Thursday update

Here's an archive photo from 2001 - both Cade and Braeden will know where this is - I can still hear the screams in my dreams - "Momma - get them to stop it!" - and no, that wasn't Kelly and Ross who said that:

Jo and I did the first of our pub surveys on Tuesday night - Ballater, Tarland and finishing up at the Boat Inn, Aboyne where we had our supper. We had originally planned to do Feughside and Potarch tonight (and eat out again) but, last night, Jo was later home than Ross and I and we couldn't find anything to eat. Ross was starving so he went out for fish suppers. When Jo did arrive home she told us it was spag bog for tea and it was out on the balcony - no wonder we couldn't find it! So that's what we're having tonight.

Last night I nipped out to the golf club's AGM - thankfully brief, so I got to bed at a decent hour. I was up and gone before 6:30 this morning and virtually first in to our office in Fraserburgh. The tedium of the long drive was lifted by Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour - this week it was the number one - Elvis' One Night was played and Bob, in his own imitable style, prefaced it with an explanation of the term Bowdlerisation - basically sanitizing art, including old blues songs and replacing them with lyrics more acceptable to the record buying public - especially in USA in the 50's - check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowdlerisation

That's your lesson for today.

Gary had to pull out of the Manchester trip and Carole (and her father) couldn't make it either, but Ross has stepped in to the breach and is taking 3 of his pals to Old Trafford on Saturday to see the Everton match. He's taking my car - oh my God, what have I done?

Holidays

A piece of advice - it won't be stinking hot in Tenerife in March - especially not at the top of Mount Tiede where Kelly plans to start the cycling expedition. Take some wet weather gear with you - a top at least - plus something a bit warmer than a t-shirt.

I've finally booked our flights to USA this summer. We're going with KLM for the first time for a few years - partly because they now have a direct flight to Portland and we're going to arrive there on the final day of Scott and Cade's football summer camp. Lucy and Braeden were going to drive up there to meet them anyway so we can spend a couple of days up there and travel back with them, as they'll have 2 cars there anyway.

We're going to Salt Lake City for the last week of our stay in USA - Lucy and the boys might join us, but it may depend on the availability of air miles for them. We're flying that leg with Delta - it's a direct flight from Medford so it's fairly easy. We fly back in to Medford a week later and the following day have to travel back to Amsterdam from Portland - we haven't quite figured how best to get to Portland yet.

The downside is that we are back to flying cattle class - the last couple of years we have upgraded to either BA's or Virgin's middle class of cabin - between economy and business class, but KLM's next level up on these flights was three and a half times more expensive than their economy cabin - I couldn't justify this, but Jo's obviously not too happy about it.

Played squash last night and had a lovely roast for tea afterwards. Jo and I watched 2 episodes of Corrie and one of My Name is Earl - does anyone else watch this? The characters are interesting, to say the least.

Tonight, Jo is going to join me on a trip up Deeside to complete some of CAMRA's annual pub surveys for entries in next year's Good Beer Guide. I'm afraid I've left it until the last minute again and it's going to be a rush to get everything completed in time. We might even have tea out at one of the establishments - perhaps the Boat Inn, Aboyne?

Today's photo is from 2001 - Cade should recognise this well known landmark near Crescent City - slightly surreal or what?:

Tamla Motown

I've spent so much time updating my football blog with all the photos and videos of our wonderful trip to Lancashire that I haven't had time to update my own blog - until now. I've got the time now because I awoke this morning and looked out to see that the weather forecasters had got it right - it was wet and foul - a huge contrast to yesterday's glorious sunshine and clear skies.



Jo and I had taken the short stroll back from Anne and Leslie's about 1 am this morning and the stars were twinkling beautifully so I thought there was a good chance I would get some golf today - but it wasn't to be. Maybe just as well - we had a lovely meal last night but it's getting harder to fully appreciate the food when eating late at night - we always feel stuffed. It's an age thing I guess, but we enjoy the company and we'll carry on doing it - after all, it's not that often!



So when we got up today we both felt a little tired - and, frankly, I was quite happy to have a day at home and miss golf. I'd even decided that I wasn't going to get dressed, but just slob around today - until I found out we had no milk, so I had to get dressed to go out for that and the Sunday Times.



Anyway, I've been catching up with paperwork this morning - not work - just bills etc - whilst watching the golf from Qatar - it's just finished, so now it's FA Cup football - there's Cardiff - Arsenal now, then Liverpool - Everton later - Colin might come round to watch that one - particularly as our wives are going out for a church supper talk early this evening.



