More presents!

Another day, another present. Last night, it was the tickets for the Neil Young concert - today, I received a parcel from USA with my Father's Day gift - a "Gramp-li-fy" t-shirt:

Next week, my beer perhaps? Yummy!

Neil Young

Sore and tired today - getting too old to play a round of golf and then stand for 2 hours on the concrete floor at AECC. Neil Young was great however, but, boy was I glad to sit down after the concert!

Jo survived the experience - here she is at the start - looking for the exits - she was freaked out by the crowd!:

I think Jo enjoyed the quieter accoustic spell in the middle of the concert - the longer, louder guitar solos at the start and finish of the concert from the so-called "Godfather of Grunge" left her cringing a bit at times - particularly on the many false endings of his last number, Rockin' in the Free World. Jo thought he had started and finished the concert with the same song, but it was in fact Hey hey, My my that he opened with - although I can see how she could get confused - they're both pretty similar, although written and recorded a decade apart. I had been told what his encore would be, but it was still a bit of a surprise to hear him doing A Day in the Life - although he did a pretty good job on a song that even the Beatles never did live.

(The football and golf blogs have got photos and videos from yesterday.)

Forgot to tell you about a fascinating incident the other day. I came home from work on Tuesday and Amy from number 6 came over to see me. She asked me how long the tree swing had been up in Arbor Court? I'm not sure, I said - 15 years maybe? Well, did I object to the kids playing on the grass or on the swing? - not at all, I said. Finally, she told me - the nutter from number 3 had cut the swing down! Apparently she said that she did not want to be responsible under Health & Safety for one of the kids having an accident!

Amy also revealed that Gayle from number 2 had also had a run-in with our Irish friend, so we're not alone! Armed with the information that everyone else in the street was happy to have the tree swing, Amy went and put it back up again:

Watch this space for future developments!

And Gary - no, it's not acceptable to just stop your blog. I know I have been bleating about others not updating regularly, but if you stop, how else will we know what's happening with you lot? You don't phone - unless you need a babysitter - and you've never Skyped, unlike Lucy.

Sunshine - bring it on!

The day has started with early morning haar in Aberdeen, but this usually means glorious afternoon sunshine in Deeside - roll on my 2:15 pm tee time. After golf, it's back to the haar to see Neil Young at AECC tonight. Jo and I are going along - I've warned her about Neil's extended guitar solos - dentists' drills she calls them - hope she copes OK. It's going to be a long evening, standing - no seats available - but thanks to Kelly and Craig for the tickets.

Another birthday present I've still to collect is my beer from Deeside Brewery, courtesy of Gary and Carole. Must get in touch with Rob - it must be ready to roll out to the pubs.

Jo had a bit of a Homer "Duh" moment in her blog - she asked us to name all the kids in the photo - well, of course, it's Sasha and Karl. How did I know? Click on the photo and all is revealed - Jo named the photo herself! Their parents were Ray and Chris Barrie and they lived a couple of doors along from us in Caldecot Way, Broxbourne.

Weary

Golfed out - that's me. I'm sitting here in my Aberdeen office looking at the glorious day outside and normally I'd be champing at the bit to get out on the golf course, but it's all been a bit much recently and I'm very glad to give it a rest tonight.

I'll tell you how bad it is - I had qualified in the last 32 and played in the 3rd round of the John Marr Trophy (no, I don't know who he is either) last night. I had a pretty average round and it was touch and got whether I made the cut to the last 16 to be played on Thursday evening. For once, I was delighted when I got the e-mail this morning to tell me that I'd finished 19th and didn't have to play on Thursday!

It's just an accumulation and it always happens in June each year. There's more to come - I'm playing my usual Wednesday Quaich game tomorrow (in the afternoon as we're going to see Neil Young at AECC in the evening) and then there's football on Friday, golf at Banchory on Saturday and Sunday mornings, then our annual late night trip to Balmoral on Monday, followed by a tie at Torphins on Tuesday etc etc. Roll on the holiday!

The poll results haven't been matched by action - most said they preferred blogs, but, if you look at them, the number of postings is dropping rapidly. I'm as guilty as anyone - it used to be an average of at least one daily (30 or so a month), but the last 3 months have had only 22, 15 and 10 respectively. Is it the time of year, or are we getting fed up of blogs? Vote now.

What a lovely Father's Day

St Andrews was great on Friday - but windy - see golf blog for photos.



Colin didn't get out of hospital on Friday as we thought he would, but he did eventually manage to persuade them yesterday to let him out "on parole" for the weekend. He has to go back in on Monday to get the results of his 24 hour heart monitor.



Today has been great - shorts weather. Golf was fun this morning and we got to sit out on the balcony afterwards. When I came home, Jo was out in the back garden potting:

I'd had enough sun in the morning so I was quite happy to settle down in front of the TV to take in the Grand Prix, then the Twenty20 final, followed by the 3rd round of the US Open - and Wimbledon starts tomorrow - great!

