Scotland Scorchio!

What a great run of weather we've had. If only I'd know it was going to be like this, I wouldn't have volunteered to do so many hours in the dank atmosphere underneath the Richard Donald stand (the Beach End) at Pittodrie at the Beer Festival. Still, I did cycle on Thursday morning and I golfed this morning in shorts - it was lovely. I had a beer on the balcony after winning my tie by what is known in golf circles as a "dog licence" - i.e. 7 & 6 (7 holes up with just 6 to play). For younger readers, in old money, that's what a dog licence used to cost (37.5p. in today's money).

The beer festival went well and I quite enjoyed the daily bus trip in and the walk from Union Square to Pittodrie in bright, warm sunshine. It was so nice on Friday that I took a slight detour and walked over Broad Hill. We used to run over the top 30 years ago when I was on my lunchtime training runs. You get a nice view of Aberdeen beach from the top:

Looking north over Kings Links towards Balmedie and Peterhead in the distance

Looking south, with the Beach Leisure Centre in the foreground and Girdleness Lighthouse in the distance

Looking out to sea - and Norway!

Anyway, I was very grateful that Jo came to pick me up on Saturday after my last shift - I was pretty tired by then and probably wouldn't have fancied the walk back to the bus station.

I sat out in the back garden for a bit this afternoon but my attempt to photograph it went horribly wrong - my camera must have been on the wrong setting:

Tomorrow, I've been picked in the Seniors team again for the match at Brechin. I've got golf at Kintore on Thursday afternoon as well, but then we're off to London at the weekend to see Graham Parker & the Rumour on Friday, and then Jersey Boys on Saturday night.

30 weeks since op

Yes, it's 30 weeks today since my knee op. I'm still doing my daily exercises and Jo is still massaging the leg once a week in an effort to get rid of the remaining excess fluid. Jo thinks it's still coming down - as the surgeon said it would - but I don't notice any difference recently. Jo suggested I should photograph it regularly - so I started this morning:

I don't think I chose the best position for this - my feet are on my stool and I'm sitting in my Stressless chair. However, it's a start.

In other news, we were pleased to see Gary was OK after his Edinburgh Marathon. We went to pick him up at the station in Aberdeen and took him - and Luca - home on Sunday night, by which time Gary had got over his low point when he texted us after his run. Already talking about the next one!

Monday was a beautiful day and I was playing for the Seniors at Deeside. I had golf again on Wednesday evening at Banchory and yesterday it was cycling, but the main thing this week is the Aberdeen Beer Festival. I went along for a couple of hours on Tuesday to help with set-up and then worked yesterday from 3pm till 7pm. I caught the bus in and walked from Union Square to Pittodrie on what was a glorious day - even in Aberdeen. Today looks very similar and I'll soon be heading off there again, not long after Jo heads off to her Friday afternoon swimming & Costco trip.

Wet Sunday

It's stopped raining now but it's been a wet start to the day. So much so that our golf course is closed - and I had a tie to play this morning. Oh well. Apparently the greens are flooding.

Luca slept well last night - it was 8 am before he wandered through to our room. He says he feels a bit better and won't need to take any of the medicines that his Daddy gave us - they were both sniffling a bit yesterday and Luca cancelled his football practice.

Spotted our local red squirrel again this morning. It's been getting harder and harder to see him/her as the leaves in the trees have grown so much they now provide perfect camouflage. All the while I've been off work, and after that, when doing my morning exercise routine, we've been watching this particular squirrel who skips across the trees in front of our bedroom every morning between 7 am and 9 am. Surprised that Jo hasn't found a name for him/her yet - but she now wonders whether - and hopes that - there's more than one there.

My bad luck in having my golf cancelled this morning is Jo's good luck. She now gets to go to church without Luca and I get to babysit him for the next few hours.

Yesterday, after dropping off Gary at Aberdeen train station, we were heading back towards Banchory and were passing Duthie Park when we thought we might pop in and have a look. Strictly speaking it was Luca who suggested this, but we were happy to go along with it. It would give me a chance to look at the new bits of Duthie Park that we missed when we were there at Christmas with Kelly and Chris. It was also Jo's first visit there for more than a couple of decades - she was with her father when she was last there.

