Bad news

The villa's not available from 13th to 25th March! Boo-hoo - will need to start again.

Cold morning and one or two slippy roads on the way to the Broch today. There had been a snow flurry round New Deer and a couple of cars had gone straight off the road - the police were there to warn us.

Well done Cade - next thing to do is to learn to type it yourself!

Tonight, it's the Lemon Tree for Seth Lakeman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Lakeman). Yesterday, I managed to download his 2004 LP Kitty Jay, which led to his Mercury Music award nomination as a pioneer of "nu-folk". Don't think I'll have time to get back from Fraserburgh and out again, so it's probably Archibald Simpson's curry night for me after work.

Holiday plans

Looks like most folk are easy so we'll probably try and leave Aberdeen on Friday 20th March (Jo's birthday) as this suits Lucy the best. I've just made contact with the villa owner again to check it's still available - after that, it's flight booking time.

Good to see Luca's OK and that Gary and Kelly are blogging away like good 'uns - but what's happened to Jo this week? I've given up on Lucy!

Awake early again

Still waking up at about 4:00 am every day - of course, going to bed just after 9:00 pm doesn't help! Must be the change of clocks.

Jo spent a lot of yesterday sorting out her kitchen cupboard and relocating some of the stuff to Dad's cabinet. It certainly looks a lot better than the state I left it in on Monday evening - note my trophy corner:


Now Jo has to decide where she wants the Alcatraz poster re-hung. It looks rather forlorn sitting on the floor at the top of the stair:



(Poor picture quality - taken with Blackberry this morning).

I downloaded another 2 albums last night - James Taylor - Covers; and Jackson Browne - Time the Conqueror. Both are new releases so if anyone wants a copy of these or any of the ones listed yesterday, just let me know.

As promised, today's list is audiobooks I have downloaded from e-music. So far, these are:

Alex Ross - The Rest is Noise (not listened to yet)

Charles Dickens - Bleak House

Geoffrey C Ward - Jazz (currently listening to)

Jack London - Boxed Set - Call of the Wild and White Fang

Keith Zimmerman - Alice Cooper Golf Monster

Monty Python - sketches

Neil Simon - Biloxi Blues (stage show)

Philip Roth - American Pastoral

Rick Reilly - Who's your caddy?

Steve Martin - Born standing up

Tom Robbins - Even cowgirls get the blues

Likewise, if you want a copy, let me know.

Tuesday - 3rd entry

You can tell I'm not having a good day. We've just been served with Sheriff Officer's papers in connection with the court case we're still running against John Anderson - remember Scofish' former Sales Director who defrauded the company, forged documents and told endless lies, with $2m. of herring disappearing in to a black hole in China? Well, his lawyers have now asked us to produce all the documentation going back 3-4 years. We can do it, but it's just sheer hassle and a lot of time - classic stalling tactics on their behalf.

It's not even 3:30 pm and already it's looking dark outside with occasional snow flurries. I don't think I'll hang around long.

Time for another list before I go - I subscribe to http://www.emusic.com/ - one of the few who actually pay for their downloads! Here's the music I've downloaded over the last couple of years:

Arcade Fire - Funeral

Aretha Franklin - Best of

Beck - Modern Guilt

Bert Jansch - The Black Swan

Bjork - Volta

Brian Jonestown Massacre - My Bloody Underground

Cat Power - Jukebox

Eric Burdon - Crawling King Snake

Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)

Graham Parker - Don't Tell Columbus

Ian Hunter - Shrunken Heads

James Taylor - One Man Band

Joanna Newsom - Ys

John Fogerty - Revival

Katie Melua - Pictures (one of my weaker moments!)

Miles Davis - Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival

Nils Lofgren - Sacred Weapon

Nina Simone - Protest Anthology

Otis Redding - Remember Me

Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full

Paul Weller - As Is Now

Pentangle - Early Classics

Pretty Things - Get the Picture

Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely

Ronnie Lane - See Me

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Naturally

Thom Yorke - The Eraser

White Stripes - Icky Thump

That's it - I'm off. Tomorrow the audiobooks.

Holidays 2009

Apart from Lucy, nobody else has responded as to their preferred dates to Tenerife next year - hurry up, you lot!

I'm now thinking about our summer trip to the West coast. Possibly fly to Seattle this time, then down to Medford from there. A week in Grants Pass then we all fly from Medford to Salt Lake City for a week there, then back to GP for another week. Return back to Seattle and home. What do you think?

Winter arrives

First morning of frost today - had to scrape the windscreen. In fact, when I drove over the moor towards Garlogie, it was snow in places. Anyway, they say it's good to kill off the germs - and there's an old wives tale in the fishing industry that the sprats don't appear until we get some frost - and the catching season is due to start any day now - fingers crossed.

The collapse of sterling is going to increase our costs when we go to Florida next week - although the golf and accommodation is already paid for - we got an average rate of $1.80 for this, but it looks like we'll be lucky to get $1.50 next week. It's all a far cry from the $2.10 level a year ago when we booked it.

Had a quiet evening last night just watching Corrie - that was after Ross and I had brought up the bottom of the display cabinet from Dad's house. Gary and Ross had brought up the heavier top part on Sunday and we thought that might be OK, but Jo thought it looked like what it was - a top part sitting on the ground - so we've now erected the whole cabinet. It'll help with some of our storage issues - Jo says at least she can put my beer in it!

