Flights booked!

Well, we've now done it - we've booked our flights to Oz next year:

Now that bit's done and we're committed to these dates, we can now start to think about what else we might do when we're there. Perhaps Bali, where Kelly, Chris and the boys recently celebrated Kelly's birthday? Marriott have a place there and we might spend some time there in the middle of our 6 week break - https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dpsmv-marriotts-bali-nusa-dua-gardens/?scid=bb1a189a-fec3-4d19-a255-54ba596febe2

One slight downside is that Emirates have stopped doing free chauffeur drive so we are going to have to figure something else out.

In other news, Luca and Carole got back last night from their little trip to Lincoln to catch up with Carole's family. Luca's next little break is next week in Banchory with us.

I didn't get any more phone calls from my GP, so I'm assuming the results from my thyroid blood test were OK.

Summer's still not here although it has been a bit warmer recently but unfortunately this also brought some heavy downpours plus thunder and lightning. We got a bit of a soaking on Wednesday afternoon and we were due to go to Edzell on Thursday but a Met Office weather warning led to us postponing this trip to this coming Friday - hope it's better then.

It was better yesterday when we went cycling up the Tarland Way, accidentally including the climb up to Queen's View - and I didn't have my e-bike with me either - pity!

Problems with our dishwasher - the drain's clogged and we've cleared all the filters etc but still not solved the problem. Hope we don't have to call a plumber in.

Tomorrow we're going round to the Cooks to help Archie and Eileen celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

This morning (Saturday), one of my fellow DJ's gave me a dedication on his Saturday morning show on River Dee Radio - Chuck's Choice. He has a regular spot on his show - The First Record I Ever Bought - and it was mine. you can listen to it now on the podcast from 9 mins 46 sec onwards - https://www.mixcloud.com/River_Dee_Radio/chucks-mix-of-50s-and-60s-hits-plus-your-requests-and-first-records-ever-bought/?utm_campaign=notification_new_upload&utm_medium=email&utm_source=notification&utm_content=html

Mum and Dad bribed me that, if I passed my highers - which I did - they would buy me a record player. They also bought me some singles to go with it, but I think the one that Chuck played on his show today was the first one I ever paid for myself 54 years ago.

Wet week

It's Tuesday and it poured this morning and there's worse forecast for the next couple of days - thunder and lightning - not a lot of fun when you're supposed to be golfing.

This is the first week of the Aberdeenshire school holidays so we're not heading to Inverurie this afternoon - or for the next few weeks. Luca is with his Mum down south visiting family this week, but he's with us next week. In Adelaide, the school term has come to an end as well - it was Miller's last day at Braehead Primary - he'll be starting at Noarlunga when they go back, which will be a nice short walk from their new home. Miller's school published a photo of his class on his last day at Braehead:

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Pacific, the Lesinas travelled to Coos Bay for a friend's wedding:

When we saw Braeden back in April, it seemed to us he had grown massively since last year, broadening out substantially, but this photo makes him look slimmer again. What's going on?

I went for my second round of blood tests yesterday and was surprised to get a phone call from Dr. McCrone as early as 9 am this morning, which initially set me on edge - what could be wrong? It transpired nothing was wrong - all my blood results were absolutely fine. When I saw him yesterday, he also took time to examine me physically and he said then that all seemed well internally as far as he could tell. The pain I have been experiencing in the right kidney area he put down to a possible trapped nerve. He pointed out we get a little shorter as we age and there now wasn't much gap between my rib cage and my pelvis and he feels somehow a nerve has got squeezed.

I hope his assessment is right and that the pain will gradually dissipate. One outstanding matter concerns the result of the blood test for thyroid function - that should be in in the next couple of days. In any event, it looks like this is something that is going to have to be checked more regularly.

Bye for now.