Friday 30 March 07

Another lovely day meant I couldn't resist leaving the office early and heading for the golf course again. Syd and Dick joined me and we played 16 holes and came off at the Doo'cot.

It was Jo's last day at school before the Easter holiday break and, when I went home, she was on the phone to Lucy. Figuring it was going to last for a while, I went to the kitchen and had a look at what we could have to accompany the Lemon Sole I had brought home. There was little of substance so I just had to conjure something up - olive oil, diced red pepper, a little mild chilli powder and a splash of red wine. It seemed to go down OK and the red wine that Ross had bought from his work was pretty good.

The Friday night football crowd were meeting in the Legion and I walked up there rather briskly, thinking I was late, but it turned out I was first there. Colin, Dave and John McWhinnie eventually joined me and we had some Landlord, London Pride and, eventually, Everard's Original. Dave regaled us with tales of his holiday in Brazil - part of Jayne's 50th - and we started to plan for next Friday's Quiz Night in the golf club.

It's now Saturday morning and it looks like being another cracking day - sunshine and blue skies. It's the official season opener at noon with the annual Captain's v. Vice Captain's match. Jo is going over to Portlethen to see Gary, Carole and Luca and we'll meet up again at 5 to head down to Ballater, where we're staying at the Green Inn tonight - a gourmet delight (we hope!).

Wed/Thu 28/29 Mar 07

The weather held for Wednesday's first night of our Summer Quaich competition and it was a delight to be out again at this time of year without the need for a sweater. I arrived in good time and relaxed as I waited for my partners.

I played pretty well for a while but finished a little weakly over the last 3 holes. Still, it's good to be back to midweek golf after work.

Thursday was, as usual, a busy one at work as it's the day of our management meetings at the different sites, so it was off early to Fraserburgh, then back down to Inverurie for a quick business lunch then on the Aberdeen office. I still managed to get everything done in time (just) to allow me to get to the gym before the 4 pm deadline that my off-peak membership requires. Did a full session, followed by a few lengths in the pool and then the best bit - steam room and jacuzzi!

Jo had cooked tiger prawns and rice and it was excellent - she also bought me and Ross a home made chocolate bar from her school do.

Sunday - Tuesday 25-27 Mar 07

The clocks going forward at the weekend signalled the start of the golf season and we made the most of the excellent early season weather. Eight of us played on Sunday morning at Banchory in what was officially the last week of our Winter Grand Prix competition, although it felt more like spring and the trees are beginning to blossom as can be seen here.

It was the end of season finals at the squash club in the afternoon and, despite some deep foreboding in the air that this might be the last one held at our existing location, there was a good turnout to view the matches. For the first time for a number of years, I was a mere onlooker, but at least I was able to enjoy watching the matches.

The forecast for the next couple of days was for the good weather to continue and so I booked a time for Monday evening after work and 5 of us played on a lovely evening. I even managed to put in to practice some of the things I had been taught at my lesson on Saturday - wonders will never cease! We made a quick pit stop at the Legion afterwards and I was delighted to see they had Young's Special on - one of my all-time favourites, which I had fond memories of from many lunchtime visits to the Guinea Grill at the back of Berkeley Square, when I worked for Black & White whisky in London in the mid 1970's.

Tuesday was equally good, but I decided to give golf a miss and put in some time at the gym.

Thu/Fri/Sat 22-24 Mar 07

Thought I'd already done my blog for Thursday but it doesn't appear to be there, so here goes again. Largely uneventful day - Fraserburgh management meetings in the morning, Aberdeen in the afternoon. Got to Bannatyne's just before 4 and had a good session in the gym and pool. On the way home, I popped in to Inchmarlo and hit some balls - got to practice my drills before my next lesson on Saturday.
On Friday morning, I took Ross and Harris to their work and picked them up again at 4:30. I was playing football so Ross dropped me off at the Beach and took the car home and I got a lift back to Banchory with Malcolm, who always goes for a burger after playing, so I experienced this as well for the first time! Malcolm drove me straight to Scott Skinner's, which meant I didn't get home until 10:30 or so, by which time Jo was asleep - she'd cooked the tea and had to eat it alone - maybe it wasn't such a good idea to get a lift back to Banchory.
Saturday morning 10:00 a.m. and back to Inchmarlo for my 4th lesson from Andrew Locke. Hadn't practised or played much since the last one - and it showed. Seems I had gone backwards and I now have much work to do with the season starting.
I did some more work on setting up Jo's Ipod and also printed off the photos of Luca on photographic paper, as requested by Carole.
I was hoping for a game of racquetball at 5:30 but by the time I had got up to the courts, the rest of the guys, who had been playing doubles, were in the showers - so it was straight to the pub for a couple of beers before we went round to Keith and Annette's for a little social gathering and a nice buffet. Irene Page had organised taxis to take us to and from, but the return driver showed up early and started hassling us to leave now or not at all! We reluctantly put our coats on, but by the time we went out, he had scarpered!
Thankfully, we got a lift back with Pat McGonnigle, who wasn't drinking - it was late enough anyway, especially as the clocks were going forward.

Wednesday

Not a particularly thrilling early evening. Tried to play one of our doubles matches in the club championship, but partner Harry tweaked his achilles and we had to stop. Reverted to racquetball but lost 0-3 to Keith.

