Another arithmetic puzzle

Re Kelly's suggestions on what Jo and I should do in our "golden years", taking an RV around USA sounds great - I could probably do this for a year - but I'm hoping that we don't exactly have one foot in the grave yet, and we may be around for another few decades yet - or, at least I hope so!

In my father's (and grandfather's) day, men were expected to work for 50 years from the ages of 15, when they would start their apprenticeships, to the retirement age of 65. Life expectancy for males was no more than 18 months after retirement, so you can see that funding of pensions was simple - saving small percentages of your earnings each year for 50 years would easily provide for a comfortable retirement pension for the short period when you were actually able to draw it. When Britain took on the responsibility for social welfare (including state pensions) after World War II, it wasn't exactly onerous on the Government to take on the liability for pensions.

Now the whole demographic - and people's expectations - has changed dramatically. The ratio of expected working life to retirement life is now virtually 1:1 - i.e. work for 30 years and be retired for 30 years. You can see where I'm going with this one now, can't you?

You lot - my little sprogs - must have started saving for your old age by now. You cannot rely on the state to fund your retirement - it can't do it anyway - especially not now, after giving it all to the banks!

Forget the effects of interest/investment returns and inflation - they basically cancel each other out over time anyway. If you feel you can happily live in retirement on, say, half, of what you earn now, what percentage of your earnings should you be putting aside each year whilst you are working, for you to have enough of a pension pot on retirement to live on for the rest of your days?

It's not rocket science - merely simple arithmetic - think about it.

Sublime to ridiculous

After sleeping for a full 8 hours on Tuesday evening, it was back to another fitful night last night - Jo reckoned it was due to the fact that I did not complete some work yesterday that was required for this morning, and I was thinking about it all night - she's probably right. I'm trying to get everything tidied up before I go away at the crack of dawn tomorrow and there's so much on my mind just now.

Forgive me therefore if I come across as a bit edgy today - no sleep last night and none tonight either (never sleep when I'm catching an early morning plane). Jo too was - understandably - a little edgy last night when she eventually got back from Carole's - it was Ash Wednesday and she hadn't eaten all day - and despite the fact that it was almost 8 pm when she got home, Ross and I hadn't eaten either, so she was starving and still had to cook for 3 of us! Ross, apparently, was meant to tell me that it was just omelettes for tea and Jo fully expected we would have had ours by the time she got home.

Another photo of Dawn's new pug - she's a 7 week old Bichon Frise (whatever that is) and Dawn is looking for suggestions for a name for her - any ideas?

Help!

Technical problems - no e-mails for the last 24 hours. I'm at a loss - what do I do now? Is this what retirement is like?

Today, just making sure everything is in order for my holiday - work-wise too. Haven't got any Euros, however - will probably leave until I get to a hole in the wall machine when I get there now.

I actually slept in a bit this morning - generally I don't bother putting the alarm on as I awaken before 6 anyway, but this morning I woke with a bit of a start at 6:30 am - wow! Better not do this on Friday!

One mystery solved, another arises

Kelly was right - it was Dawn who texted me - I only had her work mobile on my contacts and as she's been off work for a while, she's had to resort to using her own one.

Thank you, Kelly - you are the only one who thought I should retire now - but she added the qualification "if I can afford it". Well, the arithmetic on this is very easy - the equation is the amount of funds in your pension pot, divided by the amount you want to live on each year. If this sum is greater than the number of years you have left to live, then go for it! Oh - just one problem - there seems to be one unknown factor in this equation - can anyone supply me with the answer?

Tuesday alone at work

Well, Michael and Francis have now gone off to Thailand for some golf. Michael is only staying for a couple of days then he is off round the world to see customers, but Francis won't be back until the middle of next week, by which time I'll be away in Tenerife.

Got some squash last night but that'll be the last until we come back from our golf trip. Jo was out when I got home - she sent me a text saying "Tea at ban" - I assumed it was predictive text in operation again - she never bothers to correct it and it's a challenge to interpret her messages at times, but it turned out she started to tell me she was going out for tea at Banchory Lodge, but never finished the message!

OK -solve a mystery for me - whose mobile number is 07895-084817? I received a text photo headed "A new addition" - but I've no idea who sent it?:

Kelly/Craig - time to update your blog!

