It's been a while since my last post, but, fear not, it's only because I've been too busy - not just enjoying myself, but working too. This squeezing of my job in to 3 days definitely isn't working for me. The only advantage I've been getting from the change is not having to drive in to Aberdeen or Fraserburgh on 2 days - but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing any work on Mondays and Fridays.
I've started to make financial plans for my retirement - I met up with our financial adviser last Tuesday and I'm going to start drawing down from my pension pot next April, all being well.
But I digress - here's what I've been up to recently. Our golf weekend at Slaley Hall went well, although my own golf is pretty naff just now - I seem to have lost the plot - hopefully temporarily. I have noticed that my left knee is now suffering after golf - is this an effect of my new right knee being stronger again? Look out Scott - may need some physiotherapy advice when we arrive in Oregon.
We had Luca with us last week - the first of the school holidays. His obsession with his football cards continues unabated. Maybe now that the World Cup is over, he may switch to something else, but, when he was here, he wanted to play it constantly - from the time he awoke in the morning until he went to bed. He even started drawing his own version of the player cards:
Note that this one's a "Limited Edition"! The numbers at the foot indicate the player's respective defensive, attacking etc scores, with the last one being the overall rating. This guy must have been a bit special - a combination of Messi and Ronaldo perhaps?
Luca did get outdoors a fair bit when he was here, however. His Grannie Jo would drag him to the supermarket, but he also got a chance to play with the other kids in the street - the weather was great last week.
I got a corporate invite to the Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen on Thursday. It was a top quality field and it was great to be there. There was, however, a cock-up with the catering - they took 3 hours to serve our main course! They did ply us with wine to keep us from complaining, but, eventually, even the most drunk can see through that little trick.
Friday was our annual Football Group golf outing and, this year, we went to pretty little Auchenblae on what was probably the finest day of the summer so far, with temperatures in the mid 20's C. When we got back to Banchory, it was still too nice an evening to waste, so I phoned Jo and she came over and joined me for a couple of beers on the balcony at the golf club:
I don't know what to say about the shadow of the parasol!
It's back to the usual pattern this week, although I'm trying to get tickets for Aberdeen v Groningen in the Europa League on Thursday. I think the packing will have to wait until Friday.
