9/11

A significant day in world history today - and it was interesting to dig this photo out of the archives from our trip to New York in 2001. It was taken in World Trade Plaza, with the Twin Towers dominating the skyline. Ross, Jo and Kelly have their backs to the camera and are walking away. Just 8 short weeks later, the Twin Towers were no more. I can still remember Ross calling me in Fraserburgh from his work on 11th September, 2001, urging me to switch the TV on - none of us could believe what we were seeing.


Talking of Ross - he's got another new car - this time an old Merc and it's a monster 500 SEC!:

It's going to be hard work - the car has hardly been used over the last year and needs a good clean-out - the back parcel shelf is growing mould:

What happened yesterday? Well, Carole made it safely back in her new car - she's so proud of it - and Luca was gone by the time I got back from my debut with the Banchory Seniors team in their match at Kirriemuir (which we won comfortably). So last night was just nail biting time - aka watching Scotland play their World Cup qualifier in Iceland.

Today it's management meetings day in Fraserburgh and this evening, we're going to try and play squash at Findrick - after giving it a good brush out. Wish us luck!

Tuesday babysitting

I got home sharp to see Luca - and Gary arrived not long after we'd all had our tea - Luca didn't seem to fancy Jo's mince and tatties for some reason. He fancied the bath afterwards even less - he wouldn't go in, so Jo tried to entice him by stripping off and going in herself. He eventually, very reluctantly, went in. Jo then pushed matters a bit further by shampooing his hair. Jo then shrieked when I took out my camera - I had to assure her the lens would only be pointed at Luca!:


I then took a short drive, with Richard Simcox and Hugh and Jackie Riches, to see a squash court just beyond Torhpins that we had previously been unaware even existed. Jamie Burnett had put me in touch with Andrew Salvesen, who has a grand estate called Findrick. He built the court for himself 30 years ago in a cottage block used by his estate workers, but he and his sons no longer use it. It was a very pleasant surprise - it seemed to be in good nick and had the added bonus of showers and a changing room, which Crathes lacks.

The court will need a brush up, but that seems to be all. We're going to try and play doubles there tomorrow (Thursday).

When I got back, Gary had gone home, but I then tried to Skype Kelly - and, lo and behold, we actually made contact - after a few minor technical glitches at the Cornish end. Craig's bedtime viewing of Dragon's Den on the BBCi player was rudely interrupted for about 40 minutes, but at least we have established that Kelly can do it - now over to you, Gary!

Also tried to Skype Lucy a couple of times, but she was out.

Consolation

Well, it never quite came to pass - Federer was too hot for our Andy - but at least it was short and I didn't have to try and stay awake until 2 or 3 in the morning.

Tried to Skype Kelly and Craig again last night - failed again - are they never online? I left a couple of brief messages on Skype - perhaps they'll pick them up before they arrive here in the early hours of Friday morning - and yes, we'll leave the door open - and Jo insists that Craig's Mum and Dad must come over to ours.

Oh - as I was writing this, Kelly Skyped me! After several false starts we eventually got to see each other - but I had a problem hearing Kelly so we ended up just talking on the mobile phones!

It was early in the morning, but it sure looked like Kelly was going to have a bad hair day:

Will try to Skype tonight from home after Kelly's run - just to test everything's working OK.

Jo will be on her way over to Inverurie by now to pick up Luca and take Carole to the airport.

Scotland rejoices

Well - did you see it? Andy Murray completed the job last night and convincingly beat Rafa Nadal to make it through to his first Grand Slam final - it was great. Now, can he go on and complete the job tonight in the final against Roger Federer, and become the first (male) Brit to win a Grand Slam event since Fred Perry in the 1930's?

I will be watching intently - but probably alone. Ross came up for coffee last night at some of the critical points and every time he sat down, Andy made a mistake! Ross' own paranoia made him stay away until I was able to tell him that he'd finally won!

