Thursday's latest

Not much to say - check the football blog for news of Colin.

Other than that, busy morning tomorrow, but then it's off to St Andrews for the afternoon for our Midsummer Outing, followed by a curry at the Balaka.

Oh - and don't forget to complete my latest poll.

Tuesday

Planning on a quiet day today - golfed out. I did OK, without threatening to win anything, in the Seniors Club Championship - top 10 in both scratch and handicap can't be bad.

I'll go and see Colin this afternoon and see how he's getting on - he's been moved to a "normal" ward, which is a good sign, I hope.

A deer has been a fairly regular visitor to the embankment at the back - he/she seems to particularly like some of the plants/weeds in she-whose-name-must-not-be-mentioned's garden next door.

Jo and I have both sponsored Carole in Sunday's Race for Life - is that poor communication between us, or did Carole just con us both? No matter - it's for a good cause! It's exactly a decade since our football group took part in this (it was a 24 hour Relay then). Niece Julie was then the Scottish organiser for Cancer Relief, and the Aberdeen event (at Linksfield) was the most successful fund-raiser in Scotland, and our group was the largest contributor to this - £4,608. Gary came along to watch us, but didn’t take part. I showed Carole some of the photos of a 24 year old Gary - hope she's got over the shock now! This is me opening the champagne at the end of a gruelling 24 hours:

I had my annual medical at Albyn yesterday. The results will be in soon, but I'll get the usual bollocking about weight, body fat %, alcohol consumption, and probably high cholesterol to boot. I do already know that I still am in Atrial Fibrillation, however - apparently it'll always be this way - it never goes back to a normal rhythm. Oh well, it's just a matter of time before they put me on Warfarin then - I'll put this off as long as I can as I still have memories of what it did to my Mum - the bad outweighed the good on that occasion.

The weekend

Got a bit of a fright on Friday when Jo rang me from Inverurie and told me that Johanne had just texted her and said that Colin had been taken in to hospital. Jo was babysitting Luca and couldn't really do anything so I phoned Johanne to find out more. Johanne's condition makes it difficult to fully understand her on the phone, but I could make out words like "seizure", ECG etc and this obviously concerned me.



I went to the hospital at visiting time and there was Colin, looking, feeling and sounding fine, albeit wired up to a heart monitor. We took Johanne back to ARI yesterday and this afternoon and again Colin seems fine. Perhaps they'll find out more tomorrow. Check the football blog for photos.



Apart from that, it's just been golf, golf, golf - I'm worn out - and I have to play in the last round of the Seniors club championship tomorrow night. Looking forward to a rest day on Tuesday.



Tomorrow morning, I've got my annual medical at Albyn and I have to fast from 9:30 pm tonight - best stock up on carbos now!

I forgot to mention that, when I was in Reading last week, we went to the Nag's Head - a cracking little pub. One of the artefacts on the wall brought back memories of my days with James Buchanan & Co at Stepps and then London from 1972 to 1977:

Friday sunshine

Great start to the day - lovely sunshine - hope it continues. It's going to be a long one for all of us, however. Jo drove Ross to the airport this morning at the crack of dawn - I think it was about 4:30 am they left. Of course, Jo was awake half the night - and so, of course, was I. Ross had said to her not to worry - he would wake her up. His way of doing this was to stay awake all night again - he'll be shattered by the time he gets to Amsterdam for his weekend with his fellow gamers.

Jo went straight from the airport to Inverurie for breakfast!

Weekend approaches

Better weather to come we believe. Last night was warm, damp and still - perfect for midges - and you know how I react to them. I got eaten alive - check my golf blog for a photo.

Otherwise, it's back to normal now. Got a busy morning tomorrow then I'm playing in the 2nd round of the Seniors club championship in the afternoon. Hopefully golf Saturday, Sunday and Monday too! In fact, it's just golf, golf, golf until we go to USA - it always happens at this time of year - lots of competitions and outings and then, before you know it, the season's over - got to take the chance when you can.

Ross seemed to get on OK at his job interview yesterday - fingers crossed!

Brian Hanson joins the 60 brigade tomorrow - happy birthday to him!

