First night at home

Well, how was it? It started poorly as Colin, Gary, Ross and I watched the Jags get thumped 4-0 by the Dons, but it got a little worse when I tried to rise from my chair to head upstairs. I used one stick to help me, but Ross was in the process of telling me to use both of them when I suddenly fell. Fortunately, Ross was close enough to catch me before I hit the ground, but it shook me a up a bit.

The night was restless, awaking every 2 hours or so - it seemed interminable - a bit like it had been in the hospital. I was getting stabbing, needle point pains in my knee and arthritic pains in my ankle and hip. I finally got up not long after 6 am and went down to the kitchen for breakfast and meds. The pain was still intense and drove me to tears, but the meds are now kicking in a bit and the pain is lessening a little. I've got the ice pack on now and hopefully that will help ease the swelling and allow me to do my exercises later on. Right now, I couldn't face them.

I fear it's going to be a long day.

Home again

Monday afternoon and I'm home again. I had my X-rays, they took my bloods and I've come home with a full supply of meds, 2 walking sticks and an ice collar for my knee. I also made an appointment with the physio there on Wednesday 20th, but I may cancel that, depending on how I get on with the local Banchory NHS physio next Tuesday (12th).

I managed to persuade them to change my dressing which was heavily soiled with dark, dried out blood. They were initially a little reluctant to do this as the dressing was waterproof and fully sealed. They thought there might be a risk of letting infection get in if they were to replace the dressing. This gave me a chance to have a look at the wound:

Some of my visitors at the hospital brought along home-made cards. See if you can guess which of the following was drawn by a 56 year old Architect and which by a 6 year old boy?:

Tonight the Aberdeen - Thistle match is on TV and our Gary and pal Colin are coming round to ours to watch it - possibly Ross too.

Monday morning

Yes - it's been confirmed that I'm getting home this morning - looking forward to it. I've to wear the compression stockings on both legs for another 6 weeks to minimise the possibility of DVT, and I've to use both walking sticks for the same period. The hardest bit is going to be learning to walk properly again. I've had this bad knee for so long that I've got used to "swinging" my right leg rather than bending it.

Didn't have a good night last night. I cut down on the pain killers and it wasn't enough to see me through the night, so I had to call for more to help me sleep - even if only for an hour or two.

I had dozed a lot on Friday after the op and also a bit on Saturday, but I awoke early yesterday and never managed to get another 40 winks until I went to sleep at 8 pm, which meant, of course, that I awoke again early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep until I called for the extra pain killers.

Finally managed to speak to Kelly and Chris on Face Time this morning - and see (not so) little Miller - he's a big boy alright.

That's me for now - breakfast arriving soon, then shower and change and hopefully see the physiotherapist before I leave. I believe I have to have an X-ray and they also take my bloods as well.

Albyn

It's Sunday morning and I managed to get up and shower today. I'm still using the zimmer frame but hope to get on sticks when the physio comes to see me.

My leg is still very stiff and swollen and there's blood seeping from the wound - but it's contained within the waterproof plaster. On Friday, I was able to do some of the exercises the physio asked me to do - bend my knee a bit and straight leg lift - but yesterday it was too painful and stiff. We suspect this was due to the heavy dose of local anaesthetic that the surgeon put in the knee wearing off.

Had a fairly decent sleep last night - although I had to get up 3 times for a pee, which was a bit of a relief actually as they were threatening to put a catheter in if I didn't pass enough water. I also had a fairly hearty breakfast this morning, which must be a good sign.

Gary and Luca were in again yesterday and this time Luca was in fine form. He had come along on Friday and was still exhausted from his Hallowe'en night. Ken Page also popped in, as did Gary Grant. Jo has been here virtually all day Friday and most of Saturday, and she'll be in again after church today.

Spoke to Lucy, Cade and Braeden on Face Time yesterday and tried to do the same with Kelly this morning, but we've been playing telephone tennis and keep missing each other.

No news yet of when I might get out but I'm still hoping they'll let me go tomorrow (Monday).