Skype/poll

Well, we tried - but nobody Skyped us and we couldn't get through to Lucy who was the only one online.

My poll has finished - I'll need to think about another one now! Somebody apparently doesn't like the photos and videos - strange - I thought that would be unanimous.

I forgot to mention about our trip to the annual CAMRA meeting to select the entries for next year's Good Beer Guide. We get 37 or 38 entries for Grampian and the Northern Isles, and out of our 385 members, only 22 actually bothered to vote! The pub of the year is also voted on and the Marine in Stonehaven was again voted as best in Aberdeenshire and best overall. Archibald Simpson's was a surprise winner of the best Aberdeen city pub.

It was a different way to spend Saturday afternoon - particularly when there was a key game going on at Pittodrie.

Golf today was good (see golf blog for photos) and this afternoon, it's been the Sunday Times and occasional footy. This evening, we've been watching some of the Best of Motown that BBC Four have been featuring this weekend - plus catching up with some Earl - and we've decided to give Mad Men another chance tonight - if it doesn't grab us this time, then it'll be deleted from the planner. Oh - and we caught up with the penultimate episode of Oz and James trek round the country to find the drink that best symbolises Britain - this week it was the West Country - cider in Somerset, Plymouth Gin, Devon wines and Morris Dancing in Cornwall!

Benny Gallagher

We enjoyed the concert at Woodend Barn last night. I always like it when older musicians tell you stories about the old days in between the music. Benny was more of a songwriter than singer - his erstwhile partner, Graham Lyle took on the main singing duties at the height of their popularity - check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgItntk5kTE&feature=related and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallagher_%26_Lyle

His encore last night was the McGuinness Flint number one from 1970 but he prefaced it with a lengthy dialogue about Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and an Elvis connection:

He had earlier told a nice tale about the late Ronnie Lane, a hero of mine. I hadn't realised that he had played on Slim Chance's "How Come" hit - this was the only song he did last night that he hadn't had a hand in writing. He talked about Ronnie dancing across the stage with his "educated left foot" leading - I trawled my old Small Faces and Faces videos but couldn't find much evidence of this. See for yourself on this You Tube clip - Benny Gallagher is playing accordion and Graham Lyle is on mandolin, with Ronnie Lane singing:

P & J

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1088640

Skype

We haven't Skyped for a while, but our camera is set up and we're available this weekend.


Footy for Ross and Gary this afternoon and CAMRA meeting for Colin and I, then it's off to Woodend Barn tonight to see Benny Gallagher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Gallagher).


The golf course is open again at last and, so if the weather behaves, I'm hoping to get a game tomorrow - I'll need some practice before I head off to Tenerife on Friday.


The start of our 3 day week at the canning plant was reported in the local Fraserburgh Herald on Thursday:

The Press and Journal were also on the phone to me yesterday, but I didn't call them back - they've got the press release I wrote and I really don't want to add any more to that. No doubt there'll be something in today's paper.

I'm having a 60th birthday lunch at the golf club - I had originally hoped to do it on the Sunday nearest to my birthday, but the caterers are on holiday then, so it's going to have to be the following week - 15th March (beware, beware, the Ides of March! - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_march). I thought of holding it over until the following Sunday when the Lesinas are here, but that's Mother's Day and the place will be mobbed then.

T-n-C again

Yesterday's Piper article: http://www.deesidepiper.co.uk/news/Tor-na-foiled.4996405.jp

T-n-C

Here's the full article from yesterday's P & J. Note Roxanne's comment about the hotel needing £1m. of refurbishment - this really sticks in the throat in light of the way they forced the squash club out through alleged lack of maintenance. If this is to be believed, the only decent part of her property is now the squash courts which we refurbished at vast expense - but too late for the legal system as it turned out.

So, after owning the hotel for 18 years or more, Roxanne is now admitting that, not only has her business been run down to a non-viable condition, but the very fabric of the hotel is apparently falling apart as well!

Yours disgustedly,

Btw - don't believe Jo's blog - she is losing weight, even if the scales don't show it yet.

Tor-na-Coille

I forgot to mention the good news - http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1083467

Round 5 to the objectors - seconds out, prepare for a long fight.

