Yes - it's back again - more of the white stuff overnight, so decision made - no trip to Inverness for us. As compensation, Malcolm got in touch this morning - he's got a spare ticket for Pittodrie this afternoon, so I'm heading off there shortly.
Tomorrow, it's a tennis breakfast/brunch for me - fingers crossed for Andy. Gary and Carole are going to drop off Luca about lunchtime as they're heading off to Ardoe House for another wedding exhibition. We'll then take Luca home when we go over for dinner later on.
That's about it y'all - have a good weekend.
Ian R. Stewart Family Blog
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Friday, 29 January 2010
Back to blogging
I've been very busy at work this week and not had the time to do any blogging during daylight hours - and generally too busy or tired to do anything in the evenings.
It's always a busy time of year at work just after the Christmas/New Year holidays and, apart from the usual routine, I've been doing all our managers' annual appraisals, so that's kept me out of mischief for a while.
I got a quick game of squash on Tuesday - we couldn't get on at Findrack and Kippie was out of the question as well, so we thought we'd try Aboyne. None of us had played there for more than 20 years. The court used to have a linoleum floor and your feet would get red hot. Thankfully, that's changed and they do have a proper sprung wooden floor now - the only problem is they seem to be either polishing it or varnishing it - it's very slippy and constitutes a bit of a health hazard. Of course, when you try to tell the numpties there about this, you get nowhere - "I don't think they're polishing it" - well, it needs sanding then - "Oh it's not the type of floor you can sand" - the lady was suddenly an expert on squash courts and was telling me how it should be done. I gave up - I thought they might react when I said it was a Health and Safety matter - normally Council workers run for the hills when they hear these magic words, but even this didn't seem to provoke much of a reaction. I guess we'll only use this court again if we're really desperate. It was nice and warm however, which made a pleasant change.
It was quite spooky going back to the Aboyne Community Centre - memories of almost a quarter of a century ago when we would all troop down there for the Saturday morning swimming session, and go upstairs to the cafeteria - it seemed half of Banchory were there.
Mention of Health and Safety reminded me of an incident at work the other day which demonstrated that there's no accounting for the "numpty factor". Michael looked out of his office window and saw one of our employees actually inside the compactor trying to push the boxes down. Just thinking of the consequences makes you go weak at the knees.
Luca was with us overnight on Tuesday and all day Wednesday - and you've heard about the mishap from Gary's blog. It was our golf club AGM on Wednesday and after it, we watched the second half of the Manchester derby - what a great game! We're now trying to proceed with a project to build a squash court at the golf club - Richard Simcox, like most of us, has got fed up waiting for all the other projects - Hill of Banchory, King George V - to make any progress, so he's decided to fund the entire project himself!
His business is obviously making a lot of money just now - but it's still no shoe-in - we still have to persuade the committee, then the members of the golf club at an EGM, that it's a good idea for them. We have some history here - when the squash club was first established just over 30 years ago, the then committee, led by Dick Taylor, proposed to build the courts at the golf club, who had just had a major fire and had to completely re-build their club house - but they said no - talk about short-sighted. The squash club then had 200 members and, being a winter sport, it would have kept the clubhouse busy all winter long. Now, the clubhouse is absolutely dead for 5 months or so of the year - they were even complaining about it at Wednesday's AGM. I just hope there's a bit more vision this time - albeit there's currently only one-tenth of the former numbers currently playing squash - but hopefully more would play if facilities were available.
That's about it - we've all been suffering a bit from a slight bug - just slightly under the weather. Jo's still got a bit of a sore throat, but hopefully she'll be OK for her girls' night out tonight.
We woke up this morning to more snow. The roads were pretty slippy - especially around Garlogie - but it was even worse just north of Aberdeen - the dual carriageway is completely jammed and all our guys who live in Ellon etc are taking over 2 hours to get in today. Tomorrow we had planned to go to Inverness for the footy, but, with more snow forecast for tonight, we're having second thoughts now.
Looks like golf on Sunday will be a no-no as well, which is good as I can now watch the final of the Australian Open with a clear conscience! After that, we head to Gary and Carole's for dinner - hopefully after we've watched Man Utd beat Arsenal on the box!
