Autumn update

Just noticed it's been a month since I posted here - not sure why there's been such a gap this time. There's no way I'll remember everything that's happened since then - I guess I'll just have to mostly feature the events for which I have photographic evidence.

The one noticeable change has been in the weather. At the time of my last post, we were still enjoying warm, summery weather, but it's definitely gone autumnal now - the days are shorter and darker and the temperature has dropped. Jo and I wake up every day and look out at the bank of trees on Arbor Court and watch the leaves changing. Some of the colours are lovely:

All of these changes, however, do signal the end of the golf season. I don't do winter golf any more - unless on the rare occasion when there's a weather window and the sun is out - and I've got fed up staring at the inside of the house.

I took a rare trip in to Aberdeen a couple of weeks ago to get my car serviced. I knew it was going to take a few hours and the weather forecast for that day was very good, so I loaded my (analogue) bike in to the back of the car and went for a tourist wander round the city whilst my car was getting serviced. I've already posted most of the photos on Facebook etc, but here's a few I kept back:

Out at the point next to Torry Battery

 

Donmouth Nature Reserve

Swan & cygnets on the Don

Another one from Footdee - the preserved old fishing village in Aberdeen

This giant screw was rotating and churning the water from the Don

St Machar Cathedral from the other side of Seaton Park

King's College

I met Gary at lunchtime for a quick coffee

That's the photos all used up - now what else happened? Well, there's the almost daily Zoom calls, of course:

• Tuesday coffee morning chat
• Wednesday CAMRA (fortnightly) social
• Thursday Barry, Helen & Dawn
• Friday - Former Footballers' social

Plus occasional old school reunions (last Saturday), Headbangs every 6 weeks and monthly River Dee Radio meetings, not to forget weekly FaceTime calls with Kelly and Lucy.

Zoom and my radio shows have kept me sane throughout, but I feel it's been a lot easier during the lovely summer we had this year when outdoor activities like walking, cycling and golf have been easy to arrange. Winter could be more of a challenge. To that end, Jo and I are going to start venturing out a little - Government restrictions permitting. Since returning from Australia just as the UK was going in to lockdown in March, barring one night I spent at Grantown on a golf trip, Jo and I haven't stayed anywhere else but home, but next week, we're planning to take our first baby steps with a night away at a hotel in Dunkeld.

We've also booked an afternoon tea at a hotel on Speyside next month and a night in St. Andrews after Christmas. It's not a lot and certainly nowhere near the travel we would normally do each year, but it's a small start which will hopefully build up our confidence in the safety and security of select hospitality venues.

One other activity that now consumes a bit of time each day is Pilates. The recent results from my blood tests were satisfactory but I've been getting spasmodic sharp back pains for 9 months or so now. I filled in an online consultation with our local medical practice and one of the doctors phoned me back to discuss the issue. The conclusion he came to was that it was the ageing process that was causing the issue, suggesting that tiny bone spurs start to appear on your spine as you get older and, depending on which way you move, these spurs can pinch a nerve or two. He prescribed some pills but also suggested that Pilates might help, so Jo and I are now going online every day for about 45 mins or so of stretching and tightening our cores.

Continuing on the medical theme, we still haven't had our flu jabs this year and were getting concerned we had been overlooked somehow, as everybody else we knew had had them, but just this morning Jo spotted a post on Facebook from our local medical centre, commenting on the errors and omissions made by the NHS in arranging jabs for the over-65's, and advising all those with surnames beginning with S to head down to the practice tomorrow (Tuesday) to receive our inoculations - hooray!

The hot news from across the pond is that Cade is now engaged! That and an operation to remove a rib - a lot going on just now. That's about all I can remember for now. Cheers.