I've just finished off writing the latest Omnibus of Eastenders on DVD for Lucy, so that's me up to date now. This morning, I'm heading off to a seminar on fraud, hosted by one of the banks.

Camera shy Luca

Gary and Luca did eventually manage over yesterday. The first thing he did was run over to get a book and jump up on his Granny Jo's lap to get her to read to him. I took the camera out to try to get a photo but, as usual, like his mother, he managed to look away every time I clicked. Jo tried to encourage him to smile at the camera and eventually almost succeeded:


More medical news - Jacquie, our secretary, got the all-clear when she had her colonostomy this morning. Now all she has to worry about is when her husband Tom is going to get his triple bypass - he was prepared for it on Thursday morning but they had to cancel at the last minute as there wasn't a bed for him in the ICU - apparently there had been a couple of kids in road accidents and they took priority.

Jo's just back from the hospital - X-ray results in a couple of weeks - but her visit to the Doctor this morning was OK - her cholesterol was a little raised but nothing to get alarmed about. Her ECG results were also fine, although she still has a stress ECG to do.

And I've had my flu jab - ouch!

Hospitalisations could be an interesting list:

1) Medial ligament rupture - 1970

2) Rhinitis -1976

3) Peritonitis and appendectomy - 1977

4) Endoscopy - 1995

5) Cardioversion - 2005

It's only when I write them down that I realise I've had a few incidents - who can beat 5?

Medical week

It's all happening this week - I've got my flu jab this afternoon; Jo was at the Doctor's this morning re her cholesterol - and she's at the hospital this afternoon for the chest x-rays; and tomorrow Gary and Carole are off to Livingston again with little Luca for his next laser treatment.

Good luck to all!

Holiday time - vote now!

We have to decide - when to go to Tenerife? Flights are on Fridays so the choices are:

27th February

6th March (my actual birthday)

13th March (Friday the 13th!)

20th March (Jo's birthday)

Cast your vote now - rank them 1,2, 3 & 4 and we'll work out a consensus from there.

Weekend at home

Well I survived the football on Friday - and managed a few beers in the Douglas afterwards. Brian Fitzpatrick came along for a belated birthday celebration but spent most of the evening texting!

Golf on Saturday was a fun Texas Scramble and we managed a game of doubles later in the afternoon. The weather was not as wild as forecast and certainly not as bad as they seemed to get it in the west. There was some wind blowing the autumn leaves around - and the colours in the trees are fantastic - this is the view from our bedroom:

We were settling down to watch a movie on Saturday evening when Lucy called, so we just had a nice Skype with her instead.

The clocks went back so we had an extra hour to ourselves this morning - and what a glorious day it's been. I had my camera on the golf course with me and intended to take some more photos - I got Syd and Dick to pose then found out I had no battery power!

Gary phoned and apparently he and Luca are on their way here - but they must be running late.

Friday morning

Tired and sore this morning. Last night's gig was excellent but we were standing - I was knackered after it finished. Somehow it's a lot worse standing than walking - I think nothing of walking for 4 hours round a golf course, but I'm not used to standing for over 2 hours nowadays - it's something we used to do at football matches, but no longer in the modern era.


My football blog (http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/) shows some photos and videos of Seasick Steve and his support Amy LaVere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_LaVere), a young double bass playing singer who also appeared on Jools' Later with SS a couple of weeks ago.


Ross was back on to favouring the Lumphanan property again yesterday - until this morning when he spotted this: http://www-r.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/public/LiveProperty/267373?ID=MCEJODBF#picture


I've agreed to play football again tonight - and it looks like it will only be 5-a-side (usually 6's) - sounds like hard work to me - hope I survive OK!


I've also bought tickets to see Seth Lakeman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Lakeman) at the Lemon Tree next Thursday - the first time we've been there since it re-opened.


All this talk of gigs reminds me of some of the shows I've seen over the years - so that's the subject of today's list(s). Early live music tended to be at dancehalls - the Beatstalkers at the Mitchell Theatre, Jimmy James & the Vagabonds and Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band at the Maryland in Glasgow in the mid 60's.

In the late 60's we moved in to the rock era -progressive was king those days. Green's Playhouse (which became the Appollo later) was the first to feature "name" bands in a concert hall. I was at the very first gig there, which was The Nice. After that, we went back many times - I can only list those that come to mind today - no doubt there were others. Jo was (a little reluctantly) with me a few times, but mostly it was a lads' night out. Bands were always notoriously late on stage then - they could be 2 hours later than billed and nobody batted an eyelid. Here's the other ones I remember:

Pentangle; Jethro Tull; Chicken Shack; Rolling Stones; Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Family; Faces

Check out Wikipedia and/or You Tube if you're curious about any of these names. Some of them I saw several times.

I also remember going to the City Hall in Candleriggs to see Stone the Crows and Rory Gallagher.

When we got married and went to London, regular gig-going wasn't possible, although in the last year we were in Broxbourne, our neighbour Tony and I did go to Dingwall's and the Roundhouse a couple of times and saw Graham Parker, Pere Ubu and Joe Jackson. I also remember brother Barry coming down with his pal, Les and we went to Dingwall's (I think) and saw The Jags - well, with a name like that, we had to go didn't we?

When we moved up to Edinburgh, it wasn't a regular thing either, but I do recall going to see the legendary Bo Diddley with Jo and my American work colleague, Carter, at the Playhouse. I also saw the Specials and Talking Heads - amazingly, the latter 2 bands were on the same bill.

