EdFringe

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, I finally got round to studying the massive Edinburgh Fringe programme last night and, after several hours of hard research, I booked a few shows for our mid-August visit to the capital - or so I thought.

I twice got rejected online and changed credit cards each time until one booking finally got through - and it was confirmed. However, this afternoon, I've just had a message telling me my bookings have failed. Now, did that message refer to one of the first two aborted attempts, or had my (apparently successful) booking also now been rejected?

Of course, you can't get through to the Fringe on the phone - constantly engaged - so I've had to e-mail them and await a reply. Here's what I thought we were going to see:

Bangalore Rock at Main Theatre in Spotlites @ The Merchants' Hall on Fri 16 Aug 2013 23:20

John Hunt Four O'Clock Afternoon Blues and Swing at The Jazz Bar (120) in The Jazz Bar on Sat 17 Aug 2013 16:00

Johnnie Walker's Guest Night at Majestic in New Town Theatre on Fri 16 Aug 2013 18:15

Hardeep Singh Kohli: Hardeep Is Your Love at Pleasance One in Pleasance Courtyard on Sat 17 Aug 2013 22:30

Fingers crossed.

Last word today - a photo of the t-shirt Gary gave me on Sunday - plus the badge on the card:

Bye for now.

Monday news

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Nice Father's Day treat yesterday - Gary and Luca came over and took Jo and I to the Douglas Arms:

We've also booked to trip to Belfast, of all places! I had wanted to go and see Graham Parker & the Rumour when they were touring in Europe in the autumn (they've just reformed after 30 years), but their UK mainland dates are the week I'm in Tenerife, so I looked for other gigs in Europe and up popped Belfast - and Paris. Well, we've never been to Belfast, and Jo doesn't like Paris, so it was a no-brainer. We could have done either as both cities have flights from Aberdeen.

So all I have to do now is arrange a visit to the West Coast for Jo and I - Torridon and Plockton - plus a trip to Bath. Oh - and I must get round to studying the Fringe programme and booking some shows.

Apart from that, it's a busy week for me - both at work and leisure. Our accounts for 2012/13 are being finalised for signing at next Monday's Board Meeting and, of course, it's peak golf season for the next few weeks until we head off to USA on July 10th. This week, I've got the usual golf on Wednesday, a tie on Thursday, Midsummer Outing at Edzell on Friday and, supposedly a medal again on Saturday. I suspect the latter may fall by the wayside.

Next week, it's Balmoral on Monday and Ballater on Friday, then Slaley Hall on the weekend of 6th July. It's all go.

Weekend update

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

The knee brace has been returned - it wasn't working. In fact, I think it was actually making things slightly worse. The physio couldn't explain why and offered no alternatives, so I guess I need to fix the date of the operation now. Early November would be best for me - after my holidays are over.

There's been a major change at home - Ross has moved out, He had saved up for a deposit and found a flat, right in the centre of the village, overlooking the High St., and moved in on Friday night. His worldly possessions are migrating over daily. We went down to take a look last night and took these photos:

Main bedroom

Lounge

Lounge again

Bedroom 2 (bed still to arrive)

Jo and Ross' friend, Kyle in kitchen

View from kitchen - you can just see the top of Scolty

Antique letter boxes in the stairwell

Staircase

View from stairs towards Scott Skinner square

Nice place - note the lovely old fireplaces. So, just me and Jo left now in Arbor Court.

We watched Searching for Sugar Man last night - lovely film - look out for it, if you haven't seen it.

Got a golf tie this morning - must get shorts on and get out now. Lunch at the Douglas with Gary, Luca and Jo after golf. Sounds like a nice day.

A weekend without golf

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yes, it's hard to believe, I know, but no golf for me this weekend. It's an enforced absence after 4 consecutive days' golf - more than I can handle nowadays, I'm afraid. We played the PGA course at Gleneagles on Tuesday - next year's Ryder Cup venue - in glorious sunshine. The course is huge - American style, designed for buggies, with long walks from green to tee - and we walked it. I survived - just.

On Wednesday, it was Banchory again. I had thought I might give my knee a rest and skip this one, but old friends John and Jayne Taylor were up in Deeside, on holiday at the Craigendarroch, and were looking for a game at Banchory, so I felt I had to be there. I had a pre-arranged tie to play on Thursday, and Friday was our annual outing to Blairgowrie. My compromise solution was to hire a buggy yesterday - and that worked OK, but I still wouldn't have been able to play today.

