Ross 33

It's now Thursday morning and Ross and Lizzie have set off on their journey down to Edinburgh and onwards to Hamburg to attend Lizzie's brother's wedding. Ironically, they'll pass Gary who'll be on his way back from Hamburg tomorrow.

Last night, the 4 of us went out for dinner to the Derbar - and very nice it was too. Ross had just had his hair cut and he's removed his facial hair now as well:

Ross doesn't think he's very photogenic and I kind of half agree that this photo of him and Lizzie doesn't quite do him justice. We thought he looked very smart and we look forward to seeing photos of him when he's got his new suit, shirt and a tie on at the wedding.

Lizzie had brought along the beer mats game, which we all tried out:

Not sure who won that contest!

The boiler installers are working away downstairs as we speak. They've sprung some small leaks in a couple of radiators already - let's hope they get it all sorted out today. Apart from this, so far, so good - Jo seems happy that they're following her instructions anyway. Perhaps our "dummy run" last year when we almost got a new boiler installed only to pull the plug at the last minute has helped.

That's our flights to Australia booked now. The Amex card has taken the hit - we're going Emirates again, leaving here on Boxing Day, which necessitates us having to go to Gary and Carole's for Christmas - hope they don't mind! Our trip includes a visit to the Red Centre in the middle of our holiday and a few days in Brisbane at the end.

Tomorrow (Friday) I'm meeting up with my old work colleagues Jacquie and Nikki for a spot of lunch. We've arranged to meet at Garlogie and if it's dry again, I'll cycle over there. I cycled on Tuesday morning but perhaps it was too soon after my golf weekend at Boat of Garten, because I certainly felt tired at golf yesterday afternoon. Today's very much a down day, however, so that should help.

Brian and Mary are coming up on Saturday - but just for one night. Jo's busy changing the bed linen just now in the room where Ross and Lizzie normally are - I guess it's quite convenient that they're away this weekend.

That's about it for now, I think

Is it really autumn?

It's Tuesday morning. I've just been out for the papers and down the golf club to put my gear back after our weekend at Boat of Garten and I can't believe how warm it is outside already. I'm planning to go for a short cycle and need to find something really light to wear. And they say that, meteorologically speaking, it's now Autumn? Doesn't feel like it.

Well it's been over 2 weeks since I last posted - possibly the longest gap in this blog for some while. Trying to fill in what I've been up to since then:

• Golf of course - including some Seniors matches and our 62nd outing to Boat of Garten this weekend.
• Made arrangements to go to Stratford upon Avon to discuss potential sale of our Hollywood, Florida timeshares - tie-ing it in with a trip to the Cheltenham Literature Festival.
• We're now all booked for our trip to York at the end of October.
• We've finally committed to a new boiler and it's getting installed this Thursday.
• Been to the local CAMRA branch's Beer Festival "post mortem" when the perennial organiser shocked us all with his resignation after more than two decades of doing it. The rest of us are going to have to pick up the pieces now.
• Had a nice couple of days in Nairn with the 3 other couples we went to France with last year.

Time for a couple of photos then:

Jo and I outside our hotel in Nairn - the Golf View. We'd last stayed there on a scorching hot weekend in 1987. Lovely outdoor jacuzzi overlooking the Moray Firth.

Nairn town centre was ablaze with colour.

On the drive up to Grantown/Boat of Garten on Sunday, my chauffeur, Rob, stopped the car to have a look at the 4 new copper coloured "things" next to the standing stone with a view of distant Corgarff Castle.

It turns out that the "things" were, in fact, all seats.

We've booked 8 shows/talks at Cheltenham:

• John Simpson
• Val McDermid
• Jeremy Paxman
• The Ages of Bowie
• Brian Wilson - A Life
• I, Me, Mine (George Harrison)
• Shetland (TV series)
• Wilko Johnson

That should keep us busy. They're all just one hour long so we still have plenty of time to look around Cheltenham - and we've got spare time in Statford upon Avon too - and maybe time for a quick look at Bath as well.

That's a quick update of the last couple of weeks. Today, of course, we're off to Inverurie as usual then, on Thursday, I'm driving Ross and Lizzie over to Stonehaven to catch the train to Edinburgh for their flight to Hamburg for Lizzie's relative's wedding. On Saturday, Brian and Mary are coming up here for a night or two - and some golf.