Miserable Monday

It's really horrible outside today - a wet weather front has settled over NE Scotland. I drove in to Aberdeen this morning and the roads were starting to flood - river levels are high - the Feugh is wild at the pedestrian bridge.

Why did I go in to Aberdeen? This is the reason:

I had been promising myself a bike rack for ages - it allows me (and a couple of fellow cyclists) to go a bit further afield and try pastures new rather than just stick to the tried and tested local trails. This morning was the perfect chance to keep my promise to myself and, with a bit of help from Halford's, we got it fitted on my towbar easily enough. The next trick is for me to get it off again - I'll try when it finally stops raining.

Over the last 10 days, I've been out on my bike a couple of times and completed the river walk over at Edzell, but, with no golf now, I've probably been more sedentary than usual. There's been plenty of sport on TV - thankfully for me, but much less so for Jo.

Barry's been keeping us up to date with their big adventure Down Under. He and Helen have "done" New Zealand and, as I write, are in Melbourne which will be the start of their drive along the Great Ocean Route to Adelaide where they'll catch up with Kelly & co before heading off to Perth on the train.

We FaceTimed with Kelly last week and she then sent us these photos of the boys - first Asher "Woody"'s Hallowe'en outfit:

Miller was dressed as a Storm Trooper, but this is one of him getting congratulated at school for the number of nights he has read a book this term:

So that's me up to date again. Coming up, we have our annual trip to Edinburgh this weekend for Wine Fair. We're not yet sure whether Colin and Johanne will be able to join us and the Masons, following Johanne's recent op. Fingers crossed.

The following week we're off to Dunbar for one night - a CAMRA trip to see round Belhaven Brewery. I've also finally managed to book our trip to USA next year - we leave early September.

That's all for now, folks.