The bonus of playing all this golf was that I was able to give my knee brace a good road test - and it looks like it's not really helping. In fact, I took it off for yesterday's afternoon round and it felt a bit easier. I've to go back to the physio on Thursday, but I think I'm going to hand the knee brace back. That means I'll have to try and stagger through the summer, unaided, and have the operation as soon as I return from our golf trip to Tenerife late October.

Today, Jo and I walked up to the village and wandered round the High St., trying to find out what the new Banchory River Festival (http://www.visitbanchory.com/calendar/0/234-Banchory-River-Festival.html) is all about. Is it just a new name for the Banchory St. Ternan's Heritage Fair, or is it a replacement for it, or additional to? Nobody seems to know. Anyway, nothing much was happening - a bit of music and a few stalls in Scott Skinner Square, plus some pavement art on the High St. - and that was about it, it seemed. We did sign up to go to a beer tasting tonight at Deeside Drinks Emporium, however - surprise, surprise!

This morning's Sounds of the 60's on BBC Radio Two had another dedication for us - our third to date. Listen to the intro here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U6S6X79sQk - and to the outro here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIT70_zUqeM

We decided to take advantage of the good weather to have lunch on the lawn at the adjacent Tor-na-Coille Hotel today, but got no further than the driveway up to the hotel when we noticed there was a wedding on the lawn today, so we turned round and went home for bacon butties instead.

Tomorrow, Luca will be with us during the day as his Mum and Dad are heading out for the day.

Knee brace - the story so far ..........

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, I tried it for the first time at golf on Wednesday and I wore it again yesterday when we went to the Beer Festival, and again this morning at golf. The verdict so far? Mixed at best. Perhaps I had hoped for instant relief, but it's certainly not that. In fact, if anything, I felt it was a little worse this morning - but that could have been because I was a little tired and stiff after 3 consecutive days working behind the bar at Pittodrie.

I drove back down from Fraserburgh on Thursday and started work at the festival when it opened at 4 pm, and worked through until just after 7 pm. I also went along and did the early shift on Friday from 3pm to 6 pm, but, on both these occasions, I had the car with me, so my tastings were just little sips in the bottom of my glass.

I made up for it yesterday, however. I cancelled golf and Jo and I caught the 11:15 am bus in to Aberdeen, getting off in Union St. and walking from there through the Bon Accord Centre - stopping off for a brief bite in Pret-a-Manger - to Pittodrie. We worked behind the bar from just after 1pm to about 6 pm, when we took a break, found a seat, and had a couple of beers before heading for our bus(es) home.

We got off at the Douglas to pop in to say hello to Ross, who was on a double shift day - daytime at Tease and evening in the Douglas - then picked up fish suppers and headed home.

I've made up DVD's combining the photos we all took on our West Coast walking trip last weekend, and will hand them out to the rest of the guys. They're already talking about next year's trip, but I can't get involved, I know - but I'm starting to feel a bit left out - it's as if some things are coming to an end. Sad face.

Anyway, it's June now and the weather seems to be improving at last - the prospects for this week are quite good, which is quite encouraging as I've got a lot of golf planned - Gleneagles (business) on Tuesday, a tie at Banchory on Thursday and our annual outing to Blairgowrie on Friday. Normally, I would also be playing at Banchory on Wednesday and Saturday, but I suspect this may be a bridge too far - I'll see how I'm coping with my knee. Should I wear the knee brace every day, or experiment with brace on and off to compare and contrast? Dilemma.

Knee Brace

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

So I got it fitted last night and I've to try it out for 2 weeks then go back and decide if it's making a difference and whether to keep it or not. It's a pity I didn't get it for last weekend's walks - that would have been a good test - but I'll try it at golf this afternoon and see how we go.

It's called an Unloader and the thinner strap in the middle, just above my kneecap, has a ringpull adjustment on it so that I can tighten or slacken it according to need.

Wish me luck.

Kelly's engaged!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, bit of a double whammy when I returned from my weekend walking on the West Coast (check hill-walking blog - link on sidebar of this blog) to the news that Kelly and Chris have got engaged - and this on the day that Lucy turned 40!

