Friday frustrations

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

So here I am, in the office at 4:10 pm on a Friday afternoon - well after my usual departure time - and I could be here for a while yet. My car has been having some vibration issues and I took it in to Law's Tyres opposite us to get them to balance the wheels. They've just come back and shown me a video of one of them, and it's bent. They have a new machine that straightens wheels out, but there's always a risk that they'll actually break the wheel when using it - and I don't have a spare (run-flats only).

So I'm going to be here for another hour at least - and it could be more if my wheel breaks. There might have to be an emergency phone call home - Jo - come and get me! Fingers crossed.

Bloody pot-holes - they're everywhere - and some of them are really deep. I've had quite a few serious thumps recently.

Squash last night then the final episode of The Fear, followed by episode two of Spiral, Series 4. Are we becoming too crime-oriented? Jo reads endless crime novels and watches virtually nothing but crime on TV. No wonder I wake up during the night - and it seems I'm being drawn in to watching crime drama now as well. Still, got to know what to watch out for, haven't I?

The local news we've all been expecting for a while has finally come - Inchmarlo Golf Centre has gone in to liquidation - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-21549139. Will somebody buy it as a going concern, or will it just wither away and the land revert to the local Laird (http://www.burnett.uk.com/leys.htm) again?

Ironically, it was just this week that I tried to book the lodges there for the Lesinas and Steele/Stewarts. Never mind, they'll still be there come Christmas - not sure if they're part of the liquidation or not, but hopefully somebody will want to own/run them.

That's all - the weekend starts here - eventually.

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

The only reason for this blog posting is because it gets me one nearer my 1,000th posting. This will be number 997 - and there have been 28,992 viewings of this blog so far. On average, 29 people read each post - and that doesn't include those who only view it by e-mail. It'll be 6 years next month that this blog has been running.

Of course, that's only half the story - when you add my other 8 blogs, there have been 1,939 postings and 52,692 viewings.

So, all of this statistical analysis suggests I'm going for quantity rather than quality in my blogs. Well, maybe, but not on purpose - it's just that I'm not very good at it. When I first started doing my blog, I didn't know what tack I should take - opinions, comments on the news, sport - what should I talk about? I got the feedback that it should just be some kind of diary - what I've been up to, what plans I have etc - and I've stuck to that ever since. The feedback was also responsible for starting up the separate football, golf, squash, beer etc blogs - subjects which hold no interest for different family members, so it was best to keep them separate.

So that's my side of it - and I'll keep on doing it for as long as I can. I originally thought it would be something that I would do more when I retired - and I fully expected to be retired by now - but it hasn't worked out that way.

So, am I a blog addict? Answers on a postcard please - and incidentally, I had a Board Meeting this morning and I went to the gym at 4 pm - that was today that was.

Second Tuesday Blog Posting

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Today keeps getting better. Kelly's news this morning and then, when I get home, there's an envelope waiting for me from AELTC (All England Lawn Tennis Club) telling me I've got a pair of tickets in the ballot for Wimbledon this year! Thursday 4th July - great - second week, bound to be some good tennis. Even better, it's Centre Court tickets. The ever so slightly disappointing news is that it's Ladies Semi-Finals and Mixed Doubles that day - so no Andy - boo-hoo!

Just to clarify about the Lesina/Steele/Stewart visit this Christmas - I thought everyone knew I had always intended putting them all up in the lodges at Inchmarlo - a bit more civilised than cramming in to our house, or even, as Gary alluded to, shuttling back and forward to Inverurie.

Anyway, back to today. I presented the CAMRA Club of the Year award to the Legion tonight - with Jas in tow:

When I got home, Ross, whose days off are Monday and Tuesday, was downstairs gaming again. I suggested he was regressing a little - his riposte was "yes, but at least I'm saving money this way". Good answer. Ross is hoping to move out before the summer and needs to save up a bit, so fair cop. He's still off the fags - sorry, cigarettes - too - that shows some will.

Enough from me - Arsenal v Bayern Munich calls.

Xmas good news

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

What a good start to the day - Kelly and Chris - and baby - are coming to Scotland this year after all! Lucy and Scott have also confirmed they are coming when the boys are off school - 20th December to 3rd January - so it's going to be a mass gathering of the clans this year!

Monday evening

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We're all at home and Corrie's on the telly - good background for blogging. Good to see Gary, Lucy and Jo all blogging again - keep it up!

