The Full Whack!

The Full Whack! (29th August 1971)

45 Durham Road Portobello Darby and Joan awoke me at 6.30 a.m. I cycled from Portobello out to the City Hospital at Greenbank. It was very quiet out and I mostly had the Queen's Park to myself. It's mainly and annoyingly slightly uphill gradient all the way to Greenbank; of course we're really travelling from the sea to the hills but once I got into my stride it was fine.

Stuart Baird had dropped off the newspapers from his wee Triumph Herald at the hospital gate so all I had to do was load all the different Sundays up on a hospital barrow that was lying around and that was me, I was off travelling from ward to ward.

Although some of the patients hardly seem to know what day of the week it is many others are glad to see me and I strive to have a cheerful presence and a friendly wee quip to hand.

I managed to sell out every single newspaper and handed the takings into Baird’s shop on my way back down to Portobello.

It's more or less downhill all the way so I flew back down on the bike; Arthurs Seat was a wee bit busier and the sheep were out grazing too; it's like the country in the city. It was grand to get back for a well-deserved breakfast. It was the full whack today – porridge, brown sugar and cream followed by eggs and bacon, a few mushrooms and some toast and butter.

I settled back on Grandma Jo’s big comfy and squashy armchair and read The Sunday Express and the The Sunday Post. Before I knew it Sunday dinner was served up; like breakfast it was the full works.

After dinner Darby took us all down to Musselburgh for a wee Sunday run and a walk along the shore. Grandma Jo was searching the shore for agates. The harbour and the housing have a real olde worlde feel to them.

We got back mid-afternoon in time to sit and enjoy an Andy Williams film called I'd Rather Be Rich. It was a feel good wee film from the very start as Sandra Dee swings across the stage with Robert Goulet and Andy singing the title song.

Late evening there was a very good film on with my favourite actor Gregory Peck called The Keys Of The Kingdom. It was set in China with a wee bit in the Scottish Borders. It was quite inspirational making the priesthood sound a very attractive and fulfilling way of life.