Belated update

Been so busy flying around everywhere, I haven't had time to update my blog. What have I been doing since last Thursday? Friday was just work then a quick foursomes tie with Jas in the evening - early to bed before dawn alarm to catch the early flight to London.

I met up with Dave at our hotel just after 10:00 am on Saturday and we headed off to Lord's for the cricket. We had a good time, but left just before the finish (foregone conclusion anyway). We stopped off for a beer at the Warwick Castle in Maida Vale:

Dinner in the evening was at a noisy tapas bar in Soho, and we had a leisurely breakfast before jumping on the Tube on Sunday morning to head for our respective flights - Dave to Houston and me home. I still managed to fit an my postponed tie against young Ross Gray then nipped home to pack my bags for an early start on Monday morning.

I had been invited to play golf at the new Carrick course at Loch Lomond but had not fully appreciated what a star-studded event it was. The accommodation was terrific and my room was packed with goody bags:


All the sporting stars were there and each team was drawn to play with one of them - we got Frank Hadden, Scotland's rugby coach/manager - a really nice, down to earth guy:


We had a quick beer after golf and I thought I'd better ask what the dress code for the evening dinner was? Black tie! Horror of horrors - I only had a sports jacket! Frantic phone call to Barry and he rushed down with his kilt and all the gear - saved! The only things that didn't fit were his shoes, but I had a pair of black ones anyway.

The dinner was excellent - hosts were Andy Cameron and Ian Robertson and entertainment included Eddi Reader & Fairground Attraction (remember "Perfect"?).

On Tuesday, Barry and I attended Dad's one month assessment at Erskine and it went pretty well - he looks relaxed, clean and happy, and the staff say he is absolutely no problem and joins in most of the activities. We took him outside for a very brief stroll (round the car park!) and he was laughing away as he posed for this picture:

Wednesday was just up and down to Fraserburgh then golf in the evening (won again!). Jo was out for her school end of term dinner - almost there now - just 2 days to go!

Tomorrow, it's briefly over to Gary's after work then home to pack for weekend trip to Cornwall - it's all go!

Kingsbarns

Had a great day out at Kingsbarns yesterday, courtesy of HSBC. Great course and fantastic weather - it hadn't looked promising at all as I drove through heavy rain around Forfar/Dundee, but Fife was clear. Here I am with my host Alistair Scott (ex Hun) next to me, and his other 2 guests:

Got back home in decent time to see the 2nd half of the Spain-Russia match. I had just settled down in front of the TV when Jo arrived - earlier than expected from her school show. She, too, settled down with a glass of wine and I thought - whoops - going to have to change channels! Jo insisted I just leave the football on, and she sat through the last half hour with me - Gary wouldn't have stood for it, however - he'd have gone to another room!

Got a lot to do to in the office today, particularly as I wasn't in yesterday and won't be here on Monday/Tuesday either. I've then got to squeeze in another golf tie at 6:15 tonight, before heading home to catch a few hours sleep before getting up for the redeye in the morning. Another golf tie on Sunday evening after I get back from London, then it's off at the crack of dawn again down to Loch Lomond for the big charity event. I got a phone call last night from our host offering me not just accommodation at Cameron House on the Monday evening after the golf, but also on the Sunday evening if I wanted! It transpires that this weekend is the celebrity re-opening of Cameron House and there are events on the Sunday as well as Monday's big bash. I politely declined the Sunday night accommodation but have accepted Monday's. Here's the programme for the weekend:

All clear

Got the all clear from the optician this morning - although she told me I may have to come back if any "floaters" appear in a few weeks time.

Now heading off to Kingsbarns (south of St Andrews) and will be late home - as will Jo - it's the first night of the school show.

The winning habit

I know my mates are becoming thoroughly p....d off with me winning all these golf tournaments - and no doubt you lot are fed up hearing about them as well - but, would you believe it, I won our weekly Quaich competition again last night! That's now all 4 events I've played in over the last week that I've won. I'm resting today - I need to! - but I've been invited to Kingsbarns tomorrow for a big corporate event, and Jas and I have a foursomes match to play on Friday evening.

