The Monkey Sessions comeback tour started and ended last night at The Three Monkeys.
The Monkey Sessions
I think everyone really enjoyed their set.
Part of the audience
It was also very nice to meet up with Fifi and family. I hadn’t seen her for ages.
Later on, there was a drive-by tomato attack outside the pub. One of a series of similar incidents in Porty.
The tomato
Christmas meal round at the Hall's house.
I’ve just uploaded Alma Mater, by John McKenzie, for free on Kindle. This is a promotional deal, available for a couple of days. The book is about being at Edinburgh University in the early 1970s. I remember those days, so I couldn’t have been there.
Big Jum, Shaun, Jamie and myself played Risk last night. Big Jum was yellow, Jamie was blue, Shaun was green and I was red.
After 1 hour
After 2 hours, Shaun was annihilated
After 3 hours
After 4 hours, Shaun took over from me, as red.
After 5 hours
After 6 hours, Big Jum annihilated Jamie, and went on to win the game
Yes, it’s a bottle opener, in the shape of a cricket ball.
Cricket ball bottle opener
Sent to me by Jimbo, in Oz.
What is this?
Answers in a Comment, please.
The one thing I’d change about my life, if I had a chance to do so, is my teeth. They’ve given me a lot of problems over the years. A lot of pain, and a lot of expense. I currently have a very good dentist, but there’s not a great deal inside my mouth for him to work with, anymore. I think that the dentist I had in my twenties wasn’t very good, and did some damage.
Today I had a tooth extracted. The dentist said “When you damaged the tooth last week, was there a ‘crack’ sound?” “Yes” I said. He said “Well it wasn’t the tooth that cracked, but rather the bone.”
I think he meant the aveolar bone, which would explain why my jaw swelled up, and why I hit the roof any time afterwards when I crunched on it.
My granny had all her teeth out for a 21st birthday present. My great uncle went to the dentist with toothache when he was in the army. He said he didn’t want pain like that again, so got the dentist to take them all out, despite there being nothing wrong with the rest of them. Bad teeth are in my genes.
The dentist said that, as you get older, it can become more and more difficult to pull teeth. He said he had an 80-year-old in the previous week, and was yanking away at a tooth for more than twenty minutes before it came out.
Obviously, no-one wants to see photos in this post.
We met Penny and John half way between Edinburgh and Evanton, at Blair Atholl, and enjoyed Sunday lunch in the ballroom at Blair Castle. Blair Castle, just off the A9, is the ancient seat of the Dukes and Earls of Atholl. The castle is situated at the south-west end of Glen Tilt.
The ballroom was designed by David Bryce and completed in 1876.
Outside the main entrance
The main entrance
Organic roast beef with a large Yorkshire pudding
The lunch party
On the walls of the ballroom
On the walls of the ballroom
Colonel John George Stewart-Murray, the 8th Duke of Atholl, served in in Kitchener’s expedition to the Sudan, fighting at the Battle of Khartoum, and the Battle of Atbara. Hence the outfits in the above two photos.
Dangerous
Buying drinks from a barman with your debit card, when you’ve spent all your ready cash and you’re in a pub with Fat Mac, should be outlawed. No wonder Fat Mac fell asleep on the bus home, and ended up in Tranent.
The other day I met up with the TAK and we went to PekoeTea in Leven Street. It’s always nice to have a chat with the TAK, though I think that this time I monopolised most of the conversation.
TAK having tea in PekoeTea
PekoeTea is a specialist tea shop. They sell everything from Dragon Pearl to Satemwa tea from Malawi.
I enjoyed a pot of Pai Mu Dan (China white tea) so much that I bought a packet. TAK said that his China Green Tea was excellent. The shop is quite small, but they seem to have an extensive stock.
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