Gary 44!

Yes it's 44 years ago today that Gary was born in Hertford hospital. It was a hot summer in SE England - not as hot as the subsequent year, but still enough to be uncomfortable - particularly if, like Jo, you were heavily pregnant. Jo's Mum and Dad came down to help out after Gary had threatened to miscarry.

Thankfully all was well in the end and Gary spent his first 4 years in Broxbourne before we all moved back to Scotland. Here's one early photo in the middle of the 1976 summer scorcher:

After our 4 + years in Edinburgh, we moved to Banchory late in 1983 and Gary joined the local cub pack:

That's one of my company cars - a Ford Sierra - in the background and you can just catch a corner of Jo's first Nissan/Datsun Cherry.

Gary had just one request for his birthday today - that his Mum make dumpling for him!

In other news, I had my telephone appointment with my GP on Monday to discuss the results of all the blood samples they took last week. He seemed quite happy with virtually all the levels - kidney, liver, cholesterol etc and he said my PSA was so low that it was highly unlikely that, unlike my Dad, I would develop prostate cancer. Even those that were slightly elevated he felt were due to the drugs - mostly the statin - that I have been taking for a number of years now. He did say that he thought I must have been a bit hydrated when the bloods were taken - and it was just after a cycle on a hot day when I had had to walk my bike home after a puncture.

The one level that was higher than normal was my thyroid, which is a problem Lucy has been living with for a few years. My GP is going to do the blood tests again on Monday, just to be sure that my slight dehydration didn't distort anything - and also to conduct a physical examination of the pain I've been experiencing in my right kidney area.

On Wednesday, I picked up my new e-bike and went for my first ride on it on Thursday morning. It definitely takes a lot of the pain out of the hills which have been getting a bit tougher as the years are marching on, but it's not completely effortless - you have to pedal to get the power assist to work and the bike is twice as heavy as my non-aspirated one so it takes a bit more effort on the flat when the power is switched off. Once speed gets up to 25 kms, there is no power assistance. All in all, though, a nice experience and one that will hopefully help me do some longer, steeper rides, including ones I used to be able to do but now struggle with.

One unexpected downside was the news that Evans' Aberdeen store is closing in 2 weeks' time, leaving the nearest branches in Glasgow and Edinburgh, which is a bit of a logistical problem as my bike has to go back in after 6 weeks to check and adjust. I'll try and co-ordinate this with the Family get-together in Glasgow on 10th August.

We're now starting to think about holidays in 2020. We've already booked a local holiday in January - a week at Kilconquhar Castle (https://www.kilconquharcastle.co.uk/) in Fife. We have a 3 bedroom unit so we hope other members of the family will be able to join us at times.

As for our big trips to Australia and USA, we're thinking that perhaps around March and September may be best, avoiding the respective intense heats (and fires) of their summers.

Was that summer?

Finally we had a few hot, proper summery days but it seems to have taken a bit of a backward step today (Monday). It's cloudy and considerably cooler - and we've lost our water supply. Apparently it's a Scottish Water problem that they're working on.

I popped in to see our neighbours in the Unit Gym this morning - ostensibly to check that the water supply wasn't just our problem, but I also took the opportunity to ask them about the seagulls problem - and I took a sneaky look around just to be sure they weren't leaving food lying around. It seems everyone is baffled as to why the seagulls have arrived here - and have nested.

My big news from last week is that I finally took the plunge and went in to Evans Cycles in Aberdeen and ordered an e-bike. I'd always promised myself one once I got to 70 and I've done it now. I hope I'll keep on using my "analogue" bike on occasions but I notice all of my friends who've got an e-bike have never gone back to their conventional one. Time will tell whether I'll repeat this pattern.

I pick up the bike on Wednesday morning - here's what it looks like:

After our largely sedentary round the world trip, I've been getting a bit more active now:

Jo checks her fitbit stats regularly and shows them off to me - but there's no way she is sharing any of that information with the rest of the world. What she has been doing is transforming our rather "industrial" back garden to something altogether more green and flowery:

When Jo was doing the monthly Seniors lunch at church on Saturday, I took the opportunity to have my lunch outside - but I didn't quite get the camera angle right, did I?:

Tonight it's our annual trip to Balmoral for golf with our old squash pal Gary Coutts who is now the Head Keeper on the Royal estate. Might be a slow morning tomorrow.