Birthday aftermath etc

Our headbang at Gary's on Friday was good - see Music blog for details and photos. They even bought a cake for me and we had it in the early hours of Saturday morning. When I got home, Jo had left out my presents - chocolate featured of course, but I also got the book I wanted - Jack Bruce - Composing Myself - and a pile of M & S socks:

Do these look like socks I would wear? I didn't think so at first, but Jo pointed out to me that the vivid fluorescent colours are only on the soles - and you won't see them when I wear them. In fact, she bought them because she is having problems matching up my pairs of socks just now - grey and blue are regularly mixed together, and there's a whole pile of single socks downstairs!

Saturday was nice - Gary, Carole and Luca came over, and Dawn came up as well. Luca was looking forward to my birthday cake and he put the candles on. It was supposed to be 6 silver ones and 1 white one, but Luca decided all 12 from the packets should go on:

Chocolate featured heavily in my other presents - no chance of  losing any of the weight I put on last week in Marrakech then before we go to USA.

Luca was a bit shy with Dawn at first, but he soon relaxed with her - especially when she started reading to him:

Carole was going on a Hen night, for which the dress code was black and bling. She wouldn't let me take her picture without make-up, but I eventually got her later - a little reluctantly and with Gary as shield:

So today's the first of our planned monthly training walks prior to our September 4 day walk on the West Highland Way. Wish me luck - Clach-na-Ben will have to wait until the next time (April 18th?) as there will still be too much soft snow up there, so it's the bus out to Potarch, then walk back with a detour up Scolty.

Wednesday morning in the Broch

A quick word of explanation about the change to my blog settings - you are now receiving postings as e-mails. You can still view the blog in the usual way by logging on to Blogspot, but this is an additional alert every time I make a new post. If you would prefer to have your e-mail address removed from this alert service and just access my blog in the usual way (as Gary has done), then just let me know and I'll make the appropriate adjustments.

It's a fine day again - nice and bright and sunny - but cold - down to minus 10 C on my travels to the Broch earlier on, but warming up now.

Dawn and Jordon are coming up on Saturday to have birthday lunch with me. It's the day after our headbang, so I may be a little tired. This Sunday we were planning to do our first training walk for the West Highland Way walk we are planning in September - by walking up Clach-na-Ben (for the first time in my life) - but it looks like the weather may have scuppered our plans - it may be too icy and we'll have to choose another route.

Marrakech

Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, I went out on to our balcony and took a quick photo:

That evening, we went to a lovely restaurant that Francis Clark had recommended to me - Comptoir Darna (http://www.comptoirdarna.com/restaurant-comptoir-darna-marrakech-maroc-eng.html). I knew Jo would want to know what I had to eat, so I photographed the menu and she asked me to put it on the blog so she could study it:

I thought she'd be more interested in pictures of the food - here's my dessert - profiteroles and "gazelle horn" ice cream!:

One of the other desserts was a trio of creme brulee:

Jo was salivating over this one when she saw the photo!

Back home again

Just a quick one - I'm back - great holiday - super place, nice weather, nice people. Bit of a temperature adjustment for me, but at least it's nice and bright and sunny this morning - although I did come through a brief flurry of snow around Tyrebagger - and the days are noticeably stretching.

Took a quick snap last night of the ear-rings I brought back for Jo - although it didn't come out too well:

You get the picture though, don't you? They're silver and very heavy - just watch Jo's ear-lobes stretch!

All packed and ready to go

.... to Marrakech that is. Forecast is low 20's this week, which is fine. Light shower for Wednesday, but otherwise sunny it seems. Cool at night at this time of year and plenty of snow to see on the Atlas mountains I believe. Spare a thought for Colin's daughter and her husband - they're due to fly out to Madeira tomorrow. If you've seen the TV footage of the floods there, it looks pretty frightening and I doubt if they'll be allowed to travel.

This is where we'll be for the next week - http://www.palmeraie-marrakech.com/residence-hotel-marrakech-uk.htm. There's 9 of us going now - Dick Taylor was a late addition this week, so we've had to change the accommodation a bit - originally we had booked 4 two bedroom apartments, but we've now had to change one of them to a 3 bedroom one. We would ideally have been in 3 three bedroom apartments if we'd known there would be nine of us, but it's probably too late to change it now.

