Fabulous weather

It's been glorious these last few days. On Thursday night, I played for Torphins at Inchmarlo and then on Friday, we had a football match at Goals to celebrate Ken Black's 50th - followed by beer and curry. It was a good night, but I was suffering on Saturday morning - not from a hangover, but from a tired and sore body. It was the annual Sponsored Tournament and the beneficiaries of the fund raising - Alzheimer's Society - must have been delighted at the weather. Just a pity none of our team played well, but we all enjoyed the morning anyway. Check the football and golf blogs for photos.

We decided to go along to the dinner at the golf club in the evening. Beer on the balcony first:

(Object subsequently removed due to the objections of the subject)

It was just 2 years since this event was held in aid of the Squash Club. Unfortunately, all our efforts were in vain - but at least the sponsors had a nice (free) day out.

We didn't stay after dinner for the infamous "Sammy the Shammy" and the dance - we decided just to stroll home.

Today, the weather has been even better. Gary and Luca are away to the Perth Races and we've got Luca for the day.

The week ahead has CAMRA's beer festival at Pittodrie. I'll be helping out most nights, but I was rather hoping that we'd have enough to run a bus on Friday, but it looks like we might not have enough to merit this. Not sure how we're going to manage the logistics.

Next weekend, Colin and I are off down to London to see Scotland in the Twenty:20 Cricket World Cup at the Oval. We're staying with Dave Williamson at his flat in Reading.

Birthdays in absentia

We tried to Skype Lucy last night on her birthday - we were all there - Kelly, Ross, Gary, Carole, Luca, Liz, Jo and I - but she wasn't online! Nonetheless, we still cut the cake and sang happy birthday:

Don't we all prefer Gary with hair?

The Inverurie gang all went home - after the Champions League final was over - and Jo, Kelly and I settled down to watch the Apprentice - wrong choice, Sir Alan! However, goodbyes had to be said first of all - huggles and kissies all round:

Tonight, I'm playing at Inchmarlo for Torphins and tomorrow night I'm playing football in Aberdeen - it's Ken Black's 50th and we're all going for a curry afterwards.

My brew

I did eventually make it down for the latter stages of the beer being brewed for my 60th birthday yesterday - but I had to come hot-foot from seeing our visitors off at the airport at 3 pm (their plane wasn't until 6:30 pm!) and, of course, I wasn't really dressed for brewing.

I'm glad I made it along, however and at least observed some of the process in action. Of course, Rob did most of the work, aided and abetted by his father in law, Sandy. The ingredients and recipe were from my suggestions and Rob's interpretation of what I was looking for - a straw coloured, hoppy IPA - similar to some of the American brews I like. Here's the mixture of hops:


It was a lovely afternoon so I was able to sit outside when I received a phone call from our lawyers:



Rob has made up some posters which he is going to erect in the brewery shortly. Here's one about the process:

At the end, I finally got to do something - add the yeast!:

I'll be going back in 7-10 days to help with the bottling. Some will go in cask and Rob has indicated that he would like to launch it as one of his new brands, and he's chosen the name Nechtan, which fits in with his historical theme - check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nechtan_II_of_the_Picts

Anyway, Kelly arrived last night, sans Craig, at about 11 pm, so I'm going home to have lunch with her today. Craig is flying up tomorrow night after making their new home a bit more habitable. Carole, Liz and Luca arrive about 3 pm and Gary will come along after work.

Lastly, happy birthday to Lucy today - talk to you later.

Scolty Ale

Boo-hoo. I had to cancel my planned brewing day again today due to work - people coming up from Manchester (who had cancelled 4 times before, but this time, they're actually coming - sod's law). Because it was a fairly late cancellation, Rob asked if it would be OK to go ahead and brew it anyway and I could maybe catch the tail end of the process later on, and I could also go along next week for the bottling. I couldn't really say no to him.

Kelly and Craig arrive tonight and we're going to have lunch with them, Carole, Carole's Mum and Luca tomorrow.

Back to work on holiday Monday

Another national holiday - but not for us here. It's been a fairly busy weekend. We went on the (free) bus to Macbethfest on Friday night - it was good fun. I didn't take many photos but there's a couple on the football blog.

