Almost there

Typical - 4 days to Christmas and Jo and I have contracted what, so far, are minor ailments - head and chest colds. Mine has persisted for 10 days - more annoying than anything, although it's uncomfortable when sleeping.  Jo has now started with similar symptoms - we wish they would go away - ideally before Xmas but certainly before we head to Oz in just over 2 weeks' time.

Since my last post I've attended our cycling group Xmas lunch and the monthly golfers' beer night. That was then followed by a day trip to Edinburgh for lunch at La Bruschetta (https://labruschetta.co.uk/) with Barry, Helen and Dawn then another lunch at the lovely Fish Shop in Ballater (https://fishshopballater.co.uk/). I forgot to take any photos in Edinburgh, but here's the other ones:

All the meals were excellent - La Bruschetta was randomly chosen, mostly for its convenient location near Haymarket station, but the Fish Shop is locally very well known - and a classy place - it has the same owners as the very upmarket Fife Arms in Braemar, which is a bit of a celebrity haunt.

So it's been a fairly heavy week for me - I need some respite before it all starts again next week.

Today is the Winter Solstice - apparently it's a moment rather than a full day - 9:21 this morning - so, in theory, the days are already getting longer. Not before time too - we currently have just under 7 hours of daylight. It has been relatively mild this week, however - the freezing conditions of the previous week have gone and are not forecast to return for a while, it seems.

21st December was also Dad's birthday - he's a virtual 104 today.

I keep most of my activity stats on the Strava app - cycling, golf and hill-walking. Every year, Strava sends a summary of what has been recorded and this is this year's:

I feel my activity level has substantially dropped off in recent years - especially since the lockdown years and also with my left knee steadily getting worse. I am definitely playing much less golf now and hill-walking has diminished and even cycling has tailed off. However, when I checked back to previous years' Strava stats, the difference is not as much as I thought it would be. Maybe I didn't record everything in previous years?

Jo and I recently treated ourselves to new i-Phones - our old ones were failing. We've both now got i-Phone 15 Plus - not the latest release from Apple (i-Phone 16), but we chose the slightly larger Plus models. Jo also replaced her activity watch - the previous one was failing. I'm in a similar situation - I think I know which one I want but just haven't pressed the button yet.

This morning we had to renew our worldwide travel insurance. Every year we have to pay age-related premiums (over 70's) plus medically related premiums. Unsurprisingly, each year it's getting dearer but given, the long holidays we have and the distances we travel, it's still worth it - and it's essential - but there will come a time when it may be prohibitive - possibly at age 80?

So, with that cheerful thought, I'll sign off. Have a good Christmas everyone - hopefully we'll manage to reach out to a few of you on the day.