Thursday's news

Good news about Jo (see her blog) - although I sense she's not entirely relaxed about the situation yet.

We've had the Union in again today - we gave them an update on the job losses at IFC. A total of 65 jobs have gone, but, with natural wastage and the fact that we've been able to find a number of jobs in sister company Nor-Sea (23), then the only major impact is on the part-time evening shift which stops tonight. Many of these are second incomes and/or migrant labour, so hopefully the impact on the local economy will be minimised. Painful, but, frankly, it could have been worse - hopefully we'll now be able to move forward again.

It was week 3 of our regular Wednesday Summer Quaich golf competition last night (although only my 2nd week) and it doubled up as a Medal competition. You'll all be delighted to know that I scored level par again and my handicap didn't go up nor down - pretty good start to the season. I was playing with Ian Dring, who's just returned to Banchory after 3 years in Kuala Lumpur - he (and we) thought that was him back for good, but, lo and behold, his employers (Baker Hughes) have had another global re-organisation and he's now been moved to Algeria, in charge of North Africa - so that's another one of our group gone now.

Jo has been giving you glimpses of her holiday photos but don't forget that I'm putting together a CD/DVD of all of our photos - I'm just waiting to get Gary and Carole's and then I can send them out.

I've got more golf to look forward to tomorrow afternoon - Keith, Malcolm and I have got a freebie at St Andrews Bay - I complained about the state of the course when we played there last year and I got a nice letter back from the General Manager offering us a free fourball - but it had to be played before the end of April.

The Apprentice was good again last night - we watched it after the Man U match (what a goal from Ronaldo!) - did AMS get his decision wrong? It was certainly a major and fundamental error on the costings, but was team leader Paula really to blame? What about Ben's and Yasmina's part in their team's downfall? And how lucky was Noorul to be the leader of the winning team? If you've no idea what I'm banging on about, check http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/ to see this year's candidates and their biographies - and, of course, if you're in the UK, you can watch it again on the BBC i-player. Who's gonna be next to go?

I heard a feature on the radio this morning about music played at funerals and how the traditional hymns etc are now getting less popular and being replaced by the deceased's favourite popular music. As usual, somebody had done a survey and it appears that Frank Sinatra's My Way was the most popular. Here's the top 10:

TOP 10 POP SONGS AT FUNERALS
1 My Way - Frank Sinatra/Shirley Bassey
2 Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler/Celine Dion
3 Time To Say Goodbye - Sarah Brightman/Andrea Bocelli
4 Angels - Robbie Williams
5 Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy
6 You Raise Me Up - Westlife/Boyzone/Josh Grobin
7 My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion
8 I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
9 You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry and the Pacemakers
10 Unforgettable - Nat King Cole

Personally, I rather took a liking to the thinking behind some of the others that were mentioned - like AC/DC's Highway to Hell! It did make me think, however, about what I would like to be played at my funeral (note no cremation - no burning, please!). I guess my favourite record of all time is probably still Otis Redding's version of Try a Little Tenderness, although this, unlike many of the above, has no real relevance to the funeral situation. Tin Soldier by the Small Faces? - not really - what about Up the Junction by Squeeze? - now at least the title has some relevance!

Of course, depending on how long I last, it may well be Led Zeppelin's Dazed and Confused by then!

It looks like I'll be brewing my birthday beer next Tuesday - Scolty Ale it is, I think. Which reminds me that I never posted the photo of the afternoon that Scott and I went down to Deeside Activity Park - here he is posing beside one of the old tanks there:

Next time the Lesinas are over, this would be a great place for the boys to go and play.