Well, that's Ross moved out now - he moved in to his flat in Aberdeen on Friday. It's quite cosy and the location is pretty good - not that far from the city centre and near enough to his place of work - although he does now have my old mountain bike to help in that journey, if needs be.
I was away for a couple of days last week. On Wednesday, Colin and I went down to Edinburgh (by bus) and attended a gig by, of all things, an author. There was a musical connection however - he was promoting his next book about the Beatles' Abbey Road album on its 50th anniversary - https://www.marklewisohn.net/hornsey-road/. Strictly for nerds like me and Colin.
The following day was another reunion with some of my old school chums in Glasgow - good fun - and I had the chance of a quick coffee with Dawn afterwards before I had to jump on the bus back to Aberdeen.
Friday night was the night of our 3rd Headbang this year, so it was a pretty full-on few days for me and I was glad to take things easy over the weekend. Come Monday, however, I was ready for - and in need of - some exercise. Initially it was going to be a cycle but there was little interest from my pals and it was a bit grey and damp, so we decided that indoor sport might be better. It had been 6 long years since my knee replacement and I know I won't be able to play squash again, but I thought, why not try a gentle game of racketball at our new sports centre?:
I survived the experience relatively unscathed - with one exception. I stupidly banged my racket on my knee (the non-metal one), resulting in this egg coming up:
Frozen peas were the order of the day when I got home. The swelling's gone down a bit overnight but the joint is still pretty hot and tender. Hope it gets better in time for my next time on court.
To finish, another couple of looks back at the past, courtesy of the Banchory Heritage Society. First, one taken from atop the old railway bridge, looking down the High St:
I exchanged messages with Lucy yesterday, talking about the winter we moved in to Banchory late 1983 when the snow arrived within days and stayed for weeks. This next photo looks similar to that time, but this one was from 1942:
