Luca in Banchory

The sun shone today and I took Luca along to the practice area at our golf club to hit a few balls:

Check these short videos as well - forgive the bad camerawork - I was too busy watching where he was hitting the ball! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVA_reIM5Ds and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kBN2382jZA

What do you think? Tiger Stewart or Luca McIlroy?

London etc

Thankfully, it seems to be getting a bit warmer now - at last. Not exactly tropical, but at least a bit more spring-like.

London was just as cool as Banchory when we were there on Thursday/Friday, but we still had a nice time - it was pretty sunny and mostly dry. We caught the 7:25 am flight to Heathrow so we were in London fairly early in the morning. Tube to Earls Court then change to get tube down to Wimbledon - Jo's choice of destination. We walked up the hill to Wimbledon Village and then took a stroll over the vast area of greenery that is Wimbledon Common, which is linked to Putney Common and Richmond Park. Jo spotted the war memorial at the start:

Further on, we came across the Windmill Museum and adjacent cafe:

Putney Village is a very upmarket area and we stumbled upon a lovely "country pub in the heart of the city" - Telegraph Road. Too nice not to stop and have a beer in the garden.

Continuing our ramble we made it to Putney proper where Jo was charmed by a magnolia tree in bloom:

Tube again - Putney to Embankment - then a short stroll across the "new" footbridge (opened 2004) next to Westminster Bridge and Waterloo:

Our hotel was just a couple of hundred yards from the London Eye and the venue for the evening gig was just round the corner so we didn't have to worry too much about timing. In fact, we had time to check in and have a quick kip before heading out to grab something to eat before the show. The curiously named Camel and Artichoke served our needs and after our meal there, we tried another strangely named pub - the Crown and Cushion. It is an old London pub, which is now an Irish bar. The table we sat at had a hole in the floorboard and we could see right down to the cellar:

The venue for the All or Nothing musical was The Vaults - one of the arches under Waterloo station converted to a theatre. At quiet moments in the show we could hear the trains rumbling overhead. There were several rooms we had to wander to to get to our seats. It felt a bit like going to one of the Edinburgh Fringe shows, but the show was at least as good as the Kinks' Sunny Afternoon show we saw last year. Here's a typical stage scene of the band playing one of the Small Faces' hits:

On Friday morning, after breakfast at our hotel, we walked back across the Thames to catch the Tube again, but stopped first to take this photo of Jo at the Eye:

Jo then took this unfortunately poorly contrasted photo of me with the Houses of Parliament in the background:

We got off the Tube at Sloane Square and walked round to the Saatchi Gallery where we'd bought tickets to view the Rolling Stones' http://www.stonesexhibitionism.com/ - a really well done show with lots of differently themed rooms, a number of which were interactive.

After an hour and a half there we walked along the Kings' Road for a bit until we found a suitable coffee shop. We had to get to the Piccadilly line to get a Tube back to Heathrow so we strolled up to South Kensington. We still had some spare time so managed a couple of beers at the Admiral Codrington. At Heathrow, we met up with Dave and Jayne Williamson, who signed us in to the exceptionally busy Executive Lounge. We were back in Arbor Court well before 8 pm.

On Saturday, Jo was working at the Seniors' lunch at her church, so I decided to jump on my bike and head out to Feughside to deliver some CAMRA newsletters - and grab some lunch. It was a beautiful day - and so peaceful:

This morning (Sunday) I decided to forsake golf and go for a hill-walk up Kerloch. The low cloud made visibility poor at the top. Here we are back at the car park after our 3 hour walk:

So, Luca is with us tonight as it's the May Day holiday tomorrow. We've just had a take-away curry for tea and Luca is now heading to bed.

April snow

It's not quite May yet but we're getting another Arctic blast this week. It was OK at the weekend - I cycled on Friday and golfed on Sunday - but we were due to play a Seniors match against Royal Aberdeen yesterday (Monday). We all turned up for the pre-match coffees and bacon butties but watched as snow squalls frequently passed over the course. Eventually we decided, by mutual consent, that conditions were too unpleasant and we would postpone and re-schedule the match.

