Driving Miss Daisy

We went to Celtic Connections in Glasgow last night (Way to Blue; Songs of Nick Drake). I met Jo at Leggart Terrace - Ross drove her in there - and, guess what? - they were almost on time - of course, they couldn't exactly get lost this time, could they?

Colin and Johanne took the train down - at just £15 return for over 55's, it's a no-brainer - we would have loved to have taken this option too, but we had to travel back straight after the concert as Jo had to be in Stonehaven early this morning for her appointment at the Cardio clinic. Anyway, we went for a pre-theatre supper at Sarti's Italian restaurant, which was fairly exotic looking inside - check http://www.sarti.co.uk/restaurants/renfield-street-glasgow/history-renfield-st-.aspx for the history of the building.

After dinner, we gave the girls a touch of Glasgow "culture" - a visit to the legendary Horseshoe Bar (http://www.horseshoebar.co.uk/), where many an entertainer first made their name. It has listed building status and the web site has some interesting tales on it. I didn't have my camera with me, so just managed this poor quality photo from my Blackberry:

The concert was great - see music blog for more info - and we got out of the Concert Hall pretty quickly, only to find a huge queue at the ticket machine in the car park. Then we had to queue to get out of the car park - and then took a wrong turn and had to go all round the houses to get back on to the motorway. Further frustration came when we got to Moodiesburn and then had to go through miles and miles of the huge roadworks that have been going on for ages. It's all 40 mph limit with average speed cameras in place - very frustrating when you're driving along on dual carriageways, with little traffic and no work actually taking place, and you're in a hurry to get home.

The weather was OK - apart from one very short bit of road just north of Dundee where there had just been a very localised freak snow/sleet shower which suddenly made the roads white for about half a mile - the police were out trying to warn motorists about it. After that, it was OK and it actually got a bit milder as we drove further north, so we decided to go over Cairn o' Mount. We even ignored the Road Closed signs at Clatterin' Brig - there had been much criticism of the police in the local paper for not keeping the signs up to date - and it seemed so relatively mild - but it soon turned to white and it was a bit of a struggle at the top, and then slowly and carefully down the other side, but we made it home in the end about 1 a.m.

It didn't seem like long until the alarm went. I had decided I wasn't going to Fraserburgh after all, but thought I should instead take Jo to the cardio clinic. The news on the radio was that the police had had to close the Cairn o' Mount road overnight due to snow - no wonder we were the only car on the road!

So, Jo got on fine - I went in with her. They're going to do another stress test as a precaution, but they don't think the pains she's been getting in her left side are Angina after all - although she'll keep taking the medicine.

For the rest of the day, I've just decided to work (and blog!) from home - and perhaps have a little doze and catch up on lost sleep.

Maudlin Monday morphs in to Tiresome Tuesday

Why maudlin? Oh, I don't know - perhaps just a combination of things. Firstly, my knee, which is still acting up; secondly, stomach cramps through the night on Sunday meant I couldn't sleep - not Jo's cooking, but I suspect the ibuprofen I took for my knee - it always disagrees with my stomach; thirdly, and most annoyingly, my reading glasses broke when I went to put them back in their case on Sunday night:

These are top of the range Silhouette frames and shouldn't do this! Jo has them as well. I took so long deciding which ones to buy, and since I took the plunge at Lassman's in Medford whilst on holiday in USA in 2007, it's been a tale of woe. When I got back to work in Scotland, I found out that the lenses, which were excellent for close-up reading, were no use for computer work, so off I trotted to the local Silhouette supplier in Aberdeen, who discovered that the American opticians had fitted the wrong lenses, so I had to shell out for new ones that matched my prescription! So much for saving some money by buying in US$!

Anyway, I finished off my Death of Dalziel audiobook as I was shuttling around in the Golden Triangle of Banchory-Fraserburgh-Aberdeen yesterday. Don't know how I made it through to the end - it was as tiresome as I suspected from the start. Much more interesting is the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - can't wait to pick it up each evening.

Tuesday was a busy morning and then Michael said he was going across town, so I seized the opportunity and asked for a lift to the optician's. First the bad news - the frames were out of warranty. Next the better news that they had replacement frames in stock - and what's more, they could fit them now! OK - how much? How much? We'll give you 50% off sir - how much? I do hope they last this time - certainly the most expensive glasses I've ever bought.

Might slope off a bit early and head for the gym - it's about time I started going regularly again - how many times must that phrase be written in blogs and diaries the world over? Will pop in to Franco's on the way home - we're planning a meal there on Friday to bid farewell to Malcolm Lodge, who's moving to Houston full-time - although retaining his house at Drumoak.

We've got a bit of a dilemma with the possible Oz trip now that Kelly is coming back in October - Jo and I had words on this last night. She's not keen on going Down Under at Xmas and leaving her wee boy on his own - and she thinks it's too soon after Kelly's been here. The problem I have is that that's the only time I can take off. Is there a compromise to be found? Could we persuade Ross to come with us?

Slow Sunday - nice!

The big thaw brought the big flood yesterday - a lot of the back roads were closed and the Dee is very high. I didn't even think about playing golf this morning, however - I imagine the course is still closed anyway.

I did manage a game of squash last night but I had to stop in the last game because of my left knee - my relatively good one. It's happened a couple of times recently and is concerning. I'm taking Ibuprofen today to try to reduce any inflamation - hopefully that will help. It seems to come and go, but it's very painful when I get it and walking is difficult.

Last night we watched Tarantino's Inglorious B******s - I thought it was pretty entertaining - he creates a real style in his films and makes them very watchable despite the often gory subject matter. Brad Pitt's character was known as the Apache - and, yes, scalping was part of the routine.

Today's culture section of the Sunday Times features an article on another music biopic that I'm keen to see - it's Julien Temple's latest homage to Dr. Feelgood - http://alternative.artsalliancemedia.com/oilcity/. Looks interesting - and the launch night (2nd February) is featuring a live transmission of a post film concert by Wilko Johnson's band - should be good.

I took Colin's new mp3 player home last night and put some music and audiobooks on it for him, so I returned it to him this morning when I went out for the Sunday Times, and took a few minutes out to get his little Mazda going again - the battery had died, but we easily got it going again with the aid of jump leads. Not quite sure why he needs to get it started again - he still can't drive as he doesn't have his licence back yet, following his epilepsy scare last year.

I'm really enjoying The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - I'm 200 pages (about 40%) in to it now. I also discovered that, by coincidence, Johanne is also reading it just now.

I posted a short video of Jo reading to Luca yesterday on my Facebook page - here's the still:

He was his usual good self when he was over yesterday - even when Jo went to the shops to get some lunch. We played Hide and Seek round our bed - and then Scary Monsters.

That's all for now - back to the Sunday Times for me now. Hope you're all having a nice weekend.