The heat is back

It's a hot one today and it's going to be even hotter over the next few days we're told. I'll be heading across to the golf course shortly - looking forward to it. I've now received confirmation of my knee operation - August 6th it is. I guess I'll be in recovery mode from then until about the end of the year so now's the time to get things done.

Getting a bit more golf in is a start - with the op pending, surely I can't do much more damage to the joint that won't be fixed then? I'm making a start this weekend as it's our group's Summer Tour and this year it's being held around the East Kilbride/Strathaven area. The rest of the group are playing 3 days in a row but I'll just be playing in 2 of them - the latter in a buggy.

Also next week, I've arranged another get-together with my old school pals - our first this year. We're meeting for lunch in Edinburgh next Thursday.

Ross hasn't yet received his provisional HGV licence from DVLC. It's a bit worrying how long it's taking - hope he gets it soon.

Also coming up is our great-grandaughter Kendall's 2nd birthday. We sent her a present and here she is with the first part of it:

Looking back now over the last week and a half since my last post, we had a visit from the Whaley boys on Monday. They came up to see the Grampian Transport Museum at Alford and had booked in 2 nights at Inchmarlo resort - where Lucy and Kelly had stayed on their last visit back in 2013. We took them for a curry at the new Saffron Garden (our usual haunt, the Derbar, was closed that day). Here's the team photo and one of Jo and me too:

The above was all written before I went out to play this afternoon - and it really was hot.

Last Saturday, Jo, Ross and I drove over to Dunecht to meet Gary and Luca for a meal at what is now called the Waterton restaurant. Gary and Luca were playing pool in the sports bar when we arrived but then we all sat down and Gary was presented with his 50th birthday gifts:

We've been enjoying the strawberries from our garden this year but Jo was also delighted that as many as 3 fruits were now visible on the cherry tree!:

Lucy also told us that Scott had finally sold their runabout Jeep and also his old truck, which was replaced with this:

Our friends and former close neighbours were getting rid of their old garden bench a decade or so ago. It was in a pretty sad state but Jo was keen to have it so I set about trying to resurrect it - and it worked for a while, but the bench was riddled with woodworm. I've repaired it as best I could several times but I really thought it was a goner this year. However, I thought I would give it one last go to see if we could get at least one more year out of it. I replaced one of the seat slats and effected some crude repairs to the seat back as well as repainting the ironwork. As long as you don't examine it too closely it doesn't look too bad now:

Funnily enough we're going out tomorrow night for our second curry this week - with those same former neighbours and still good friends.

Oh - and today I finally got round to booking our flights for our return to our Marriott's Marbella timeshare in October. Anyone fancy joining us? 

Post midsummer

We're now past the Summer Solstice so it's the start of the long, slow slide towards winter but at least the weather's holding up. We're not experiencing the European heatwaves up here in NE Scotland - nor those nearer home in the south of England - but the temperatures are pretty good and, although we've had a bit of rain now it's been far from disruptive.

Of course, it's the complete opposite Down Under - Asher's hair has been left to grow a bit over their winter:

He was donating the family games to his school's games club.

Now, a further update on my planned knee operation. On Monday morning I got a phone call from Woodend Hospital asking if I could come in for another pre-op medical - my 3rd. I wasn't totally surprised as it was now 15 weeks since my previous one and it would be 6 more weeks at least until the earliest date for my op. So I went along on Tuesday morning and whereas my first pre-med last year had taken almost 2 hours, this one was over in 10-15 mins. I got some sympathy from the staff - "you again?". There was no need for me to complete the long questionnaire this time, nor see the surgeon again.

So that was all pretty positive - but then I got an email from the surgeon's secretary to tell me that the theatre list for 4th August had been cancelled. I froze for a second but then read on - I am now potentially booked for 6th August - just 2 days before Scott and Lucy head home. It is, however, still just a potential date - to be confirmed. It seems there are only limited days when my surgeon does robotic knee operations - I hadn't realised when I first saw him that accepting a robotic operation would limit the availability of theatre time - and hospital locations.