Apparently Chris did the romantic thing and got down on one knee on the beach - old smoothie that he is! The wedding is going to be in Scotland - but not this year when they come over at Christmas. They want to make sure all their close family have enough notice and can plan - and afford - to come over to Scotland and enjoy the occasion. Castles are being spoken about, so it will take a fair deal of advance planning. Watch this space. This was them when they treated us to a lovely lunch on our 40th Wedding Anniversary last year:

And Lucy turning 40 - I can hardly believe it. Here Lucy and Scott on their Wedding Day in 2001:

So, deep breath - what else is new? Well, tonight I go to get my knee brace fitted - I'm hoping it will at least get me through the summer, golfing and walking, before I have the replacement operation in Autumn/early Winter.

Today, I popped along to Pittodrie to see how they were getting along with setting up the Beer Festival, but they were all hard at work and well on track and my limited services weren't really required today.

Summer's here - don't blink

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Good start to the week, weather-wise - hope it holds until the weekend as I'm heading to the West Coast for our annual walking weekend, which is being held a bit earlier than usual this year. Of course, I'm not really up to keeping up with the rest of the guys nowadays, and initially I had said I wouldn't be going at all, but I changed my mind several weeks ago and decided on a compromise solution which would involve me travelling over on Saturday and returning with them on Monday.

The rest of them - Ken Black, Ian Sharp, John McWhinnie, Colin Kilgour and, for the first time, Gordon Moir (plus dogs) - are heading over to Torridon on Thursday morning - with an afternoon walk there - and then a big walk on Friday round the Plockton area. On Saturday, they had intended to catch the ferry to Raasay and do 2 walks on the island, with me joining them for the second, easier, coastal walk in the afternoon, with us all heading to Skye afterwards. Their plans have now changed, however, primarily due to ferry times - they are now planning just one walk on Raasay, returning on the late afternoon/early evening ferry, which gives me no time to drive over from Banchory in time to catch a ferry over to the island.

Dilemma - what should I do? Do I just drive straight to Skye on Saturday and join them for dinner only and not do any walking that day - or do I just do my own thing and create a walk of my own somewhere and then meet up with them later? A third option is to travel over on Friday afternoon/evening to Plockton so that I am there, ready to go with them on Saturday morning - but I don't really want to do that if it can be avoided. Of course, all plans have to be flexible and are weather dependent anyway, but I hate not knowing what I'm doing.

Since my last blog, we've managed to FaceTime Kelly - and see her bump for the first time. It's her birthday today. Kelly was the only one of our four who was born at home - I vaguely remember that day, trying to play a support role to Jo and the Midwife, running up and down the stairs in our house in Broxbourne. Then, just a few months later, we left Hertfordshire and moved up to Edinburgh. There's a pattern here - we moved from Lanarkshire down to the South East within a year of Lucy being born, and we moved from Edinburgh to Banchory within a few months of Ross being born. The only exception was Gary, who was born in 1975 - we stayed in Broxbourne for a further 4 years after that. Anyway here's some 30 + year old memories of what little Kelly was like then:

Hope it was a nice birthday, Kelly - miss you - although the skin on the lobes of my ears have finally recovered after years of your twiddling!

It's a busy time of year golf-wise - we had the first of our bi-annual trips to Boat of Garten on Sunday/Monday 12th/13th. It was cold and I didn't manage to defend the trophy this time, coming in 4th out of the 12 who attended, but at least that means I don't have to organise the September outing now!

Played squash last Tuesday - the first time for a while - and it was a pretty hard session, by our standards anyway. Wednesday was the usual midweek evening golf, then on Thursday I went to get fitted for my knee brace. It was an odd experience - I had been promised he would be in touch within a week of me having seen the knee surgeon, but 3 weeks had passed and no contact, so I upped the ante and contacted the hospital again. Immediately, the physio's secretary phoned me and I got an appointment within 24 hours, but when we got there, he didn't seem to know much about why I was there. Anyway, he looked at the knee and took some measurements and said it would only be a matter of days before the brace arrived - although it could take longer than this to get an appointment again. It would be neat if I could get it before I went walking this weekend.