Pre-op

So here I sit, about to have the last supper - or so it seems. My bag is packed and the alarm is set for the early morning start. I was quite relaxed about it all until everyone started wishing me all the best for my knee replacement operation tomorrow - it's suddenly made me feel nervous.

I got to thinking about all the "lasts" - I've played my last ever game of squash; my last game of golf this year was last Saturday; my last drive this year was on the way home from Fraserburgh this afternoon.

One way of cheering me up was seeing this photo of Miller:

Sorry it's sideways - but you can still see what a lump of a lad he is - and what a lovely, cheeky smile.

We're up to date with Homeland now - and Corrie. I also managed to view the last episodes of the last series of Mad Men on the plane back from Tenerife on Sunday. So just Tremé and The Sopranos to finish off now. I've got lots of reading to catch up on as well - tons of magazines - Mojo (now 20 years old), Q, Golf World and CAMRA's quarterly Beer magazine to start with, plus the book I started in Tenerife - Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham. Probably first up, however, will be the Thistle fanzine that Gary picked up when at Firhill on Sunday (with Kieran) to see the Celtic match. Bet I barely make a dent in this lot.

Back in the UK

Got back from a terrific week's golf in Tenerife late last night - Jo came to pick us up at the airport and we both headed off early this morning in to Aberdeen for my pre-op medical assessment. It was the usual round of blood pressure, ECG, urine and blood samples etc plus some instruction on the procedures for this Friday's operation. We also got to meet the physiotherapist who talked us through the post operation recovery.

The only real surprise - to me at least - was them screening for MRSA - by nose and groin swabs. It's been 6 months since my last X-rays when I decided to see through another summer before having the knee replaced, so it's possible I may be called back before Friday for updated X-rays.

After that, I had to rush off to Fraserburgh to meet up with some Danish visitors, so it's been a pretty full day. I drove home tonight in a bit of a dwam - I was on autopilot. Hopefully I'll sleep well tonight.

My golf was great last week, incidentally - all the details on the golf blog.

Countdowns

Yes - just 2 days until I head to Tenerife - and 2 weeks until my knee op. Just 9 weeks until the rest of the Stewart clan arrive in Scotland.

I think I'm organised for my holiday - although there's always something you forget to do - or take.

Jo and I have only had very mild reactions to our flu jabs last week - hardly noticeable, in fact. One thing that I do have now though, is a bit of tinnitus - and that can be annoying at times. Wonder if the flu jab brought that on?

I had a really nice afternoon's golf at Scotscraig (Tayport) yesterday, playing for our Seniors. Fortunately, it was a flat course - I'd wanted to walk it and although I struggled a bit on the second nine, I got there in the end. I'm supposed to playing in a Texas Scramble at Banchory in the morning but the forecast isn't very good.

Anyway, I was talking to Raymond Orr (Jo's friend Myra's husband) at Scotscraig yesterday. He had a knee replacement a couple of years ago. He told my my recovery would take much longer than I expected. Now, I was thinking 5-6 months, but he was complaining because he tried to play golf after 3 weeks and struggled!

It's definitely getting darker earlier in the evening - and staying darker later in the morning. Still, that does mean I've seen some spectacular sunrises when driving in to work this week. I tried to photograph one as I was driving past Garlogie, but it didn't come out too well, I'm afraid:

Been thinking about our holidays next year. We've now got 2 BA Companion Vouchers to use by 2015, so I thought I'd search their web site and see what free flights might be available. Nothing to the West Coast of USA in July or August, but if we want to go to LA at the end of May and not come back for at least 5 weeks, then there are flights available. Perhaps 5 weeks is stretching it a bit whilst I'm still working. There was also a 4 week option to Vancouver - now that's somewhere we've never been. Dilemma. I'd got round to thinking that driving up the coastal road (Big Sur) to San Francisco might be quite cool, but now I don't know what to do.

As Del Shannon once sang, Keep Searching (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYJvoDJCW0A).

I got 2 comments back from my latest episode of Renshaw's Chronicles (http://renshawschronicles.blogspot.co.uk/). The first was "it's just facts and figures" and the second was "absolutely my favourite blog". The comments came from Jo and Gary - I'll let you guess which one was which.