Tuesday in Glasgow

I met Jo at Stracathro - I was late but we had an easy drive down and made it to Glasgow in very good time. It was too early to eat and we couldn't go to Barry's as he and Helen were still at work and I don't have a key for Foxbar Drive any more, so we decided to pay Dad a visit. As usual he was seated in his favourite chair by the window, dozing away. We didn't disturb him to start with as we both wanted to use the loo in his room first of all!

Dawn had left a diary/notebook last week - she wanted to know what Dad got up to each day and what exercise/activity he did. It had only been going for a week, but each day different staff had written - "Rennie happy, dancing and singing along to Patsy Cline". Of course, when we woke Dad and asked him about this, he said who's he? (Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline to see why this is funny). Her CD was, indeed, on Dad's CD player.

Dawn had tried to get Dad to come to hers for dinner on Sunday but had failed - he's so reluctant to go anywhere or do anything - but at least he's happy. Jo and I walked him round the corridors then sat him down for his dinner:

Time for us to leave - we thought curry might be best, so we headed off to Mitchell St and had a quick beer in the Bon Accord:

Cafe India used to be adjacent but we discovered it had moved a couple of years ago, so we had to settle for PJ's, just around the corner. We both went veggy and the food was fine, but Jo didn't take to the decor - high polystyrene ceilings and bright lighting put her off a bit.

Glasgow Concert Hall is absolutely excellent - viewing is good from anywhere and the accoustics are superb. Tom Paxton is 71 now but he did 2 stints supported by just a lone guitarist/mandolin player. If you lived through the 60's, his music is very nostalgic - his tunes can veer towards almost nursery rhyme - in fact many of them were written for his kids when they were young - but there's often a harder underlying message - he was one of the 60's so called "protest" singers after all. He opened the concert by letting us all know in no uncertain terms what his political views were - he said "thank the Lord - we've got our country back again!". He talked about Dubya going back to Texas where he reckoned they would call him "all hat and no cattle"! Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_paxton

We stayed with Barry and Helen, who apologised for the fact that it's still a camp bed in their guest (front) room. It was tight for the two of us - and sore!

We headed north early this morning and I dropped Jo off at Stracathro where we swapped cars - Jo had offered to try to clean up the chewing gum on my car seat, but I guess it had been there too long - I've just had a "whoops" message from her!

Poll results

OK - three of you have now responded - who's the latchy one then?

Seems like only one of you so far likes my lists and quizzes, so what else can I do to add a bit of variety if I can't do these features? I would prefer the content to be mine rather than just plucked from the web - and I don't do funny - although I could, I suppose, tell you more about daily life chez Stewart, particularly what Jo says and does - her blog is only the tip of the iceberg!

The following comment is definitely not intended to be related to the last paragraph - we were listening to Radio Scotland this morning and it was the news reporter John Suchet talking about his wife's dementia and how she's happy in her own world and really it was he who was suffering - he had "lost" his wife although her body was still there and he had the responsibility of looking after it. I thought of my Dad and also Dave Edwards. My Dad is surrounded by carers and is well looked after, safe and comfortable. Doris, on the other hand, has the unenviable task of looking after Dave all by herself. They're coming to Tenerife on our golfing trip next week - it'll be interesting to see how Dave is with Doris there, and whether there is any noticeable deterioration since our Florida trip in November.

There - I told you I don't do funny.

This afternoon, I'm meeting Jo at Stracathro and we're driving down to Glasgow to see Tom Paxton in concert tonight. We're staying with Barry and Helen and then back up the road in the morning. Will also pop in to see Dad sometime.

Here's some Tom Paxton from 1970:

Thanks

Thank you to Jo and one other - Kelly/Lucy/Gary? - for completing my poll - results totally inconclusive at this stage however.

Been to Fraserburgh this morning - first day of the 3 day week now in operation in the canning plant - a little eerie with no production going on - and very sad too. Perhaps it's time for me to go part time as well? Maybe I'll hold a separate poll on this one.

Curious

Questions:

1) Why did Gary select all his favourite TV shows when I asked only about game shows?

2) Why did nobody answer my poll questions on the sidebar of my blog when I had gone to all the trouble of re-designing my blog with new features?

Incidentally, did everyone read the Sunday Times Culture section today? It listed the top 100 blogs and the link below was one of them:

http://photos.tmz.com/galleries/memba_them_2008

List time

Time for another list - game shows you have loved - or not!

The Krypton Factor had some merit the first time around - and it's back on air again, although I haven't watched it yet.

