; but we still didn't manage to get out without buying yet more toys for Eddy and Little Ted as well as an appropriate offering for the birthday gilrl!
On the way home we called in to see Jim, Jean, Mhairi, and Cameron and the kids got to have a go on their new trampoline.
Pictures can be seen at: Fun Day Out

Saturday is agricultural show day ...

... and Biggar, in South Lanarkshire is no exception.
This is where the local farmers parade their prize stock and compete for best of show rosettes and then retire to the beer tent for a well deserved refreshment.
Strangely, there seem to be no pigs at the Biggar show; there is also a noticable lack of donkeys as well. Perhaps they don't specialize in these areas in Lanarkshire. Certainly, at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh you get all these things together.
One of the quaint things about a local show is the competitions for best scone, or best loaf of bread, or best flower arrangement. Biggar is no exception here and there was a superb display of such things in the "Industrial Tent" - why in this tent? Unfortunately I had a lapse of concentration whilst in this area and neglected to take any pictures. This is a shame because I'm sure everyone would be facinated by views of cakes and muffins all protected on their tables by a screen of chicken wire. Still, the photo of my daughter attempting to milk a cow in the same tent may go some way to compensate for this ommission.

The pictures from our day out at Biggar show are "on show" at this location on Ted's website

... more from Friday

On leaving the office around 6pm I heard a cat being strangled and went to investigate. It was not, of course, a real case of animal cruelty but rather Jimmy warming up his bagpipes to give a group of French tourists a truly Scottish experience.

Jimmy pipes in the haggis for our French visitors each year.

Nearly home and I stopped to talk to neighbours, Sharon and Jim, who were out attending to their garden.

.... much later in the night, even Jenna is worn out and has taken up her place guarding the children from any unsavory elements such as, oh say - the bedroom cleanup fairy.

Friday, a day at the end of the week

We had a new photocopier delivered this afternoon; deposited in bits on the office floor awaiting installation engineers who, sadly, did not feel inclined to start a 3 hour assembly job at 4.30pm Alas we shall have to wait until Monday to appreciate the delights of our new Multi Function Printer.

This is the debris left, at our request, by the delivery people and destined to form the start of a bonfire.

Thursday night on the way home

I think I wore them out!

A walk on a pleasant sunny evening

Having returned home with my coffee mug this evening, and with the sun shining and the temperature in the 70's, I suggested to my children that they might like to go for a walk with Daddy. To my surprise they immediately ran off to put their shoes on and so off we went for a walk around the block.

The "block" turned into a walk in the woods which is the direct walking route from home to work.

We carried on for quite some distance and eventually found the culprits who "mooed" through the night disturbing our camping evening.

This is a panorama view of where we walked.

Little Ted, being a boy!

This little menace is just at the age of getting into everything and not understanding the word NO.
He is, however, full of fun and loves an adventure. This time he has wrapped his workbench in his bedcover , sat on it, and dissappeared bottom first into the cavern that he created.
He needed assistance to get out again :-)

Eddy goes cycling with Daddy

Tonight, in my eagerness to leave work and return to the bosom of my family, I forgot to take my travel coffee mug home with me. This must go in the dishwasher each evening and be ready for my morning intake of caffeine or else!
So Eddy agreed to accompany me on the bicycle to retrieve the mug. I felt the need to cycle rather than take a vehicle as work is only about a mile from home and I feel guilty enough producing greenhouse gasses going to and from work at normal times never mind adding an extra journey.
If you have ever travelled any distance with a four year old you will appreciate that I could not get a word in edgewise during the entire round trip as my daughter talked, chirpped, and squealed excitedly ALL THE WAY. Perhaps just as well since talking and cycling do not go well together at my time of life!

The view from our tent

My children have been unreasonably excited by the prospect of camping and I have been equally unreasonably anxious about the prospect of spending a night under canvas with them as their enthusiasm wanes and develops into whines of "can we go home now daddy!"

A test night in the back yard proved very successful with the kids enjoying the experience and falling asleep early enough to allow me peace to upload some pictures of their adventure. These can be seen at:

Tartan Ted Website

My wife was kind enough to grow some lilies outside the tent to brighten up our outlook; if brightening up anything at 5am when the kids woke up was even necessary!

Fields of blue linseed flowers

This is a view of Tinto hill in South Lanarkshire, Scotland taken in July 2005. Unfortunately the flowering linseed is just passed its best but the photo still gives quite a good impression.

I saw an article on the TV yesterday which kind of explains why these "blue" fields have started to appear around here. It seems that the linseed plant provides raw material in the making of linoleum, an historic Scottish product, which is being revived as an industry to provide floor coverings for hospitals. Someone has finally decided that clean floors made of naturally germ resistent linoleum will go a long way towards combating hospital "super bugs". I mean to say, the British even put carpet in their bathrooms - no wonder they have problems with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)