I never forget a name!

Had a walk through Greyfriar’s Graveyard today. Tried out a few moody shots using my in-camera ‘Dramatic Tone' mode. Actually, I won't bother using any of the ‘Scene’ or ‘Art' modes again. Waste of time, really. I took some the other day of a wee kid using the ‘Dramatic Tone’ mode and in every one the face was dark brown and I couldn’t rescue it. It seems to do funny things to faces. Quite good for gravestones, mind you…

I came across this chap sanding a big bit of wood. His name is Andy, and he was fixing up this lovely bit of wood to make something. He told me the name of the special wood, but of course, I’ve forgotten it.

This is a community project for people down on their luck, and gives them new skills. I think carpentry is a terrific skill. They get old church pews and do them up or make beautiful furniture out of them. They will make anything to order - there was a rather nice bench made to order in the style of Tim Stead, who did chunky, quirky, rustic furniture. He is no longer with us, but his workshop in the Borders still makes fantastic items.

Andy brought me into the workshop, where I met the man in charge, Tommy Steel. I looked at him. He looked at me, and then he said, ‘Don’t say it!’

Camilla (THE Camilla) had visited not long ago but he couldn’t say, ‘Don’t say it!’ to her, and she had blurted it out.

For those of you too young, Tommy Steele was the UK’s first rock star in the late 50s. I barely remember him, of course - I was a toddler…