The white stuff is disappearing fast - there's none on the coast now and, inland, it's starting to thin out. We've now got that horrible dark, cloudy, wet weather - I much prefer the brightness and the snow - as long as the roads are OK.
Nothing much doing - footy tonight and hopefully some squash tomorrow. Not so sure about golf on Sunday, though - we'd probably have to travel to the coast and the prospect of a warm house plus golf and cricket in the sun on TV may be a bit too much of a temptation.
Kelly will be heading down to one of our time share exchanges tomorrow - http://www.accorvacationclub.com.au/book-now/?offerId=3&resort=grand-mercure-links-lady-bay. Hope she has a nice break there - not that we're jealous. It's only 5 weeks now until I head off to Marrakech for some golf - looking forward to it. Then it's only 3 weeks after I come back that we're off to the States.
We're heading down to Glasgow on Wednesday afternoon. The Celtic Connections festival starts today and we're going to see Way to Blue: Songs of Nick Drake - http://www.celticconnections.com/whatson/event/90201-Way-to-Blue:-Songs-of-Nick-Drake
The only problem is, however, that Jo's just realised she is due back at the Cardio clinic in Stonehaven first thing on Thursday morning. We had originally planned to stay over, but we'll now have to come back the same evening. Still, at least it looks like it's getting milder and, hopefully we should be OK to drive there and back on Wednesday.
What can I say about the Wedding of the Year? We're really pleased and looking forward to it. In some ways, I'm now glad that FlyGlobespan went bust as I was supposed to be in Spain then, not returning until the day after the wedding! I'll now hopefully be able to re-organise this trip for a more suitable time - that is if another operator comes in to take on the routes.
Did you realise I've been on this earth for 22,231 days now? Jo - who, of course, is from a different planet - has been around for 21,487 days. Carole is just a month past her 15,000th day and Ross has another year to go until he's in 5 figures. Isn't this a more discreet way of revealing people's ages?
Ian R. Stewart Family Blog
Friday, 15 January 2010
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
The rest of the weekend in London
Just a quick post - I've still to bring the football blog up to date after the weekend.
On Sunday, Dave, Malcolm and I went back in to Central London. First stop was the National Portrait Gallery (http://www.npg.org.uk/), just behind Trafalgar Square, where there was an exhibition on:
I had wanted to go and see this and, with the West Ham match having been prematurely and unnecessarily postponed, this gave us the opportunity. It was pretty good - although perhaps you have to be an old f**t like me to fully appreciate it. Lots of great old photos and some original album covers, souvenirs and old magazine covers. We all thought that there should have been a background of loud 60's music, but it was all very discreet and low volume.
From there, we walked to Covent Garden, took in some of the sights there and eventually plumped for lunch at the Porterhouse (http://www.porterhousebrewco.com/coventgarden.html). This is a sister pub to the one in Dublin that we visited years ago - lots of little nooks and crannies - super place. Here's Dave and I waiting for our lunch with a couple of pints (Oyster Stout and Sierra Nevada on draught if you must know):
After lunch it was off to the movies to see the brand new Ian Dury biopic, Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll (http://www.sex-drugs-rock-roll-thefilm.com/). There was music in it - and lots of swearing - Jo wouldn't have liked either - but, a bit like the John Lennon film, Nowhere Boy, that we saw on Boxing Day, it was largely about his relationship with his son, with flashbacks to his childhood. There wasn't anything at all about his life from his teens until his mid thirties, when he decided to pursue a career in music.
After that, Malcolm and I headed off to Heathrow and Dave went back to his flat in Reading. We were back home, after only a short delay, about 11 pm. Sod's law, Colin could easily have come with us - he had cancelled at the last minute on Friday night after seeing the weekend weather forecast, which had been for heavy snow in London and major transport disruption on Sunday - but it all came to nowt.
Monday was Fraserburgh again, followed by some much needed exercise - squash at Findrack - it was freezing, and guess who forgot his track suit?