The door bell just rang - it was John from number one offering to take our Christmas tree to the tip - he'd asked me a week ago and I'd told Jo about it when I was away, but when Ross and I went to look for the tree, it was gone. Jo's just returned from church and I asked her about it and she said she gave it to John a few days ago. Strange - and then a penny dropped - she thinks she actually gave it to Andy at number 6!



The latest edition of Mojo arrived yesterday - they call it the March edition - in January! I'm just finishing off the February one which heavily featured the 50th anniversary of Tamla Motown - no doubt everyone's seen and heard about all the radio and TV shows to celebrate the occasion. Tamla was so strong in the 60's, but less so after that. It was the sound of young, mostly black, Detroit and went on to influence music all around the world.



Mojo's main feature was Tamla's top 100 records and I really enjoyed reading all the stories. I'm sure there are some of my favourites that didn't feature in the their top 100, but there were so many records, it's hard to remember them all. The most regularly featured artistes in Mojo were:

Marvin Gaye (13 nominations)

Stevie Wonder (11)

Temptations (9)

Miracles (8)

Four Tops (5)

Supremes (5)

Martha & the Vandellas' Dancing in the Street was voted number one in Mojo, but it's never been a favourite of mine - perhaps I'm still cringing at Mick Jagger and David Bowie's duet for Live Aid back in 1985? The Supremes were OK, but they, too, never quite hit the right nerve centres with me - although Where Did Our Love Go? was pretty decent.



There were lots of others who only featured once or twice but made classic records - even the Jackson 5 started here - remember I Want You Back and ABC? Tamla was a huge influence on the British groups who eventually dominated the world's pop music. The Beatles early albums featured several Tamla tracks and for this reason alone, I would include some of these tracks in my personal top 10, which, if I also had to pick one each from Mojo's most popular artistes above would make my top 12 look like (in no particular order):

Marvelettes - Please Mr. Postman

Contours - Do You Love Me?

Mary Wells - My Guy

Isley Brothers - This Old Heart of Mine (weeps for you)

Barrett Strong - Money

Edwin Starr - War

Jr Walker & the All-stars - Roadrunner

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - Tracks of My Tears

Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through the Grapevine

Stevie Wonder - Living for the City

Temptations - My Girl

Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself

Strangely, other than the time Kelly, Jo and I went to see Gladys Knight in Las Vegas, I've never seen a Motown star live. On that same trip in 2000, we enjoyed a couple of evenings in the Paris hotel, listening to the house band, who were excellent and featured a guy who used to play with the Temptations. One of his former band members was in the audience and he was eventually encouraged on to the stage and they performed a wonderful version of My Girl, complete with the all the dance actions.

This also brought to mind another evening when we popped in to the Barbary Coast hotel and listened to the house band (Backstreet) there. The lead singer was called Storm and he serenaded Jo and eventually persuaded her to be his back-up vocalist on Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On?:

Quick update

Sorry - been away 3 days on amazing football trip - will update football blog with photos and story in due course. With only being at work for 2 days this week, there's been a lot to catch up on and I haven't had time yet.

As Jo said we visited Dad yesterday - here's a wee video clip:

I was actually working in Glasgow on Wednesday en route back from Manchester - but don't talk to me about banks just now! I was very grateful that Jo was able to come down and pick me up. Although I drove us out of the city as far as Little Chef Dunblane, I was too tired to take it any further. Great to be back in my own bed again though!

Saturday night and Sunday

After squash we had a whole aromatic crispy duck from the Chinese restaurant - pretty good - and so it should be at £30! We then watched - or Jo did at least - I certainly missed chunks of it - the latest Indiana Jones - not bad. Fairly predictable and easy to pick up on again after a short snooze!

The weather forecast was not good and certainly the wind started to get up a bit on Saturday evening, but Sunday has been fine - it was pretty calm, although a little cool on the golf course. Gary brought Luca over this afternoon and we watched Aberdeen beat Celtic 4-2 on TV - excellent!

Luca was full of beans - or should that be satsumas - Jo was feeding him endless supplies:

Like his mother, Luca has the knack of turning away just as the lens clicks:

I've packed now for my 2 day football sojourn - Liverpool - Everton at Anfield tomorrow followed by Man Utd - Derby on Tuesday. We're leaving early in the morning and hope to get to Scouseland in time to take on one of the tours.