So how was our weekend? Pretty good actually. Friday night was the usual few beers and a chat with the footy lads - always a good laugh. As I went out, Jo said she was jealous and lamented the fact that none of her pals wanted to go out and do the same!

On Saturday, Jo and I walked along to the Burnett for an early bite before jumping on the bus to Aberdeen to attend the annual CAMRA meeting that selects the pubs from our area that will make it in to the Good Beer Guide next year - and which ones will be our Pub(s) of the Year. We had a few beers there then walked from the Dutch Mill in the West End all the way down to Union Square to go to the cinema.

We were tight for time so it was a very brisk pace - but what a disappointment when we got there. I had screwed up somehow - I had checked the programme guides very quickly before we left the house and thought that if we got there before 5:30 pm, we would have the choice of Tarantino's Django Unchained or Speilberg's Lincoln - or even Ben Affleck's Argo if we were prepared to wait another hour or so. Not so.

We thought we'd try one more and headed off to the Vue, but neither film was on there at a suitable time either. Oh well, nothing for it then - another beer at the Brentwood then head down to the Jewel in the Crown - we hadn't been there for years - and it was terrific.

The pace had been a bit hectic and Jo took a bit of a funny turn for a few minutes, but she was soon well enough to climb up the famous Bridge St. stairs (a bit like Waverley Steps in Edinburgh) with the carrot of a beer and a curry to keep her going!

Nice day out - and Sunday was another lovely mild, almost spring-like day, which allowed me to play my first game of golf for over 3 months. It was great to be out again - and I even played pretty well.

You've probably gathered that we're really in to our crime series on TV - and there's lots of good quality ones around just now. Sorry, Jo, but this doesn't include your favourite Midsomer Murders, Murder She Wrote etc.

I mentioned The Following and The Fear before, but we've now started the new Vegas series as well, plus another foreign language one - State of Terror. It's series 4 of the latter, so we're latecomers to it, but it looks pretty good so far, even if it's in French with subtitles.

Last week there were a lot of programmes on radio and TV commemorating - and with other stars trying to replicate - the Beatles' feat of recording their first album, Please Please Me under the intense time pressure of finishing the whole album in just 12 hours on one day 50 years ago last week. I have to swallow hard each time I say that - 50 years! - where has it gone?

I can remember it like it was yesterday - I was approaching my 14th birthday and this album was released. I didn't even have a record player then, but one of my pals did and we all used to congregate round at his house on every spare minute we had. It may not seem like it now, but it was revolutionary at the time and marked the start of the rock era as far as albums were concerned. Prior to that, LP's ("long-players") were mostly for classical acts, or were soundtracks for movies and musicals etc., but this changed all that.

I can still sing along to every word on the album and I instantly know what song's next when one stops - it's ingrained on me. This is the famous iconic cover:

Ah - memories.

Friday - the weekend approaches

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Did I remember Valentine's Day yesterday? - you bet:

The weather was so pleasant yesterday that I stopped off at the bay in Fraserburgh on my way home:

There was a couple of surfers out looking for a wave - without much success in calm waters:

It's been a hell of a few weeks in the food industry, what with the "mackerel wars" (as the press now dub it) and then the horse meat scandals. There's been so much attention focused on the latter that mackerel issues have already been consigned to the past, or so it seems. There's no doubt the supermarkets and the government are running scared, however. Our factories are audited regularly - both by our customers and external accreditation agencies - some planned, some unannounced. This week, however, all 3 of our factories have suddenly had unannounced audits - many of them way out of sequence with the norm.

The Government - via HMRC - are also on the prowl for unlicensed foreign workers, judging by one of the calls I had to field this week - they were looking for agency staff, but we don't have any - all of our foreign workers (nearly 300) are employed directly by us, with the appropriate passport etc checks.

It's been a week of top class footy on TV as well, but, in between, Jo and I have been watching a couple of series we recorded. One is The Following (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Following), starring Kevin Bacon - pretty grisly and an idea that's a bit over the top - shades of Manson's mob from the 60's. The other was a 4-parter we recorded last year but only got round to watching the first episode of last night - The Fear, starring Peter Mullan as an archetypal Glaswegian gangster who's beginning to show traces of dementia.

