Friday night

I got back just in time for Dan's 65th birthday celebration football match - the team's above. We had some beer in the Douglas and then went to the Derbar for a curry - an excellent night out.

Thursday night/Friday morning

Colin, Malcolm and I drove down to Glasgow to see Squeeze at the Carling Academy and we popped in to the usual watering hole, the Bon Accord, for some beer and eats beforehand

- see photo above.

The band were OK but the sound system was awful and we won't rush back there - at least not to the balcony - perhaps it sounded better downstairs?

I made it back to Dawn's by about 11:30 pm and we had a cup of tea and some cake that she had baked - this is her latest "hobby" - she is baking cakes to order and selling them! In the morning, I was heading over to see Dad, but just managed to catch Jordon bleary-eyed at breakfast - see above.

Dad was looking much smarter in the new clothes that Dawn had bought for him - no more threadbare trousers! No hearing aid in, however, made conversation even more difficult than usual!

More builder stories/Christmas

I think we're getting closer to getting the harling done, but we're not there yet. I got a call from Everest's Inverness manager (Barry) earlier this week, telling me the builders would be out on Thursday afternoon. The previous Aberdeenshire manager (Francis) had obviously been moved off the job after letting us down so often.

The builders themselves called yesterday to look at the wall and had intended to come back on Friday to do the work. An hour later, I got a call from Barry telling me they would be out on Monday! Then this morning, the builder himself called again and said that, as it was such a nice day, could he come this morning? No problem, says I - I'm at home.

Half an hour later, the builder calls back again and says he's been told by Barry not to come here today, but to try again tomorrow (when the forecast is rain!). God knows what they're up to, but I hope they get on with it soon. Hopefully, we might even have Stan England coming along soon to fit the stair at the back of the house!

Started to think about what I might want for Christmas. We need a new camera but I need to do some research as to what's available first of all. As regards books, there's been a few released recently - Eric Clapton's autobiography, Ronnie Wood's and one by Peter Doggett called There's a Riot Going On.

DVD's - Respect Yourself/Stax Volt Revue 1967 and the Legacy of Otis Redding. There's also The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival.

I'll keep looking!

Builder

Shock, horror - the builder phoned me this afternoon - he was at the house! He'd come to look at the wall - he's now going to get the materials and do the job tomorrow and/or Friday - depending on weather.

Wednesday

Well, we've finally done it - we've booked our vaction with the Lesinas next summer. Lucy preferred Florida to Sacramento, so that's what we've booked. We'll be there from Friday 11th July for one week - http://www.star-island.com/. We've got a 3 bedroom unit, and we're only minutes from Disney.

Another promise from Everest that our builder is going to arrive tomorrow to do the wall harling and replace the coping stones - we'll see.

Holiday possibility?

Another opportunity of exchange has come up for next year - in California - 95 miles from Sacramento - less travel for all of us - but is it too familiar for Scott and Lucy? - http://www.worldmarkbywyndham.com/resorts/ac/

It's a 3 bedroom unit as well!

Tuesday evening

Got our first Christmas card today - from Margaret and Joe Postlethwaite, who were friends of ours in Broxbourne - I was actually at school with Margaret's brother, Sandy Newman, who was (and possibly still is) lead singer in Marmalade (he took over from Dean Ford when he left in the late '60's/early 70's). They are both well - both their children now live in Australia, so they, like us, do a fair bit of travelling each year.

We also got our first party invitation - from Richard and Gail Simcox - dinner on January 2nd.

And no, Ross didn't get his hair cut! Still, I hope he does well at tomorrow's interview.

Monday/Tuesday

Straight up to Fraserburgh on Monday morning, then back down in the evening for squash at Kippie - couldn't play Crathes because of team match there. Dick and Archie joined us for a beer at the Legion. Jo was late home from work and was not long in when I got home.

Spoke to Ross about his interview on Wednesday and told him that the only thing stopping him from getting the job would be his appearance - i.e. get your hair tidied up! Don't know if I got through or not - he said he would get it tidied and I even gave him £20 for it - we'll see when I get home tonight!

Had a restless night - awake from 2:30 a.m. Going a bit slow again today but will maybe try and go to gym and see if that wakens me up or not.

Still waiting for Lucy's response to the options I outlined for Florida next year.

The weekend

We didn't, after all babysit Luca on Saturday night - it's next weekend. We watched the Scorcese film The Departed, but it was disappointing.

Gary stayed over last night - he was up at Donald's and didn't fancy the drive home late at night. He got up pretty smart and went back to Inverurie and Jo went along later, after church for a couple of hours.

I golfed this morning - pretty cold and winter greens for the first time - then squashed this afternoon. Tea was braised steak and syrup pudding - lovely!

Well, the weekend's over - back to the grind in the morning!