This morning (Tuesday), if anything, it's worse - regular snow squalls - not lying in Banchory, but enough to close the higher level Cairn o' Mount road. No chance of cycling today, so I took the opportunity to take my bike back to the bike shop and ask them to tweak the gear changes again as it's still not slipping in to the lowest gear. Hopefully it's now fixed but I'll know as soon as I test it out on an upward hill stretch.

I got my bloods done on Friday - I had thought it was just a blood pressure check but the nurse decided to take three samples at the same time. BP was fine - 110/68 - perhaps a little low, but OK. Urine sample clear as well. I phoned to get my blood results this morning and have been asked to come back and have the bloods done again next week - apparently there was an abnormal liver reading.

This afternoon, it's back to Inverurie as usual. We'll be taking Jo's car - she is definitely a good bit better this week - as I'll be heading off to a CAMRA meeting in Aberdeen this evening. When I was through last week, I noticed a nice framed photo on the hearth of Gary finishing his recent run at Brodie:

Yesterday, I finally got round to sorting out what we're doing for the first few days of our North American holiday this year - only 5 weeks away now. I've booked a hotel in Vancouver for 2 nights and then one in Victoria, Vancouver Island for another 2 nights. We'll then fly from Victoria to Medford - via San Francisco - on the Sunday.

Here's the Vancouver hotel:

and the Victoria one:

Our hotel in London this Thursday is a bit more modest - the Premier Inn at Westminster Bridge, Waterloo.

Back in Banchory

It's been a far from normal week, with Jo virtually bed-bound most of the time with some kind of respiratory virus. At the time of writing, she's still suffering a bit - particularly in her ear - but she's ever so slowly improving. This morning (Saturday) she even ventured out of the house for the first time, strolling along to the village for a coffee with me.

Touch wood, so far, the bug hasn't got to me. I've had my usual week golfing and cycling. The one major difference came on Tuesday. Jo clearly wasn't up to going through to Inverurie to pick up Luca from school, so I did it solo. I took Luca to his new running class then we went to Tesco - his choice - for tea. Luca has obviously done this before - he knew exactly what to do when we got there - a choice of 5 items, none of them particularly healthy.

We've managed a couple of FaceTime calls with Kelly this week, which was nice. I picked up this photo from Instagram of Matt (Chris' brother) holding little Asher Thomas:

This coming week, Jo and I are travelling to London for just one night to see a show - All or Nothing, the Small Faces' musical.

Grandaddy again!

Nearly a fortnight since my last blog post and it's all been happening. Only one place to begin though - little Asher Thomas Steele was born on Wednesday 13th April at 1:10 pm Adelaide time - our 5th grandson. 9lbs 2 oz and mother and baby doing well - so much so that Kelly was home 4 hours later!

I didn't get a chance to speak to Kelly until this (Saturday) morning on FaceTime, having just got back from the Algarve at tea time yesterday. Kelly was looking and sounding great - and so was little Asher - and Miller, who has become very chatty and his speech is becoming much clearer. Asher is much darker than Miller, reminding Jo very much of Kelly when she was born:

Jo had been looking after Luca this week while I was away golfing, but she felt ill all week and had lost her voice when I got home. She's having a medicated down day today - it seems that she's got some kind of respiratory bug - sore ears and head and coughing all the time.

Just before Gary came over to pick up Luca last night, Luca asked for some Angel Delight - something we haven't had for a generation or so. Jo agreed and asked Luca to help mix it, handing him a hand whisk. Luca looked puzzled and searched the whisk before finally saying "where's the button to switch it on?" This generation don't expect to do anything manually, do they?

Going back to the previous week, we went down to Glasgow on the Wednesday for a little gathering to welcome Meghan back home from New York for a short break. We had a late lunch, lasting 5 hours or so at the Three Craws in in Crow Road, Glasgow:

l-r: cousin Sheila; Jo; Meghan; Chloe and Jordon, John and Dawn (half hidden); Aunt Nancy; Barry and Helen

We walked back to Foxbar Drive and spent the night at Barry and Helen's. In the morning, we drove over to Elderslie and Houston. Jo joined Mary in looking after Julie's boys and Brian and I went golfing at Ranfurly GC where he works P/T as Secretary.