I've also been sorting out some of the admin for various trips and events coming up this year, including:

• Headbang - Friday 1st March
• Ceilidh - Old Course Hotel, St. Andrews - Saturday 2nd March
• Wilko Johnson concert - Saturday 9th March
• Jo's shoulder operation - Friday 22nd March
• Carole's trip to Lincolnshire - Saturday 30th March to 6th April
• Ramsdens Cup Final - Livingston - Sunday 7th April
• Golf trip to Turkey - Saturday 13th April for a week
• Boat of Garten - Sunday/Monday 12/13 May
• Slaley Hall golf weekend - 6th - 8th July
• USA holiday - 10th July - 6th August
• Boat of Garten - 1st/2nd September
• Tenerife golf - 20th October for a week

Then we've got the Lesinas coming over at Christmas/New Year, plus we have to start thinking about another trip down to Oz next year. Busy boy.

Mind you, a lot of this - especially the golf - could be aborted if I decide to go ahead with a new knee. My GP's appointment is just a couple of weeks away - best start thinking about it.

Have a nice weekend.

Tuesday tit-bits

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Not really much to say over the last few days, but I did manage to get all my pub surveys finished this weekend - and I've updated CAMRA's database now too - all in good time for this Saturday's annual meeting to decide what goes in to the GBG - and our Pub of the Year winners (commonly known as PotY's).

Luca's with us for a few days as it's school half term just now. He's very good - but I can tell it's been a long day for Jo when I get home. Btw, Jo's operation is scheduled for Friday 22nd March - if she goes ahead with it. Sod's Law, it seems her shoulder is now starting to get a bit better.

I've taken the first tentative steps as well - I've made an appointment with my GP - not until 8th March - to get a referral to the knee surgeon. I still don't know if I'm going to do it or not, though.

Dentist tomorrow - and the hygienist. Should be a fun day.

Oh - and we've booked tickets to go and see Karine Polwart (http://www.karinepolwart.com/) again at Woodend Barn on Friday 26th April.

Carole's going to use one of our timeshare weeks down in Lincolnshire on the first week of Luca's Easter holidays. It's a 3 bedroom unit so she'll be able to have her whole family over if she wants!

Must go now. I've had my rant for today on my other blog, so it's home for tea - then Celtic v. Inter Milan on TV!

Midweek mumbles

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I couldn't join Jo in Inverurie yesterday and I assumed I would be home alone in the evening with Ross due to be at work. As it transpired, Ross didn't make it to work as he was ill - but I only discovered this when I eventually got home, having taken a detour to Tarland and Aboyne to squeeze in another 3 pub surveys - time is running out as the meeting which decides which pubs in our area make it in to next year's Good Beer Guide is a week on Saturday.

I've managed to do 10 of them so far, so I'm not quite half way on the list of 21 that I was given, and there's a couple of extras likely to be added as well. If I get a bit of time tomorrow when I'm up in the Broch, I'll hopefully manage to squeeze another couple in before dashing off to squash. That would then leave Ballater (4), Crathie and Braemar to do - plus 3 in Banchory, which I hope to do on Friday night. The long trip up Deeside will probably have to be done this weekend - if the weather behaves itself.

And today, I actually made it along to Bannatyne's at lunchtime - the first time in a long while - and who should I bump into in the changing room but our Gary! Amazing what you find out - apparently he's handed his notice in at work and is leaving ASCO to join rivals Pentagon, who, coincidentally, Colin Kilgour works for. In fact, Colin is retiring (again) at the end of this month on his 65th birthday, so maybe Gary's effectively replacing him?

Next week we have to try and secure our tickets for the Ramsdens Cup Final between Thistle and QoS (Queen of the South to the uninitiated). We lost our young Manager last week - he stepped up to the SPL with Dundee United - so I'm not sure that we're favourites to win the cup any more, but we'll be heading to Livingston on Sunday 7th April, mob-handed, in any event.

I'm now starting to feel guilty about not having done any more of Renshaw's Chronicles (http://renshawschronicles.blogspot.co.uk/) for the last 3 months. I've been very good at keeping my other blogs going recently but the Chronicles requires a lot more time, effort and working memory cells. Who knows when I'll manage the next episode - the early days in Banchory - virtually 30 years ago.

I always like to add some pictorial stuff to my blogs - dry prose only bores - I can almost hear you yawning from here. Here's a recent one from USA:

Terrorists at large? Well, very small ones.

Lastly, to continue on one of the themes making a lot of headlines in the press recently - the battle over mackerel in the North Sea. I spotted an interesting graphic that neatly sums up the problem:

As you can see, the biomass is huge, but we need to come to an agreement soon as to who gets what, and reduce the overall annual catch from all the northern European nations back down to nearer the sustainable level of 0.5m. tonnes, or we will quickly deplete the stock, even allowing for the fact that the relatively short life cycle of mackerel helps it regenerate quickly.