Golf on Saturday and Sunday mornings and then Sunday afternoon was just crammed full of TV sport. Ross and Gary had gone to Pittodrie - I couldn't get there in time for the 1 pm start as I was playing golf - so I was channel hopping whilst the final matches in the SPL were played, and the Monaco Grand Prix was on. Good outcome for the Dons, but bit of a shock with Calderwood and his team going. The best part of the match was Aberdeen's bizarre 1st goal - check the football blog to see the video clip.

Then it was the golf from Wentworth - I played there last year - followed by the relegation battle in the Premiership - and then, lo and behold, I found Andy Murray's first match in the French Open on Eurosport.

It was such a nice day and I'd spent the afternoon goggle eyed, so, after tea, I suggested to Jo that we go and have a few holes of golf. Normally we would just walk across the road and nip on at the 3rd, but the course was unexpectedly busy last night and we had to walk round to the clubhouse and start from the 1st tee.

I know I'm not the most patient or the best teacher - but then again, Jo is hardly the ideal pupil either - there's a definite obstinacy there to accept any form of tuition or instruction - know anyone else in our family like this? Most of the evening was spent trying to get her to line up properly - she has a definite tendency to aim right - almost at 45 degrees at times, and my constant pleas to go further left were met with querrulous looks - in fact, the source of the "angry eyebrows" of years ago became apparent to me. Anyway after a few tetchy moments, Jo did pretty well and hit some really nice shots - that was until she got to the 11th hole. I kid you not, Hitler spent less time in the bunker than Jo did. I thought she was digging her way down to Oz to meet Kelly and Craig. She must have moved mountains of sand and earth and it took her almost as long to rake the bunker after she finally got out on or about the 14th or 15th attempt.

We both deserved the quick beer we had at the end. We met Les Gray and Ian Sharp in the clubhouse and had a brief chat with them before walking across the golf course to home.

I do have some video footage of Jo in action last night, but it was probably her worst (apart from the bunker) shots of the evening, so I'll spare her blushes on this occasion - that is, unless she gives me some abuse in her blog! Here she was on the 5th hole:


We had to wait at the 12th hole and sat on the bench overlooking the river and took this photo from a distance on the timer:

Weds/Thur

Not much to say - golf last night - lovely evening. Dan came up and played with us and then went back to Linlithgow. Nice veggie curry when I got home and Jo and I watched The Apprentice - result! Long overdue - cocky little runt - Sandhurst indeed!

This morning was Fraserburgh and I left early to play my tie at Torphins - beaten by a 16 year old - that's me out of the Learney Cup in the first round, having won the trophy for the last 2 years.

After golf, I met Jo at the Potarch and we had a lovely bar supper - smoked haddock on a bed of mustard mash, topped off by a boiled egg. I caught up with the latest plans - I had assumed that Kelly and Craig were arriving Wednesday and we would see them off and on over the next few days, but Jo now tells me that they will only be here on Wednesday evening. Last night, I specifically re-arranged my golf for next Wednesday so that I would be home by 7 to see them. I now discover that Carole's Mum is coming over too - that's great. I think I see a great divide coming up - boys in one room watching the Champions League final and girls yapping in the other - or is this too much stereotyping?

The week so far

Went to work in Aberdeen office as usual on Monday morning, then had lunch at Bannatyne's after a brief session the gym. I was booked on a mid-afternoon train down to Edinburgh and I arrived there in the early evening and checked in to my hotel - the Point in Bread St - winner of Edinburgh hotel of the year 2008. It used to be the old St Cuthbert's Co-op building which has been modernised - chrome and glass everywhere - but it still has a warehouse feel in the corridors where the rooms are - check out this video:

I caught up with my e-mails in my room and then went for a wander - in to the Blue Blazer (opposite my hotel) for a beer first of all, then I wandered down Spittal St towards Princes St, passing the underground car park which featured heavily in Ian Rankin's latest (and last) Rebus novel, Exit Music. It was a fine evening and the castle looked imposing from down below so I took this shot with my Blackberry:

I wandered down to Shandwick place and went in to Mather's bar to check if they had Setanta - they did and I could watch the Portsmouth - Sunderland first half there - Abbott ale washed down their football stadium-like pie. Mather's is a bit of an old Edinburgh institution - all red ceilings, just like the famous old "Diggers". Here's the bar gantry:

I wandered off at half time, looking for some proper food, but didn't see any restaurant I fancied, so I popped in to Shakespeare's in Lothian Road - a nanosecond too late - "sorry, sir - the kitchen closes at 9". I consoled myself with another beer - a wonderful Trashy Blonde from Fraserburgh's controversial Brewdog brewery - and watched the 2nd half of the match.

