Scott 35

And a happy 35th birthday today to Scott!

Friday night/Saturday morning

The rain stopped at lunchtime yesterday and the skies turned to blue - a portent of better things to come? I woke up this morning to more of the same so it looks like the start of the golf season is on after all.

On Friday night we headed down to the Douglas a little earlier than usual as they were holding a pub quiz - you can see the winning team above - we won by a massive amount - we had 63 points and the next best was more than 20 points behind us! Purely for pride and prestige - the prize was just a free round!

Ross had dropped me off and said he was going in to Harris' in Aberdeen for the evening - I told him he could take my car as long as he was coming home at a decent time - he said he would take me up on my offer but when I came home, it was his own car that had gone - so he was obviously planning to stay there overnight - and there's no sign of him this morning.

Ross has got his first pay from Bancon - and he says it was over £2K! - that's the most money he's had for a long while - hope he spends some of it wisely.

Friday morning

A really miserable day - the temperature has risen so it's all rain that is lashing down - if it had been cooler it would have been snow blizzards, which is what they are forecasting for the hills - golf looking very dodgy for tomorrow.

I've been trying to install Windows Vista on my laptop for the last few days but failed so far. I got Ross to help out last night but still we couldn't do the upgrade. We may have to wipe my disk and start with a new install of windows, which means I have to back up all my work, photos, videos etc etc - what a pain!

I watched the first 2 episodes of Damages, the series that Jo left me to watch when she was away - it wasn't bad and I'll take in the other episodes this weekend - if only to create more space on the hard drive. I never mentioned that we had a near calamity with Sky + - Jo had asked us to tape the Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett) so that she can watch it when she comes back and also put it on to DVD for one of her friends. Ross was watching the first recording in HD on Monday when the box suddenly collapsed and we lost that recording. We still had the second part, but panicked a bit as we didn't think they would show the first part again but fortunately they did last night - albeit on Sky 2 and not in HD - but I'm sure Jo won't mind!

Hey Kelly - wasn't the first episode of the Apprentice good?

Wednesday/Thursday

Got fed up with staying in alone and no football this week so decided to go out for a quick game of squash with Dave, followed by a couple of pints in the Legion where we were joined by Colin and Keith.

Before that, I made the tea for Ross and I - chicken and asparagus pie, peas and potato wedges. Tonight Ross returned the favour and the lasagne was virtually cooked by the time I got home - we had apple pie and ice cream for afters.

Mundane stuff I know, but Jo likes to know what's going on!

Tomorrow night, the Douglas are having a quiz night so we're going along to take part - should be fun.

Tuesday evening

Ross' turn to make tea last night - he was home before me. Naturally, it was pizza - although he did make up a little salad with dressing to make it more interesting and ever so fractionally more healthy - his Mum would be pleased with him!

Still very cold here and the snow in Banchory is not moving - not a good sign for the supposed start of the golf season on Saturday!

Luca

Message just received from Gary:

"Just spoke to Carole. They got out of the hospital an hour ago. Another appointments been made for May (24th I think) where they will do laser treatment on Luca. There’ll be 3 sessions in total (all in separate appointments). They’ll know after the first session whether this type will work on him. If not, they have other types of laser treatment they’ll try. They actually put him under for a few minutes while they do him, and he can’t eat or drink for at least 6 hours beforehand. Glad things are moving forward now, but a little nervous too."

Tuesday morning

This competition is way too easy - I'm miles ahead of Kelly and Lucy!

More snow overnight but not too much - main roads were OK this morning although side roads were slippy.

Carole's away to Livingston today to see the specialist about Luca's skin - it was too short notice for Gary to join her. Hope she gets a better response this time.

Fun and games with Sky last night - finally sorted out now (I think) but our set-up with HD on the main TV and just ordinary Sky (with no Sky +) upstairs on multi-room always seems to lead to misunderstandings and complications.

I was originally planning to go down to Glasgow tomorrow night as I'd been invited to golf at Turnberry (where the Open is being played this year) on Thursday - think I'll give it a miss now!

Spoke to Jo again last night (on the land line) - her mobile is working so I wake up every morning to a goodnight text from her!

Monday afternoon

I came home early to make sure there were no travel problems, but I needn't have worried as the roads were all black again.

I had sent Stan England our snagging list as he had sent his final bill in, and, out of the blue, his joiner arrived late afternoon - glad I was home. He fitted the vents in the windows, the loose knob on the outside rails and also the door lock - it was the correct key, but the door was just fitted a bit too tight. They had also picked up the old radiator from our porch - I've never seen Stan and his men spring in to action so swiftly - they must be short of cash!