When we moved to Banchory and after a few years when the kids had grown up a bit and the Lemon Tree opened as a new music venue, regular gig-going started again. We've seen loads of acts there and at the Music Hall, and occasionally at the barn-like AECC. The latter venue hosted Radiohead, Bob Dylan and Chris Rea. Lots of the gigs were tribute acts - Bootleg Beatles, Billy Shears Band, Backbeat Beatles, Maximum Who, Australian Pink Floyd Show - and Jimi Hendrix and Small Faces acts too.

There's also some hybrids we've seen - From the Jam didn't feature Paul Weller and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and the Blockheads obviously couldn't feature their long since departed main men. The Animals only featured original drummer John Steel - but it was still a good show.

Probably the best live act was Nils Lofgren who we've seen 3 or 4 times now. We saw a very early version of Texas and also Del Amitri about the same time. Glenn Tilbrook (twice), Julian Cope, Roger Chapman, Billy Bragg, Ralph McTell and Roddy Frame are among the other acts I remember well.

Of course, we've also travelled to Glasgow and Edinburgh occasionally to see name artists like Neil Young and Eric Clapton. Last year, Dave W and I were down in London to see the cricket and took in Lou Reed at Hammersmith, and later in the year went back to Glasgow to see the re-formed Squeeze. The latter gig was at the Carling - a converted old cinema with appalling sound - avoid like the plague. On the other hand, if you ever get a chance to see anyone in Glasgow Concert Hall, take it - good accoustics, viewing and comfortable seating enhanced the experience of seeing BB King and James Taylor there.

A sad experience was seeing Peter Green at the Douglas Hotel in Aberdeen when he had just come back from years in the wilderness - a shadow of his former self. Another venue was Tunnels, where we saw Ian Hunter early this year.

Woodend Barn is a local hall we've occasionally visited - recently Karine Polwart and, next month, Beth Nielsen Chapman.

That's about as far as my memory will take me today, I'm afraid.

Brevity is the soul of ...

Has to be very brief - just back from the Broch and about to head out to Bannatyne's for a short stint. I'm meeting Colin and Jeb for a beer before we go to the Music Hall.

Dave and Doris are getting married tomorrow - after 23 years together! Jo's spent a lot of today - when not blogging - trying to send them flowers.

Ross is looking at a potential cottage in Stonehaven - http://www-r.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/public/LiveProperty/267027?ID=MCEJODBF#picture

Haven't had a list for a while - here's a short one - favourite seasons - in order:

Spring, Autumn, Summer, Winter

Back from OT

Was I going up the stairs or coming down? Sorry about the old dementia joke, but that's how I feel after returning from my latest sojourn to Manchester - 2 days after my last.

At least Jo was able to help out with a bit of the driving in both directions - she drove down as far as the Little Chef at Dunblane yesterday and also back from there tonight. It was nice to see Mary and Leo as well - I was late going down so didn't have any time on Tuesday but managed to have lunch with them today.

We also went to see Dad on the way home. There were loads of cars parked at Erskine and we wondered what was going on - it transpired there was a party on the 1st floor to celebrate the 1st anniversary of Erskine Glasgow opening. Of course, Dad was one of the few who didn't want to go - typical! He was seated in his usual position just outside his room at the windows. We managed to get him up but he was very stiff and could barely move. One of the staff encouraged us to take Dad up to the party and we did - but as soon as he got in and saw all the people and the noise and the dancing, that was enough - about turn and back downstairs!

We sat at one of the dinner tables - his usual chair - but he soon made it clear to us that it was time for us to go! Plus ca change. I took this poor quality photo of Jo and Dad with my Blackberry just before we left:

It was the first time Jo had seen Dad for a while - she'll tell you in her blog about how much he has deteriorated - he can barely walk and mostly communicates through noises nowadays. He's safe and well cared for - it's never enough but it's probably the only option we have. I wish it could be different.

Ross went to see another property yesterday - or at least he tried to - the agent never showed at the property in Culter. He's taking his time - quite rightly - and he's enjoying playing games on his new HD 37" TV!

Tomorrow it's another drive - Fraserburgh this time - and then I'm going to the Music Hall to see Seasick Steve (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasick_Steve). I first saw him on Jools' Hootenanny last year - and he was back on Later last week. Talk about a late developer! Check out http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pNoPNC3ebYQ.

2nd Monday blog

Forgot to say that Jo and I watched another great movie last night - The Insider - based on a true story of a a senior tobacco company executive who snitched on the industry, resulting in billions of dollars having to be paid out by the tobacco giants. It's from 1999 and stars Russell Crowe, Al Pacino and Christopher Plummer.

I'd almost given up on movie watching - too formulaic and obvious - but my faith has been restored after seeing quite a few decent films in recent weeks and months - mostly on Sky Anytime, which makes viewing a lot easier for us. We recorded it - in case we fell asleep! - so if anyone wants a copy, let me know.

Here's another photo of Dad and I yesterday:

Ross

I think Ross has gone off the property in Lumphanan - too many things not quite right for him. Anyway, here's the video tour:

Ross was developing a sore throat yesterday - hope he feels better today - don't think another dose of antibiotics is a good idea - even if the Doctor allows it.

Jo's blog today will no doubt contain details of the cooker disaster yesterday - but a side effect of that was that power was cut during the recording of Eastenders omnibus - so, sorry, Lucy - only a very abbrievated DVD for you this week!