As part of the continuing Arbor Court clearout, Jo came across some more old booth photos of Kelly and her chums:

and even scarier ones of me:

Squash tonight, I think and hopefully golf on Wednesday afternoon - I'm playing for Banchory Seniors at Kirriemuir. Jo's taking Carole to the airport tomorrow and Luca's staying with us for one or two nights whilst Carole goes down to London to buy a car.

Learney Cup

Good news and bad news - for Jo at least! First the good news - I didn't bring the trophy back. Now the bad news - I did win the final this afternoon, so the trophy will be coming home - after engraving and the official prizegiving next month.

Ross 25!

And a very happy birthday today to Ross - sometimes we wondered whether he would make it to this ripe old age - but he has, thank God! He and his pals were round at Dan's house last night playing poker - and he never made it home until this afternoon, so he's a little fragile and tired, but he did manage to join us for the lovely stew Jo had cooked - although the Apple Crumble will have to wait until later!

Ross has decided that he wants a "proper" coffee machine for his birthday, but these monsters cost several hundred pounds - so it'll only be a contribution we're making!

St Andrews etc

I had a couple of meetings in the office on Friday before setting off to meet Jo at Stracathro again for the drive down to St Andrews Bay. We had a quick bite in the golf clubhouse and then Keith and I, with Malcolm and his son Matthew, went off to play golf, leaving Jo and Annette to check us in and meet us after golf.

It was dry but pretty windy and it required an extra layer at times to keep the wind at bay:

A quick shower after golf then all 4 of us hopped on the shuttle bus to take us in to the Auld Toon. We had a couple of beers in Whey Pat then walked down to the Balaka for our curries - they were excellent - the place never disappoints.

Didn't have a very good night's sleep and we were both pretty tired on Saturday morning, but after breakfast, we popped in to St Andrews for a short walk on the shore. It was exceptionally windy - so much so that a few Americans who were supposed to be playing golf, cancelled. I'm not quite sure what they expected coming to Scotland in September and playing golf on the coast - I thought that was part of the attraction of the trip for them - different conditions from back home? - It doesn't get much better at this time of year - dry is good, and wind is expected. Anyway, here we are getting blown away on the rocks:

We got back to Banchory in good time for Carole arriving with Luca - they were going to a wedding and Luca was staying with us overnight. He was all dressed in denim with that cheeky look on his face - and his hair's getting even longer:

I went to play golf and Jo took Luca a walk all the way along to Somerfield's to do some grocery shopping - she met several people who made the understandable mistake of saying "oh what a pretty girl!" - Jo put some of them right but got fed up explaining to everyone and just let it pass.

I had a mini disaster on the golf course - the handle of my Powacaddy sheared half way round - I still had power but couldn't steer so had to manhandle it round the course. This morning (Sunday), I'm taking it in to the pro to see what can be done with it. I'll have to hire for this afternoon - it's Finals Day at Torphins and I'm defending the Learney Cup. Of course, Jo secretly hopes I lose so we will be one trophy less in the house - well, actually, not so secretly!

Aching in the Broch

Very stiff and sore today - played footy at Banchory last night - that floor just kills me. I guess staying up to watch Andy Murray didn't help either - but wasn't it great? Number 4 in the world now and in to the semis of the US Open - the first time he's done it in a Grand Slam event.

I had a beer with Colin at the Legion after footy and we were joined by Rob from Hillside Brewery, who I am officially CAMRA's local BLO (Brewery Liaison Officer) for. He's moving the brewery from his home (Hillside, near Lumphanan) to an extension being erected at Deeside Activity Park (http://www.deesideactivitypark.com/). He's already close friends with the guy who runs it and supplies the beer for a lot of the events they run there - many of them corporate. He's going to have to change the name of the brewery now to Deeside Brewery. He's also arranged to meet a guy in Banchory this weekend who is planning on starting up another micro-brewery, to see if there's anything they can co-operate on - despite some digging, none of us have ever heard of the guy, so it'll be interesting to find out what he's up to, his background and where he is with his plans. All of this talk takes me back to my idea of over a decade ago - I guess we were ahead of our time. I still think it was a good idea but I made the mistake of choosing (some) unreliable partners to come in with me.