On Tuesday, I had a meeting up town with our lawyers, when I managed to get one of their Notaries Public to certify the copies of Kelly's latest certificates - good old Grampian Police had refused to do what Cornwall Police had done with her previous certificates - no reason given, but perhaps they, like everybody else, seems to be running scared of responsibility/litigation/insurance - delete as appropriate. As I was up town and going to be finished early, I phoned Jo to see if she fancied going to the movies? Yes - OK - the Belmont then - The Road (http://www.theroad-movie.com/). I'd just finished the audiobook (abridged) version of Cormac McCarthy's Pullitzer Prize winning novel and was intrigued to see what they did with it on film. It's pretty bleak but still enjoyable. Again, I thought it was largely about the Man's relationship with his son (The Boy), but Jo's interpretation was different - as usual!
Three movies in less than 3 weeks - I don't think I'd been to the cinema for well over a year before that.
I also finished No Mean City - a pretty gruesome tale of life in Glasgow's slums in the 30's - and written in an unusual and old fashioned style. I remembered only bits of it from when I last read it over 40 years ago.
I've now started on the first in the Milennium trilogy of novels by Stieg Larsson (http://www.stieglarsson.com/) - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. So far, so good. Not so sure about my current audiobook choice, however - The Death of Dalziel by Reginald Hill - I didn't realise it was Dalziel and Pascoe (http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/dalziel/) - remember them?
What started off as a quick update has stretched a bit - best do some work now.
On Sunday, Dave, Malcolm and I went back in to Central London. First stop was the National Portrait Gallery (http://www.npg.org.uk/), just behind Trafalgar Square, where there was an exhibition on:
I had wanted to go and see this and, with the West Ham match having been prematurely and unnecessarily postponed, this gave us the opportunity. It was pretty good - although perhaps you have to be an old f**t like me to fully appreciate it. Lots of great old photos and some original album covers, souvenirs and old magazine covers. We all thought that there should have been a background of loud 60's music, but it was all very discreet and low volume.
From there, we walked to Covent Garden, took in some of the sights there and eventually plumped for lunch at the Porterhouse (http://www.porterhousebrewco.com/coventgarden.html). This is a sister pub to the one in Dublin that we visited years ago - lots of little nooks and crannies - super place. Here's Dave and I waiting for our lunch with a couple of pints (Oyster Stout and Sierra Nevada on draught if you must know):
After lunch it was off to the movies to see the brand new Ian Dury biopic, Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll (http://www.sex-drugs-rock-roll-thefilm.com/). There was music in it - and lots of swearing - Jo wouldn't have liked either - but, a bit like the John Lennon film, Nowhere Boy, that we saw on Boxing Day, it was largely about his relationship with his son, with flashbacks to his childhood. There wasn't anything at all about his life from his teens until his mid thirties, when he decided to pursue a career in music.
After that, Malcolm and I headed off to Heathrow and Dave went back to his flat in Reading. We were back home, after only a short delay, about 11 pm. Sod's law, Colin could easily have come with us - he had cancelled at the last minute on Friday night after seeing the weekend weather forecast, which had been for heavy snow in London and major transport disruption on Sunday - but it all came to nowt.
Monday was Fraserburgh again, followed by some much needed exercise - squash at Findrack - it was freezing, and guess who forgot his track suit?
On Tuesday, I had a meeting up town with our lawyers, when I managed to get one of their Notaries Public to certify the copies of Kelly's latest certificates - good old Grampian Police had refused to do what Cornwall Police had done with her previous certificates - no reason given, but perhaps they, like everybody else, seems to be running scared of responsibility/litigation/insurance - delete as appropriate. As I was up town and going to be finished early, I phoned Jo to see if she fancied going to the movies? Yes - OK - the Belmont then - The Road (http://www.theroad-movie.com/). I'd just finished the audiobook (abridged) version of Cormac McCarthy's Pullitzer Prize winning novel and was intrigued to see what they did with it on film. It's pretty bleak but still enjoyable. Again, I thought it was largely about the Man's relationship with his son (The Boy), but Jo's interpretation was different - as usual!
