Midweek mumbles again

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It's Wednesday already and what have I done? Not a lot, that's what - and, guess what? - my car's back in the garage again. We left early for Inverurie yesterday - this was the first time we'd given the car a run since it was back in the garage last week and we wanted to give ourselves time in case it let us down again - and it did.

Just a mile or so outside Banchory, the intermittent fault with the traction control started again, so we took the car back to C & D and drove off to Inverurie in Jo's car instead. At the time of writing, I'm still waiting to hear from the garage, but I fear we're going to have to take it in to John Clark BMW in Aberdeen.

Anyway, we had lunch in Anderson's in Inverurie yesterday - dangerous really - Jo was attracted to this chair - check the price:

Just £1,300!

We also saw a mirror we liked in Taylor's last week:

Since my last post, I was out cycling on Friday and Monday - and I'm planning to go out again this afternoon - and the builders have finally started on the old filling station site:

Went to see the Jags in Dundee on Saturday as well, and had a game of golf on Sunday. Tomorrow it's my annual eye test - and I spotted a pair of glasses that I like in Costco yesterday and I'll go back and get them some time soon - for driving only.

Friday greyness

It's looking a bit dull outside again, despite another weather forecast that said the North East would be sunny - at least this morning. That's what they said about yesterday as well - I had cycled through to Aberdeen, fully expecting the usual North Sea haar greyness there, but expected to be greeted by the sunshine when we got back to Deeside, but it wasn't to be.

We didn't see the dolphins from Torry Battery and Girdleness Lighthouse - another time perhaps. Jo and I decided to go to the movies yesterday afternoon. We used our free bus passes to get in to Union Square, then paid the discounted Seniors' rate to get in to see Spectre and had a couple of pints of ale afterward in the Justice Mill for just £3 in total, using our CAMRA vouchers. A cheap date.

No discounts at the Ashvale afterwards, but the haddock, chips and mushy peas was excellent.

The James Bond film was the usual spectacle - predictable and ludicrous, but well made. I preferred Skyfall.

This morning, after 4 days of laziness, not shaving, I'm now back to being clean shaven again, but before I took it all off, I wondered what I would look like if I grew a goatee? This photo confirmed to me that it wouldn't suit if I let it grow any more:

My car is still at Caldwell & Dempster. I told them there was no rush, but perhaps I'll give them a call today to see what's happening.

When we left Inverurie on Tuesday, I noticed this on the front door:

says it all really

Tomorrow, I'm planning to go and see Thistle for the first time this season. They're playing at Dundee - apart from Aberdeen, this is as close as they get to us.

A tale of 2 cars

(If viewing by e-mail, try viewing on the web at http://ianrstewart.blogspot.co.uk/)

It's Wednesday morning and the brilliant weather has gone for now - it's a grey start to the day - in more ways than one. Yesterday we drove through to Inverurie as usual to pick up Luca from school. We left Banchory a bit earlier than usual as we had intended to go via Costco, Westhill. It was the first time I'd driven my car any distance since it was "fixed" last week.

Jo's worst fears came true when we got to Garlogie - the traction control warning lights started flashing on and off again, causing a loss of power. "Why didn't we take my car?" says she. We decided to abort the Westhill trip and head back to Banchory to change cars. I disabled traction control and we made it safely back to Banchory in good enough time to drive over to Inverurie in Jo's car.

So this morning, I had decided to take the car back to the garage but I thought it would be a good idea to give it a run first to check it out again, so I drove to Aboyne and back. Sod's law, the car behaved itself - no warning lights, no loss of control and no hot wheels. Mmmm..... What to do?

I know - it's time to put my winter tyres on - get the garage to do that and check out the car at the same time. So now, we're a one car family - the garage is short-staffed this week and they probably won't be able to complete the work today.

Grey days like today make me think about holidays next year. It's just over 10 weeks until we head Down Under again. Earlier this year we visited the Clare Valley area of Southern Australia, so it was nice to notice the origin of the wine we opened last week:

Two years on ....

Greetings from another beautiful day here on "Royal" Deeside. The light is stunning - everything is so clear. Looking forward to this afternoon's cycle.

It was 2 years ago yesterday that I had my knee replacement operation. I don't awake every morning now thinking whether it's going to be a good day or a bad day with my knee - it seldom causes any issues now - although the other knee can still occasionally be troublesome - as it was yesterday at golf.

I've just posted another chapter of my Chronicles - the 42nd. This one takes me up to 2003 so there's only 3 years left now - my diary blog (this one) started in March, 2007, so that's a natural point for the Chronicles to finish. It's taken me four and a half years to get this far.