I suppose everybody must have watched Blind Date at some time in their lives - although most would now deny it.

Call My Bluff was fun in its time - mostly due to the panel members.

Have I Got News For You? is still great as is QI, and I've grown to like Mock the Week - but definitely not Argumental - contrived and very not funny.

I like some periods of Never Mind the Buzzcocks but Jo won't watch it, so I seldom see it. Likewise, Pop Quiz and They Think It's All Over. A Question of Sport used to be essential viewing but it's lost the plot now.

Back in the 50's and early 60's, What's My Line was about the only panel game on TV and was very watchable, even if it was really a radio show on TV.

Whose Line is it Anyway had its moments but I never quite got Shooting Stars.

Catchphrase and Countdown could be fun as well.

The £64,000 Question was, I think, fairly good, although I can barely remember it. More recently, Blockbusters and Fifteen to One were essential viewing.

Mastermind and University Challenge were, and are, classics of course.

Top of the Form is from a bygone era but surely the most successful game show of all time has to be Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The Weakest Link was fun for a while but it's at least two Wicked Witch facelifts overdue to be removed from screen.

Personally, I can't stand most of the more recent reality shows. Corny though they were, Take Your Pick and Double Your Money leave far fonder memories.

3-2-1 had Ted Rogers of course, but Jim Bowen on Bullseye? How has he managed to become an icon now?

At certain times in our lives, Generation Game and the Golden Shot were unavoidable peak time viewing and even Mr & Mrs, Play Your Cards Right and The Price is Right were popular for a while.

What's your favourites? Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UK_game_shows or the American version - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_game_shows

Valentines Day

Jo's flowers:

Thank you, M & S!

Take away curry was the best we could do for a meal last night - everywhere was fully booked.

Slum Dog Millionaire

Just one thing to say - go and see it!

Saturday

A little tired today - it was late when I got home after the headbang - check out http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/ for details.

I tried to pull the curtains shut and managed to pull the curtain rail down! Job for later on! Jo didn't stir.

Jo's flowers from M & S have just arrived - she'll maybe feature them on her blog. We're going to see Slum Dog Millionaire this afternoon - Ross was invited but decided not to join us.

TGIF

Been a hard, stressful week and I'm glad it's virtually over - I'm home now and looking forward to a couple of beers and a good headbang tonight.

After weeks and weeks of messing about, we finally decided to stick with our existing business bankers, Bank of Scotland - or, more correctly, Lloyds TSB Halifax Bank of Scotland to give it its full moniker! We went to tell their competitors (Clydesdale) the bad news this afternoon and, as we were driving there the news broke about the Bank of Scotland's losses, which were a lot worse than previously reported and set (yet another) new record. Whoops - hope we haven't made a major tactical error!

I'm also catching up on my recording and viewing of the BBC's recent Folk America series - I've got lots still to work my way through. There's some great historic footage and magic moments - ranging from Woody Guthrie in the dust bowl of Oklahoma in the 30's depression, right through to Seasick Steve paying a nostalgic return to his roots in USA.

Devolve me

Lucy - did you get any software with your new videocam?

Has anyone else "twittered" yet? - https://twitter.com/home - it seems to be the latest rage and there's been some recent publicity about Jonathan Ross' and Stephen Fry's twitter. I did it last night and I decided to follow the aforementioned celebs to see if anything interesting happened - it didn't - other than the fact that Stephen Fry is now following me!

Twitter is basically online short text messaging - very short and sharp and definitely not thought out like some blogs. Stephen Fry suggested trying this web page - http://www.open.ac.uk/darwin/devolve-me.php. You upload a photo of yourself and watch as you devolve back millions of years!

Nothing to say

Three posts yesterday and nothing to say today. All I can do is add another international photo - this one's from Ross' trip to Japan with WNI in 2005:

Another list

Here’s my top 10 ales and some memories and comments as recently reported to CAMRA:

1) Young’s Special. We moved down south in 1974 and my place of work was Devonshire House, which was directly above Green Park tube station. We were on the 5th floor and had magnificent views across Piccadilly to Green Park with Buckingham Palace beyond. At lunchtimes, however, I would head in the opposite direction towards Berkeley Square and in a side street on the north east corner of the square, amongst a number of fine mews properties, lies the Guinea Grill. It had a very fine restaurant to the rear, but the public bar was fairly small and, on a typical summer’s day, the punters would spill out on to the lane with their pints of Young’s Special which would wash down the fabulous “Desperate Dan” steak pies which was my standard lunch fare on perhaps more occasions than I should have.

