Luca sleep-over

Gary and Carole dropped Luca off last night and headed to the cinema. He was glad to see his Gran again, and she was very happy to see him too:

I had been watching the golf and so Jo decided to teach Luca all she knew about the sport:

With his Gran around, Luca wasn't interested in "Nandad" and was happy to wave me off to the pub and have Jo all to himself. It was different in the morning - I was first up and picked him out of his cot and took him downstairs. He's a real breath of fresh air in the morning - so cheerful. He went down the stairs backwards and triumphally announced "I did it!".

Carole shouldn't read this but I wasn't sure what to give him for breakfast, but Luca soon sorted that one out - he went through the cupboards and found a small tin of Heinz sausages and beans - "beanies" - his eyes lit up and how could I refuse him?

And then it was off to golf. Tonight we're catching up with the last episode of Madmen - it's the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was only 13 years old when it happened for real but we all thought then that a nuclear war was imminent and it would be end of the world.

Tomorrow it's off to Boat of Garten - let's hope it stays dry.

Friday on my mind

I've been on the move a lot this week - Fraserburgh Monday, Aberdeen then Glasgow Tuesday/Wednesday, Fraserburgh again on Thursday and then back to the Aberdeen office again this morning.

This is a busy time of year for us at work and it's not being helped much by staffing problems. Anyway, what have I been doing on my travels? I was invited to Julie and Guy's for tea on Tuesday evening - Mary made sausage casserole and I ate with the boys and Brian - Julie was going out with her friend to the cinema and Guy was home a bit later. When Guy got home, I took this small video with my Blackberry, so apologies for the quality:

I've got a bit of name dyslexia with the twins - I can't get it in my head which one's Sam and which one's Tom. I think it's because their names are so similar - in fact they are quite different physically, one being larger and the smaller one now wearing glasses. There's no mistaking young Leo however:

His language is pretty good - I was told he was born the same month as Luca, but Jo thinks he's a few months older. Mary headed out after tea but not before a typical Sowerby scare - she couldn't find her car keys! The house was torn apart and eventually they were located - underneath the microwave. No further comment.

Brian and I went down to his local to watch the Man U match and I stayed in Elderslie overnight, heading off in the morning to central Glasgow for my meetings - I was last out of the house at 7:15 am!

Wednesday morning went OK and I was invited to lunch at Rogano's, an upmarket fish restaurant which is a bit of a Glasgow institution - very nice. I got back up the road in good time to catch Luca before he headed off home and I went to golf. The evening was OK and I had my supper in front of the TV watching the Apprentice - good result this week - it's about time that ****** was eliminated.

I had a tie to play on Thursday - lost - whilst Jo was out for dinner with her old school friends.

Of course, I did go and see my Dad whilst I was down in Glasgow. After last week's experience, I was a little apprehensive about how he would be this time, but I needn't have worried - he was in good form and we walked about the ward - sometimes dancing even - and sang some songs. I took this short video, trying hard not to let him know that he was being filmed:

in m

Tuesday - health checks

Today I'm heading West - I've been invited to tea at Julie's and then Brian and I are going to the pub to watch the big Arsenal - Man U Champions League semi, second leg - we were at the first leg last week in Manchester.

I've got some early morning meetings in Glasgow tomorrow - normally I would stay with Barry and Helen, but I so wanted to see the match tonight, and I know neither of them are football fans - it would be unfair of me to go there and ask them to put the football on all night.

Anyway, Jo's better now - she was really OK yesterday but didn't want to rush herself back - no change there then. Today she's back at the Doctor's - it's drugs issue time. Thinking about health, did any of you read the article in the Ecosse section of the Sunday Times this week? Click to enlarge and read:

Dan Corbett is feeling better after his heart attack in Argentina and, against all the odds, he is coming to Boat of Garten this weekend after all. He sent me this interesting link yesterday - http://www.sonnyradio.com/realage3.swf - try it. My results were:

So the good news is that I'm not really 60 after all - I'm 10 years younger! The bad news is it predicts I won't last quite as long as Dad's current age!

I don't feel 50 this morning - we played racquetball last night at Crathes - the first time we have done that for about a year - we have been playing squash doubles over the winter up at Findrack. With racquetball singles you have to cover the whole court yourself - no partner to rely on - and with such a bouncy ball, everything is retrievable and so there's not much rest - you have to work a lot harder. Reminded me how unfit and fat I'm getting.

Plans and schemes

It's been another lovely weekend - golf yesterday in shorts again and it's been nice again today too. After squash last night, Jo and I went to the golf club for dinner with Colin and Johanne - lovely meal - we both had steaks.

I got up later this morning - I was pretty tired and sore after playing footy on Friday, then golf and squash yesterday - and I wasn't golfing today. When I eventually dragged myself downstairs, I assumed that Jo had gone off to church, but, no - there she was, lying flat out on the floor in the back room. She wasn't feeling good at all, so I despatched her to bed, got her some water and shut the curtains and doors.

What was wrong with Jo? She complained about S & D, but she was never actually sick - headaches and temperature fluctuations seemed to be the main problem. Maybe it was fear - she had said last night when she found out I wasn't golfing today, that was great - we could do something together today. OK, I said - let's walk up Clach-na-ben - we've never done it before. The blood rushed from Jo's face - I think this was a bit more than she had envisaged. Ah well, I guess it wasn't meant to be.

I was also supposed to be going to the Lemon Tree to see Maggie Bell (and Dave Kelly) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Bell) but, with Ross not home, I thought I had better stay here, so I cancelled - but no sooner had I done this than Ross appeared again. No matter - I was quite happy to stay in - I was pretty tired anyway and although I would love to have seen her, I wasn't really up for it tonight.