November weather

Straight from the pages of this week's Piper - the next in the series of ads we're running for Ross:

The weather's been all over the place recently. We had a nice Indian summer in September and early October but since then the floods have arrived. It was horrendous before I went to Spain and it started up again when I came back, but this morning it's just delightful - a beautiful autumn day - looking forward to going to the footy this afternoon with Gary - I got 2 tickets from Colin, whose work have seats in the main stand.

What else have I been up to this week? Not much really - just settling back in to the usual problems at work - dealing with bully boy supermarkets and Union disputes - call me Mr Troubleshooter.

Jo and I had our flu jabs on Thursday - she wouldn't go alone so I arranged simultaneous appointments and came home early. Got a bit of a stuffed head now - think it was coming on before Thursday and isn't a reaction to the jab.

Last night we arranged to go to the first Stonehaven Real Ale festival - run by the owner of the Marine Hotel, Stonehaven and the Creel Inn, Catterline (remember going there Scott and Lucy?). CAMRA's official Aberdeen festival has to be held in the summer now due to lack of a suitable size of venue, so Stonehaven have jumped in and grabbed the time slot - and it was very popular.

It was held in the Town Hall - similar in size to Banchory's, but with a fancier balcony. It was the second (and last) night of the festival and it was mobbed. We had gone over in a Davro 6 seater with Colin, Bill Miller and his Friday drinking buddies Mike and Lindsey. We started off in the main hall but soon retired to the quiet of the upstairs back room, where we could sit and actually hear each other. Eventually they ran out of ale, so we hot-footed it round to the harbour and the Marine Hotel.

On the way, we saw plenty of evidence of how Stonehaven made the national news this week - sandbags and tossed out furniture everywhere. The Marine Hotel was mobbed but we managed to get a seat and a couple of beers and just enough space to take a photo:

So that's me up to date now. Hoping to get some golf tomorrow morning - and see Kelly on Skype some time. Still waiting for the Kelly in Oz blog to start - no excuses now, she has the laptop Ross sent her.

Some holiday snaps

A couple of photos from my golf holiday last week. The first one is me having a cuppa poolside at our villa one morning before breakfast:

Our villa had a large roof terrace:

Back to the old routine

Got back on Friday to an almost empty house - Jo was down at Mary's for the weekend. Otherwise, nothing much has changed since I've been away - there was flooding before I left and now there's flooding here again!

Not much else to say just now - Jo's back tonight and we hope to Skype Kelly this week.

I've been busy updating my golf and football blogs - the latter tells the tale of an almost nasty incident that we nearly got involved in.

More when I get more time - and when is Kelly going to start a new Oz blog?

Holiday Eve

Jo's already told you about the weather - it was pretty bad - a few roads closed. She also mentioned Ross' advert in the Piper - check his new web site - http://www.banchorytechies.co.uk/

I'm all packed and ready to go - alarm set for 3:15 am!!!!

More news when I get to Spain.

Thoughts

Thinking of Gary and Carole - and Luca - Sima still hasn't shown up yet.

Also thinking of Kelly, who's now on her way from Sydney to Adelaide.

It's a dull day today in NE Scotland - but at least it's a bit drier than yesterday - it was horrible. It's noticeably dark in the mornings now - I used to just pull back the curtains to get some light to find my clothes, but now I have to put a light on. It's also pretty dark nearly all the way to work now - all downhill from here!

Autumn

We were in the land of nod when the phone went at midnight last night - oh no, what now? It was Lucy, just letting us know that she had spoken to Kelly, who had arrived safely at Louisa's in Sydney.

The weather has been good - the Indian summer will hopefully shorten the winter a little - but the trees are definitely turning. The golf course looks fabulous now with all the different colours, and even Arbor Court is pretty colourful:


Our ivy has all but disappeared, however:

Well, we need to get Kelly starting a new Oz blog - I miss all your regular updates - only Gary is keeping his going. Jo won't update hers as she doesn't want to depress us all, she says!

I phoned Gary this afternoon and Carole answered the phone - "oh, it's you" - what a greeting! I soon discovered, however, that they were on tenterhooks awaiting a call with some news of Sima. Gary had taken her out last night and taken her off her lead so that she could do her do's - but, just at that moment, some fool let off fireworks and Sima bolted. They walked the town for a few hours looking for her, to no avail - and the same again today. They have now taken to contacting the local radio station to put out an appeal, and Gary is now running off posters. I hope they get some good news soon.

This Friday, I'm off to Spain for a week's golf - hope nothing else goes wrong - we've had quite enough bad news recently.

Kelly again

Kelly's on her way to Oz now - I tried to Skype her yesterday but she was too emotional to take the call. I woke up this morning at exactly the time her plane left SFO for Sydney. Looking forward to hearing from her when she gets there.

