Another dark day

Tuesday was almost as dreich as Monday - wet and dark. I went to Fraserburgh to work - bought myself a replacement watch strap, tried to get my hair cut (failed - shut for lunch) and had a bite to eat with Michael at the Lighthouse Museum.

Made it back down to Pittodrie to see how preparations were going for the beer festival - no problems, my services weren't really required, so I hung around and chatted with the guys for a while before heading off home. Grabbed a programme first of all - some strong beers on sale - ca' canny!

No response from Lucy about some of the possibilities for next year's vacation - perhaps she's been too busy?

Gloomy Monday

Carole's birthday, but it was a dark, gloomy day with daylight barely showing. It was also Luca's appointment at the hospital but we haven't heard yet how it went.

Read Lesinas latest blog this morning - well done, Lucy - keep it up!

Jo came home from work ranting and raving about the traffic and threatening yet again to retire soon! She did manage to pick up a new pair of winter boots, however. Mind you, they don't have heels so she's going to have to buy another pair to wear with trousers!

We spent most of this evening watching TV with our respective laptops on our knees - me surfing for possible holiday locations in USA next year. None of our preferred locations on the West Coast have come up yet, although there were quite a few others available in July - plenty of options always available in Florida and Palm Springs - also Nevada (been there this year) and a few more exotic ones - Mexico, Eastern British Columbia, Arkansas, Tucson Arizona, Breckenridge Colorado, South Carolina, Park City Utah, Williamsburg Virginia and an interesting one in the city of Gatlinburg Tennessee, not far from Dollywood!

I guess much depends on how easy it is for Scott, Lucy and the boys to get to any of these places.

Beer festival start-up work starts tomorrow so I'll be working there for a couple of hours each evening this week.

Active weekend

Friday night's football was good but, as I said before, it was tough on the old body - although I was up a few times in the night, unusally for me I managed to go back to bed and sleep a bit - didn't actually get up for good until 9:30 am - almost unheard of!

We had arranged squash doubles at 3:30 after which we intended to go to the golf club to watch the big match, but I couldn't find my racquets and we started and finished later than planned. The club was mobbed and I made a quick body swerve and headed home for a shower and my own TV, joined by limp-along Colin, who still had his space boot on to protect his Achilles.

The match was a heart-breaker with Italy scoring in the 1st minute, which galvanised Scotland and got them back in to the match. Scotland equalised and could, and probably should have gone in front in a pulsating second half, but Italy stole the match in the 2nd minute of extra time to eliminate Scotland from next year's Euro Championships in Austria and Switzerland. Ah well - at least we don't have to try and organise tickets and a trip there next June!

The Kilgours and Stewarts went to the Douglas for a bar supper, which was very nice - much better than previous occasions there.

Sunday was golf in the morning - a little damp, but not too bad - played OK again, but Jas deservedly won the money this week. Back home for lunch and then out for more squash doubles at 4:00 pm, after which Malcolm, Harry and I had a chat about where we might stay in Cape Town next year. Need to make decisions soon, although at least the flights are now booked.

Jo made a lovely braising steak for tea and we had Christmas pud and custard to follow. Very nice, but I've now left the table with Jo and Ross in full flow on politics and religion, prompted by a programme on TV about Palestine etc.

Wed/Thu/Fri

Survived the football on Wednesday evening, but it was only 4 a side and it was tough - felt a bit sore when I got up to travel to the Broch early Thursday.

I left the Broch early and thought I would pop in to Rae Circle on my way home as I was passing through Inverurie, but I forgot Carole works on Thursday so I just headed home and rested for a bit before heading out for our headbang at Dave's. Jo was also home early to get her hair done - although I never saw the finished product until Friday evening.

The headbang went well - see team photo above - and Dave laid on a nice curry for us all.

Friday was a bit slow but I was again playing football at the Beach - good game, but my body's sore again today. Playing squash this afternoon before heading for the golf club to watch the big Scotland - Italy match - fingers crossed!

Oh - and the Piper yesterday featured the photo from last Friday's Torphins Golf Club prizegiving - see above.

Nothing yet in any of the press about the rumoured sale of the Tor-na-Coille hotel - but news must come out soon.

Post Armistice Day

Sunday afternoon by the TV watching the Dons getting humped by Hearts was not the most pleasurable experience, but the golf in the morning had been good - I won - pity the season's ending - I've just come in to form the last couple of months.

Malcolm G came round with some brochures from Cape Town, which will come in handy as we research what to do and where to go when we go to SA late Feb/early March.

Monday was quiet enough in the office to allow me time to go to Bannatyne's at lunchtime then slope off sharp in the afternoon to play squash at Kippie with Keith, Harry and Richard. Archie joined us for a beer after his work-out there.

I was back at the gym on Tuesday evening - partly to work off the frustration of an e-mail I received in the afternoon, which seemed to pull the plug on the deal for us to buy Daniel's Sweet Herring - a project I have been spending months on.

Tonight (Wednesday) I'm playing football again - Dave is picking me up in a few minutes. He will be able to take all my stuff for tomorrow evening's headbang so I can travel light then.

That's all for now.

