Strichen

So, it's Thursday - Management Meeting day in Fraserburgh. I had a bit of a fitful sleep - so my UP bracelet tells me anyway. I woke at 5 am but managed to roll over and get a bit more rest. It was then I started dreaming - and it was one of those anxiety dreams.

I hate being late for anything - I don't want to miss a plane, a tee time, a bus, or whatever. This dream was about golf at Banchory. I arrived an hour early for my 8:45 tee time and hung around the pro shop for a while. The inevitable happened - time passed and before I realised it, my tee time had come. I rushed to the first tee - barefoot, without my shoes - but the tee kept getting further and further away - and the first tee, bizarrely, was a beach. I finally arrived there, but the (lady) starter told me I was too late, and there was no offer of finding me an alternative time. I shrugged my shoulders and walked away. OK, peeps - now analyze that.

Back in the real world, I completed my morning exercises and headed off to Fraserburgh, with some of the Graham Parker CD's I received yesterday for company. The morning went OK and I decided to stroll round to the cafe at the nearby National Lighthouse Museum for a bite of lunch. I then walked back towards our factory partly along the coastal path, which is still officially closed at one end after the subsidence of last year. I had time for a photo, looking north over the start of the Moray Firth:

Mid-afternoon, I decided to head home, but I took a right turn at Strichen and headed towards the sign that pointed to the Stone Circle. Some nice walkways there, beside a stream and along the disused railway line - yes, Fraserburgh, like Banchory, used to be served by British Rail before Dr. Beeching came along in 1963.

Anyway, I parked the car and sat by the stream for a while. A couple of (at least equally) elderly gents passed and had a chat, and then I headed up the slope towards the stone circle:

The whole area is really rustic and peaceful. There was a small circular tower nearby:

The apparent doorway was only about 3 foot high, but I ducked down and entered, to find a tall column in the centre:

There were flies everywhere - I didn't hang around.

I got home eventually and there, waiting for me, was a birthday present from Oz:

Perfect - and it's non-alcoholic! I was going to buy it this year myself.

High pressure continues

Still glorious here - and long may it continue. I love days when the skies are clear and you wake up to a slight frosting on your car and the day just gets warmer and warmer from there.

I went for a short walk round Fraserburgh harbour yesterday at lunchtime, staring up at the huge pelagic trawlers, which are now all tied up after the end of the main mackerel season. Stopped off at Inverurie for tea with Luca and Jo before dashing back to Banchory for an important meeting on the future of the planned new Sports Centre. I decided to dump my car at home - I just had enough time to do that before walking from one end of the village to the other for the meeting at Hill of Banchory. The walk took me just over half an hour, walking as fast as I could.

Of course, one of the reasons I walked to the meeting was that I was falling short of my 10,000 steps per day target. My new Jawbone Up doesn't have much data yet, but here was the first report after a couple of days:

 

 

The history of the planned Sports Centre goes back two decades at least, when the community raised funds for a new pool. The money collected - £100K - has been sitting in a bank account earning peanuts in interest ever since, with little sign of the pool appearing - until now. It appears that we are now finally entering the final stages of a long, drawn-out programme, with final designs now being put together, with a view to having the Centre operational in 2017 - and yes, it's almost certain we will have squash courts in it - but only courtesy of Richard Simcox, who has made a very generous commitment to provide a six figure sum. There still remains a funding gap of c. £350K - £400K, which has to be available within 18 months, but I really believe we will get there this time.

The tragedy for me is that I will not be in a position to get much use from the centre by the time it opens - and a whole generation have missed out.

This morning was a trip to the dentist, so no weekly cycle with the boys. I did leave work early this afternoon, however, with the intention of going for a late afternoon cycle round Banchory. I headed up round Inchmarlo, but didn't get very far and ended up coming back down to the High St and going for a haircut!

A long-awaited parcel arrived from America - the Official Bootleg Box by Graham Parker and the Rumour, for which I was one of the original funders of the project - gaining myself a mention on the album notes:

(right hand page, middle column, 9 down)

That's all for now, folks

Spring is here?

