Holiday news

Good news - finally heard back from the villa owner - it's available w/c 27 March 09 - so I'm going ahead to book it now. Once that's done, I'll get on to flights.

Saturday morning slobs

It's Saturday morning. I've had my breakfast - but no paper to read - no TV to watch either - Jo's insisting on her early morning fix of Alibi - today it's two hours (!) of Taggart - and she complained when I didn't get her a coffee this morning - unusually she was up first and I assumed she had got herself one, but I guess I was wrong.

I suppose as I'm usually off to work (or away golfing) Jo's used to having the TV to herself - so I can't really complain. Is this the life of retirement I have facing me? Maybe just as well I can't afford to retire for a while yet - it could be years before my pension funds recover from the crash.

It's a beautiful day - I could have golfed after all, but it's just a habit that I only golf on Sundays in the winter - weather permitting - no doubt it will rain tomorrow.

Hoping just to take things easy today - at least until squash at 5 tonight. I played football last night - it was good fun but really sore on the body. Our usual Friday night session was at the golf club last night - we were the only people there! There were 7 of us present - a few more than usual - it could/should have been 8 - Brian Fitzpatrick made one of his rare appearances but left as soon as the first person (Colin) arrived! Strange - apparently he was there from 7:30 but he knows the rest of us are never there until after 8 - why did he bother coming along?

That was my first pint of real ale for a couple of weeks - in fact my first beer since Chicago airport Monday lunchtime. Adnam's Old Ale isn't a favourite - it's a dark winter brew - but it was nice to drink cask conditioned again. I like a lot of the US beers but it's hard to get them served cask conditioned except in the major cities. Today's short list is my favourite American micros:

1) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

2) Bridgeport bottle conditioned Pale Ale

3) Samuel Adams Boston Lager

Back to the Broch

Awoke a little earlier this morning - not too bad considering - it seems like the jet lag from one week on the East coast is a lot less than that after 3 weeks on the West Coast - the three hours time difference helps as does the slightly shorter time in the air. Mind you, I'm still constantly dozing in front of the TV - I was trying to catch up with the stuff that had been recorded on Sky + in my absence, but missed half of it!

I haven't had a response from the villa owner yet - hope this isn't more bad news! We need to get sorted soon.

Nothing much else to add other than I forgot to mention that I saw Mamma Mia on the plane on the way home - good fun - light and frivolous - looks just like a stage show filmed, which is what it is after all. Meryl Streep was excellent however and the music is great - uplifting stuff - just the job to help shorten the journey. Pierce Brosnan is truly awful, however - and Julie Walters was fine, albeit playing her usual role.

Today's list - you've been missing them, haven't you? - top pop music shows on TV:

1) Ready, Steady, Go - innovative, ground breaking - set the template and came at a great time, synchronising with the Merseybeat and Thames Valley booms, when British groups re-exported to USA revamped versions of the original music of the American rhythm and blues stars, who, until then, were virtually ignored in their own country.

2) Top of the Pops - it's gone now - deservedly - it was but a shadow of its former self, but, in its early days it was compulsive viewing for the whole nation, allowing parents to further develop their skills in such phrases as "who's that man with the girl's hair?", "turn off that racket" etc etc. In fact, for many years, it was the only way to see popular music on TV - getting on TOTP was a guaranteed way of breaking a new band.

3) Old Grey Whistle Test - often now seen on BBC Four and part of the ongoing nostalgia feast that every generation does - but don't believe everything you may have heard about it. In its day, it was definitely cultish - i.e. it could be pretty obscure and difficult viewing at times. In fact, you could liken OGWT in many ways to Monty Python - at its best, it was wonderful, but at times it was definitely cringe-worthy. Fortunately, we only ever seem to see (and remember) the good bits.

4) Later with Jools Holland - notice how I seem to have skipped a few decades? - I guess that tells you all you need to know about my opinion of music TV in recent years.

Back from USA

I got back to Banchory early yesterday afternoon after a long and stressful trip. I was sharing a villa with Keith Gray and Dave Edwards. Unfortunately, Dave is going downhill and we only discovered as we were about to leave on Monday morning that his passport was missing. We had to rush to the British Consulate in Orlando and get an emergency one issued - we managed just in time and the rest of the journey home was uneventful - although we had fairly long waits at both Chicago and Manchester.

The holiday was great - the resort was terrific and we had a good time, although I didn't quite manage to bring the trophy back again (I was 2nd equal with Syd) - Malcolm won it this year. The weather was great as well - we had clouds which didn't clear on the first two days, but after that, it was ideal. We used most of the on site facilities at the resort, including a nice water park which had a lazy river and a slide, as well as a separate area for the kids. Here I am sunning myself:

It's always nice to be home, however. Jo made mince and tatties for tea - great - and we then vegged out on last week's Corrie before retiring to bed before 9 - that was as long as I could last! I actually slept very well and awoke just after 6 this morning - perfect! Usually disturbed sleep patterns mean I awake about 3 in the morning - but not this time.

Anyway, we now need to get our holiday in Tenerife booked as soon as possible. I note from the various blogs that delaying our departure until Friday 27th March doesn't seem to present any problems for anyone - in fact, it's better for Carole and Gary. This is right in the middle of the Aberdeenshire (but not the Cornish) school holidays, so it's essential we get both the villa and the flights booked soon. Can everyone please confirm they are OK for this and I will try and book asap?