When is winter going to arrive?

It's Monday morning again and it's another beautiful morning, but when is winter proper going to arrive? It's the end of January and it's been very benign so far. Not that I'm wishing the bad weather to arrive - well, at least not until we're off to Australia!

Just over 3 weeks to go - and we've got a busy time before then. Today, it's Inverurie again, but it'll be a short day as it's Parents' Evening at his school tonight which means we'll be gone by 6 pm. Tomorrow, it's off to ARI and the Dermatology Clinic for me to cut out a small former mole on my chest. Wednesday, we've got our appointments for our vaccinations for our trip to Bali, then on Thursday we've got lunch booked at Banchory Lodge - a Xmas present from Barry and Helen.

Friday we head down to south Fife, near Leven - https://www.kilconquharcastle.co.uk/ to be exact. Gary and Luca will be down with us on Friday and Saturday, but Luca will have to be back for his football on Sunday - assuming it's on. Barry, Helen and Dawn arrive on Monday for a couple of nights. Not sure what we'll get up to - hopefully some walks and maybe an odd cycle - I plan to take my bikes with us. There's a pool too.

The following week we're travelling down to the West of Scotland - initially for another old school reunion for me, but also to see Brian, Mary and family. Then the week after that, we're off to Australia - that is, assuming my visa comes through. I had a lot of problems applying for it - I'm sure there was something wrong with their web site as I went through the whole process several times and got right to the end, but when I pressed the "submit" button, it just flashed back an error message and I had to start all over again.

I waited a couple of days and applied again and this time it went through all right, so I did Jo's as well. Her application went through instantly and we got approval back almost before we'd sent it - but mine still hasn't been approved. Worried of Banchory.

Oh - and we finally got our dishwasher fixed last week after several months without. Ross' analysis of the problem was correct - the water pump had gone and had to be replaced.

On Saturday, Colin and I travelled down to Arbroath to see Thistle play - we met Gary there - and his pal, also called Colin. Arbroath lived up to its reputation of having the windiest stadium in the land. It was a farce - and, of course, Thistle lost.

Well, that's it for now - no photos today, I'm afraid.