I definitely got a better impression this time around of the Restoration work that has been taking place at the park for the last couple of years. It was also a more pleasant day than December and we were able to spend time strolling around the whole park and get a better look at it.

First up was one of the new slides. Luca - cautious as ever - watched as other kids hurtled down. "Too fast" was his conclusion:

OK - let's try the big slide that's been there for ever. We know that one's safe - and slow:

Next was the ropes:

The Zip Slide looked like a bridge too far - Luca didn't fancy it, but was eventually persuaded to have a go by another boy who kept repeating to him "it's not scarey":

We visited the Winter Gardens and threw coins in the water and Luca made his wishes. A cafe stop for tea/coffee, scones, Fanta and Smarties - guess who had what? - then a wander round the rest of the park, starting with the Mound, which looks like something out of Teletubbies with its spiral walkway to the top, then steps up to the flagpole:

Here's Jo walking back down:

By about 1 pm we'd done a complete circuit of the park and it was time to move on. When we got near Banchory, I took a bit of a detour up one of my cycling routes past Tilquillie and eventually down at Knockburn Loch, where we stopped for a spot of lunch. It's a lovely peaceful spot, but seemingly little utilised. The cafe is open Fri-Sun but there was more staff than customers. Here's a selfie of me and Jo outside the conference centre/cafe:

Luca is now building Lego in his jammies - he says he's not getting dressed until Jo gets back from church.

Tomorrow it's golf for the Seniors at Deeside. Hope it's a better day than today.

Btw, that's my viewing figures for this blog over the 150,000 mark now.

End of another week

It's Friday evening and it's been a pretty lazy day for me. Jo went on her usual swimming trip to Westhill this afternoon, but what did I do then? Work, that's what. I definitely haven't cracked this part-time thing yet.

I have a Board meeting on Tuesday morning and I had to do some preparatory work for it, so that's today's excuse. Of course, I still have the same responsibilities and duties, and others - colleagues and business contacts alike - still have the same expectations of me, so it's no surprise that I'm feeling a little put upon - same work, 40% less pay.

I did take a couple of tiny little steps today, however. First of all, I have opened a new e-mail account, which I'm currently trialling - it could become my personal e-mail address, but I need to be sure about if first of all, and also register it with all the sites that currently send everything to my work e-mail.

Secondly - a little cheekily - I switched on Automatic Reply on my work e-mail so that everyone who sends me an e-mail gets the message that I'm now only a part-timer and there's a chance that their e-mail won't be read until Tuesday morning. Of course, that's not going to happen and I did add the rider that if anything needed an urgent response they should phone or text me. It's a start anyway.

Virtually all of my working week has been spent with various banks. We had visitors in Fraserburgh on Tuesday and another lot on Wednesday, and on Thursday it was another bank corporate day out, although this time it was golf at the Duke's course, St. Andrews. The latter one should have been the fun occasion, but after a promising start, it simply tipped it down and we got properly soaked. So much so that we walked off after 13 holes.

That was really disappointing, particularly coming immediately after what was the warmest Wednesday evening golf we've had at Banchory this year - we were playing in shorts then. The Duke's is a huge course for walking with long distances between green and tee. My Jawbone Up band told me this morning that I walked as far at the Duke's playing 13 holes as I had done the previous evening at Banchory playing 18 holes - over 15,000 steps.

The soaking we got yesterday just compounded my miserable mood. I had been feeling a bit poorly earlier in the week - at first I couldn't tell whether I had a cold/flu coming on or whether it was hay fever - they both have similar symptoms. The last couple of nights have convinced me now that I have some sort of bug - I can't sleep for coughing all night - and it's not very pleasant stuff that's coming up. Glad I could share that with you.

Hence the relatively lazy day today - at least physically - I cancelled the planned golf this afternoon.

We did manage to have a few quiet words with Kelly this morning. Quiet because Miller was fast asleep on her lap and we didn't want to waken him. We'll try again early tomorrow morning before we head to Inverurie to pick up Luca, who we're looking after for the next 2 days whilst his parents have separate sporting events on - Carole horse-y of course, and Gary taking part in the Edinburgh Marathon. Good luck to both of them.

