Deeside hotter than the Algarve!

What a great week it's been - more or less wall to wall sunshine and with the temperature getting in to the 20's - just!Comforting to note as well that the Algarve, where I was sweltering in 34 C last week, is down in the teens - and raining! Good timing for a change.

We're still suffering from this bug - lots of coughing in the house, and sleep has been difficult unless propped up. My voice went yesterday as well, which is why I haven't got round to getting my new phone yet - it needs a call to Vodafone and I couldn't risk doing that with my squeak. I had to miss our cycling group's outing to Aboyne and Tarland this morning on probably the best day of the year so far - I definitely wasn't up to any strenuous exercise.

It's been the school Easter holidays as well and Luca has been out every day playing with the kids in number one. Jo has been working in the garden and I've caught up with all my admin, and this afternoon I decided it was time to wash and clean both cars - inside and out. Hot work - especially as I rather suspect this was the first time Jo's had her car cleaned since she got it.

Jo found this in the garden:

It's tiny - poor little thing must have flown in to the windows.

It's the physio for me tomorrow - fingers crossed.

Easter and beyond

Ross, Gary & Luca, and then Carole - in that order - all arrived over on a hot sunny Sunday afternoon, with the promise of Jo's roast beef dinner. Lured by the opportunity to have a cigarette, Carole and Ross - yes, he's started again - were first out on the balcony, with Gary and Luca eventually joining them:

By now, Luca was in possession of his Easter Egg. Earlier he had been sent on an Egg Hunt in the back garden - Jo had hidden all our eggs out there:

Where are they?

Found some!

Where's mine Grannie?

Gary and Carole went home, leaving Luca here during the first week of the school holidays. He's a good boy and is no trouble - certainly not to me. He and Jo sit and chat away like Jack and Victor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_Game). It's just a pity that Jo - and now me as well - are suffering a little from a bit of a bug, so we're not exactly full of beans.

The great weather continued on Monday and Tuesday. I was golfing with the Seniors down at Ballater yesterday but this morning I had to go back to the dentist due to toothache. He did a bit of tidying up which will hopefully relieve the pain for a while, but he gave me a tough choice - have the tooth extracted or undergo root canal work. Any other tooth, I would have said take it out, but it's right next to the one that was extracted a few months ago and would leave a wide gap there, so I opted for the root canal treatment.

Anyway, Jo and Luca came in to Aberdeen with me and walked from Holburn St., along the Dee, and through Duthie Park to the Vue Cinema to see a film Luca was keen to see - again. Whilst they were watching that, I went over to my old work at Bridge of Don and got my car tyres changed over from winter to summer. It was a little weird walking in there again - especially seeing my old office locked up and empty. Next thing to tidy up is our mobile phones which are still on the company contract. They don't make it easy to change over - I'd tried before I went to the Algarve, but failed - and I didn't quite succeed today either - but we've made some progress. A combination of little techies trying to baffle old codgers like me, plus the Data Protection Act - and probably Health and Safety as well - are amongst the barriers to change.

Reverting to medical matters once more - I seem to have spent a lot of my retirement on these - I've got my first physio appointment for my knee this Friday. I've still got some pain and swelling - although it seems a little easier today - and ultrasound and massage have been prescribed. I've tried light compression stockings and tight elastic bandages, but these resulted in my leg looking like this at the end of the day:

You can see where my short socks stopped and pushed the fluid up to my calf and knee.

Back for Easter

My golf trip to the Algarve this week was very good - exceptional temperatures, reaching 34 C (93 F) - very high for this early in the season. We only played 4 rounds of golf, rather than the usual 6, so it was a bit easier physically, and the travel (Ryanair from Edinburgh) was short, punctual and at reasonable times, so I got back to Banchory by 5pm last night (Friday). You would have thought that would mean a nice easy evening at home - but, no - due to calendar clashes, it was our first Headbang of the year last night, so I was straight out again. Yes, I do feel tired today, but I'm not expecting the sympathy vote - especially not from Jo, who's apparently now picked up Luca's bug and is feeling a bit poorly.

My Golf and Headbang blogs have been updated so not much else to say here about this week, other than the fact that I've got my letter to make an appointment with the local physio to receive some massage and ultrasound treatment on my recently repaired knee. The leg below - calf and ankle - are now pretty swollen with fluid. I don't suppose the flights have helped, but Ibuprofen on its own doesn't seem to be helping much, so I'm sitting here today with my leg up and an ice pack on to see if that helps.

Where did this week go?

The week's almost over and it's been all go. I don't know how I ever found the time to work.

It was the dentist and hygienist on Monday morning, then out for a 34kms cycle in the afternoon, before attending the latest Banchory Sports Village meeting in the evening, after which Jo, Ross and I had a beer and a chat about Ross' planned house purchase in the lovely new lounge/diner at the Douglas Arms Hotel:

On Tuesday morning, we met the lawyer who was putting in the bid for Ross. Offers had to be in by noon, but the other noted interests walked away, which gave more time to consider the matter. We arranged to meet my friend Gary Grant, local architect, on Wednesday morning to get his professional assessment of the state of the property. The conclusion was that it needed a lot more cash spent on it - and it could be a bottomless pit - so Ross has walked away for now. Something else will show up soon we hope.

Tuesday afternoon/evening was over at Inverurie as usual, and on Wednesday afternoon I went for another cycle - a mere 25 kms this time.

This morning I had my follow-up with my knee surgeon. I had been concerned about the frequent pain and discomfort I was still getting 4 weeks after my cartilage operation, but he told me not to worry - this wasn't uncommon. There's still a bit of swelling round the knee and I need to keep taking Ibuprofen and treating it with ice packs, but he also said I should get some physiotherapy - ultrasound and massage in particular. I asked if there was anything I should not be doing and he reassured me that cycling and walking were good for it, and - huge relief - golf was fine too. Just as well, as the season starts at Banchory on Saturday and then on Sunday I'm off to the Algarve for 4 days of golf.

After my appointment at Albyn, I met Jo at Costa Coffee in Union Square - she was supposed to be coming with me, but couldn't find her phone this morning, and I was late for my appointment at Albyn, so I had to dash. Jo eventually found her phone and managed to catch the bus in.

Our plan was to go to the Apple store and get our phones sorted out - tomorrow is my last official day of employment. I'm still technically on the payroll - although I don't get paid - and I've had all my benefits until now, but henceforth they stop - including our phones. I have to arrange car insurance from next week as well.

Anyway, we were shuttled from the Apple Store to the Vodafone shop, but it was the usual sharp intake of breath that we were met with. Transferring our phones from a company contract to personal ones was in the "too difficult" box for both these businesses. The short and long of it is that I think we're on track now and we'll be able to transfer over after I come back from the Algarve.

We popped in to see Colin and Johanne this afternoon and we took up the exercise bicycle I used last year to recuperate from my knee replacement - hopefully it'll help Colin recover from his hip replacement as well. Whilst we were there, Johanne brought out the Notre Dame 1970/71 Year Book, featuring Johanne (Joan) in Class III C and somebody you might recognise in Class III H:

I cycled up to the Legion tonight to meet up with Malcolm and Dick to discuss travel plans for Sunday's flight to Faro. Of course, the clocks go forward so it'll be an earlier than expected start for us - 7:30 is really 6:30 am.

When she's 64 - and beyond

Friday was hectic all right - Jo was at the West Church Coffee Morning then swimming in the afternoon before her birthday tea. I was out buying flowers in the morning and then played a few holes of golf before taking Johanne in to see Colin in the afternoon - he might be getting out today.

My camera failed at the crucial moment when the cake was lit and happy birthday was sung - the memory card was in my computer - but I got it working again by the time the chocolates were passed around - check this short video on my You Tube channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd2ar0nzwNM

Luca had had a good week at school and had been given an award - check out the sticker:

With Mothers' Day and a birthday within a few days, the front room is full of flowers:

Yesterday (Saturday) was a lovely day so we went for a walk along the Dee to the other end of town. My knee was troubling me - could it have been the golf yesterday? - so we stopped on the river bank for a while, watching the multitude of Oyster Catchers on the bank opposite:

I've never seen so many of them together - what were they up to?

Back up the river a fisherman was casting for salmon, with the bumpy knoll of Clach na Beinne as a backdrop:

We eventually made it to Buchanan's and sat outside for our coffee and cake:

Soon it was time to walk home:

It was a struggle for me to limp home - my knee was very painful. I've had to cancel golf this morning (Sunday) and am sitting here with an ice pack on again.

I did manage to get yet another episode of my Chronicles done yesterday, so that's me up to the year 2000 now, leaving only another 7 years between that and the start of this Family Blog in 2007 - the end is in sight! Check http://renshawschronicles.blogspot.co.uk/

Tomorrow, I have the dentist in the morning and hope to cycle in the afternoon - if my knee's OK - it's less strain than walking or golfing. Ross has taken the day off work tomorrow because the house in Bridge St that he's interested in has suddenly had a closing date of Tuesday noon put on it. The main question mark is the adjacent land, which is, or was, apparently up for sale - we're waiting for more information on this.

I go back to Albyn on Thursday for my follow-up visit with my knee surgeon and we will probably go in to the Apple store to get me a new phone - all my old company contracts etc come to an end this week. Need to get my winter tyres removed as well.

Facebook mystery solved

I was a little alarmed this morning when I logged on to FaceBook and noticed a few "likes" of a photo that I had, just yesterday, posted on my blog site - the latest episode of Renshaw's Chronicles (http://renshawschronicles.blogspot.co.uk/).

I thought - I didn't post that on FB - is somebody cloning me? It took me an hour or two to realise that the photo (of Jo and I at a 50th birthday party in 1998) had come from a posting I had made back in November. I guess somebody got round to liking it recently and that's why it popped up this morning, but I never understand how FB orders things - it seems to be random at times.

I enjoyed Joan Armatrading on Wednesday night - I had forgotten how much good material she had written/recorded. She was a warm, engaging personality - the complete opposite of the somewhat reticent, publicity-shy image I had of her. She appeared solo - a range of guitars and a keyboard were the only other items on the stage - but she had pre-recorded some backing sounds and visuals. She even showed us some old photos and talked about one of her first - and best attended - appearances, supporting Don MacLean in Hyde Park in 1975 in front of 85,000 at a free concert (http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/hydepark-5-31-75.html) - and we - Jo, little Lucy and I - were there! By coincidence, I had been talking to Jo about this just the day before.

The acoustics in the Music Hall are not great and Joan played a fair bit of blues/rock Hendrix-style guitar - the very thing Jo hates - she calls it the dentist's drill, so I'm not sure if she got as much out of the concert as I did. We did have a nice beer in Carriages first of all, however. Happy Chappy (Cromarty) for Jo and Young's for me.

Yesterday I went cycling in the morning and, in the evening, I caught the bus in to Aberdeen for a CAMRA committee meeting at the Prince of Wales. Poorly attended as usual, but I was back home by 11 pm - not too bad.

Today, of course, is Her Majesty's birthday - When I'm 64 - but we also had a major solar eclipse this morning and it's the Vernal Equinox - 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. Jo's been baking for the coffee morning at the West Church and that's where she is just now. I walked her along the road, taking photographs of the eclipse as we went along. The best moment came outside Taylor's when some clouds came over, just at the point of maximum eclipse, and this allowed us to view it with the naked eye:

It's the first one this century - we can only hope that we're still around for the next one.

Colin's had his hip operation and is back in the normal (not HD) ward, so that's a good sign. I'm taking Johanne in to see him this afternoon.

Jo's birthday tea will be a take-away curry in our house tonight. We tried to get in to the Tor-na-Coille, but it's fully booked. Never mind - a good second choice, I think

Inverurie news

Tuesday is the day we pick up Luca from school and go back to Gary and Carole's for Jo prepare tea for us all. In the hallway there, Carole has her rosettes from horse-riding competitions:

Not to be outdone, Gary has his running medals on display on the opposite wall:

Note the latest addition from his Ultra Marathon on Saturday - D33 - it's an old jam jar lid!

Luca's Mother's Day card was on the mantelpiece:

With the USA holiday this summer fast approaching, Gary and Luca now have their passport photos:

Carole has her pre-op for her shoulder this coming Monday - we're hoping she gets fixed soon and can be a late addition to the transatlantic holiday.

Today (Wednesday), I'm taking Colin to hospital this morning for his hip operation. Then I shuttle back to Banchory to look at a house in Bridge St with Ross, immediately after which I have to pick up Johanne and take her in to see Colin. I'll take her home and then head in to Aberdeen for the 3rd time to go to see Joan Armatrading at the Music Hall. Busy day.

Monday morning news

Since my last post, I've been for a couple of cycles - Thursday morning with The Freewheelers (http://bvetscycling.blogspot.co.uk/) and, on a glorious day yesterday, I went out on my own for a leisurely 25 kms, stopping at the old Crathes station on the Deeside Way and then at the river bank at Milton of Crathes Arts & Crafts Village, as they now style it:

I'm also planning to go out again this afternoon - perhaps to get rid of some of the alcohol calories I consumed over the weekend - I had a few beers on Friday afternoon at the CAMRA social in the Moorings, where I bumped in to Jas:

Jo was at her usual Friday afternoon swim at Westhill and then, in the evening, she was out for a meal at Banchory Lodge with her girlfriends. On Saturday, I took the early morning bus and then the train to Glasgow for my first trip to Firhill this season - a pretty full day, but it all went well - including a good Thistle win.

Whilst I was at Firhill, Gary was competing in his first ever D33 Ultra Marathon - 33 miles along the Deeside Way from Aberdeen to Banchory and back. Jo met him at the turn in Banchory and he looked amazingly fresh:

Carole says he looked a bit worse for wear at the finish - hardly surprising really - and Gary himself says that the last 10 miles were pretty tough as this was beyond the distances he had been training at. Gary's split times demonstrate this - 2 hours 15 mins at Control Point 2 (presumably the half way point) and 3h 32m at CC 2.

His finishing time of just over 5 hours put him in a very respectable 130th place out of 338 runners, many of them much more experienced than Gary. Amazing.

Gary came over on Sunday after Luca's football at Alford and he seemed to have fully recovered from his run - not how I remember feeling the day after any long runs.

Lucy was on FaceTime yesterday, as usual, and Kelly called us on Friday morning.

Wednesday of contrasts

It's been a strange day. Bright start and lovely finish, but this afternoon wasn't at all pleasant, so it was a bit of a stir crazy day again today.

The workmen finished not long after Jo went swimming, but, by then, it wasn't worth going out, so it was an afternoon reading the paper and snoozing in the front room.

When it did brighten after Jo returned from swimming, we went out for a short walk through Burnett Park, Hill of Brathens and back down past Glen o' Dee - that helped a little, but it was barely enough. My knees are sore again, having been locked up and stationary for a while. I need to keep moving.

One thing I did manage to do today was another episode of Renshaw's Chronicles - http://renshawschronicles.blogspot.co.uk/. At least that was something.

First part of the week

Yesterday (Monday) started bright but soon went downhill - there were even a couple of minor snow/sleet flurries late morning - enough to put me off going out for a cycle.

I think both Jo and I were a bit down yesterday - perhaps a little tired, and certainly a bit stir-crazy by the end of the day, but maybe that train journey on Sunday had some effect - did we pick up a little bug or something? Anyway, I took the bus down to Aboyne at 6 pm to join the squash guys for a beer - that helped a little.

Jo was in full genealogy mode yesterday, armed with the fresh information she garnered on Sunday. Some light has now been shed on my Grannie Barr's (my Mum's Mum) impoverished family background.

D & D Slating came back yesterday and erected the scaffolding to do our roof repairs:

When they were up on the roof, they discovered that one of our chimney pots was dangerously loose - as was Irene's next door - so they're replacing that tomorrow morning when they finish off.

It was a little weird to wake up to this sight from our bedroom window this morning:

Today (Tuesday) is Inverurie/Luca day but, with the workmen still here this afternoon, I had to stay behind and Jo went over on her own. I did get out for a short cycle with Keith this morning, however.

My knee is definitely getting better and I now feel confident enough to have booked a short golf break at the end of the month - just after I have my follow-up visit with the consultant.

Family gathering

Facebook is full of different versions of the family group from yesterday, but here's mine:

Back row - Iain Bannatyne, Gary Stewart, Barry Stewart, Gwen Kelly, Johanne Sahal and her partner John Kelly
Middle row - John Campbell, Kieran Hughes, Jo Stewart, Helen Stewart, Carole Stewart, Lauren Hughes-Glass, Eleanor Kelly and Ian Stewart
Front row - Lesley Bannatyne, Dawn Hughes, Lucy Bannatyne, Nancy Barr with little Mara Hughes on her knee, Kirsty Bannatyne, Luca Stewart & Julie Hughes

Lucy Lesina, Meghan Hughes and Ben Barr joined us remotely via FaceTime/Skype. Not present were Sheila and Cameron Barr. Sheila drove her mother to the Three Craws, but then had to leave as she had a prior appointment - at the opera, I think somebody said?

The day before, Lesley had bumped in to my cousin Dugald - or is it Dougal? Shows how long it is since I've seen him. He's the last remaining of that wing of the family - my Dad's elder brother Willie's side.

My Aunt Nancy is the senior member of the group above, but it's a bit scary to realise that I'm next!

It all went very well - a lovely afternoon - and Jo was pleased when both Aunt Nancy and John Kelly produced some more genealogical material to assist her research in to the family tree.