Full time came and I started the short walk back to the Point, but I was still a little peckish and I was foolishly tempted by a veggie burger from a local Italian chippie. Not the best diet I could have had - I should have come down to Edinburgh a bit later and I wouldn't have had so much time to kill - it's a bit sad and lonely wandering round the city on your own on a quiet Monday evening.

Anyway, I caught a taxi on Tuesday morning down to the Balmoral for a breakfast conference organised by our Institute - "Climbing Out of the Crisis" - there was an all-star (in the business world anyway) panel, hosted by John Beattie, former Scotland and British Lions rugby international. Brian Souter, MD of Stagecoach was particularly entertaining with his couthy observations on his upbringing in rural Perthshire and the controversial (at the time) privatisation of the bus network in the 80's that led to the birth and subsequent growth of Stagecoach.

After it was over, I nipped down Waverley Steps and caught the train to Glasgow for a meeting with our insurance brokers. I had a quick bite of lunch with them - an excellent shepherd's pie - and then caught a taxi over to Erskine Glasgow to see Dad. He was dozing at first in his favourite corner chair just outside his room, so I just sat there, not wanting to awaken him, remembering what happened the time Ross and I did that a couple of weeks ago:

He came round after a few minutes and I took him outside to wander round the garden and sit in the sunshine. Occasionally, the sun went behind some clouds and he shivered - "it's cold" - but he stayed out with me and we had a good laugh and sang a few songs. He even remembered - after some prompting - some of the words and tune to "Me and Jane in a Plane", one of the songs he used to sing me in bed - but which he had always previously denied he knew or even existed. I must have got some of his old memory cells working again - see how happy and relaxed he looks here?:

We had tea and a scone outside and it was really nice, but then I had to leave to catch my train home. We were back inside by then and Dad was still in a good mood and we said our goodbyes and I left Flanders House and sat in the reception area and phoned for a taxi. Whilst I was waiting, however, I heard a bit of a commotion - it was Dad's voice OK. Somebody had left the door open apparently and he had made to leave - "I've got to go home", he said, his pleas getting ever more urgent - "I must go!" I decided the best tactic was to remain out of sight and let the staff deal with it - they're very good and experienced at dealing with this kind of thing. It left me with a bit of a funny feeling, however - I hadn't seen or heard of him wanting to get out before.

Anyway, I got on the train and took my seat - in a small 1st class cabin. A business man sat down opposite me and proceeded to cough constantly in my direction - in between constant phone calls on his mobile. A few of the others in the cabin were also on the phone. I tried to ignore them and opened my book - a freebie from the Sunday Times - John Updike's "Rabbit, Run" - apparently a classic from the 60's - but it was futile - I couldn't get past the first page.

Thankfully, it did settle down a bit, but only after I put my headphones on. As the train emptied at Perth and Dundee, I even managed to move my seat and stretch out a bit, so I felt a bit more relaxed by the time I got home - to pizza and spinach leaves. Caught up with Corrie - was the sudden death of Colin a bit too easy a way out of a wandering story line?

Tom Cannavan

Anne Mason's brother is a bit of a wine expert and he featured on STV last week in their Five Thirty show. Here's the clip:

Saturday night and Sunday

The Malaysian evening in the church was good - although I had a bit of a mini-crisis - I thought I had lost my Blackberry again - I had to walk home half way through the meal to check - sure enough it was there this time - I hadn't lost another one!