Saturday night

We went to the Church hall for an evening of Malaysian food, with proceeds going to African charities. The Douglas was the first pit stop and we were joined there by the Masons and Kilgours.

At the church, the Hodgsons and the Orrs were also at our table, along with an American couple whose names I unfortunately forget. It was a BYOB evening - even plates, cutlery and glasses had to be brought along, but it went very well, even although we were last to get our food, by which time I was starving.

There was a raffle and I won the Tower of Treats - see silly photo above. Each box contains different things - chocolates, mince pies etc.

Weather looks kind this morning so golf is on. Plans for the afternoon are to watch the Dons play Hearts on Setanta.

November update

Got another row from my daughters about not keeping my blog up to date, but there have been mitigating factors - anyway, here we go.

After everyone went back to Oregon and Cornwall, it was back to the old routine again - except I still hadn't completely kicked off the bug that lay us low for a while.

The good news was that Gary and Carole's move in to their new house in Inverurie went very smoothly. I went out to see them on the day they moved in and Jo and I also paid a quick visit last Sunday. Carole's Mum arrived on Monday and Jo, Ross and I went over for fajitas on Wednesday evening.

I've been out every night this week and my plan was to have a really lazy Saturday. I haven't done any manual work today but have spent a fair bit of time on the computer - mostly making enquiries about holidays next year!

On Monday, Colin, Dave and I went to Moshulu in Windmill Brae - a first for all of us. It's not a bad venue - similar to the Lemon Tree in many ways. Dave is a fan of Tom McRae (http://www.tommcrae.com/) but I didn't know his music and I only went because Malcolm had to pull out. The crowd was appallingly small but he managed to make light of it - and he was excellent.

On Tuesday, I travelled down to Glasgow and went to see my Dad then met up with Barry for dinner at Dawn's. This was the first chance I'd had to see him since he was taken in to hospital when I was away. I was pleasantly surprised - he wasn't as bad as I had feared - although he does need a tremendous amount of support services now and it's a fine line between whether it's better for him to receive them at home (his preference) or elsewhere. It's probably just a matter of time, but, if we can be assured that the support is there and reliable, it's better to try and keep him at home as long as possible. Barry feels the burden as he's not ready yet to trust the support services but he's agreed to give it a go. He and Dawn are arranging meetings with the medical and social services teams and I'll go back down for these.

I slept in Kieran's bed and got up early and drove up to Aberdeen - good trip until I hit Portlethen then crawled all the way to Bridge of Don.

After supper in Inverurie, I played football at the Academy then it was up early on Thursday morning and up to the Broch for the usual Thursday management meetings. Back down to Aberdeen in the afternoon and then I met up with Gary and Ross at Archibald Simpson's for some beer and curry before heading off to see AFC playing Lokomotiv Moscow in the UEFA Cup. The joint was jumping and we were joined by Malcolm and Matthew Grigor, who were also going to the match, which was a sell-out. Jas was also there - not for the football - only the beer! It's Wetherspoon's annual beer festival just now and there were some amazing beers on sale - some at just £1.09 per pint! The weather was appalling - driving wind and freezing sleet and the result was not quite what we had hoped for (1-1), but we enjoyed it - although it took us ages to thaw out afterwards!

Late home again and off at the crack of dawn on Friday to meet up with the Scottish Government's European grants awards team in Fraserburgh. I did my song and dance presentation then headed back to Aberdeen, where I got the call that I was needed for Friday night football at the Beach. Enjoyable match, but I then had a hectic chase up to Torphins to get to the Learney Hall in time for the golf club's annual prize-giving. I picked up my trophies (Veterans' Shield for the 2nd time and the Learney Cup for the 1st time) and felt like a bit of a yo-yo as I also had to get up 3 more times to pick up Syd's and Bill's trophies as well! (See my trophies above - hopefully I'll feature in the Piper next week and forward that photo as well).

Finally I arrived home but then went out again to meet Colin and Ian Sharp and grab a bite to eat at the Douglas - some excellent fish cakes. On the walk home, Ian told me that he'd heard that the Tor-na-Coille might be sold to CALA. Dick phoned me today with this news as well - although he thought it was a consortium of CALA and Bancon - perhaps Ian (MD of Bancon Homes) wasn't being completely open with his information? All of this would tie in with the recent sighting of surveyors in Arbor Court measuring the tree lines etc. We all know eventual development is inevitable and it need not necessarily all be bad news. There's even the outside possibility that a developer could view the squash courts as a potential asset and open them up again - wishful thinking, perhaps?

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are meeting at the golf club to decide on next year's destination for our Iberian Cup. It's our 10th outing and I've proposed that we celebrate this by going "on tour" to Florida. I've had some support for this idea but expect some opposition as well. An alternative that has been on the agenda for the last few years is Marrakech - strongly supported by some, but totally opposed by others ("too Muslim"). A safe backstop is a return to Tenerife next November.

Before that, we've got to organise the smaller trip for our Desert Classic in February - much less controversial - none of us want to go back to Dubai and Cape Town has been selected this time. Jo's worried about my carbon footprint, however!