My next golf is a tie at Banchory on Sunday morning and I've also now been called in to the Seniors team at Deeside on Monday. My golf is disturbing me a little - I was never a big hitter, but I've lost my timing and am slicing the ball as well - I hate doing that. I always used to be able to draw the ball, but I'm struggling to get back to where I was. Do you think it's something to do with my knee - either physical or mental? Answers on a postcard please. Perhaps I need to go to the range and do that one thing that I hate - practice.

Ballater - The Reunion

We got the call mid-afternoon yesterday and Jo and I drove down to the Craigendarroch to meet up with Sadie & Brian Traynor, last seen 40 years ago.

It was a lovely afternoon and we sat on the terrace and had a beer, followed by afternoon tea. I got one of the waiters to take a photo of the 4 of us:

Penultimate day of long weekend no. 7

It's Monday and I've been sucked in to work again. I haven't got this part-time thing cracked yet - will need more discipline - and more understanding from my colleagues.

I'm a little tired and run down after a fairly hectic period. Fraserburgh on consecutive days then golf Wednesday night, cycling, work  and a gig on Thursday, golf again on Friday and Saturday and then a late night as we entertained the Kilgours and Masons.

It was Airdrie on Sunday for the informal BBQ at Dawn's to celebrate Meghan and Ellis' recent wedding. We - Jo, Gary, Carole, Luca and I - all went in my car, but Gary drove there and back, so I was at least able to read the papers and snooze a little. I've got a bit of a chest and head cold now and my voice is croaking - I hope it's OK for tomorrow - I've got presentations to do to the banks the next 2 days.

The little garden patch at the front of our house is blooming just now:

Now for the photos from yesterday:

Dawn had literally rolled out the red carpet for everyone

Meghan, Carole & Gary

Helen, Jo & Barry

Some found it a trifle cool on the decking and preferred to sit in the conservatory:

Sheila, Lauren, Dawn & Jordon

Nancy & Sheila

Carole was starting to feel a little sleepy

Kieran, Julie and her sister

John photographs Jo leaving

Dawn waves us goodbye

That's it. We're just waiting for a call now from Sadie and Brian for our reunion down at Ballater.

Half way through the working week

Wednesday lunchtime - a day and a half's work done, and the same still to go. Seems like an eternity. I was knackered last night after just one day! Mind you, I had been in to the Aberdeen office, then up to Fraserburgh, then dashed back down to Inverurie for a meeting before catching up with Jo and Luca for tea. I headed home about 8pm and jumped straight in to my jammies. A cup of tea and the Times in bed - that's better!

We had FaceTimed with Kelly on Friday and saw little snippets of Miller's first tooth. By coincidence, Luca lost his first front tooth yesterday:

Kelly and Chris took Miller for his first swimming lesson last weekend. They sent us 3 photos of the event. Jo reckoned Miller looked completely disinterested in 2 of them, but terrified in the other one. Here's that look of horror:

So, what else is new? My golf at Boat of Garten was good - another trophy for the cabinet. Jo's reaction was typical - "take that away!"

Back in Fraserburgh today and golf at Banchory tonight. Weather looks good so far, but rain coming in from the West later - hope it's much later.

It's the start of a long busy weekend tomorrow. I'm going to see Albert Lee (http://www.albertlee.co.uk/home) tomorrow night and was originally planning to go back in to Aberdeen on Friday night too, but it might be wise to knock that on the head now, because we've got dinner guests on Saturday night - Masons and Kilgours - then we're off to Airdrie on Sunday for a BBQ with Meghan and Ellis, and on Monday we go to Ballater to meet up with Sadie and Brian Traynor, Jo's pals from Notre Dame College over 40 years ago.

This week

Sunday was golf at Elgin and Monday we climbed Clochnaben again (http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/). My knee is coping fine with the hill-walking but I obviously still struggle a bit with my heart issues and when the climbing gets steep, I have to stop more often than the others to get my breath. I usually get there in the end, but a bit slower than my pals.

Having a pain-free knee is obviously allowing me to do a bit more exercise - as is having another 2 days off per week. The stats produced by my Jawbone Up wristband show the trend since I got it:

Definitely an upward trend and I've hit the 10,000 steps per day average in 3 of the 9 weeks so far. The sleep pattern is not quite so clear:

My total weekly mileages are also displayed on this graph and this shows that I'm now up to 40 miles per week - can I keep it going? Anyway, I think I've found that the Jawbone Up is a useful motivating tool, if nothing else.

Wednesday evening was golf after the long drive back from Fraserburgh through some horrendous showers. I didn't think there was any chance of golf at Banchory but when I got nearer Deeside it miraculously cleared up and the roads were dry. We got a few showers later but they weren't much and basically we dodged a bullet, I think.

A similar thing happened yesterday when we travelled to Montrose for the Senior Open. The gear got a little damp and I left it in the golf club drying room overnight and I'll pick it up this morning and load in my car in preparation for our trip to Grantown-on-Spey and Boat of Garten tomorrow.

Having cycled on Thursday morning (see http://bvetscycling.blogspot.co.uk/) I'm having a rest day today. We went to Bridge of Feugh last Saturday for lunch - maybe we'll repeat that today? Here's Jo leaving the restaurant:

She liked the moisturiser in the loos there - that's why she appears to be wringing her hands.

The sad news earlier this week was the death of my friend Bill Miller's Auntie Pam, who was a lovely old soul. The local church magazine featured her this month, anticipating her imminent 90th birthday:

Active week

Monday did turn out just as the weather forecasters had predicted - wall to wall sunshine and temperatures in the 20's C. Lovely - even although my golf was poor.

Tuesday was our monthly Board meeting in Aberdeen and later on we presented CAMRA's Club of the Year award to the Legion (http://iansaleadventures.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/legion-presentation-and-more-publicity.html).

I had a lot of reading and research to do on Wednesday so I didn't waste any time travelling to and from the office and just worked from home for a while. This did allow me some free time, however, and I was able to join the midweek Cycling group for the first time for a while (http://bvetscycling.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/robins-match-report-from-this-mornings.html).

It was a damp day and it didn't let up in the evening when we played golf. I had to leave my gear in the drying room at the club overnight.

Thursday was Fraserburgh and the weekly Management Meeting. I got home in the evening and was knackered. How can this be after only 3 days' work? It's not the work, it's the travel - I'm finding it harder as I get older. Thankfully, I could have a lazy lie-in on Friday morning - I slept for over 9 hours.

We were finally able to FaceTime with Kelly again. She had called me at work on Thursday and we arranged to call her back on Friday morning when we had more time - and Jo was around to see little Miller crawling all over the place. He even managed to stand up for the first time on Thursday - but then promptly fell back down again! Kelly sent us this photo of him holding himself up:

I know - the photo's sideways and it looks like Miller is horizontal, but he's not really.

Jo is finally feeling a bit more like her old self and she was able to take her first tentative steps back swimming again on Wednesday and on Friday. You could say she was dipping her toes in the water - not yet quite back to her usual 40 lengths, but at least able to do some exercise again.

This meant I was at a bit of a loose end on Friday afternoon, so I decided, on the spur of the moment, as it was such a nice day and I had missed out on Sunday's planned walk, that I would go and climb Hill of Fare - all by myself. It was delightful - I never saw another soul - it was just me and the Arctic Monkeys. Here I am at the top:

(More photos and stats at http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/hill-of-fare.html)

I met Keith Gray for a quick pint at the Legion after my walk - it was the end of his first week back at work again. I had a couple more pints later in the Douglas Arms with the usual Friday night crew.

I'm travelling to Elgin tomorrow to play in a Texas Scramble and we're hoping to walk up Clochnaben again on Monday morning, so, I decided to pull out of this afternoon's golf at Banchory, on the basis that I would be knackered by Monday if I went through with everything.

Jo's pal from college days - Sadie - has been in touch again and she and her husband, Brian are coming up to Ballater in a couple of weeks' time, so we've arranged to meet up with them. It'll be their first meeting for over 40 years. They share the same birthday and have swapped cards every year but have never actually met up since we moved to London in 1974.

Sunday evening - USA FaceTime

It's Sunday evening and Jo and I were planning to watch the first episode of Fargo, but Lucy has FaceTimed so I'm sitting here listening to the two of them talking - mostly Jo of course.