This diary blog is now approaching a total of 400,000 viewings since the start. Readership has dropped off in more recent times from its peak when there was over 2,500 viewings for each post and almost 1,000 viewings per day. Now it's just 10% of those figures. (Of course, those who read the blog by e-mail rather than on the blog page, don't register in these stats).

We had a long FaceTime chat with Lucy last Tuesday when we were in Inverurie. Luca was initially reluctant to take part but before long he was hogging the call! We haven't had a chance to FaceTime with Kelly recently, but she sent Lucy a photo from this weekend, so we'll finish with that:

Whoops - sideways again!

Car Fixed?

Put my car in to Caldwell & Dempster again yesterday morning and explained what happened on Tuesday. Left the car there and went out for a cycle in the afternoon, picking up my car on the way back. New caliper, brake pads, warning wire and brake fluid and they cleaned the discs and bled the brakes. Hopefully it's now OK - £300 - 2 hours' work @ £52 per hour - a bit dearer than Harlaw Garage in Inverurie who only charge at £40 per hour.

Should have been cycling this morning, but forecast put me off - plus the fact that I cycled yesterday. I may go out again tomorrow afternoon - need to build up a level of fitness again. It's amazing how quickly you lose any level of fitness you strive so hard to attain.

The changing seasons are all too obvious now. I started taking photos of the trees out front from our bedroom back in April - I'm now on number 57. Here's the last 3 - the first was early October, just before we went to Spain and the next two were taken on Sunday and this morning:

Car trouble

Now that I'm back in Banchory, I had to get my car seen to, so I took it along to Caldwell & Dempster on Monday morning - with the bike in the back so I could leave it there and cycle home. I joined the other guys for the Monday afternoon cycle - to Torphins - then cycled back to pick up my car and get an update on what was wrong with it.

It seems they couldn't detect anything wrong - either when plugging in to the computer or when taking it on a test drive to Crathes and back. I was assured it was OK to drive the car so we took it to Inverurie yesterday to test it. It was fine for the first 10 miles or so, but then the traction control lights started flashing on and off again. I disabled this facility but soon the warning light was flashing again and by the time we got to Luca's school, the car was barely driveable. The rear nearside wheel was red hot.

We found a small garage - Harlaw - not far from Gary and Carole's and they said it was probably a brake caliper sticking. Half an hour later it was fixed. That'll be £20, sir - bargain!

We drove home later in the evening and again things were fine for the first 10-12 miles then it started all over again. We limped home and now this morning (Wednesday), we're about to take it back to Caldwell & Dempster for another look.

Got to pick up my monthly drugs order from the pharmacy too. I saw our Doctor on Monday and we agreed that my one month trial with Rivaroxaban should be extended by another two months. It's been generally OK so far, although I've noticed more episodes of light-headedness recently. You know that feeling when you get up too quickly? - well, some of you may do - that's what I've been getting. If the frequency becomes too much, then we'll have to think again at Christmas. It has to be something stronger than baby aspirin - possibly Warfarin again? The problem with that is that it needs so much monitoring - not easy when we're travelling so much - but at least there is a known antidote. Much thinking to be done.

The other big issue this week is our boiler. It's about 12 years old and approaching the end of its normal life - although it's got a few years yet. A new combi condensing boiler would undoubtedly be more efficient, but when to do this? We signed a contract and paid a deposit with Penicuik, but they blotted their copybook when they came to install it and we took a step back and saw Scottish Gas on Monday.

Our preference would be to go with Scottish Gas, but what premium is OK to pay? Penicuik were £3.5K but Scottish Gas is £5K - quite a difference. We need time to think.

Today our thoughts are with Carole. She has finally - and very reluctantly - taken the tough decision with Isis and the deed will be done this afternoon. The poor dog is suffering from so many ailments now and is over 100 years old in human terms.

Back home again

The journey back from my golf holiday - the second of my 2 weeks on Costa del Sol - went smoothly enough and I got home about 3 pm - just in time to join Jo in a short walk round Burnett Park. She had agreed to take Trish next door's dog, Barley, out whilst she was at a wedding reception.

Of course, the clocks went back - twice for me - yesterday. They say the change back to GMT gives us an extra hour in bed. What they mean is that it gives us a chance of an extra hour in bed - there's only so long you can lie there anyway before nature insists you get up.

It was nice to sleep in my own bed again last night - not that there was anything wrong with the beds at the Marriott resort or the Hotel Andalucia, although I do find that the pillows are always too soft.

The first thing I noticed when I got home was how many fallen leaves there were. It's definitely Autumn now. Glorious colours - who needs New England in the Fall - Deeside is lovely:

So this week I have to get my car looked at. It went wonky the morning we drove to the airport. Ross now thinks it might be the suspension and not just a software fault. I haven't driven it yet, so I'm not sure how safe it is.