It's another beautiful, sunny and crisp day in Banchory today - it looks very pretty - although I do hope all the snow is gone by the time I get back.

The request Carole had made to use up one of our spare timeshare weeks and get a place in Ireland for her and Gary has come through this morning, so this can be a nice honeymoon week for them, coming as it does immediately after the wedding.

That's about it for now. I'll try and post a few short blogs this week if I can get a decent broadband or 3G service - otherwise I'll be sticking to short Blackberry messages on Facebook.

Second Saturday posting

Kelly's been on Skype since my earlier blog this morning. She's had to stay in on Saturday night as her pal is ill - disaster!

I took the chance to model our team shirt for the golf trip next week:

Here we go again

The snow came back with a vengeance yesterday. It looked like a major blizzard was upon us - and it hadn't been forecast. So what happened in Aberdeen city? - yes - panic and gridlock. It seems everyone decides that they have to head off home early in case they get snowed in at work. Two hours later, the snow had gone and the roads were black again. I left the office at 4pm and sailed home easily - no traffic, no snow.

So, it was a really busy day for me yesterday - lots of meetings and things to finish off and instructions to give for next week - but I think I got through it all ok. I got sympathetic comfort food when I got home - liver and bacon - beautiful!

Saturday morning, nothing to do, nowhere special to go, yet still I awake at 6am - I wish I could lie in longer. Downstairs to breakfast - hardly any milk - can't have my cereal. Guess I'll have to dress and trudge off to the garage for some milk - bah.

Kelly must think the mail system in Oz is pigeon post - I got my birthday card from her this week!:

What does it say inside? - life's too short to act normal! What's the message here then, Kelly?

So, Jo's deserting me again today. She's off to Aberdeen wedding dress viewing with Carole. Oh well, I guess I'll have to vegetate again in front of all the TV sport. I could do some packing as well, I suppose - don't think I'm going to need my golf clubs tomorrow - still snow lying on the course.

Have a good weekend y'all.

Anybody out there?

Not much activity on blogspot recently. Is everyone OK?

Busy day at work yesterday but managed a quick trip to the gym at lunchtime, after being given the go-ahead from the physio on Monday evening. I must say that my knee seems to be much improved - the ice packs, ultrasound and ibuprofen definitely seem to have helped - or is it just sod's law that as soon as you get an appointment, it starts to get better?

Watched the Man U match last night - although it was the poorest reception we've ever had on Sky. I couldn't get an HD picture at all and had to revert to channel 402 - and even that was breaking up all the time. It must have been all the snow in the area. I was also monitoring the score from Pittodrie - Aberdeen yet again lost to a lower league club in the cup - could be another manager with his marching orders shortly.

Ross at last got some more work last night - down at Kincar - but he said the roads were pretty bad when he came home. This morning they were very poor as well - at least until I got a bit nearer Aberdeen. Still, it's only February, and this tends to be the worst month of the year. The days are getting noticeably longer however.

What's happening with Jo? Well, as she's not blogging, I thought I'd bring you all up to date. What does she do with her time? Good question. She missed her planned swimming on both Friday and Monday - unreliable friends it seems - so she felt she had to walk to the supermarket and then clear the back garden. Good timing - she managed this just before the snow returned, although she's now complained of an aching back after spending a few hours pushing brooms (sounds a bit Roger Miller-ish - remember King of the Road? No? Too young? Oh well).

Today she's travelling over to Oldmeldrum to have lunch with Carole and Liz at Meldrum House - very nice.

Must go now - got a lot to do before the week's out and I can get away with a clear conscience next week.

Monday travels

Been to Edinburgh today - one meeting - an hour and a half - then home again. I was back in the house by 3 pm. OK, I still had some work to do, but it was easy enough from home and saved me driving up to Bridge of Don and then facing the journey home with all the commuters.

I travelled with Michael - he just got back yesterday after a couple of weeks' golfing holiday in Mexico and California. His body clock hasn't recovered yet - I met him at Ye May Gang Faur and Fare Waur and he was having a little snack there. Then we stopped at the Horn and he had another breakfast there! The downside was that, after our meeting, when I was ready for some lunch, his appetite had gone, so I ended up just grabbing a roll and some crisps at a service station - no wonder I had indigestion later.

