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Wednesday/Thursday down south

My golf blog contains details of my trip down south to Wentworth and The Grove, but here's me in my room at Pennyhill Park Hotel - the Yew Tree room:

It was a great experience and, although I was a little uneasy about the occasion at first, I did enjoy it. I even managed to get on a slightly earlier flight home last night, but, despite this, I still felt knackered this morning and, for once, could easily have stayed in bed for an hour or two longer.

Today, I'm just catching up after 3 days out of the office. I've declined to play football tonight and have cancelled my golf tomorrow morning - although I may go to Pittodrie for the first time this season - with Gary, hopefully. We're hosting our first dinner party for years tomorrow night, with the Pages, Grays and Bhagraths all coming round. It's proving to be a bit of a logistical nightmare for Jo, having 8 at the table, which has been expanded to its full size for the first time since the Lesinas were last here. Tablecloths and undercovers are not big enough and we are short of crockery and place mats, but I'm sure Jo will get it all under control and it'll be alright on the night!

Today's list was going to be favourite holidays - but when I started to get down to it, I realised I didn't dare include any of my golfing holidays with the boys for fear of offending Jo, and to put anything ahead of our holidays in USA would offend Lucy! Despite these risks, I'm going to name a few vacations that come to mind, in strictly chronological order:

Folkestone in 1972 with my Mum and Dad before we were married.

Benodet in the mid-late 70's when we had Barry's car, which broke down at the port before we were on the ferry - you should have seen Lucy's distraught face!

Port Grimaud a few years later.

Spain in 1999 with Lottie.

Kauai in 2003.

Boston in 2005.

No doubt I've forgotten a few that I should have included, but hopefully this will stir some memories.

Gary's new blog

http://garycaroleluca.blogspot.com/

Quick Weds blog

Old pedantic here - they weren't singles - just favourite tracks - and the order was all wrong - it was only when I read it again that I realised that the top 15 were inverted - i.e. they should have read:

1 Try a Little Tenderness -Otis Redding

2 Tin Soldier - Small Faces

3 Up the Junction - Squeeze

4 Psycho Killer - Talking Heads

5 Route 66 - Rolling Stones

6 Teenage Kicks - Undertones

7 Dazed And Confused - Led Zeppelin

8 Please Please Me - Beatles

9 Like a Rollin' Stone - Bob Dylan

10 Alison - Elvis Costello

11 Maybe I'm Amazed - Faces

12 In a Broken Dream - Python Lee Jackson

13 Need Your Love So Bad - Fleetwood Mac

14 Badge - Cream

15 Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon

16 Keith Don’t Go - Nils Lofgren

17 Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix Experience

18 House of the Rising Sun - Animals

19 London Calling - Clash

20 Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols

That's better - must have been having a bad day on Monday. Of course, I would still change it now - maybe even including Teen Spirit and Creep. One day I'll bore you with my complete 100 list!

Just back from Edinburgh and Glasgow - saw Dad - we went in to the garden there - he was fine, but definitely going downhill mentally and not getting any exercise - a couple of quick strolls was all he could manage. He always says no to any activities - he wouldn't even go to a little concert they were holding upstairs today.

I took back the display cabinet - we managed to squeeze it in the back of the Volvo and although it rattled all the way home, it was intact when we got here and Jo helped me get it out and put it in the garage for now. The only things left at Ochiltree now are the mattress - which Dawn's taking - and the bureau - hope somebody takes this - would hate to see it go to the tip.

Got a last minute invitation to join Michael and go to the holy grail of Wentworth tomorrow with John West - the largest customer of our cannery - they're entertaining top brass at Tesco - their biggest customer and also the biggest customer of our smoking factories. One of the Tesco guys pulled out at the last minute and it's a very discrete 8 who were supposed to be playing so they were desperate to get a late replacement and Michael suggested me - so off I go for the next 2 days!

Second post Monday

Pleased to hear that Gary's going to change his blog site to the same as ours - hopefully this will make things easier all round for everyone.