On Saturday, I'm on the redeye to London to see the ODI v New Zealand at Lord's. Dave and I planned this some time ago and we booked flights to travel down and back together, but Dave's now started a new job down in Reading so he's just going to meet me down there now. What's more, he now has to fly out to Houston on Sunday, so I would have been stuck in London on my own all day - so I've now changed my return flight and will get home early/mid afternoon. Dave was full of apologies and has offered to pay whatever it has cost me, but I used air miles (although I did have to pay the taxes) - and anyway, it now allows me to play my Cox Cup match against young Ross Gray on Sunday evening - this was postponed from last weekend.

After that, it's back down to Glasgow on Monday - I've been invited to another corporate golf day at the new Carrick course at Loch Lomond - it's huge affair with Andy Cameron, Alex Ferguson, Gavin Hastings, dinner, accommodation and entertainment by Eddi Reader. Timing is very convenient as Barry and I have to attend Erskine House on the Tuesday morning to go over the initial assessment of how Dad's settling down there. I've then got another golf tie at Torphins on Tuesday evening. Phew - it's all go!

My left eye seems OK now, although it's still a little sore, so I'll go back to the optician's tomorrow to check up.

Well, I got to my optician yesterday afternoon and had the most thorough eye examination I've ever had. She spotted some damage but thought it should settle down OK. She put some fluid in my left eye to dilate the pupil fully to allow her to have a closer look - it took about 15 minutes, but lasts for 5 or 6 hours, so driving down to Balmoral afterwards wasn't as easy as I had hoped!



The blurred vision in my left eye was measured as 5 levels poorer than my right and I was given the chart below to take home to check regularly to see whether there was any change or not. When I first looked at it through my damaged left eye, the horizontal lines appeared as shadowed. I was told my eyes would either get worse or better in the next couple of days. If no change, then I would have to be referred back to the Eye Clinic and she arranged to see me again on Thursday.

Anyway, I managed to make it down to Balmoral and, despite playing with only one good eye, I won again - three times in a week! The worst problem was the midges - they were worse this year than ever and I took on the appearance of the Elephant Man afterwards! I protected myself as much as I could but nothing could stop the little pests:

We self cater for this event - bread, cheese, cold meats etc in the clubhouse afterwards - and it was midnight before we left, so it was another late night for me.

Today (Tuesday), my vision is much improved and I'm able to work on the computer again, so it looks like I'm on the mend.

More golf tonight at Banchory - rain forecast for later on - hope we just miss it!

Hectic weekend

It was all go this weekend - the highlight being our trip over to Fort William to see Kelly start off her 3 Peaks Challenge. First of all, it was golf for me at St Andrews Bay on Friday afternoon on our Midsummer Outing. It was very dry, dusty and windy - and I played well and won! We had a quick pint in Whey Pat then curry at the Balaka then home not too long after midnight. The sky was light all the way - it seemed there was no darkness that evening.

Jo was out at her school friend's for dinner and was also fairly late, so we were both a bit slow starting off on Saturday morning. The trip over the Lecht and the tiredness overcame Jo and she did not travel well. This was the first stop just after Tomintoul at a pretty spot overlooking the River Avon - not that Jo was appreciating it:


We eventually made it to Fort William in time to have lunch with Kelly al fresco at a sandwich bar in the pedestrianised High St. I tried out my "smile and shoot" feature and Kelly was the first female to make it work:

The start of the run/walk/climb was at the Glen Nevis Visitor Centre and there were hundreds of people there - many also doing the 3 Peaks Challenge, but some just wanting to climb Ben Nevis. Here we are at the start:

The girls had originally said they wanted to start at 6:00 pm but they were all so full of nervous energy that they eventually just had to get going before 5. Here's the 3 of them all set to start off:

What should we do now then? We decided to walk over the bridge and along the river for a bit as it was such a lovely day. We had only got a few hundred yards when, blow me, we spotted a pub! We headed up towards it across a stile:

They had 3 real ales and everyone was sitting outside the Ben Nevis Inn looking up at the mountain. The Inn is behind me here and you can see some of the parked cars - this was another popular starting place:

After a beer, we walked back to the Visitor Centre - this is Jo on the suspension bridge:

We weren't sure when Kelly would manage to get back down - as it happens they made very good time (Kelly will fill in the details in her blog). We checked in to our hotel and eventually wandered round looking for a place to eat. We considered the Crannog, a seafood restaurant on Loch Linnhe but eventually just went back to the Grog and Gruel, where we tried to get in to their upstairs restaurant. There was a waiting list so we sat in the bar and had a beer - then two, then three and still we waited. Eventually we got upstairs but didn't actually get our food until 10:30 pm, by which time Kelly was well down the road towards Challenge 2.

It rained on Sunday. I put on my anorak and walked up to the newsagent to get a Sunday paper for the journey home, as Jo decided she wanted to drive to avoid feeling sick. I pulled my hood up and tightened the elasticated drawstring then let go, only to be pinged full in my left eye by the plastic at the end of the drawstring! I was in agony all the way home and we stopped at the top of the Lecht to get some paracetomol. When we got home, I managed to sleep for a while.

Today the eye is not quite as sore, but I still have blurred vision. I set off for work at the usual time - not sure if I really should have been driving or not with only one good eye - but felt I should pop in to the hospital to get them to look at it. Casualty don't handle eye problems any more - you have to go to an opthamologist/optician to get it checked out first of all, so I drove over to Tesco at Danestone - too early - their optician section doesn't open until 9:00 am. I had a cup of tea and waited, but when 9:00 am came, I found out that the optician wasn't coming in that day! The girl was very helpful and phoned up ASDA at Dyce, but they, too, didn't have an optician in on Monday. I gave up and phoned my own optician in Banchory and I have an appointment with them at 3:05 pm this afternoon.

Can't think of a heading!

As promised, this is me basking in the glory of my win on Tuesday in our Quaich competition:

Wednesday was a slow day - it's the fresh herring season and I took some home, picking up oatmeal, tomatoes and fresh bread on the way home. After tea and a bit of catching up with Sky + recordings, we actually went to be bed at 9:00 pm! Of course, I then awoke at 3:00 am but at least managed to roll over until almost 6:30.

Jo's car is in for MoT etc and she's got a loan from the garage of a little Fiat - she wasn't keen on it as it made what she called an embarrassing noise and she was worried it would let her down. Incidentally, can anyone remember when Jo started to worry so much - in fact, at all? Perhaps in her new life she'll go back to what she calls watching the grass grow?

Malcolm was there yesterday when she put her car in and asked her what she was going to do after retirement? He said he was looking for an admin assistant - I think Jo was flattered a little at being asked, but wasn't sure if it was in jest or not - she merely retorted that she couldn't type!

More golf for me tonight - Deeside League at Aboyne, then tomorrow it's off to St Andrews Bay for our Midsummer Outing.

The week so far

Played the 3rd and final round of the Seniors Club Championship on Monday evening - finally put in a decent performance and actually had the best score on the day (although well off the aggregate).

Got fitted with the heart monitor on Tuesday morning and have now taken it off and am about to return it to Albyn. The cardiologist is off on holiday so I won't hear any more for a couple of weeks anyway. It wasn't too bad to wear - I did a short session at Bannatyne's as he suggested I should, and I played golf last night with it on. Even sleeping was OK - the only real downside is not being able to take a shower.

I also had my best round in our weekly Summer Quaich last night - gross 74 for 40 points - and I won! Photo to follow.

OK, that's enough of golf for now - you can all wake up again - it's safe to read on.