Gary came over with Luca and Sima - plus some chocolates!

Luca loves spending time with his Gran - I secretly filmed the two of them on the balcony:

Well, that was the Summer Solstice - all downhill from here!

Thursday's latest

Not much to say - check the football blog for news of Colin.

Other than that, busy morning tomorrow, but then it's off to St Andrews for the afternoon for our Midsummer Outing, followed by a curry at the Balaka.

Oh - and don't forget to complete my latest poll.

Tuesday

Planning on a quiet day today - golfed out. I did OK, without threatening to win anything, in the Seniors Club Championship - top 10 in both scratch and handicap can't be bad.

I'll go and see Colin this afternoon and see how he's getting on - he's been moved to a "normal" ward, which is a good sign, I hope.

A deer has been a fairly regular visitor to the embankment at the back - he/she seems to particularly like some of the plants/weeds in she-whose-name-must-not-be-mentioned's garden next door.

Jo and I have both sponsored Carole in Sunday's Race for Life - is that poor communication between us, or did Carole just con us both? No matter - it's for a good cause! It's exactly a decade since our football group took part in this (it was a 24 hour Relay then). Niece Julie was then the Scottish organiser for Cancer Relief, and the Aberdeen event (at Linksfield) was the most successful fund-raiser in Scotland, and our group was the largest contributor to this - £4,608. Gary came along to watch us, but didn’t take part. I showed Carole some of the photos of a 24 year old Gary - hope she's got over the shock now! This is me opening the champagne at the end of a gruelling 24 hours:

I had my annual medical at Albyn yesterday. The results will be in soon, but I'll get the usual bollocking about weight, body fat %, alcohol consumption, and probably high cholesterol to boot. I do already know that I still am in Atrial Fibrillation, however - apparently it'll always be this way - it never goes back to a normal rhythm. Oh well, it's just a matter of time before they put me on Warfarin then - I'll put this off as long as I can as I still have memories of what it did to my Mum - the bad outweighed the good on that occasion.

The weekend

Got a bit of a fright on Friday when Jo rang me from Inverurie and told me that Johanne had just texted her and said that Colin had been taken in to hospital. Jo was babysitting Luca and couldn't really do anything so I phoned Johanne to find out more. Johanne's condition makes it difficult to fully understand her on the phone, but I could make out words like "seizure", ECG etc and this obviously concerned me.



I went to the hospital at visiting time and there was Colin, looking, feeling and sounding fine, albeit wired up to a heart monitor. We took Johanne back to ARI yesterday and this afternoon and again Colin seems fine. Perhaps they'll find out more tomorrow. Check the football blog for photos.



Apart from that, it's just been golf, golf, golf - I'm worn out - and I have to play in the last round of the Seniors club championship tomorrow night. Looking forward to a rest day on Tuesday.



Tomorrow morning, I've got my annual medical at Albyn and I have to fast from 9:30 pm tonight - best stock up on carbos now!

I forgot to mention that, when I was in Reading last week, we went to the Nag's Head - a cracking little pub. One of the artefacts on the wall brought back memories of my days with James Buchanan & Co at Stepps and then London from 1972 to 1977:

Friday sunshine

Great start to the day - lovely sunshine - hope it continues. It's going to be a long one for all of us, however. Jo drove Ross to the airport this morning at the crack of dawn - I think it was about 4:30 am they left. Of course, Jo was awake half the night - and so, of course, was I. Ross had said to her not to worry - he would wake her up. His way of doing this was to stay awake all night again - he'll be shattered by the time he gets to Amsterdam for his weekend with his fellow gamers.

Jo went straight from the airport to Inverurie for breakfast!

Weekend approaches

Better weather to come we believe. Last night was warm, damp and still - perfect for midges - and you know how I react to them. I got eaten alive - check my golf blog for a photo.

Otherwise, it's back to normal now. Got a busy morning tomorrow then I'm playing in the 2nd round of the Seniors club championship in the afternoon. Hopefully golf Saturday, Sunday and Monday too! In fact, it's just golf, golf, golf until we go to USA - it always happens at this time of year - lots of competitions and outings and then, before you know it, the season's over - got to take the chance when you can.

Ross seemed to get on OK at his job interview yesterday - fingers crossed!

Brian Hanson joins the 60 brigade tomorrow - happy birthday to him!

Back home again

It's been a busy time - first the beer festival - here's Jo and I last Friday:


Ross was there with his pals and we all jumped home in a 16 seater bus. I cancelled golf on Saturday, but needn't have bothered - the overnight rain closed the course until lunchtime.

I drove round to Colin's at about noon and we made our way to the airport for our cricket weekend - full details and photos on football blog - but here's one that might interest Jo - the menu from the Sweeney & Todd pie shop we visited:



In fact, there were many more specials that weren't on the menu - the waitress took great delight in giving us an American style listing of all that were available that day.