2) McMullen’s AK Bitter – again another fond memory from our spell down in the South East. We lived in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire and our nearest local was the Bull, which was a McMullen’s pub. Sunday lunchtimes sitting in the pub garden with the kids free to run around and me supping a couple of pints of bitter – magic!

3) Bridgeport bottle conditioned IPA – this is my standard tipple when we go to Oregon each summer to visit our grandchildren. On our first supermarket shopping trip, I head for the beer section to stock up with Bridgeport’s IPA for supping back at our daughter’s home. It’s my favourite bottle conditioned beer and is great in the early evening as the sun goes down and the temperature starts to drop a little, whilst our son-in-law barbeques some of the spoils from his winter hunting season. We’re hoping to return to Bridgeport’s brewery in Portland this summer where we can usually get a couple of their cask conditioned ales on handpump.

4) Betty Stogs – a wonderful Cornish beer from Skinner’s. I guess I grew to love this one initially when our other daughter moved down to Cornwall a couple of years ago, but, strangely, I’ve probably drunk more of it in our golf club at Banchory where it was a very popular and fairly regular feature last summer.

5) Pitchfork – no specific memories – just an excellent ale.

6) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – another American beer – superb in bottle and pretty good in “draft” – even if it’s keg.

7) Porterhouse Oyster Stout – memories of a trip to Dublin and getting fed up looking for a tasty alternative to G******s, then coming across the Porterhouse brewpub and specifically their Oyster Stout – creamy!

8) Gunner’s Daughter from the Old Cannon brewpub, Bury St Edmunds. Another trip to a wonderful brewpub – we stayed for the weekend and tried all their ales, but this one sticks in the memory. The only slightly sour point of the weekend was when the proprietor cancelled our planned demonstration of brewing on the Monday morning at short notice, leaving us in some doubt whether the beers were actually brewed in the pristine surroundings of the pub or whether this was just a marketing front and the ales were brewed elsewhere.

9) Devanha – had to mention Dixie’s early attempt at establishing a brewery in Aberdeenshire – perhaps ahead of its time, but I still have fond memories of drinking the beer while staying at the Tor-na-Coille hotel in Banchory prior to moving my family up.

10) Really hard to choose a 10th one – there’s so many beers I like that haven’t had a mention so far. Maybe I’ll stay on the nostalgia kick and evoke fond memories of Lorimer’s 80/- drunk in the Marchmont Hotel, Balerno in the late 70’s/early 80’s.

My day in Glasgow

The train arrived in good time and I picked up a cab to take me to the Erskine Glasgow home - I was first there and got a cup of tea and a biscuit for my troubles - one of the staff said I looked like I had travelled a long way - but she was a little surprised when I told her that she was dead right! When Barry arrived she handed us a nice photo they had taken of Dad at Christmas:

The 6 month review went OK - Dad's dementia is obviously getting worse and basically he can't do anything himself now, but he's happy enough and the staff like him and say he's no bother at all. The only potential issue was his weight loss - he was down to 67 kgs - a drop of 3kgs in a month. He doesn't eat much and they will get the dietician to see him.

Dawn also asked them to keep trying to get him to go out for short walks - and we did that ourselves afterwards:

He looks a little stressed but he was OK. Note newly blonde - and still limping - Dawn.

Dawn dropped me off in the city centre and I walked around a bit and spotted the office where I began my training in 1965 - indentured apprenticeship they used to call it - and it really was Dickensian. Note the small round window at the top of the building - that's where I worked before I went to Glasgow University:

It was rather sad to see the entrance was all blocked up - obviously some kind of development is planned:

I had a meeting at HSBC in West Nile St and I passed through Dury Lane and the famous old Horseshoe pub on the way there - and, no I didn't go in!:


That was my very civilised day and I arrived home in the early evening, refreshed and not feeling tired after a long drive.

Travel to Glasgow

I'm writing this on the train down to Glasgow for Dad's 6 month assessment at Erskine. It's a beautiful clear, crisp day. Thankfully, the Slug road was fine this morning, so, so far so good. It's a lot stressful than driving.