Sorry to go on about the Useless Facts, Gary - but Old Testament an autobiography? By whom? The big G? The earlier one about the 50 greatest grossing movies of all time doesn't need much thinking about either - this is when us auld fogies bore you lot with our tales of inflation. Eeh lad, I remember when a tanner used to get you to the movies on the bus, entrance with your "bird" (sorry - Glaswegian expression from the '60's!) and treat you both to a poke of chips on the way home - weren't life grand then? (Answer - no!).

OK - today's list - this was made up a couple of years ago for one of our headbangs - we all had to list our all-time favourite individual tracks (not albums) and this is what I came up with at the time:

1 Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
2 Badge - Cream
3 Need Your Love So Bad - Fleetwood Mac
4 In a Broken Dream - Python Lee Jackson
5 Maybe I'm Amazed - Faces
6 Alison - Elvis Costello
7 Like a Rollin' Stone - Bob Dylan
8 Please Please Me - Beatles
9 Dazed And Confused - Led Zeppelin
10 Teenage Kicks - Undertones
11 Route 66 - Rolling Stones
12 Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
13 Up the Junction - Squeeze
14 Tin Soldier - Small Faces
15 Try a Little Tenderness -Otis Redding
16 Keith Don’t Go - Nils Lofgren
17 Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix Experience
18 House of the Rising Sun - Animals
19 London Calling - Clash
20 Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols

Funny looking back - I always used to say Otis was my favourite - but this was done at the time from a list of almost 100 I put together, with the intention of having no "repeaters" (although 4 & 5 have the same lead vocalist). They also had to be from tracks I currently possessed that were in a format acceptable to the headbang at the time - i.e. CD or .mpg.

Tomorrow it might be favourite artistes - or maybe albums?

Back to work

I seem to recall some time ago Gary made some comment about the Easybeats - a band from Down Under who were (briefly) popular in the 1960's. Their big hit was Friday on My Mind (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7zB0RygrYy8) and it starts "Monday morning feels so bad" - today I empathise. I've got a lot of work to do and little energy or will to do it - but I'll get there.

We usually play squash on a Monday - usually you feel better for doing it - like Kelly's running - but sometimes you've got to force yourself out of your lethargy to actually get out there and do it.

It was an interesting observation of Kelly's that I didn't have any complete Roxy Music. I did like them, but they probably sound a bit '70's now. I think I may have one album of theirs somewhere - either in vinyl or cassette format - but I haven't got round to digitising any of their music yet - although I do have some video tracks on DVD and .avi files that we use for our headbangs (the next one of which is scheduled for Friday Oct 10th). Early Roxy Music is much better, Kelly - the later stuff after they re-formed following Ferry's lounge lizard period is pretty M.o.R.

Incidentally, Kelly - did Ross phone to fix your sound problem? We reminded him several times, but you know what he's like! He did make comment that the basic problem you have is that the webcam you are using is not compatible with Windows Vista.

We've never had any strange intruders on Skype - only Lucy and Kelly.

Bad weekend for the Dons and the Jags. I still haven't been to Pittodrie this season and I'm not sure when I'll next be tempted. Perhaps with the weather changing as we move in to October and the clocks going back at the end of the month, I might start thinking about watching footy again.

Gary - try changing your blog site to the same as the rest of us (http://www.blogger.com/home) - it's much easier to use and you shouldn't have problems uploading videos and photos. It's also an easier web site for us other viewers - no irritating "congratulations" pop-ups and no need to switch screens/tabs and scroll all the way down to view photos and videos.

I'm in Edinburgh on business tomorrow, so I think I'll take the chance to pop over and see Dad and Barry again.

Sat/Sun

Been another nice weekend. Did pretty well at golf on Saturday morning - Dan Corbett made a surprise first appearance in a medal at Banchory, having just joined the club. He still lives in Linlithgow, but is retiring in January and has notions to come back to the North East. Dan also joined us for drinks at the Douglas on Friday and even came along to squash on Saturday too.