Three movies in less than 3 weeks - I don't think I'd been to the cinema for well over a year before that.
I also finished No Mean City - a pretty gruesome tale of life in Glasgow's slums in the 30's - and written in an unusual and old fashioned style. I remembered only bits of it from when I last read it over 40 years ago.
I've now started on the first in the Milennium trilogy of novels by Stieg Larsson (http://www.stieglarsson.com/) - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. So far, so good. Not so sure about my current audiobook choice, however - The Death of Dalziel by Reginald Hill - I didn't realise it was Dalziel and Pascoe (http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/dalziel/) - remember them?
What started off as a quick update has stretched a bit - best do some work now.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Shivering in the south east
Greetings from freezing Reading. Our flight down was OK yesterday - only delayed by 20 mins or so - so we were down in plenty of time for the Arsenal match in the afternoon. I don't think I've ever been so cold at a match, however - even at Pittodrie!
The match we were planning to see this afternoon has been postponed, however, so we're now planning alternative pursuits.
Slept at Dave Williamson's flat last night - on an air bed. It was ok until it started to slowly deflate and I awoke when I began to feel the floor underneath me!
All a bit different from Kelly's heatwave in Oz!
The match we were planning to see this afternoon has been postponed, however, so we're now planning alternative pursuits.
Slept at Dave Williamson's flat last night - on an air bed. It was ok until it started to slowly deflate and I awoke when I began to feel the floor underneath me!
All a bit different from Kelly's heatwave in Oz!
Friday, 8 January 2010
What will the weekend bring?
Well, it's been long in the planning, but it looks like our Premiership weekend in London could be disrupted. Best laid plans ....
Aberdeen airport is open OK and most flights seem to be on time - there may be a danger of fog in the morning, but the main problem seems to be at our destination. So far, both the Arsenal - Everton match on Saturday and the West Ham - Wolves match on Sunday are still on, but the forecast is for more heavy snow over London - particularly on Sunday - so we'll just have to wait and see.
In a way, it's a pity that it clashed with Scottish Cup weekend - both the Dons and the Jags have attractive home fixtures tomorrow. A win-win for us would be to have a successful weekend in London and find that both the Scottish matches were cancelled and re-arranged for dates when we could see them - but that's very selfish - Gary would be really peeved as he's going to Glasgow tomorrow.
Talking about Gary, attempts to extricate a date for the wedding from him are proving to be very difficult - at least give us a clue, Gary! Kelly has tickets back to the UK and needs to book dates soon, so she's pressing as well. My diary's pretty full as well - it would be a shame for me to miss the wedding if it clashes with one of my golf or other outings! (That was a joke, Jo).
It's true, however, that I've got a lot of things planned for this year - here's the latest update on my diary:
So, tonight we're off to the Simcoxes for dinner - we won't be hungry after it!
Aberdeen airport is open OK and most flights seem to be on time - there may be a danger of fog in the morning, but the main problem seems to be at our destination. So far, both the Arsenal - Everton match on Saturday and the West Ham - Wolves match on Sunday are still on, but the forecast is for more heavy snow over London - particularly on Sunday - so we'll just have to wait and see.
In a way, it's a pity that it clashed with Scottish Cup weekend - both the Dons and the Jags have attractive home fixtures tomorrow. A win-win for us would be to have a successful weekend in London and find that both the Scottish matches were cancelled and re-arranged for dates when we could see them - but that's very selfish - Gary would be really peeved as he's going to Glasgow tomorrow.
Talking about Gary, attempts to extricate a date for the wedding from him are proving to be very difficult - at least give us a clue, Gary! Kelly has tickets back to the UK and needs to book dates soon, so she's pressing as well. My diary's pretty full as well - it would be a shame for me to miss the wedding if it clashes with one of my golf or other outings! (That was a joke, Jo).