Jo's out with her old school pals this afternoon and evening so Ross and I are pizza-ing - that's after I've played squash doubles with Dick (back after a year out with a back injury), Richard and Keith (who we're going to St Andrews with tomorrow).

Incidentally, Ross did take the Saab that he wrote off last week back over to Derek Glass' place at Auchenblae last night - one down, one more (at least!) to go. Not quite sure how much all this is costing Ross - and how much Derek Glass is making from him - I don't think it's an awful lot, but he needs to get down to one good running car and look after it.

As you know, Jo's days are now being spent on emptying old cupboards and generally trying to tidy up the clutter in our house. She came across some old photos - this one of Kelly and her great pal at the time, Helen Bisset, was taken in a booth on 18th November, 1993, when she was just 14 years old:

This one of Ross at school with his head down is undated:

Webcams

Why is Kelly never online when I try to Skype her - and why has Gary not got the webcam I gave him working yet?

Answers on a postcard please.

Boat of Garten weekend

We got away with it this weekend - there was a bit of rain around but it was nothing like they had forecast - and, at times, it was very pleasant indeed. We played Kingussie on Sunday, then Boat of Garten on Monday. I thought I had won the event, but, fortunately for Jo, Les surprised us all and came up with a fantastic final round to beat me on countback - so no trophy for the house this time! Here's Jack, Syd, Peter and I at Boat of Garten yesterday morning:

Back to the dentist this morning to smooth out the tooth that I had broken a corner off on an olive stone in Edinburgh last weekend - a two minute job, although I was told that, when it comes to winter, I may get some sensitivity in it as some of the enamel has now gone - but she can treat that too, if it happens.

Ross has promised some car movements this week some time and I've offered to help shuttle him anywhere, if required - watch this space!

Post fringe week

Back to the real world this week - some work, but the much improved weather meant a lot of golf too. Coming up to the end of the season is a fairly busy time, with lots of events on, but it's always sad when the midweek golf after work ends - and, on Wednesday, it was the last night of our 22 week season long Summer Quaich competition. By next week, there's not enough daylight left to get a full round in after 5:00 pm.

Anyway, my week started well when I won my semi-final of the Learney Cup at Torphins on Monday evening. Don't think Jo was so pleased however - it means there's still a chance that we'll have this trophy hanging around the house for another year!

On Thursday, I had a business golf game at Kemnay with one of our bankers. It was a beautiful evening and the course was great - and I shot a gross 76 - pretty good! I surpassed that with a gross 73 at Aboyne yesterday (Friday) in the Terry Edmonds Memorial Trophy - another b....y trophy, says Jo! Poor Terry died of cancer at Christmas time 2001 and his widow, Linda, donated a beautiful cup which we now play for annually. It was another fantastic day and we did the prizeging on the decking at Aboyne:


Too many beers (and a dram) last night - there was a band in the Burnett and we also went to the Douglas - so the golf at Torphins this morning wasn't very good, although again it was nice and warm.

This is our Boat of Garten weekend and we head off to play Kingussie tomorrow (Sunday) and B.o.G. on Monday, so I hope the weather holds - although the forecast is a little mixed.

Barry and Helen are now clearing out Dad's flat - Helen's Mum and Dad will move in there - it's safer for them as it's on the ground floor. Barry says Dad seems settled OK at Erskine - must get down to see him again soon.

Jo's on a mission clearing out the house of much of her old teaching files etc. It's a bit chaotic just now - boxes etc everywhere - but it's all for the longer term good.

Jo's also been shopping for her outfit for Gillian Kilgour's wedding in 2 weeks - she's almost there - just shoes now, I think.

