Friday at last

Today's international photo come from Las Vegas - we stayed at the hotel where Elvis played his comeback gigs in the 70's:

Got some squash in last night - but not after some altercations with my playing partners, most of whom seemed confused about when, where and whether we were playing, despite having agreed all this on Monday and confirming it by e-mail on Tuesday! Is this why I like to keep things in writing? I can then use the evidence to convince myself it's not me who's lost the plot - yet!

Football this evening then off to the golf club for a few beers. Plans for the weekend? - Well, hopefully some squash tomorrow, then we're out at Franco's for dinner with the Pages and Bhagraths, squeezed in between Ken's ski-ing trip to Switzerland (he only gets back at 5 pm!) and his return to Abu Dhabi on Sunday morning!

This morning I finally sorted out our plans for a trip to Anfield to see the Merseyside derby. We had planned this many months ago, but they recently changed the date of the match from a Saturday to Monday 19th January, and this meant one of our group (Ken Black) had to drop out. I managed to get Richard Simcox to replace him, so he'll join me, Colin and Dave on the trip down. Looking forward to it already!

11 weeks and counting

Yes - not long to go now - just 11 weeks tomorrow till we all head off to Tenerife - apart from Kelly and Craig, who go a week earlier - oh, and me - I head out there 7 weeks tomorrow for some golf!

Good to see the girls (most of them, anyway) have brought their blogs up to date. Yes, Kelly, it's been cold here too - in fact, one of the most prolonged spells of cold weather I can recall over winter. Normally we get cold snaps and then it gets very mild again, but this winter the temperature has mostly stayed low - still, it's been pretty bright, which is good - and fairly dry as well.

Nothing much else to add - I've been back to Bannatyne's for a couple of brief sessions this week. Like everyone else, the holiday does nothing for the waistline. I weighed myself and I don't think I've ever been heavier - well, maybe in the mid 70's when I was at Black & White in London and dining out every day - but 13 stone 10lbs! - that's 192 lbs for those of you across the pond - or 87 kgs for the Europeans. I remember when we got our bathroom scale a few years ago, I had to do a conversion chart for Jo, who was slimming then - it only went up to 85 kgs!

I don't think I'll arrange my annual medical just now - perhaps a couple of months yet! Talking of medicals, Jo goes (to Inverurie) for her stress ECG next Thursday - this is the last part of the examinations after she went to the doctor's a few months ago complaining about chest pains.

I briefly saw Carole as she went in to Bannatyne's last night - she's signed up again - another New Year resolution! Jo was looking after Luca briefly before Gary came out and picked him up. Ross and I had our fish suppers watching C-Beebies - how weird was it? I thought the Magic Roundabout was bad, but this definitely came in to the same category of "did I just take some drugs?"

Got some squash tonight hopefully and tomorrow it's football - and I finished the Pink Floyd story (Pigs Must Fly) last night. I think Jo has stopped reading my blog because when I shut the book I showed her the photo on the back cover and said - that's Syd (Barrett) - "who's he?" Maybe she's an acid casualty like Syd - perhaps that's why she and Luca were watching that strange programme? Well, after all, our first born was named after a popular pharmaceutical of the 60's, wasn't she?

2009 begins in earnest

Well, I guess everybody's back to their usual routines now. It's a strange feeling - there's something quietly comforting about being back to the usual cycle of work and conventional weekends, but there's also something sad about it all - realising the holidays are now well and truly over.



Sunday was fairly conventional - by the time I got back from golf, Gary, Carole, Luca and the dogs had gone home again and it was just me, Jo and Ross for tea. Yesterday, I decided to start the week with the long drive to the Broch - got quite a lot done and also managed to get away in time to play squash and have a beer.



I'm getting near the end of the Pink Floyd book that Harry loaned me a long time ago. Most will have heard of the group but may not know much more about them - in particular the alleged acid casualty, founder member Syd Barrett, who finally passed away in 2006 - nearly 40 years after he left/was kicked out of the group - check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_barrett



I got to the stage of the book where Syd had long left the band and was travelling back and forth between his family's home in Cambridge and London. The book described how he first moved in to serviced accommodation at Chelsea Cloisters in April, 1974 - the very same month that Jo and I, with little Lucy in tow, moved in to the very same apartments! Check out http://www.chelseacloisters.co.uk/ for views of the accommodation - I remember Jo commenting on how tiny the rooms were - at least for the three of us - but, hey, James Buchanan & Co (Black & White whisky) were paying - and we got to stay in a very swanky part of London for a month for nothing, whilst our new house in Broxbourne was being finished.



Jo has dined out for years on her stories of wandering round London with Lucy in her buggy, with daily shopping trips to Harrods (for a pint of milk!) and regular encounters with other women with young babies, all of whom turned out to be nannies!