Old Trafford weekend

Gary and Carole came over and stayed Friday night and we all left Banchory about 8:00 am on Saturday morning. Ross took the first leg down to south of Glasgow - we survived, but it was a close call - especially going over Cairn 'o Mount!

Gary took the next bit down to our hotel at Whittle-le-Woods, near Chorley and we checked in and had a quick pint whilst Carole changed. I decided to drive to the match - I would have a glass of wine and would let the others have their fill.

We parked up and took a few photos - this one in front of the United Trinity - Carole knew George Best and Bobby Charlton, but who was Denis Law?:
Inside the mega-store, Carole posed in front of Wayne Rooney:

I posed in front of my generation of United heroes - and pointed out who King Denis was!:

Inside the corporate hospitality, we had our meal:

Then we took our seats in the stand:

We fought our way out of the post-match traffic and made it back to our hotel in time for a couple of beers before crashing out in our rooms with Match of the Day playing in the background.

I was first up for breakfast - too early as it happens:

The journey north was easy and we made good time, so decided on a quick detour to see Dad. Our visit coincided with his lunch, so it was fairly short:

Back in Banchory, Jo had managed to juggle Luca and Isis OK - although she claims that Isis can open our front door unaided! Luca was happy:

and that's about it - back to work tomorrow and then off to Manchester again on Tuesday. This time, I'm taking Jo to Elderslie/Houston and will pick her up on the way back.

No list today - brain dead!

Tenerife

Flights from Exeter leave on Tuesdays and Fridays - £207 and £251 respectively with Thomas Cook/Airtours.

Friday in Lumphanan

Ross and I went out to look at the property he had seen on ASPC. It's a very small house - technically 2 bedrooms but you wouldn't really want to share - better if one of the bedrooms could have its double bed removed and converted in to a study/computer room.

It's very tidy, though - all the gear is brand new - apparently a woman bought it for her son to live in but he then moved in with his girlfriend! This would be the first rental. The lounge is tiny and shares space with the kitchen, which is the highlight of the house:

Aberdein Considine are going to manage the property, so if anything goes wrong, you just contact them - the downside is that there will be inspections of the property! Also, strictly no smoking or dogs - is this enough to put Ross off? - don't know - he says he wants to stop smoking anyway. Watch this space for further developments - short video tour to follow in next few days.

What else is new? Well, Carole and Luca have just arrived - no Gary yet - they're staying over and then we leave from here in the morning to drive down to Old Trafford. Jo's babysitting and she's not too worried about Luca but Isis is causing some concern - particularly when she has to go to church on Sunday. Still, I did it once before and coped so I'm sure Jo will manage somehow.

Today's list - favourite Corrie characters, past and present - Jack and Vera of course; Reg and Maureen; Roy and Hayley - well Roy anyway; Raquel - they're the ones that come to mind. Tomorrow it might be least favourites - most probably led by whiner Gail.

Thursday evening

Spoke to Ross about his plans to move out - he asked me to go with him to look at the flat in Lumphanan - he's made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. He actually took a trip up there this afternoon but couldn't find it! I'll get Tom-Tom out tomorrow!

Ross has done his sums OK and feels he could manage - but it would be tight on his own - better if he could share with somebody - or find a smaller place.

Played footy last night so I'm sore today - but I'll get over it!

Checked flights to Tenerife on http://www.flyglobespan.com/ and they're coming in at about £220 per head, including taxes. Flights are on a Friday - and my birthday happens to also fall on a Friday. I was hoping to go there fairly near my birthday if that was OK with everyone? I'll need some sunshine by then!

What about logistics for Kelly/Craig - where would they fly from and to? What about Scott and Lucy - would they come to Aberdeen first of all then just travel down and back with us?

Nothing much else happening - although I did receive our plane tickets for our flights to Florida - just over 2 weeks to go - and we're there during election week!

Gary mentioned Ross' haircuts - here's one from 1999, when he was in Israel with the school:

and here's his Mum from the same year - still sporting the dark look:

I could reveal more - perhaps later - anyone want to buy me off before I publish any more?

A list for today? Houses I've lived in:

? Dumbarton Road, Whiteinch, Glasgow - 1949-1952

19 Landseer Court, Corby - 1952-1959

Cochrane Castle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire - 1959-1960

46 Foxbar Drive, Glasgow - 1960-1972

1 Barcaldine Avenue, Chryston, Lanarkshire - 1972-1974

44 Caldecot Way, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire - 1974-1979

7 Cherry Tree Loan, Balerno, Midlothian - 1979-1983

4 Arbor Court, Banchory, Aberdeenshire - 1983-present

Can't decide what tomorrow's list will be - phone numbers or postal codes of all these houses - which would you like? Vote now!

Wednesday (again!)

Ross dropped a bombshell to Jo yesterday - he wants to move out. What's not to like about free board and lodgings, meals cooked for you and all your cleaning, washing and ironing done for you? - a lot it seems - I haven't spoken to him about it yet - he was too busy gaming last night - but we're going to Manchester this weekend so I'll get a chance to talk to him (or more probably, listen to him!) properly then.

Ross has seen a 2 bedroom place out in Lumphanan going for about £525 per month. It would take about 20-25 minutes to get to work in summer, but longer in winter - and no going home for lunch. If he were to share it - with possibly Thomas - he could maybe manage, but it'll be tight on his own. Council tax, fuel and food alone would probably more than double his outgoings - and then there's his road tax and car insurance, plus the cost of replacing the car when it eventually dies - maybe next year? Doesn't leave much for the "toys" he likes to keep buying.

