Wednesday

Well, they didn't quite finish the window installation but at least it's mostly complete and you can get a good idea of what it looks like above - Jo loves it.

Ross is in the photo as well - he had just returned from his second interview with Banchory Contractors - and he got the job! Whey-hey!!! He starts on 25th February and his starting salary is £19,500 - pretty good - and a lot better than any other job he's had. Of course, he had to think of the negative side - he suspected there was no short list and he was the only applicant!

The week so far

The platform for the stairway at the rear of the house was erected on Monday and so the windows are now ready to go in. Ross and I cleared the room on Monday evening in preparation, but it was too wet yesterday, so the work has been delayed until today - it's a beautiful morning, so there should be no reason why they can't do it.

The big TV is now in the front room - we can still use it - but only on digital TV - no Sky!

After a bit of telephone tennis, Ross is going back for a second interview at Banchory Contractors this afternoon at 4 - say your prayers!

Jo had her second last ever parents' evening last night (her last is on Thursday). I took the chance to do a slight re-arrangement of the back bedroom - I took the old TV and digibox up and fitted them up, but was short of a female-female aerial cable, which I'll try and get today. It's now our ironing room (when nobody's staying).

The weekend

It was cold on Friday and we had a bit of snow with the forecast for more, but it never really materialised and, in fact, today it was mild and pleasant when we played golf - all the frost and snow had gone.

Ross made it to his interview on Friday - they will be holding second interviews this week - let's hope he makes the short list.

On Friday night we went to the Town Hall for the church's Mardi Gras evening - it was pretty good, although I was a little confused as the focus for the evening moved around from Louisiana to Africa then on to Scotland! Some people went to tremendous lengths in their dress, but we were all very tame and subdued. Anne had bought a proper mask, but Jo just used a spare one lying around for the above photo. It was a ByoB evening - except nobody told me and I had to walk home again and collect some beer and wine from the house.

There were free Hurricane cocktails handed out at the start, but I didn't much care for them. The meal was pretty good - Jambalaya, Etouffe etc. The proceeds from the evening were going to a deaf school in Zambia, the church's current pet project, and we were then given a slide show of the last visit there, followed by a performance by a troupe of African drummers - from Banchory - listen to the video. After that it was a Ceilidh but it was pretty late by then and Anne had had it and wanted to go home, so I was more than happy to leave at this time as well and the four of us strolled home about midnight.

On Saturday, Dave, Colin and I had originally planned to go down to Livingston to see Thistle play in the cup, but it was pretty frosty overnight and there had been some snow, so I decided to phone the ground to see if the match was on or not. They were insepcting the pitch and wouldn't know for sure until after 10:30, which would have meant it would probably be after 11:00 by the time we left Banchory, and we had planned to have lunch with Dan in his local, the Four Marys in Linlithgow - we obviously wouldn't then make it in time for that and we all decided instead to stay at home and watch the rugby on TV later. Besides, after I had arranged the Livingston trip, Gary asked us to babysit to allow he and Carole to go to the cinema, so I would get a chance to spend some time with Luca as well.

Luca was as good as gold - as usual. He's got 3 teeth now - but only one of the front two - Jo thought he looked lop-sided! He was hugely attracted to our new TV and I couldn't keep his paws off it - see photo. He also took great delight in taking all the books off our shelves and, one by one, throwing them on the floor! Like Cade and Braeden before him, he loves climbing our stairs and I video'd him making his way up.

I grabbed a take-away from Franco's and we watched Raising Arizona, which I thought was OK, but Jo wasn't really in the mood for it.

Nothing much else to report - enjoyed watching Wales beating England on Saturday, but then Scotland were awful in losing to France at Murrayfield today.

Friday

Fingers crossed everyone! Ross has an interview at Bancon at 2:00 pm (hope he got up OK!) - he got the phone call last night in response to his letter (one of the 9 posted by me on Wednesday) - he is the very last to be interviewed.

Sent off my objection letter to the CALA application today - hope lots ot others do the same!

Come on girls, your blogs are out of date!

Thursday

I arrived back from Fraserburgh today for my meeting with Gary Grant and Stan England to discuss progress on the installation of the stair at the back of our house. I was a little taken aback to see that the stair was fitted and the radiator inside the back room removed and replaced by a new one on the side wall aready! The work is well under way and tomorrow they will try and fit the landing to the stairs and then, on Monday, the hardship begins - they break through the wall and start to fit the new windows. We need to move the new TV and cover the new suite to make sure they don't get too much dust or damage whilst they are working next week. The week after is when the re-decoration (painting) takes place - Stan is going to get a quote for me, but it may be that we use our painter from work - we'd only have to pay for the paint and we could get some other rooms done at the same time.

