Now let’s get one thing clear. I did not fall off the ladder, it sort of folded up underneath me. We were dithering about in the snow trying to find a burst pipe which helpfully ran across the pend somewhere about here…

This is an old picture – the remains of the stone arch fell down during reconstruction work and it was rebuilt in plywood. Since the pipe – which feeds the sink in the lounge bar – is clearly prone to freezing we decided to cut it off and find a better route. But first, we needed to find out where it was fed from.
Here’s a view of the lounge bar… no clues there…

Searching for the pipe...

I felt a tap on the shoulder

In places like Norway and Sweden they build hotels out of ice in the winter. You can stay there and even get married there – just don’t turn the heating up too high. The picture above shows our very own ice hotel as photographed by Lorna on Thursday. Meanwhile I was in Edinburgh waiting for the car to be repaired. That finally happened on Friday and I drove back with no problems. Large excavators spent most of Friday and Saturday clearing the High Street and then today it all began to thaw…

…revealing the inevitable burst pipe. That’s my Monday morning mapped out then. We have no guests tonight, but that’s just as well because we have no water either.

After the hassles of Christmas, New Year was busy with 14 in the hotel on the 31st and a party of 16 for dinner on the first. After that – quiet. I drove Mum back to Edinburgh on Sunday with the intention of picking up the repaired car on Tuesday when the garage opened after the new year holiday.

But, No. The car can’t be repaired until the inspector from the insurance company has okayed the repair. And that won’t happen until tomorrow. So I’ve been stuck in Edinburgh since Sunday and the borders got about half a metre of snow last night. When I get back is anyone’s guess.

It all started when my Mother smashed the cafetiere this morning. I had tea with breakfast but by mid morning I was twitching from lack of caffeine and went to find a coffee shop under the pretext of filling the car with petrol for our journey back to Jed. On setting off I noticed that the fuel guage was on empty which wasn’t right – it had been 1/3 full. Making a mental note that we’d need a new fuel guage – more expense – I arrived at the garage, began filling the car and almost immediately noticed a small lake of petrol forming under the car.
?!
I hared off to the wee kiosk and went “eek” then phoned Lorna who sent for the AA and also arranged for the fire brigade to attend Mum’s flat since there was some spilt fuel outside. The arrival of a fire engine made Frances’ day and there was much howling and streaming tears when the men left. The firemen told Lorna that there had been a spate of cases of people’s fuel tanks being drilled to steal the fuel… and when the AA man arrived he confirmed that that was exactly what had happened. In case you’re wondering what kind of area my mother lives in it is VERY quiet and VERY respectable – this is definitely an unusual happening! The link to these incidents is here

So, the AA guy gave me a tow back to Mum’s (the repair place being closed) and I drove back here in Mum’s car. Lorna and Frances are still in Edinburgh and Lorna’s going to try to get the car to the Honda place tomorrow.
So how was your Christmas then?

I’m feeling a little embarrassed by the lack of postings recently, the reason being that nothing particularly blogworthy has been happening. We’ve been just busy enough to keep our heads above water for the past couple of months with reps and workmen forming most of the business as usual. We’ll be in Edinburgh over Christmas so the hotel will be closed from the 24th to the 26th. I’ve managed to get the tree half assembled and have made some stollen which may appear on the menu if we don’t eat it all ourselves (it’s rather nice).

Some redecoration is planned in bedrooms 2 and 5. These rooms were upgraded in 2006 and after 3 years of continuous use are in need of a little freshening up.

Behind the scenes planning for our new quarters is at an advanced stage – we have okayed the layout proposed by the architect and given the go-ahead to the structural engineer to design a replacement roof structure. The plans then have to be submitted to Borders Council (bless them) for approval by building control and planning. I’m assured this will be quick as they aren’t busy at the moment.

We’re going on holiday in January. 4 weeks from the 20th. We’ll be in London and the South of England for most of that time with a week or so in Edinburgh at the end.