We've also got Scottish Gas coming tomorrow morning to get another quote for a new boiler. Wish us well. I hope to get out for a cycle after that - I need the exercise.

Marbella week

Jo and Ross are back home now and I'm now golfing with the guys from Banchory, but the weather has taken a turn for the worst - it's been exceptionally wet at night, but, so far, just light showers during daytime hours.

Friday was our last full day at the Marriott resort. We drove down to Fuengirola and finally got in to the specialist coffee and tea cafe that we'd tried to go to earlier in the week. It's a lovely place and we all enjoyed something to eat and drink - mine being a pear crepe:

We then took a short stroll down to Fuengirola beach:

We came across a bookshop and browsed there for a while, but I had already taken up Ross' offer to read one of the books he had with him - The Hundred Year Old Man who climbed out of the Window and Disappeared. I had watched the film on a plane this summer and quite enjoyed the Forrest Gump-ish tale.

Back at the resort we used the facilities again and then had dinner at El Med again. Free cocktails were on offer as we'd been there before, so it was Pina Colada for Jo and I:

Ross opted for the Gin Martini:

A last look down the walkway from our apartment to the sea:

Costa del Sol - Thursday

The best day of the week so far - barely a cloud in the sky. We had all agreed to get up fairly promptly and head off to the market in "Marbella". It transpired that this referred to the district, not the town of Marbella. The market itself was an indoor one in San Pedro de Alcantara - and it was disappointingly small.

Having paid for 2 hours of parking, we took a wander round the town, which turned out to be a very pleasant one. The coffee stop we chose was a lovely little cafe called Tomate. Here's Jo heading to the loo - the main reason for our stop:

Ross had coffee - of course - but Jo and I chose juices - Freshco for Jo and Zinger for me:

Oh - you want a translation of the ingredients? Here you go:

Even the bill was presented in a novel way:

That was the extent of our off-site activity today. We headed back to our resort and had lunch from the various bits and bobs in our fridge, then we swam and sunbathed this afternoon. Jo did 150 (albeit short) lengths of the pool!

I finished my book - Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman, the follow-up - half a century later - to To Kill a Mockingbird. The event - she said she would never write another book after Mockingbird - was the publishing sensation of the year. Every time Atticus Finch was mentioned in the book, all I could see was this image of Gregory Peck. There's no word of them making a film from Watchman however.

Now I have nothing to read. Might go browsing tomorrow. Missing my phone as well.

Lazy Wednesday

We'd done enough driving and decided we wanted to stay fairly local today. A wander down to the beach to sit in the sun was followed by refreshment at Chill Bar:

Next stop was the adult outdoor pool:

Now it was time for treats. We had seen a nice ice cream shop in Puerto Banus so we headed there. Jo had Creme Brulee, Ross a frozen yoghurt and I mixed Kit-Kat and Pistachio - lovely. We wandered round the port for a while:

Soon it was time to head for the Craft Beer bar, but we took a slight detour to look at the hotel where I'm staying next week for my golf holiday.

That was yesterday. This morning (Thursday), we're all up and the sun's shining so we're heading to the market in Marbella.

Ronda

Jo and I last made the trip over the mountains to the visually spectacular town of Ronda as long ago as 1997. We were so impressed then that we even bought a large poster of the town and got it framed when we got home. It hung in our bedroom for years.

Yesterday's return visit did not disappoint. We left the warm sunshine of the coast behind and drove up to the cloud level and beyond to the high plains. Our first stop was Atrium cafe, adjacent to the tourist office, for a bite of lunch - and to use their facilities.

Then it was onward towards the great gorge and the "new" and old bridges:

I posed outside the bullring - on the same spot as 18 years ago:

Then it was back down the hill again. Back down on the coast our drive was taking us past the craft beer bar that we'd checked out on Sunday, only to discover that it only opens Wed to Sun, from 6 pm. Thwarted again!

Back at the resort, we went for a quick swim and met on the roof terrace bar for a beer before heading back to the apartment to sweep up some of the food in our fridge. For Jo and I, it was a very late meal - but it was normal time for Ross.

It's Wednesday morning now and it looks like being a bit of a down day.

Monday on Costa del Sol

It looked a bit more promising when we awoke but there were still some clouds around so we opted for a short trip to Mijas, detouring via Fuengirola to try out a specialist coffee shop for Ross. We found a small parking space for our Micra and walked round to the coffee shop, but it was shut!:

Across the road was another establishment and we had coffee and croissants on the street corner there, basking in the hot sun.