Meanwhile, Ross is still waiting for his provisional HGV licence from DMV. He phoned them to check that they had received it ok and was told that 3 + weeks was pretty standard. Stagecoach even contacted him to ask if he was still interested as it has been several weeks since they had received his eye test and medical exam results.

Ross is still baking daily. Here's this morning's batch:

Sgt. Braeden is back in USA and received an award recently:

I'm resting today as I actually managed to get round 3 games of golf this week - more than my normal once a week. It was our Senior Championship so I played in that on Monday and Wednesday and then our group had an outing at Braemar on Thursday - I had to have a buggy for that but otherwise managed ok.

It's just over 4 weeks now until Scott and Lucy arrive in Banchory. They arrive in London 4 weeks today and initially I wondered whether we might go down and meet them there but this is probably impractical now. Scott is looking to play a bit of golf when he's here - perhaps Brian might bring his clubs and join us when he's here?

Gary has changed his plans for his and his pal Donald's 50th birthdays next Saturday - they're now celebrating the following week (12th) so Gary has now booked the Dunecht Sports Bar & Waterton Restaurant (formerly Jaffs, now under new management) for an evening meal there. Look forward to it.

Medical and other updates

I'll start with the good news - Luca has passed his driving test:

After failing his first test he thought he would have to wait until autumn to get another but he got a cancellation for July - and that's as much as his father knew until he came home with this bit of paper! What Luca hadn't told Gary was that he'd since got an even earlier cancellation. Look out world - Luca's out and about now. At least he'll be able to drive to/from work now.

Still on the Luca front, he finally got the all-clear to resume playing football after breaking metatarsals in both feet at different times in the last year - 3 in all, I think:

Not such good news for me, I'm afraid. This is now week 15 after my (2nd) medical pre-assessment, so I chased up my surgeon's Medical Secretary at Woodend Hospital and got the following response:

"I am just waiting for confirmation that Mr Stevenson will have a robotic theatre list on 4.8.25.  If this date does not happen will be looking into a September date.  I will keep you posted."

Hugely disappointing news after 2 years of waiting, including last year's withdrawal of their offer to send me to the Golden Jubilee in Clydebank - due to funding cuts. My response yesterday was to offer to pay the costs of travel and accommodation myself but I was told that, in any event, this was unlikely to be before the autumn anyway so I was advised to stick with Woodend.

Another potential issue is that my operation will be at least 5 months - possibly 6 - after March's pre-assessment, which will most likely invalidate those results, so it's likely I'll have to have another one - my 3rd! It's hugely frustrating.

4th August (if it happens then) is when Scott and Lucy are here - Barry and Helen too. Hopefully I get home the same day - if it's a morning operation. One night overnight if an afternoon operation.

One ever-so slight upside is that I had assumed I wouldn't be golfing at all this summer but the way it's now turned out I've managed to limp my way through my one game a week through April, May, June and now July too.

And my broken tooth implant isn't making any progress either. Nobody seems to be able to locate the type of implant so I'm stuck with half of it still in my gum - and a very toothy smile!

Meanwhile, at home, Jo's just finished yet another blanket:

Just what's needed in the middle of summer, eh? It's forecast to be 27 C (81 F) here tomorrow. Ross has encouraged Jo that her next knitting project should be a tea cosy, so she's now working out how best to do that.

Talking of Ross, he is still waiting for his provisional HGV licence to come through - that's over 3 weeks now. Until he gets that, he can't start his training.

It was our monthly golfers' beer afternoon on Tuesday and what a glorious day it was. Four of us went for a cycle beforehand and were more than ready to join the others and slake our thirst, come 4 pm:

It was definitely barbecue weather and we had jumbo prawns to start, followed by BBQ'd prime rib of beef in a bun - fabulous!

Everyone I know says when they retire that their first "project" will be to clear up/tidy up/organise the garage. Well, over a decade has passed and I finally got round to doing something about it this week - aided by Jo and Ross. We emptied out all the cupboards and nooks and crannies and threw out a bunch of stuff we didn't need or want - Jo and I took it to the tip this morning. The garage doesn't look any different but I now know where everything is at least. It's a long way from being as organised as Scott is in Grants Pass. Should I now get a tool tidy for the wall - or would that be too pretentious?