I did get a nice cup of tea and a pancake when I got home - Jo has taken to making something that smells attractive at lunchtime to make sure Ross gets up at a semi respectable hour. Yesterday it was toasted cheese and today pancakes - and I was the unwitting beneficiary of the leftovers. Tea was lovely too - home made steak pie. Oh - and yesterday, my personal Valentine treat was that Jo made dumplings with our stew - super - haven't had them for ages.

Anyway, business is very slow for Ross - we've advertised in the Piper again this week and hope that gets some action. He's getting a little down about it, but it's still very early days and he just needs to stick at it and try to build up a good reputation for reliable service and let word of mouth help from there.

Tonight I was at the physio with my knee. He had a good prod around and stress tested it and his conclusion was that it was nothing too severe and, with a bit of stretching exercises, ice packs, ibuprofen and ultrasound it should be fine. I'm going back again on Wednesday and then I'll see how it is after next week. I'm missing my squash, but I've got to stay clear this week at least.

That's all for now - best take the bag of peas off my knee before it freezes completely - my knee that is.

Birthday request

As it's only 3 weeks to go until my birthday, I thought it was time to drop a heavy hint or two - a book I would like is Composing Himself by Jack Bruce.

Mild weekend

It's been a pretty calm weekend - certainly by recent standards. I was back on the golf course this morning and conditions were delightful. The absence of wind meant the temperature felt fine - even though it's still only a few degrees.

When I got home, I looked out the back and what should I see on the embankment, but 2 little deer:

Jo arrived back from the Milton at the same time as I did and there to greet her on the porch were her Valentine's Day flowers, which she swiftly took upstairs and put n a vase:

That's been our Sunday so far, but yesterday Jo went in to spend the day with her former work colleague Sylvia. They had a nice long lunch at the Mariner - I told Jo I would have found it hard to go back there as it would bring memories of Dave Edwards and the poor condition he finds himself in now.

I just vegetated on a diet of sport - a bit of golf from India in the morning, then the classic Aberdeen - Celtic 4-4 draw (sorry, Gary!), followed by the typically tragic Scottish tale of woe in the rugby at Cardiff. Also had a pint with Colin and watched the second half of the France-Ireland rugby then the Man City-Stoke footy cup tie. Phew - enough sport for one day, I think.

On Saturday night, we watched The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button - it was long and left us both a bit cold. Pity - I thought the idea had some promise, although Brad Pitt as an 80 year old baby was more like a gremlin!

That's it for now. I've looked out some of my stuff for travelling to Marrakech a week tomorrrow, but, before that, it's Edinburgh tomorrow then the physio in the evening. My knee was troubling me again on the golf course this morning - not a good omen for a week of golf - nor, for that matter, the ideal preparation for a year when I'm hoping to be doing some relatively serious hill-walking.

Lastly, just noticed that they've made a film of the book I finished last month - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - it's released March 12th.

Grr - TGIF

Well, our boiler is sorted now. The gas man was there when I got home, so I got the full story from the horse's mouth, rather than the abridged and censored version I would otherwise have received from Jo and Ross. Last night I watched the recording of the previous night's Match of the Day and Jo went up to her computer and busied herself for a few hours.

When I checked the blogs this morning, I assumed there would be a lengthy confession/explanation of why we had to call the gas man out yesterday - but, no - nothing. I'm left with no alternative therefore but to "out" Jo on this one. The reason our boiler broke down is because she put a plant pot right next to the flue outside, blocking it and thus stopping the boiler from operating! Duh!

Of course, it could just be another of her Machiavellian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiavellianism) plots - she has long been complaining about dead spots in some of our radiators and with a captive gas man yesterday she was able to explore this further. The result - another bill for £800 + to power flush and magna clean our system!

Do you wonder why I'm a little more than my usual tetchy self this morning? I'm looking forward to a few beers tonight - I'll need them by then! Of course, not being able to do any exercise just now doesn't help my mood - I'm giving my knee every chance to recover before we go to Marrakech. Last night I made an appointment to see the physio - Monday at 7:45 pm.