It's always a busy time of year at work just after the Christmas/New Year holidays and, apart from the usual routine, I've been doing all our managers' annual appraisals, so that's kept me out of mischief for a while.
I got a quick game of squash on Tuesday - we couldn't get on at Findrack and Kippie was out of the question as well, so we thought we'd try Aboyne. None of us had played there for more than 20 years. The court used to have a linoleum floor and your feet would get red hot. Thankfully, that's changed and they do have a proper sprung wooden floor now - the only problem is they seem to be either polishing it or varnishing it - it's very slippy and constitutes a bit of a health hazard. Of course, when you try to tell the numpties there about this, you get nowhere - "I don't think they're polishing it" - well, it needs sanding then - "Oh it's not the type of floor you can sand" - the lady was suddenly an expert on squash courts and was telling me how it should be done. I gave up - I thought they might react when I said it was a Health and Safety matter - normally Council workers run for the hills when they hear these magic words, but even this didn't seem to provoke much of a reaction. I guess we'll only use this court again if we're really desperate. It was nice and warm however, which made a pleasant change.
It was quite spooky going back to the Aboyne Community Centre - memories of almost a quarter of a century ago when we would all troop down there for the Saturday morning swimming session, and go upstairs to the cafeteria - it seemed half of Banchory were there.
Mention of Health and Safety reminded me of an incident at work the other day which demonstrated that there's no accounting for the "numpty factor". Michael looked out of his office window and saw one of our employees actually inside the compactor trying to push the boxes down. Just thinking of the consequences makes you go weak at the knees.
Luca was with us overnight on Tuesday and all day Wednesday - and you've heard about the mishap from Gary's blog. It was our golf club AGM on Wednesday and after it, we watched the second half of the Manchester derby - what a great game! We're now trying to proceed with a project to build a squash court at the golf club - Richard Simcox, like most of us, has got fed up waiting for all the other projects - Hill of Banchory, King George V - to make any progress, so he's decided to fund the entire project himself!
His business is obviously making a lot of money just now - but it's still no shoe-in - we still have to persuade the committee, then the members of the golf club at an EGM, that it's a good idea for them. We have some history here - when the squash club was first established just over 30 years ago, the then committee, led by Dick Taylor, proposed to build the courts at the golf club, who had just had a major fire and had to completely re-build their club house - but they said no - talk about short-sighted. The squash club then had 200 members and, being a winter sport, it would have kept the clubhouse busy all winter long. Now, the clubhouse is absolutely dead for 5 months or so of the year - they were even complaining about it at Wednesday's AGM. I just hope there's a bit more vision this time - albeit there's currently only one-tenth of the former numbers currently playing squash - but hopefully more would play if facilities were available.
That's about it - we've all been suffering a bit from a slight bug - just slightly under the weather. Jo's still got a bit of a sore throat, but hopefully she'll be OK for her girls' night out tonight.
We woke up this morning to more snow. The roads were pretty slippy - especially around Garlogie - but it was even worse just north of Aberdeen - the dual carriageway is completely jammed and all our guys who live in Ellon etc are taking over 2 hours to get in today. Tomorrow we had planned to go to Inverness for the footy, but, with more snow forecast for tonight, we're having second thoughts now.
Looks like golf on Sunday will be a no-no as well, which is good as I can now watch the final of the Australian Open with a clear conscience! After that, we head to Gary and Carole's for dinner - hopefully after we've watched Man Utd beat Arsenal on the box!
Monday, 25 January 2010
Back to work
Monday again - been to Fraserburgh this morning and now in Aberdeen office, preparing for our board meeting in the morning. I had originally planned to come back via Inverurie as we were due to be having Luca for the night, but that was cancelled.
Diary - Friday - busy day at work with lots of monthly management meetings, but then a nice time in the evening at Franco's for Malcolm Lodge's farewell - see football blog. Even managed another very quick trip to the gym - and I finally found a car wash that was open again, so everyone could tell my car was supposed to be black - but it's back to grey already.
We did very little on Saturday - got depressed by hearing the radio with Thistle getting duffed at home. We're supposed to be going to Inverness to see them on Saturday, but we're starting to lose enthusiasm for this annual trip to see our old pal Rob Dunnachie, who now lives in Dingwall.