(Non) Flaming June

The long spell of warm, sunny weather did, indeed, come to an end just as the weather forecasters were predicting. Not that we've had it bad over the last couple of weeks - far from it - but we have had some much-needed rain at long last. It's a bit cooler too.

Jo and I were at another funeral last Wednesday - our former neighbour at no.1, Frances Salter. We attended the crem but swerved the afters at Banchory Lodge. The crem was well short of being full and we only saw 3 people we knew - former primary school head Karl Revel and 2 of the Girvan/Thomson sisters - Carol and Betty.

Ross is getting ever nearer a start of his training with Stagecoach - he's just waiting for his provisional licence coming through from DVLA - hopefully very soon. Not so me - today is the start of week 14 since my pre-med the day after we came back from Australia. How much more can they stretch it without having to do yet another pre-med? The examination takes a couple of hours and covers virtually everything, but one of the most important ones is the MRSA swabs. Given that my op is now going to be at least 16 weeks after my pre-med, surely the MRSA swab is no longer of any value?

If I'd gone private when I had the chance 2 years ago - at a cost of £14.5K - Albyn would have swabbed me the day before the op.

My broken implant hasn't moved on either. They're still trying to identify the type of implant I had/have.

Brian and Mary have now booked 2 nights at the Tor-na-Coille on Tuesday/Wednesday 29/30 July when Scott and Lucy are here.

We had a lovely (bus) trip to Ballater last Friday for a late, long lunch at the spendid, albeit hugely expensive, Fish Shop restaurant (https://fishshopballater.co.uk/) with Anne and Leslie Mason:

Just a month now until Gary's 50th. He's already arranged something for the weekend of 5th July - presumably with some of his pals (Donald has the same birthday) - but we'll have a meal with him to celebrate round about then.

We missed our usual Sunday FaceTime with Lucy yesterday but we had a video call from Kelly on Saturday. Things have started to move with their new house - they appear to have all the official permissions now so they'll be taking down the non-native trees soon to start site clearance. The boys start their new schools in January but it looks like Chris and Kelly are going to have to find a place for the family to rent for at least a year before the new house is habitable.

Kelly sent a photo of Asher at Bush School:

Miller was at Kuitpo Forest too:

and we got this one of Kendall from Lucy today:

Kendall is in Grants Pass for her cardio checks today.

To close, just for a laugh, I did one of these silly "age your face" things and this was the result:

So I've "lost" 13 years!

End of good weather spell?

The sun's still shining but yesterday we had our first taste of the haar coming as far inland as Banchory - and the temperature fairly dropped as a result. We're told that our prolonged spell of high pressure may be coming to an end this week and we may even get some much-needed rain by the weekend. This is what it's been like - taken as I was walking back down Mount St. from the Legion one Saturday - that's the West church with Kerloch behind:

Scott and Lucy have now booked their flights - they leave Oregon on Friday 25th July, arriving in London early Saturday afternoon. They're spending 2 nights in London and then flying up to Aberdeen on Monday 28th, returning to USA early on Friday 8th August. I'm sure they'd like to see everyone while they're here so we'll need to co-ordinate diaries over the next couple of months.

Still no word about my knee op. It's 10 weeks today that I had my pre-assessment medical - last year they were guaranteeing the op within 8 weeks but now they say the pre-med is valid for 14 weeks - maybe a bit more. I know I'm repeating myself but I feel trapped - in a kind of limbo just now - I can't make any plans to go anywhere, even for a day or two.

