Sally Mair - Loving life

By Sallymair

Back to my yoof!

I went into town today to go to the Cornerstone Bookshop at St John's, so walked across Hope Street by Binns. Its actually called the Johnnie Walker Whisky Experience now, but it will always be Binns, and this is the Binns clock. It was one of the highlights of my childhood to come into Edinburgh and see the soldiers marching around the clock to Scotland the Brave. (we also visited the floral clock at the Mound, but that came a poor second with its wimpish cockoo calling the hour) Sadly the Binns clock hasn't worked for decades. Today though, I glanced up at it as usual and as I did so it suddenly whirred into life, the slightly off key sound of Scotland the Brave played on bells burst over the sound of the west end traffic and I was instantly transported. I managed to get my phone out in time to record the moment for posterity. The soldiers march at 7 minutes and 37 minutes past the hour, Scotland the Brave near the hour and Caller Herrin' near the half hour. Half of Edinburgh used to meet under the Binns clock and if the chimes sounded you knew that the person you were meeting was probably not coming so you slunk away trying to pretend you hadn't been stood up!
I knew the clock was due to be fixed by the Johnnie Walker company but it was such a joy to actually see it in action again.
I've been cooking today and clearly in one of my facetious modes. "Let it simmer" the recipe said, so I told it to go ahead, that I didn't mind. "Roughly chop the potatoes" it said, "into 1 inch cubes" , that's not roughly chopped that's precision engineering. "Allow it to cool" , it said, so I turned the gas off and said "Go ahead" , honestly I give up. The final straw came, when I realised I clearly hadn't read the whole recipe to the end. "Have the butter ready creamed" it said with a supercilious type face.
At this point Colin went for a walk to Sainsburys i don't think he could take any more. :-)
Bridge this evening and pizza for dinner unless I over work the dough having left it alone in a warm place to prove! "Prove what?" I asked it, to no response!
Back to normal tomorrow hopefully, meanwhile, keep safe.
Do you think increased facetiousness could be a covid symptom? My apologies if you find my comment on your blips today in any way inappropriate as a result of my ongoing state of mind, lol.

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