Jumping back in time now to last Sunday, yes I know I’ve just lost the American audience as they can’t handle time travel, fairly evident by the shows that they cancel that feature this. Anyway Sunday was Fathers day and I decided to take the Laird to Meikleour hotel for a spot of lunch, now some of you will find this familiar, and if you do pat yourself on the back and pour yourself a large whisky. This indeed is the site of a world famous hedge dating back to 1745 and is roughly 5 decent white pointers high and 100 long, apparently it gets cut with the fire brigade every 10 years. Anyway we headed indoors to this very rustic hotel which was used way back then as a coachmans stop, as passengers heading to the north would use this as resting point. The waitress was rather attentive and apologized to me for winking at her as she said she had something in her eye, likely story. As usual I tried the Scampi which was delightful, very juicy and light with a hint of sweetness, all done in a very light batter. The laird consumed real ale, something of a treat for him as he doesn’t get out as often as he should, a hangover form his cancer days but we are making progress. Our time drew near and the bill came which was not as much as I thought as the food and service were superb, a bargain was had. Outside I saw the familiar tail of a scent hound and I was in luck as a chap had brought his beagle down to the hotel, the dog sprinted towards me and it reminded me of my very own, very playful and full of mischief. The chap was with his wife and they asked me if they lost a lot of hair as this one at 10 months was shedding like nobodies business, I told them that it was like that every day! He also had started to chew which I told them would last two years then they grow out of it. It was really nice to see the dog as it filled a hole that I had at the time. We left and headed back to Easter Burnbane House where a nice glenlivit was waiting to be sampled.