Sticking with my theme of old photos from round the world, here's one I found from March, 2003 when I met up with Scott, Lucy and a very young Cade for a weekend in SFO after I had been golfing at Palm Springs and Las Vegas:

We all stayed in one room at the Marriott. It had 2 large double beds and we were all a bit surprised when Cade wanted to sleep with me. All was well until he awoke in the morning and, still half asleep, opened his eyes and saw me! Shriek! Mommy, Daddy! Help!

Tenerife

I managed to secure accommodation for Kelly's and Craig's extra week in Tenerife, using one of my spare time-share exchanges - check http://www.intervalworld.com/web/cs?a=1503&resortCode=IVH&childResortCodes=IVH

Kelly said they're thinking of taking the bus up to London, then train to Gatwick and fly from there because it's cheaper than flying directly from Exeter. My advice is don't do it, Kelly! Bite the bullet and fly from Exeter!

Deeside Brewery

Football yesterday was good - and I managed a beer afterwards with Ken Page, who has headed off to Switzerland this morning for his usual annual ski-ing trip with his pal, Huw Jones and Ken's daughter Debbie, making up an unusual threesome.

This morning, I was just about to leave to pick up Jas for the drive down to Deeside Activity Park for our first viewing of the new Deeside Brewery, when Jo (who wasn't even dressed at the time), said she'd like to join us - so off the three of us trotted. (You can tell today's theme is unusual threesomes!).

It was a beautiful, crisp, cold morning and it was good to see round the brewery and brought back memories of our plans of a decade or so ago for a similar venture. Good luck to Rob James - it would have been nice to have done it ourselves, but there you go. We had a nice tea and coffee - and Jas and I even had bacon butties too - before we left.

I was persuaded by Jo to buy one of the Deeside Brewery hats which were on sale at the merchandising stall, and she posed in it when we came home:

Squash this afternoon, then we're baby and dog(s) sitting for Gary and Carole this evening.

Football team photos can be viewed at http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Deeside Piper

Went out to buy the P & J this morning and picked up a Deeside Piper at the same time - I was intrigued to read the letters page because I had been told that they had, indeed, published my second letter (in response to Roxanne's) in the paper - even although on their web site, they published my original letter (which was largely about the planning process itself).

Never mind, two mentions is better than one - hope somebody takes notice!

Finally got through to Kelly and Craig this morning - they weren't communicating with the world yesterday as they apparently had a bit of a wild time on Hogmanay - or, at least, Kelly did!

We're just sitting here in vegetation mode again this morning - although I am playing football again this afternoon. Otherwise no plans. Tomorrow, I may take a run down to Deeside Activity Park to look over the new Deeside Brewery that Rob James has installed there to replace the one he was running at his home at Hillside, Lumphanan. I've been promised the first official tour as I'm the local BLO (Brewery Liaison Officer!) for CAMRA.

2009

Happy New Year to everyone!

We had a nice time at Colin and Johanne's last night - although I only took one photo of Jo and Anne sitting in the extension at the front of the house watching the fireworks:

Today we decided just to vegetate - leave the door locked, don't get dressed and do nothing. Best laid plans - the doorbell rang not long after 11 - it was Gary and Luca and they stayed for lunch, but Luca didn't fancy tea for some reason.

We Skyped Lucy and tried to phone Kelly as well - they appear to have changed their minds and have opted for a place in Tenerife not on the coast - will Craig survive?

Tor-na-Coille

Timing is everything I guess. I had sent a letter off to the Deeside Piper last week about the Council's planning meeting re CALA's proposed development. It wasn't published, but, instead, Roxanne's letter was.

I decided therefore to try again and responded to her letter this week, but the Piper has today published the letter I wrote last week, before I had seen Roxanne's letter - check http://www.deesidepiper.co.uk/letters/Planning-process-39shrouded-in-mystery39.4834426.jp

They also crucially, for me at least, omitted the last paragraph I had put in about the squash courts and the fact that they are sound, and are lying idle, despite approaches from the councillors to allow access to the courts, at least until the planning decision is made. I might try again next week!

Hogmanay

Even although Cade's not playing, here's the answer to my previous photo quiz. For those of you who haven't been before, this was taken in 2002 from the top of Sears Tower, formerly the highest building in the world, looking out over the city of Chicago and beyond to Lake Michigan:


Can you really see the curvature of the earth, or is it an optical illusion?

Didn't bother going to the office this morning - had a bit of a lie in for a change. Anyway, we're changing phones, servers etc and have no internet or e-mail access there anyway, so I'm better off here anyway.

I only worked a morning yesterday as well and then headed out to Inverurie for a bit of a birthday lunch with Jo, Carole and Luca - the mini chocolate birthday cake was nice! Two years old now - wow! I also managed a game of squash doubles later on, so it was a nice easy day all round.

