Would you believe - this blog has been read a total of almost 300,000 times now. There are now well over 1,000 people per day and over 2,500 per posting who read it - and the numbers are increasing all the time, it seems. My family's not that big.
It's coming up to 8 years since I started this blog and I've now posted over 1,200 times - not to mention another 1,400 postings on my 9 other blogs.
Quantity over quality.
Didn't do much yesterday - other than in the evening when I went to the pub as usual, but this time to watch the Scotland - Ireland match. Great game - and Scotland won 1-0.
Today, Jo and I walked to Buchanan's for lunch - and back again - about five and a half miles in all. Since then, it's been the rugby on TV. This time Scotland lost - but it was New Zealand they were playing, albeit pretty much their second string.
By now, Gary, Carole and Luca should be safely settled in the timeshare down in Grantham, Lincs - near Carole's family. It's Carole's birthday on Wednesday, so a nice little treat for her.
That's all for now folks.
Ian R. Stewart Family Blog
Saturday 15 November 2014
Thursday 13 November 2014
A day in the life of .....
I may not be a typical (semi) retired person, but, as I've commented on a few a times before, it seems that most of my time off from work nowadays is spent on medical matters. Take the last 24 hours:
- Dashed down from Fraserburgh to Albyn Hospital yesterday afternoon for the MRI scan on my "good" (left) knee
- Fasted overnight for my OGTT at Banchory Medical Practice this morning
- Jo drove me in to my dentist in Aberdeen this afternoon for my tooth extraction
That seems to be a recurring pattern recently.
My knee surgeon will get the results of the MRI scan in a week or so and I'll be called back in then. It was my first ever personal experience of MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Note how the acronym has changed in recent years. When I was working at Nuclear Enterprises back in the late 70's/early 80's it used to be called NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance). I guess Nuclear is a bad word nowadays.
Anyway, I had to lay down on a bed and the lower part of my body was inside the tube you commonly see for whole body/CT (Computed Tomography) scanning, whilst a metal sleeve was put round my knee. There are loud bangs and other noises - mostly like a pneumatic drill - and you are given a set of protective headphones to wear. The whole process takes about 20 minutes.
My Oral Glucose Tolerance Test involved taking blood, then drinking a syrupy sweet drink, waiting for 2 hours and then taking blood again. The results will be back on Monday and I'll find out then whether I'm diabetic/pre-diabetic or not. I'm praying for good news.
The 4 injections I had at the dentist this afternoon are now starting to wear off and the pain of the extraction is coming on. She had a bit of a job getting the tooth out. The big lump of amalgam in the middle was easy enough and came out first, but then the prising started before the forceps came in. It seemed to take some time - although I found out later that it was only 20 minutes or so - and the dentist told me she was just about to give up when the tooth finally came out, complete with a bit of bone that the root had fused to - probably caused by root canal treatment.
So no rinsing or spitting for me and only soft food and lukewarm drinks whilst the clot in the cavity forms. No alcohol, aspirins or other blood thinners either.
Moving off medical matters, Gary's and Luca's flights to America next year have now been booked. Would you believe he's flying out on his 40th birthday!
Oh - and we've got new bed linen:
Sunday 9 November 2014
Sunday evening
It's a bit of a cliché when people reach about my age and say they suddenly begin to appreciate their own mortality - "the big clock's ticking" etc. - but when so many things are happening to your body, you can't help but think negatively.
I seem to spend an enormous amount of time nowadays attending various medical institutions. My latest was on Friday afternoon when I went to see Mr. Bidwell, my knee surgeon, again. He had x-rays taken of both knees and confirmed that structurally/skeletally both knees are fine. The recent problems I've been having with my "good" (left) knee are more probably ligament/tendon/cartilage based, so I'm going to have to go back this Wednesday to have an MRI scan.
The day after that, I have my fasting OGTT in the morning and then it's the dentist in the afternoon for my tooth removal.
Moving on from medical matters, we had a good Headbang on Friday night - although this was my 4th post-midnight bedtime in a week. Whew, rock and roll!