It's true, however, that I've got a lot of things planned for this year - here's the latest update on my diary:
- 9th/10th January - footy weekend in London
- 20th January - Way to Blue (Nick Drake tribute) in Glasgow
- 30th January - Inverness to see the battle of the Jags
- 7th February - Scotland - France rugby in Edinburgh
- 20th February - Dundee v Thistle
- 22nd February - week's golf in Marrakech
- 5th March - headbang at Dave's
- 19th March - off to USA for 3 weeks
- 1st May - Peter & Srie Hodgson's daughter's wedding
- 10th/11th May - Boat of Garten
- 11th June - World Cup starts in S.A. (no, I'm not going!)
- 19th June - Scotland - England ODI (cricket) in Edinburgh
- 3rd July - England - Australia - Lord's
- 10th - 12th July - Golf at Slaley Hall, Northumberland
- 16th July - the 150th Open starts at St Andrews
- 21st August - England - Pakistan at the Oval
- 5th/6th September - Boat of Garten - our 50th outing in the 25th year!
- 17th - 20th September - West Highland Way (part) - changed date.
- 1st October - Ryder Cup starts - Wales
- 24th October - week's golf in Spain (if we can get flights!)
- and who knows, perhaps Christmas/New Year in Oz?
So, tonight we're off to the Simcoxes for dinner - we won't be hungry after it!
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
On the 12th day of Christmas
Yes, it's the day that the decorations come down - and ours have. We've still got our lovely flowers, however, and the tree is still there - albeit without its lights now:
I was back at work today, but the blizzards that came in just after lunchtime led to me making an early departure from the office. It was a slow drive home. No plans to go to the Broch this week and I may not even go in to the Aberdeen office tomorrow if the weather's still bad. My main concern now is the weekend - I'm due to go to London to see the Arsenal - Everton match on Saturday and the West Ham - Wolves match on Sunday, but the forecast for the South East doesn't look good and it may well be a wasted weekend - that would be a great shame as we have been planning and looking forward to this for such a long time. Que sera.
Before that, we are going to the Simcoxes on Friday night - always get well fed there!
I was back at work today, but the blizzards that came in just after lunchtime led to me making an early departure from the office. It was a slow drive home. No plans to go to the Broch this week and I may not even go in to the Aberdeen office tomorrow if the weather's still bad. My main concern now is the weekend - I'm due to go to London to see the Arsenal - Everton match on Saturday and the West Ham - Wolves match on Sunday, but the forecast for the South East doesn't look good and it may well be a wasted weekend - that would be a great shame as we have been planning and looking forward to this for such a long time. Que sera.
Before that, we are going to the Simcoxes on Friday night - always get well fed there!
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Kenmore - Monday
Last one from Sunday first of all - looking from the bridge at the Kenmore Club:
On Monday, we made the short trip to Aberfeldy. We spotted this poor frozen plant in a garden:
There's a beautiful, tree lined walk up to the falls - now called the Birks (birches) o' Aberfeldy. It's a pretty steep climb and it was very slippy on the snow and ice - hard work for twa old fogies with cardiac conditions. We came across some falls and (vainly) hoped that we were near the top:
In summer, the background here would have been nothing but water. Rabbie Burns was inspired to write the Birks o' Abefeldy at this very spot:
Finally, after a lot of clambering up steps and icy slopes, we made it to the top. If you look carefully beyond Jo to just under the walkway in the background you will see some water tumbling down - most of it was now icicles and snow however:
We crossed the bridge and made our way down the other side - it was more gradual with no steps, but this meant it could be tricky coming down and keep your footing - the consequences were inevitable:
We celebrated reaching the bottom without further incident with this photo:
and you all thought I only wrote blogs in my spare time?
Our last adventure was on Tuesday morning. I had a lunchtime meeting in Glasgow and had decided that our best bet was to head back to the main A9 and go south from there, rather than risk the side roads. My SatNav didn't like that and wanted us to head the other way. After several miles imploring us to make urgent u-turns, it finally accepted we were on the A9. When we got to Perth, however, the damned computer exacted revenge by telling us we couldn't go on the usual route south of Perth due to heavy traffic and re-directed us via Edinburgh. We were now driving straight in to the sun and couldn't see a thing, particularly as our washers were all frozen up.