On Saturday evening, we started watching the Wire - Colin had given me the DVD's of the first series (he's on series 5 now!). It's pretty good - gritty and earthy - Colin had warned us to put on the subtitles - and we're glad we did. By Sunday evening we had watched the first 3 episodes - only another 12 to go in the first series.
I also finished my book - the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - last night. I really enjoyed it and have now ordered the other two books in the series. I finished the two parts of the audiobook I was reading today - Next by Michael Chrichton - but I think I must have overlooked downloading some other parts - it all came to a rather abrupt end.
So, we've got a confirmed date for the wedding - and Lucy's now booked their flights to/from USA. Over to Kelly now.
Diary - Friday - busy day at work with lots of monthly management meetings, but then a nice time in the evening at Franco's for Malcolm Lodge's farewell - see football blog. Even managed another very quick trip to the gym - and I finally found a car wash that was open again, so everyone could tell my car was supposed to be black - but it's back to grey already.
We did very little on Saturday - got depressed by hearing the radio with Thistle getting duffed at home. We're supposed to be going to Inverness to see them on Saturday, but we're starting to lose enthusiasm for this annual trip to see our old pal Rob Dunnachie, who now lives in Dingwall.
On Saturday evening, we started watching the Wire - Colin had given me the DVD's of the first series (he's on series 5 now!). It's pretty good - gritty and earthy - Colin had warned us to put on the subtitles - and we're glad we did. By Sunday evening we had watched the first 3 episodes - only another 12 to go in the first series.
I also finished my book - the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - last night. I really enjoyed it and have now ordered the other two books in the series. I finished the two parts of the audiobook I was reading today - Next by Michael Chrichton - but I think I must have overlooked downloading some other parts - it all came to a rather abrupt end.
So, we've got a confirmed date for the wedding - and Lucy's now booked their flights to/from USA. Over to Kelly now.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Driving Miss Daisy
We went to Celtic Connections in Glasgow last night (Way to Blue; Songs of Nick Drake). I met Jo at Leggart Terrace - Ross drove her in there - and, guess what? - they were almost on time - of course, they couldn't exactly get lost this time, could they?
Colin and Johanne took the train down - at just £15 return for over 55's, it's a no-brainer - we would have loved to have taken this option too, but we had to travel back straight after the concert as Jo had to be in Stonehaven early this morning for her appointment at the Cardio clinic. Anyway, we went for a pre-theatre supper at Sarti's Italian restaurant, which was fairly exotic looking inside - check http://www.sarti.co.uk/restaurants/renfield-street-glasgow/history-renfield-st-.aspx for the history of the building.
After dinner, we gave the girls a touch of Glasgow "culture" - a visit to the legendary Horseshoe Bar (http://www.horseshoebar.co.uk/), where many an entertainer first made their name. It has listed building status and the web site has some interesting tales on it. I didn't have my camera with me, so just managed this poor quality photo from my Blackberry:
The concert was great - see music blog for more info - and we got out of the Concert Hall pretty quickly, only to find a huge queue at the ticket machine in the car park. Then we had to queue to get out of the car park - and then took a wrong turn and had to go all round the houses to get back on to the motorway. Further frustration came when we got to Moodiesburn and then had to go through miles and miles of the huge roadworks that have been going on for ages. It's all 40 mph limit with average speed cameras in place - very frustrating when you're driving along on dual carriageways, with little traffic and no work actually taking place, and you're in a hurry to get home.
The weather was OK - apart from one very short bit of road just north of Dundee where there had just been a very localised freak snow/sleet shower which suddenly made the roads white for about half a mile - the police were out trying to warn motorists about it. After that, it was OK and it actually got a bit milder as we drove further north, so we decided to go over Cairn o' Mount. We even ignored the Road Closed signs at Clatterin' Brig - there had been much criticism of the police in the local paper for not keeping the signs up to date - and it seemed so relatively mild - but it soon turned to white and it was a bit of a struggle at the top, and then slowly and carefully down the other side, but we made it home in the end about 1 a.m.