We met Dick at the golf club and he demonstrated his Leadbetter swing tutor - very complicated. While we were there, news came through from our lawyers that they did not think our appeal in the Court of Session had gone well. I hope they're wrong - would hate for us to be evicted from our squash courts - this would be proof, if proof were needed, that the law is indeed an ass.

The rest of the evening was spent trying to set up Jo's new Ipod, which I bought for her birthday - no doubt there'll now be endless technical issues!

Carole asked me to print off some photos of Luca - including this one, which I think is lovely.

Monday/Tuesday

Last week of our squash club championships so had a few racketball matches to catch up on. Started off well - beat Harry easily in first game then did likewise to Richard in 2 games, but lost the vital 3rd (Richard was already 2 up from Saturday). Tried one more game against Jas but never got it finished - 16-16 when the lights went out.
A couple of pints at the Legion where we were joined by Dick.
Tuesday is the first day of the Squash Club's appeal against eviction in the Court of Session, Edinburgh - hoping for a better result this time. It is also Jo's birthday and we went to the Lairhillock, joined by Gary, Carole and Luca - he slept through the whole meal (Luca that is, not Gary!)

Friday/Saturday/Sunday

Busy morning in the office on Friday, but managed to slip out at lunchtime for a quick swim and steam room/jacuzzi at Bannatyne's. Much quieter afternoon and would have sloped off home early but for the fact that I was playing 6-a-side football at the Beach at 5:30. I arranged to give Ross a lift home as he was dropping off his courtesy car at the Saab garage near my work, but, because he slept in in the morning, he was late in to his work and said he would drop off his car and then walk down to the Beach and meet me there after football. Needless to say, he wasn't there when I finished - I discovered he and Harris were in the Brig Inn playing pool and I then had to got and pick them up.
I drove home, dropped the boys off at the Douglas then walked back down there to join the usual Friday night post-football drinking crowd. Nigel, en route home to Dubai from Houston, joined us and we presented Ian Sharp with the shield to mark his entry to the 500 Club Hall of Fame.
That was just the start of a weekend of sporting activity. There is only a week to go until Finals Day at Banchory Squash Club and I had several matches to catch up on, so I had to play the Veterans' first round against Gordon Moir at 2 pm on Saturday, go home, then play a couple of games of racketball against Richard Simcox at 5:30. Jo and I then went to the golf club for dinner and were joined by Colin and Johannne. We listened to Bigfoot, the band led by our former guitar tutor, Andy Johnson. It was several years (and 2 Scotvec certificates) since we had seen him, but he remembered us and came over to talk to us at the interval and the end of the gig.
The portents for Sunday were not good, but I decided to go to the golf club in the morning and Dave, Peter, Jack and I braved the elements. The start was pretty horrendous with driving sleet, but that only lasted a few minutes and then the sun came out - although it stayed cold and windy. Glad we risked it. A couple of pints of Old Speckled Hen then home for lunch. Discovered that Gary and Carole were coming over for a little while for Mother's Day, but they were held up a bit by Luca's feeding pattern and I only saw them for about an hour before I had to head off again to play the next round in our doubles championship.
Finally home and time to relax - Jo has got steak pie for tea - great!

Wednesday/Thursday

Feeling better and looking forward to some exercise on Wednesday, but as Rabbie said, the best laid plans ................. Turned down chance of playing indoor footy in favour of catching up with some of the squash and racketball matches I had to play in our club championships. In the end, however, didn't manage to play any of them, and with the football now cancelled as my absence meant there weren't enough players, it meant straight to the Legion! Richard, Jas, Archie and Dick all came along and we had our usual lively discussion. Archie tried to get serious with discussions about Trident etc, but he was soon "bombed out" in favour of the usual trivia.
Went home and watched Rangers go out of Europe and then Andy Murray beat world no 4, Davydenko.
Early start on Thursday up to Fraserburgh, then back to Aberdeen after lunch. Managed my first game of squash doubles for 3 weeks and, surprise, surprise, Harry and I managed to beat the more fancied Malcolm and Keith in our first round robin match in the club championships - finals day is less than 10 days away now.
Ross' brown Saab is at last in the garage to have the parts fitted to hopefully get it through its MoT, and he has got a courtesy car home just now which he has to return tomorrow. I will arrange to meet him somewhere and take him home from work.
Jo had her hair done tonight and was told she had been using the wrong shampoo etc and she should immediately desist. Frankly, I hadn't noticed anything, mostly because her hair is always up in a bun nowadays.

Tuesday 13th March, 2007

Felt a little better today - mornings are the worst. Busy day in office but managed to get away just in time to make it down to Bannatyne's before the 4:00 pm deadline. Managed warm-ups on bike and rowing machine and did OK on the weights but struggled on Stairmaster. A few lengths in the pool then steam room and jacuzzi then off home.
Jo made cold ham, tatties and broccoli then I settled down to watch AFC at Motherwell - good result - and the Jags also won 2-0 at home to St. Johnstone, so a good evening all round.

Monday 12th March, 2007

The start of another week - still not fully recovered from pre-holiday virus - will have to give exercise a miss today. Dental hygienist this morning - went to Legion for a quiet pint whilst I wrote out more invitations to the Squash Club's Sponsored Golf tournament in May. Malcolm joined me, followed by Jas and Harry, who were supposed to be playing squash, but decided to go straight to the chase.

Booked our accommodation in Cornwall for the weekend of April 7/8 - looking forward to seeing Kelly and Craig again - we're staying at http://www.tregenna-castle.co.uk/