A routine week

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yes, it's going to seem like a long week - 5 consecutive days of work! Today will be enlivened by Jo's birthday and our trip out to Inverurie to pick up Luca this afternoon - the first time for a month. Gary's promised us he's making rhubarb ice cream - can you believe it? Sounds yummy.

Last night I had my endoscopy. I was sedated so I'm not allowed to drive for 24 hours. Jo caught the bus in and met me at the hospital and drove me home. She was also there to take a note of what the Doctor said to me after the procedure - he said I wouldn't remember and he was right - I didn't. Anyway, he confirmed that Friday's ultrasound scan was clear in all areas and he suspects, like the GP did, that it's the baby aspirin that is causing the problems in my stomach. He drew this rough sketch and gave it to Jo and she made her notes on it as well:

After a little confusion, it was confirmed that I need to start taking Omeprazole (the ulcer busting drug) - 20mg - again, and come back to see him in one month.

Apart from that, what else have we been up to? Well, we've ordered a new kitchen, that's all! We finally succumbed after 5 hours of relentless salesmanship by the man from Everest on Saturday. Here's what it should look like:

No island for us, of course - the room's not big enough - but you get an idea of what the units will look like. Chatsworth Buttermilk - that's the model - the dearest in their range we're told - wouldn't you know it! New hob (induction heating), dishwasher and fridge/freezer to boot, plus new lighting.

Our porch is complete now too and the railings and new decking are up on the balcony. The water will definitely run off to the drain OK as they've built in what seems like a huge slope on it - it's visually a bit strange but it's OK to stand on. All we need to do now is get the downstairs WC and shower done - and get rid of the old rusting Merc in the driveway!

On Sunday, it was lovely to get a full round of golf in - in bright, cloudless skies too. In the afternoon, we - well Jo, actually - drove down to Dundee to see Johanne in hospital. She was looking good and she got out yesterday - hope she copes OK at home without her stimulus operating.

Scan clear

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

So I've just got back from my U/S scan and the Doctor told me she didn't see any problems - she was looking for gall stones and couldn't find any, so I get to keep my gall bladder! Next stage is my endoscopy on Monday night.

The builders arrived before 8 am this morning! Will they keep their promise to have the decking all fitted and the railings put back today?

Got a cold call from Everest on Wednesday and, in a weak moment, I agreed to let one of their kitchen consultants come out and see us tomorrow morning. Will we do anything? I don't know.

Back in the saddle

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, that's 2 consecutive days in the office completed now. Ross picked us up at Aberdeen airport early on Tuesday morning and, although I could easily have gone in to the office, I decided to stay home and do some work from there - it also gave me a chance to unpack.

Jo and I stayed up until well after 8 pm - a stout effort, considering we had been awake since before midnight UK time. Wednesday was the Aberdeen office and today I was in Fraserburgh. I woke at 5 am today and was in the Broch before 7:30 am, had a busy day and coped OK, although wilting a bit later on.

Nothing happened with the builders on our porch when we were away, but they arrived on Tuesday lunchtime and started the harling, which they finished yesterday - progress at last! Now just the decking on our balcony and replacing the railings - wonder how long that will take?

Tomorrow morning I have my ultrasound scan on my abdomen, so I have to fast from midnight. On Monday evening I get my endoscopy - and hopefully the results afterwards. Jo will come in and drive me home as I will probably be anaestheticised.

Got news last night that Johanne Kilgour had to go back to the hospital in Dundee and have an operation to remove all the stimulation equipment in her body (for her Parkinson's) as it was causing infections and they had to make sure it didn't spread up through the wires to her brain. Poor girl is going to be in pain for up to 6 weeks until it's safe to replace it all.

Singapore

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Sitting here in the BA/Qantas lounge, there's word that we might be getting another upgrade on the flight home - fingers crossed!

Our short stop in Singapore has passed so quickly. We did a lot of walking on Saturday and Sunday and, with it all being on hard surfaces, my poor old right leg suffered pretty badly afterwards. We managed to administer some emergency liquid anaesthetic however and the pain soon went away!