I've taken the holiday cardboard boxes to the tip this morning - Jo was a bit concerned about me doing this as she doubts my eco credentials and was worried that I wouldn't properly separate the polystyrene from the cardboard!

So I'm sitting here in the kitchen doing my blog and watching the bacon for lunch - Jo is hoovering next door. We're playing football again this afternoon at 2:00 pm and tonight we're going to the Kilgours for dinner, so that's today done.

We just found last year's Christmas cake, so we've opened it and are now working our way through it!

We found a couple of suitable places for Kelly and Craig to stay in for the extra week they are in Tenerife, but, by the time we had agreed which one to go for, it had gone! Never mind, there's plenty of others so we'll get something soon.

Post Xmas

Boxing Day was largely spent by the telly until Kelly and Craig arrived later in the evening. I had been fixing up the Xmas present that Ross bought me (a huge hard drive that stores all my music, videos, photos etc and links to the TV, sound system etc). We Skyped Scott and Lucy and Ross linked my laptop up to our big TV so that we could all see them in their little Elf hats - it didn't come out too well on this photo, but you get the idea:


On Saturday, Ross, Gary and I went to Pittodrie and saw Aberdeen beat Hearts 1-0 in front of a full house - it was great. When we got home, Jo was wearing her gifts from me - ear-rings and necklace:

Craig spent the night in Peterhead and Kelly took my car and went to the cinema with her friend, so I had a chance to play golf on Sunday morning before everyone arrived for dinner:

Kelly and Craig were considering going to the sales in Aberdeen this morning and I offered to drive them in and take them home, whilst I popped in to the office, but they eventually thought better of it, so I just got up at the usual time and came in for a couple of hours - I'll head off home and have lunch with them then take them to the airport this evening.

Christmas

It was another odd Christmas day. Jo went to church and Ross and I got ready for her return and then we all drove out to Inverurie where Carole had laid on a light lunch for us. We had a nice time with them - Luca was great and it was our first sight of tiny little Sima, Gary's new Jack Russell. Luca grazed on Jo's knee:




One of Carole's presents from Gary was her Man U shirt with her favourite player's name on it. As usual, Carole insisted that her face wouldn't be seen on camera:

and here's a first - Luca took this photo of me - rather good, eh?:

Gary wore his pinny getting ready for the afternoon's work in the kitchen:

Ross got pally with tiny little Sima:

and then he helped erect Luca's garage:

Luca's main present was Elmo:

We drove home in the gathering gloom to have our Christmas dinner, but when we got there, both Ross and I felt nauseous and had to go and lie down for an hour. We both got up eventually and managed to eat some of our dinner, but it didn't seem right. Shame for Jo, who, for a change, was fine - but she was the only one! I even missed Lucy's Skype - I tried to call her back later but no answer.

Kelly and Barry called to wish us Merry Christmas - and we'll see Kelly and Craig tonight of course.

Still feel a bit nauseous this morning and the tingling in my head hasn't gone away yet. I think Carole's theory of blocked sinuses may have some relevance - I think I may have an infection and if it doesn't clear soon I may need an antiobiotic to clear it.

Calling Dr Lucy

Dear Dr Lucy,

Can you help please? The left side of my head is tender - the eyeball is sore, like somebody is sticking pins in it and the left top of my head is very sensitive to the touch, like all the nerve ends are exposed. Is it terminal? (It's OK - Jo tested for strokes and I passed!).

Anyway, what have I done to offend Cade? He is not replying to any of my blog photo quizzes. I'm going to try just one more time. Where is this?:

(Clue - it's in USA).

When I had a couple of days off ill recently, it gave me the chance to watch Series 1 of Gavin and Stacey - Michael had given me the DVD. I had never previously watched it, but quite enjoyed the series, so when I noticed that BBC HD was showing all 7 episodes of Series 2 on Sunday night, we watched a couple of them and recorded the rest - or so I thought. Unfortunately, the last 3 recordings failed, so here we are, stuck in the middle of Series 2 with a Christmas Special to come tomorrow evening.

Monday

Kelly - that's fine about Saturday - if you and Craig want to go through to Peterhead then, you can use my car - Ross will take me to the football and back. That leaves Sunday afternoon/evening free for a family meal.

Foolishly tried to go up town at lunchtime - major mistake! Not much sign of recession here.

Weekend

Details of a busy weekend can be found on my other blogs - http://bsvgolf.blogspot.com/ and http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

Gary and Ross want to come with me to see the Aberdeen - Hearts match on Saturday, but Jo reminded me that Kelly and Craig will be here and she wants to have a big family meal some time when they're up. The key question is, when will Kelly and Craig be going through to Peterhead? If it's on Saturday, then that's fine - we can have a meal at ours on the Sunday. If not, we'll have to change plans - but no sweat either way.