Lucy has blogged again (check the sidebar to my blog for a link to hers) and told us about Scott's accident with his motorcycle - doesn't sound good. What sounds more positive is Cade and his girlfriend - can you believe it?

My planned walk up Hill of Fare this morning with Colin Kilgour, Ken Black and Andy Marshall had to be aborted due to poor visibility - there was a bit of haar and we would have been walking through low cloud and wouldn't have got any decent views. Having already cancelled golf, and knowing I had to do something, having not had any exercise since Wednesday night's golf, I decided to go for a cycle on my own. I headed east on the Deeside Way past Crathes and then turned up the hill at Myrebird, just before Drumoak and looped back that way. 12 miles (19 kms) in all, lasting 86 minutes and climbing almost 700 feet. Here I am at the end of my cycle at the War Memorial:

Forecast is for high temperatures in the North East tomorrow - 20-21 C - and I'm playing for the Seniors against Royal Aberdeen. That will at least be some compensation for missing out on yesterday's Medal at Banchory, which was cancelled due to overnight rain. The course was open again before noon but it was too late for the competition.

That's about it. Nothing special for this week other than a Board Meeting on Tuesday morning. Otherwise, same old, same old.

The weekend starts here!

My work here is done for this week. Next visit here will be Tuesday morning for a Board Meeting, which I've half prepared for.

This morning was my 6 month (almost) visit to see my knee surgeon. He got it x-rayed first of all:

The two bright white bits are the metal that is screwed in to my thigh bone and shinbone. In the second one where the knee is flexed, you can see my kneecap protruding at the front (left top) but what is not quite so clear is the plastic insert between the metal. This is likely to be the first thing that goes - in several years time, I hope!

He told me that it's best if I give him early warning of pain starting. Then he has a chance of doing more minor work, such as replacing the plastic, but, if I leave it too long, it's major surgery again as it's likely that the metal will have started moving as the bone deteriorates.

That said, he was very happy with it and I don't have to go back and see him unless I have any problems. He did say the remaining swelling on the knee should still come down a bit further over the next 6-12 months.

All in all, a pretty good report card, I think.

Midweek looming

One day's work done and now one third of the way through my working week. Fraserburgh tomorrow, then golf tomorrow night, followed by my 6 month appointment with my knee surgeon on Thursday morning then I'm free again!

I got my own car back today. It was making noises last week and apparently one of the brake calipers was binding. I'll be able to test it tomorrow on the 55 mile drive to the Broch. Hopefully it's OK now.

I had a busy day in the office, but managed a decent walk at lunchtime and still got home not long after 5 this evening and managed a short cycle to the Legion, via Inchmarlo and Burnett Park, after dropping off North Sea Ales to the Raemoir House Hotel and Deeside Drinks (note to self - need to go there when I have more time to use up my birthday voucher from Ross). A couple of pints and the Times and, before I knew it, an hour or so had passed.

Another look at our energy bills. First of all electricity:

2013-14

2012-13

Looks like our electricity consumption is under control - we've more than halved it since last summer. Wish I could say the same thing about gas:

2013-14

2012-13

Virtually no change. What to do? New condensing boiler? Magic box? More insulation? All of the aforementioned?

Easter - long weekend no. 3

It's Easter Monday morning and we've just failed to talk to Kelly on FaceTime - there seems to be some kind of connection problem.

Jo's not had a good week. She seemed to be recovering last Sunday, but has since gone backwards a bit and has been coughing away. I was despatched to the Chemist's on Saturday morning to try and get some Mucron, only to discover that this product was taken off the market some years ago. I was then quizzed by the pharmacist about Jo's symptoms and her medication and she refused to sell me any other decongestant as it could cause issues with her heart. We had to settle for some Olbas Oil topped up with paracetamol.

So Easter Sunday wasn't looking good for a while - just Jo and I at first, with Ross joining us a bit later, and Gary and Luca then making a quick surprise visit. Gary was on call and, sure enough, he got called away after half an hour or so. Lucy FaceTimed us over dinner, so it was like she was there with all of us. When the chocolate cake came out, Luca's eyes shone - as did Lucy's!:

Here they are, munching away:

I golfed on Wednesday night and played my first medal competition on Saturday, then played again on Sunday morning. The weather has been terrific, with wall to wall sunshine and it's been great to get out. It must have been very frustrating for Jo to be bed-bound most of the time.