On Saturday we walked through lovely Fort Canning park again. Jo was on a mission to seek out the grave of one of her relatives from long ago who was apparently buried there. Surprise, surprise - it only took us about 5 minutes to find it!:

We then came across the lovely National Museum - and we were already grateful for the air conditioning in there - an escape from the oppressive humidity outside. A cup of tea/coffee and some cakes then off up Orchard Road - the shopping street. One of the malls had external escalators there that took you all the way up to the roof garden at the top. Some of the stretches were long and pretty steep and it was all Jo could do to make it all the way up - saying her prayers and trying to heed Kelly's advices to use words of positive reinforcement to allay her fears. Example - with eyes closed and head turned away from the road beneath - "I am not going to fall to my death on the road below"!

Looking a little more composed on the roof garden:

We finally made it back to the Pump Room for a late lunch, then back to our hotel for a shower and out again on the short stroll to Brewerkz across the river for dinner.

On Sunday we followed the river from our hotel out to the marina and walked all the way round it. The iconic sight of the new Marina Bay Hotel - locals joke about the giant tsunami that caused the boat to land up there - was as much as Jo would do. I tried to persuade her that we should go up to the top deck, but she wouldn't budge. Here's the photo of us on the other side of the marina:

Last night we had dinner at the Sailors restaurant adjacent to our hotel, and today we spent the morning at the poolside, then lunch at Brewerkz again, then some zzz's and a swim - for me anyway - in the afternoon before packing and awaiting our limo to take us back to the airport. They're so efficient, tidy and organised here - our car arrived a full 40 minutes before the scheduled pick-up time and had us at the airport before we were even due to be picked up!

Last few days in Adelaide

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's very early in the morning and we're in the Qantas lounge at Adelaide airport, having said our goodbyes to Kelly and Chris last night. It's the start of the long haul for us. We fly to Sydney, where we have a long wait before the next flight to Singapore, arriving there late tonight Singapore time, having gained a few hours on the world clock.

We leave Singapore on Monday night and are due back in Aberdeen at 8:20 on Tuesday morning - then it's back to work for me.

We've had a very quiet last couple of days - just wandering round from park bench to park bench, trying to stay in the shade whilst we read our books. This is a typical scene:

The river Torrens is just hidden from view past the long reeds. This photo was taken on Wednesday and we had lunch nearby, finishing off the remnants from our fridge, washed down by some of the nice beers that Kelly gave me for my birthday - I'd carried them to the park in the James Squire stubby holder that Kelly also gave me.

We went to the Garden of Unearthly Delights - the focal point of the Fringe - on Wednesday night, and we all went veggie in sympathy with Kelly (who's now vegan), eating from this stand:

Yesterday (Thursday) was even lazier - a walk round the parks as usual in the morning, then lunch at the new Store opposite, then we packed and just hung around the apartment until Kelly and Chris arrived after work. I snuck outside the apartment briefly to read my book:

Dinner was at the Lion, the restaurant/pub attached to our apartments. That's all for now.

Cleland Wildlife Park

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Forgot to add that Kelly was off work on Monday and took us up to Cleland Wildlife Park, up beside Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills. It was much more interesting than we all suspected/feared. We discovered - and saw, and even fed - some animals we'd never even heard of before. Poteroos, Bandicoots, Echidnas and Bettongs, not to mention Dingoes, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Emus, Wombats and, of course, the cuddly Koalas:

The Tasmanian Devils were in hiding, unfortunately. We were hand feeding a mother Wallaby with its little baby Joey in its pouch, unperturbed.

Nice afternoon out.

Perth back to Adelaide again

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

So what did we do in our last few days in Perth? Well, we had to get a present to take to Chris’ Mum and Dad, who we were going to be staying with on Friday and Saturday night, so we headed off to Sandalford Winery, which was recommended by our resort. It’s a very nice place but it turns out that it’s not their main winery – that’s further south at Margaret River. We saw adverts there for the big gig on Friday at their main place – Stevie Wonder, no less. One day too late for us, I’m afraid. I was driving so it was up to Jo to sample the wines:

We walked round Guildford - a lovely little town and then headed back towards our resort.