I have to stop off in Glasgow on the way back on Wednesday and Jo's hoping to come down to meet me there and drive me home. Hopefully we'll get a chance to go in and see Dad.

The weekend is here at last

Jo's stress ECG seemed to go OK on Thursday, although we have to wait until we see the full results - but she was relieved it wasn't too stressful an experience - and she did say she was pretty pooped after it was all over.

I had a really busy Friday - mostly caused by the current banking crisis which is beginning to have an impact on the business - so I was pleased when I got home last night and then went out to play football and have some beer and a curry - check the football blog for the photos etc. (http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/)


Today I'm watching the golf from one of our favourite courses - Abu Dhabi - it's got this fabulous, although ostentatious clubhouse in the shape of a falcon with its wings outspread. We first went there in 2000, but this photo was from our last trip there in 2007:

Jiggly Jo

Fingers crossed that Jo gets the all clear today at her stress ECG. She's nervous about it - but more from the point of view of the logistics and practicality of it rather than the actual result!

She's concerned about stripping to the waist and having the electrodes fitted to her and then whether she can wear a bra and maybe t-shirt when she steps on the machine. I know, I know - perhaps the image isn't one you want to dwell on, but that was last night's main topic of conversation.

Wednesday is Luca day

I forgot that Carole has her regular Wednesday night class and, when we're around, Luca comes to ours for tea until Gary comes out to pick him up after work. Jo had finally finished off the cardigan she had been knitting, so Luca was running around with it on:



I've also got a video of Luca, but it may not upload at home, so if it doesn't appear here, I'll try again tomorrow from work:

I was back at Bannatyne's again yesterday and had intended to go there again today, but had to hang around at work and never got away in time. It doesn't take a Freud (or a Kelly) to work that one out however. Still, I was probably due a day off - I'm hoping to play squash again tomorrow and then there's football on Friday - outdoors - it's a 50th birthday do for John Moir and we're going for a curry afterwards.

I did manage to meet up with Nigel (briefly) last night (photo on football blog) - I guess the next time I see him will be at our Desert Classic in Tenerife in 5 weeks' time.

That's it for today - no lists, no international photos or quizzes - just a straight diary.

Tedious Tuesday

Not much happening today - all quiet. Is it the lull before the storm?

I've sent Lucy the Eastenders DVD from 28th December - hope it works OK - if not, I'm stymied.

Hoping to have a quick beer with Nigel on the way home from work, before he heads back to the Gulf tomorrow. It's his 50th next week. In fact, it's amazing how many of our sporting group are having big birthdays this year - apart from me, there are no fewer than 2 other 60's; five 50's; and one 70 (Syd) - quite a year!

Getting all set for our trip to Liverpool on Monday to watch the Merseyside derby match. The following evening it's the Carling Cup semi-final second leg at Old Trafford, with Derby leading 1-0 from the first leg. Harry is a Derby fan and I've managed to get the MUFC tickets for that match as well, so it rather looks like I will be staying down in the Merseyside area for 2 nights now.

I've downloaded a few albums recently - Bon Iver, Black Keys, The Fireman (McCartney), Soweto Gospel Choir (for Jo - we saw them at the Fringe) and, most recently, from 1964 Tom Paxton - Ramblin' Boy - I think Jo will like this one - this was as near as she ever got to being a fan of anyone.

Today's international photo comes from our trip to Boston in 2005:

Monday test

Back at work today and I promised Jo that I would try and upload her video of Luca's birthday cake and candles - I had tried on my laptop on our home network and had experienced the same difficulties as Jo had earlier on her PC, so I'm now using the office's internet connection to see if that makes any difference, or whether the video is somehow corrupt and won't upload - fingers crossed!

Hey - it worked! It took some time, however.

Lucy phoned yesterday - they're all fine - but haven't heard from Kelly recently - have they booked their flights to Tenerife yet?

Some squash tonight hopefully, but nothing much else planned for this week - although Nigel has just flown in from Dubai again, so might manage a beer with him sometime before he flies back on Wednesday.

Colin came round to watch the Man Utd - Chelsea match yesterday - it was great and it looks like being a very interesting run-in between now and April/May in the Premiership.

I've also been trying to put Eastenders on DVD for Lucy using the programme (Nero, not Merlin as Jo called it!) that seems to work on her PC, but it keeps crashing my laptop. If I just use Windows to do it, there's no problem with my laptop and the DVD looks fine here, but Lucy can't seem to be able to view them properly - dilemma.