To lighten the mood a little, I spent some time last night doing some advance preparation for our next headbang (5th March) - I always enjoy watching some snippets of the videos - I don't watch them all - anticipation is part of the pleasure.

Lots of holidays coming up, but there's also a threat that our flights to USA could be affected by the planned ballot of staff in BA re industrial action - it was stopped by the courts when they originally planned this for the Christmas holiday period, but now it's scheduled for March. Fingers crossed.

Brrr - it's Thursday

What a great start to the day - woke up, went downstairs, tried to have breakfast - no milk (apart from a little skimmed - yuk!). Thought it felt a bit cold in the house - yes, the central heating hasn't come on. OK - no problem, the boiler just needs re-set again, I thought. I tried everything, but couldn't get it going, so resorted to having a shower downstairs - how unpleasant is that?

I then tried to go online and book an emergency engineer's visit - it was still only 6:40 am remember. No joy - next Wednesday the earliest date available. Eventually phoned them - yes they would come out today - what time would you like? All day or just 12-6 pm? All day, says I - by this time, her majesty has arisen - "not this morning" she cries - "I've got a hairdresser's appointment" - cancel it, says I - this is far more important - cue scowling faced wife. What does she want me to do - take a day off work just so that she can keep her appointment at the Ladies Barber Shop? Bah!

Situation eventually resolved with a (near) smile as I headed off to Fraserburgh again - Jo eventually realised she could still go to her hairdresser's and leave Ross to wait for gas man. It has, however, screwed up our plans to go to see Invictus (http://invictusmovie.warnerbros.com/) at the cinema this afternoon.

So, yesterday, I finished my latest audiobook on the way home from Fraserburgh - A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs (http://www.augusten.com/site/a-wolf-at-the-table) - a pretty harrowing and personalised tale from his childhood. The author himself does the reading - and he acts the part out in full. He's tried to make it a bit of a multi-media event as well - the soundtrack has occasional music and other noises added to it for dramatic effect, and, at the end there are a few songs specially written by his favourite singers (including Patti Smith). It's made in 100 little mp3 "chapters" which is quite helpful if you miss a bit and want to go back. A lot of audiobooks come in only 3, 4 or 5 sections and it's pretty awkward to re-wind them.

My home reading has stalled a bit just now - there's a pile of 5 or 6 books lying on the bedside table. I'm reading occasional bits of 2 of them and the others are being saved up for holidays - these include the next 2 instalments in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson plus Ginger Baker's autobiography (a Christmas present!).

Incidentally, notice the mis-spelling of "Februrary" in the calendar adjacent? Not my fault, guv.

Are we fed up with Word of the Day yet? No voting on this - I'll decide - and yes, I think so, but, just to round things off, what about one last one? - COQUETRY. It's a noun, meaning dalliance, flirtation - and the example given is "'You were probably very bored by it,' he said, catching at once, in mid-air, this ball of coquetry that she had thrown to him". - extract from Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

Back again

Been pretty busy - hence no blog since Friday. Not that I did much on Saturday - I vegetated in front of sport on the TV as Jo disappeared to the auction in Montrose. She got back just as I was heading out the door to meet Colin for a beer! We watched a slightly quirky movie on Saturday night, starring Peter O'Toole as a cantankerous old man - Dean somehting or other it was called.

On Sunday, I went to Murrayfield - check football blog for photos and details of travel troubles.

Yesterday was work in Aberdeen and then we watched the final 2 episodes of the first series of The Wire last night.

Got another dusting of snow this morning - it reminded me how much I'm looking forward to golfing in Marrakech - check out where we're staying - http://www.palmeraie-marrakech.com/residence-hotel-marrakech-uk.htm

I'm getting a little concerned about a recent knee problem - my left ("good") knee. It seems to be fine and then, for no reason, I get a really sharp pain in the front of it and can't walk - then it goes away again. Hope this doesn't affect my golf. I was reminded of our family history yesterday when talking to Dawn - she's now got to get her other knee done - and this time it's a full, not just partial, knee replacement - ouch! My father's got a lot to answer for.

That's about it for now - on a day long course at work in Fraserburgh tomorrow - should be a blast (not).

Word of the Day? - VITIATE - a transitive verb - To make faulty or imperfect; to render defective; to impair; as, "exaggeration vitiates a style of writing."