I'm glad I was good at the winery because we discovered yet another little microbrewery - Iron Bark - and so I was able to at least take their sampler tray. We had a nice chat with the owner and his wife as they were closing up at 5. Nice, back to basics type of brewery.

Duckstein's brewery was nearer our resort and we also stopped there, but neither of us thought much of their beers. Dinner that night was lovely, however. We went to the fancy restaurant at the resort - Jo loved her meal:

The following day was to be our last in WA before heading off early on Friday morning. I decided I could resist it no more and so I booked a tee time at our resort course and Jo came out in the buggy with me - reading her book and photographing the wildlife and the plants as I played.

So, Friday morning arrived and we got up nice and early and drove towards the airport. I should have pre-programmed the Maps app but I tried to do it on the hoof and it kept directing us towards Perth International Airport - not the Domestic one. No matter, it'll be signposted - oh no, it wasn't. Bit of minor panic, but we made it in the end and had a good 40 minutes in the lounge before the flight took off.

Kelly met us at Adelaide, where we had to put our watches on two and a half hours again. We went back to their house and waited for Chris to come home from work before heading south to Port Elliott to stay with Chris' Mum and Dad for the weekend. It was apparently a typical Aussie road trip - we had to stop at the drive through Bottle-O to stock up on our stubbies for the journey - a new experience for us.

Chris' Mum and Dad are lovely and Lorene - Chris' Mum - had cooked a lovely meal for us. Their house is super too - Lorene loves her garden and David has his beloved TR6 in the garage.

On Saturday morning we walked down to the local market, then headed for coffee, after which we did the local bookshop. In the afternoon, we took a trip to the local microbrewery - yet another one - in Goolwa, then went to the golf club for dinner, joined by Harry (Lorene's uncle) and his wife, Jeanette. We took a photo of the 4 survivors of the boating accident:

Harry looks - and is - very hale and harty after his near miss - and he's going to buy another boat! We've told Kelly she's banned!

On Sunday morning we took the lovely clifftop walk down to the beach cafe, after which we headed for Victor Harbor, where the boat rescue was. We walked across the bridge to Granite Island and soon it was time to bid our farewells to David and Lorene, who we hope to see in the UK some time in the future.

Chris took us to lunch at McLaren Vale, home of many well known wineries, then we headed off for some sampling. Our second stop was especially beautiful - a lovely little boutique winery with beautiful gardens and views over the valley. We sat on the decking in the prime spot:

So that was our weekend. We're now staying in apartments in North Adelaide, just a short stroll from the city centre through some nice greenery. We went to one of the Adelaide fringe shows on Monday night and we celebrated my birthday last night at a nice little Japanese restaurant with a teppanyaki table - that was a good laugh. Here's Jo and I trying to catch some flying pancakes:

That's me up to date - battery running low and coffee finished, so it's off to the park for us.

Just the two of us in WA

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Kelly and Chris are back at work in Adelaide this week, so it's just Jo and I here at the lovely Vines resort. It's a struggle but we're making the best of it.

What have we been up to? Not a lot really - just taking it easy. We've had a pretty hectic schedule up until now so it's probably not a bad thing for us to just chill for a little while.

We've used the pool and read our books - in the shade of course. Our old skins have seen enough sun over our lives and we have to be a bit more careful now than we used to be. We decided to try one of the many local microbreweries for lunch yesterday. We'd already had a takeaway from The Mash, so we went another 200 yards or so to Duckstein's - but it was shut on Monday. OK - let's try Elmar's - less than half a mile away. Strewth! That's shut too - Mondays and Tuesdays:

OK - last attempt - check the map and head for Feral Brewery (http://www.feralbrewing.com.au/). What a good move - a lovely little place in a nice, quiet, remote location. Only problem is that I'm driving!

