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The last 2 days have been too hot for a tweed kilt jacket. I’d like to get a tropical weight one. Any ideas friends?

“Hello from Houston, Texas USA! My husband and I have booked a cruise that will bring us to Leith, Scotland, docking on Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Yes, 2015, as I do want to plan ahead so I have the best of guides and even as I am emailing I am afraid that you might be booked already. Our ship will be docked at Leith from 3:15 PM on July 15, until we disembark on Saturday, July 18, in the early AM. The cruise line has not yet posted their excursion to St. Andrews, which we would like to take during the time we are in Edinburgh. I am wondering if we should book you for one and a half days or 2 full days to show us around Endinburgh. What would your suggestion be: one and a half or two…

What a super weekend of touring with great clients. Saturday I was with Jacob, Sumu and their 2 sons from Kerala, India but now living in Australia Jacob and Sumu are highly qualified doctors so the tour took in much of Edinburgh’s medical history. The boys, aged 8 and 10 were smart, enthusiastic and great fun .to be with. Lunch in the Guildford arms was great and they tried, and enjoyed, an introduction to haggis, neeps and tatties. Sunday was spent with Kathy, Jack, Bruce and Sherry from North Carolina. In their early seventies, like me, we covered a lot of ground in super weather and rounded it of with a great lunch in the Guildford Arms, where the girls fell in love with Ginger Grouse.

Fred and Connie, two fantastic Canadians that I spent a wonderful day with, despite some torrential showers. I met them at South Queensferry from a cruise ship and were taken in to town by a shuttle coach, owned by a man that I taught to play guitar when he was at school. He announced on…

A wonderful day yesterday with Seema, he sister and her 2 children from Mumbai. The weather was perfect for touring, cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon. They came in a hired car and Nick, the driver, was super to work with. We did a panoramic which included the high road round Arthur’s Seat and a visit to the castle. It was suppose to be a half day tour but we were enjoying ourselves so much,I stayed with them for the whole day. I took them round the Castle, we ha a super lunch in Kalpna as they were vegetarians, we went on to have ice cream in Lucas and finished the day with another trip round Arthur’s seat to sit in the sun and watch the bird life including the heron and some newly hatched cygnets. I…

I spent Thursday in the lovely company of Stephanie and Ken Watson and their young son, Jake from Rhode Island USA. Stephanie had been to Edinburgh some years ago, but the boys were first timers. So as we passed each historical reminder of how the Scots had helped shape America, the wow factor was running high. The day had started unpromisingly, weatherwise, but it developed into a perfect day for touring. The Guildford Arms and the super staff there, again did us proud and the food was up to the usual high standard. after lunch we headed down to Holyrood Palace then up the Canongate and the high street to the Royal MacGregor for the farewell dram and to book the Watsons in for dinner. A lovely day, new friendships formed and we’ll be reunited again in the future on…

I took some of the family and Christine’s friends for a wee tour yesterday. Paige and Alex, both 9, held my hands all the way round and were really animated in their questioning. Alex, who is English, persuaded his mum to buy him a kilt and Jacobite shirt, which he wore for the rest of…

Dear Bill, We very much enjoyed our time with you last Thursday! It was both fun and educational and I plan to write a good review on TripAdvisor for you once we get home. I will also ask the chaps in our group that were shooting photos to send any good ones to you they have from the tour. We started recording our radio play about William Wallace/Robert Bruce today in London and will be doing so through Friday of this week, heading home on Sunday. Our time in Scotland, visiting with you and the various Wallace/Bruce sites, was great preparation and inspiration for our production this week. Thanks again and best regards, Mark

Hey Bill! Just wanted to let you know we got home. Left the flat in London at 8:15am (GMT) and put the van in park in our driveway at 5pm (Eastern US Time), a total elapsed time of just under 14 hours. Jet travel really has shrunk the world. Thank you for introducing us to Edinburgh. It was a great way to be introduced to the city, and dinner that night was wonderful. We just barely got our feet wet. There’s much more to see and experience so I’m sure we’ll be back. I included this picture of me and our neighbor Ron. He picked up the mail for us while we were gone and brought it over as soon as we got back. I shared pictures from the trip on my camera viewer and he says “Scotland. You like…

Many of my friends who have toured with me will have met Tom, the lovely old guy who, in all weathers collects money for the Sick Children’s Hospital and veterans charities. Many of you will have put money in his tin. I am glad that his work may now be officially recognised.

Pretty much nothing beats starting your day with an E mail like this in your In box Hi Bill, “A friend of mine, Liane Wright from Milford, New Hampshire (USA), toured Edinburgh with her family last summer and they had an absolutely fabulous time with you. I was wondering if you might have room in your schedule for a group of three adults on the morning of May 18th for a half-day tour. We’ll be staying at the Howard for three nights starting on the 17th. For two of us, it will be our first time in Scotland and we’re looking forward to learning more about its history and culture – I’ve always had a soft spot for the pipes . Thanks, Liz Karagosian”

I apologise that my blog has been unavailable for some time.During my recent trip to the USA, the blog came under concentrated attack from spammers. Jackie, my fantastic web designer has improved the security of my website and I have a job to do to clear all the spam. I know many of my prospective and past friends like to dip in and out of the blog, so Cammy and I’ll be feeding it regularly through the coming season. Plans are also afoot to give the site a makeover and introduce some new features, including making the site more accessible for smart phone users. Watch this space. Bill