The photo above shows the bare stair in place - without the handrails etc. Stan and Gary recommend we leave the stairs as they are (stainless steel) - no or little maintenance required. However, the handrail and the central post are made of mild steel and will need painting - Stan suggested a plain grey-ish paint for the central column, which will look similar to the stairs.

Travelling

As well as my usual music downloads (which recently includes Cat Power, Ian Hunter, Joanna Newsom, John Fogerty, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Bjork, Radiohead, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Thom Yorke, White Stripes and, I'm shamed to admit, Katie Melua - in a moment of weakness!) I've taken to downloading audio books for the long journeys up and down to Fraserburgh and Glasgow. The first two were excellent - both John Grishams, lasting about 6 hours each - a nice length - but I really chanced my arm this month and decided to download a classic Charles Dickens - Bleak House - all 36 hours worth!!! It's pretty hard going and I'm still not a third of the way through it yet - not sure if I'll make it all the way to the end - the combination of language and the multiplicity of characters that come and go, make it a real feat of concentration.

TV stand

Oh - and let's have your votes - Jo's seen this stand for the TV in the Cotswold magazine (http://search.cotswoldco.com/Search.aspx?Query=demilune+tv+stand&sid=547d99a51fc2d46bacca790bc8801d8a) - but can't quite make her mind up - what do you think? (right click and open)

Monday/Tuesday

Squash aborted on Monday - somebody had washed the floor just before we played - and it was still wet - and lethal! - so we trudged off to the Legion instead. Harry insisted on going for a short run and asked if I wanted to join him, but as it had been well over 15 years since I last ran on the roads, I decided to give it a miss!

Had another go at Ross for not doing anything about a job, and Jo did the same later on. It at least had some effect as he had made out a total of 9 job applications by Tuesday evening! I'll post them off tomorrow.

I went down to Glasgow today to meet Barry and Dawn and have a preliminary look at a potential home for Dad, who is getting to the stage of not being safe at home any more. He had another fall last week and it was discovered by the day care centre when he didn't show for lunch. No idea how he did it and how long he had been there but there was blood all over the kitchen and Barry got called away from work to the infirmary, where Dad was by this time. The bruises were still showing this afternoon - see photo above.

The place we looked at is a newly built offshoot of the ex-servicemen's Erskine Homes - it only opened in October and the official opening (by Princess Anne we believe) is not till next month. It's called Erskine Glasgow (http://www.erskine.org.uk/WhatWeDo/our_homes.aspx) and has just 46 beds on 3 floors - the upper one caters for those with physical health problems and the ground floor with medium to severe dementia patients. Dad would probably initially go to the middle floor as his dementia is still at a relatively mild level.

We agreed to fill out the forms - we need to get a Social Care assessment and Doctor's report to go along with the application form and the whole process could take a few weeks or months, so there's no harm in doing this, even if we decide not to take up any place offered. Barry thinks Dad needs full time care now, but Dawn is still a little reluctant, although she recognises that Dad is not coping all that well now. There's also the question of legal Guardianship to consider - we all agreed it should be all three of us who are appointed to look after his care and his finances (a job Barry has been doing on his own for the last few years).

There are only 6 or 7 patients in the middle ward just now, and the place looks really nice, so it's an ideal time to make the application for Dad. We need to find his old RAF number - he has no idea what it was and I had a little search in his house this afternoon, but couldn't find anything. I did come across some amazing old papers in his bureau, however - including various birth and death certificates and even the receipt for the engagement ring he bought Mum over 60 years ago! There was also a membership card for Sarah Kelly (Grannie Barr) for the WRAF dated 1918 when she was 25 years old. It listed her height as 6 feet 1 inch! I only ever remember her as a little ball in her later years and can't believe this is the same person - surely there's some mistake somewhere?

The other photo is of Dawn and Barry leaving Erskine Glasgow this afternoon.

Things are hotting up with the planning application by CALA for the Tor-na-Coille site. I discovered yesterday that there's going to be a second application for detached houses on the lower level of the grounds. I've been spreading the news and this evening I received a phone call from one of the rich neighbours across the road who asked if it was OK for him to pass on my correspondence to his neighbours (including "Mr Chickens", Fred Duncan) - of course, I said yes. The application includes tree surveys and they are planning to remove about 70 trees - roughly half for "safety" reasons and the rest for the development. Strangely, however, 9 of the trees to be removed for the development are the ones facing our houses, in the triangle of land between Arbor Court and the main road - what has this got to do with the development of flats behind the hotel? Watch this space!