Jo was a bit down at the prospect - I think she was quite enjoying looking after him again - and the two of them always did enjoy a natter. She's also still a bit concerned after her visit to the doctor on Monday and the follow-ups she's now got to do. Her chest and back pains are becoming more prevalent - but hopefully it's auto-suggestion only.

I went back to Bannatyne's yesterday - my first visit for a while - in fact, I was there twice just after we came back from vacation, but hadn't been back since then - until yesterday. I went through the usual routine, but cut down the time/effort or weights to make sure I could cope OK. I don't feel too bad today so it must have helped. Now, it's indoor footy again tonight - that'll hurt a lot more!

I sat down to catch up with part 2 of the History of the Guitar last night - I missed part 1. I found it a fascinating history lesson - Jo sat through it as well and had the good grace not to comment until the very end when the sight of Hendrix playing Wild Thing was just too much for her and she went off on one - you know, the usual rant about dentist's drills etc.

Most of the documentary was historical - it opened with the apocryphal story about Robert Johnson going to the Crossroads and selling his soul to the devil in exchange for becoming a great blues artist. Kelly will remember Cream's more recent version of the old song - "I went down to the crossroads, fell down to my knees....". The film showed where this allegedly happened - at Clarksdale, Mississippi - they sell t-shirts to the tourist nowadays, but Wikipedia casts doubt on whether the junction here of Highways 49 and 61 is correct, or whether it should have been at Rosedale at the junction of Highways 1 & 8.

The film went on to talk about the Mojo triangle of music - New Orleans/Memphis/Nashville. This struck a chord with me - it's definitely on my wish list to hire a winnebago and tour round the music hot-spots of the Deep South, and then perhaps up to Chicago and head west along Route 66. We went to Memphis when Lucy was first moved over - but it was only for a day, and Beale St isn't the same in daylight.

What about a list? Actors? De Niro, of course - brilliant - and funny when he wants to be. Meet the Fokkers might make it in to my top 20 films. Hoffman as well - apart from the Graduate and Midnight Cowboy, Rain Man was terrific. And then there's Newman - Butch and Sundance in particular.

Quick blog response

To Jo - it was Ross and I who screwed the TV together - it was a health hazard, just sitting there balancing on the stand. I then plugged it in and put the aerial in as well - but no picture - is that aerial point dead?

To Gary - good video of Luca - but could you please add more light to them? The black background on your blog doesn't help, of course.

To Lucy (and Scott) - come on, update your blog!

To Jo again - nice to see photos added - you can separate them and centre them, if you like - and you can also intersperse them with text. Videos next?

To Kelly - did you manage to get your work laptop connected to your home network?

To everyone - I did some trawling last night and spotted a couple of potential villas in Tenerife - http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/los-cristianos/42792 and http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/costa-adeje-golf/48931. What do you think?

Lastly, I agree with Gary that Crash was good - maybe not top 10, but OK. I also agree Schindler's List, worthy though it was, was pretty dull viewing. Of course, the Indiana Jones series was good fun as well - and I also always enjoyed the Sound of Music, believe it or not. We all enjoyed Grease for a while until Lucy sickened us all with the album!

Another week starts .....

Our emergency meeting with the Bank in Dundee went OK this morning. Nothing was actually agreed but more time has been bought, which may allow us to consider changing banks. Frankly, virtually all the banks are a mess just now and all their employees are looking over their shoulders, primarily concerned about their own careers - naturally.

I've been offered the tickets for Old Trafford again this Saturday and so I've asked Gary and Ross to join me - plus Carole! Just waiting for Gary to phone Jo to ask her to babysit Luca.

I received our team shirts for our golf trip to Florida - just 3 weeks today! Here's what they looked like in the catalogue (citrus and black):

and here's what the real thing looks like - it's a rather grainy photo and I don't know if you can see the difference - but it's almost green - I'm going to get pelters from the boys!

Jo finally went to see the Doctor today - she was concerned about pains in her chest and memories of her Dad flooding back didn't help. The GP said she seemed OK but is sending her for tests, including bloods and a stress ECG.

Skyped Lucy last night and spoke to Kelly on the phone tonight (technical advice!) - everyone seems to be up for the 60/30 holiday next year, so I guess I need to get cracking now!

Jo and I watched Parenthood again last night - what a hoot! I think it's one of the funniest films ever - I couldn't stop laughing out loud. Which leads me neatly on to today's list - best films ever? Parenthood obviously - and also Father of the Bride - both Steve Martins - but I guess they probably appeal more to people of our vintage who've been through it all. The Graduate, yes and probably most of the Godfather trilogy, but beyond that, I'm struggling to remember significant films other than more recent ones like the Edith Piaf and Johnny Cash biopics and The Counterfeiters. Needs more thought obviously.

Sunday at home

Oh dear, Jo - "tawdies" and "whiskey" - I think not. We certainly don't have any of the Irish spirit in our house and hopefully Craig and Kelly also have only Scotch whisky in theirs - and maybe they might enjoy their toddies - but who said I was pedantic?



