April showers?

Some of you may remember the song - but the fact of the matter is that we haven't had any showers at all - in fact April's been an exceptionally dry and sunny month in NE Scotland. I played for Banchory Seniors at Edzell yesterday afternoon and it was a fine afternoon, and this morning at Banchory it was beautiful - and I scored a net 64, so I'm a happy camper now.

Hoping to play squash doubles this evening as well - and then watch the Man U - Spurs match.

Ross is away to see the Granite City rally today. The reality of his termination with Bancon was confirmed when we saw his job advertised in yesterday's P & J - how sad. Walter Mitty? What are we to do?

Old Trafford surprise

On the off chance, I decided to text Brian (Hanson) to see if he might be interested in joining us at Old Trafford - and he said yes! Still one ticket left.

Warning - Apprentice comments

Golf was fun last night, but I didn't manage to get the shorts on - it was nice and sunny, but just a bit cool.

When I got home, no Josephine - Ross told me she had taken Luca back to Inverurie about 6 pm. By the time it was approaching 11 pm, I thought I had better phone Carole - no problem, Jo's just left. When she got home, I was in bed with one eye on the Man U match replay and another trying to finish off Ian Rankin's last Rebus novel, Exit Music - not quite there yet - perhaps I'll finish it tonight.

I ate my tea on my own - Ross was on the computer with Thomas - so it was time to watch the Apprentice. Kim had to go - if not this week, then some time soon - but how lucky was the big Geordie? - Pantsman indeed!

A lot of the guys in our business are away next week at the European Seafood show in Brussels - which just happens to coincide with the first leg of the Champions League semi-final at Old Trafford against Arsenal - which means the corporate tickets are available again - probably for the last time - we're giving them up for next season. I'll have to miss my golf, but there you go - and Ross wants to come too - but no Gary again - he can't get time off. Still got 2 spares if anyone wants to join us? Craig/Carole?

Tomorrow it's work in the morning and then a Seniors match in the afternoon at Edzell - hope it stays nice - and dry.

That's it for now - must say I find this easier than Facebook - I guess I'm still coming to terms with how to use the latter, but it seems to me that a daily blog diary is a lot easier. I guess Facebook is for shorter messages - like Twitter, only with additional features.

Footy, footy, footy

What a match last night! Liverpool 4 Arsenal 4 for those of you not in the know. I watched the first half upstairs in bed - I swapped the mini TV we had in our room for the one my Dad used to have. It was on a stand and I was dismantling it to take it down to the garage when I suddenly thought this could be the answer to Jo's complaints about not being able to see the TV when I roll over to sleep and she wants to carry on watching Alibi or Sci-fi.

It's certainly a lot bigger and the picture and sound are much better. The smaller TV had been used in my office for many years, purely on teletext and the data had burned itself on to the screen, so this is a big improvement in bedtime viewing.

Today has started gloriously and I'm looking forward to golf tonight - will it be warm enough for shorts? Watch this space.

Ruby Tuesday

Why the headline? I don't know - I was just trying to think of some way of describing the day of this post. For the younger ones, this was the title of a famous Stones song from the 60's - also covered by Melanie a few years later.

Of course, other days of the week inspired some famous songs - Sunday, Bloody Sunday (U2); Monday, Monday (Mamas & Papas); Wednesday Week (Undertones); Friday on My Mind (Easybeats); and Saturday Night at the Movies (Drifters) - these were all easy to get - in fact, many more sprung to mind - but what about the God of War's day? I couldn't think of a song title with Thursday in it - but, of course, nowadays, Google comes to the rescue - check http://www.philbrodieband.com/muso-8-days-a-week.htm#days

Anyway, today was fairly routine, albeit I attended a short lunchtime course in Aberdeen about the many changes taking place in UK and European employment legislation. I had to park in College St and it's a Pay and Display - and I didn't have enough coins on me. Technology to the rescue again - phone this number on your mobile and pay for your parking that way. Of course, it's all machine driven, using voice recognition - I'm trying to say SV56 NWJ in a noisy car park and the answer comes back "FB56 MWG" - is this correct? - answer no - try again - and again - and eventually I get to speak to a human - 5 and half minutes of premium phone time later, I'm sorted. Just as well I wasn't in a rush - I'll remember to carry more coins next time.

Came home sharp again tonight - had time for a haircut and still was in the house just after 5 pm - caught Jo on the hop a bit - "what are you doing here?" Anyway, compensation was in the form of a cup of tea and slice of yummy banana bread. Tea wasn't much later - a scrummy melange of bacon, fried egg, mushrooms and tomato - Jo's still cooking for 6 - there was tons left over, but no doubt our midnight rambler will scoff up all the leftovers.

Talking about Ross, he still hasn't had his formal letter from Bancon about his termination - pretty poor I think. He got an acknowledgment yesterday of receipt of the application for the one and only job he has been able to apply for so far - times are tough. Kelly said one of her friends was looking for somebody to set up a running web site for her - perhaps he might get some work this way - I do hope so.

Kelly did manage to Skype us last night - although the call quality dropped off the longer we were online - I think it's the Cornish way - broadband? more like slowband - even the phone lines are c..p.

I also managed to locate Gary's Skype account at last - all we need now is for him to use it.

Settling down now for the big Liverpool - Arsenal match tonight - more news tomorrow.

Holiday? Monday

A local holiday in Aberdeen - but where was I? You guessed it - in the office. What a lovely day it was as well - I thought about nipping away early for a few holes - I texted Jo to see if I could encourage her to come out for the first time - but no reply and when I got home, the sun had gone and I had lost the urge anyway. Another time, perhaps.

I've also cancelled my brewing day tomorrow - I phoned Rob and asked if he could change it to next week, but he's too busy then - I sensed he was too busy now as well, so I offered to defer my day until a more suitable time.

What else is on this week? Hopefully golf on Wednesday and I'm playing for the Seniors on Friday afternoon at Edzell. Nothing else planned.

Weekend grinds to a halt

Saturday was still a bit dull, although at least it was dry - the haar had gone a long way inland this time. However, at least playing golf in Banchory was a lot more pleasant than it had been at St Andrews Bay on Friday - the wind off the sea there was cold and bitter and it was really hard work.

We got our reward today, though - it was wall to wall sunshine from the start. Golf in the morning was great and we had been invited to Rob Pollard's house to celebrate his 60th (last Tuesday) - what a lovely afternoon - we sat outside and drank his beer and wine and had a lovely lunch, which we found out later had been provided by the golf club. It was superb. Jo and I walked home and stopped off at the War Memorial for a seat and a photo opportunity:

Here she is striding towards the camera:

Right now, however, she's horizontal on her face in bed - I think perhaps a couple of glasses of wine too many.