Friday/Saturday

Finally got my injections on Friday then came back to the house for lunch, only to discover Ross at home in bed again - he had driven his Mum to school but hadn't gone in to work as he had said he was going to - in fact, Harris phoned here to find out where he was!

I picked Jo up at school and managed to get her out of there by 4:00 pm - half an hour later than originally planned - and even this was only courtesy of her friend Chris, who was good enough to shoo her along.

We left Aberdeen in perfect conditions - warm(ish) and sunny but, at Forfar, we could see the gathering clouds and the portent of what Sally Traffic had been warning us about on Radio 2. It's a bit of a tortuous cross-country drive from Forfar to Pitlochry - not easy in the gloom and sodden roads, but we made it in ample time to check in at the Moulin Inn (est 1695) and have a bar supper with Colin & Johanne, after which we headed down to the Festival Theatre. Our room was up and down and across various stairways in the old hotel - and it had a very tartan feel - see above.

Stuart Maconie was excellent and we even bought his book afterwards and got him to sign it - I asked him to make it out to Kelly, who listens to him on Radio 2 every night and was very envious of us going to see him (see pages above). I'll read it and take it down to Kelly when we visit Cornwall in 3 weeks' time. The theatre was running "Fearie Tales" after the show - basically a couple of actors reading ghost stories - a bit juvenile for me, I'm afraid.

We had time to sample a few more of the ales produced at the micro-brewery there before we retired to bed. Incidentally, the lounge and dining room are filled with stuffed animals - Jo posed in front of the fox with a game bird in its mouth.

It rained heavily overnight and after the full Scottish breakfast we went down to the town centre for a walk (with brollies). The fish ladder and dam were over the other side of the Tummel but the river was in full spate. Our route there meant crossing a small suspension bridge - the entrances had been ticker-taped by the police but somebody had torn them down. Never mind we thought, let's cross anyway. Four very nervous people hastily reached the other side and immediately vowed not to go back the same way! The videos demonstrate the power of the water.

Coffees were then called for and after that lunch at the Moulin again. The road home was over past the Glenshee ski slopes and it didn't take long for Jo to start feeling ill (Johanne was the same Colin told me later). When we did finally get home, Jo headed for bed and TV and so I nipped down to the Douglas to watch the Wigan - Chelsea match with Colin - and Archie, who spotted me heading there.

I got home after the match and Jo was now downstairs watching the latest Pirates of the Caribbean adventure on Sky Box Office - a remarkable recovery!

The east coast was much drier than Perthshire and it was almost balmy on Sunday morning when I went to play golf - nice to play off grass, rather than frost or ice.

Thursday night/Friday morning

Jo likes the new suite - the room is full of the smell of new leather.

I went along to the big meeting in the Burnett last night on the KGV playing fields project - it's a very adventurous and wide-ranging project and requires major fund-raising and will take several years of hard work. I had to give it our support but it's a long shot and very distant - and will probably not come about before I finish playing squash!

Ross did get up this morning and take Jo to work, but when she got there she realised she had left her handbag somewhere - cue panic phone calls home! She had left it in my car, which she had moved to let Ross' car out, so I'll just take it in to her when I pick her up this afternoon as we head for our night in Pitlochry.

I'm at home again, clicking my heels - I was supposed to be getting my vaccinations for South Africa at 9:00 am and I went to the chemist to pick them up last night, but they hadn't even received the prescription from the Nurse! I went down to the surgery and found it was still lying there in the out tray, took it back to the chemist, but then discovered they did not have one of the vaccines and wouldn't be able to get it until 10:00 am this morning, so I had to change my appointment with the Nurse - the earliest I could get was 11:40, which has completely screwed up my working day now. Things never go to plan - if it's not tradesmen or house deliveries, it's something else. End of rant.

Wednesday/Thursday

Well, Ross and I managed to get the old suite out of the back room OK and take it down to the garage. I spoke again to the charity shop and they have had a recent run of offers on old suites and don't really need any more - particularly if not in excellent condition, so I said I would just arrange to have it dumped. Ross had eyes on the chair (aka the mouse's graveyard) but the door to his room is so narrow that the only chance of getting it in would be for him to take the blocks off the chair and take the door off its hinges. I said I wouldn't get the chair taken away until next week and if he really fancies doing that, then he's welcome - of course, I know already what the outcome will be, but at least I've given him a chance.

We woke Ross this morning (Thursday) before we went to work, as he was to be there to let the men in with the new suite. Of course, I kind of guessed he would not stay awake and sure enough, I got a phone call from the driver at 10:30 this morning - there was no answer. I told him just to go in and where to put it. I just don't know what to do with Ross!