Next Friday, we're staying at St Andrews Bay - Keith and Annette Gray are also coming down - Keith and I are golfing in the afternoon and we'll all probably go back to the Balaka in the evening for a meal.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

As expected, my golf got rained off again on Thursday, but at least we managed to get a game of squash doubles. We were sitting in the clubhouse having a beer afterwards and Richard casually mentioned that his visitors this weekend had been delayed because of a landslide on the rail line south of Stonehaven - uh oh - we had only just booked our return journey down to Edinburgh. Sure enough, it was still blocked in the morning so bang went my relaxing trip down to the Fringe - we had to drive after all - and hope that First Scotrail respond to my request for a refund.

Anyway, we made it in good time - after lunch at the Horn of course - and Colin and Johanne arrived not long after us. It was going to be a busy Friday evening but we thought we'd have time for a quick beer in the Cafe Royal before heading off to the Assembly Rooms to see Clive James in conversation.

We weren't quite sure what to expect from the first show - there were 2 chairs on stage and Clive James walked on and said that a surprise guest had just flown in (to publicise his new book) - it was Rick Wakeman. I never cared much for his music - in Yes and solo - and used to think he was a fairly pretentious prat until I saw him in Grumpy Old Men. Well, he could talk - entertainingly - for England - one question and he was off! Very enjoyable, although I could hear a few mutters at the end about wanting to hear more from Clive James himself.

We didn't have much time to get to the next show and it was too far to walk it in time, but we were fortunate enough to pick up a cab which got us to Bristo Square in good time for the News Revue. Last year, it had been very funny, satirical and fast paced, but this year's show passed the latter 2 criteria but failed miserably to amuse us much.

Another taxi took us down to Jeffrey St in time for some supper before our next show. The first restaurant we saw was a Spanish Tapas bar, so we didn't hesitate - it's hard to get in anywhere at Festival time. The meal was excellent and it was just a short stagger from there down the hill to Jury's Inn for A Tribute to Bessie Smith. It was a typical Fringe Venue - one room in the hotel, with about 40 chairs and a small space for a keyboard and double bass player, plus the singer - a little old lady called Liz Dicks. She was far from a Bessie Smith sound-a-like - and definitely not a look-alike! If you don't know who Bessie Smith was, she was a giant of a woman - check out this movie clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ7S2w6v2No and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Smith for information about her.

Liz Dicks was small, Scottish, frail and probably approaching 70, but she gave a rather charming rendition of some of Bessie's better known stuff, and it was a delight to watch her musicians up close and personal. I've tried to Google Liz Dicks, thinking she might be somebody with a musical past that I was unaware of, but have failed to come up with anything other than a brief reference to somebody going by that name compereing some Jazz shows in Scotland. Jo and Colin reckoned she was just a wee old wifie who had been encouraged by family and friends, in the true spirit of the Fringe, to get up and have a go!

After that, it was back over to George St to see the legend that is Geno Washington. You may not know of him, other than through Dexy's Midnight Runners number one from the '80's - "Geno" - but check out his web site - http://www.genowashington.com/ and Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geno_Washington for some background info. I first saw Geno in 1966, I think it was, when I was but a callow youth of 17. It was the Maryland Club in Glasgow, which had a bit of a reputation for trouble - in those days, the Glasgow gangs - Fleet, Tongs etc - were running amok - so it was with some trepidation that I set foot in the club. The atmosphere was intense and the joint was jumping - I'd never experienced anything like it in my life.

Geno never had hit singles but his live albums sold well. His act - and that of Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, who covered similar territory - was based purely on American soul. The Stax label had become hugely popular on the UK club scene through Sam & Dave, Otis Redding etc and, at that stage, the original acts hadn't toured here, but we were thrilled to listen to American voices covering their music.