I decided we had to pull in to Harthill service station to clear our windscreen, but, blow me, we got stuck on the up ramp as a lorry tried vainly to tow its partner out of the snow drifts - that held us up for another 15 minutes, but we got to our destination eventually - over two and a half hours after leaving Kenmore.
Ross phoned to tell us there was more snow in Banchory and we shouldn't hang around on our homeward journey, so it was only a very brief stop in Glasgow - meeting, bite of lunch and then home. Didn't see either Dawn or Barry.
On Monday, we made the short trip to Aberfeldy. We spotted this poor frozen plant in a garden:
There's a beautiful, tree lined walk up to the falls - now called the Birks (birches) o' Aberfeldy. It's a pretty steep climb and it was very slippy on the snow and ice - hard work for twa old fogies with cardiac conditions. We came across some falls and (vainly) hoped that we were near the top:
In summer, the background here would have been nothing but water. Rabbie Burns was inspired to write the Birks o' Abefeldy at this very spot:
Finally, after a lot of clambering up steps and icy slopes, we made it to the top. If you look carefully beyond Jo to just under the walkway in the background you will see some water tumbling down - most of it was now icicles and snow however:
We crossed the bridge and made our way down the other side - it was more gradual with no steps, but this meant it could be tricky coming down and keep your footing - the consequences were inevitable:
We celebrated reaching the bottom without further incident with this photo:
Lunch was at the lovely Watermill cafe and bookshop:
and you all thought I only wrote blogs in my spare time?
Our last adventure was on Tuesday morning. I had a lunchtime meeting in Glasgow and had decided that our best bet was to head back to the main A9 and go south from there, rather than risk the side roads. My SatNav didn't like that and wanted us to head the other way. After several miles imploring us to make urgent u-turns, it finally accepted we were on the A9. When we got to Perth, however, the damned computer exacted revenge by telling us we couldn't go on the usual route south of Perth due to heavy traffic and re-directed us via Edinburgh. We were now driving straight in to the sun and couldn't see a thing, particularly as our washers were all frozen up.
I decided we had to pull in to Harthill service station to clear our windscreen, but, blow me, we got stuck on the up ramp as a lorry tried vainly to tow its partner out of the snow drifts - that held us up for another 15 minutes, but we got to our destination eventually - over two and a half hours after leaving Kenmore.
Ross phoned to tell us there was more snow in Banchory and we shouldn't hang around on our homeward journey, so it was only a very brief stop in Glasgow - meeting, bite of lunch and then home. Didn't see either Dawn or Barry.
Kenmore - Sunday
Just back from our short break to Kenmore - pretty hairy journey going down, and it was a long day coming back as my SatNav led us a merry dance trying to avoid traffic congestion on the way to Glasgow.
The weather couldn't have been better when we were away - cold, dry and windless - the scenery was wonderful and it was great walking weather.
Anyway, on to the photos - the first is in the (upstairs) lounge of our cottage - note me wearing one of my Chrissy pressies from Jo. We had just returned from dinner at the on-site Waterside restaurant - we had just come second in their Saturday night quiz, winning a bottle of wine for our troubles!
On Sunday morning, we went for a stroll - these are the outdoor tables at the restaurant:
Some of the cottages were set around a courtyard with a grand entrance - note snowman:
This one is looking across Loch Tay towards the bridge that took us in to Kenmore itself:
This was our cottage - side on view - our front door was round to the right and the dormer window on the top at the right was in our lounge, with the main patio windows leading to the balcony on the right:
Our walk was through the village and in to the grounds of Taymouth Castle - latterly a hotel, but now, sadly, a major renovation project:
That's all that Blogger is going to allow me to upload now - more to follow in later posts.
The weather couldn't have been better when we were away - cold, dry and windless - the scenery was wonderful and it was great walking weather.
Anyway, on to the photos - the first is in the (upstairs) lounge of our cottage - note me wearing one of my Chrissy pressies from Jo. We had just returned from dinner at the on-site Waterside restaurant - we had just come second in their Saturday night quiz, winning a bottle of wine for our troubles!