We had an adventure last night - I'm looking forward to reading Jo's blog today and her account of events - I heard a version last night, but no doubt there will have been other bits she missed out. I had dropped Jo off at Inverurie on my way to Fraserburgh - a particularly nasty day there - not weather wise - there was no snow - but we had to tell the staff at one of the factories (the canning plant) that we would have to move on to a 3 day week starting next week due to a loss of orders in Australia, Scandinavia and the UK - not pleasant at all - I hope we can revert to a full week in a couple of months' time - if we have any staff left by then, that is.



Anyway, back to Jo - we were late leaving Inverurie on the way home - I had scheduled to play doubles that evening and had put our scheduled 5:15 start back to 6:00 pm which, if we left Inverurie at 5, would be plenty time to get Jo home and me up to Findrack in time for squash. Inevitably, we were late and I had no option but to go straight to squash and let Jo take the car home from there. All was OK on the roads until we got past Torphins and turned up the Tor-na-veen road, which was pretty snowy. Jo looked apprehensive and her face turned even more ashen when we turned in to the Findrack estate.



I drove up to the courts OK - I had to drive fairly carefully but the car seemed to handle the snow OK and I thought as long as Jo went gingerly down the hill, she wouldn't have a problem getting back home. Of course, I hadn't reckoned on the conditions worsening a little allied to Jo's legendary lack of a sense of direction.



When we finished playing we drove down the hill of the estate and had to help some poor unfortunate in a little Polo with bald tyres who was stuck trying to get up the hill. He was being helped by a man who was trying to cycle through the foot deep snow and had lost his chain in this foolish act! It was only after all this that we got to a place where I could get a signal on my mobile - and the first thing was a voicemail message from Jo saying she was stuck and was holding up all the traffic - and she didn't know where she was!



Fortunately, I eventually got through to her mobile and discovered that all was now well and she was safely home again!

Broxbourne

Jo was right - at least on one count - I did manage a game of squash yesterday - but I'm afraid her word blindness/dyslexia/memory loss (delete as appropriate) got the better of her again - Seasick Bill?!!!!!



Squash wasn't without incident - I packed my bag and went out the front door - but no car! Where had it gone? Ross had gone in to Aberdeen earlier on and I had suggested he should take my car which would be better in the snow - and cheaper! He declined on that occasion, but I guess he must have taken it as read that he could take my car any time he wants - which is mostly OK - as long he tells me!



I tried to get a lift up from Keith, but he was taking Richard (who couldn't get his Jag out of the drive because of the snow) in his little 4 wheel drive Audi TT and there really wasn't room for me as well. I then had no option but to take Jo's car - then I remembered that my racquets were in the Volvo so I had to phone Keith back and get him to take a spare racquet for me.



As I climbed up the Glassel hill, the snow on the roads got steadily worse and when I left the main Torphins road to turn up at the Tor-na-veen crossing it was pretty deep and Jo's car started sliding about. Fortunately, there was nothing coming the other way. I turned in to the Findrack estate and tried to climb up the road towards the squash court. I (just) managed up to the first level in front of the main house but couldn't risk any further so I left the car there and walked the rest through the deep snow.



When we came out after squash, there had been more snow (see squash blog - http://deesidesquashracquetballclub.blogspot.com/) and I had to be pushed to get going again.

We watched Charlie Wilson's War on Sky Anytime last night. It stars Tom Hanks as a senator supporting the Mujahideen in their guerilla war in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 80's. It's written with the full benefit of hindsight and the obvious irony of what's happened in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere since. Not bad. Sky Anytime is now showing virtually all of the Bond Movies - may watch some of them, but I think I'd quite like us to pay a rare visit to the cinema soon - everyone who has seen Slum Dog Millionaire tells me it's great.

A beautiful day today but it looks like it's going to be cold enough for a while to keep the snow on the ground - so definitely no golf! I'm going down to Glasgow on Tuesday - it's Dad's 6 month assessment at Erskine - I may try to book the train.

I'd been encouraged to write a short article for the next edition of the local CAMRA's branch's newsletter, North Sea Ale on the question of my 10 favourite beers. It got me to thinking about where and when, and our move down south in 1974 brought back some happy memories. We often used to visit the Bull in Broxbourne at weekends - particularly if it was sunny. They had a nice garden and Lucy (and eventually Gary) could run around whilst we supped a couple of pints. I looked up McMullen's web site today and there is a recent photo of the pub there:

Sadly, it looks like all the grass is gone and it's been tarmac'd over.

