Birthday

Thank you all for your best wishes. Cade and Braeden tried to talk to me on the phone but I was driving in the car from Fraserburgh when Lucy called and it was very difficult for any of us to understand each other on such a poor line.

Gary came round after work and gave me a bundle of presents from he and Carole. Amongst his usual boyish humour gifts (silly games etc), there were actually a couple of things I can use - such as a CD. Jo didn't invite me out for tea but went to all the trouble of heating up pizza! (She also bought some cake and bakewell tarts and I was quite happy to stay in and feast on them). Jo also gave me a box of 8 "Rat Pack" CD's - and then told me she thought we would enjoy listening to them! - Gary and I just laughed.

Ross didn't go back to work yesterday - even though I thought he was well enough and he had indicated he would be. Hope he managed along this morning OK.

We got the sound system fitted up again although I'm not sure we've wired it properly yet for the surround sound.

Stan's blacksmith is supposed to be back today.

Jo's out with the teachers tonight so it's fend for yourself time for supper - I'll go to the pub anyway after football and buy the lads a dram for my birthday.

First week back - so far

Just to prove Table Mountain isn't always covered in low cloud, I managed to get the photo above - taken on a perfectly clear day on Saturday from the V & A waterfront. Incidentally, there's a prize for letting Jo know who the Alfred (not Albert) of the Victoria & A is?

Monday was a bit of a blur, having gone straight to the office from the redeye from Heathrow. Of course, there was a mountain of work to be done and even when I got home, our house isn't exactly somewhere to relax in just now - in fact, it's in a bit of a state of chaos, with boxes everywhere - can't wait to get everything back to normal.

We've stalled the return of our painter until the better weather when he can do the outside window frames. We'll pick the colour from the charts so that he can do the inside kitchen window and door frames again - for the 3rd time - having got it wrong twice already!

We've got the big TV back in the room and Jo tried her best to put a few things in place to make it feel more homely but it's going to be difficult until Stan's men finish off the stairs etc.

Ross has now got the same bug that Jo had last week - he was supposed to go to the Stonehaven office on Tuesday but couldn't make it in. I had to phone his boss this morning to let him know he couldn't be in today either.

I haven't been feeling too great either - don't know if it's the after-effects of the trip or whether I'm coming down with something as well. Went to the gym at lunchtime today to see whether a bit of gentle exercise would perk me up a bit - didn't really work, but we'll see.

Planning to go down to Glasgow on Tuesday - Dawn and I will try and take Dad to Erskine House and I'll also try to see the lawyer re Guardianship etc.

Cape Town and home

Well, I'm finally home but my golf clubs aren't - not yet at least. We had a great time although the journey home was a bit fraught, involving an unscheduled night in London.

Sorry I haven't managed to keep the blog going every day - been too busy. We played golf 6 times and also had an overnight at a safari park so it wasn't always possible to keep the admin up to date.

The photo on the left is of me at Aquila Game Reserve - a two hour drive inland from Cape Town.

On Friday, we had a bit of time early in the morning, so Malcolm and I decided to climb up the kopje at the back of our villa. The photo shows me rather nervously standing right at the peak.