Friday was similar, except this time Brian took me down to the other club he joined recently - West Kilbride. It was a lovely day and the course was great, with super views across to the nearby Isle of Arran:

We had a take-away curry for tea at Julie's where the boys were snapping away with my phone:

On Saturday, Jo, Mary and I drove in to the King's Theatre in Glasgow to see the first of the plays in the James Trilogy, after which Jo and I drove back to Banchory whilst Mary went shopping.

I was mostly packed and ready for my early morning drive back down the road to Edinburgh airport on Sunday morning. We only had 4 days' golf planned and the weather was a little disappointing on the Algarve - unseasonably cool and wet. In fact, as we had breakfast on Monday morning, a virtual monsoon went over, but thankfully it passed before we played and it all turned out OK in the end, with the weather slowly improving as the week went on.

Well tonight we were due to go to the church centre for the annual Malaysian dinner, but there's no way Jo's up to going anywhere just now - nor is Colin's wife, Johanne, who seems to have the same bug. Too bad - let's hope they recover soon.

The week after Easter

Another week passed - nothing much going on. I rested Monday and didn't join our group peleton and Tuesday, of course, it was Inverurie. We took Luca for a haircut - just a tidy-up - he and his Mum both like to keep his hair on the long side.

With the clocks changing, our midweek golf competition started again on Wednesday. We got a freak hailstorm after we'd played 6/7 holes and had to abandon the round as the greens were completely white, so we replayed on Thursday in much nicer conditions - immediately after going for a short cycle.

On Friday, Jo had her usual swimming but I just chilled at home. I started another brew - I was very careful this time to follow instructions and keep the hygiene standards high. The last brew was drinkable - just - but the temperature fluctuations were too much. This time I've set it up in the bathroom and hopefully the temperature will be more constant.

Saturday was a beautiful day and Jo was working at the Seniors lunch at the church, so I took off for a short cycle. I've finally succumbed and got some padded pants:

My ride took me south of the Dee on the quiet roads past Tilquhillie. I came across the remnants of an old stone circle:

The Falls of Feugh were looking a bit murky:

Sunday morning's forecast wasn't looking great so I cancelled golf early on. It was damp rather than properly wet so I thought I would go for another short solo cycle. I'm glad I did because I vegetated in the afternoon on a diet of a non-stop sports fest on TV - football and cricket. Brilliant.

Monday was our first Seniors golf match of the season. Again, it was a little damp, but playable. We're heading down West on Wednesday and not back until Saturday so, this afternoon, I had to do a bit of organising/packing for this and for my trip to Portugal on Sunday.

We're having a late lunch with the Stewart relatives on Wednesday and staying with Barry and Helen that night, moving over to Brian and Mary's on Thursday - Brian has arranged golf with me on Thursday and Friday - and then on Saturday, Jo, Mary and I are off to King's Theatre (http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/james-i-the-key-will-keep-the-lock/kings-theatre/).

That's all my news for now - although we did get a message from Kelly this morning (she's got no wi-fi just now so can't FaceTime) that her latest date will be a week on Friday - so it might all happen when I'm away. We're thinking of you, girl!

Easter Weekend

Happy Easter to everyone. We've had a nice time - mostly. On Friday, Jo and I travelled down to Ballater with the intention of distributing CAMRA posters to the pubs down there, but, as it was such a lovely day, we decided to take a walk down there. Details of this are on my Hill-walking blog (http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/knock-castle.html) but here's a few more photos from that day:

Morning coffee al fresco in the Square before walk

Trudging up the cycle path - complete with stick

Gave Jo a good stare

The final climb up to Knock Castle

On the south side of the Dee with Ballater in the background and the devastated caravan park to the left

Blooming Ballater

Friday night was our first headbang this year (http://banchoryheadbangers.blogspot.co.uk/) and on Saturday afternoon the new golf season officially started with the Captain v Vice Captain match. As feared, we got soaked and only managed 10 holes - we walked in and tried to dry out. I had to ask Jo to come and pick me up.

Sunday was much more pleasant - golf in the sunshine in the morning, then Gary, Carole and Luca came over for dinner. Jo prepared chicken and leek pie - and she also made a huge chocolate cake:

On the balcony after dinner

 One of Jo's birthday presents from one of her friends is looking good:

Good Friday

I'll start with an apology to Gary - I mis-typed his time in the D33 Ultra when I said he just beat 6 hours - it should have been 5 hours. I've now corrected the blog.

