The week so far

Monday morning brought another trip to the Broch, but I got away in time to play squash at Crathes with Harry and Richard in the evening. We were joined by Peter, Keith, Archie and Dick for a beer in the Legion afterwards. Although I managed to shower at the golf club, it will be the last time we can use these facilities for a while as the downstairs changing rooms are being re-done now - by none other than the elusive builder Stan England!

Stan has apparently received delivery of the stairs for the rear of our house and is promising installation before Christmas - but we're not holding our breath! Gary, our architect, is equally cynical - but he managed to get his near million pound Trustach Lodge completed OK in the last couple of years - the same period we have been waiting for our job to be done!

The Lesinas have booked their flights to and from Orlando next July - overnight ones too! Yesterday, I booked ours as well - it's a convoluted route, made worse by the fact that BA are cancelling the Aberdeen flights to Gatwick next March, and all flights to Orlando are from Gatwick. We therefore have to fly BA to Heathrow, then transfer over to Gatwick. Fortunately, we do have a few hours in which to do this - and I have arranged for us to have access to the Executive lounge there as well.

We then fly to Orlando with Virgin (Premium Economy) and arrive about 5 pm local time on the Friday, by which time the Lesinas will have had virtually a full day there. On the following Friday, we leave early in the morning and fly Delta to Medford, via Salt Lake City, arriving at lunchtime, with Scott, Lucy and the boys not following on until much later - early Saturday morning, in fact.

When we return to Scotland, however, we have to do the exact same trip in reverse.

I've also booked our next trip to Cornwall on Jo's long weekend in February. Again, the journey is more complicated than usual as Winter schedules are in operation. We're having to take the BA redeye to Gatwick, then wait there for a few hours before our connection to Newquay leaves. On our return, Kelly is going to have to drive us up to Exeter to catch the Flybe Monday morning flight to Aberdeen. We've managed to get a timeshare exchange at Clowance House in Camborne for a week, so we can stay there and Kelly and Craig can use the facilities after we've gone.

Oh - I forgot to say that Ross had a good interview last week at Concept. It's a good position for him - car, Blackberry and laptop provided. All he has to do is log on in the morning and see what work there is to be done - ideal for him - hope he gets it, although perhaps it's asking a lot.

And Jo's car broke down last night. Fortunately, she was at Sylvia's at the time and was able to phone the AA and they came out and towed her and car back to the garage in Banchory. I had the mince and tatties on, so I asked Ross to take my car and go and pick his Mum up at the garage, but, for some bizarre reason, he decided to go and look for the tow truck coming along the North Deeside Road - and, of course, he missed them and Jo ended up having to wait for him to eventually appear!

Now, of course, I'm driving Jo to and from work until her car is fixed.