A glorious start to the week - blue skies and we're promised it will get warmer and stay dry. Pity I didn't quite feel up to it - either something I ate or a little bug. I struggled in to work but decided I had to get out at lunchtime and get some fresh air. I went down to Persley Walled Garden - I hadn't been there for years. It's a little oasis of calm amongst the madness that is the nearby infamous Haudagain roundabout, which, incidentally is about to get a whole lot worse as they are due to close Mugiemoss Road, one of my regular rat runs. It's going to be madness round there as everyone tries to get across the Don from north to south and vice versa.

Here's how the garden was looking today:

It was a little sun trap which I enjoyed for a brief 10 minutes before returning to the office. Not another soul to be seen other than a single gardener.

I went to Pittodrie on Saturday to see Aberdeen sneak through to the Scottish Cup semi-final by narrowly beating Dumbarton. Oh - and we finally got our tickets for the League Cup Final, which is next Sunday. 40,000 tickets have been sold to Aberdeen fans, so it should be a great occasion, although heading back up the road after the match could be a bit problematic.

I had another round of golf yesterday as well, so it's all looking good for my trip to Dubai in just over 2 weeks' time.

The media in the UK are very hot on the topic of sugar just now. There have been endless reports about sugar in certain foods, and there have even been calls for a sugar tax! Some of the media, however, manage to interpret the facts differently - or perhaps they just tell lies - or maybe they're stupid? Yes, Daily Mail - it's you I'm talking about. They published a ridiculous headline about real ale a few weeks ago which stated that a pint contained 9 spoonfuls of sugar. Utter rubbish of course and I wrote to CAMRA HQ about it and they, in turn, took it up with the Daily Mail, who eventually published an apology - in small print of course.

Here's the proof, in a quick ready recknoner:

Have a good week. Bye for now.

Forgot to say thank you to my 100,000th reader. Sorry, can't tell who you are, but there wasn't a prize anyway.

Birthday blog

Well, I had a very nice birthday, with lots of gifts and a lovely family meal last night. First gift to arrive was on Wednesday - presumably from the Down Under family, who had told us there was something on the way:

First gift on my actual birthday was my Jawbone Up (https://jawbone.com/up) bracelet from Jo. Need to build up some data before I bore you all with the various stats. I've already learned, however, how sedentary my job is. The bracelet is set to vibrate if it detects 15 minutes of inactivity. It's been buzzing away all day! I'm supposed to do 10,000 steps each day - I'm lucky to do much more than 1,000 unless I actually go to the gym/go cycling/play golf etc. Oh - and I got two Cadbury's Creme Eggs from Jo as well - and it's not even Easter yet.

When I arrived in Fraserburgh on Thursday morning, Francis Clark handed me a bottle of 18 year old Glenlivet from Michael and him. I suddenly realised that this was indeed a special birthday.

I got home later that afternoon to find another gift waiting for me:

Looks intriguing - but what was inside?:

In the evening, we picked up Ross and headed out to the Echt Tandoori to meet up with Carole, Luca and Gary. Ross handed me my gift:

There's a trend developing here. Are they trying to tell me something?

We were all very impressed with Echt Tandoori - nice place, good food and excellent service - they were all very friendly and went out of their way to make sure that Luca, in particular, was looked after. After the bill was paid, they even offered us all a complimentary drink. One of the staff took this photo of us all:

No starters - just poppadums and spices - and no desserts - well, just one:

Gary and Carole were the exceptions who gave me something a little healthier than alcohol (not that I'm complaining!) - some new cycling gear:

Ross drove Jo and I home and we settled down to watch the last of Series 2 of the Sopranos. Just 3 more series of loveable and deadly Tony and his crew to go now.

Today (Friday) it definitely feels like a semi-retirement. When our long-serving Girl Friday Jacquie arrived at the office, she brought with her a cake, which she'd baked for us - at 5 am this morning!:

(sorry, the sun got at that one a bit)

Tonight, it's the usual gathering at the pub - no doubt with a dram or two to finish the evening. Could be a slow start tomorrow, but I'm going to see Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup in the afternoon.

Incidentally, by the time you read this, you could have become the 100,000th reader of this blog!

