Auld Reekie

Up way too early. Plough through the darkness into town to meet Megan off the 7:52 from Glasgow. I hand over her stuff and we have 5 minutes to get to the Scott Monument bus stop on Princes Street, arriving with 2 minutes to spare. The X15 rolls up on time, whisking Megan off to the delights of chlorine, children and Penicuik.

I wander up to the Royal Mile, then cut through Bakehouse Close onto Holyrood Road and arrive at Paterson's Land early for my annual stint as First Lego League robot judge.

Eighteen teams signed up, but four pulled out late - mainly private schools like Heriots, St Georges and Fettes (because they didn't think they would "do well enough.")

There was a wide spread of scores over the day. This year's scoring is quite weird anyway, with quite a lot of points available for a "shared" challenge that only one team actually needs to complete. Anyhow, Lauder, West Linton and Peebles get great scores and scoop most of the prizes, with Lauder scooping the overall prize and getting to go to the national finals in Bristol next year.

Back home Angus is dozing and Claire is working. My slow cooked chicken roasts up beautifully and the cheap bottle of Nero d'Avola turns out to be quite nice. Helen Mirren does a good job as HRH, Ray Bradbury shares his thoughts on Dandelion Wine, Angus lusts over a pair of Stanton record decks on Gumtree.

Time for bed.