Today was nice - much better than yesterday - and I did finally manage to get Jo out on the golf course for a little while tonight. Didn't have my camera with me, but here's the evidence from my Blackberry:

End of the week

It's been a busy week so blog posting has had to take a back seat - until now. Interesting meeting with the Bank of Scotland on Wednesday - they're still in chaos and they tell me the Lloyd's guys are strutting around with a superior air telling the Bank of Scotland guys they are going to have to change to their ways - or else. Expect an announcement next week of 20,000 job losses in the new, combined bank - most of them in the Bank of Scotland.

Nothing else to tell you really - except that, after a long dry spell, we've got some rain at last this afternoon - and unfortunately, it's not forecast to clear until after I've teed off in the morning. Still if I don't get a game, I'll just have a lazy morning and then channel hop at lunchtime between the Dons match at Ibrox and Man U's match at home to Arsenal, where they only need one point to win the Premiership again.

Normally, the Dons match tomorrow would be a non-event, but I went to the Hearts match at Pittodrie on Tuesday with Gary - the first match I'd been to in ages - and I really enjoyed it.

We're at the church centre tomorrow evening for the Malaysian evening - that should be interesting. It all starts to happen at this time of year - next weekend we're off to Macbethfest's (http://www.deesideactivitypark.com/MacbethFest.htm) beer festival in Dess. The following weekend, Kelly and Craig are up and then the week after that is CAMRA's Aberdeen festival, and it's also my annual cricket trip to London - this time it's the 20:20 World Cup and Scotland have qualified! Yes, we're going to see Scotland play in World Cup finals - well, one round anyway - just a pity it's not football (soccer)!

Less than 8 weeks to go now until our trip to USA. I got a fright on Wednesday when KLM left me a message to call them about a change in our flights. It turned out that KLM have handed the route over to their partners, North West - otherwise no change.

Back to work

It was back to work today after my biannual (not biennial, nor annual, Jo) trip overnight to Boat of Garten. The weather was much better than we had forecast - or feared - especially yesterday when we awoke to cloudless skies - time to put the shorts on. This was me outside our hotel in Aviemore just after checking out:

(More on the golf blog).

Trying to play catch up today - got the bank coming in tomorrow and then a board meeting on Thursday - lots to prepare. Spent too much time already fretting over the missing Aberdeen football tickets - can't think what I've done with them - and there's a big match against Hearts tonight. Finally phoned Pittodrie and they have agreed to issue replacements - whew!

Mind you, it's really golfing weather today - and the forecast remains good. What are the odds of getting Jo out on the golf course soon? I've found her golf shoes and I've set up a little lightweight bag for her, so here's hoping - perhaps her first year of retirement will allow her to get out and try it again.

Luca sleep-over

Gary and Carole dropped Luca off last night and headed to the cinema. He was glad to see his Gran again, and she was very happy to see him too:

I had been watching the golf and so Jo decided to teach Luca all she knew about the sport:

With his Gran around, Luca wasn't interested in "Nandad" and was happy to wave me off to the pub and have Jo all to himself. It was different in the morning - I was first up and picked him out of his cot and took him downstairs. He's a real breath of fresh air in the morning - so cheerful. He went down the stairs backwards and triumphally announced "I did it!".

Carole shouldn't read this but I wasn't sure what to give him for breakfast, but Luca soon sorted that one out - he went through the cupboards and found a small tin of Heinz sausages and beans - "beanies" - his eyes lit up and how could I refuse him?

And then it was off to golf. Tonight we're catching up with the last episode of Madmen - it's the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was only 13 years old when it happened for real but we all thought then that a nuclear war was imminent and it would be end of the world.

Tomorrow it's off to Boat of Garten - let's hope it stays dry.

Friday on my mind

I've been on the move a lot this week - Fraserburgh Monday, Aberdeen then Glasgow Tuesday/Wednesday, Fraserburgh again on Thursday and then back to the Aberdeen office again this morning.