On Friday, I was invited to play the Old Course at St. Andrews. It was a late invitation from HSBC who are keen to get our business - and it was a no-brainer for me to accept it. There was a bit of a late whoopsy on Thursday when I found out they don't allow trolleys on the course before noon - concern that they might damage the hallowed turf, especially if there was a morning frost or dew. My host soon sorted that by booking me a caddy! It turned in to a magnificent day, with wall to wall sunshine and only a light breeeze. It was a blast to get a chance to play here again - it's more than 20 years since my one and only prior round there. Here's our fourball in front of the famous R & A clubhouse early on Friday morning - before the sun came out:

More golf in the medal at Banchory on Saturday morning, but this time I got wet as the heavens opened for the last 3-4 holes.

Yesterday (Sunday) was the last day of the English Premiership season, so Colin and I took the train down to Newcastle to watch them play Arsenal. It was a nice day out, marred only by us being seated amongst a loud, rowdy group on the Edinburgh - Stonehaven leg. Here I am at the match:

So that's me up to date again.

Mid-May moans

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, good morning again - it's been nearly a fortnight - that's 2 weeks for those who don't know - since my last post to this blog. I cancelled my golf this morning, partly because the weather forecast wasn't great and I didn't want to get all my gear wet before heading off to Grantown-on-Spey and Boat of Garten tomorrow (our 55th outing there), but also because I wasn't sure if I could manage to play golf 3 days in a row - would my knee stand up to it?

Talking about my knee, it's been over 2 weeks since I saw the knee surgeon. He promised me I would have a letter from the physiotherapist who would fit my knee brace within a week, but nothing has happened yet. I'd quite like to have it for the weekend walking on the West coast which is planned for 2 weeks today.

What else is new? We saw a glimpse of early summer/late spring at the start of last week and I managed to get out and go for a walk up Scolty on Sunday. It was a beautiful morning and there was no sign of the snow and ice that had been there the last time I'd tried to go up a few weeks ago, when I ran in to Gary, who advised me not to try it. It's only a little hill, but we went up the quicker, steeper way. My heart condition means I have to keep stopping as I get breathless easily, but as long as I do this and take my time, I can manage OK. Coming down, there's no problem with breathlessness obviously but this is when my joints - knees and hip in particular - really hurt. Still, I was pleased I managed to do it - there may not be many - if any - more times I can manage to get to the top. Photos etc on my hill-walking blog (links on the blog sidebar).

The good weather continued until Tuesday when I had a golf tie against a young 5-handicapper. I played my best golf of the season and easily beat him, not even needing the 7 handicap strokes I was entitled to. It wasn't so nice the following day when I got pretty damp on our usual Wednesday night session.

So we've just tried to Facetime Kelly, but no answer, I'm afraid. Must try again soon - we all want to see her tummy!

Yesterday I attended a heart clinic. It was a research project run by Aberdeen University and they picked members of the public apparently at random to monitor their heart conditions. It turned out that the young doctor doing it was an American - from Oregon, no less - Salem, in fact. Apart from a couple of quick questions about the state of my health, plus a quick check of blood pressure (excellent), the main part of the survey was an ultrasound scan of the heart, from which they captured a whole range of scans for their project. At the end of it, she said that, with the exception of the known AF which is being monitored and treated, my heart was fine and there would be no need to see her again, nor any referral to my GP necessary.

Continuing on the health check theme - I know, it's endless isn't it? - the dreaded NHS letters for the annual stool monitoring for bowel cancer have just arrived. As you can imagine, it's our least favourite job (no pun intended) of the year.

Might take a walk up to Inchmarlo today and enquire again about getting a chalet booked for Christmas. My last enquiry was online and came just before the golf course went in to administration. The chalets are owned separately but were managed by the golf course business. I've been told to go there and put our names on a reserve list.

That's about all my news. It's the end of the football season - the FA Cup Final today and the final games in the Premiership next weekend. I'm planning to take a day trip down to Newcastle next Sunday to take in the final game of the season against Arsenal - it could be a crucial game for both clubs.

The other major event of the last 2 weeks in the UK was the local council elections in England & Wales, which saw the sudden, dramatic rise of UKIP (UK Independence Party) - an anti-European, anti-immigration party. There are obviously very strong feelings about both subjects down south, but they don't appear to be issues at all in Scotland. It's probably just a mid-term protest vote, but if it were to result in a major shift in UK Government policy, it might, ironically, end up being just the boost the SNP need in their apparently dwindling hopes of a Yes vote in next year's Separation for Scotland referendum. We'll watch with interest.