On Sunday morning, we went for a stroll - these are the outdoor tables at the restaurant:
Some of the cottages were set around a courtyard with a grand entrance - note snowman:
This one is looking across Loch Tay towards the bridge that took us in to Kenmore itself:
This was our cottage - side on view - our front door was round to the right and the dormer window on the top at the right was in our lounge, with the main patio windows leading to the balcony on the right:
Our walk was through the village and in to the grounds of Taymouth Castle - latterly a hotel, but now, sadly, a major renovation project:
We came across what looked like a bit of a burial ground - were there any ashes in this large urn?:
That's all that Blogger is going to allow me to upload now - more to follow in later posts.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Books & films
Finished my audiobook of Cormac McCarthy's The Road - I see there's now a film coming out soon.
Still reading No Mean City - haven't read much of it recently. The books are piling up beside my bed - some good holiday reading - perhaps even this weekend.
We watched Quantum of Solace last night - pretty good - although I'm not sure exactly how much of the story you actually follow in detail. As Jo says, just go with the flow and it'll all become clear in the end - the goodies always win.
The new Ian Dury biopic is out this week - may even go and see it on Saturday night when we're down in London for our footy weekend.
Still reading No Mean City - haven't read much of it recently. The books are piling up beside my bed - some good holiday reading - perhaps even this weekend.
We watched Quantum of Solace last night - pretty good - although I'm not sure exactly how much of the story you actually follow in detail. As Jo says, just go with the flow and it'll all become clear in the end - the goodies always win.
The new Ian Dury biopic is out this week - may even go and see it on Saturday night when we're down in London for our footy weekend.
Memories of 26 years ago
The continuing snow reminds me of winter 1983/84 when we first moved in to Banchory. It arrived with a vengeance on 1st January, 1984 and the snow hung around until the end of February. "Daddy, I want to go back home" was a wail I recall. Of course, there was also a certain little madam who told me in no uncertain terms about the same time that she didn't care where my next job took me, she was staying put in Banchory - 10 years old and giving me orders! - and now look where she is!
Anyway, remember we didn't even have carpets down in the living room and we huddled up under duvets? We lost power, phones and TV reception. Remember the long queues at the video shop? - one in, one out.
I wonder if this winter is heading the same way? I rather like having "proper" winter weather, rather than just the bland, damp winters of more recent years. As long as the roads are open, it's rather nice - very pretty.
We went for a long(ish) walk yesterday. I think it was a bit further than Jo intended and she was pretty tired when we got back home. She had plans A & B ready for our New Year meal, depending on whether Gary, Carole and Luca came over - if they had, it would have been Jo's famous steak pie, but the snow put paid to that and so we had to "make do" with haggis instead! Very tasty it was too.
This was one of the photos I took at the far end of Banchory:
Today we're due to be heading off for a few days away at the Kenmore Club, Perthshire - if the weather behaves. More snow is forecast, but, so far, no sign of anything major. Have to wait for Jo to awaken anyway - she's still in recovery mode after yesterday!
Anyway, remember we didn't even have carpets down in the living room and we huddled up under duvets? We lost power, phones and TV reception. Remember the long queues at the video shop? - one in, one out.
I wonder if this winter is heading the same way? I rather like having "proper" winter weather, rather than just the bland, damp winters of more recent years. As long as the roads are open, it's rather nice - very pretty.
We went for a long(ish) walk yesterday. I think it was a bit further than Jo intended and she was pretty tired when we got back home. She had plans A & B ready for our New Year meal, depending on whether Gary, Carole and Luca came over - if they had, it would have been Jo's famous steak pie, but the snow put paid to that and so we had to "make do" with haggis instead! Very tasty it was too.
This was one of the photos I took at the far end of Banchory:
Today we're due to be heading off for a few days away at the Kenmore Club, Perthshire - if the weather behaves. More snow is forecast, but, so far, no sign of anything major. Have to wait for Jo to awaken anyway - she's still in recovery mode after yesterday!