We had dinner with Gary and Luca last night. We drove up to Aberchirder, aka "Foggie", to try out the New Inn. I'd heard good reports from my CAMRA colleagues who'd arranged a trip there recently so wanted to see it for myself - and it didn't disappoint. The food - all freshly prepared - was excellent and it's a cosy pub dining area with another snug and beer garden to the rear. Here we are:

I had a bit of a clear-out of old clothes last week. I took 5 bags'-worth to our local Salvation Army containers at our supermarkets. I was out of luck at Morrison's - the container was full - so I went to Tesco, which was even worse:

The people who just dumped their bags here should be ashamed of themselves. I got in touch with the Salvation Army and they responded pretty quickly, emptying both containers so I was then able to safely deposit my bags.

While I await my op, I've only been able to play golf once a week but last week I was tempted by the weather to try a few more holes on Friday - and managed ok:

I was a bit less successful the previous week when a few of us took the bus to Crathie for a planned walk from Balmoral to Braemar. It was all good until we got to the summit of our walk and started to head back down to Invercauld. The path was narrow, overgrown and bumpy - it was difficult in places to see where you were putting your feet. When we got down to Invercauld I was struggling with my knee - it was less than 3 kms from there to Braemar but I knew it would be too much for me. Fortunately we were near the road now so I hopped on the next bus and met up with the rest at the pub in Braemar. Here we are, just off the bus at the start of the walk:

No further progress on my broken tooth implant. My former dentist's practice in Aberdeen doesn't have records going back 14 years to identify what type of implant I had. I don't know what we're going to do now.

To finish, Miller's and Asher's school have had their "Bush Week" - here they are:

Incidentally, Miller passed his interview/test for his new school up in the hills near where their new house build is planned. It's going to be a whole new way of education for Miller at this Montessori school - https://www.montessori.sa.edu.au/

Staying in Australia, Kelly sent us this link to a recent shark strike at Port Noarlunga, just a few miles from their home and where Asher's class were in the water at the time of this horrific attack - https://7news.com.au/news/adelaide-man-richard-vinall-in-critical-condition-after-shark-attack-c-18711339?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwKT4WBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHgUd9WNEFcI5gT72YNgwg7FYOnuUwdKlWLVbSHFHJ0VCklGSuhcUqC0-vNhg_aem_KDkVwNRt2KmRLEu3yGAZSw#6xe4818f0d3aijvykct9ofwr7otmcugq9

It's Kelly's birthday tomorrow (20th) and Lucy's next Tuesday (27th).

Glorious May

The weather's great again - we have hardly seen any rain since we came back from Oz and there's none forecast for at least the next 10 days. The ground is tinder dry and there's a Scotland-wide warning about field and forest fires - there's been a few already. Temperatures in the low 20's - perfect!

Ross has had his eye test and his medical so it's all now with Stagecoach to offer him a start date for HGV training.

Luca was back at hospital to see if his foot had healed sufficiently for him to be able to start playing football again after 3 metatarsal fractures but he and his Dad were frustrated that no X-ray was taken to be sure he was now OK to resume, so he's back on the waiting list for this.

Sad news for both Gary and Luca was that Yoda's days finally came to an end this week:

Jo, meanwhile, had her consultation with 2 doctors yesterday. The good news is that nothing adverse was found in any of the blood tests etc. They suspect her leg problems may be Peripheral Neuropathy.

My fractured implant is proving to be a problem. I had a consultation with a dental specialist this week but he wasn't very reassuring - it seems it's going to be a problem to fix it. Here's the before and after shots:

We need to find out exactly which make and model implant this is - I've been in touch with the dental proctice that fitted it back in 2011 but no joy so far. I'm going to be stuck with my pirate smile for a while, it seems:

No more news on my knee operation yet but much better news is that Scott and Lucy are coming over to Scotland in July!

I've been cleaning up the decking on our balcony - here's the before and after shots:

Congrats to grandson Braeden - just turned 21 and now a Sergeant:

The big news is that we have a new Pope - Leo:

Medical news

It's 7 weeks today since I had my pre-med for my knee op and, if they'd stuck to their 8 week time limit, I'd have had an appointment letter by now - but I haven't. Looks like they're going to push it out nearer to their new limit of 14 weeks - or beyond.

