Monday evening/Tuesday

Didn't realise that when I set up Jo on blogspot.com that it was only a "trial" blog! I'm sure we'll see some interesting things there in weeks to come.

Foolishly we sat all the way through Chuck and Larry last night - pretty absurd formulaic comedy - not quite sure which side of the sexual fence was most offended at it! Jo's clean-out meant I also had to go through boxes of old music cassettes to see if I wanted to keep any. It didn't take long before I decided that she could throw them all out. It's funny, but I didn't feel the need to keep any of them, whilst, on the other hand, I find it very hard to throw out my old record collection. I still have a notion of a retirement project digitising all my old vinyl. There's also something more tangible, sentimental and collectible about old vinyl - particularly LP's - browsing the 12" sleeves was always half the fun - CD inserts are just not the same, even although they probably contain twice as much actual information - they are not as touchy, feely as vinyl LP's - well, at least that's what this old fart thinks anyway.

Next was all the old VHS tapes. There's a lot of good, classic films there and I was reluctant to throw them all out. I suggested that Jo try to find a home for them at some charity shop - but if anyone wants any of them - probably half of them are yours, Gary - best speak up soon.

The rubbish tapes have gone, but there were a few home/holiday videos which I'm going to watch before I decide whether to ditch or not. We sat through Gary Grant's home video of his Hogmanay party from 31st Dec 1995/1st January 1996. A twelve year old Ross flitted in and out, as did a 16 year old Kelly with her pals. The video rambled on for a while, with "Mr. & Mrs.", featuring the Kilgours, Williamsons and McWhinnies, plus some dancing and some pretty rubbish karaoke, with Jo heavily featured. The outstanding thing for us, however, was to see Johanne looking so upright and apparently healthy - even although she'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's a few years before this.

Squash tonight followed by a swift pint at the Potarch - haven't been there for a while.

Royal Aberdeen

What a wonderful day we had at Royal Aberdeen - it's very rare to get a benign sunny day at Balgownie, where the wind usually always howls, but we got it today. The course was great and the Seniors matches are fun - it's a friendly 4 ball, better ball format - if anyone knows what that means (like the Ryder Cup was on Friday and Saturday afternoons). My partner and I actually won our match against our hosts' Captain and his partner - but we were the only Banchory winners - the result was 9-1 to Royal Aberdeen!

Rowies and coffee before the match and a fine 2 course meal after the match, plus a round on the hallowed links - all for £10! Of course, being Royal Aberdeen, jackets and ties were required for the meal, so here I am in mine afterwards, with Aberdeen Ladies' clubhouse in the background:

When digging through some of the stuff in my Dad's flat, I came across Grannie Stewart's travel card from 1984, when she must have been a similar age to what Dad is now. Most of you wouldn't have known her, but here's what she looked like:

The other side of the family (my Mum's mother, Granny Barr) also photographed well:

I'm afraid to say this was a fairly typical view of her. My memories of my years at Foxbar Drive (1960 - 1972) were of her constant warring with my Dad. I guess the old mother-in-law syndrome applied in spades when we were all living in such close proximity under her roof. In her latter years, she was virtually confined to her room and only came down when my Dad wasn't around. Sad really, but there you go.

New blogger!

Check it out - we have a new blog to read every day: http://jostewart.blogspot.com/

It was a glorious weekend - good for golf (shorts weather) and, for the 3rd year in a row, the local branch of CAMRA's annual visit to Banchory was held outdoors in glorious sunshine at the Legion:

The only downside was Europe's first defeat for a few years in the Ryder Cup - secretly, however, I think a lot of Europeans were half expecting - maybe even hoping - that our embarrassing and arrogant Captain, Nick Faldo would fall flat on his face - and he did, despite having by far the better players at his disposal.

Aberdeen holiday today, but I'm in the office finishing off a few things before heading to nearby Balgownie for the Seniors match against Royal Aberdeen.

Saturday morning

Looking good for this morning's round - hoping for better things this week. Got the CAMRA meeting at the Legion this afternoon then it'll be more Ryder Cup after that.

Malcolm, me and Harry at Old Trafford on Wednesday:


Remember the old cabinet at Ochiltree? I thought it might help our storage problem in the back room, but Jo thinks it's too big:

Back home again

The Man U match was fun - apart from a dodgy taxi driver who took an hour and a half for a 30 minute run - he got lost! Can you imagine anyobody living near Greater Manchester who doesn't know where Old Trafford is? - especially a taxi driver! Square pegs and round holes.

On the way back, I stopped off to see Dad - he was fine, but his dementia is definitely getting worse and he's fast developing an institutional shuffle, as Dawn calls it. She doesn't think he's getting any exercise in terms of walks etc - but it's difficult for the staff if he always says he doesn't want to do it.

I met Barry and Helen at 43 Ochiltree - they're getting the flat ready to move Helen's Mum and Dad in as they're struggling to cope with the stairs at their place. It's pretty sad emptying the house - I took a few things away, but most of the large stuff will have to go to the tip.