Next week, we're hoping to conclude the long drawn-out acquisition of Daniel's Sweet Herring in Grantown. Looks like we will be signing the deal on Friday - just what I needed - we're having our first winter headbang at Dave's on Thursday night (no free Fridays in November) - so could have a bit of a head on Friday morning!

Also finalising arrangements for Dan's 65th celebration oldies football match on 30th November - to be followed by beer and probably curry - and there's the beer festival the week before that as well! The diary is filling up fast - we're heading down to Manchester on the weekend of 8th/9th December to see the United - Derby match.

Better go lie down now!

Late October

Been a busy couple of weeks and I haven't been able to keep the blog up to date. Lucy, Scott and the boys arrived on Saturday 13th. I picked them up at the airport and expected them to flake out after an hour or so, but, no, the boys kept right on going until bed time and quickly adjusted to the new time zone they were in.

On Sunday, I flew out to Spain for a week's golf but got an immediate message that my Dad had been taken in to hospital again. I'm afraid the time has come for him to have greater care than can be managed by him living at home alone.

Lucy and Scott had planned to go down and see him on Tuesday anyway so a slight change of location to the hospital was no problem. They spent the night at Dawn's before driving through to Edinburgh to meet Jo and fly down to Cornwall to see Kelly and Craig.

We all arrived home about the same time on Sunday evening - me armed with the Iberian Cup after a successful week's golf.

The weather was still so nice on Monday that Scott and I walked across the road for 14 holes of golf and a couple of beers. I invited Colin down to join us and Jas also turned up by chance.

We had a great day out at Landmark on Tuesday but it was the prelude to several days of illness for Jo and I. Braeden had alerted us by his vomiting and early return home, but he seemed to recover quickly, whilst Jo and I still don't feel great. I had to take Weds and Thurs off work but staggered in for a couple of hours on Friday.

Gary, Carole and Luca came over on Friday and we all had a take-away curry - at Lucy's insistence - then watched the various holiday photos.

Only a few hours of restless sleep were possible before we took the Lesinas off to the airport for the redeye on Saturday morning. Jo and I got home and set about cleaning up, but ran out of steam about lunchtime.

The week so far

Nothing much to say - managed a quick game of racquetball on Monday before being kicked off by a team match - wish we'd been told about it beforehand. No football on Wednesday so played racquetball again. Also paid a few short visits to Bannatyne's this week - I've been slacking during the golf season - will try to be more regular once we come back from our golf trip to Spain.

Lucy phoned last night - they're heading over here tomorrow, arriving Saturday morning. I told her it was nice here just now - 20 degrees again today, and although the leaves have started to fall a little when the wind blows, they're mostly still on the trees, and turning colour beautifully. Who needs New England in the Fall, when you can come to Royal Deeside?

A few problems at work just now, but hey - who needs to talk about them, far less write about them in my blog?

Haven't seen Irene this week - not sure if she's quietly seething, waiting for us to knock on her door for the meeting or not - but I guess we'll find out in due course.

Another Luca video

Sunny weekend

I meant to publish the above photo of Luca last week, but forgot. He's just starting to teeth and I took this shot as he was feeling very sorry for himself and his cheeks were red and there were tears rolling down his face - poor soul!

The weather continues to be excellent - an Indian Summer in fact. I didn't risk shorts yesterday morning but wished I had - I was way too hot - especially when we were sitting on the balcony at the golf club quaffing a beer.

Sunday was not as hot, but still beatifully bright and sunny - and, yes, I did wear shorts today. I decided to forego the pleasures of going to Pittodrie this afternoon, to welcome back AFC after their victorious trip to the Ukraine on Thursday - it still feels too summery to be going to watch football, which I still regard as a winter sport.

Bill and Sally and Ken and Irene have gone off to Spain this morning and will meet the rest of us at Malaga airport next Sunday. The Lesinas set off on Friday and arrive here Saturday morning. Lucy phoned yesterday and said that she was babysitting her friend's kids as she'd had a heart attack! Poor girl.

No cars in Irene's drive today, so still no time scheduled for our meeting.

Arbor Court stories

The driveway is complete and the tiler also completed the porch and vestibule yesterday (Friday) - see above. Irene had been quiet all week - in fact, Jo bumped in to her twice on Sunday and exchanged polite "hellos" and no more.

Jo came home early on Friday and was chatting to Trisha (no 5) in the driveway and Irene arrived and called over, asking for a meeting with us. Jo is very upset about it all, but I guess we've got to meet her and listen to her complaints and see if there's any substance and whether she intends to do anything further.

What else has happened this week? - well, I was down in Manchester to see the United-Roma match on Tuesday as a substitute for Michael, who's not well. I popped in to see my Dad on Wednesday - he seemed fine physically, although very confused. I told him that Scott, Lucy, Cade and Braeden were coming to see him soon and we went over old photos to remind him - hope it helps!

Luca's new trick (video)

Further ructions

In response to our placatory letter to all our neighbours and my attempt to make conciliatory noises towards Irene, we received the attached letter - by post and by hand! - on Friday.

We just don't know what to do now - I guess we've got to wait and see what her next move is.

We noticed a few of the edging blocks had apparently been moved over the weekend - or are we just getting paranoid?