It didn't seem like long until the alarm went. I had decided I wasn't going to Fraserburgh after all, but thought I should instead take Jo to the cardio clinic. The news on the radio was that the police had had to close the Cairn o' Mount road overnight due to snow - no wonder we were the only car on the road!
So, Jo got on fine - I went in with her. They're going to do another stress test as a precaution, but they don't think the pains she's been getting in her left side are Angina after all - although she'll keep taking the medicine.
For the rest of the day, I've just decided to work (and blog!) from home - and perhaps have a little doze and catch up on lost sleep.
Colin and Johanne took the train down - at just £15 return for over 55's, it's a no-brainer - we would have loved to have taken this option too, but we had to travel back straight after the concert as Jo had to be in Stonehaven early this morning for her appointment at the Cardio clinic. Anyway, we went for a pre-theatre supper at Sarti's Italian restaurant, which was fairly exotic looking inside - check http://www.sarti.co.uk/restaurants/renfield-street-glasgow/history-renfield-st-.aspx for the history of the building.
After dinner, we gave the girls a touch of Glasgow "culture" - a visit to the legendary Horseshoe Bar (http://www.horseshoebar.co.uk/), where many an entertainer first made their name. It has listed building status and the web site has some interesting tales on it. I didn't have my camera with me, so just managed this poor quality photo from my Blackberry:
The concert was great - see music blog for more info - and we got out of the Concert Hall pretty quickly, only to find a huge queue at the ticket machine in the car park. Then we had to queue to get out of the car park - and then took a wrong turn and had to go all round the houses to get back on to the motorway. Further frustration came when we got to Moodiesburn and then had to go through miles and miles of the huge roadworks that have been going on for ages. It's all 40 mph limit with average speed cameras in place - very frustrating when you're driving along on dual carriageways, with little traffic and no work actually taking place, and you're in a hurry to get home.
The weather was OK - apart from one very short bit of road just north of Dundee where there had just been a very localised freak snow/sleet shower which suddenly made the roads white for about half a mile - the police were out trying to warn motorists about it. After that, it was OK and it actually got a bit milder as we drove further north, so we decided to go over Cairn o' Mount. We even ignored the Road Closed signs at Clatterin' Brig - there had been much criticism of the police in the local paper for not keeping the signs up to date - and it seemed so relatively mild - but it soon turned to white and it was a bit of a struggle at the top, and then slowly and carefully down the other side, but we made it home in the end about 1 a.m.
It didn't seem like long until the alarm went. I had decided I wasn't going to Fraserburgh after all, but thought I should instead take Jo to the cardio clinic. The news on the radio was that the police had had to close the Cairn o' Mount road overnight due to snow - no wonder we were the only car on the road!
So, Jo got on fine - I went in with her. They're going to do another stress test as a precaution, but they don't think the pains she's been getting in her left side are Angina after all - although she'll keep taking the medicine.
For the rest of the day, I've just decided to work (and blog!) from home - and perhaps have a little doze and catch up on lost sleep.
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Maudlin Monday morphs in to Tiresome Tuesday
Why maudlin? Oh, I don't know - perhaps just a combination of things. Firstly, my knee, which is still acting up; secondly, stomach cramps through the night on Sunday meant I couldn't sleep - not Jo's cooking, but I suspect the ibuprofen I took for my knee - it always disagrees with my stomach; thirdly, and most annoyingly, my reading glasses broke when I went to put them back in their case on Sunday night:
These are top of the range Silhouette frames and shouldn't do this! Jo has them as well. I took so long deciding which ones to buy, and since I took the plunge at Lassman's in Medford whilst on holiday in USA in 2007, it's been a tale of woe. When I got back to work in Scotland, I found out that the lenses, which were excellent for close-up reading, were no use for computer work, so off I trotted to the local Silhouette supplier in Aberdeen, who discovered that the American opticians had fitted the wrong lenses, so I had to shell out for new ones that matched my prescription! So much for saving some money by buying in US$!
Anyway, I finished off my Death of Dalziel audiobook as I was shuttling around in the Golden Triangle of Banchory-Fraserburgh-Aberdeen yesterday. Don't know how I made it through to the end - it was as tiresome as I suspected from the start. Much more interesting is the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - can't wait to pick it up each evening.
