Cough, cough

It's 2 weeks now and still we're coughing away - not as much as before, but still enough to disturb our sleep - it's irritating and debilitating.

You may have read my anti-courier and Apple rants on My Pet Hates blog the other day but it looks as if we've got most things sorted now - but not without a fair degree of pain. I had made an appointment at the Apple Store to get them to get us all set up properly - I didn't want to make any mistakes in transferring my number and my data over from my old iPhone 4 to my new iPhone 6, not to mention coming from a company account to a personal account, and likewise getting Jo set up with her number and data on my former iPhone 4.

Simple you would think? Not so - the Apple Store couldn't complete the task as I couldn't prove my old company phone was now owned by me. I was told I had to phone Apple when I got home and see if they would authorise it. So that was most of Wednesday afternoon written off - and a chunk of this afternoon too.

However, at least my new phone seems to be working fine now, and Jo's got a phone that works at last - her old one was falling apart.

Jo was at her hairdresser's this morning and I had planned to go cycling again - for the first time in 3 weeks - but I had such a bad night's sleep, coughing away, that I couldn't face joining the rest of our group, so I cancelled. I lay in bed for a couple of hours, feeling sorry for myself - it was a glorious morning. Eventually, I decided to give it a go on my own - and I ended up doing exactly the same route as the others - a lot more than I thought I was capable of today, albeit fairly slowly and carefully. Photos on my cycling blog (http://bvetscycling.blogspot.co.uk/).

Tomorrow, Raemoir Garden Centre beckons - Jo has a voucher about to expire for coffee and scones. I've also got my next physio appointment at noon.

On Saturday, I've cancelled my golf - the tee time I had was too late as we're going out early to a Malaysian Evening at the church centre.

Back to just the two of us

Gary picked up Luca on Friday night after work and took him home to see his Mum after a week with us. He was good - but we were not. Struggling with this persistent cough/cold all week, it was hard to keep our energy levels up to match Luca's. We hope he had fun - he always seems to smile and enjoy his visits to the old fogeys in Banchory, but he must realise by now that his Mum and Dad have a bit more get up and go about them than we do.

It was great that the weather was nice all week and he was able to get outdoors. His favourite spot is climbing up the little former "Bonnie Banchory" slope, where the old Deeside railway line used to cross the main road:

I played my first competition "Medal" at Banchory on Saturday afternoon - not very well - and had a friendly bounce game on Sunday morning. Most of the evening entertainment from Thursday to Sunday, however, was the televised Masters golf from Augusta, Georgia. It was great - beautiful place, which I had the privilege to visit back in 2006 - and it always seems to kick off the golf season proper in the Northern Hemisphere for most amateurs.

Today (Monday) it was golf again for me in a Seniors match at Banchory. The weather's still fine, albeit a bit cooler than last week. I had hoped to come home to find my new iPhone had arrived. It was supposed to have been delivered on Saturday morning but never arrived, so I assumed it would come today - but, again, no sign. Quick call to Vodafone who traced it to the couriers' depot in Aberdeen. I am now assured that I will get a text tonight telling me exactly when it will arrive tomorrow - and even the driver's name. We'll see. It's the usual inefficient and unreliable service that seems to happen all the time nowadays - and it's a little inconvenient too as we had planned to go in to Aberdeen tomorrow, but I guess I need to wait a while now.

You may remember the little red squirrel that is a regular morning visitor to the trees opposite our bedroom. We first started seeing him regularly during my long convalescence period after my knee replacement and I've tried on many occasions to get a proper camera shot of him/her, but, this afternoon, he/she was back, feeding on the new shoots and buds on the sycamore tree and I was finally able to get my camera focused on him/her as he/she fed:

Satisfaction at last!