Friday - end of my little "holiday"

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I didn't go to work today after all - I was "persuaded" to leave off trying to drive until Monday, so I stayed at home again.

Archie came round and gave me his ankle weights to help build my leg muscles up again - I need to keep doing this - only 2 weeks to the wedding - and 3 weeks until I'm supposed to be golfing again in Spain - it's going to be touch and go.

Nothing much else to report, but, thinking baout Kelly coming home, I came across this old photo of her christening:


Some faces in here that some of you won't recognise - Austin Donohoe (Lucy's Godfather - or was he Kelly's?) and his then girlfriend Mary, are in the middle at the back, and Dawn's first husband, Reg is the one with the beard. Granny Banaghan (Lottie's Mum) is sitting next to the priest - but where is Barry? Jo's younger sister Margaret is bottom right and her husband Pat is top left.

Only Brian, Mary, Dawn, me, Jo, Lucy, Gary and, of course, Kelly, still around and in touch now - how sad.

Afternoon adventures

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I got invited again to go along and watch Syd, Archie and Rob get lessons in bridge from Dan. This week it was held at Archie's house - up the Glassel Road, so I thought I'd be adventurous and try to cycle up there - it's easier cycling than walking and my physio stressed that I needed to keep stretching my knee and cycling - albeit on a static bike - was the ideal way to do this.

It was another fine day and off I set, through the park, past the cricket pitch and up the old forest tracks - and I coped OK. In fact, I surprised myself how well I did - and I really enjoyed getting out, and getting some fresh air and exercise.

Today, I worked at home this morning whilst Jo nipped back to Dobbie's to acquire the topiary for the wedding. It now sits proudly outside our front door:

Having finished most of my work in the morning, and encouraged by my cycling experiences yesterday, with Jo off to her swimming, I decided it was time to get the bike out again this afternoon. I headed off in the same direction as yesterday, up the old railway line and on to the forest tracks. I stopped for a break near the top of the hill:

The puffed cheeks were not posed - I had misjudged the timer! I then went beyond the houses on Glassel Road and up to the Hill of Brathens track - then east back towards the main Raemoir Road, which I crossed, heading towards Hirn. I stopped in front of the new Cowshed restaurant, which looks like it's almost ready to open:

I couldn't find my old safety glasses (nor one of my cycling gloves), and almost inevitably got a fly in my eye. I just couldn't get rid of it - I even tried photographing the eye to see if I could spot it:

Lovely photo, don't you think? Oh well, carry on regardless. Eventually, I was passing Wooden Barn and I thought - ah hah! - slight detour - stop for a cup of tea at the new Buchanan's Bistro there, and pay a visit to the loos. It worked a treat - I was able to remove the offending fly from under my eyelid with the aid of the large mirrors there.

Nice place too - and I enjoyed my tea and brownie. I read the Piper and sat in a nice sofa looking west out the window - this was the view:

What you can't quite see from the above photo is the new Tesco that is being erected at an incredible pace - it's due to open next month, having just started last month:

I wandered round Woodend Barn - I enquired whether they had had any returned tickets for Ed Byrne's concert next month - they hadn't, but I put my name on the waiting list anyway. They've also got Andy White (http://www.andywhite.com/) appearing in 2 weeks' time - an intimate concert, with a meal, in the Bistro - but I then realised that's just 2 days before the wedding, so it wasn't really on.

Cycling back through Hill of Banchory, then down to the Platties to follow the river back home - a nice way to spend a couple of hours on a very pleasant afternoon. I'll sleep well tonight - if the pain in my rear end doesn't disturb me too much!

Sitting here blogging away just now whilst Jo's at her weekly Weight Watchers weigh-in, I'm thinking I might try driving again tomorrow and nip in to the office for a short while. We're going to dinner at the Lings tomorrow night - and it's early so I need to be home sharp anyway.

The Continuing Story of Town House Ian

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, you couldn't call me Bungalow Bill, could you? (Apologies to my younger readers for this obscure 60's reference).

Yes, I'm working from home again - 2 days in a working week is enough for any man surely? It was Aberdeen on Monday - Jo took me in early and Ross picked me up early afternoon - I had 2 late afternoon appointments at our Medical Practice. First of all, Dr. Doug Smith to look at the sun-damaged blotch on my nose. I'd had it looked at a few years ago and was told it was benign and the specialist had just given me some cream to lighten the dark brown colouring, but the anaesthetist at Albyn had made a point of telling Jo I needed to get it looked at again - hence this appointment.

Dr. Smith examined it and said there were now 2 levels to it - and he gave them both names, but, for the life of me, I can't remember what they were. Anyway, he said he could just freeze it now if I wanted? OK, I said - go ahead - and he put the eye masks on me and gave my nose 2 blasts - and that, apparently, is that. I go back in a few weeks for him to look at it again, but so far no noticeable effects.

Then it was the Nurse's turn - knee stitches out. Five of them were OK, but one of them on my sore right knee was a bit deeper and blood started flowing when she took the stitch out. She put butterfly stitches on and told me to leave them for a few days until they fell off.

That was Monday - on Tuesday morning it was back to the physio, and she was a little alarmed at the way I walked in, and, initially, she was going to call the hospital and have the surgeon look at my right knee again. However, after a while, we got the knee moving a bit and she seemed a bit happier with it. I told her about the severe pain I was getting when trying to move the joint and she did say it was still pretty swollen and raw and I had to be careful about not "loading" the knee - but I had to keep trying to move it.

From there, it was up to Fraserburgh - we had some Norwegian visitors. I got a lift up with Francis Clark and Ross picked me up at the Old Mill at 5pm - a full day's work!

I forgot to say I was out for dinner with these Norwegians at the Marcliffe on Monday night - and lovely it was too. Jo demanded a full description of what we'd had to eat when I got home - poor girl was envious!

Oh - I finished my Hunter S Thompson book - it was pretty interesting - he was a real cowboy, pushing the political, ethical, moral and legal boundaries - but he could write, and it was fairly entertaining in places. I've now started to read a short golf book I was given - Four Iron in the Sole, by Glaswegian Lawrence Donegan. It's about a year he spent acting as temporary caddy to a jouneyman pro golfer. I've an awful feeling I've read it before, but I'll carry on with it for a while yet - it's pretty funny - if you like golf, that is.

So that's been my week so far - a bit better, but still a long way to go. Hope you're all having a good time - let's hear from you.