In other medical news, I had a shock yesterday when flossing - my incisor implant fell out. It turns out that the pole/screw had sheared. I got an emergency appointment with our dentist this afternoon, but the only thing he could do was clean the gap and fit a temporary filling. He doesn't do the type of implant I have and another problem is that the other half of the screw is still sitting in my gum. He has referred me to somebody he has worked with as he has more knowledge, experience and equipment that might be able to help. My initial consultation with him has now been arranged for next Monday.

I checked back and it was February, 2011 when I got the implant fitted. I guess if I manage to get a replacement and it also last 14 years, that should be enough to, as they say, "see me oot".

Staying with the medical theme, Jo goes for her blood tests on Wednesday then has a face to face consultation on Friday - both in relation to the recent problems she's had with her leg - possibly vascular.

Ross goes for his eye test on Friday and his medical is on Thursday 8th May. All being well, he should begin his HGV training in June.

Luca has started his job at the Co-op in Oldmeldrum and seems to be enjoying it, but the early/late shifts don't fit with the bus times so poor Gary has to be the taxi driver - and they've still got Skippy (the foster dog not the bush kangaroo!). Let's hope Luca passes his driving test first time next month.

Not a very cheerful post - and no photos either - but I've got our monthly golfers' beer do tomorrow - and the weather forecast is very good - so that's something to look forward to.

Quick update

Following up on yesterday's blog post, some good and some not-so-good news. First of all, I heard from my knee surgeon's secretary yesterday. I had been told at my first pre-med last year that the op had to be done within 8 weeks but yesterday I was told it's now 14 weeks after the pre-med - and sometimes they can even do it after that.

After last year's disappointment when they withdrew the funding for sending people down to Clydebank because the Grampian waiting lists were too long, this is a bit of a double-whammy. I really believed that the op was going to happen this month but now it looks like it could be late June. I feel my life is in limbo just now - I can't arrange to go anywhere - either locally or internationally - until at least 3 months after the op, which would take me through till September/October.

In better news, Ross is making progress with his application to be a driver on Stagecoach buses. His HGV training will start in June once they have seen his full medical records, had a medical and eye test. He now has the medical records and the tests are arranged for the first week in May.

Talking of Ross, he's becoming a master baker - we have fresh rolls for lunch every day:

Still on the job front, Luca has finally secured one - with the Co-op in Meldrum.

Locally, Aberdeenshire Council (Marr Area) are proposing to put 20 mph speed limits on most of Banchory - but have stopped short at Corsee Road. We would like them to extend this to Glassel Road, particularly given the number of cars now turning off the main road in to the Unit gym next door. I've written to Banchory Community Council and our local Councillors about this but I may have been too late. While the proposals are still up for consultation they have now been sent to the Scottish Government so any change would mean withdrawing them completely and re-submitting - it would take a major issue to get Aberdeenshire Council to do this. Maybe our Community Council can come up with some other arguments for change to add to mine.

To clarify, here's Aberdeenshire Council's proposals:

 Green is 20 mph, orange 30 mph and purple 40 mph.

Over a month later .....

My last blog post was 5 weeks ago, just after we'd returned from our holiday. I guess a lot has happened since then but one thing I'm still not any wiser about is when my knee operation is going to be. My pre-med was 5 weeks ago and I'm led to believe that this only lasts for 8 weeks, and given that they need to give me some notice, you would think it would only be a matter of days now. I rush to open the post every day but no luck so far.

Good news however about one other outstanding matter - the complaint made to Aberdeenshire Council by our neighbour. I got a phone call from the planning officer dealing with the case a couple of weeks ago and he was very reassuring that nothing was wrong and today we received confirmation of that in writing.

Jo gave me and Ross a little scare on Saturday morning - she said the bottom of her leg felt like wood and she was initially alarmed that there may be a possibility of a blood clot. Jo phoned 111 and described the symptoms - they advised her to go to ARI's Emergency Dept, so off we went. Nice quiet morning there so Jo was seen pretty quickly and thankfully soon got the all-clear, with the proviso that she should make an appointment with her GP - now done. Jo was due to go there anyway following the recent routine cardiac and COPD review.