Short weekend

The weekend past flew by - mostly because Gary and I went to Dingwall on Saturday to see Thistle play Ross County, which meant virtually a full day for me, by the time I drove to Inverurie in the morning and then dropped Gary off there in the evening. I arrived at Rae Circle just in time to see Carole sorting out all her horsey gear, and Luca finishing his supper, complete with new haircut:

It was a lovely day on Saturday - all that was missing was a decent football game. We met up with old footy pal, Rob Dunnachie, for a beer and a bite before the football. Spotting the sign outside the National Hotel, we thought we'd pop in there:

Regrettably, the Cask Ale sign was a relic of the past - no real ale here.

At the match, Gary took a photo of Rob and I:

No, I'm not showing off my ever-growing stomach - just the Jags shirt I got for Christmas.

Sunday was just as nice and I decided that it was, at long last, time for me make my comeback at golf again. I had felt for some time that I was ready but, for a combination of reasons, had delayed it until now. It felt good to be back and my knee was really good - no pain at all. Of course, it was also the first outing for my "puppets" as well:

Jas looks a little bewildered as to why I've got these 2 strange things on the end of my clubs.

February ending - Spring coming?

Yes, it's been lovely this week - makes you think of Spring - but it's still early enough in the year for a few weather shocks yet. What is really encouraging is the longer days. I came home early today and Jo had neighbour Isobel in for her weekly chat, so I decided to jump on the bike and head west a bit.

I didn't get very far when I thought about going to the driving range at Inchmarlo to hit a few balls. I hadn't played since Tenerife in October and although my knee has been feeling good, I haven't been tempted to try it out - until today. I hit a bucket of balls (50) with no reaction at all - an encouraging sign. It's less than 4 weeks until I go to Dubai for a week's golf, so I need to get some more practice in soon.

I have been frustrated, however, in my attempts to get 2 tickets for Ross and I to go and watch Aberdeen in the League Cup Final (Gary's working that day and can't join us). I'll try again tomorrow, however.

This Saturday, Gary and I are travelling through to Dingwall to see Thistle play Ross County in a crunch match which could go a long way to determining who has to go in to the play-offs for relegation - Ross can't make this one.

The rest of this week has been one of dealing with some redundancies we're unfortunately having to make. Throw in a Board meeting and a meeting with our Bank and it's not really been a barrel of laughs.

The really good news, however, came on Tuesday when Jo got the all-clear at hospital. I took her in for her mammogram and subsequent breast examination, but they were very happy that there was nothing sinister there and they didn't need to do a biopsy. The pain she has been getting and the thickening in the tissue has apparently been brought on by nerve irritation between the ribs.

That same day we heard the good news about Julie's pregnancy. That took me by surprise, I must admit. Grannie Dawn? Doesn't sound right.

I managed one of my irregular visits to Bannatyne's yesterday. Not having done anything other than eat and drink for several days, I was badly in need of it. I know cycling is good for my knee rehabilitation, but the exercise bike is no substitute for getting out on a real bike. It's not that I can't do it, but 30 minutes on an exercise bike is so tough mentally. There's no respite - you've just got to keep pedalling and pedalling, going nowhere fast. I did a bit of weights work as well, then a little splash in the pool, steam room and jacuzzi.

Oh - and Kelly FaceTimed us on Tuesday evening when we were in Inverurie. My, Miller is fairly coming on - he looks a big strong boy. It reminded and encouraged me to look again for suitable flights Down Under, but nothing doing yet, I'm afraid.

So I think that's my week so far.

Saturday afternoon in Pitlochry

The cafeteria at the Killiecrankie Visitor Centre was closed so we decided to head a few miles up the road to Blair Castle for coffee. The gates were open but there was a sign saying the castle was closed at this time of year. Naturally we assumed that this meant we could have access to the grounds only, but we were to discover that the restaurant and shop were both open as well, which was very convenient for us.

Tea/coffee and a nibble - I had mincemeat crumble - and very nice it was too. This was what the castle looked like when we arrived:

By the time we'd had our coffee, they were hustling us out of the building and the coaches had gone:

We discovered that they had only opened the castle gates and the restaurant and shop for the coach parties, and that we had just crept in under the radar. By the time we left, the main castle gates were closed again and we had to leave by the tradesmens' exit.