The drive to the pretty, whitewashed touristy mountain village of Mijas was up a narrow, winding road and finding a parking spot was again a struggle until we happened upon a multi-storey. Parking on the 2nd floor, we took the lift up to the 10th floor, which conveniently was the level of the touristy bits of the town. The views down to the coast are spectacular and my camera doesn't really do it justice. On a clear day, apparently you can see all the way to Gibraltar and across the Med to the Moroccan coast:

Walking round the bullring, we headed up the hill through the narrow streets to the highest viewpoint:

We had lunch in a little cafe on a side street. the King Prawns had the dirtiest alimentary canals we'd ever seen and we were a little nervous about digesting them - but we did.

Back at our resort, we did a bit of reading, snoozing and, in my case, a quick visit to the adult indoor pool before dinner at the onsite El Med restaurant.

It's now Tuesday morning and the sun is shining again so we're heading a little further afield today - up to the spectacular mountain village of Ronda. All we need is Ross to wake up.

Marbella - damp Sunday

We awoke to find a pool of water on our balcony. They are designed with escape outlets but the water doesn't run towards them so there was a bit of mopping up to be done.

Ross was up first and had made coffee and gone to the store to get fresh bread. After breakfast, we decided we didn't want to travel far - there was no point heading to the mountains as visibility was poor - so Marbella was the chosen town.

I was aware of a relatively new craft beer bar - http://lacatarinacraft.com/ - and programmed its address in to our Sat Nav, believing it to be in Marbella. We soon discovered that Marbella seemed to be the district rather than just the town. We found La Catarina in the middle of a partly industrial estate, which probably had aspirations to be gentrified. We knew it didn't open until 6 pm on a Sunday but wanted to check it out anyway:

Puerto Banus was nearby. It was dull with an occasional light drizzle, but reasonably mild so we parked there and took a stroll around, checking out the expensive boats:

We stopped for coffee then headed back towards Marbella town for a wander along the prom there. A 4 day walking competition was just ending and each participant was handed a stem of gladioli for finishing, so it was a bit weird seeing all these apparent Morrissey impersonators wandering around.

Finally, the sun broke through:

We were getting thirsty by now so it was back to the apartment for beers on the balcony, taking in the late afternoon/early evening rays before dinner.

It's now Monday morning and it's been raining again. Don't think we'll be going far today either.

Marbella - Saturday travel

Friday night/Saturday morning was a little fraught for us all, but eventually all 3 of us - 4 including Gary, who was taking my car away - made it to the airport in good time. In fact we were a bit too early, particularly as the seats were all pre-assigned anyway.

There was a bit of panic on the drive between Gary's office and the airport - all of a sudden, my car lost its traction control and warning lights started flashing. We turned off the software and it seemed to be ok after that. Whether my car is going through its death throes or whether it's just a temporary blip, we don't know.

This - and the early morning start - had distracted me a little and I forgot to unhook my phone from its charging unit in my car before Gary drove off.

Check-in was easy but there was a bit of a temporary panic in security as my laptop seemed to have disappeared. I always get stopped and scanned and body searched since my metal knee was put in, and I try to keep an eye on my belongings as they go along the belt whilst I am searched, but it's not always easy to monitor them. I think it's too easy for thieves to make off with other peoples' belongings at airports and I wish there was a better way of doing this. My backpack was OK and so was my jacket, but one of the security guards insisted on putting my laptop in a tray of its own. It's a Sony Vaio and the outer cover is dark grey - the same as the trays used in security. Somebody in security had been tidying up whilst I was being searched and hadn't noticed the laptop in the bottom of the tray and had put a pile of other trays on top. What a relief when we eventually found it - I had assumed the worst.

Having recovered from this particular panic with my laptop, I sat down and went through my belongings, only to finally realise that my phone was missing. Too late. We contacted Gary to let him know and hopefully he'll get it over to Banchory this week and one of the golfing group will bring it out with them on Saturday.

Otherwise, the flight was fine and although there was a slight delay at the other end with the baggage, we were on our way with our rental car well before lunch. In fact, we were too early when we arrived at Marriott's Marbella Beach Club - our very first timeshare, where we'd only been once before in 1999. It's matured a huge amount since then - a really nice resort. We had lunch at the new (to us) restaurant down by the beach:

By the time we had finished, our apartment was ready. Second floor, west facing - ideal for the afternoon/evening sun - and we had a (slightly distant) sea view as well:

After unpacking, Jo and Ross had a nap, whilst I watch Scotand's rugby team's match against Samoa on the laptop. We then drove to Puerto Banus and did some grocery shopping at El Corte Ingles. Prawns and chorizos were the order of the day and Ross did an excellent job of cooking them for dinner back at our apartment - even though the chilli content was perhaps a fraction high!

G & T's and red wine ensured we were ready for bed after a long day.