Despite our initial fears, Jo and I finally did watch all 6 episodes of BBC 2's "Peaky Blinders", including the finale last night and it turned out to be not as bad as we initially feared. I doubt if the same is going to be true of Sky Atlantic's "The Tunnel", the first episode of which we also watched. I had understood it was based on "The Bridge", the Danish TV production shown several months ago on BBC Four, but it seems to be an almost direct copy - all they seem to have changed so far is the location - instead of the bridge between Copenhagen and Sweden, it's the Chunnel between France and England. The actors are almost replicas of the Danish original. Surely they have to change it a bit? If not, they're going to lose at least 2 viewers.

That's all for now, folks.

Weekend news

Jo and I walked along to the Doctor's on Saturday morning and had our flu jabs. In the waiting room there they now have a test your own blood pressure sleeve, so we both used it. Here's my results:

We had coffee and brunch at Tease afterwards. Scrambled egg roll for me and sausage sandwich for Jo. The owners wondered if that was the first time ever that our son had made breakfast for us?

Gary came over with Luca after football practice and all four of us then headed down to Airdrie for Jordon's 18th. There was a large gathering of the clans - the Stewarts and Campbells of course, but also the Barrs - Nancy, Sheila and Lesley. Aunt Nancy is still looking good and is as sharp as a tack:

It was a lovely afternoon but we had to get back at a decent hour to get Luca to bed. Gary drove home, which allowed me to have 40 winks. Luca and Jo yapped away in the back seats until we were almost home, when Luca finally fell asleep, leaving Gary with little option but to stay with us overnight, rather than have Luca undergo a further car journey to Inverurie just after waking up.

Luca will be back this evening - it's the school holidays and he's staying with us until Wednesday, when Carole will pick him up and the two of them will head south to Lincoln to see her Mum for a few days.

I didn't golf this morning - still sore after squash on Thursday. I had golfed on Friday afternoon at Aboyne, but I had to take a buggy - I couldn't have walked the course.

We had one of our Headbangs on Friday evening - details on Music blog. Good fun.

That's about it for now. Need to get organised this week for our trip to Tenerife next Sunday. I'm off to Fraserburgh in the morning, but I think that'll be the only time this week, so I should have time to get everything together OK. Need to think about our USA holiday next year as well - the timeshare options we have are not quite as flexible as we first thought, and we've left it a little late, so I hope we can get something suitable. It's easier for us if we just go to Marriott resorts, but they're not all in convenient places for some of the things we'd like to do. Needs some thought.

Autumn begins

There's definitely been a change in the weather these last couple of days - we've gone from a positively balmy 20C in Aberdeen at the start of the week to a cold early blast of winter. It's a bit better today - dry is always good - and it's supposed to be heating up a little again soon.

Jo and I were discussing the energy situation last night, following the posts on my previous blog about our home fuel bills (ours was the top line in each of the graphs - three or four times the level of comparable houses). Although we put our heating on for a couple of days a few weeks ago, it's been back off again since then - although we think we'll have to put it on again pretty soon.

Our back sitting room, where we watch the big TV, is always pretty warm, but it sits immediately above the utility room, which has the boiler in it. We're baffled however, by how cold our kitchen has become since we got the new one installed. It used to be the warmest room in the house, but it's pretty cold now. Jo thinks there's a draft getting in under the new skirting boards - but where can the draft come from? There's no external wall opening behind our kitchen units. Baffled of Banchory.

Jo, in conversation with Ross, has come up with a plan - insulate the garage wall and ceiling that are adjacent to and underneath our hall and front lounge respectively. Sounds fairly sensible, but who do you get to do it? It would be really good to get a second opinion on this, but all the companies that contact you under the Government's Green Deal (https://www.gov.uk/green-deal-energy-saving-measures/how-the-green-deal-works) just seem to want to sell you Solar Panels. We've looked at them and rejected the idea - too many tall trees in front of us.

Anyway, on to other matters. Just 3 weeks today until my knee op. I spoke to BUPA about it to get the authorisation number and they advised me to check out their web site on this subject - http://clinic.bupa.co.uk/. I completed the self assessments on this site and they worked out I didn't need the operation yet! They don't feel what I feel. I know I do.