Snowy Saturday

When the snow came down in Aberdeen yesterday afternoon, it seems every man and his dog decided to panic and rush home - including me. The upshot was chaos - Bridge of Don instantly became a car park. I left before 3 pm and it took me over one hour to travel the 400 yards from my office down the hill to the McDonald's corner. I was going to drop out of the football but I was getting nowhere anyway so just decided to try to get to the Beach and hopefully the traffic would have moved by the time we had finished - this plan eventually worked, although not all of the players made it in time, so it was a bit disjointed.

We got back to Banchory - which showed little signs of weather disruption - safely and I had a few beers at the Douglas after tea, whilst Jo caught up with her X-Files. This morning, however, we have snow - I've got 2 tickets for the Scottish Cup match against East Fife, but I'm not sure whether or not I want to go - will take a rain check.

As nobody wants to take part in my photo quizzes, I've decided to give the answers up front. This is Kelly and I at the Performing Arts Center (sic) at Branson, Missouri in 2002:

Kelly must have wondered what hit her that year - not only was she on holiday with her parents at the age of 23, but she - and we - discovered that being in your 50's actually makes you one of the younger generation in Branson - where it seems many Americans go to spend their final years whilst being entertained by former stars of their era giving it one last hurrah at the many shows in town.

We went to see the Platters - or at least one of the many touring franchises bearing that name - and a dreadful Neil Diamond impersonator (Eric Monet). Here we are just before the Platters show:

The theaters (sic) were full of vets - not Vietnam or Korea but from a greater vintage - many wearing their medals, and each show was preceded by the national anthem when everybody stood up, saluted and sang along. We also stood - we felt we had no option - but saluting and singing? - we didn't know the words anyway. We felt like traitors or spies - it seemed every eye was on us. Weird feeling, but remember this was our first US holiday since 9/11 and all the nationalistic tendencies were coming out - although I have a feeling that Branson is caught in a bit of a time bubble and is always like that.

Quiz answers

Jo and I were pictured outside Ronda bullring in Southern Spain in 1999.

Troublesome travel

What a waste of a morning! Headed off for Fraserburgh at 7 am this morning - travel OK until I got nearer Kintore/Inverurie and encountered a virtual white-out. I decided it wasn't wise to carry on my journey so I stopped off at Gary and Carole's. Gary was heading off in his 4 wheel drive to Dyce, but an hour later he'd only got as far as Kintore (3 miles away) - the dual carriageway ahead was gridlocked - cars couldn't get up either side of Tyrebagger hill. Gary headed home and another hour later he made it.

Just after 11 am, the snow relented a little and I decided to try the roads again. Should I try to get back to Banchory, or should I try to get to Fraserburgh (where there was no snow)? I drove gingerly to Oldmeldrum then on towards Methlick and then started to think twice - by the time I would get to Fraserburgh (if at all) I would have to turn back again. Finding somewhere to turn the car round was tricky but I finally managed it and got home at lunchtime. Deeside was fine - the roads were black - but the lunchtime TV news showed the problems around Inverurie and north of there.

Anyway, no sign of Jo here - she had a hairdresser's appointment this morning but it's after pm now and she's still not back. Ross was here however - asleep in his bed, still fully dressed! Just home for a lunchtime nap, he said! Chancer!

Rake-ish glasses

Perhaps the following photo demonstrates the extreme angle of my driving glasses now - the optician told me it's normal to have about a 5% angle but mine are now more like 35%!

Tuesday - home early

Left work early - had enough - long board meeting. I drove back to Banchory to see the optician about my driving glasses - one of the lenses had popped out (again). He fixed it no problem but asked me if I had sat on the glasses? It was only then that I noticed that the lenses were sitting at quite an acute angle when you put the glasses on. I checked and I could still see OK and we decided it was best not to tamper with the frames for the time being.

I had a look at new frames when I was there - I've got a slight adjustment to my prescription and I thought I might try varifocals again. They checked my records and it was 1991 when I bought the last pair. Apparently, technology has moved on quite a bit, so perhaps time to try again. The only problem is which frames? Eyewise has a very uninspiring collection - perhaps I should try the new optician we now have in Banchory? May need some help here.