As well as our usual annual cardiac reviews we've both caught up with the dentist and I've also had my annual eye check. I received a text advising of my next COVID vaccination - in Scotland, us oldies are still scheduled to get spring and autumn top-ups - but I'm not sure whether I'll take it this time. I've had pretty bad reactions to the last 7 - whether Moderna, Astra Zeneca or Pfizer.

It was Asher's 9th birthday on Sunday - apparently his party was attended by 18 friends!

Gary and Luca are coming over on Easter Sunday. They were here a couple of weeks ago and brought "Skippy" with them. He's a rescue dog that they're temporarily fostering until a full-time home is found for him - and it looks like that's going to be happening very soon. Anyway, here's the handsome lad:

To finish, Gary put one of our holiday photos through an AI process and came out with this:

Jo wondered who I was with!

Back home & bringing blog up to date

We finally got back to Banchory early afternoon on Sunday, UK time, 29 hours after we had left Chris' and Kelly's. The journey, although long, went well - no hitches - more of that later. We managed to stay awake until early evening, knowing full well that, despite our tiredness, our bodies would not have adjusted yet and we would most likely awaken well before dawn.

The following day (Monday) I had to be at Woodend Hospital for my pre-assessment for my long-awaited knee op so I couldn't afford to sleep in either!

Back to the blog diary now - carrying on where I had last finished off:

WEDNESDAY 5th Mar (cont'd)

After Jo had finished the usual morning laundry routine, we took the train in to the city then the tram out to the National Wine Centre of Australia (https://www.nationalwinecentre.com.au/) - South Australia is the country's leading wine producer and Adelaide is at the heart of it with the McLaren Vale, Barossa, Adelaide Hills and Clare Valley wine areas all surrounding the city.

We had booked a 90 minute educational tour and paired tasting - the latter part being the best, of course:

Here's the canapes that were paired with the wines:

and here's the wines:

An excellent session at a great venue - one that is now owned and run by the University of Adelaide. There is a nice restaurant and they have approx. 100 wines set up for tasting every day using a series of innovative machines - you can choose a taste, a pour or a glass:

We left with a smile on our faces:

Leaving the Wine Centre behind, we headed back to Rundle St where we knew we would find something for our supper, but, first of all, we stopped for a drink on the balcony at BRKLYN:

We eventually settled on a simple pizza at nearby Cafe Brunelli then headed for the next train back to Seaford Meadows. At this time of night, the trains were only every half hour so I checked the timetable and found out we could catch the next one if we got our skates on. We made it - just - rather breathless as we ran part of the way.

Anyway, it got us back to Old Noarlunga at a fairly decent hour - early enough for us, although the house was quiet - everyone was in bed. The only problem we had was when we tried to go to the loo, the door was locked! No problem for me but a bit more challenging for Jo.

THURSDAY 6th Mar

My 76th birthday and we had plans to meet up with David and Lorene again in McLaren Vale, where we had coffee and pancakes in a cafe and then strolled along to Bracegirdle's (https://bracegirdles.com.au/) for more coffee and some of their wonderful chocolates. Asher and Miller had presented me with birthday beers before school and I donned my new shirt for the day:

 

Lily had also left me a present - an unseen one on the doorstep to our garden room - what a way to start the day. Here she is, looking guilty, with Rufus, taking the sun:

The offending "present" can also be seen, with Rufus' similar gift more tactfully placed a bit further away.

Matt came over in the evening and Chris opened the leaving present he'd received from his boss:

There was a bit of local excitement at dusk with a major search and rescue operation in full swing looking for a missing man - fire, ambulance and helicopter, the latter coming so low at one stage that we thought he was about to land in a neighbour's garden.

FRIDAY 7th Mar

Our last full day and we had unfinished business to attend to - a couple of weeks' prior we had to turn back when we had planned to walk to the mouth of the Onkaparinga river, so we were going back to Port Noarlunga to try again. Only problem - no car - both Chris and Kelly were driving to work today. This gave us a chance to sample the delights of the local bus service.