Last night, Jo, Ross and I watched a great movie - The Counterfeiters - a German film with subtitles about the "privileged" Jews kept in a concentration camp to make forged notes. It's a true story and it was the Nazis attempt to undermine the UK economy by printing millions of Sterling notes - they almost succeeded, but fortunately, they didn't manage to repeat the exercise with the US dollars. Doesn't sound scintillating, but catch it if you can - it was absorbing.



Another pleasant autumn day here - and I enjoyed my golf at Torphins this morning - check the golf blog (http://bsvgolf.blogspot.com/) for a photo.



I found the cable for the old camera so it's over to Jo now to colour her blog and enlighten us all with the things she does and places she goes.

Lovely smell coming from the kitchen just now - Jo's busy in there - she's going out for a walk with Anne in half an hour.

I'm off to Dundee in the morning - I've called for an urgent face to face meeting with our bankers after a call I received from them on Thursday. Our contact at the Bank of Scotland is under huge pressure from his bosses to immediately increase the rates they charge us by 50%. The crisis in the world financial sector is huge and wide ranging.

I neglected to add a list to yesterday's blog posting - so, back to music again. I'd previously mentioned the list of almost 100 favourite individual tracks (not albums) that I made up a few years ago - it consisted of 60 separate artistes:

Animals
Beach Boys
Beatles
Bob Dylan
Buddy Holly & the Crickets
Canned Heat
Clash
Cream
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Dandy Warhols
Eddie Cochran
Elvis Costello
Eric Burdon & the Animals
Faces
Fleetwood Mac
Four Tops
Free
Graham Parker & The Rumour
Jack Bruce
Jam
James Taylor
Jethro Tull
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Joe Cocker
Joe Jackson
John Lennon
Judy Clay & William Bell
Kingsmen
Kinks
Led Zeppelin
Lou Reed
Love
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Nashville Teens
Neil Young
Nils Lofgren
Nirvana
Oasis
Otis Redding
Python Lee Jackson
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Rod Stewart
Rolling Stones
Roxy Music
Sam & Dave
Sex Pistols
Showstoppers
Sly and the Family Stone
Small Faces
Specials
Squeeze
Stevie Wonder
Talking Heads
Temptations
Them
Tony Joe White
Undertones
Warren Zevon
Who
Zombies

Mostly familiar names - but perhaps a few you may not have heard of. Noticeable absence of Radiohead - not quite sure why.

Headbangers

The weather has been lovely and it got up to 18.5 C in Banchory on Friday. Today was also nice, but I was too tired to enjoy my golf properly this morning having been late home from last night's headbang at Dave's - photo on football blog: http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

This afternoon, Colin, Dave and Malcolm came round to watch the Scotland match - another disappointing result - 0-0. Tonight it's a take-away from the Coriander.

I still have to look out the old cable to allow Jo to add the photos she took with the old camera to her blog - look out for exciting times ahead in Jo's world.

Thursday in the Broch

Must have had too much sleep on Tuesday night as I was awake at 4:30 this morning and eventually got up and came to Fraserburgh for our management meetings. Certainly feeling a lot better now - I even cancelled football last night to make sure - I now feel ready for some exercise again - squash tonight, I think.



I'm dropping off some glasses at the local Brewdog brewery (http://www.brewdog.com/) today - first time I've been there - they seem to be fairly successful, but haven't won too many friends in the process, it seems.



I got an invitation to go and see the Man U v Celtic Champions League match yesterday - indirectly from MUFC's sponsors, AIG. Should be good - just waiting for details of travel etc now.



Nothing else happening so straight on to today's list - as promised, famous (to me) football moments. My Dad was always a football fanatic - primarily Partick Thistle, but he also appreciated and supported Scotland and Scottish football teams against European opposition. His eldest brother Willie was a die-hard Bluenose (Rangers), but Dad had no time for any of the bigotry that went with the Rangers-Celtic scene in Glasgow. He had much more empathy with his other elder brother, Alex, who ran away from home at an early age and joined the Gordon Highlanders - he felt that was where he belonged - and, of course, he supported Aberdeen as well. Indeed, when we moved to Banchory in 1983, I used to get tickets for Alex (who had recently returned from years in USA) and go to the matches with him - although he would never stay with us - he always booked a hotel room in Aberdeen. In those days, Aberdeen were arguably the best team in Europe for a while under Fergie's tutelage.

Sorry - slight digression - writing the above made me think about another retirement project I've been storing away for years - the creation of a full family tree. A few years ago, Scott's cousin, Mark, was trying to make one up and asked for my help with Lucy's side - I had to stall him at the time and have never managed to complete the task since. I have been sitting on the following papers prepared by my Mum and Dad many years ago - I think it was for one of Kelly's school projects:

As you can see, a little less than complete. I started to prepare a full one using modern technology a few years ago, but it's a big task - one day!

Anyway, back to football moments. When I was just 3, we moved to Corby, Northants and a long way from Dad's beloved Jags. Nonetheless, from an early age, he started taking me to the local football grounds - Corby Town, Kettering, Northampton and Peterborough - mostly non-league clubs then. We also occasionally went to see Leicester at Filbert St - Dad sat me on the cinder track directly in front of him. I remember seeing the famous Spurs team about 1959/1960 there.

When we came back to Scotland, we usually went to see the Jags, but occasionally during the first 6 months we were back, and before we moved to Foxbar Drive, we would go and support our local team, Johnstone Burgh - a Junior side who occasionally could attract as many as 10,000 fans for big games.