Friday, 1 January 2010
2010
Happy New Year! Twenty Ten, Two O One O, or two thousand and ten? You choose - I think Twenty Ten will be the most favoured, particularly given that the London Olympics is already being marketed as Twenty Twelve.
We had dinner at Anne and Leslie's last night. Peter and Srie Hodgson came along and it was a bit of a buffet as Anne's bed is still in the dining room. Srie, Jo and Leslie were doing most of the work. Smoked salmon on tattie pancakes was Jo's starter, and we had a choice of 3 main courses prepared by Srie - chicken, beef and veggie. Jo's pavlova to follow of course.
Colin made a brief appearance whilst Johanne slept off the effects of the sedation - they had just got back from Ninewells hospital, Dundee at 4 pm after Johanne had had a small operation/procedure to replace the battery in the stimulation unit implanted six and half years ago. Colin reckons her walking may have improved a little and her speech is less slurred, although the volume has not increased. It's a bit too early to be sure, however - I hope it improves things for Johanne for a while.
Here's the group after the bells this morning:
We had dinner at Anne and Leslie's last night. Peter and Srie Hodgson came along and it was a bit of a buffet as Anne's bed is still in the dining room. Srie, Jo and Leslie were doing most of the work. Smoked salmon on tattie pancakes was Jo's starter, and we had a choice of 3 main courses prepared by Srie - chicken, beef and veggie. Jo's pavlova to follow of course.
Colin made a brief appearance whilst Johanne slept off the effects of the sedation - they had just got back from Ninewells hospital, Dundee at 4 pm after Johanne had had a small operation/procedure to replace the battery in the stimulation unit implanted six and half years ago. Colin reckons her walking may have improved a little and her speech is less slurred, although the volume has not increased. It's a bit too early to be sure, however - I hope it improves things for Johanne for a while.
Here's the group after the bells this morning:
Gary has been on the phone this morning to officially tell us the worst kept secret in the world - never could cover up his tracks, that boy! The christmas card to "my fiancé" was a bit of a give-away - even though it was the wrong gender! Many congratulations to them both.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Indoors picnic
This was the lovely scene that greeted me when I arrived at Inverurie for Luca's 3rd birthday picnic:
Carole had laid on a lovely spread - Jo and I appreciated it, although Luca didn't eat much other than some crisps and chocolate cake - too excited, I guess.
Carole's taking a photo of Luca blowing out his candles:
On my way home, I took a slight detour via Anderson's and saw this chair, which I quite like. What do you think?:
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Luca is 3
Happy birthday to little Luca, who stayed over again last night - and also slept right through till I was leaving for work. Bye bye, Luca - "happy Christmas, Grandad".
I'm at work again this morning but will leave for Inverurie at lunchtime - can't resist the lure of Peppa Pig cake. We had some snow last night - it must have come quite late as the roads in Banchory hadn't been cleared - although the ploughs were on the roads as I gingerly drove to work. The temperature is a lot higher though - at least 10 C warmer than yesterday - i.e. it's now a positive number! More snow forecast for tomorrow - don't think I'll bother travelling to work in that case.
I had intended to come home home in the early afternoon yesterday but made a slight diversion to go in to Comet to look at their range of cameras. I'd like to get a decent quality camera, but I like the convenience of being able to carry a small camera on my belt. Digital SLR's are getting smaller, but they're still relatively bulky in comparison with non-SLR's. In fact, it appears the dividing lines are breaking down - a few manufacturers are advertising hybrids nowadays - you've probably seen the PEN adverts on TV. I'm still not quite sure what the distinction is exactly - I'll probably have to talk to somebody that knows a bit more about it.
Anyway, I was heading home through the busy city centre traffic when Keith sent me a message proposing racquetball at Kippie, so that meant another diversion on the way home - firstly to get a quick sandwich for lunch, then to Kippie, then a quick beer with Keith and Les - we swapped cardiac stories - an increasing trend nowadays.