Yesterday (Tuesday), we went for a drive - no specific area in mind, just a wander to look around. I got our directions a bit mixed up and we ended up spending a bit more time in the car than I'd planned, but we did finally make it Joondalup and we headed for the ocean. What beautiful beaches and dunes - pity I hadn't brought my swimmers - but I had a quick paddle anyway:

That's all for now, folks.

Wildlife report

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We all travelled across the continent to Perth on Friday - 3 hour flight, but gaining two and a half hours of time, meant we almost arrived when we left! We couldn't have timed it better with another heatwave descending on South Australia, taking temperatures in Adelaide up in to the high 30's, whilst Western Australia was experiencing a much cooler spell - mid-high 20's - much more comfortable.

We picked up our hire car - oh how I hate that experience - why are they never ready for you? - and drove up the Swan Valley, WA's "Valley of Taste" as they call it. Our resort is an upmarket golf resort, with 2 superb courses with an international reputation. The apartment is very nice too and, every evening as the sun goes down, a mob of kangaroos bounds across the golf course and stops just opposite our place for their supper. They're as prevalent here as rabbits on our courses back home:

Staying on the wildlife theme, we spotted another huge beaut of a spider outside one of the apartments here:

We had dinner on Friday night with Kelly's pal and former Aberdeen flatmate, Sophie and her daughter. Then, on Saturday morning, I awoke to a dawn chorus of a family of magpies on our balcony:

What a racket they make. As Chris said, Australian birds don't seem to sing like European birds - they squawk.

Jumping forward to Sunday, in Kings park in Perth, we saw a praying mantis, dancing up a wall:

On Saturday, Chris wanted to take us down to Fremantle and visit a well known microbrewery there, Little Creatures. Logistics were proving a bit difficult - we didn't want to take the car and seriously considered hiring a limo, but a cost of A$200 or so rather put us off. Chris eventually found a good public transport solution - walk a mile or so to the bus, then connect with the train - total cost just A$18 for all of us - bargain! It's about the only thing that's cheap out here - especially given the current exchange rate. Beers for £8 - £9 are at Scandinavian levels.

Fremantle is a funky little town - whilst still also being a big container port. Like other places on the edge of the world - Key West, for instance - it attracts more than its fair share of hippies/dropouts/alternative lifestyles. We also discovered it has not just one, but three microbreweries, so the day become a bit of a circular pub crawl between all three, interspersed with coffee stops and a brief nap in the park.

Little Creatures was excellent - a huge modern brewpub in the American style, sitting right on the harbour front. We had lunch there, but supper was at the Monk, which is much smaller and on the main street, just opposite the Sail and Anchor, a proper old fashioned pub with a huge selection of brews in an old colonial building:

Jo reckoned they had the coolest toilets she'd ever been in. Later on, we returned there and sat upstairs on the balcony:

Sunday was quieter - we drove in to Perth, had a coffee and strolled round the malls, then bought supplies for a picnic in King's park, which overlooks the city and the Swan river estuary:

We walked round the gardens and across the glass bridge - Jo a little tentatively:

Then we drove Kelly and Chris back to the airport and their flight back to Adelaide, so Jo and I are now on our own again for a few days, until we return to Adelaide on Friday.

BBQ chez Chris & Kelly

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We're sitting in the Qantas lounge at Adelaide airport, waiting for our flight to Perth. Kelly and Chris will be arriving soon and we'll join them then. Meanwhile, as we have some time and a good broadband service, here's some random pics:

We had dinner at our apartment on Tuesday - here's Jo and Chris afterwards

The same evening - Kelly as the sun goes down

Paddling on our walk back from Brighton to Glenelg

We went to Central Markets to shop for groceries for Chris' BBQ on Thursday, and we all had lunch in the Asian Food Hall - this is the one Jo and I ate from

Spotted in an Adelaide side street

Chris christens his new barbie, with Amanda (Matt's ex-wife) looking on

Chris, Amanda, Jo, David and Laureen (Chris' parents) at the BBQ last night

Holiday blog 2

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We've resorted to using McDonald's free wi-fi this morning - seems pretty slow, so I hope this works OK. Don't worry, it wasn't Big Macs for breakfast - just a couple of 99% fat-free frappes.