On Sunday morning, after a restless night's sleep on Dave's settee, I got up and walked round for the Sunday papers. Dave's flat is right in Reading city centre, next to the canal:



Good weekend, but glad to get home again - but I discovered that I had to play a foursomes match at Torphins - it was the only time all 4 were available before we go to USA in a month!

Think I'll go home early and rest now - and, btw, it was impossible to avoid finding out who won the Apprentice - I watched it last night and will view the Adrian Chiles bit tonight - if I can stay awake!

Getting ready for a busy weekend

As commented on Facebook, the opening day of the beer festival went well last night - numbers seemed to be well up on the same time last year. Got a chance to sample a few when I was working behind the bar, but my main chance will come tonight when our bus arrives from Banchory and we can have a few proper beers, rather than just a couple of tasters in the bottom of the glass. Highlights for me last night were Yellowhammer and Dartmoor.

I'm doing a couple of hours behind the bar again this afternoon before heading home to dump the car and pick up the bus back to the festival. I'm not playing golf in the morning - I did have time to play before we caught our afternoon flight to London, but thought better of it - I'd probably not be up for it anyway.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Sunday is not looking too good - I hope we do get to see some cricket. Although I'm sure we'll find something else to do, it does rather spoil the purpose of the trip if it's rained off.

Golf on Wednesday was OK - I played with Dick - he and Theresa were just back from Bogota visiting their daughter. As usual, after golf, Jo and I watched The Apprentice whilst I ate my supper - little bit of a surprise result and I now wonder if the obvious favourite is going to stumble at the last hurdle? I also discovered that the final has been moved from Wednesday to this Sunday - that's a bit of a bummer as I'll be in London/Reading that evening and won't be able to watch it until I get home on Monday. The media will be full of it on Monday morning and it will be hard to avoid knowing who's won before I watch the recording.

That's about all for now - although I have been editing some of my previous Blog postings - on the instructions of she who must be obeyed!

Monday scare

Got a bit of a fright yesterday when I heard about the missing Air France plane. That route is one that is used by Dave Williamson quite often - Colin and I are going to stay with him this weekend for the cricket. I made a discreet enquiry and he's OK, however - he wasn't on this flight back from Rio, but he said there was considerable reflection in his office in Reading yesterday when they heard the news. Several of his colleagues were actually travelling in the opposite direction when the plane went missing.

Anyway, forgot to post photos of Luca when he was with us on Sunday. We were out the back and he was enjoying splashing the waste water over Jo's feet, which meant she took evasive action, producing this slightly risque photo:

(Object subsequently removed due to the objections of the subject)

Last night after tea - liver and bacon - yummy! - perhaps we'll get steak and kidney pudding next? - Jo and I walked over to the golf course to play a few holes. It was an absolutely perfect evening. Jo did well in bits - signs of improvement - and finished in a blaze of glory at the 16th - the Doo'cot. Although one of the shortest holes in golf, it's pretty tough for a beginner as it's straight up a steep hill and many people can't get the ball high enough to hit the green. In fact, our golf group have a phrase for any unfortunates that play the hole badly - it's called a "wedding cake" when somebody has to play on all 3 tiers of the hole!

Jo's tee shot was quite good and got up to the 2nd level OK, but didn't quite make it all the way up. Her second shot just failed but then she almost holed her 3rd and eventually tapped in for a 4 - pretty good.

Of course, long before that, back at "Hitler's bunker" at the 11th, where Jo had come to grief last week, she was back in trouble again, but this time managed to get out on her 2nd attempt - a bit better than the 14 or 15 attempts last time out:

A rare sighting of the sprinklers in action on the 3rd green behind her.

Today is setting up for the beer festival - I'm planning to go down for a couple of hours late afternoon.

We've got some clouds/haar this morning - not sure if it's going to clear or not. The forecast is for the weather to go downhill a bit for the next few days.

Monday scorcher

Still fabulous weather here - shame to be at work - but what would I do? Too knackered to have a round of golf after playing Wed/Thu/Sat/Sun with football on Friday in between. Still, maybe manage a few holes with Jo tonight. We probably would have gone out last night but by the time Gary and Carole picked up Luca, it was getting a bit late to go out.

Btw, I got a roasting for posting that photo of Jo in yesterday's blog. Apparently it's my fault that I caught her at a bad moment, and when she's water retentive.

Do any of you remember our holiday in Florida when we went to visit Jim and Mary Cowie and their boys from Scrabster? Jim was a fish processor and the Clarks owned 50% of his business. He subsequently cracked up and did a runner, leaving us to pick up the pieces and sort out the mess he'd left and all the unpaid creditors, including the bank, so he hasn't exactly been flavour of the month round here for the last decade or so. Anyway, he changed careers and became a chef - see the article below from the P & J a week past Saturday: