the clear-out begins...

We've been making way for the baby today. My wife has started her "nesting" and has had a bit of a cull of stuff that is "clutter". Getting rid of stuff is strangely therapeutic - and brings back some happy memories - notably when she pulled out a tiny outfit that my daughter wore (for about 2 days) - we don't know what we are getting - but to be honest, another girl would make life easier (and cheaper) - we have so much pink stuff - the thought of doing the whole thing again - with everything blue is more than my bank manager can take - either that or my son will be wearing pink for the first few years of his life and blame me for why he's always felt more like a girl...

another one bites the dust

Have been very lucky the past 24 hrs or so....Prestonfield House one day, and a wedding at another posh hotel - this time in Glenrothes the next. This was made even better for the fact that my daughter wasn't invited, and so my wife were reminded of what life was like before children - but as we're about to have another in 4 weeks time, it was more a slap in the face than anything else. Still, it was good to see lots of friends again and enjoy good food (I drank substantially less as I had a slightly sore head after too much red wine and rich food the previous evening). And to see a friend get married after all this time....couldn't be more happy for the chap....and he'd done so well to evade marriage for such a long time!!!!

Prestonfield House

Went for a posh meal at Prestonfield House Hotel in Edinburgh on Friday night (I wasn't paying, so enjoyed it even more). Tried to see where Mike Watson tried to start a fire - but failed. Suddenly had a sense of paranoia while taking a pee in the gents as I thought I was being watched by cctv...A very good evening - child free, great food and wine and company. Doubt I'll be doing that again for a while though....

what no lights?

Got on my bike this morning - and started cycling to work when I looked down and something was missing. I then realised that some bastard has stolen my light - just in time for the winter too. Coming from a stairwell with 6 flats - with a locked main door, I can only presume that the culprit is someone from one of the other flats - 4 of which are families, which I can safely rule out. One of the people in the stair has had his bicycle seat stolen twice, so it's becoming a bit of a habit - but it's infuriating...I'd like to catch the little toe-rag in the act and give them a good kicking.... Could do with this chap to help solve the crime:

Edinburgh - dirtiest city in UK?

Edinburgh must be one of the dirtiest cities in the UK. I always feel shame once I come back from holidaying in cities where you can eat your dinner off the pavement (not that I do that), Walking or cycling through the Meadows to see overflowing bins and litter and broken bottles everywhere is a depressing and shameful sight. The council are mainly responsible for this - they could get the 12,000 traffic wardens they currently employ (this might be a slight exaggeration) and get them doing something useful, rather than purely vindictive. But the main problem lies with us, the general public. I'd give my full backing to the council to clamp down hard on the little toe-rags who throw litter all over the place - give them a £20 on-the-spot fine (it's usually spotty teenagers) - or else make them do some sort of community service - cleaning the Meadows for example. Another thing that would help is for the council to provide more bins - and to actually empty then once in a while.

Sunday morning

Had I not had my alarm go off at 6.45am this morning (my 2 year old daughter), I might have fancied a lie-in. Now, I'm not actually big on lie-ins but had I been lucky enough to choose to have one, the 4 pneumatic drills outside my flat window at 9am probably wouldn't have helped. To get 4 or 5 council workers (especially those who work on the roads) working is unusual in itself - the irony of it being a Sunday morning was not lost on me...but then I cynically realised that they were probably on double time - on a Monday (or any other weekday) no doubt they'd have been having a tee break for the first couple of hours before even thinking about actually doing any work...the roads in this city are a joke - I cycle to work - a journey of only about 20 mins - but reckon that the roads to Basra are probably in better condition than those in Edinburgh -pot-holes the size of small children are common - but bizarrely, they have chosen to dig up my street - which is in pretty good condition. The logic of the council never fails to amaze.