Today's short lesson over.

Jo's op

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yesterday (Monday), I took the day off to take Jo to Albyn for her appointment with Dr. Kumar, who seemed to quickly recognise and diagnose the problem with her shoulder. Apparently it's frozen shoulder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_shoulder) or, more properly, adhesive capsulitis.

Apparently the shoulder joint sits in a bag and this bag has now shrunk, causing lack of movement in her shoulder. Jo first experienced symptoms and pain in the middle of last year. According to Dr. Kumar, it goes through stages and, if had been caught in the first few weeks, or even months, then a simple cortisone injection should have resolved the matter and stopped it developing further, but there's now scar tissue there which is adding to the restriction and the pain. Now that we're 7 or 8 months on, Jo had 2 choices - either wait for it to heal itself - which could take another year or more, or have an operation. Jo chose the latter.

She had an X-ray just to confirm that there's nothing else going on - and there's not - so we're now just waiting for a space in Dr. Kumar's busy diary. Mid-March is most likely. It's keyhole surgery, but although it's just daycare, there's a general anaesthetic, followed by some fairly lengthy physiotherapy apparently.

What causes it? Apparently nobody knows.

Tayside weekend

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Spittal of Glenshee was closed, so we had to head south east on Saturday morning - and we couldn't even go over Cairn o' Mount, so it was the Slug Road to Stonehaven for us. We had thought we might have to go all the way down to Dundee and across to Perth and back up the A9 from there, but it seemed fairly mild so we cut across country from Forfar - to Kirriemuir and Blairgowrie, with the intention of carrying on westwards to Pitlochry from there. Bad luck - roads closed due to flooding, so we ended up having to go down to Perth anyway - only on the country roads rather than the main dual carriageways.

So, despite leaving Banchory nice and early, we were a bit late arriving for lunch but at least I'd managed to get hold of Barry and let him know. We parked at our B & B in Strathtay and took the short walk to the Inn on the Tay - only we started walking in the wrong direction and had to go all the way back again! I guess it just wasn't our day.

Lunch was nice and we caught up on all the news. Barry and Helen are back working again - part-time, 2 days a week as Assessors for the new Modern Apprentice scheme. They're actually training as they're doing the job - the first in Glasgow as well. Harriet, the dog they were training for the Guide Dogs for the Blind, has now gone. She failed, I'm afraid, so she's now just a house dog somewhere. I think Helen misses her.

Dawn told us about Julie having quit her PhD, which came with some funding which has now obviously gone, so it's going to be tough for them with just Kieran's wage coming in and a wedding on the horizon.

After lunch, we posed outside the Inn:

Don't know why Barry and I are looking so unhappy?

Jo and I walked back to our B & B and Dawn, Barry & Helen drove back home. Riverwood was a lovely, high quality place - if a tad precious. We were told the house rules as soon as we arrived - including wearing slippers in the house.

The Evening with Tony Robinson at the theatre in Pitlochry was good fun. It was very informal and was far from a full house. He was on stage with a fellow actor and he just chatted away. He is very small - and very round. His chosen outfit of sparkly cardigan over plain t-shirt wasn't exactly flattering either:

We popped in to the Moulin Inn for a quick pint before heading back to Strathtay.

Breakfast was lovely - sitting at the window looking out at the Tay, with red squirrel and pheasant roaming round the garden. French toast with maple syrup and bacon - delicious.

We had decided we wanted to do a walk before coming home, but it appeared that the planned trip over the hill to Pitlochry was a lot more than the 4 miles I'd been led to believe it was, so we looked elsewhere. I spotted a walk from Grandtully to Aberfeldy - 4 miles apparently, but it would be a bit more than twice that there and back, as it transpired.

Arriving just outside Aberfeldy, first stop looked like being Dewar's distillery, but their coffee shop was shut on Sundays in winter, unfortunately. Nevertheless, there was a photo opportunity in front of their symbol:

You'd never guess we'd just had words, would you?

We found a lovely new coffee shop in the town centre however - the Habitat Cafe. Suitably refreshed, we headed back along the trail to Grandtully, passing Dewar's once more:

Then, the long drive home - on the main roads this time!