This is a busy time of year for us at work and it's not being helped much by staffing problems. Anyway, what have I been doing on my travels? I was invited to Julie and Guy's for tea on Tuesday evening - Mary made sausage casserole and I ate with the boys and Brian - Julie was going out with her friend to the cinema and Guy was home a bit later. When Guy got home, I took this small video with my Blackberry, so apologies for the quality:

I've got a bit of name dyslexia with the twins - I can't get it in my head which one's Sam and which one's Tom. I think it's because their names are so similar - in fact they are quite different physically, one being larger and the smaller one now wearing glasses. There's no mistaking young Leo however:

His language is pretty good - I was told he was born the same month as Luca, but Jo thinks he's a few months older. Mary headed out after tea but not before a typical Sowerby scare - she couldn't find her car keys! The house was torn apart and eventually they were located - underneath the microwave. No further comment.

Brian and I went down to his local to watch the Man U match and I stayed in Elderslie overnight, heading off in the morning to central Glasgow for my meetings - I was last out of the house at 7:15 am!

Wednesday morning went OK and I was invited to lunch at Rogano's, an upmarket fish restaurant which is a bit of a Glasgow institution - very nice. I got back up the road in good time to catch Luca before he headed off home and I went to golf. The evening was OK and I had my supper in front of the TV watching the Apprentice - good result this week - it's about time that ****** was eliminated.

I had a tie to play on Thursday - lost - whilst Jo was out for dinner with her old school friends.

Of course, I did go and see my Dad whilst I was down in Glasgow. After last week's experience, I was a little apprehensive about how he would be this time, but I needn't have worried - he was in good form and we walked about the ward - sometimes dancing even - and sang some songs. I took this short video, trying hard not to let him know that he was being filmed:

in m

Tuesday - health checks

Today I'm heading West - I've been invited to tea at Julie's and then Brian and I are going to the pub to watch the big Arsenal - Man U Champions League semi, second leg - we were at the first leg last week in Manchester.

I've got some early morning meetings in Glasgow tomorrow - normally I would stay with Barry and Helen, but I so wanted to see the match tonight, and I know neither of them are football fans - it would be unfair of me to go there and ask them to put the football on all night.

Anyway, Jo's better now - she was really OK yesterday but didn't want to rush herself back - no change there then. Today she's back at the Doctor's - it's drugs issue time. Thinking about health, did any of you read the article in the Ecosse section of the Sunday Times this week? Click to enlarge and read:

Dan Corbett is feeling better after his heart attack in Argentina and, against all the odds, he is coming to Boat of Garten this weekend after all. He sent me this interesting link yesterday - http://www.sonnyradio.com/realage3.swf - try it. My results were:

So the good news is that I'm not really 60 after all - I'm 10 years younger! The bad news is it predicts I won't last quite as long as Dad's current age!

I don't feel 50 this morning - we played racquetball last night at Crathes - the first time we have done that for about a year - we have been playing squash doubles over the winter up at Findrack. With racquetball singles you have to cover the whole court yourself - no partner to rely on - and with such a bouncy ball, everything is retrievable and so there's not much rest - you have to work a lot harder. Reminded me how unfit and fat I'm getting.

Plans and schemes

It's been another lovely weekend - golf yesterday in shorts again and it's been nice again today too. After squash last night, Jo and I went to the golf club for dinner with Colin and Johanne - lovely meal - we both had steaks.

I got up later this morning - I was pretty tired and sore after playing footy on Friday, then golf and squash yesterday - and I wasn't golfing today. When I eventually dragged myself downstairs, I assumed that Jo had gone off to church, but, no - there she was, lying flat out on the floor in the back room. She wasn't feeling good at all, so I despatched her to bed, got her some water and shut the curtains and doors.

What was wrong with Jo? She complained about S & D, but she was never actually sick - headaches and temperature fluctuations seemed to be the main problem. Maybe it was fear - she had said last night when she found out I wasn't golfing today, that was great - we could do something together today. OK, I said - let's walk up Clach-na-ben - we've never done it before. The blood rushed from Jo's face - I think this was a bit more than she had envisaged. Ah well, I guess it wasn't meant to be.

I was also supposed to be going to the Lemon Tree to see Maggie Bell (and Dave Kelly) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Bell) but, with Ross not home, I thought I had better stay here, so I cancelled - but no sooner had I done this than Ross appeared again. No matter - I was quite happy to stay in - I was pretty tired anyway and although I would love to have seen her, I wasn't really up for it tonight.