I'm at work again this morning but will leave for Inverurie at lunchtime - can't resist the lure of Peppa Pig cake. We had some snow last night - it must have come quite late as the roads in Banchory hadn't been cleared - although the ploughs were on the roads as I gingerly drove to work. The temperature is a lot higher though - at least 10 C warmer than yesterday - i.e. it's now a positive number! More snow forecast for tomorrow - don't think I'll bother travelling to work in that case.
I had intended to come home home in the early afternoon yesterday but made a slight diversion to go in to Comet to look at their range of cameras. I'd like to get a decent quality camera, but I like the convenience of being able to carry a small camera on my belt. Digital SLR's are getting smaller, but they're still relatively bulky in comparison with non-SLR's. In fact, it appears the dividing lines are breaking down - a few manufacturers are advertising hybrids nowadays - you've probably seen the PEN adverts on TV. I'm still not quite sure what the distinction is exactly - I'll probably have to talk to somebody that knows a bit more about it.
Anyway, I was heading home through the busy city centre traffic when Keith sent me a message proposing racquetball at Kippie, so that meant another diversion on the way home - firstly to get a quick sandwich for lunch, then to Kippie, then a quick beer with Keith and Les - we swapped cardiac stories - an increasing trend nowadays.
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
CBeebies
With Luca staying overnight, it wasn't my usual start to the day, listening to BBC Breakfast over my Fruit and Fibre - oh no, Nina and the Neurons instead - how educational - today it was all about sound echoes.
I'm at work, but it took a while to scrape the car this morning - hard frost. The temperature dipped as low as -9.5 C as I drove over the moor at Garlogie. My water bottle, which sits in my car, has now been resting on my desk in the centrally heated office for over 3 hours and it's still 90% ice with only a little of the block having defrosted.
Yesterday was footy again at Strikers in Aberdeen - check football blog for photos - it was Andy Gore's 63rd birthday and also my 600th match - not bad considering I stopped completely for 6 years from 1991 and even now, only play occasionally when they're short. It pales in comparison with Andy's record - he's now played 888 matches since we first started keeping records in 1990.
Done some work now, but going home soon - got to break myself in gently.
I'm at work, but it took a while to scrape the car this morning - hard frost. The temperature dipped as low as -9.5 C as I drove over the moor at Garlogie. My water bottle, which sits in my car, has now been resting on my desk in the centrally heated office for over 3 hours and it's still 90% ice with only a little of the block having defrosted.
Yesterday was footy again at Strikers in Aberdeen - check football blog for photos - it was Andy Gore's 63rd birthday and also my 600th match - not bad considering I stopped completely for 6 years from 1991 and even now, only play occasionally when they're short. It pales in comparison with Andy's record - he's now played 888 matches since we first started keeping records in 1990.
Done some work now, but going home soon - got to break myself in gently.
Monday, 28 December 2009
Movies
Well, I think we both enjoyed Nowhere Boy - a sad little tale, according to Jo. I obviously knew the story inside out, but it was pretty well done - particularly Kristen Scott Thomas as Aunt Mimi.
We also watched Australia on Sky Anytime. I thought this was meant to be Nicole Kidman's attempt to get her home country's history more fully recognised - like America had been, particularly in the 50's with wave after wave of cowboy movies. It was, however, trite, banal, cliched and full of stereotypes - and incredbly long - we watched it over 2 nights.
Oh - just spotted another deer up on the embankment - everywhere's still white and frozen, so they'll be scavenging elsewhere.
Jo's away to have her hair done, and I'm heading in to Aberdeen for the footy now. We've got Luca tonight whilst Gary and Carole go to see Avotar in 3D.
We also watched Australia on Sky Anytime. I thought this was meant to be Nicole Kidman's attempt to get her home country's history more fully recognised - like America had been, particularly in the 50's with wave after wave of cowboy movies. It was, however, trite, banal, cliched and full of stereotypes - and incredbly long - we watched it over 2 nights.
Oh - just spotted another deer up on the embankment - everywhere's still white and frozen, so they'll be scavenging elsewhere.
Jo's away to have her hair done, and I'm heading in to Aberdeen for the footy now. We've got Luca tonight whilst Gary and Carole go to see Avotar in 3D.
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