Tuesday was a busy morning and then Michael said he was going across town, so I seized the opportunity and asked for a lift to the optician's. First the bad news - the frames were out of warranty. Next the better news that they had replacement frames in stock - and what's more, they could fit them now! OK - how much? How much? We'll give you 50% off sir - how much? I do hope they last this time - certainly the most expensive glasses I've ever bought.
Might slope off a bit early and head for the gym - it's about time I started going regularly again - how many times must that phrase be written in blogs and diaries the world over? Will pop in to Franco's on the way home - we're planning a meal there on Friday to bid farewell to Malcolm Lodge, who's moving to Houston full-time - although retaining his house at Drumoak.
We've got a bit of a dilemma with the possible Oz trip now that Kelly is coming back in October - Jo and I had words on this last night. She's not keen on going Down Under at Xmas and leaving her wee boy on his own - and she thinks it's too soon after Kelly's been here. The problem I have is that that's the only time I can take off. Is there a compromise to be found? Could we persuade Ross to come with us?
These are top of the range Silhouette frames and shouldn't do this! Jo has them as well. I took so long deciding which ones to buy, and since I took the plunge at Lassman's in Medford whilst on holiday in USA in 2007, it's been a tale of woe. When I got back to work in Scotland, I found out that the lenses, which were excellent for close-up reading, were no use for computer work, so off I trotted to the local Silhouette supplier in Aberdeen, who discovered that the American opticians had fitted the wrong lenses, so I had to shell out for new ones that matched my prescription! So much for saving some money by buying in US$!
Anyway, I finished off my Death of Dalziel audiobook as I was shuttling around in the Golden Triangle of Banchory-Fraserburgh-Aberdeen yesterday. Don't know how I made it through to the end - it was as tiresome as I suspected from the start. Much more interesting is the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - can't wait to pick it up each evening.
Tuesday was a busy morning and then Michael said he was going across town, so I seized the opportunity and asked for a lift to the optician's. First the bad news - the frames were out of warranty. Next the better news that they had replacement frames in stock - and what's more, they could fit them now! OK - how much? How much? We'll give you 50% off sir - how much? I do hope they last this time - certainly the most expensive glasses I've ever bought.
Might slope off a bit early and head for the gym - it's about time I started going regularly again - how many times must that phrase be written in blogs and diaries the world over? Will pop in to Franco's on the way home - we're planning a meal there on Friday to bid farewell to Malcolm Lodge, who's moving to Houston full-time - although retaining his house at Drumoak.
We've got a bit of a dilemma with the possible Oz trip now that Kelly is coming back in October - Jo and I had words on this last night. She's not keen on going Down Under at Xmas and leaving her wee boy on his own - and she thinks it's too soon after Kelly's been here. The problem I have is that that's the only time I can take off. Is there a compromise to be found? Could we persuade Ross to come with us?
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Slow Sunday - nice!
The big thaw brought the big flood yesterday - a lot of the back roads were closed and the Dee is very high. I didn't even think about playing golf this morning, however - I imagine the course is still closed anyway.
I did manage a game of squash last night but I had to stop in the last game because of my left knee - my relatively good one. It's happened a couple of times recently and is concerning. I'm taking Ibuprofen today to try to reduce any inflamation - hopefully that will help. It seems to come and go, but it's very painful when I get it and walking is difficult.
Last night we watched Tarantino's Inglorious B******s - I thought it was pretty entertaining - he creates a real style in his films and makes them very watchable despite the often gory subject matter. Brad Pitt's character was known as the Apache - and, yes, scalping was part of the routine.
Today's culture section of the Sunday Times features an article on another music biopic that I'm keen to see - it's Julien Temple's latest homage to Dr. Feelgood - http://alternative.artsalliancemedia.com/oilcity/. Looks interesting - and the launch night (2nd February) is featuring a live transmission of a post film concert by Wilko Johnson's band - should be good.
I took Colin's new mp3 player home last night and put some music and audiobooks on it for him, so I returned it to him this morning when I went out for the Sunday Times, and took a few minutes out to get his little Mazda going again - the battery had died, but we easily got it going again with the aid of jump leads. Not quite sure why he needs to get it started again - he still can't drive as he doesn't have his licence back yet, following his epilepsy scare last year.