Enough for now.

Monday afternoon news

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I met Jo at Albyn this morning - just to get the all-clear after her shoulder operation. No problems - in and out in less than 5 minutes - and he will probably charge BUPA £100 or so for it too!

We went to Woodend Barn on Friday night and I was reminded what great acoustics it has. A nice warm evening listening to Karine Polwart.

Golfed on Saturday - usual story - managed OK for the first half, but then my knee started to give me gyp and I struggled on the back nine. It did, however, clear my mind of any doubt about going ahead with the operation this year. I was a bit better on Sunday and managed to play again, although again the closing stages were painful. I hope the knee brace will help me stagger through the summer and then get the op this autumn. With no winter trip to Oz planned this year, it gives me plenty of time for recovery before spring next year.

It's only 2 weeks until our first trip to Boat of Garten this year - I hope it warms up a bit before then. Although the weekend was nice and sunny, there's still a bite in the wind.

We watched the Jack Reacher film on Saturday night - typical Tom Cruise film, we thought. Make of that what you will.

Last night we slept in the back bedroom as we had to clear our bedroom for the painter today. The bed's OK, but it's not as good as ours - and the noisy chatter from the downstairs room at 3 am this morning didn't help. It did stop when I got up to complain and Ross did leave me an apology note this morning.

Lucy sent me the following photo of Braeden wearing my Partick Thistle strip that used to hang on his wall. He wore it one day last week - must be in celebration of the Jags winning the Division 1 Championship:

Yes, I know it's sideways again - there's always a problem with orientation when taking photos from an i-Phone and putting them on Blogger.

It's Thistle's last game of the season on Saturday - away to Dumbarton. One part of me feels I need to be there to celebrate, but the other part of me shudders at the thought of driving down and back - I don't like using the car much at weekends generally. Pity there's no Club 55 promotion on just now.

Friday sign-off

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, that's post-golfing holiday week one out of the way now. I survived - although I have been a bit sleepy all week - don't think I ever got caught up with my lost sleep night Sat/Sun travelling back from Turkey.

Staggered round the squash court last night and then went home to catch up on some of our recorded TV episodes - The Following (will it ever end - and how much more blood can be shed?) and Broadchurch (now ended).

It's much more difficult keeping my reading up when I come back - can't seem to find the time or the concentration. I was enjoying Cold Comfort - an Icelandic murder mystery I bought in Adelaide, but I'm losing the plot - literally - a little now.

Tonight, we're off to Woodend Barn to see Karine Polwart (http://www.karinepolwart.com/)again. Tomorrow and Sunday golf I hope.

Jo's new car is causing DVLA some problems. They've twice sent us reminders about overdue road tax, which their records show as expiring on 31st March, but the actual tax disc says 31st May:

Looks like a DVLA cock-up. We wouldn't have bought the car with less than a month's road tax on it - we'd have asked Malcolm to tax it before selling it to us. What do we do if the DVLA come back and say we've to pay tax for April and May?

Knee news

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Had my appointment with the specialist this morning and have pencilled in the knee replacement operation for the autumn - well after our trip to USA - and the golf season!

Before that, however, I am going to the physio he has recommended to get fitted with a knee brace. This may - or may not - stave off the operation for a bit. It makes sense to try every avenue as the new knee will only last about 10 years. My orthotic insoles definitely helped for a while but the beneficial effects seem to be wearing off a bit now - maybe the knee brace will be the same.

Elated!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

My last family blog posting was over 2 weeks ago and was just after we had returned from the Ramsdens Cup Final, which Thistle lost. Despair has since turned to joy as Thistle won the First Division Championship on Saturday and will be playing in the SPL next season for the first time for quite a few years. I listened to the match on internet radio on my phone in Turkey, getting ever more excited as full-time approached with Thistle 2-0 ahead. However, 7pm local time (5pm BST) came and went and still they were playing. It was then that I discovered that there was a substantial time buffer on the transmission, so a quick switch to text results told me we had won. Joy!

So how was my golf week in Turkey? Great. The all-inclusive deal works really well and the resort (http://www.corneliaresort.com/diamond/diamondeng.html) we have been at for the last 3 years is truly 5 star. Very much a "bling" feel to it, which I guess is not everyone's cup of tea, but it was excellent for us. The locals say it is Turkish money behind it, but it feels very much like something a few Russian oligarchs would do.