Saturday lie-in

I'm writing this as I finish my breakfast whilst watching the lunchtime footy on TV - yes, that's right - I slept in today - the first time for a long long time. I was awake at the usual 6:00 am but went back to bed and managed to fall asleep again, not finally getting up until 11:30 am - I must have needed the rest.

Today's international photo is from Tenerife in 2004 - we took the windy road up the mountain, skirting volcanic Mount Tiede, and headed towards the windy north west corner where the new Buenavista golf course is located. The views were spectacular and we stopped for a breather and some photos - this is me sandwiched between Dan and Keith:

Friday at last

Today's international photo come from Las Vegas - we stayed at the hotel where Elvis played his comeback gigs in the 70's:

Got some squash in last night - but not after some altercations with my playing partners, most of whom seemed confused about when, where and whether we were playing, despite having agreed all this on Monday and confirming it by e-mail on Tuesday! Is this why I like to keep things in writing? I can then use the evidence to convince myself it's not me who's lost the plot - yet!

Football this evening then off to the golf club for a few beers. Plans for the weekend? - Well, hopefully some squash tomorrow, then we're out at Franco's for dinner with the Pages and Bhagraths, squeezed in between Ken's ski-ing trip to Switzerland (he only gets back at 5 pm!) and his return to Abu Dhabi on Sunday morning!

This morning I finally sorted out our plans for a trip to Anfield to see the Merseyside derby. We had planned this many months ago, but they recently changed the date of the match from a Saturday to Monday 19th January, and this meant one of our group (Ken Black) had to drop out. I managed to get Richard Simcox to replace him, so he'll join me, Colin and Dave on the trip down. Looking forward to it already!

11 weeks and counting

Yes - not long to go now - just 11 weeks tomorrow till we all head off to Tenerife - apart from Kelly and Craig, who go a week earlier - oh, and me - I head out there 7 weeks tomorrow for some golf!

Good to see the girls (most of them, anyway) have brought their blogs up to date. Yes, Kelly, it's been cold here too - in fact, one of the most prolonged spells of cold weather I can recall over winter. Normally we get cold snaps and then it gets very mild again, but this winter the temperature has mostly stayed low - still, it's been pretty bright, which is good - and fairly dry as well.

Nothing much else to add - I've been back to Bannatyne's for a couple of brief sessions this week. Like everyone else, the holiday does nothing for the waistline. I weighed myself and I don't think I've ever been heavier - well, maybe in the mid 70's when I was at Black & White in London and dining out every day - but 13 stone 10lbs! - that's 192 lbs for those of you across the pond - or 87 kgs for the Europeans. I remember when we got our bathroom scale a few years ago, I had to do a conversion chart for Jo, who was slimming then - it only went up to 85 kgs!

I don't think I'll arrange my annual medical just now - perhaps a couple of months yet! Talking of medicals, Jo goes (to Inverurie) for her stress ECG next Thursday - this is the last part of the examinations after she went to the doctor's a few months ago complaining about chest pains.

I briefly saw Carole as she went in to Bannatyne's last night - she's signed up again - another New Year resolution! Jo was looking after Luca briefly before Gary came out and picked him up. Ross and I had our fish suppers watching C-Beebies - how weird was it? I thought the Magic Roundabout was bad, but this definitely came in to the same category of "did I just take some drugs?"

Got some squash tonight hopefully and tomorrow it's football - and I finished the Pink Floyd story (Pigs Must Fly) last night. I think Jo has stopped reading my blog because when I shut the book I showed her the photo on the back cover and said - that's Syd (Barrett) - "who's he?" Maybe she's an acid casualty like Syd - perhaps that's why she and Luca were watching that strange programme? Well, after all, our first born was named after a popular pharmaceutical of the 60's, wasn't she?

2009 begins in earnest

Well, I guess everybody's back to their usual routines now. It's a strange feeling - there's something quietly comforting about being back to the usual cycle of work and conventional weekends, but there's also something sad about it all - realising the holidays are now well and truly over.



Sunday was fairly conventional - by the time I got back from golf, Gary, Carole, Luca and the dogs had gone home again and it was just me, Jo and Ross for tea. Yesterday, I decided to start the week with the long drive to the Broch - got quite a lot done and also managed to get away in time to play squash and have a beer.