The bus took a bit of a circuitous route for what, in miles, was a relatively short distance but a short stop at a local cafe refreshed us and soon we were on our way along the beach and this time we made it to the estuary fairly easily:

As usual, there was a throng of schoolkids at the port, heading to the sea for their last lesson of the day. Piles of wet suits await them every day:

We stopped off at Drifter's for a quick refreshment and then caught the bus back - a bit easier this time.

I jumped in the pool to cool down when we got back. Nobody joined me, but after dinner, they were all - bar Kelly - in there:

SATURDAY 8th Mar

The day of our departure - but our flight to Dubai wasn't until 10:40 pm so we had all day free. David and Lorene drove up from Port Eliot to say goodbye and Matt had planned to come over too but he phoned to say he had Covid - oh no!

We walked swiftly round to Long Shot cafe to catch them before closing at 2 pm but it got rather complicated when some of their electrical circuits blew and their card reader was out of action, but we sorted it all out in the end.

Our Emirates' chauffeur drive arrived, bang on time at 7:10 pm. We bade sad farewells to all after 8 wonderful and adventurous weeks and steeled ourselves for what we knew was going to be a long journey home, taking us back ten and a half hours in time and over 10,000 miles (16,000 kms) in distance.

The flight to Dubai was in a Boeing 777. The G & T's and wine went down well, as did the excellent food. We were both pretty careful with the quantities we ate - Jo even went as far as skipping dessert - this was what she missed:

SUNDAY 9th Mar

We arrived in Dubai after the 13 + hours flight, on time at approx. 5 am local time, landing at terminal C which meant getting bussed over to terminal A - the first time we had ever had to do this, and it meant 2 lots of security which was a bit of a pain. We didn't get much time in the lounge before boarding.

Departure was on time again, shortly after 7 am local time - and this time we were upstairs in the huge Airbus 380, which even has a bar (which we didn't use):

Two meals were to be served - first of all breakfast, followed by "lunch" 4 or 5 hours later. It all seemed a bit strange as our body clocks were still in Adelaide time - it felt like evening when the second meal arrived and thus permissible to have a little refreshment to wash it down:

We arrived at a slightly misty but beautiful warm, sunny Glasgow, ahead of schedule at 11 am local time and were soon whisked back to Banchory by our Emirates' chauffeur service, despite a few wrong turnings, one of which was my fault. Our chauffeur seemed uncertain about which way to go but then revealed later on that he lived in Aberdeen!

When we arrived at Arbor Court, we could barely make it in as there were major gas works going on - replacing the old metal pipes with plastic. We're not absolutely sure yet whether they will need to dig up some of our driveway or not.

We were also now faced by the reality of "fence wars". In our absence, complaints had been made to the Council about our shed, fence and an alleged illegal installation of a heat pump. The Council had to respond to this and had tried to contact us to arrange an inspection when we were away. Having not had a response to their letter they had visited on Friday, armed with a drone to take a look for themselves. Fortunately, Ross had met them and let them through the house to see for themselves. I followed this up with an email with further information concerning the heat pump. Hopefully all will be well but we await a formal response.

Ross made fajitas for us for tea. Jo didn't quite make it to 8 pm but I lasted a bit longer.

MONDAY 10th Mar

It had been very easy to get to sleep but we both awoke way too early. Jo got up but I lay there a bit longer, trying in vain to get back to sleep. Ross was up fairly promptly although at a more regular time. He had to walk to Caldwell & Dempster to pick up our car after its MoT on Friday.

Jo came with me to the hospital for my (2nd) pre-assessment for my knee operation. It was a bit shorter this time as they still had all my notes from last year's ultimately wasted visit, but they still did weight, height, MSRA swabs, ECG, blood pressure and 3 blood samples etc. Hopefully this time it's going to happen - soon.

Jo and I then popped in to the nearby Tesco superstore, grabbed a late snack lunch and did a full shop, then home again. 

That's it - hope any readers have made it this far. I like to keep a detailed record of our big holidays - it's always nice to look back and remember. Future blog posts from Scotland will be far less detailed.