We managed to speak to Lucy on the phone last night just after she dropped Kelly off at Medford airport - here's a concerned looking Jo on the phone:

Aftermath

Vacancy at Flanders House:


From the Glasgow Evening Times, Tuesday 13th October, 2009:

I did say in my blog just over a week ago that it hadn't been a good week, but little did I realise how bad it was going to get. I remember Dawn's call on Sunday evening - it wasn't quite hysterical, but there was just disbelief in her voice as she broke the bad news about Dad to me. It seems like he had had a last burst of life in some of the previous days when Dawn, Meghan and Lauren had visited him and they all said he was in fine spirits and responding better than he had been for a while.

Barry told a slightly different story about his last visit to see Dad on Friday - the day before he and Helen flew out to Menorca on a walking trip - Barry thought Dad was in poor shape and he hesitated before going on holiday, but he had, after all, asked the Doctor whether he should cancel and the advice he got was that he should be OK to go.

The staff at Flanders House also said he had much of his old sparkle back on Sunday - but then he was gone - he was put to bed about 6:30 pm and discovered at about 9:45 pm on a routine staff visit - it seems he went peacefully, and hopefully painlessly. Apparently, this last little spurt before death is quite common.

Jo and I went down on Monday morning and, with Dawn in tow, we did all the necessary admin that day and the following morning - see earlier blog posting for some of the difficulties we faced. I was grateful that there was a lot to be done - it helped keep your mind off things. Barry and Helen didn't even have this consolation as they faced the nightmare of trying to get out of Menorca and back home as quickly as they could. It wasn't easy for them - it involved flights to Barcelona and then Liverpool, followed by a train home - with all the journey happening overnight, so, by the time they got back to Glasgow, they were shattered - and we didn't even see them until we came back down for the funeral on Thursday.

Everyone gathered at Foxbar Drive and the limo arrived bang on time at 1:30 pm and took, Barry, Dawn, John, Helen, Jo and I down to the crematorium. Before that, Dawn, John, Meghan and I had paid Dad a visit at the funeral parlour - slightly un-nerving it was. We could see his face and both Dawn and I thought exactly the same thing, that Dad would suddenly open an eye and wink at us - fooled you all!

Up until we got to the crem, I'd managed to keep it all together OK, but I think it was seeing everyone else there as we pulled in to the car park that finally got me - I shook Brian's hand, but couldn't get any words out. The ceremony went fine - with one exception, when the Skye Boat Song didn't play at the correct time - but the minister showed his professionalism and quickly and neatly covered this up. He even managed to ignore Luca's constant chattering throughout the ceremony!

There was a bigger turn-out than we imagined - we had thought that with him being the last of that line of Stewarts, there would be no more than 20-25 people there, and we only asked for 30 Orders of Service to be printed, but it turned out to be nearly double that number. Both the Gatehouse and Flanders House had a number showing up.

It was nice to have a chat with all the relatives back in the Pond Hotel afterwards - it's true what I said earlier this year about families only getting together nowadays at Weddings and Funerals - that's why I suggested we have the 60:30 family holiday in Tenerife whilst we're all still hale and hearty! The Barrs were all there - Nancy still very bright, but George starting to lose it a bit. Sheila was carrying an Achilles injury - and it was the first time I remember seeing Cameron, who is the same age as Jordon. Lesley's family were all there, including the "other" Lucy!

The Rodgers were out in force as well - Betty Mitchell (Dad's cousin) too, still sharp as a tack in her 80th year. Dugald Stewart was at the funeral, but never made it back to the Pond.

We ended up back at Barry's again and it was only then that I thought Lucy and Kelly might like to see some photos - but I only had my Blackberry with me when I took these:

The last photo shows Julie (Kieran's girlfriend). Kieran, Malcolm and Jordon. Then it was back home again - Ross drove to give me a break - not quite sure how relaxing this was! Best to ask Jo, who was in the back seat as Ross gave the BMW a bit of a test coming over Cairn o' Mount!

Today, it's back to the old routine. I was in the office early as I couldn't sleep. I'm planning on a lot of sport this weekend - including squash tonight.

Tuesday

Dawn, Jo and I made most of the arrangements yesterday - despite the incompetence, rudeness and aggression of some of the people that we had to deal with during the course of the day. Talk about square pegs in round holes - some people shouldn't be in professions where they have to show compassion in difficult circumstances.

This morning, it's just the flowers, the order of service and getting Dad's clothes over to the funeral home. After that, we'll meet Barry and Helen who arrive back from Menorca, via Liverpool, and then head home. We'll come back down on Thursday morning for the viewing then the service, followed by a light meal at the Pond Hotel.

Dad

Good news week?

There is a famous song from the 60's called "It's Good News Week" by Hedgehoppers Anonymous - produced by Johnathan King, who eventually went on to find notoriety in much the same way as Gary Glitter did. The song's first verse was:

It's good news week,
Someone's dropped a bomb somewhere,
Contaminating atmosphere
And blackening the sky

It feels a bit like that for me - if it's not one thing, it's another. I got another shock yesterday afternoon when we heard that one of our long-serving and most popular workers at the canning plant died at the relatively tender age of 53. He had to go in to hospital for a neck complaint, picked up pneumonia, then septicaemia and eventually died.