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from John, Lorna and Frances who, despite appearances did enjoy the snow.

Where have the past 24 months gone?!

The title of this post will only make sense to Glaswegians. I’ve been trying Italian meringue for no other reason than I had some egg whites left over and the recipe book says it’s complicated. You start with egg white of course…

Whipped into a frenzy

but instead of adding sugar you add boiling sugar syrup…

Bubble bubble

and beat it like crazy. The recipe warns not to let the sugar syrup touch the wires of the whisk which you’ll appreciate is tricky with a Kenwood. I’m not sure it was mixed enough but here’s the result.

Whiter than white

The advantage of this kind of meringue over meringue suisse is that it is much more stable and can be kept for longer before being used. Hardly a major consideration for a domestic cook I guess. The downside apparently is that it has a slightly chalky texture. The third type of meringue is meringue cuite which involves cooking the mixture in a bain-marie.
Apologies for the lack of posts. Nothing much to write about recently. However, stay tuned for pictures of Frances the Frog’s second birthday later this month!

Now this is going to confuse you no matter how I try to explain it. The following picture is of part of Room 1 which is going to become our living area…

Room 1a

It’s an odd layout – coming into the room off the main stair you go up a stair to this room (call it 1a) and down a stair to the other part of the room (1b). This is one of the oldest parts of the building and architects who have been in here have pointed out a few interesting features…

end of the building?

I don’t know if you can see, but there are some dressed stones embedded in the wall to the right of the door. I’d thought that the folk who built the place had simply re-used some stones from another building, but apparently not…

If stones could talk this would be a noisy place to live

Sorry about all these red cables getting in the way – blame the fire alarm engineers. Anyway, it seems that these faced stones were originally on the outside of the building and it was extended outwards towards the High Street. There are masons’ marks on some of the stones but I don’t think you can see them here. Meanwhile…

looking out or looking in?

in the wall dividing the two rooms there is a window. Again, I’d assumed that this was the outside of the building, but if the theory about the crowsteps being the front is correct then this was the inside of the room… but what an odd room…

A narrow room

If you look closely you can see a line in the stonework where the building originally ended – it’s since been extended back the way. So originally this was a tall skinny building with crowsteps at the front. There are rumours of part of the building having originally been a tower, but if it was here then it wasn’t a very high one. In the end it’s mostly guesswork, but I thought I’d show some pictures before it gets covered up again when we start upgrading these rooms.

Apologies to folk who check for new posts regularly for the lack of news recently. It’s true that August was quite busy but really there’s not a lot to write about at the moment. Stay tuned however for news of the next phase of the restoration project which will provide more rooms and better facilities for us.

{Ring Ring}
“Good evening Spread Eagle Hotel, John speaking. How can I help?”
“Hello, do you have a double room available for tonight
[Checks book] “Yes, we do”
Oh good. We are just round the corner, we will be with you soon
[Waits]
{Ring Ring}
Hello, I called a moment ago – does the room have a bathroom?”
“Yes, it does”
Ah good
[Waits]
[waits]
25 minutes pass
{Ring Ring}
Hello we are having a little trouble finding you. We have walked past number 20 but it doesn’t look like a hotel
“Yes, we are at number 20. It’s white, floodlit and has “Hotel” written on the front. (I didn’t say that bit, just thought it) Are you sure you are on the High Street?”
Yes we are on the High Street. We are just up from Fountain Court…
[Scratches head - not sure where Fountain Court is in Jed - this doesn't sound quite right]
“You’re absolutely sure you are on the High Street?”
Yes, yes, Royal Mile near number 24
“Er, you are in Edinburgh?”
(puzzled) Yes, of course

… and of course we aren’t. The Royal Mile in Edinburgh is also known as the High Street and perhaps they hadn’t noticed that Jedburgh and Edinburgh weren’t the same thing (they were Dutch or German I think). Not to worry – two more folk showed up half an hour ago looking for a double, all seven guests and two chance guests had dinner and hopefully our bewildered tourists found a place to stay.