Enough of the pre-amble - what about the list? Well, there's lots and lots of games I remember - some live, some just on TV, but the ones that come immediately to mind, in striclty chronological order are:

1) c. 1963 - PTFC v Dundee, who were riding high as Scottish champions and went on to reach the European Cup semi-final. The Jags stuffed them 3-0 - what a day it was.

2) 1967 - Celtic beating Inter Milan in the European Cup Final, with a team consisting solely of players born within 30 miles of Glasgow - a feat never to be repeated.

3) 23rd October 1971 - an all-time high - Thistle, newly promoted and with a very young team, hammer the mighty Celtic 4-1 in the League Cup Final.

4) 1977 - having been to Wembley and seen Scotland beat England in an infamous match (remember the pitch invasion?), Scotland went on to beat Czechoslovakia at Hampden in a vital World Cup qualifier, with Joe Jordan scoring a famous headed winner. There then followed the match at Anfield against Wales, with a hotly disputed penalty kick helping Scotland to a 2-0 victory. From there it was on to Argentina in 1978, but, at that point, I draw a veil over the proceedings!

5) Although Argentina was a huge disappointment, nobody can forget the elation around the whole British Isles as Archie Gemmill scored that wonderful goal against Holland to put us 3-1 up and "in dreamland".

6) If I had left Fischer and joined Clipper a couple of months earlier in 1983, it wouldn't just have been on TV that I could celebrate Aberdeen's wonderful European Cup Winners Cup victory over Real Madrid - I could have been there in person - Dr. Clark chartered a plane for all of his management to go to Gothenburg!

7) 1999 - MUFC finally reach their second ever European Cup final. I played golf late afternoon but had to drive to Inverness afterwards. I got to my hotel and looked for a big screen somewhere but couldn't find one, so I dashed to my room and caught the last half hour, including those last 2 amazing minutes when Solksjaer and Sheringham pulled off the miracle.

8) Scotland met England in the Euro qualifiers (was it 1999 or 2003?). I had watched the first match at a pub in Beijing - Scotland lost 2-0. I flew home the day after, got tickets for the Wednesday 2nd leg at Wembley and booked flights for Ross, Gary and I. We had a great time and Scotland won 1-0 and came so close to knocking England out. We never saw much of the match, however, as we were in the midst of the Tartan Army, who were singing and dancing all the time!

Jordon 13

Happy 13th birthday to Jordon today:

I almost went home from the Broch at lunchtime yesterday as I was feeling so poorly, but I had a lot of work to do and I seemed to get a bit of a second wind so I carried on. Of course, when I got home, only Ross was there - Jo had gone out for another walk with the girls - keep it up! Locking her out of the house wasn't a good idea, however.

I went to bed at 8:00 pm last night - I obviously needed the sleep and feel a little better this morning - fingers crossed.

I'm sure the suspense is killing you so, to put you out of your misery, here's the full agenda for Friday's headbang:

1. Obituary - as described yesterday

2. Then and Now - original footage from 40 years ago and the same bands playing the same songs now - this slot features Cream and Pentangle this time

3. Original and Cover - original versions of songs and their later covers by other artists - featuring Shout (Isley Bros/Lulu), My Generation (Who/Oasis), I Heard it Through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye/Antonio Forcione) and Gimme Shelter (Stones/Patti Smith)

4. Blues Legends - 2 grainy old black and white clips of Big Joe Williams performing Baby Please Don't Go and Howlin' Wolf doing Smokestack Lightning from 1963 and 1964 respectively.

5. Corny Country - Marty Robbins - El Paso

6. Embarrassing Performances - Chuck Berry performing Memphis Tennessee with John Lennon and Yoko wailing away - from the Mike Douglas Show in 1972

7. Festival Rock - Hendrix at Isle of Wight in 1970 and 2 more recent ones from Interpol and Muse

8. Superstar Gatherings - from the charity Crossroads concert in 2005, Eric Clapton, BB King, Jimmy Vaughan and Buddy Guy playing together

9. Through the Decades - the main part of the show - 41 videos from the last 6 decades - 12 from the 00's, 2 from the 90's, 6 from the 80's, 12 from the 70's, 6 from the 60's and 3 from the 50's.

Hopefully we'll have time to play a few DVD's as well - and some old favourites, including the emotive Johnny Cash video of Hurt.

Tomorrow's list? I'm thinking maybe favourite football performances - still working on which ones to include - don't lose sleep trying to double guess me!

More blues - and it's Tuesday

Drove to the Broch this morning - it's cold, damp and miserable here - just how I feel. I think I must be harbouring a bug - it's not quite hit me yet, but I feel down.

Apart from the drive up and back, don't intend to do anything other than stagnate today. Got some preparation to do for the board meeting tomorrow, but that's all for now. Also preparing for our headbang on Friday - Dave sent me a few more links for me to convert for easy viewing. His taste is a bit more esoteric than the rest of us - sometimes travelling in his car with him can be a little taxing as he blasts us with some new German Neo-funk or other obtuse musical category. Dave has made a request that we include some modern music and don't make our headbang purely an oldies nostalgia trip. Well, as host, I guess we have to pander to some of his whims!

Our show always starts with an Obituary section, to commemorate those famous musical names who have passed on since our last headbang. If you can't think of any, here's who's on this agenda:

Rick Wright - Pink Floyd

Isaac Hayes

Norman Whitfield, Temptations producer and song-writer, whose credits included "I heard it through the grapevine" and "Papa was a rolling stone" amongst many others.