We travelled on Club 55 First Class, but, as usual, the trains were packed and soon a number of other passengers who couldn't get a seat were piling in to First Class. There was no buffet service on either train and the staff kept a very low profile, knowing they would face the wrath of the punters. Over-crowding seems to be a regular fixture on these inter-city services. I'm going to file a complaint - not because we suffered much, but just to register the facts with Scotrail, whose franchise has just been taken over by a consortium of Stagecoach and Virgin - they can only improve things surely?

Another gathering is planned for later this year - nearer a couple of big birthdays. Banchory was mentioned as a location, but that's not going to happen - too far for Aunt Nancy.

Here's another few random shots I took yesterday:

Saturday Deeside run

My real birthday (Friday) was a fairly quiet one, having had my nice family meal the night before. Jo always goes swimming on a Friday afternoon and I go to the pub on Friday evening. Creatures of habit, both of us, we stuck to tradition.

I had, however, been invited by Keith Gray to go to Kippie - the Aberdeen Petroleum Club - in the afternoon. It was nearly scuppered when D & D, Slaters turned up unannounced mid-morning. They had some work to do on our roof and cladding and we knew they were coming soon, but we didn't expect them to turn up now. They finished what they could do by lunchtime, which let me go to Kippie with Keith, and they'll be back on Monday.

Keith and I hit some golf balls on the range - it was a little soon after my operation, but I managed OK without too much discomfort. I did a little work on my quads in the gym afterwards and then went for a short swim and steam room.

Today, I decided it was time to finish off the Deeside deliveries of the local CAMRA quarterly newsletters, so Jo and I set off late morning and drove down to Braemar. We had a bit of time to kill, so we thought we would go a little further west in to the hills to Linn o' Dee, a place we hadn't been to since all the kids were at home.

It's a spectacular spot as the Dee charges under a bridge and through a narrow gorge, carving huge swathes out of the rocks over the centuries. The following video - http://youtu.be/TPtXMdUQ_so - and photographs, demonstrate:

Back in Braemar we went to The Bothy for a plate of soup:

The outdoor tables weren't all that inappropriate - North East Scotland was reputed to be the warmest in Europe today with temperatures peaking at 16/17 C - not bad for this area in early March.

Ballater, Tarland, Torphins and Banchory deliveries were made after this and that's us done now.

Tomorrow, we're off to Glasgow for a family reunion, organised by Lesley Bannatyne.

Friday - birthday boy

Got my stitches out on Wednesday. The nurse put a couple of small micropore strips on but they will fall off soon. She also advised me to rub E45 cream on them after 4 or 5 days to help with the scarring, and to keep taking the Ibuprofen. The swelling is reducing and there's less pain now when I walk - so much so that I managed a slow 36 kms on the bike yesterday morning. When I got home, Jo was hard at work in the back garden:

Last night we all went for a pre-birthday meal at Echt Tandoori:

and here's some of my birthday cards:

Wednesday - stitches out

Two days ago, exactly one week after my knee op, I finally got to take off the Tubigrip from that leg. I've still got the compression stocking on the other leg - that has to remain there until I see the surgeon again at the end of the month - but today, I'm heading to the nurse to get the stitches out.

Progress has been made - it's still a bit stiff and sore, but it's a lot better than when I last posted to this blog. I've stopped the Ibuprofen as well - or rather, I've finished our stock. After a short session on the exercise bike, I thought I would try the real thing on Monday. I had to drop off some CAMRA stuff at the pubs and the bike seemed like a good way to do this. Plenty of stops of course, so it wasn't too difficult, but I managed about 18 kms after looping round Crathes Castle.

On Saturday, I took the bus in to Aberdeen to attend the CAMRA meeting, and, on Sunday, Gary and Luca popped in after Luca's football at Laurencekirk. Luca was in the bad books for not trying hard enough at the football.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we were back to the old routine, picking Luca up from school - for the first time this year. He always seems pleased to see us, smiling and running over with big hugs. Grannie first of all, of course, but he makes sure I get one as well. He was carrying an oversize bag:

When we got back to his house, he showed me the Inverurie family spider:

Not exactly a Huntsman, is it?

Gary came in, hot and sweaty, after he'd been to the gym:

The full beard is staying on until he completes his latest challenge - an ultra marathon. Jo wants him to reverse the upside-down look and shave the beard and grow the hair back on his head.

The more observant will have noticed that I've finally got round to doing another episode of Renshaw's Chronicles - http://renshawschronicles.blogspot.co.uk/