The hotel and grounds are massive - almost Vegas style - and there's everything you could want there. Of course, golf is the primary reason for the resort being there, but it also attracts a lot of conventions and there were some families there as well. Most days we teed off early in the morning and went back to the hotel for lunch by the pool, then it was swimming, spa, bridge or squash for most of us - plus a snooze of course - I usually had mine in the bath, which was pretty deep. We've all reached the age where getting in and out of baths is starting to get pretty tricky - particularly when they're deep and slippy. The roll-over on to the knees technique was the most favoured in our group - yes, we do discuss such things over dinner!

We had a free day on Saturday as our flight wasn't until late at night, so it was a leisurely day. We played petanque, had a beer, sat in the sun, read our books, played 10-pin bowling, squash, bridge and then showered and changed before heading for the airport. We got to Glasgow about 2 am on Sunday morning local time and, after customs and baggage - mine was almost last out - finally drove north east, trying hard to stay awake. It brought back memories of a few years ago when we came back from New York after our holiday chez Lesinas. We were flying Continental that year out of Glasgow, which meant an overnight flight, against the clock, and then a long drive up the road. I was OK until just outside Strachan, when I finally must have momentarily shut my eyes and the car started to veer off the road. Fortunately, by this time Jo and Kelly were awake and they screamed out simultaneously, which instantly alerted me and I managed to bring the car quickly under control - but it was pretty scary. It wasn't quite as bad this time and we were back in Banchory not long after dawn at 5:30 am.

I didn't want to waken Jo at that ungodly hour, so I unpacked and watched a bit of TV, before finally giving in to my tiredness at 7 am and heading for bed for a couple of hours. I stayed awake most of the rest of the day, but there were a few nodding donkeys along the way.

Anyone interested in the details of the golf - and the photos - can read all about it on my golf blog, but, in short, I was pipped at the post by the grand old man of our group, Syd, who will be 74 next week - and he still has the lowest handicap of all of us, and manages to beat us all regularly - amazing! Syd even had a hole in one on holiday. The drinks were on him, of course - easy to do on an all-inclusive deal! Here's one previously unpublished photo of Peter Street, Ken Page and I taken on the last night:

Back to work on Monday - Aberdeen office, then Fraserburgh yesterday, stopping off for tea in Inverurie with Jo, Carole and Luca. Today's Aberdeen again and hopefully Wednesday golf again this evening.

Tomorrow is my appointment with the knee surgeon. Jo's coming with me. I still don't know what to do. Sometimes I'm OK, but then other times I'm completely debilitated and in a lot of pain. The irony is I'm planning to play squash tomorrow evening after seeing the specialist!

To close, a recent article in one of the trade papers featured some of our factories:

Anyway, enough for now.

Dejected

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

My first family blog for 10 days and I had hoped it would be a celebratory one, but it wasn't to be in the Ramsdens Cup final yesterday. It could have been the second time I had seen Thistle lift a Cup - and the first for Gary and Ross, who weren't even born back in 1971 when the Jags famously beat Celtic 4-1 in the League Cup final. Here's the boys - with Colin Kilgour - at the start:

What else is new? Certainly not the weather, which is still unseasonably cold as witnessed on our golf course which remained closed until Friday last week. I did manage to play on Saturday in the first Medal of the season - it was lovely - almost like a proper Spring, but it's gone again and we're getting more snow flurries now. Looking forward to golf in Turkey next week.

I was back at the physio today - still getting treatment on my hand/wrist and my ankle - they're both getting better slowly. My legs were sore after golf on Saturday - even up to the hip - hardly surprising I suppose, as it's been a while since I played a full round.

My appointment with the knee specialist is a few days after I come back from Turkey and the thought of deciding whether to get a replacement or not is getting to me a bit. It's the finality of it all - and the long period of recovery, and what I would miss out on, plus the uncertainty of whether they can make a sufficient improvement or not.

I've been overhearing my hill-walking pals talking about their plans for this year - West Coast island-hopping at the end of May. It sounds great and I felt really left out, but I know I couldn't cope with some of the stuff that they've got planned, so I've made a late decision to join them for the latter part of their walks and do the slightly easier stuff on 25th/26th May.

I think that's about all for now - Luca's coming over for a few days tomorrow, so that'll be nice.