I also had time to nip in for a quick haircut - number 3 all over, in case you were wondering.

Chilli for tea, then Jo and I nipped out to the Potarch and the Feughside to do a couple of quick pub surveys. Reluctantly, we nipped in to Scott Skinner's when we got back to Banchory, hoping against hope that the beer was OK this time - how wrong can you be? I almost feel like reporting them to Trading Standards or Health and Safety - gross!

Still no snow - looks like we are going to miss it this time.

Today's archive photo is from which country - and when? Bit of a clue in the photo:

Quiz answers

It was Washington Park in Portland that we were in - and it's the Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny etc) cartoons that end with "That's all folks!"

Portland state of mind

With occasional snow flurries outside my office window, forgive me if my thoughts today turn towards summer holidays, so, with apologies to Billy Joel for corrupting his song title above, I'm looking forward to going back to Portland again this summer.

5 years ago, we visited the Bridgeport brewery, home of my favourite bottle conditioned IPA - Jo liked the live hops growing everywhere - although Cade was a little disinterested:

The news today is full of the snow storms that are affecting the southern part of the country - London and the South East commuter area seems to have come to a virtual halt. We're OK here - the roads are clear and they're absolutely no sign of snow on the ground in Aberdeen - but it could be coming our way tonight.

I managed to watch a bit of the golf from Scottsdale, Arizona last night - perfect weather and great courses in what is, I think, my favourite American state (from those I've been to so far).

You'll all be pleased to know that Ross (or should that be R***, given his likening for conspiracy theories?) made it back home safely yesterday - as did my car! They seemed to have a good time and the weather was kind to them on their drive. He could be going from the sublime to the ridiculous as this Saturday Aberdeen are at home to East Fife in the cup!

Today is Candlemas - I knew it as a traditional Scottish quarter day when ground rents were due under the old feudal system. It's also the half way point between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox, but the internet has a variety of other stories, and historical and religious significances, including the following beauty:

February 2 is "Candlemas" in many churches and is the day for observing the ritual purification of Mary forty days after the birth of Jesus as well as the presentation of Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem (see Luke 2:21-40). The day has pagan roots and was a Christian adaptation of the older practices for this midwinter festivity from which we get our "Groundhog Day." Since the presentation was also the purification of Mary (40 days after childbirth), the church developed ritual practices known as the "Churching of Women" (see additional notes at bottom of page) or "Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth." The following is an explanation:

Seven days after Christmas, January 1, is the feast of our Lord's circumcision

Thirty three days after that, February 2 is the feast of his being offered in the Temple, the purification of the Virgin Mary. So Candlemass is fourty days after the birth of Jesus.

Oakbank school

Check the letters page in yesterday's P & J - http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1055720

Kelly's and Craig's old workplace is still providing controversy!

Weekend before the storms

Not only have we booked our flights, but I've also now booked the hotels in Portland. We were last there in 2004 - note how small the boys were:

Today's quiz is what is the name of the park we were in?

They're forecasting heavy snow in the UK for tonight, but most of it seems to be south of here, so we might escape. Right now, it does seem like the calm before the storm. Conditions have been fair and pretty mild for the time of year - golf this morning was fine - it was good to walk on soft grass again after all the hard frosts and ice that has been lingering for a while.

Well, Ross made it the Man U match OK - he phoned me from the corporate hospitality lounge. They made it in nice time after I managed to persuade him that leaving here at 9:00 am was not really sensible, especially given that he had to go in to Aberdeen to pick up Liam and Thomas, then detour via Penicuik to pick up Harris. My rant for today is about people (like Ross) planning a trip like this and not building in any slack for things going wrong - as they inevitably do. Anyway, for once, he listened and adjusted his departure time to 7:30 am. Let's hope they get back safely as well!

Played football Friday, squash last night and golf this morning - and then I nipped out to Dave Williamson's to do a technical check for our next headbang in 2 weeks' time - he's got a new toy that he tells me converts digital sound output back in to analogue which should apparently further improve the overall sound quality. Dave's sound system is already pretty good, so this will be an interesting experiment.

Footy this afternoon is the big Liverpool - Chelsea match - both teams will be feeling the pressure after Man U managed another win last night to move 5 points ahead.

That's all for now, folks! (2nd quiz question - where did you see this phrase?)