Bill Hill's blog

My first wife, and still one of my closest friends, Jean, introduced me to this concept which isn't too far away from Bhuddism. Basically if you think good things, good things will come into your life. A number of good things have come into my life recently and as a result I have been in a very positive frame of mind.

I met a lovely young woman, Praharshanie, at the excellent Ingram's B&B yesterday and discovered it is owned by a friend and fellow Fencible, David Ingram. A full day tour was planned and we set off at a cracking pace. It was a clear morning but clouded over in the afternoon and we had covered the full day route by 14.00 hours! An alfresco coffee at the Art galleries and then we parted, me to go home and Praharshanie to visit the galleries. A thoroughly pleasant time spent in the company of an attractive, cultured and intelligent woman. Does life get any better?

Had a great afternoon with 6 teachers from Pardubice who were in East Lothian to study education provision there. I am an ex council officer and my former colleagues always use me as a guide when they have visiting groups. The afternoon was spent in a riot of chatter and laughter. They are fabulous people and we got on so well. The Crech Republic is landlocked so they were very keen to see the Sea. So we visited the bents at Gullane and Jan, the only male in the group, decided to go for a swim. Fabulous! But thats your jolly over with, Jan.

With the greatest of respect, Americans are not the best walkers in the world, so it was with a little trepidation that I agreed to take Ed Conn from Los angeles California on a walking tour- Ed is almost 90! His son Martin decided to treat his dad to a visit to Edinburgh. I met him at the Apex International Hotel and we went from there to the Castle and took it in. Ed moved with some degree of difficulty and was slow but gee did he have what the Duke of Edinburgh used to call 'stickability'.

I've been neglecting the blog lately preparing for the busy Summer months ahead,so if I want to keep things fresh, I'v got some prioritisation to do. Las evening I maet up with a group of French students from Ecole National Superieure Des Mines, led by my friend Lilian Bois-Simon. I met her last year when she brought another group. We got on well and It was good to be asked again. As usual, the kids were a credit to their School and to France. Well educated, knowledgeable and polite.

Next morning, I took the group on a tour of the old and new towns of Edinburgh. The weather was great again and we got to go round the Queens Park. At the Highest part of the road, you have no notion of the city surrounding you. Standing by the loch, you could be out on the country. A number of the kids, under the supervision of the teachers, decided to go to the summit of Arthur's Seat.

I spent 2 days in the fine company of teachers and students from the Kandinsky School in the Netherlands. I was working for Senlac Tours for the first time and what a great experience it was. Day one was a tour to the Trossachs in the biggest coach I have ever seen, driven by Ivo, a fantastic guy to work with. The weather was superb, albeit with a cold wind. We visited Kilmahog Woollen Mill and I introduced them to Hamish.

My younger daughter, Lindsay is studying to be a teacher at Strathclyde University (my old alma mater) and shares halls with a lovely Canadian girl called Amelia, who plays Rugby. Well, whatever floats your boat! Amelia's parents, Mike and Sherry visited Edinburgh and Lindsay asked me to give them a tour. What a super day it was with clear skies but a biting westerly wind.

A few months ago I befriended Heidi from Switzerland on a social networking site called 'Our Scotland. We corresponded several times and when I heard she was coming to Edinburgh, I offered to take her around. In the event, she came with her young friend, Miriam. We spent a super day together, followed by a meal in the Kebab Mahal, which they both liked despite the fact that Miriam had never tasted Indian food before. We then went on to listen to some traditional music.

Being a Hawick man, where they are still trying to get their heads round women on horses, its no surprise that new technology is largely a mystery to me, So, when Jackie, my wonderful web designer, alerted me to the fact that some unsavoury postings were being made on this blog she put in a Comments Approval facility. In sorting out the spam I discovered genuine postings which I hadn't acknowledged. Sorry, but I've done that now. and now you wont find the noxious stuff any more. For those who sent it, you've been found out and, BTW, the last time I checked, I didn't need Viagra!