On Saturday we took a short stroll down to the Feugh restaurant for a spot of lunch. It was a lovely day but there had been rain overnight and both the Dee and the Feugh were "full". This was the view from the narrow bridge over the Feugh looking down towards the Dee and Banchory Lodge:
Looking upriver:
Of course, Saturday was Bonfire Night in Banchory. The town was mobbed - they seem to come from miles around. I had walked up to the Legion to watch the football with Colin (and Dave) - we usually enjoy a couple of pints at that time each week, but it was a bad move this week. There was a group of young guys in - possibly a football team - and they were getting pretty noisy as they played pool and darts, pumped up by regular shots. The TV was playing up too, so it was a far from relaxing evening. We did see some of the fireworks, however, through the large windows in the Legion - and at least we were dry, unlike all those who attended the Bonfire - it had started raining just as they were about to start the festivities.
Sunday has been glorious again - not a cloud in the sky. Early morning ground mists soon cleared and it was wall to wall sunshine during our golf.
We've just finished our tea - chicken fajitas - hadn't had that for a while. I finished off the remains of last week's wine bottle, but Jo abstained. She's been cleaning out cupboards today too - she didn't go to Mass this morning. I think she's preparing to leave.
In a more cheerful vein, we did some more holiday booking this week. Gary and Luca are going to USA next year and we'll meet up with them and the Lesinas at the Marriott, Newport Coast resort that we've been to a couple of times before. It's not far from Disney, Anaheim, so that'll be an experience for Luca. I've booked 2 villas for us all.
We're also starting to make arrangements to go to Richard and Gail Simcox's villa in the Dordogne early in June. Our table had made an unsuccessful bid for a week there in the auction at last week's fund-raising dinner for Banchory Sports Village at the Marcliffe, but we decided afterwards that we'd all still like to go and Richard agreed that we could have another week there. Here's the location - http://www.mapquest.com/fr/lanouaille
Still on the holiday front, I've booked a week next October (first week of the school holidays) at our original time-share just outside Marbella. We've only been back there once since we first bought it 16/17 years ago.
I seem to spend an enormous amount of time nowadays attending various medical institutions. My latest was on Friday afternoon when I went to see Mr. Bidwell, my knee surgeon, again. He had x-rays taken of both knees and confirmed that structurally/skeletally both knees are fine. The recent problems I've been having with my "good" (left) knee are more probably ligament/tendon/cartilage based, so I'm going to have to go back this Wednesday to have an MRI scan.
The day after that, I have my fasting OGTT in the morning and then it's the dentist in the afternoon for my tooth removal.
Moving on from medical matters, we had a good Headbang on Friday night - although this was my 4th post-midnight bedtime in a week. Whew, rock and roll!
On Saturday we took a short stroll down to the Feugh restaurant for a spot of lunch. It was a lovely day but there had been rain overnight and both the Dee and the Feugh were "full". This was the view from the narrow bridge over the Feugh looking down towards the Dee and Banchory Lodge:
Looking upriver:
Of course, Saturday was Bonfire Night in Banchory. The town was mobbed - they seem to come from miles around. I had walked up to the Legion to watch the football with Colin (and Dave) - we usually enjoy a couple of pints at that time each week, but it was a bad move this week. There was a group of young guys in - possibly a football team - and they were getting pretty noisy as they played pool and darts, pumped up by regular shots. The TV was playing up too, so it was a far from relaxing evening. We did see some of the fireworks, however, through the large windows in the Legion - and at least we were dry, unlike all those who attended the Bonfire - it had started raining just as they were about to start the festivities.
Sunday has been glorious again - not a cloud in the sky. Early morning ground mists soon cleared and it was wall to wall sunshine during our golf.
We've just finished our tea - chicken fajitas - hadn't had that for a while. I finished off the remains of last week's wine bottle, but Jo abstained. She's been cleaning out cupboards today too - she didn't go to Mass this morning. I think she's preparing to leave.
In a more cheerful vein, we did some more holiday booking this week. Gary and Luca are going to USA next year and we'll meet up with them and the Lesinas at the Marriott, Newport Coast resort that we've been to a couple of times before. It's not far from Disney, Anaheim, so that'll be an experience for Luca. I've booked 2 villas for us all.
We're also starting to make arrangements to go to Richard and Gail Simcox's villa in the Dordogne early in June. Our table had made an unsuccessful bid for a week there in the auction at last week's fund-raising dinner for Banchory Sports Village at the Marcliffe, but we decided afterwards that we'd all still like to go and Richard agreed that we could have another week there. Here's the location - http://www.mapquest.com/fr/lanouaille
Still on the holiday front, I've booked a week next October (first week of the school holidays) at our original time-share just outside Marbella. We've only been back there once since we first bought it 16/17 years ago.
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