Dawn made spag bog for tea and Jordon then played a bit of Stairway to Heaven for me:

He and his pals have cut a mini CD - some Arctic Monkeys - the boys mixed in with the original in parts.

Got home pretty late and tired - driving wasn't easy in the dark with rain lashing down. I only worked the morning in the office today then came home at lunch time to watch some Ryder Cup - going to be an exciting TV weekend, although I do have golf in the mornings, plus CAMRA's annual visit to Banchory tomorrow afternoon.

Gary's obviously developing his Mum's repeated illnesses - he needs to eat more regular meals - can't you just hear Carole saying that? Incidentally, Gary, be careful with your downloaded Useless Facts of the Day - you're in danger of repeating old stereotypes and cliches! Come on, that old one about 60% of Americans not having a passport/never having left their country (sub-continent)! Funny how you never see the same stats about Europeans who have never left their continent? And the Afghanistani one sounds like a bit of Sun reader Muslim put-down! You can do better - give us something interesting or I'll be forced to start putting some "facts" in my blog too!

Champions League

Well, I had originally planned to go down to Glasgow on Wednesday with Jo chumming me, then I had to change it to Thursday and then I changed it slightly again by arranging to meet Dawn in Dundee for lunch on Friday (she's on a course there). Now it's all change yet again - I got the offer of tickets for the Man U v Villareal Champions League match tonight - the tickets were going spare and I only discovered this on Monday as I was leaving the office. I didn't think I would get 3 others to go at such short notice - didn't think Ross or Gary could take time off work, and my football mates are all working too - but after we played squash on Monday, I asked if anyone wanted to go and Malcolm, Richard and Harry all said yes.

So, I'll be leaving the office soon and drive down to Glasgow to meet them - we'll leave one car there and travel down to the match together and, on the way back tomorrow, I'll head in to Glasgow to see Dad, then Barry, then Dawn, whilst they head north.

By the way, a belated happy 26th birthday to Lauren on Sunday. Doesn't she look like a young Dawn in this photo?:

I eschewed watching the football on TV last night and instead, Jo and I watched Factory Girl - the story of Edie Sedgwick (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edie_Sedgwick). A bit like Edith Piaf, hers was a tragic - and very short - life.

The Kings of Leon is on heavy rotation in my car, Kelly - pretty good. Your blog's revelation that you were originally hoping to go to Oz as early as November was a bit of a shock - at least to me. However, I presume that leaves us clear now to start planning for our joint family celebration early next year?

Lucy's football video and photos were good - but it was hard to see if Cade was directly involved in the brief piece of action or not?

Busy weekend

It's been all go this weekend - and it was an early start for me in the office this morning, having seen Kelly off at 5:30 am, as she and Craig set off on the long drive back to Cornwall.

I've also now opened up a 4th blog - for the squash, to add to the football and golf ones I keep. Here's the various addresses - there's some photos and videos there, showing some of what we've been up to this weekend.

http://deesidesquashracquetballclub.blogspot.com/

http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

http://bsvgolf.blogspot.com/

I did manage to get Craig (and Gary) along to the football match on Friday night to celebrate the 50th birthday of one of the regulars (Jeb) - the football site shows the photos. Unfortunately, Jo was ill again on Friday and went to bed early. She did, however, manage along to Gillian Kilgour's wedding on Saturday afternoon (some photos and a video on the football site).

I played golf on Saturday morning, got soaked and rushed home afterwards to get ready for the wedding - but no hot water! I forgot what it's like, having Kelly at home again! Anyway, I eventually manage to get shaved and showered and we popped round to Anne and Leslie's to walk along to the church with them. I propped up the camera on their mantlepiece, but it wasn't quite high enough and it lopped off the top of the male heads!:

Thankfully, I didn't make the same mistake earlier when I asked Kelly and Craig to pose for the camera before they headed off to their pal's wedding at Blairs:

We had a fairly late (for us) night on Saturday and, on Sunday morning, it was more golf for me. It was Medals Finals day at Banchory - I hadn't qualified for a few years and I had forgotten that Class 1 players have to do 36 holes! I haven't done this for years and wasn't sure how I'd cope, but I managed to stagger round OK - but not with a great score. When I got back after the 2nd round, Gary and Carole had arrived for tea and this was the scene in our driveway - notice anything missing? Yes - the old beat-up Saab has finally gone! Gary had just been out for a spin in Ross' Merc.

Carole's beautiful new BMW sat sparkling in the driveway:

Jo had made lasagne for tea - but Luca was in mischevious mood and just played around. When they went home, Kelly and I swapped music files on our laptops - I got the Kings of Leon from her and she got my entire library of music files! She's going to trawl through it and delete what she doesn't want - don't forget to empty the Recycle Bin after you do it, Kelly! She then plans to synchronise the files with her iPod - having now apparently worked out how to use her iPod in the car.

A bit sore and tired this morning but I'm going to try and play squash again tonight. I'm also arranging to go down to Glasgow to see Dad, Barry & Dawn some time this week.

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!