November update

Got another row from my daughters about not keeping my blog up to date, but there have been mitigating factors - anyway, here we go.

After everyone went back to Oregon and Cornwall, it was back to the old routine again - except I still hadn't completely kicked off the bug that lay us low for a while.

The good news was that Gary and Carole's move in to their new house in Inverurie went very smoothly. I went out to see them on the day they moved in and Jo and I also paid a quick visit last Sunday. Carole's Mum arrived on Monday and Jo, Ross and I went over for fajitas on Wednesday evening.

I've been out every night this week and my plan was to have a really lazy Saturday. I haven't done any manual work today but have spent a fair bit of time on the computer - mostly making enquiries about holidays next year!

On Monday, Colin, Dave and I went to Moshulu in Windmill Brae - a first for all of us. It's not a bad venue - similar to the Lemon Tree in many ways. Dave is a fan of Tom McRae (http://www.tommcrae.com/) but I didn't know his music and I only went because Malcolm had to pull out. The crowd was appallingly small but he managed to make light of it - and he was excellent.

On Tuesday, I travelled down to Glasgow and went to see my Dad then met up with Barry for dinner at Dawn's. This was the first chance I'd had to see him since he was taken in to hospital when I was away. I was pleasantly surprised - he wasn't as bad as I had feared - although he does need a tremendous amount of support services now and it's a fine line between whether it's better for him to receive them at home (his preference) or elsewhere. It's probably just a matter of time, but, if we can be assured that the support is there and reliable, it's better to try and keep him at home as long as possible. Barry feels the burden as he's not ready yet to trust the support services but he's agreed to give it a go. He and Dawn are arranging meetings with the medical and social services teams and I'll go back down for these.

I slept in Kieran's bed and got up early and drove up to Aberdeen - good trip until I hit Portlethen then crawled all the way to Bridge of Don.

After supper in Inverurie, I played football at the Academy then it was up early on Thursday morning and up to the Broch for the usual Thursday management meetings. Back down to Aberdeen in the afternoon and then I met up with Gary and Ross at Archibald Simpson's for some beer and curry before heading off to see AFC playing Lokomotiv Moscow in the UEFA Cup. The joint was jumping and we were joined by Malcolm and Matthew Grigor, who were also going to the match, which was a sell-out. Jas was also there - not for the football - only the beer! It's Wetherspoon's annual beer festival just now and there were some amazing beers on sale - some at just £1.09 per pint! The weather was appalling - driving wind and freezing sleet and the result was not quite what we had hoped for (1-1), but we enjoyed it - although it took us ages to thaw out afterwards!

Late home again and off at the crack of dawn on Friday to meet up with the Scottish Government's European grants awards team in Fraserburgh. I did my song and dance presentation then headed back to Aberdeen, where I got the call that I was needed for Friday night football at the Beach. Enjoyable match, but I then had a hectic chase up to Torphins to get to the Learney Hall in time for the golf club's annual prize-giving. I picked up my trophies (Veterans' Shield for the 2nd time and the Learney Cup for the 1st time) and felt like a bit of a yo-yo as I also had to get up 3 more times to pick up Syd's and Bill's trophies as well! (See my trophies above - hopefully I'll feature in the Piper next week and forward that photo as well).

Finally I arrived home but then went out again to meet Colin and Ian Sharp and grab a bite to eat at the Douglas - some excellent fish cakes. On the walk home, Ian told me that he'd heard that the Tor-na-Coille might be sold to CALA. Dick phoned me today with this news as well - although he thought it was a consortium of CALA and Bancon - perhaps Ian (MD of Bancon Homes) wasn't being completely open with his information? All of this would tie in with the recent sighting of surveyors in Arbor Court measuring the tree lines etc. We all know eventual development is inevitable and it need not necessarily all be bad news. There's even the outside possibility that a developer could view the squash courts as a potential asset and open them up again - wishful thinking, perhaps?

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are meeting at the golf club to decide on next year's destination for our Iberian Cup. It's our 10th outing and I've proposed that we celebrate this by going "on tour" to Florida. I've had some support for this idea but expect some opposition as well. An alternative that has been on the agenda for the last few years is Marrakech - strongly supported by some, but totally opposed by others ("too Muslim"). A safe backstop is a return to Tenerife next November.

Before that, we've got to organise the smaller trip for our Desert Classic in February - much less controversial - none of us want to go back to Dubai and Cape Town has been selected this time. Jo's worried about my carbon footprint, however!

Next week, we're hoping to conclude the long drawn-out acquisition of Daniel's Sweet Herring in Grantown. Looks like we will be signing the deal on Friday - just what I needed - we're having our first winter headbang at Dave's on Thursday night (no free Fridays in November) - so could have a bit of a head on Friday morning!

Also finalising arrangements for Dan's 65th celebration oldies football match on 30th November - to be followed by beer and probably curry - and there's the beer festival the week before that as well! The diary is filling up fast - we're heading down to Manchester on the weekend of 8th/9th December to see the United - Derby match.

Better go lie down now!