Holidays 2008

Nothing has come up yet for our preferred locations on the West Coast next year, so it's possible that we may instead take the boys to Florida for the first time.

There's plenty of good accommodation there, including some of the Marriott options. There's Marriott's Grande Vista Resort (https://www.my-vacationclub.com/resort/home.do?resort=gv) and Horizons by Marriott (https://www.my-vacationclub.com/resort/home.do?resort=ho). They both offer typical Marriott quality 2 bedroom, sleeping 6 or 8 accommodation. This usually means a double bedroom and another with two double beds, with one of the rooms possibly being a "lock-off" - plus a lounge with convertible sofa and a kitchen.

There's also a few non-Marriott places available, some of them offering 3 bedroom accommodation, such as Fairfield Star Island Resort (http://www.starislandresortorlando.com/index.asp).

Don't know what's best - tried to phone Interval for advice, hoping they might be able to tell me what type of units were on offer and whether they were ground floor or not, but they can't tell you until you've booked!

Saturday morning

Oh - forgot to say that Ross has an interview next Wednesday at Concept - fingers crossed!

We also finally received the invoice that Stan England has been promsiing for months for the deposit for the stairway at the back of our house - and it includes the cost of the windows that he installed a couple of years ago and never billed us for!

Friday

I waited at home for the builder to show up to do the harling on the wall and replace the coping stones, but he never showed up again, so it'll be another irate phone call to Everest, who completed the drive a couple of months ago, but never finished the last bit off.





I then nipped in to the village for a quick haircut before heading to Jacquie's to dictate the minutes of yesterday's board meeting. She had been baking for a charity do this weekend and I tried some of her marvellous ginger cake.





A quick visit to Bannatyne's, then in to the office - it was Ian McFadden's retirement and we took him out to the Cock and Bull for lunch - very nice. Didn't have much time back in the office before heading to the beer fest again for a couple of hours work behind the bar, then dash home, grab a bite, then head for our bus back in to the festival.





Slight embarrassment at the start – as we left the Burnett in our coach from Peace's, another coach from Lees of Lumphanan pulled up. I had phoned them 3 times the week before and they never called back with a price, so I assumed they weren’t interested, so contacted Peace instead. There were a few irate phone calls from Mrs. Lees who claimed she had left a message on my answerphone, but I never received it, and anyway, I never accepted or acknowledged it, so why did she assume the booking was confirmed? I guess we won’t be able to use them in the future!





The new venue of Pittodrie was generally well received and we had a good attendance on the bus – in fact, too many! I had originally booked a 24 seater, but thought we might get a couple more, so increased it too a 33 seater. In the end, the owner of Peace Coaches brought along a 36 seater, but even this wasn’t enough on the way home – we picked up several stragglers at the festival who wanted to get back to Deeside and had to use the spare disabled seat at the front and one other was found hiding at the toilet at the back! It was a very nice coach but the owner banned us from taking our chips on board – disaster! Mind you, a few were smuggled on.



Going a bit slow this morning - in fact, Jo is still in bed and it's approaching 11:00 am now. I'll head in to the festival again this afternoon for a couple of hours work then back home - we're babysitting Luca tonight - Gary's taking Carole out for her birthday.

Next week, I'm back down in Glasgow again - Colin, Malcolm and I are going to see Squeeze on Thursday night and I will stay with Dawn again - Barry's house is still in turmoil. We need to talk about Dad again - Barry and Dawn say he's looking very good just now, so best to leave his medication as is. Dawn went out and bought him new clothes - and threw out all those terrible old trousers and sweaters he has been wearing. We need to complete Power of Attorney documents soon as decisions will no doubt have to be made in the future for Dad, who is not really capable of making them himself nowadays.

I'll head back to Banchory on Friday as we have the celebration football match for Dan's 65th birthday, followed by a curry.

Wednesday/Thursday

No football this week, but at the beer festival every day setting up. Not much to do the last couple of days, but official opening to the public is 4:00 pm tonight and I'm doing a couple of hours behind the bar. Hope the punters turn out at the new venue.

Still been very wet and dark the last couple of days - dodgy drive up to Fraserburgh this morning, with lots of flooded roads. Forecast is for snow on hills, but it's actually sunny as I write this.

Lucy has decided Florida is her preferred destination for next year, so I'll need to crack on now and get some accommodation booked!

Another dark day

Tuesday was almost as dreich as Monday - wet and dark. I went to Fraserburgh to work - bought myself a replacement watch strap, tried to get my hair cut (failed - shut for lunch) and had a bite to eat with Michael at the Lighthouse Museum.

Made it back down to Pittodrie to see how preparations were going for the beer festival - no problems, my services weren't really required, so I hung around and chatted with the guys for a while before heading off home. Grabbed a programme first of all - some strong beers on sale - ca' canny!

No response from Lucy about some of the possibilities for next year's vacation - perhaps she's been too busy?