I'm getting near the end of the Pink Floyd book that Harry loaned me a long time ago. Most will have heard of the group but may not know much more about them - in particular the alleged acid casualty, founder member Syd Barrett, who finally passed away in 2006 - nearly 40 years after he left/was kicked out of the group - check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_barrett



I got to the stage of the book where Syd had long left the band and was travelling back and forth between his family's home in Cambridge and London. The book described how he first moved in to serviced accommodation at Chelsea Cloisters in April, 1974 - the very same month that Jo and I, with little Lucy in tow, moved in to the very same apartments! Check out http://www.chelseacloisters.co.uk/ for views of the accommodation - I remember Jo commenting on how tiny the rooms were - at least for the three of us - but, hey, James Buchanan & Co (Black & White whisky) were paying - and we got to stay in a very swanky part of London for a month for nothing, whilst our new house in Broxbourne was being finished.



Jo has dined out for years on her stories of wandering round London with Lucy in her buggy, with daily shopping trips to Harrods (for a pint of milk!) and regular encounters with other women with young babies, all of whom turned out to be nannies!

Sticking with my theme of old photos from round the world, here's one I found from March, 2003 when I met up with Scott, Lucy and a very young Cade for a weekend in SFO after I had been golfing at Palm Springs and Las Vegas:

We all stayed in one room at the Marriott. It had 2 large double beds and we were all a bit surprised when Cade wanted to sleep with me. All was well until he awoke in the morning and, still half asleep, opened his eyes and saw me! Shriek! Mommy, Daddy! Help!

Tenerife

I managed to secure accommodation for Kelly's and Craig's extra week in Tenerife, using one of my spare time-share exchanges - check http://www.intervalworld.com/web/cs?a=1503&resortCode=IVH&childResortCodes=IVH

Kelly said they're thinking of taking the bus up to London, then train to Gatwick and fly from there because it's cheaper than flying directly from Exeter. My advice is don't do it, Kelly! Bite the bullet and fly from Exeter!

Deeside Brewery

Football yesterday was good - and I managed a beer afterwards with Ken Page, who has headed off to Switzerland this morning for his usual annual ski-ing trip with his pal, Huw Jones and Ken's daughter Debbie, making up an unusual threesome.

This morning, I was just about to leave to pick up Jas for the drive down to Deeside Activity Park for our first viewing of the new Deeside Brewery, when Jo (who wasn't even dressed at the time), said she'd like to join us - so off the three of us trotted. (You can tell today's theme is unusual threesomes!).

It was a beautiful, crisp, cold morning and it was good to see round the brewery and brought back memories of our plans of a decade or so ago for a similar venture. Good luck to Rob James - it would have been nice to have done it ourselves, but there you go. We had a nice tea and coffee - and Jas and I even had bacon butties too - before we left.

I was persuaded by Jo to buy one of the Deeside Brewery hats which were on sale at the merchandising stall, and she posed in it when we came home:

Squash this afternoon, then we're baby and dog(s) sitting for Gary and Carole this evening.

Football team photos can be viewed at http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Deeside Piper

Went out to buy the P & J this morning and picked up a Deeside Piper at the same time - I was intrigued to read the letters page because I had been told that they had, indeed, published my second letter (in response to Roxanne's) in the paper - even although on their web site, they published my original letter (which was largely about the planning process itself).

Never mind, two mentions is better than one - hope somebody takes notice!

Finally got through to Kelly and Craig this morning - they weren't communicating with the world yesterday as they apparently had a bit of a wild time on Hogmanay - or, at least, Kelly did!

We're just sitting here in vegetation mode again this morning - although I am playing football again this afternoon. Otherwise no plans. Tomorrow, I may take a run down to Deeside Activity Park to look over the new Deeside Brewery that Rob James has installed there to replace the one he was running at his home at Hillside, Lumphanan. I've been promised the first official tour as I'm the local BLO (Brewery Liaison Officer!) for CAMRA.

2009

Happy New Year to everyone!

We had a nice time at Colin and Johanne's last night - although I only took one photo of Jo and Anne sitting in the extension at the front of the house watching the fireworks:

Today we decided just to vegetate - leave the door locked, don't get dressed and do nothing. Best laid plans - the doorbell rang not long after 11 - it was Gary and Luca and they stayed for lunch, but Luca didn't fancy tea for some reason.

We Skyped Lucy and tried to phone Kelly as well - they appear to have changed their minds and have opted for a place in Tenerife not on the coast - will Craig survive?