What next? I'm scared to make a move now.

Anyway, I went to Bannatyne's yesterday lunchtime for the first time for ages - it was good, but I did feel a bit sore and tired afterwards. I got home from work in good time to see Luca - fish fingers for tea as usual - to a background of Peppa Pig!

We Skyped Kelly again - but the line was awful and kept going down. We can't be sure but we think the problem may be at their end - they keep getting an awful "whooshing" noise just before the line goes down. I think Kelly is now persuaded to take up her friend's offer of staying with them for a few days in Sydney before travelling down to Adelaide. It'll give her time to get over her jet-lag and to orientate herself and take some local advice - as well as seeing a few of the sights.

Nothing much else to report - might snatch a few holes before it gets dark this afternoon/evening. Then I'm playing football again tomorrow, and, on Saturday, we're going down to Dundee to see Thistle play. I noticed Gary is planning to go as well - might hook up with him.

Kelly

We Skyped Kelly last night and were gobsmacked with her news about breaking up with Craig - we never saw that coming - not in a million years.

Big decision for her next week - she's due to fly out to Oz, and if she has to do it alone, she's going to have to find a way of getting from Sydney to Adelaide (flying probably), then find suitable accommodation. She's a brave girl and I'm sure she'll cope whatever she decides, but most of all, we hope she is happy and content.

Until we spoke with Kelly last night, my only concern was for my Dad. He's not taking food or drink, nor medication for his heart, arthritis, anaemia or any of the other conditions he's got. Barry got a call from Erskine yesterday to say that they are going to double his morphine patches to two - the pain must be coming from his stomach if he's not eating at all. Meghan went in to see him yesterday, and Dawn was in last night - they both said that, although he looks terrible, he was actually quite lucid and they were able to have a fairly reasonable chat with him - the best for years, according to Meghan.

This morning, Barry and Dawn are meeting with the Doctor at Erskine. What's inevitable is that Dad is going to dehydrate again - and normally they would take him in to hospital, hydrate him and send him back - but it's just a vicious circle now, and I'm not sure what the Doctor will say about it today.

Then there's Ross - still no work prospects - nor motivation it seems. I'm now trying to get him to help me draft an advert in the Piper to sell his services as IT support. He did some work for Anne last week - although he still hasn't invoiced her for it - and he could probably at least earn some money from this - and eventually get some of the cars removed from our drive too!

Incompetence - it does make me angry!

I was back at the dentist yesterday to have another impression made for the replacement crown - I hope she gives the lab a row about their cock-up with the first one. Anyway, she wasn't having that good a day herself - she's normally very good, but when she took out my (3rd) temporary crown it fell down my throat and I almost swallowed it! She had to quickly push me up from the horizontal position so that I could cough it out!

I was home early as a result of this, but Jo (bad back) had surprisingly gone off to her Monday swimming group, so it was only me and Ross in the house. We took the opportunity to move a few bits and bobs that have been lying around - the new music cabinet is now upstairs in the living room - I now have to figure out how much of the back I have to take out to get the hi-fi stuff inside it - there's no aperture for this in the cabinet.

We also took the yellow room headboard down to the garage - Jo had it removed when the painter was in - although it looks nice, it leaves a mark on the wall. The 2 old TV's were also removed from the computer room down to the garage - now there's a problem that we need to tackle soon - there's so much junk in the garage and we need to get rid of it before we can begin to tidy up in there.

Then I walked up to the Legion to have a chat with the guys who are coming on the golfing trip to Marrakech in February. There's been a bit of a debate about whether to stay in the resort hotel or just down the road in apartments/villas. The latter is more sociable but there were a few who fancied the hotel instead and when I managed to get a much improved price from one of the agents, we all agreed that it was such a good deal that we should go to the hotel. I went home content that we at last had a resolution and went ahead and booked the flights.

This morning the agent comes on the phone and gives me some waffle about the hotel not having enough rooms available that week - despite the fact that I had asked him yesterday and he told me it would be no problem. Very soon, however, I sussed out that the real problem is he had cocked up his quotation and it was now going to be 50% dearer! Words were exchanged.

So, today, it's start all over again - how frustrating!

I forgot to say that we had a nice day on Sunday at the golf club at our annual end of season match between Scotland & the Rest of the World, which is followed by lunch in the clubhouse. It's always a nice occasion - and the buffet was very good.

Incidentally, after many years of putting off, I'm finally getting round to completing wills for the two of us - but don't hold your breath - we intend to be around for a while yet!

Dad's assessment

Barry updated me with how it went yesterday afternoon - Dawn was too upset to talk about it. Palliative care is what it's all about now, and Dawn and Barry yesterday signed the DNR forms. It's just a question of time now.