Tonight, I've got a meeting at the Burnett for the proposed new King George V playing park facility - the time scale is years and so I don't really expect anything concrete to come out to help get new squash court(s) - but I'll make the right noises anyway.

Monday/Tuesday

Bypassed our usual squash match on Monday after work and went to the Legion instead to have a 60th birthday drink with Jas, and wave him off on his month long trip to Kenya and S.A. When I got home, I phoned Dawn (as I had promised Barry I would) concerning plans for legal guardianship of Dad and possibly getting him on the waiting list for Erskine Glasgow. I'm afraid my call brought out a lot of emotion in Dawn about Mum's final years and it was a difficult hour long call - it's obvious there are still issues between Barry and Dawn that need to be resolved before we can move forward with Dad. Anyway, we at least agreed that we would arrange a visit to look over Erskine Glasgow next Tuesday and we'll take it from there.

On Tuesday, I was in Aberdeen, then Fraserburgh, then dashed back to Bannatyne's to get in (just) before the 4:00 pm deadline - I had a good long session there then headed over to Carriage's and had a bit of supper with Malcolm and a guy he works with, plus Gary - Ross was invited too, but, as usual, showed up late and skipped the meal - it probably would have been breakfast for him anyway! We then headed off to Pittodrie to see Aberdeen knock Falkirk out of the Scottish Cup 3-1 - a good performance and not as cold as we had been led to believe.

I got a bit of a nip in the ear from Gary about posting his medical results on my blog - but how else would his sisters, let alone his mother, know about it? He needs to start his own blog and then he would have full editorial control! He finally started his new job today and it seemed to go well - he said he was shattered - it was his first day's work in a month!

Our new suite for the back room arrives tomorrow, so Ross and I have the difficult task tonight of trying to get the old one out of the room and downstairs. I phoned the charity shop yesterday and they are going to come along and pick it up some time, so we'll store it in the garage for now.

Stan England was due to start laying the concrete plinth yesterday, but cancelled due to the early morning frost. He says they will be back next week, but, ironically, it's got mild again and he could easily lay it now.

Sunday night/Monday morning

Barry phoned me last night about Dad - he has been assessed by a Doctor and is not fit to grant any Power of Attorney, so Barry is proposing going along the Guardianship route, which seems quite complex legally. Barry is also suggesting paying a visit to Erskine Glasgow (Flanders House) with a view to getting Dad on the waiting list there, in the event that he is unable to cope living on his own. Barry and Sylvia (who manages the day care centre that Dad has lunch at) are both a bit concerned about his depression in particular. Of course, I only see him occasionally and recently he has seemed quite happy, but Barry tells me there are days where Dad won't get up out of bed at all. I'll talk to Dawn today and get her views.

Jacquie Howden (secretary to me, Michael and Francis) had a bit of a shocking weekend. Her husband, Tom, has been in hospital having a knee operation and was due to get out yesterday, but he had a heart attack on Friday night. They are probably going to move him to ARI today. He seems stable OK, but it's certainly not a good time for the Howdens right now - Jacquie still has to run after her brother, who has been incapable for many years.

The weekend

Football on Friday was about my 5th day in a row of hard exercise - squash and gym interspersing 2 games of football - and it showed - I felt heavy legged and drained. Envious of Kelly doing all those miles on the Cornish roads - hope her joints are in better shape than mine. I didn't take up running until I was almost 40 (about the same time as I started playing indoor football again) and, on reflection, although I enjoyed the races we did, the miles of training certainly did not help my dodgy knees and hips.

Our huge new TV arrived on Friday - about 5 pm - after I had waited in all day. I eventually had to go to football but Ross, with a bit of help from Jo, got it set up by the time I got home. The photo above doesn't really give a true perspective on its size - it's like a home cinema!

On Saturday, Ross and I put the back seats down in both our cars and filled them with various things, including Ross' old double bed (he now sleeps in the single bed that was up in Jo's office) and took everything to the tip - including the Christmas tree, much to Jo's chagrin - it normally sits on our balcony until about June!

Played doubles squash and then we went down to the golf club with Colin and Johanne for the Mexican evening - it wasn't bad at all.

After golf on Sunday, we all had a celebration lunch in the club for Jas' 60th birthday (tomorrow). He and his family are still all flying out to Kenya on Tuesday, despite the troubles there.

This week, Gary, Ross and I are going to Pittodrie on Tuesday to see the Dons' cup replay against Falkirk, and, on Friday Jo and I are off to Pitlochry for the Winter Words Festival - we're going to a talk by Stuart Maconie.