Luca was originally due to be with us today as Gary and Carole would be working and the school would be closed, but it turns out that Carole's work is closed as well, so there was no need for him to stay with us. Carole's got a bit of the lurgy - she's hacking (not horsey-hacking) her way through the day - hopefully she'll be better by Sunday.

I've had 3 cycles this week - I was shattered when I got back from yesterday's ride - so I don't want to do too much today, but it's a beautiful morning and we're now planning to go down to Ballater to drop off some CAMRA posters and perhaps we'll take a short walk as well.

We have our first Headbang of the year tonight and the golf season officially starts tomorrow - it's the Captain v Vice Captain match, and, as usual, the forecast is wet. I've got a 2 pm tee time - hope it's dried up by then - alternatively, if it rains, please make it heavy enough to close the course. The worst case scenario is the course being open and us getting a soaking.

There's a hill walk planned for Sunday - probably Morven - but I won't be going as I'm not sure when they'll get back - they're not starting until 9:30 am because the clocks will have gone forward. I think I'll golf instead - weather permitting, of course.

I'll close with a photo from Down Under - Chris was on "my" bike and did the Lynton Trails in Adelaide:

Not long to go for Kelly now - we're waiting for news.

Back again

It's been over a week since my last blog diary. I haven't been taking many photos recently - I think they prompt me to update my blog and when I don't have any, I don't like to just post dry prose.

Now, what have I done recently? That's another problem - remembering - and that's where digital photos are great, providing times, dates and even locations occasionally. I do remember going cycling on Thursday and, on Saturday, I jumped on the bus in to Aberdeen to catch a train down to Laurencekirk, joining a bunch of the local CAMRA guys for a tour of Burnside Brewery. I had a few pints and a nice chat with the brewers and managed to get home before 6 pm - not bad going.

Gary and Luca came over to stay on Saturday night. Carole was away at one of her horsey do's and some of Gary's pals were going out for a few birthday drinks in Banchory - he went along for a short while to catch up with them, but he was on call so couldn't drink. He and Luca were gone early Sunday morning as Luca was taking part in the big Run Garioch event - he finished his 1 km run in 90-something place - a bit lower than his 60-something place last year, but there were twice as many taking part in his age group this year - well over 300. Well done, Luca! Here he is with his medal:

Talking of races, Gary did really well in the D33 Ultra the previous weekend - he finished 121st overall (out of 335) and 47th in his age category (out of 107), but, most importantly, he beat the 5 hour mark and improved on last year's time.

Sunday was Jo's birthday, of course, and this is where I was a bit remiss in not taking any photos. I didn't buy a cake either - I've got out of the habit as Gary usually bakes one, but, of course, he wasn't around on Sunday (other than for a quick breakfast). I played golf in the morning when Jo was at church and we ended up agreeing to go for a curry in the evening with Keith and Annette Gray.

Monday was cycling again - a tough one - and on Tuesday it was back to Inverurie again for our first meeting with Lucky - Carole's new "rescue" dog:

I'm planning another cycle ride this afternoon, combining it with deliveries of CAMRA posters to some of the local pubs. It's definitely feeling spring-like - the golf season starts on Saturday and the clocks go forward that evening - and, of course, everything is starting to grow:

On the mend - eating again

Well that was a bit of a lost week - mostly spent in bed trying to recover from a nasty little bug, which meant I hardly ate all week. The upside was that I lost 9 pounds, which compensated nicely for the weight I put on when we were in Australia.

I re-entered the world on Sunday when I managed a round of golf and I went for a short cycle yesterday (Monday) and didn't come to any harm, so hopefully that's the worst of it over. I'm still not drinking tea - somehow the taste turns me off, but otherwise I'm eating fairly normally again.

It's been suggested to me that it was an aftermath from the long journey back from Oz and it's true that I suffered very little jet-lag the first week we were back. Sleeping patterns were relatively normal and I was active, cycling 4 times that week. It all seemed too good to be true - and maybe it was just a case of delayed reaction.