Saturday snow

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We'll be heading off to Strathtay/Pitlochry in the next couple of hours, but we've woken to another covering of snow this morning. It's not much, but it's enough to make up my mind about which direction to go. It would be too much of a risk to head west up Deeside and over Spittal of Glenshee, so we'll have to go down the main A90 and then decide whether to tackle the Angus/Perthsire cross country route or go all the way down to Perth and then back up the A9.

If we get there in good time and the weather's OK, I think we'll dump the car at our B & B (http://www.riverwoodstrathtay.com/) and then take the short walk to our lunch date with Dawn and Barry (http://www.theinnonthetay.co.uk/).

We've got the theatre tonight in Pitlochry - Tony Robinson - and then home tomorrow. If the Glenshee road is open tomorrow, I might even manage to do a pub survey or two in Braemar/Ballater on the way home. I managed to get another 3 done yesterday - the Cock & Bull, Balmedie, Scott Skinner's and the Legion last night. 5 down, 16 to go!

On Monday, I'm taking Jo to Albyn for her appointment with the specialist to look at her shoulder. Hope they sort something out.

Now own up, all you people, who was it that gave my last blog posting a "rubbish" rating?

The worst kept secret

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yes - the news is finally, officially out. We are to become Grandparents again in August. Many congrats to Kelly and Chris - great news. We only wish we could be there - or, even better, that they could be here!

The original plans had been for Kelly and Chris to come over here for Christmas/New Year this year and have a big family reunion as Lucy, Scott and the boys had also planned to come at the same time, but Kelly and Chris can't afford to come now - which is presenting Lucy and Scott with a bit of a dilemma - do they come this year and miss Kelly, or do they cancel their plans and come next year, hoping Kelly and Chris can make it then?

It's also means we will be going back to Oz early next year. We had originally thought that we were getting a year off from doing this journey, but I guess we'll just have to put up with another winter break in the sun! Mind you, it would be cheaper for us to pay Kelly and Chris' air fares over here (cattle class!) than pay for Jo and I to return Down Under (Business Class!)!

That's about all I've got to say today. Believe it or not, I've been exceptionally busy at work this week and have had little time to myself - the odd short blog, that's all. I had fully intended to go back to the gym today - for the first time this year - but got waylaid again. No time left now - got to get home as it's our golf club's AGM tonight and we're expecting a rammy, so I need to be there.

I'm hoping to get some squash tomorrow night, but I've also got all the pub surveys to do for CAMRA and I only have 2 weeks left to cover Banchory, Aboyne, Potarch, Strachan, Tarland, Torphins, Ballater, Crathie, Braemar, Balmedie and Fraserburgh - 21 pubs in all over a wide geographic area, and I've only done 2 of them so far - help!

Music studio

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Has our downstairs room now been turned in to a music studio? You be the judge:

Yes - 2 guitars, stands, amps plus, under wraps on right, a full size drum kit. Here's a better view of Ross' new electric guitar:

Thawing

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Hello again. It's Monday and I'm at home - alone. I was at a seminar at lunchtime in the city centre and just came home afterwards. No Jo, no Ross - empty house. Never mind, I'm heading off to squash soon.

Jo's latest handiwork was lying on the carpet in the back room. Was she showing off?:

Is anyone else watching Borgen? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgen_(Danish_TV_series) Scandinavian political intrigue - with subtitles. Sounds great doesn't it? Well, I'm enjoying it anyway. Next episodes Saturday night - when we'll be away. Sky + and Catch-up always come to the rescue.

We're also catching up with Homeland Series 1 - on DVD - having missed it first time around - that's pretty good too.

We're having lunch with Dawn and Barry on Saturday at the Inn on the Tay:

Don't think we'll be sitting out on the decking this week, however!

Jo and I are going to the theatre in nearby Pitlochry at night. Wonder if we'll be able to drive down Deeside and over the hills? If it carries on thawing we should be fine.

Some of you may have noticed last week's press about problems with the North Sea Mackerel fisheries. It's the staple product of our business - 100% of the output of one of our 3 factories and a significant share of the other two, and responsible for probably 300 or more jobs. Complicated subject but the Times tried to summarise it on Saturday:

(Click on to enlarge).

Ironic - plenty mackerel available but it seems the various European countries are hell-bent on destroying the most valuable resource left in the North Sea because they can't agree what's the fairest way to share it all out. Anyway, don't let that stop you continuing to eat it - it's good for you and it's plentiful - for now anyway.

That's all for now, folks.