Busy August

Just over 4 weeks to go until we fly to USA but there's a lot happening here just now:

    1) We had a small issue with one of our newly installed radiators which didn't appear to be responding when we tested our new heat pump. The installers were responsible of course but they didn't have sufficient manpower available this month to travel up from Glasgow to fix it, and as we would almost certainly need the heating on when we returned from USA late October, it was important that we somehow get it fixed before we went away so we got a local plumber to come out yesterday and he sorted it. Whew.

    2) No progress with our neighbour regarding the joint fence, so we decided to ask Christie Fencing to see if they would be able and willing to install a new fence - at our cost - inside the line of what remains of the old fence. They agreed and the fence will be installed next Thursday (8th August). What our neighbour will think of this we have no idea.

    3) One condition of the new fence was that we had to get the wall of one of our flower beds sorted. It was starting to lean dangerously:

So yesterday Neil Gray and his partner came out and took it down:

Jo and I had taken maybe half the earth out before they arrived but the builders did the rest and spent the rest of the day rebuilding the wall and they'll be putting the coping stones back on Monday.

    4) When the builders come back on Monday they are going to start work on taking down the wall at the side of our driveway at the front and putting a new one in. We had no problem with our neighbour on that side of our house - he was more than happy to let us go ahead - no questions asked.

    5) We had a meeting last week with an insulations company and they are going to install insulation in the gap between our garage ceiling and our living room floor. Again, we're hoping this can be done this month, before we go away.

A busy time all round.

I finally bit the bullet last week regarding my knee replacement operation. I had the pre-op assessment some weeks ago and was hoping that I would get lucky and get the operation done fairly soon after that - but it was not to be. Given that long haul flights are not recommended until at least 6-8 weeks after the operation, I had no option but to postpone everything. I advised the hospital and - wouldn't you believe it - the following day, I got the letter from the hospital that I had been anxiously waiting for.

I don't know what this postponement means - do I go back to the bottom of the waiting list? I know I will have to go through another pre-op assessment as the results of the first one are only valid for a couple of months. Even when we come back from America, I only have a window of 10-11 weeks before we're off to Australia in January and that's insufficient time to get everything done, so it'll be spring next year before I can even start the process again.

The real frustration was when I was told earlier this year that it would not, after all, be possible for me to have the operation in Clydebank (where Jo had her cataract surgery) as they had originally suggested. Funding for this had been withdrawn.

On an entirely separate matter, last Sunday Jo went to visit her pal Anne at work so I took the opportunity on a glorious afternoon to check out a couple of pubs for CAMRA's database. First stop was the beautiful Kildrummy Inn:

From there, I drove back to Bridge of Alford to check out the Forbes Arms. Both visits were fruitless but they had to be checked.

I was at the dentist last week and I have to go back and have a filling. They sent me the estimate - £125!

On happier matters, the weather over the last week or so has seen a huge improvement - long may it continue - hopefully including tomorrow (Sunday) when I'm playing in a Texas Scramble at Aboyne. Talking of golf, we recently had our worst ever outing. Somebody (Gary Grant) came up with the suggestion of trying out the 9 hole course at Dalmunzie (https://www.dalmunzieestate.com/golf). It took us an hour and three-quarters to drive there - an hour to Braemar then up past Spittal of Glenshee and in to the Dalmunzie estate then a long drive up to the hotel, an old baronial house.

The worst was yet to come - the state of the course was awful. The greens were crudely cut - a putter was no use - you had to chip to get to the hole. And the rough - our group of 8 lost a total of 34 balls. I didn't have the foresight to stock up with "tattie" balls and lost 6 expensive new logo'd Pro V1's. Never again.