Jo did get out with me on Friday when I was doing the CAMRA newsletter deliveries round Deeside. She came along for the ride, but only got out of the car once for a little stroll round Ballater. Deeside was looking fantastic with the skies so blue and not a cloud to be seen. The best bit was when we were approaching Ballater and got a magnificent view of Lochnagar, still covered in pure white snow. We should have stopped and taken a photo - I'd never seen it look so stunning.

On Friday afternoon, Keith Gray and I went for a cycle out to Crathes, stopping at the Legion for a beer or two on the way back. We sat on the terrace there, basking in the warm sun, looking over the Deeside hills. Lovely.

All of this golf and cycling has certainly improved my activity levels. Of course, it's Spring now and the weather's better and the days are longer, so that's helped, but so has my change to 3 day weeks. I'm less sedentary now, and that's reflected in my Jawbone Up stats - which also act as a motivating tool too.

I've been a member of BA's Executive Club for over 20 years now and they recently sent me a link showing my history of flying with them over that time:

Every single flight is recorded and you can search to see where you travelled any year. Interesting.

That's all for today, but I've got my hopefully final visit to see my knee surgeon on Thursday. I'm hoping he'll give me the all-clear, although it'll still be up to me to keep up my exercise and stretching regime after that. The knee's been great so far but I don't want it ever to stiffen up on me.

Semi-retirement week 2

So that's the second of my new long weekends over - and what did I do? Play golf of course. Not that I intend to spend all my extra days off doing this, but it worked out that I was selected to play for our Seniors yesterday and with Jo out for a long lunch with her swimming buddies on Friday, I went and played a friendly fourball with Keith Gray, Ken Page and Jas Bhagrath.

Jo came back the worse for wear from her lunch at Finzean Farm Shop and spent a good part of the weekend in bed with some kind of bug. I felt a bit seedy too, but not as bad as Jo was. All she could eat on Saturday was a bit of toast, but by Sunday evening she was ready for a fish supper again.

I did little on Saturday but went for my first hill-walk with my new knee on Sunday - and I had no problems at all. (Check the blog for photos etc - http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/).

In other unrelated stories, Francis Clark sent me a photo when he was away golfing last week at Royal St. George's in the Halford Hewitt competition (http://www.halfordhewitt.org/), which is played for annually amongst the UK's "public" (i.e. private and exclusive) schools. Francis went to Fettes and represents them every year. Amongst the "Hoorays" present was none other than Nigel Farage, Leader of UKIP, who are causing a major political upset just now in the heartlands of England with their anti-EC stance:

Farage in the middle between Francis (right) and a fellow Fettesian.

Jo also came across this soft toy, which a young Braeden may have left behind one year:

Continuing with the random subject matter of this blog, here's our latest energy usage:

Not a pretty picture, is it? I wonder if we should have taken up that offer of the Magic Box? (http://www.magicthermodynamicbox.com/press.php?id=42&article=Magic-Box-Company-@-The-Solar-Energy-Show-NEC-Birmingham).

To close, here's the stats for last week's activity and sleep schedule from my Jawbone Up bracelet:

Golf on Wednesday and Friday and a hill-walk on Sunday make the stats look good.

Luca's been with us again for the last 2 nights. Boy, does he love his football cards just now - almost an obsession, in fact, but I guess it's very similar to the Panini cards that his Dad's generation had, and even the football cards that used to be in cigarette packets in the 50's and early 60's.

I've booked our flights and hotels to London in early June for the Graham Parker and the Rumour gig, but what show do you think we should go to on the Saturday night?

• http://www.thecommitmentslondon.com/
• http://www.scoundrelswestend.com/

or something else in the West End - http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/?

Got a CAMRA committee meeting tonight, followed by an early start to Fraserburgh in the morning, then back for the evening's golf. I'm going to miss out on the cycling trip again this week - the boys are going on Thursday morning, but I have a meeting in the office then. Oh well.