Despite - or perhaps because of - the imminent operation, I was determined to fit in my last ever games of squash and we finally managed a game of doubles last night. It was great fun - I'm going to really miss this. We're all getting older together and squash is nowhere near as intense as it used to be, but it's still very enjoyable. It does hurt today, however, and I'll probably struggle this afternoon at golf, but hey ho. We've got our Headbang tonight to look forward to as well - no effort required there.

To close, it was 4 years ago today that Dad passed. Although I didn't know him then - he was only 20 in this photo - I thought it best to show a photo of his younger days, rather than towards the end:

Energy review

Three trips to Fraserburgh last week, followed by golf at Aboyne on Friday afternoon and my back was knackered. I was like a half shut knife - it took me ages to straighten up after sitting down. I have a lower back support on the back of my seat when I'm driving but I suspect the car journeys are taking their toll - especially as my job is essentially sedentary as well.

I felt like I had flu coming on yesterday morning, but I managed to play golf at Edzell with Ian Sharp, John McWhinnie and Ken Bruce - the latter being Ian's brother-in-law who we went on group golfing holidays with back in the 90's.

I'm feeling a little better today but still a little stiff in the back - I hope the next 2 days of driving to and from the Broch don't make this any worse.

Last night, I headed down to the Stag to watch the Partick Thistle v Hibs match - it was on BT Sport, which we don't have. Ross joined us there, but we were both a little disappointed by the result - an undeserved 0-1 defeat for the Jags.

I received an e-mail from our energy supplier and they provided some interesting graphs of our gas and electricity consumption this year:

Note how we were running at three or four times the level of similar sized homes until the last couple of months. What changed then? Well, we were away for most of July and it was a warm summer too, but there may be one other factor - we no longer have a "lodger"! Hope Ross' bills for his flat aren't anything like we had!

In cost terms, the figures are:

Frightening figures aren't they? I think we'll need more draught-proofing and insulation this winter. What are the biggest culprits? Heating, of course:

Still warm here today but they say the change is coming tonight - temperatures are expected to plummet, so we could be getting our first taste of winter soon.

It's Tuesday evening and I'm home alone - Jo's at Inverurie. She left me a lovely ashet pie of chicken, mushroom and peas - just the ticket for a dark autumn evening.

I discovered today that Graham Parker, who we saw playing solo in Belfast recently, is coming back to London next year to play another gig with his band, the Rumour. I'm missing out on the full group experience this year as their gigs are while I'm in Tenerife, so I think I have to plan a trip to London on June 6th next year.

We've got another Headbang this Friday - I'll try to make sure it doesn't go on too long as Jo and I both have appointments for our flu jabs first thing on Saturday morning.

Must go now - think I'll try and phone Marriott and see what we can do for our overseas holidays next year.

Autumnal update

Yes - it definitely feels and looks like autumn now. The weather's still pretty good, but you sense the change of season - and the nights are fair drawin' in - as George Donald (Scotland the What) might have said. He passed yesterday, leaving just Buff Hardie of the trio still alive. I remember Jo and I going to see them not long after we came to the North East three decades ago. It was an education in the local Doric dialect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doric_dialect_(Scotland)). I think Jo needed the education after struggling to understand the local tradesmen who came to finish off our house when we first moved in!

Since my last post, I've played a fair amount of golf - virtually the last blast of the season in Scotland. I played for our Seniors against the Ladies on Wednesday, then a Texas Scramble at Insch on Thursday and another at beautiful Duff House Royal in Banff on Saturday. Then on Sunday, we held our annual season closing Scotland v. The Rest of the World Challenge match. Lovely weather again and a nice day out, followed by a long lunch in the clubhouse - check the golf blog (http://bsvgolf.blogspot.co.uk/) for photos etc.

The last game on Sunday was in a buggy. I'd done too much - Wednesday, Thursday and then Saturday, when I was in severe pain at the end of my round. There was no way I could have walked round the course on Sunday after that.

