Yes - I've been nagged to do another blog posting, and, as I haven't updated the family one this month (although my other blogs have been), I thought I had better do something now. With 7 separate blogs running, I don't intend to update them all on a daily basis - usually only when there's something to report - and I don't have much to add just now really.
Since my last posting (last Monday 25th April), this is what I've been up to in the evenings:
- Monday - New Members' night at the Golf Club
- Tuesday - Joe Brown at the Music Hall (check http://banchoryheadbangers.blogspot.com/)
- Wednesday - golf
- Thursday - nowt
- Friday - pub
- Saturday - John McDonald's 60th party at the Legion
- Sunday - nowt, bar Sunday Times and TV
- Monday - nowt again
- Tuesday - golf at Fraserburgh, followed by supper at the Redgarth Inn, Oldmeldrum
- Wednesday - golf
- Thursday - nowt
So that's almost 2 weeks in my exciting life - that and work. I did pop in to Inverurie yesterday on my way home from Fraserburgh, to drop off some fish. Carole was in, hoping to catch some shut-eye before her all-nighter counting votes from yesterday's election. I didn't stay too long - just long enough for a cup of tea and a Hob-nob, and for Yoda to completely cover my dark blue sleeveless sweater in a thick layer of her white coat - will it ever come off?
The election results were stunning for the SNP - well, for Alex Salmond, really - but fear not, good folk in foreign parts, this doesn't mean independence for Scotland quite yet - it was more a smack in the eye for a Labour party, complacent in their traditional role as the party of Scotland, and for their smug leader, Iain Gray, who, I suspect, won't be in that position too much longer.
Going back to last Saturday, John McDonald's 60th birthday party was quite a do. There were 150 guests at the Legion and the theme was Black & White. There were loads of guests dressed in classic gangster gear, plus some Arab dress, but the best outfit of the evening was surely the woman who came along in full Beetlejuice regalia, including so much make-up that we couldn't make out who she was! Our table was very conservatively attired, however.
It's 10 years since John was seriously ill in hospital with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphona. I remember visiting him in his isolation ward in the hospital and having to get dressed up like a spaceman to enter his little bubble. John's only alive today because of the success of the stem cell transfer he got from his brother, so the evening was a fund-raising event for the Anchor Unit cancer charity.
One thing we have learned from the experience last Saturday was never to give John McDonald a microphone! He did go on a bit. One of his surprises was the arrival of their son, Simon, from Sydney - John hadn't expected it at all - he was gobsmacked. Here's John, Leigh, Lorraine and Simon:
At our table:
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| Dan Corbett and Andy and Margaret Gore |
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| Jack Simpson, Colin Kilgour and Dave Williamson |
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| Jo and Frances Simpson |
Apologies for the bad timing of the photo, Jo - I should add that it was about the only glass you had all night!
If you're thinking there's a disproportionate number of men at our table, then let me explain. Johanne wasn't well enough to come, so Colin came on his own, whilst Jayne had a prior engagement, leaving Dave to attend solo as well. Dan has been on his own for a while now.
So this weekend's the first of our trips to Boat of Garten this year. It's sod's law that the long, dry, sunny spell has finally broken and we've got a little bit of rain now. So far, it seems quite light - like summer rain - let's hope it doesn't get any worse for Sunday/Monday.
Gary's got his big day at Firhill this weekend as well. How his Grandad would have loved to have played on the hallowed turf/earth like Gary is going to. Check out http://www.ptfc.co.uk/downloads/firhill_cup_2011_teams.pdf - scroll down and check the Garthland team (black tops).
And it's Braeden's 7th birthday on Sunday - can you believe it?
This morning I was a bit later leaving as I had another blood sample to be taken at the Nurse's, so I was still at home about 7:45 am when I heard this drilling and banging. I thought it was next door, but Jo told me it was Bob the Builder (aka Deeside Construction/Destruction) who she had called in to hopefully sort out, for once and all, the mystery of the leak from our balcony down to the wooden roof to our porch. They removed some of the timbers then disappeared within 10 minutes - who knows what, if anything, happens next.
That's me pretty much up to date now.