Ross was a bit late home from work - but just in time to sit down to the pie beans and chips I had prepared. We have been eating square meals OK Jo - albeit mostly out of supermarket packets - it was individual curries on Saturday and salmon, broccoli and tatties last night. Bacon butties for Saturday lunch and soup and crusty bread yesterday - so we're surviving OK so far.

Ross left his car lights on this morning and when he went to come home at lunchtime, no power! He managed to get some jump leads eventually but missed out on his lunch, so he was very grateful his tea was ready and he wolfed it down.

Perhaps too much detail for the blog, but I thought Jo might want to know how we're coping!

Easter Monday

I awoke this morning to the above scene - and there's apparently more to come. Statistically they say there's more chance of getting snow at Easter (especially when it's as early as this year) than there is at Christmas. Until yesterday, we had gone all the way through the winter without Sunday golf being cancelled even once - the first time ever.

Nice photos, Lucy - and I see your Mum has lost none of her sartorial elegance! The birthday cake video stopped before I saw Jo blow out the candles and the other video is "currently not available - please try later".

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter to all. It's been snowing here in Banchory on and off all day, but the street is still black - it's not cold enough to lie yet, but it was miserable enough for me to miss golf this morning.

Jo made it all the way to Grants Pass safely - the sad news when she got there was that Scott's Gran had died, so he was over on the coast when she arrived.

I went down to the pub to watch the big footy matches this afternoon, but discovered when I got back that Gary and Luca had been over - wish I'd known they were coming.

When I phoned Jo this afternoon a strange voice answered the phone - I didn't recognise it - it was Cade - he sounded so grown up and mature!

Jo's trip

Well, we got up this morning and headed for the airport through the snow - it was a little slippy but we got there in good time and Jo checked in and we said au revoir at security.

I headed off home via Westhill - thought I would get some grub from M & S' Simply Food but it didn't open until 8:30 so I opted for Tesco instead. Bought some meals for Ross and I for the next week. Of course, I hadn't checked the fridge before I left home, so it was sod's law when I got home and discovered the fridge was already full of eggs, cheese and butter!

Just got a text from Jo to say she's landed at Heathrow - now she has to get to Terminal 3 for her United flight to SFO.

Jo got a birthday card this morning from her old college pal Sadie, who shares the same birthday - Jo hasn't seen it yet, so here it is above. Hope you can read Sadie's horror story OK.

Jo's birthday + Good Friday

Well done with the slack line Craig - Billy Smart's Circus are recruiting, I believe?

Kelly's pained expression in the Bath Half Marathon reminded me of somebody - I couldn't find photos of any of the half marathons I did when I started running in my 40's, but came across this one as I completed one of the Aberdeen 10K's - spot the similarity?

We had a really nice meal at the Milton for Jo's birthday - Ross, Gary, Carole and Luca came along as well. I thought this was a nice photo of Luca and his Dad.

I sent flowers to Jo's work - and so did Scott and Lucy. The game now is to guess who sent which one?

Holy week

Since I started the competition for most posts, I've gone quiet - this is my first post since Saturday. I guess I've been busy - booking Jo's flights to go and see Lucy, Scott and the boys in the first week of her Easter break. It'll be the first time she's ever travelled alone, but she's done the journey several times before and knows the airports well and I've left plenty of time in between flights so she doesn't get too harrassed. She'll be able to spend Easter Sunday there for the first time.

Happy birthday to Jo - it's today (20th), Kelly - not yesterday - but Jo appreciates your wishes anyway. We're going to the Milton for dinner tonight with Gary, Carole, Luca and Ross.

The blacksmith has finally been and I took a couple of quick photos of the stairs last evening in the gathering gloom. The central pillar and handrails appear to be of mild steel and will require to be painted but the rest is galvanised. Jo's a little concerned about the sunken screw holes where water may gather - not sure what we can do about this - whether any grommets can be fitted or not? Stan also needs to remove the old radiator from our porch.

Been an interesting week/season for the football underdogs - first Aberdeen shocked Celtic by beating them 1-0 in the Scottish Cup quarter final replay at Parkhead - sorry Celtic Park - on Tuesday. Then, almost the shock of shocks last night when Thistle went to Ibrox and had the temerity to actually lead Rangers 1-0 at one stage before settling for a draw and a replay at Firhill. The prospect of an Aberdeen-Thistle final is still alive and well!

Saturday Luca

Gary brought Luca over this afternoon - and we saw his 2 front teeth with a gap between them large enough to drive a bus!

Luca took delight in knocking over the blocks that Jo set up time and time again - see video.