I should know better

Had a great day out with my cousin and his partner, courtesy of another cousin`s boy (the pro golfer) at the Scottish Parliament.

A guided tour, courtesy of his MSP, who has just been promoted to Ministerial status, a seat at First Minister`s questions - and a good day for it too, with Sir Fred the Total Failure`s huge pension under heated discussion. (the definitive comment on the said pension was heard on a phone-in on Five Live when someone, probably of my years, said that in the old days Fred would just have been told that there was a bottle of malt whisky and a pistol waiting on the desk in the library...)

And then we had a lovely lunch with the MSP, and coffee with yet another. My cousin, a rabid Tory, wisely chose to keep a low profile among all those Nationalists and LibDems. There was a good feeling of people about who were really trying to make Scotland work....OMG, I`m getting idealistic in my old age ! Let`s just say a feeling of enthusiasm and leave it there.

The otther draw of the Parliament is the enormously expensive building itself, a gingerbread-house nightmare, already weathering badly - does concrete ever weather well? Inside is a bit of a warren, and I shudder to think how people would escape from a fire, but looks slightly better than the exterior, and has some satisfying vistas. In an ancient city where buildings are commonly hundreds of years old and look little the worse for it this turkey is scheduled to last for - just seventy years. Wonder if anyone has worked out the cost per year?

Probably more even than Sir Fred`s pension......