Just a month to go now until my knee op, which was finally confirmed in writing last week:

I've also since had a phone call to advise that my pre-assessment will be on Monday 28th October. They need it to be within a week of the operation and, of course, I'm in Tenerife from the 20th to 27th, so this was both the earliest and the latest that they could do the pre-assessment. I can't imagine the blood tests that morning are going to be a pretty sight, however, after a week's holiday.

Lucy has insisted that drainage massage is the key to optimum recovery so I've to ask my physiotherapist about this - if she doesn't do it, then Lucy is going to train Jo to do it!:

Anyway, back to this week. I've been to Fraserburgh on each of the past 2 days and I drove our architect back to his home in Dyce last night. He had a knee replacement at Albyn10 days ago, so I was pumping him for information. He's delighted how free of pain he is already, and he was telling me he has stopped taking the pain medication already, although he has been prescribed it until the end of this month. I told him I thought he had to keep taking it as it aided the recovery process - I think Lucy told me this as well?

I'll glean more about knee ops from Dawn when we see her next weekend as well. We missed cousin Lesley's 50th birthday celebrations when we were in Belfast, but I noticed that both Barry and Dawn made it along. Lesley was then treated to a trip to London last weekend and, seeing the family photos on Facebook, I was trying to work out who was all in them - and it turned out that my cousin Douglas (Lesley's elder brother) who has been out of the picture for years, was also there - with his wife too. Good to see it - it's an old cliche, but life is too short to hold grudges.

After the drop-off in Dyce last night, I finally made it back to Banchory at 6 pm and was driving along the High St. when who should I see coming out of Tease, but our Ross. I knew Jo was in Inverurie anyway so I turned round and suggested we went for a beer - which we did, followed by watching the Celtic match at our house and sharing the Shepherd's Pie Jo had left - plus some of our smoked mackerel.

Belfast weekend (3)

Sunday was the day of the Graham Parker concert - the reason we had come to Belfast in the first place - but, first of all, we decided to do something a little healthier today - and also get away from walking on concrete, which causes pain in my knees.

So, Belfast Castle and Cave Hill Country Park it was then. We caught a bus along the Antrim Road and walked up from there to the castle. Here's Jo on the steps at the back of the castle:

Nice gardens too:

Above the castle sits the impressive rock of Cave Hill - reminded me a bit of Arthur's Seat. We had to climb up there - and, despite repeated objections from Jo, and my dodgy limbs - and heart - we made it to the top without too much difficulty.

Nice views on the way up - we could see Scotland and we watched the ferry arriving:

It's not called Cave Hill for nothing:

We could clearly see the animals in Belfast Zoo below us, but the summit was getting nearer and we ploughed on to take the obligatory photos at the top:

It was a good healthy walk on a very nice day. Now we were ready for the main event. First of all, however, dinner. Where to eat? Jo suggested:

 - and what a good idea this was - we both had local sausages - very nice. It was just a short walk round to the Limelight and we strolled round after dinner to pick up our tickets, only to find the doors closed. Others were starting to gather so we stayed in the queue trying to make sure that we would be amongst the first to get in and grab a couple of the very few available seats - and we got them, thank goodness. I don't think either of us could have stood all night after our walk earlier on.

The concert was excellent - more details of this on my music blog at http://banchoryheadbangers.blogspot.co.uk/. There's also more details of our hill walk at http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/ and some beery stuff at http://iansaleadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

Belfast weekend (2)

We initially had lots of plans of things to do and places to see - Crumlin Gaol, Stormont etc - but soon realised that logistics were against us, but we were determined not to miss out on the new Titanic exhibition, so we walked down to the river on Saturday morning and across to the iconic building that houses the (permanent) exhibition:

We did, however, make a quick pit stop on the way, and popped in to St. George's Market, a vibrant place that used to house the Belfast Fish Market, but now has a huge variety of stalls, with food and entertainment too:

The sound of Belfast is still one of Police and Ambulance sirens, with the fairly frequent whirring of helicopters overhead. There are visual signs too, with many of the premises heavily barbed wired. On our way to the Titanic exhibition, the most obviously heavily guarded was this one:

These are the Royal Courts of Justice.

