Like my other favourite ancient places of Edinburgh, York and Durham; Berwick upon Tweed has wonderful nooks and crannies and loads of old buildings.  It has different levels and twists and turns making for a really interesting exploration. Unfortunately, the camera on my phone can’t do it justice so visit yourself!

We had no sooner arrived at Berwick upon Tweed train station than we heard a familiar voice calling “Hello Panners!” – it was Sandra, my friend and fairtrade co-worker.  It really is a ‘Small World’!  After saying goodbye to Sandra we headed off down Castlegate for some fish and chips. We hadn’t really planned to [...]

Nigel and I are full of cold and have been for days.  We barely make a well person between us. That’s not to say it’s been a miserable few days, it hasn’t.  Just blimmin’ exhausting. On Wednesday we had the best Screen-Free evening so far.  We blethered, solved riddles, learned magic tricks.  Excellent! I’m trying [...]

I am currently engaged in robust and lengthy discussions to get a “A Fairtrade Town” sign added below the existing “Welcome to Prestonpans” signs.  Whenever I feel dispirited I will think of a sign in southern Italy that reads “Ercolano, territory freed of extortion“. Ercolano has become the first Italian town to stop paying extortion [...]

On the auspicious occasion of Mahashivratri, may Lord Shiva bless you with strength & peace. I’m full of cold at the moment and a bhang ki thandai (without the bhang, obv) would go down very well.

It was a glorious day today – one of those mornings that promises spring is round the corner.  Unfortunately, I’m absolutely full of cold and feeling rubbish so could do little more than issue commands to everyone else. Nigel was completely brilliant.  With my bow saw, he cut back the apple tree and the worst [...]

Once the scope of a project has been defined, the next stage of project management  involves putting together a project team. This project team, either collectively or individually (depending on skill sets) will be responsible for such things as determining a funding strategy, undertaking an environmental review etc, and all the while conforming to best [...]

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery re-opened on the 1st of December 2011, following Portrait of the Nation, a 2 1/2 year refurbishment.  The project had 3 main aims: to restore and reveal much more of the building than ever before to show many more works of art, and introduce a new, regularly changing display programme to [...]

Wednesday We had lunch at The Goth (scampi and half a pint of Porter for me). Whenever I’m in The Goth, I always take a look at the book shelf.  It never has any children’s books so I left Postman Pat’s Cat-up-a-tree Party; Rosie and Jim at the Seaside); About the Zoo; Im Still Important; [...]

Despite being full of beans this morning, Lucy was unwell for much of last night. As I was up with her, I was quite tired this morning so wanted a quiet day at home (I think we are all coming down with some awful lurg). While Nigel and the girls were watching the Robin and [...]