We just had time for Jo to pose on the bridge of the burn:

We didn't have time to do the walk up to Hercules Gardens:

We timed our departure nicely - just in time to drive down to Linn of Tummel to watch the idiots scheduled to bungee jump at 1:30 pm. We'd never seen this crazy act live before so it was interesting to watch. The set-up is very professional and there's been a substantial investment made in the platforms and walkways etc:

I hadn't charged my camera battery and I was starting to get warning messages, but I managed to get this distant shot of the first bungee jumper:

As we left Linn of Tummel, we spotted a sign with some lyrics from a well-known tune on it:

Time now for a beer or two, so we headed off to one of our favourite places - the Moulin Inn, where we managed to see the second half of the Italy - Scotland match. Then it was back to our hotel for an hour or so before heading out again, down the hill to the Auld Smiddy for a quick beer then to the Prince of India for a curry. We left it a bit late and had to scamper along to the theatre again to get in seconds before Neil Oliver took the stage:

On Sunday, we had planned to have a little walk around Dunkeld, but it was very wet so we parked the car quickly and had a quick look at the Dunkeld Ell, the National Trust property in the town square:

So that was our weekend over. We drove home via Perth and stopped at the Glendoick Garden Centre for coffee and a scone and were still home well before 2 pm - in plenty of time for Lucy's weekly FaceTime call later in the afternoon.

Saturday in Pitlochry

After breakfast we needed cash so went to look for a hole in the wall. It took ages to find a parking space and when we did, across the street was a barber's shop:

Would you like to have a shave or a haircut here?

None of us had ever been to nearby Killiecrankie, so we thought we'd give it a go. It's not far from Pitlochry and there's loads of walking/cycling tracks so we could have walked, I suppose:

We weren't sure about the weather forecast, so the car it was. Our first stop was the Visitor Centre, which should have been closed at this time of year, but it also houses the Highland Fling Bungee (http://www.bungeejumpscotland.co.uk/home) and a stag party had just arrived, so we got in on the back of them to learn all about the Battle of Killiecrankie etc.

We heard of the Soldier's Leap and there was a slab to commemorate it:

Walking down the trails from the Visitor Centre, we first of all came across the sign, then the Leap itself - 18 feet from a standing start from rock to rock, across the raging River Garry:

Colin and I would have done it, of course - but the girls couldn't have made it over, so we decided to walk on instead. It was a pretty mild day by now and, as we posed for a photo looking down the river towards the Pass of Killiecrankie, a big yellow thing appeared in the sky behind us, adding a slightly ethereal quality to the photo:

The riverside walks were lovely but we didn't know where and how far they went. We hoped they would loop us back to the Visitor Centre but, after a while of walking back south again, we thought it was wise to backtrack.

The road and rail run parallel to the path, with the latter on a large viaduct at this point:

and it still wasn't even lunchtime. More to follow.

Events of the last week

Been a busy time - both at work and socially - since my last post. First of all work - going through a tough time and we've announced some changes, which include some redundancies and the closure of the admin facilities at our Aberdeen office - we're centralizing things in Fraserburgh, although production in Aberdeen carries on as normal.

My contribution to the cuts is to go part-time from April onwards - 3 days per week. It will be interesting to see how this pans out in practice - I need to ensure that I don't end up doing the same work for 40% less salary. I have to ensure that my extra 2 days per week are kept for me time and that I don't get sucked in to doing work then.

We started this process last Tuesday in Fraserburgh, but I'm determined that all the detail and the bad news will be complete by the end of this week - it's never good to let these things rumble on.

On Wednesday, I worked from home as I had a Webinar to do. This also gave me the chance to go cycling with the boys again on Wednesday morning (details on my cycling blog).

Thursday was Fraserburgh again, but on Friday we headed off to Pitlochry in the afternoon for the Winter Words Festival that we've attended for the last few years. We - and Colin and Johanne Kilgour - were staying at the Pine Trees Hotel, which was basically a grand old house - spacious and quiet - perfect! Here's Jo and I on the first floor settee as we were about to head out for the evening:

It was pretty near the town centre, with the only drawback the hill you had to climb on the way back. Not quite Mount St. Banchory, but similar. On the way down the hill, it was pretty obvious that Spring was just around the corner:

As well as the snowdrops, there were crocuses too.