Jo finally got the answer from the Council officials last week re her request for early retirement - they would not recommend it to the councillors as she would have to be replaced and there was therefore no cost saving. We told them to put the request forward anyway - no harm done - if they don't accept it and offer enhanced pension, then we're no worse off - she just resigns anyway. Looking forward to getting my wife back again - can't you see it? - Jo Stewart, domestic goddess!

Monday + Luca video

First of all, a short video of Luca playing with his toys and studiously avoiding the camera yesterday:

I went to my appointment with the cardiologist this morning - a different one this time. I'd expected just a chat, but he decided to do a full ECG, plus stress test (too early for me!) and did a scan of my heart as well, so I felt I got full attention and my money's worth!

I made him aware of my aversion to Warfarin and he thought it probably wouldn't be necessary - yet - although as I got nearer 65, I would probably have to go on it. The stress test showed my heart rate reaching very high levels (240) under maximum pressure - but he said apart from that, my heart seemed to be functioning OK. He did think it might be a good idea for me to give up squash now - but I tried to argue that squash now is not so pressurised - we're all getting older and slower and when we get tired we just play a bad shot and end the rally!

Anyway, he wants me to take on a 24 hour monitor and so I'm going back tomorrow morning to have it fitted. He wanted to see how my heart performed during a normal day, including a spell at the gym. Only problem is you can't shower with it on and sleeping's very difficult as well.

The US Open was great last night - even although I finally fell asleep about 1:30 am, I think. Watched the finish this morning and I'll see the latter stages of the play-off tonight after golf.

Sunday

Been another mixed, fairly cool day. Had a foursomes tie at Torphins - which we lost - then got home before Gary, Carole and her mum arrived for lunch. We had a nice, extended lunch and Lucy Skyped us to wish me Happy Fathers' Day - and we moved the laptop around so that she got to talk to and see everyone.

Luca has inherited his mother's camera shyness - every time you point the lens at him, he looks away:

I did (just) manage to get Jo and Carole to kind of half pose:

Settling down now to watch the US Open - 6 hours of golf in HD on 50 inch plasma - great! Going to be a very late night, but I'm not going in to work until later tomorrow as I have my appointment with the cardiologist at 9:30.

More golf tomorrow night - 3rd round of our Seniors, then golf again on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday before heading off to Fort William to see Kelly, who texted me today to wish me HFD.

Fri/Sat

More golf on Friday - 2nd round of Seniors Club Championship - and I played even worse than I did in the 1st round on Wednesday. Amazingly, I still made the cut and now have to play the final round on Monday - I was looking forward to a break - but no rest for the wicked!

Golf again this morning - weather a bit cooler and showery. Tomorrow (Sunday) we've got Carole's Mum coming over for lunch.

We watched Midnight Express tonight - first time we'd seen it - very good and still pretty harrowing despite being 30 years old now.

Weds/Thurs

Got a bit cooler here now - but still dry thankfully. Had to get a new windscreen put in my car as I was hit by a stone on Monday. Jo's car is in the garage today as well - bearing and exhaust noises (or is she just paranoid?) plus MoT and service - sounds pricey. Ross is running Jo to and from work today.

Played the first round of our Seniors club championship last night (poorly) and caught up with Nigel, who was on a flying visit over here. Tonight it's the Deeside league at Ballater.

Spoke to Kelly yesterday - her 3 Peaks Challenge is next weekend (21st) and she starts off up Ben Nevis at 6:00 pm, so we've booked ourselves in to a hotel in Fort William and will drive over to see her. Of course, whilst she's busy running up (and down) the mountain, we'll be visiting one of Scotland's best pubs - the Grog and Gruel (http://www.grogandgruel.co.uk/) - we'll be thinking of you, pet!

Appointment

Oh - and I've now got my appointment with the cardiologist - a different one this time - Dr. Broadhurst - I see him on Monday morning.

Stressed? Try this!

http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf

If you're really bad, use manic mode!