We had a nice walk along the shore to Brighton jetty yesterday morning and we took our shoes off and paddled in the ocean on the walk back - lovely and warm it was too.

Last night we took the tram to Chris' and Kelly's place and shared an Indian take-away in the garden. We're going back there tonight to have a BBQ - and Chris' Mum & Dad and brother, his (Matt's) ex-wife and child will all be there too.

Here's one of Jo and Kelly outside their house:

Greetings from Adelaide

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

The journey was long - strange getting on the plane, getting your meal, then it gets dark, then light again, and finally you get to Singapore, where you get off the plane for an hour or so - just enough time to find the BA lounge - then back on the plane for the next flight, and the process starts all over again - meal, dark, light, then finally you land in Sydney.

Our shuttle pick-up was late - we arrived on schedule at 7 am and were through customs etc pretty quickly, but it was 8:40 am before our driver finally showed - and that was after 3 phone calls. I said it once before, but let me say it again - don't ever let me book one of these shuttles again. We'd have been far better off jumping in a taxi.

In any event, our room wasn't ready, but we managed to dump our bags at least and then we headed off for a long walk with a few stops in it. The main park in Sydney has the botanical gardens in it, and we went there for a while before returning to the park itself, where, walking through the trees, we heard these strange noises coming from above. We looked up and there were hundreds of giant bats, hanging from the trees and squawking away. Flying foxes they're often called as they swoop from tree to tree - the world's largest bat apparently:

We walked right through the huge park and down to the water's edge and round to the Opera House. From there to Circular Quay and the tourist hell of alleged aborigine natives playing didgeridoos to some kind of electronic backing. Moving on swiftly, we found a lovely little back street - Nurses' Walk - and we stumbled upon this fantastic restaurant Phillips Foote. It's in lots of little bits, with a central courtyard in the middle and different levels with balconies etc, and, at the back, the Cook House, where you pick your own steak/chicken/fish and then cook it yourself on the barbie, helping yourself to their terrific spread of salads, bread etc. Here's Jo at the BBQ:

After lunch there, we headed back to Darling Harbour to check in at our hotel. We showered, unpacked and took a short nap, then headed out for dinner to the Lord Nelson, an excellent brewpub/hotel. We had a lovely meal but the pressure had built up and there was a brief storm, so we taxi'd back to the hotel rather than risk the lightning and getting wet.

We slept well - hardly surprising - but I became aware of Jo rustling round the room at about 6 am - trying to keep quiet, but I could feel the vibrations of anxiety. "What's the matter?" - "I've lost my handbag". Groan - I stumbled up and we went through the room and then the events of the previous evening. Had she left it in the taxi? Hopefully not - OK - let's phone the pub. What a relief it was when the girl at the other end of the line proudly announced that yes, they did have a red handbag.

I showered, dressed and then we re-traced our steps to the Lord Nelson - and up to the brasserie upstairs for the first time. What a nice place - why didn't we stay there? Mental note for next trip to Sydney.

So we finally got to Adelaide, where Kelly was waiting to "greet" us - in more ways than one. She took us to our apartment in Glenelg, stopping first at Coles for some groceries. We checked in, then she headed for the "bottle-o" to stock us up with some booze.

Chris came over and joined us after work:

We had dinner at the Thai restaurant downstairs after a few drinks and then it was a fairly early night again.

Our sleep patterns are not quite normalised yet and we both woke early. Jo got up and sat on the balcony, waiting for dawn and listening to the sea, whilst a few early morning athletes went out for a row/jog/swim before they headed off to work.

This morning we walked out to the end of the pier. There's a fish measuring plaque - and, yes, it includes a couple of types of shark:

The Gummy Shark sounds kind of feckless doesn't it?