I'm looking forward to a better time this week - and it started off with a beautiful day yesterday. I took the opportunity to clean the decking on our balcony using a wire brush. The forecast is good for this week so I'm hoping it will help fully dry out the boards and I can get another couple of layers of varnish down by the weekend. After I came back from cycling, I washed both cars - they were looking pretty grubby.

To close, a couple of photos pinched from Facebook. First, Gary finishing his D33 run on Saturday:

33 miles = a marathon and a quarter. Well done, Gary!

Next, here's Luca with his football team - and still wearing the plaster on his chin after his little accident last week:

That's all for now. I'm back.

Time on my hands - feeling sorry for myself

I'm writing this, lying in bed, not knowing what to do with myself. I was up half the night with a serious case of "the runs". Today I'm taking in as much fluid as I can to help flush whatever bug it is I've got through my system. I'm still getting stomach cramps - hope it eases soon. I can't even sleep comfortably.

I felt very tired on Sunday after golf but didn't think much about it. Gary and Luca came through and that kept my mind off it for a while anyway. I had a medical in Aberdeen yesterday morning - it seemed to go well enough and I'll get the full report in 2 weeks - but when I got home, I didn't feel great and decided to pull out of the afternoon group cycle. Pity - it was a beautiful day.

But last night was when the bug really got active.

Spoke to both Kelly and Lucy on FaceTime on Sunday and Ross and Lizzie came through last night after work. Guess what? I've now got a house full of birthday beers!

To pass the time, I'm watching the Scotland - Afghanistan match in the T20 preliminary tournament in India. Looks like we're in for another doing.

Talking to Gary on Sunday, he was amazed that we never watched many films when we travelled out and back to Australia. 40 hours or more in the air and I only watched one film - the Steve Jobs biopic. There really wasn't anything else I wanted to see. I did manage to watch 10 episodes of Better Call Saul, however - 5 out and 5 back. Maybe the shorter format suits me better.

We consumed a fair quantity of wine when we were Down Under - although not enough according to Chris, who had filled his cellar in advance of our arrival. Beer too, but we never touched spirits. Our first and last G & T's were on the plane.

I think that's enough for today. Back to the cricket.

First few days back home

Farewells were tearful, but we liked the story Kelly told us about Miller's reaction the following morning, after he went in to our room and saw we weren't there. "Where's Grannie Jo and Granda Ian-and?". Kelly told him we'd gone home and after a second or two, Miller burst out laughing and said "No - gone shops!".

The journey home was as good as it could be - everything went smoothly and on time. It was especially nice to have the chauffeur-driven car waiting for us at Glasgow airport and he whisked us straight home. We pulled in to Arbor Court not long after 2 pm on Saturday - which translated in Aussie body clock time as after midnight Sunday morning.

We plugged everything in and re-adjusted the heating cycles before unpacking and opening the pile of mail. I nipped out to get some bare essentials and we had a quick snack of toasted cheese before heading to bed just before 8 pm.

We slept pretty well and rose at a reasonable time on Sunday morning, seemingly not suffering too much from jet-lag. Jo went to church and I decided I felt good enough to go for a cycle on what was a beautiful day. The afternoon was a football-fest - I watched the first big game at home but then went to the pub to meet Colin - and Ken P - for the next big match.

Ross and Lizzie came round with my car in the evening - he had been using it as his car's battery had died.

So far, so good. Normal bedtime, but much shorter sleep this time. I must have been tired as I made a classic error on Monday morning. I remembered I had to go for a medical shortly after we got back - the first Monday in March, I recalled. Except this Monday wasn't the first Monday of the month, was it? No - it was a leap year - 29th February! I drove all the way in to Aberdeen and in to Nuffield for my appointment before realising the error of my ways.

When I got back home, I felt good enough to join our usual group Monday afternoon cycle, which probably helped me get a good 11 hour sleep in on Monday night.

Tuesday was Luca/Inverurie day - the first time we'd seen them all since early January.

Today (Wednesday), we both seem to be back in the old routine - I went for another cycle (my 3rd this week) whilst Jo went swimming with her pals again.

Enough narrative - now for a couple of photos:

Taken by Chris at the time we were setting up the camera for the end of holiday family photo

This is how much the houses at the former T-n-C filling station have come on since we were away