Back in the saddle

Yes, after a week's golf in Turkey, it's back to the old grind - although hopefully not for too much longer. Our return flight times meant a 1 am departure from our hotel, 2 flights, a 3 hour stopover in Istanbul then a drive home from Edinburgh - pretty tiring in itself, but worse when you miss a complete night's sleep.

Not that anyone out there is going to sympathise, of course. The holiday was great but the edge was taken off by a virus we think we picked up on the plane out to Istanbul. It was pretty uncomfortable and draining for me, but one or two of the others were a lot worse - a lot, lot worse, to the point of major embarrassment.

The last 2 days in Fraserburgh have been a bit of a strain - especially the journey. My eyes are stinging - hope to sleep well tonight and get back to normal.

My successor is still doing a 3-day week, mirroring me, but will start full-time in a couple of weeks. I'm already starting to experience occasional feelings of being surplus to requirements. Not my successor's fault - it's just me.

The days are already noticeably shorter - it's starting to get dark in the back room already - and it's only 6:30 pm. Autumn - and slow descent in to winter - has begun, it seems. The golf season goes in tandem with this - although I'm playing again this Saturday and Sunday. The latter is our traditional end of season bash, followed by lunch in the clubhouse. We always play a Scotland v Rest of the World match, which this weekend mirrors the Ryder Cup being played down the road in Gleneagles.

To close, here's a shot, looking in to the early morning sun, at the back of my villa in Turkey:

You can also have a video tour of my villa in Turkey at  http://youtu.be/S1Bdi4zqU6g