Then we walked up Jetty Road to look at the shops. Lunch was followed by another trip to the supermarket to stock up on groceries for tonight - we're eating in when Kelly and Chris get here. We spent some time on the beach and I went in to the water - it was lovely. It's windy, however, and reading books isn't the easiest so we came back to our apartment after a little while - just as well, as I'm a little burned. We hadn't been out for long and I had 2 applications of factor 30. Guess I wasn't quite ready for the sun directly above us after a Scottish winter.

Jo took a few photos of me reading on our balcony, looking out to sea this evening:

So that's it for now. Don't expect this amount of detail in any future holiday blogs - it just so happened that I had a bit of time on my hands and I'm using up the last of the day's broadband I bought yesterday.

Eve of departure

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's been the usual last-minute panic at work - a potential acquisition comes on the scene at the 11th hour - just as both Michael and I are heading off on long-haul holidays - typical.

I had my consultation at Albyn Hospital tonight. He asked some questions and felt my liver - no worries - not enlarged. Next step is a scan on 16th March (liver, spleen & pancreas, I think), then an endoscopy the following day. At least I feel I'm on the road to discovering what's wrong now.

We're almost packed. I've got an early start and a busy morning of meetings (one of them a Board meeting) before heading home and loading up the cases for Ross to drop us off at the airport for our marathon trip. Looking forward to a pint in the Lord Nelson in the Rocks area of Sydney on Sunday night - if we're up to it!

Watch this space.

Holiday planning

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I had another one of those nightmare moments this morning. I was printing off luggage labels for our trip Down Under and I suddenly realised I didn't have any booking references for the internal flights in Australia. Had I forgotten to book them? I had all the flight timings in my diary but I didn't have any flight numbers or booking references.

Although we had used an agent to book our accommodation in Australia, I had booked the flights there and back myself, using our Air Miles - so who had booked the internal flights? - Me, the agent - or nobody!

I went through all my e-mails with the agent and couldn't find any confirmation that we had booked the internal flights through them. I had made enquiries with them, but it was a long time ago. Perhaps we had decided to leave it until nearer the time to make these bookings and then had forgotten all about it?

What if the flights are fully booked now? Better check the Qantas web site. OK - now time to call the agent. What a relief - she apologised and said she had forgotten to send me the confirmations and would now do so immediately - and she did. Panic over.

So, how was our weekend? Well, I got a game of squash on Friday and got back in time to have some tea with Carole before she took Luca back home. On Saturday morning, Jo and I went down to Deeside Brewery to meet the new owner and his brewer - and we got some nice freebies! Here's their new image for what used to be my birthday beer:

We watched the Lincoln Lawyer on Saturday night - not bad, but not half as good as the book. We reckoned Matthew McConaughey needs to work a bit on empathy.

Sunday morning was golf. I got home afterwards and was just sitting down to what I thought would be a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon with the Sunday Times and the sport on TV, when Jo came in from her post-church coffee with the Golden Girls and said she wanted to go in to Aberdeen and try and find a pair of denims for the journey. She'd tried buying on the internet - she's seriously addicted to internet shopping, but hates the real thing - but couldn't get anything to fit, so the only thing left to do was to go in to Union Square and try out the shops. Fine, I said - see you later. Jo knows how much I hate driving at weekends - but this elicited no sympathy, so off we went.

I drove, hoping to cut down the return trip by at least half an hour, having experienced Jo driving my car on Wednesday night. We got there in good time, parked, walked to Next - straight in, found a pair that fitted and were on our way again in record time. The whole trip took not much more than an hour and a quarter - that's the way to shop! Jo reckons I'm a lucky omen, but I think she's quietly trying to soften me up for another shopping trip sometime.

Haven't heard yet if the workmen have returned to our house yet or not. No excuses today - it's lovely, almost spring-like. We've got Luca for the next couple of nights as it's half-term - and I hope to get another game of squash tonight - the last before our holidays.