Saturday was busy but I was still up early on Sunday in good time to watch the recording of Match of the Day, get showered, changed and make what must have been about the 13,000th morning coffee for Sleeping Beauty.

Today was the day of our annual Scotland v the Rest of the World Challenge match, which is always followed by a nice long liquid lunch with the "W.a.G.'s". I'm happy to say Scotland won yet again - and we have the Gauntlet Trophy back in our house again. Thankfully, it's one trophy Jo actually likes - unlike all the others! See the golf blog for details and photos.

Friday blog

Just remembered it's 25 years ago this week - 19th September, 1983 to be exact - since I moved up to Aberdeen to start work with the Clark family, then trading as Clipper Seafoods. Ross had just been born and I had just picked up my first - and hopefully only - unemployment benefit after the demise of Fischer Ultrasound. The job they offered me at their headquarters in Denver came at the wrong time for us and so Aberdeen it was, with Jo and the kids moving up over the New Year holidays. Remember the snow storms that year? "I don't like this place, Daddy!" "I want to go home!" Then a couple of months later "I don't care where your job takes you Daddy, I'm not leaving Banchory". The latter quote, of course, comes from somebody who now lives 5,000 miles away!

Gary - I have to laugh at the comments in your blog about Spain. Considering how difficult it was to persuade you to even consider taking a couple of days off work in the first place, it's a bit rich to be inferring it's now everyone else holding you back! Don't forget it was my idea in the first place, so obviously I'm behind it, but we held back pending Kelly's situation with Oz. Once it's clear she's still going to be around until the spring, then we can get ourselves organised.

Nothing much else to say today. Ken Page comes back from Abu Dhabi tomorrow and we've got our annual Scotland v Rest of World Challenge match on Sunday, which is usually a good end of season do. Tonight a couple of beers in the Douglas and that's about it.

Tonight - Thu

It was such a lovely day so as I was driving home from Fraserburgh I phoned Jo to ask if she wanted to walk across to the golf course with me as I wanted to try out some irons that Michael had given me to test run. She said yes and we walked across and played 6 holes - and yes, Jo did play - the first time since she retired. I thought she was pretty good considering it's been such a long time. I hope we get another chance soon. Irene Page has also promised to go out with her some time.

The photos were taken with the Blackberry so are a bit indistinct, but you get the general idea.

Kelly's having problems with her laptop sounds and we tried to fix it tonight, but only partially suceeded. Apparently Ross fixed it last time - it was a conflict between 2 devices - but when I went down to ask him, he was fast asleep - at 8:30 pm! I guess he hasn't fully recovered yet, even although he was back at work today.

Weds night/Thu morning

Don't wish the blogs to become b......g sessions, but all I did was comment on the shape of Jo's scones! She used to make tall, round ones, but yesterday they were, as she said herself, buttery shaped. They tasted delicious and I said so - Ross got credit and I got brickbats - boo hoo!

Kelly, go to Start, Control Panel, Sound - your speakers should be listed and should have a green tick against them. Then phone me!

Continuing late night video watching, the 1999 holiday moved from Virginia to New Orleans, where Lucy joined us. There's also a tour of the historic house we stayed in in the French Quarter by our host and landlord, which included a look round his recording studio. He used to be the drummer for Aretha Franklin - the only white guy in a 17 piece band - and played on epic recordings like Respect, Think etc. When he left the band, he started writing songs and had some hits, including Patches by Clarence Carter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuzJxNQgtjo&feature=related) - a big hit in the UK and US in 1970.

Unlucky Thistle again - just 3 minutes from the end of extra time with penalties looming, Rangers scored a late winner. Check my football blog to see Thistle's superb first half equaliser after Kris Boyd's fantastic Marco van Basten like strike which put Rangers in the lead.

Skype

Kelly - adjust the sound settings using the drop-down menu next to the headphones icon.