Geno played the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen several years ago and Jo and I went along and danced the night away - he was great. In short, when I saw he was appearing at the Fringe, I had to go and see him again. We arrived at the Jamm Club and who should be stepping out of the taxi but the man himself. I took some photos outside and one of him on stage with his famous Ram Jam Band:

Jo and I danced to the band, but, in truth, the accoustics were so poor that Geno's voice was lost in a strangled, high pitched wail, drifting up to the high ceiling. I do remember he started the band on every song with the words "Kick It!".

Breakfast at McRae's Organic B & B was very good - although only Colin managed the full Scottish. It was dry and sunny when we stepped out and opposite our B & B was a house with a strange name on it:

Don't know what that's all about! Anyway, a kind neighbour, out for a quick fag - sorry, Scott - make that cigarette! - took a photo of the 4 of us outside our B & B, just before we headed off to Foodies at the Festival at the Sheraton:

The event was excellent - lots of free food and drink, plus shows, demonstrations etc. We managed to get tickets to see Hardeep Singh Kohli, comedian, writer, TV star and occasional part-time chef (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardeep_Singh_Kohli). He was hilarious - but he seriously burnt his hand as he tried to move a hot pan. Watch the One Show to see if he's still got the bandage on!

Dave Williamson, having retired from BP, now has a new job with BG, based in Reading, but with the project in Brazil. He flew in to Edinburgh direct from Rio (via Heathrow) and was texting me suggesting we meet up for a beer - so we went to an old haunt - Kay's bar:

Suitably refreshed, it was off to the Scottish Storytelling Centre to see an abridged version of Kidnapped. Here's Jo and Johanne afterwards, just outside John Knox's house:

Dinner was at Shamoli Thai and Indian restaurant overlooking the High St and then we headed off to the Old Town Literary Pub Crawl. We had all enjoyed the Rebus walking tour we went on last year and hoped that this might be similar. Unfortunately, it wasn't - and it was all down to the presenter - last year, we had an actor, who read out passages from Ian Rankin's books, but this guy was, frankly, lazy. First stop was exactly the same pub we had started at last year - it's couthy and there are strolling musicians there, but was that any reason to just dump us there without a word for the first 45 minutes of his two and a half hour tour? He did the same at 2 other pubs on the tour.

At the end of the tour, we felt a bit short changed - but we still bought his CD to see if we could learn any more from it than we had from him - unfortunately, we didn't - the CD contained even less than he'd told us - and his speeches were the same as - no - worse, verbatim - he'd said.

Anyway, he did spark a debate/quiz amongst us - how many Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson novels can you name (without checking Wikipedia)? The answer was very few from our group - a pretty poor show really.

Edinburgh was alive, not just with Fringers, but also Hen parties and Stag nights. We saw these Superheroes outside Greyfriars Bobby's:

The long walk back was broken with a quick p... stop at the Guildford Arms - but we didn't have a drink there. Instead we went in to the Cask and Barrel in Broughton St, near our B & B for our bedtime drink. They had some excellent ales on and they also had high seated booths, with headrests and footrests for our weary legs:


Sunday was slower - Jo bypassed mass in Edinburgh in favour of a mid-afternoon return home in time to get to her local church by 6 pm. We went back to Foodies at the Festival to listen to the Real Ale Masterclass, given by Stewart Brewing - no really, that's their name! After that, we saw the wonderful Soweto Gospel Choir and their highly energetic and entertaining show.

We then wandered along George St and took in a bit of the Book Festival, set in Charlotte Square. As we walked down, I spied a glimpse of Edinburgh Castle and, as Iwas wearing my Kaleidoscope t-shirt, I thought this might be an appropriate photo to send to Medford - what do you think?:

End of marathon blog!

Whaleys

Julie sent me some nice photos today - I liked this one:

Bad luck for Ross

When we got home from Edinburgh last night, I noticed that Ross had been cleaning his new car, so I thought I'd take a photo of it:

However, when I got home this evening, the BMW was gone from our driveway but the above Saab was still parked in DISC - I found out why when Jo came in - he'd crashed it on his way back from Stonehaven at lunchtime! What a shame - apparently it's a write-off now.