We walked down over the famous dam and fish ladder to the theatre to see Mike McCartney - Paul's younger brother. Colin and I chatted to him afterwards at the book signing:

We took a slightly different route back - over the railway line. Twa auld biddies followed us:

We had a nice bar supper at the Old Mill Inn, then a nightcap back at our hotel:

Fun day. More photos etc on my other Headbang and Ale Adventures blogs. More to follow.

Luca day 1

Up bright and breezy was the boy wonder. Any chance of me sneaking downstairs for breakfast was soon bombed out as the cry of "Granda" came out of the back room, followed by the be-jammied boy himself. Of course, it was really Grannie he wanted. I tried hard and probably managed to buy Jo an extra 30 minutes in bed, but that was about it.

Kelly FaceTimed but Miller was getting tired and, anyway, I had still to do my exercises and get off to work, so we cut short the call and promised to try again tomorrow morning at 7 am.

Jo had a busy day. She got a short break when I arrived home, but the novelty of Granda soon wore off. I had him on my exercise bike:

Hide and Seek was next, and then Luca turned to drawing again:

Pretty good, eh? Giant Sea Monsters he called it. Pity it's upside down.

Changing tack, I saw this article about global weather patterns - Adelaide gets a mention:

End of weekend report

To bring my blog up to date, Thursday was Fraserburgh during the day and then Jo and I went for an early Valentine's meal at the Tor-na-Coille. Venison - lovely. Friday was the usual swimming session at Westhill for Jo in the afternoon, followed by a visit to Costco to pick up the cooked chicken for tea. I had a few beers at the Legion with my pals - it was a slow, slippy walk home as we had our first proper snow of the winter. It hasn't come to anything, but it looked like it might for a while.

On Saturday, Jo and I had lunch at Tease - sausage sandwiches - and then I jumped on the bus in to Aberdeen to go to the CAMRA meeting that reviews the members' votes for our local entries to the Good Beer Guide 2015. We also vote for Pub of the Year and the Moorings (http://www.themooringsbar.co.uk/) came out top this time. Coincidentally, Gary and Carole were there last night on a night out together.

So, not having done any exercise since Wednesday - other than my morning routine for my knee - I just had to do something today, and, fortunately, it was a beautiful sunny day. After Jo headed off to church, I got the bike out and headed east along the Deeside Way. Full details of my run on the new cycling blog (http://bvetscycling.blogspot.co.uk/) but I had a bit of a Senior Moment. Before I left the house, I checked to see if Jo had left her keys behind or not and I couldn't find them, so therefore I felt it was safe to lock the door (something we never used to do, but times are changing).

After a couple of hours' cycling, I finally stopped at Buchanan's (http://www.buchananfood.com/barn.html). No sooner had I sat down to my tea and scone, than I received a text from Jo to say she was locked out of the house! It took me the best part of an hour to wolf down my scone and cycle back. Jo was waiting on the porch - not best amused. We looked for her keys when we got in the house and, would you believe it, I had taken them with me, thinking they were mine. My own keys were in my jacket pocket. Doh!

Just as stupid was the fact that, in my haste to get back home to let Jo in to the house, I had left my cycling helmet at Buchanan's. Never mind, at least that settled where we were going for tea. We had promised Ross a bar supper somewhere, so that's where we went - with Luca, who is now with us for "3 sleeps" as it's school mid-term.

Here's Luca playing across the table with Ross on his phone:

Ross was in good form:

Luca posed with my cycling helmet:

So that's it - now back to work tomorrow. Which reminds me, Gary brought this article in last week's Daily Record to my attention. There's a fairly notorious new film out called Nymphomaniac and it's got a big budget and is attracting loads of publicity, with Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of the equally notorious Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin) in the lead role. One of the supporting actresses is none other than model Sophie Clark, daughter of Francis Clark and Fiona Kennedy:

The bit that got me, however, was the reference to Francis "Fishy" Clark - a name I've never heard him called, although his father was occasionally called by this name in his heyday.