I'm really enjoying The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - I'm 200 pages (about 40%) in to it now. I also discovered that, by coincidence, Johanne is also reading it just now.
I posted a short video of Jo reading to Luca yesterday on my Facebook page - here's the still:
He was his usual good self when he was over yesterday - even when Jo went to the shops to get some lunch. We played Hide and Seek round our bed - and then Scary Monsters.
That's all for now - back to the Sunday Times for me now. Hope you're all having a nice weekend.
I did manage a game of squash last night but I had to stop in the last game because of my left knee - my relatively good one. It's happened a couple of times recently and is concerning. I'm taking Ibuprofen today to try to reduce any inflamation - hopefully that will help. It seems to come and go, but it's very painful when I get it and walking is difficult.
Last night we watched Tarantino's Inglorious B******s - I thought it was pretty entertaining - he creates a real style in his films and makes them very watchable despite the often gory subject matter. Brad Pitt's character was known as the Apache - and, yes, scalping was part of the routine.
Today's culture section of the Sunday Times features an article on another music biopic that I'm keen to see - it's Julien Temple's latest homage to Dr. Feelgood - http://alternative.artsalliancemedia.com/oilcity/. Looks interesting - and the launch night (2nd February) is featuring a live transmission of a post film concert by Wilko Johnson's band - should be good.
I took Colin's new mp3 player home last night and put some music and audiobooks on it for him, so I returned it to him this morning when I went out for the Sunday Times, and took a few minutes out to get his little Mazda going again - the battery had died, but we easily got it going again with the aid of jump leads. Not quite sure why he needs to get it started again - he still can't drive as he doesn't have his licence back yet, following his epilepsy scare last year.
I'm really enjoying The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - I'm 200 pages (about 40%) in to it now. I also discovered that, by coincidence, Johanne is also reading it just now.
I posted a short video of Jo reading to Luca yesterday on my Facebook page - here's the still:
He was his usual good self when he was over yesterday - even when Jo went to the shops to get some lunch. We played Hide and Seek round our bed - and then Scary Monsters.
That's all for now - back to the Sunday Times for me now. Hope you're all having a nice weekend.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Celebrity spotting
Did I neglect to tell you that we had a brief brush with fame last Sunday as we stood in the queue for ice creams in the cinema? Right behind me was Bill Nighy, star of many British films, including Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead and The Boat That Rocked, and he had roles in Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Nighy.
Anyway, he looks exactly like the miserable, slightly decadent person that he usually portrays on film. He's impatient too - he couldn't wait for the staff to come back to the ice cream counter to serve us and flounced off to the screen.
On a slightly more surreal note, I almost literally bumped in to somebody that shocked me to the core as she/they said "sorry", almost in unison, but definitely as 2 separate voices. I've never seen anything like it in my life and Dave, Malcolm and I still can't quite believe what we saw. She/they was a small, slightly built two headed woman. Since the incident, we've been scratching our heads wondering how it could have happened. We obviously considered it was some kind of stunt - particularly as we were in theatre land - but all three of us believe it was absolutely real. I've done some research and it is possible that this was what we saw:
Abigail and Brittany Hensel – check http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/shared-body.html
Scary.
Anyway, he looks exactly like the miserable, slightly decadent person that he usually portrays on film. He's impatient too - he couldn't wait for the staff to come back to the ice cream counter to serve us and flounced off to the screen.
On a slightly more surreal note, I almost literally bumped in to somebody that shocked me to the core as she/they said "sorry", almost in unison, but definitely as 2 separate voices. I've never seen anything like it in my life and Dave, Malcolm and I still can't quite believe what we saw. She/they was a small, slightly built two headed woman. Since the incident, we've been scratching our heads wondering how it could have happened. We obviously considered it was some kind of stunt - particularly as we were in theatre land - but all three of us believe it was absolutely real. I've done some research and it is possible that this was what we saw:
Abigail and Brittany Hensel – check http://www.mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/misc/shared-body.html
Scary.
Friday, 15 January 2010
'Snow more
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?
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?
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.
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