Getting ready for a busy weekend

As commented on Facebook, the opening day of the beer festival went well last night - numbers seemed to be well up on the same time last year. Got a chance to sample a few when I was working behind the bar, but my main chance will come tonight when our bus arrives from Banchory and we can have a few proper beers, rather than just a couple of tasters in the bottom of the glass. Highlights for me last night were Yellowhammer and Dartmoor.

I'm doing a couple of hours behind the bar again this afternoon before heading home to dump the car and pick up the bus back to the festival. I'm not playing golf in the morning - I did have time to play before we caught our afternoon flight to London, but thought better of it - I'd probably not be up for it anyway.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Sunday is not looking too good - I hope we do get to see some cricket. Although I'm sure we'll find something else to do, it does rather spoil the purpose of the trip if it's rained off.

Golf on Wednesday was OK - I played with Dick - he and Theresa were just back from Bogota visiting their daughter. As usual, after golf, Jo and I watched The Apprentice whilst I ate my supper - little bit of a surprise result and I now wonder if the obvious favourite is going to stumble at the last hurdle? I also discovered that the final has been moved from Wednesday to this Sunday - that's a bit of a bummer as I'll be in London/Reading that evening and won't be able to watch it until I get home on Monday. The media will be full of it on Monday morning and it will be hard to avoid knowing who's won before I watch the recording.

That's about all for now - although I have been editing some of my previous Blog postings - on the instructions of she who must be obeyed!

Monday scare

Got a bit of a fright yesterday when I heard about the missing Air France plane. That route is one that is used by Dave Williamson quite often - Colin and I are going to stay with him this weekend for the cricket. I made a discreet enquiry and he's OK, however - he wasn't on this flight back from Rio, but he said there was considerable reflection in his office in Reading yesterday when they heard the news. Several of his colleagues were actually travelling in the opposite direction when the plane went missing.

Anyway, forgot to post photos of Luca when he was with us on Sunday. We were out the back and he was enjoying splashing the waste water over Jo's feet, which meant she took evasive action, producing this slightly risque photo:

(Object subsequently removed due to the objections of the subject)

Last night after tea - liver and bacon - yummy! - perhaps we'll get steak and kidney pudding next? - Jo and I walked over to the golf course to play a few holes. It was an absolutely perfect evening. Jo did well in bits - signs of improvement - and finished in a blaze of glory at the 16th - the Doo'cot. Although one of the shortest holes in golf, it's pretty tough for a beginner as it's straight up a steep hill and many people can't get the ball high enough to hit the green. In fact, our golf group have a phrase for any unfortunates that play the hole badly - it's called a "wedding cake" when somebody has to play on all 3 tiers of the hole!

Jo's tee shot was quite good and got up to the 2nd level OK, but didn't quite make it all the way up. Her second shot just failed but then she almost holed her 3rd and eventually tapped in for a 4 - pretty good.

Of course, long before that, back at "Hitler's bunker" at the 11th, where Jo had come to grief last week, she was back in trouble again, but this time managed to get out on her 2nd attempt - a bit better than the 14 or 15 attempts last time out:

A rare sighting of the sprinklers in action on the 3rd green behind her.

Today is setting up for the beer festival - I'm planning to go down for a couple of hours late afternoon.

We've got some clouds/haar this morning - not sure if it's going to clear or not. The forecast is for the weather to go downhill a bit for the next few days.

Monday scorcher

Still fabulous weather here - shame to be at work - but what would I do? Too knackered to have a round of golf after playing Wed/Thu/Sat/Sun with football on Friday in between. Still, maybe manage a few holes with Jo tonight. We probably would have gone out last night but by the time Gary and Carole picked up Luca, it was getting a bit late to go out.

Btw, I got a roasting for posting that photo of Jo in yesterday's blog. Apparently it's my fault that I caught her at a bad moment, and when she's water retentive.

Do any of you remember our holiday in Florida when we went to visit Jim and Mary Cowie and their boys from Scrabster? Jim was a fish processor and the Clarks owned 50% of his business. He subsequently cracked up and did a runner, leaving us to pick up the pieces and sort out the mess he'd left and all the unpaid creditors, including the bank, so he hasn't exactly been flavour of the month round here for the last decade or so. Anyway, he changed careers and became a chef - see the article below from the P & J a week past Saturday:

Fabulous weather

It's been glorious these last few days. On Thursday night, I played for Torphins at Inchmarlo and then on Friday, we had a football match at Goals to celebrate Ken Black's 50th - followed by beer and curry. It was a good night, but I was suffering on Saturday morning - not from a hangover, but from a tired and sore body. It was the annual Sponsored Tournament and the beneficiaries of the fund raising - Alzheimer's Society - must have been delighted at the weather. Just a pity none of our team played well, but we all enjoyed the morning anyway. Check the football and golf blogs for photos.

We decided to go along to the dinner at the golf club in the evening. Beer on the balcony first:

(Object subsequently removed due to the objections of the subject)

It was just 2 years since this event was held in aid of the Squash Club. Unfortunately, all our efforts were in vain - but at least the sponsors had a nice (free) day out.

We didn't stay after dinner for the infamous "Sammy the Shammy" and the dance - we decided just to stroll home.

Today, the weather has been even better. Gary and Luca are away to the Perth Races and we've got Luca for the day.

The week ahead has CAMRA's beer festival at Pittodrie. I'll be helping out most nights, but I was rather hoping that we'd have enough to run a bus on Friday, but it looks like we might not have enough to merit this. Not sure how we're going to manage the logistics.

Next weekend, Colin and I are off down to London to see Scotland in the Twenty:20 Cricket World Cup at the Oval. We're staying with Dave Williamson at his flat in Reading.