I got the steroid/cortisone injection in my left knee last Wednesday. I was told it would take a couple of days before it would have full effect, so the first game of golf when the benefits should have been felt was on Sunday, when we played our annual Scotland v Rest of World Challenge match - and I have to say so far, so good - no pain. Now I have to trust it a bit and try to swing normally, instead of trying to protect it as I've been doing for a while.
Incidentally, Scotland won back the ugliest trophy we have:
Yes, it's a gauntlet and the only person I know who likes it is Jo, although she's a little unhappy about the upward middle finger. I can't remember if it was always like that, or whether somebody has tampered with it.
We had a very nice lunch after the golf on Sunday, with over 30 present. We sat at a table - complete with proper linen tablecloths - with Raymond and Myra Orr and Dan Corbett and Mary. This event signals the virtual end of our competitive golf season. Our weekly Wednesday Quaich competition also finished last week and all that's left now is tomorrow's Autumn outing to Edzell and then, at the end of the month, a week in Tenerife.
We were out for dinner on Saturday night at Ken and Irene Page's, with Archie and Eileen Cook also there. A very nice evening - but probably too many calories. I tried to burn off a few on Monday afternoon when I joined our cycling group on one of their jaunts. It was the first time I'd been out with the larger group for 4 months and it was a bit of a struggle - they've got faster and fitter - and I haven't. I was very grateful to the two members of the group who had their e-bikes out with them that day - they gave me a shot of them on a couple of the harder uphill climbs. I'm now completely sold on the e-bike idea. You still have to pedal to get the battery to kick in, and they are heavier than conventional bikes, so when you don't have the power on, I imagine they will need a bit more effort to propel them. I guess it's just a question of time - and money - before we're all riding them.
I've been busy on the holiday front over the last week as well and we've now locked in our dates and locations for next year's big trips to Australia and USA. The first one I booked was the USA one, where I normally try and make use of our Avios points and Companion Voucher. I tried for a couple of days to get flights online, but kept coming across error messages. Eventually, I gave up and phoned the Executive Club. They managed to do the necessary. For the first time for many years, we'll be travelling out at the back of the bus, but the good news is that I managed to get us Business Class flights on the way home. We're flying in to Denver. Now I've got to find the domestic transfer from there - and also to and from Hawaii - we're spending a week on Maui at Marriott's Maui Ocean Club:
We've been to Hawaii once before - back in 2003, Jo, Kelly and I went to Kauai - that's the island at the top of the map below. Maui is pictured just above the big island and the location of our resort is marked on the map in the north west of the island.
We're flying to USA on 27th June, returning on 11th August, 2018, with the week in Maui the 5th of our 6 weeks away.
With that in the bag, I decided it was time to finalise our plans for Australia. We're going out again with Emirates from Glasgow to Dubai and then, for a change, flying from there to Melbourne. After a couple of nights in the city, we're trying out a little adventure by hiring a Motorhome and driving east along Great Ocean Road to Adelaide, with stops planned at Apollo Bay, Port Fairy and Robe along the way. Here's the rough route:
We'll be travelling in something that looks approximately like this:
When we get to Adelaide, we'll no longer be able to stay with Kelly and Chris as their new home is too small to accommodate us, so we've rented a place in Seacliff:
I think the photographer has done a good job - we expect the reality to be a little different!
We leave for Oz on 31st January and return home on 14th March.
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