Tuesday/Weds

Last night's video viewing was of our trip to USA in 1999. Ross was with us and we started off in Washington and went down to Williamsburg, Virginia - that's as far as we got before I got fed up and switched off - more later tonight.


Kelly - use Windows Explorer and right click on one of the music files in the right hand pane. Click on "open with" and then choose "default program". There you have a number of options - Windows Media Player is the simplest to use. Make sure you tick the box at the foot "always use the selected program to open this kind of file".

Lucy skyped tonight - just as the Thistle-Rangers match was starting on TV! A quick word then she was passed on to Jo - just as Rangers scored! The Jags came back and equalised and I returned to let Lucy know the half-time score (1-1) when the laptop crashed and we lost contact. Lucy reverted to old technology and is now on the phone to Jo!

Monday evening/Tuesday

Didn't realise that when I set up Jo on blogspot.com that it was only a "trial" blog! I'm sure we'll see some interesting things there in weeks to come.

Foolishly we sat all the way through Chuck and Larry last night - pretty absurd formulaic comedy - not quite sure which side of the sexual fence was most offended at it! Jo's clean-out meant I also had to go through boxes of old music cassettes to see if I wanted to keep any. It didn't take long before I decided that she could throw them all out. It's funny, but I didn't feel the need to keep any of them, whilst, on the other hand, I find it very hard to throw out my old record collection. I still have a notion of a retirement project digitising all my old vinyl. There's also something more tangible, sentimental and collectible about old vinyl - particularly LP's - browsing the 12" sleeves was always half the fun - CD inserts are just not the same, even although they probably contain twice as much actual information - they are not as touchy, feely as vinyl LP's - well, at least that's what this old fart thinks anyway.

Next was all the old VHS tapes. There's a lot of good, classic films there and I was reluctant to throw them all out. I suggested that Jo try to find a home for them at some charity shop - but if anyone wants any of them - probably half of them are yours, Gary - best speak up soon.

The rubbish tapes have gone, but there were a few home/holiday videos which I'm going to watch before I decide whether to ditch or not. We sat through Gary Grant's home video of his Hogmanay party from 31st Dec 1995/1st January 1996. A twelve year old Ross flitted in and out, as did a 16 year old Kelly with her pals. The video rambled on for a while, with "Mr. & Mrs.", featuring the Kilgours, Williamsons and McWhinnies, plus some dancing and some pretty rubbish karaoke, with Jo heavily featured. The outstanding thing for us, however, was to see Johanne looking so upright and apparently healthy - even although she'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's a few years before this.

Squash tonight followed by a swift pint at the Potarch - haven't been there for a while.

Royal Aberdeen

What a wonderful day we had at Royal Aberdeen - it's very rare to get a benign sunny day at Balgownie, where the wind usually always howls, but we got it today. The course was great and the Seniors matches are fun - it's a friendly 4 ball, better ball format - if anyone knows what that means (like the Ryder Cup was on Friday and Saturday afternoons). My partner and I actually won our match against our hosts' Captain and his partner - but we were the only Banchory winners - the result was 9-1 to Royal Aberdeen!

Rowies and coffee before the match and a fine 2 course meal after the match, plus a round on the hallowed links - all for £10! Of course, being Royal Aberdeen, jackets and ties were required for the meal, so here I am in mine afterwards, with Aberdeen Ladies' clubhouse in the background:

When digging through some of the stuff in my Dad's flat, I came across Grannie Stewart's travel card from 1984, when she must have been a similar age to what Dad is now. Most of you wouldn't have known her, but here's what she looked like:

The other side of the family (my Mum's mother, Granny Barr) also photographed well:

I'm afraid to say this was a fairly typical view of her. My memories of my years at Foxbar Drive (1960 - 1972) were of her constant warring with my Dad. I guess the old mother-in-law syndrome applied in spades when we were all living in such close proximity under her roof. In her latter years, she was virtually confined to her room and only came down when my Dad wasn't around. Sad really, but there you go.