Jeff Healey - blind blues artist

Danny Federici from Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band

Humphrey Lyttleton - famous old British trad jazz man, who turned his hand to radio comedy in later years, as host of "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" - check out full details of his wonderful life at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_Lyttelton

We also have a clip of the Dave Clark 5 - Mike Smith, lead singer and keyboard player died just as we were about to hold the last headbang, but we couldn't get a video clip in time.

That'll do for today's list - tomorrow might be the rest of the agenda for Friday.

Monday blues

We keep getting glimpses of an Indian Summer, but yesterday's fine weather has again turned to today's cold and damp. Allied to which, the continuing financial woes throughout the world only add to the gloomy feeling. They always say your should look to the long term when investing - particularly for pensions - but it's a bit harder when you're knocking on 60 and beginning to plan for retirement and seeing your investments crashing in value. This will be greeted by scorn by our offspring who are still at the borrower stage of life, but there does come a point in time when the mortgage is paid and you begin to save a few shekels to enjoy your later years. If you're lucky, your investments will be at a high when you need them most - and not at the lows we're experiencing now. How much further will it go? Who knows?

Nothing much else to say today - hopefully some squash tonight.

Today's list was prompted by listening to Sounds of the Sixties on headphones. Brian Matthews introduces a Beatles A-Z each week and it got to Paperback Writer - a Paul McCartney song (with a great John Lennon B-side, Rain). Listening to Paul's bass playing on headphones for the first time was amazing. You often hear Noel Gallagher of Oasis going on about how great Paul's bass lines were, but I'd never really appreciated them until now - I was always a John fan - I thought Paul tended towards tweeness at times. I guess they were a great bitter/sweet, sugar/spice combination.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about bass players. My favourite is still Jack Bruce, sadly overshadowed (in some people's eyes) by Eric Clapton in Cream. Jack was the singer and songwriter but still EC was God to most. Next would be Ronnie "Plonk" Lane of the Small Faces - probably my second favourite band of all time. Again he was overshadowed by his song-writing partner, Steve Marriott, who handled most of the lead singing plus guitar.

Is there a theme here - is it the underdog I like? Is that why I support Partick Thistle and Aberdeen? Answers on a postcard, please.

Well, last night's dinner party went very well - or so I thought. Jo wasn't so sure however - she's beating herself up about serving up cold vegetables and chicken. Yes, they could have been a bit hotter but it was only fractional, but her self esteem is low this this morning - she even thought her individual pavlovas - which were delicious - were too large. Here's the assembled throng:


It was a late night and it's going to be a slow day, but the sun's shining and I'm not playing golf till this afternoon. Gary and Carole will probably be over for dinner later on. Gary and I were at the football on Saturday afternoon - the Dons lost again - 5 in a row - but it was definitely a case of we wuz robbed.

When I went to see Dad on Tuesday I took him in to the garden. He wouldn't wear his coat at first, but only lasted a few minutes before going back inside:


Today's (very short) list is favourite photos. I always loved the one of Lucy and Gary sitting on the front window ledge at Caldecot Way back in mid 70's. More recently, the one of me flanked by Jo, Lucy and Kelly sitting on Lucy's settee was particularly good I thought. I can't think offhand of the others - I'll need to refresh my memory by going through the old photos again - oh, and that's another retirement project - to digitise the photo library.

Jo's clear-out has uncovered some old photos and she regularly changes the pictures in the frames on display in the house. Talking of which, Jo now has the old Fuji camera and will be using it to add some photos and videos to her blog.

The weather outside looks fabulous and I must get myself ready soon. I'm just catching up on some old Sky + Jools Holland to see if there's any music there that I should add to our video show for this Friday's headbang.

Make your pick

Which look do you prefer? Sarah Stewart?:

or Jo Palin?:

Wednesday/Thursday down south

My golf blog contains details of my trip down south to Wentworth and The Grove, but here's me in my room at Pennyhill Park Hotel - the Yew Tree room:

It was a great experience and, although I was a little uneasy about the occasion at first, I did enjoy it. I even managed to get on a slightly earlier flight home last night, but, despite this, I still felt knackered this morning and, for once, could easily have stayed in bed for an hour or two longer.

Today, I'm just catching up after 3 days out of the office. I've declined to play football tonight and have cancelled my golf tomorrow morning - although I may go to Pittodrie for the first time this season - with Gary, hopefully. We're hosting our first dinner party for years tomorrow night, with the Pages, Grays and Bhagraths all coming round. It's proving to be a bit of a logistical nightmare for Jo, having 8 at the table, which has been expanded to its full size for the first time since the Lesinas were last here. Tablecloths and undercovers are not big enough and we are short of crockery and place mats, but I'm sure Jo will get it all under control and it'll be alright on the night!

Today's list was going to be favourite holidays - but when I started to get down to it, I realised I didn't dare include any of my golfing holidays with the boys for fear of offending Jo, and to put anything ahead of our holidays in USA would offend Lucy! Despite these risks, I'm going to name a few vacations that come to mind, in strictly chronological order:

Folkestone in 1972 with my Mum and Dad before we were married.

Benodet in the mid-late 70's when we had Barry's car, which broke down at the port before we were on the ferry - you should have seen Lucy's distraught face!

Port Grimaud a few years later.

Spain in 1999 with Lottie.

Kauai in 2003.

Boston in 2005.

No doubt I've forgotten a few that I should have included, but hopefully this will stir some memories.