Some other sights on the way to the Titanic Quarter:

Not quite sure why Chaplin features here?

The Nomadic was a tender boat for the Titanic, but it's a separate exhibition and it seems everyone bypasses it now, although it's the last surviving vessel of the ill-fated White Star Line.

After a quick cup of coffee, we bought our tickets for the Titanic exhibition and were told it would take approximately one and a half hours to go round it. Secretly we both thought no way - we'll be out of here well before that. Blow me, over three hours later we emerged - it was engrossing. One of the final parts was a film of the wreckage (which was finally discovered in 1985). The clarity of the film, right down at the bottom of the ocean, was stunning - and moving. Personal items, like shoes, were clearly visible.

Back at the hotel, we had tea and scones in the lovely lounge on the first floor, sitting at the window overlooking Great Victoria St.:

We had a couple of beers and a wander in the evening before we could get a table at the very busy Deane's Deli Bistro (http://www.michaeldeane.co.uk/deanes-deli-bistro/) where we had a couple of lovely steaks. Would definitely go back if ever we were in town again.

Saturday done. Sunday to follow.

Belfast weekend

Before telling you about our weekend away, I'll start where I finished my last blog posting. Jo's tests at the hospital at Stonehaven on Thursday went very well - and she "passed" with flying colours. They now reckon there's nothing wrong with her heart and she can even come off some of the medication she has been taking since they diagnosed angina a couple of years ago. Result.

So what has been causing the chest pains then? Stress probably - and I think Kelly gets the blame for the most recent episodes!

So it was off to the airport on Friday morning for our short flight across the Irish Sea. We landed at George Best Belfast City Airport which is only a short distance from the city centre. Here's the general layout of the area:

The Lough, of course, goes out to the Irish Sea. The City Centre itself looks like this:

Our hotel was the Europa Hotel, right next to the Bus Centre and the train station (on the left above). It has the reputation of being the most bombed hotel in Europe/the world, having suffered 28 bomb attacks during "The Troubles". Despite this, it has hosted Presidents, Prime Ministers and celebrities by the score - most notably Bill Clinton who gave a stirring speech in support of the peace process at nearby City Hall in 1995. There's even a plaque in the hotel commemorating his visit:

Everywhere was just a short walk away for us - right across the street is the famous Crown Bar, which is a Grade A listed building, restored to its original Victorian splendour - at great cost - by the National Trust. Our room at the Europa wasn't ready yet, so we thought we would have a swift pint in the Crown. The place was mobbed - as it was on every other occasion we tried in vain to get in to one of the dinky cubicles (complete with doors) in the bar.

Our next stop was for a bite of lunch at the cafe in the grand City Hall, after which we wandered on and stumbled across a free Taste of N. Ireland exhibition:

Lots of goodies on offer here - what an unexpected treat. We headed down towards the river - it was getting pretty warm by now. This was what we found:

Back to our hotel - time to check in. We didn't spend long there as we had found out it was the once a year Culture Night that evening, when over 250 acts would be playing for free in the streets and pubs round the Cathedral area - music, dance, poetry, marching, even BMX style biking.

On the way there, we stopped outside the City Hall for a photo opportunity:

The Spirit of Belfast next:

We also looked in to the strangely shaped Bittles Bar:

There were a lot of what initially looked like quite scary sectarian posters and paintings on the walls inside, but on closer examination, it was all quite neutral - Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness together in harmony, for instance. Nonetheless, we moved on, anxious to get to the heart of the cultural action - and it wasn't hard to find. Busy, busy, busy, but a really nice atmosphere. We enjoyed  a group of Belfast hillbillies, who played rock music with folk instruments, wearing Confederate hats.

We actually queued to get in to one of the pubs - The John Hewitt (a Belfast poet, not the Aberdeen footballer), where some of the "customers" would suddenly and apparently spontaneously, burst in to excerpts from your favourite operas. Great fun.

It was getting late and we still hadn't eaten. What to do? The only answer is:

Very good it was too - and table service.

Enough of day one - Saturday and Sunday posts to follow.