Scott 40!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's a very happy big birthday to son-in-law Scott today. Hope it's a good one, even if it's a bit scarey to realise our eldest will be the same age in just a few weeks' time. Here's the two of them sipping cocktails in Grants Pass last year:

What a mixture today has been. Right now the sun is shining, but I was due to get the windscreen in my car replaced this morning and when they showed up to do it, it was snowing, so it's been postponed until next Wednesday.

Yesterday the corporate packages arrived for the Ramsdens Cup Final a week on Sunday:

Looking forward to it.

Good Friday today and the traffic was a bit lighter this morning. It seems like the whole of England is closed for 4 days now - not as bad as Scandinavia - they seem to be shut for about 2 weeks. We're still working - you lot need to be fed and Tesco and Morrison's make sure there's no rest for the wicked.

Jo's making progress with her shoulder and is religiously doing her exercises. She's also downing the dosage of painkillers she was given a week ago, but she reckons it's causing some mood swings. On Monday, she goes to see the nurse to get her stitches out - and she'll be able to drive again next week as well - I think she's found it hard having to walk everywhere, especially when you never know when the snow showers are coming.

Have a good Easter weekend everyone.

Sunshine, but still cold

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's Thursday and I'm in the Broch as usual. All our weekly management meetings are over and I'm having my lunch now - the taste panel, followed by crackers and cheese. It's a fantastic looking day - so bright and sunny, but the temperature is still in very low digits.

I took a walk out into our yard and beyond to the public footpath just outside our factory fence. Did I tell you that it had partially collapsed/eroded in to the sea below a few months ago? We managed to establish that it is the Council's responsibility but all they have done so far is put up a sign and some temporary fences:

That's Scotland's National Lighthouse Museum in white at the back, and an old Wine Tower to the right, with the fence marking our factory to the left. The bit that's collapsed can't quite be seen in the above photo, but perhaps it's a bit clearer below:

Meanwhile a group of birds - cormorants perhaps? - were sunning themselves on the rocks:

The seagulls had their own rock:

If I had a gun! Where is Scott when you need him? These pests swarm all over our yard and they're a perennial problem for us.

Those views were looking mostly west and north, but, heading the other way, there are the large pelagic trawlers, which are laid up at this time of year, awaiting the next fishery - herring in June/July:

To the left of them, looking south now, is the other lighthouse at the end of the harbour wall:

So, if you've never been to Fraserburgh before, you've some idea of what it looks like now.

It was warm enough to go out without a coat, but the following graphic on Facebook showed an interesting comparison with the same time last year:

Yes, it really was 24 C in Deeside last March. As if to underline how nice a day it is today, though, our receptionist has just been round to the shops and come back with a small tub of ice cream for everyone in the office - how nice!

No snow anywhere near the coast of course, but inland it's still lying in places and it looks almost certain that the opening day of the golf season on Saturday will be cancelled in Banchory. I had therefore tentatively suggested that Jo and I take the chance to go to Nairn on Saturday and take in the Beer Festival at the Braeval Hotel again, but, being Easter Sunday this weekend, Jo wasn't keen - although it rather looks like we're going to be on our own for Easter Sunday Dinner as Luca has a birthday party to attend that day.

Oh - and next weekend, I finally managed to track down how we could get to the Ramsdens Cup Final on Sunday 7th - corporate hospitality at Livingston! Looking forward to taking the boys to the match and to hopefully seeing the Jags overcome QoS and lift some silverware for the first time since 23rd October, 1971 - well before Gary and Ross were born. As a precursor to that, last night Thistle went to the top of the 1st Division Table:

TABLES

• 3RD
• 2ND
• 1ST

		PD	PT
1	Partick	28	62
2	Morton	29	61
3	Livingston	27	43
4	Dunfermline	30	41
5	Falkirk	29	40
6	Raith	28	34
7	Hamilton	27	32
8	Dumbarton	28	30
9	Cowdenbeath	29	29
10	Airdrie	29	19

Going to head home soon - got a lot of music to listen to just now as I downloaded 3 albums last week - all oldies of course:

Not to mention Mojo's usual free monthly CD.

To close, it's my pal Dave Edwards' 64th birthday today but he's now in Cornhill, unlikely to get out again, and he will be blissfully unaware of what day it is. It's Doris that has to live with the loneliness now. There but for fortune.

Spring is in the air ........?

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

The days are definitely getting longer - that's a statement of fact as we are now past the Vernal Equinox, but it's also visible, despite the fact that, inland in Banchory we still have a fair amount of snow - so much, in fact, that our golf club is talking about cancelling this weekend's season-opening Captain's v Vice-Captain's match, which would be the first time in living memory that this has had to be done.

We drove in to town on Saturday morning and, of course, there's not a sign of snow anywhere near Aberdeen - it's completely clear. I saw my Implant Surgeon and he photographed and X-rayed my mouth but gave me a clean bill of health - and also a not-so-clean bill. I thought he was going to remove my cap and put more permanent cement in, but he said he preferred not to do that as it would make it difficult to get it off in the event of an emergency or something happening to my gums.

We watched Lincoln on Saturday night - a bit dull, we both thought. A lot of dialogue and, although we know some more about the American history of the time now, we both felt a bit more of prior knowledge might have made it more enjoyable. Daniel Day Lewis was OK, but not so outstanding as the critics had suggested.

Carole and Luca popped in past in the afternoon on their way down to Lincoln. They didn't stay the night after all, but instead went to one of Carole's friends in Edinburgh before travelling further south on Sunday. Seems the timeshare is very nice.

While they were here, somebody got transfixed by Kung Fu Panda on TV:

Who is the shadowy figure staring at the box?:

Why, it's Luca of course, complete with goody box for the journey. He's really starting to stretch those legs now.

No golf on Sunday of course, so I decided to walk down for my paper - and just kept walking and walking. I hadn't had any exercise for a week and had been sedentary, spending all my time at my desk and in my car, so I needed some fresh air and to stretch the legs a bit. I walked along the river bank, past Platties, along the Deeside Way until you meet the train line coming the other way. I then doubled back, crossed the road and headed up towards Woodend Barn and popped in to Buchanan's for a coffee. Who should come in 20 minutes later but Jo and her pals from church - but she made it very evident that she wasn't going to sit beside me - she wanted to chat to her pals. Fine - I'll carry on reading the papers then.

I walked back home, mostly on hard pavements, but my knee wasn't too sore when I got home after my 10 kms + walk. It's at times like this that I wonder about the wisdom of getting the replacement.

Today, it was back to the physio for more treatment on my hand and ankle. Jo also started her physio treatment on her shoulder as well.

So that's about it, but I'll finish with what I thought was an interesting graphic:

A simple way of understanding where the Government gets all the money and what it does with it. Graphics are good - not many politicians use them to explain fundamental economics - but they should, in my humble opinion.