Back home again

It's been a busy time - first the beer festival - here's Jo and I last Friday:


Ross was there with his pals and we all jumped home in a 16 seater bus. I cancelled golf on Saturday, but needn't have bothered - the overnight rain closed the course until lunchtime.

I drove round to Colin's at about noon and we made our way to the airport for our cricket weekend - full details and photos on football blog - but here's one that might interest Jo - the menu from the Sweeney & Todd pie shop we visited:



In fact, there were many more specials that weren't on the menu - the waitress took great delight in giving us an American style listing of all that were available that day.

On Sunday morning, after a restless night's sleep on Dave's settee, I got up and walked round for the Sunday papers. Dave's flat is right in Reading city centre, next to the canal:



Good weekend, but glad to get home again - but I discovered that I had to play a foursomes match at Torphins - it was the only time all 4 were available before we go to USA in a month!

Think I'll go home early and rest now - and, btw, it was impossible to avoid finding out who won the Apprentice - I watched it last night and will view the Adrian Chiles bit tonight - if I can stay awake!

Getting ready for a busy weekend

As commented on Facebook, the opening day of the beer festival went well last night - numbers seemed to be well up on the same time last year. Got a chance to sample a few when I was working behind the bar, but my main chance will come tonight when our bus arrives from Banchory and we can have a few proper beers, rather than just a couple of tasters in the bottom of the glass. Highlights for me last night were Yellowhammer and Dartmoor.

I'm doing a couple of hours behind the bar again this afternoon before heading home to dump the car and pick up the bus back to the festival. I'm not playing golf in the morning - I did have time to play before we caught our afternoon flight to London, but thought better of it - I'd probably not be up for it anyway.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Sunday is not looking too good - I hope we do get to see some cricket. Although I'm sure we'll find something else to do, it does rather spoil the purpose of the trip if it's rained off.

Golf on Wednesday was OK - I played with Dick - he and Theresa were just back from Bogota visiting their daughter. As usual, after golf, Jo and I watched The Apprentice whilst I ate my supper - little bit of a surprise result and I now wonder if the obvious favourite is going to stumble at the last hurdle? I also discovered that the final has been moved from Wednesday to this Sunday - that's a bit of a bummer as I'll be in London/Reading that evening and won't be able to watch it until I get home on Monday. The media will be full of it on Monday morning and it will be hard to avoid knowing who's won before I watch the recording.

That's about all for now - although I have been editing some of my previous Blog postings - on the instructions of she who must be obeyed!

Monday scare

Got a bit of a fright yesterday when I heard about the missing Air France plane. That route is one that is used by Dave Williamson quite often - Colin and I are going to stay with him this weekend for the cricket. I made a discreet enquiry and he's OK, however - he wasn't on this flight back from Rio, but he said there was considerable reflection in his office in Reading yesterday when they heard the news. Several of his colleagues were actually travelling in the opposite direction when the plane went missing.

Anyway, forgot to post photos of Luca when he was with us on Sunday. We were out the back and he was enjoying splashing the waste water over Jo's feet, which meant she took evasive action, producing this slightly risque photo:

(Object subsequently removed due to the objections of the subject)

Last night after tea - liver and bacon - yummy! - perhaps we'll get steak and kidney pudding next? - Jo and I walked over to the golf course to play a few holes. It was an absolutely perfect evening. Jo did well in bits - signs of improvement - and finished in a blaze of glory at the 16th - the Doo'cot. Although one of the shortest holes in golf, it's pretty tough for a beginner as it's straight up a steep hill and many people can't get the ball high enough to hit the green. In fact, our golf group have a phrase for any unfortunates that play the hole badly - it's called a "wedding cake" when somebody has to play on all 3 tiers of the hole!

Jo's tee shot was quite good and got up to the 2nd level OK, but didn't quite make it all the way up. Her second shot just failed but then she almost holed her 3rd and eventually tapped in for a 4 - pretty good.

Of course, long before that, back at "Hitler's bunker" at the 11th, where Jo had come to grief last week, she was back in trouble again, but this time managed to get out on her 2nd attempt - a bit better than the 14 or 15 attempts last time out:

A rare sighting of the sprinklers in action on the 3rd green behind her.

Today is setting up for the beer festival - I'm planning to go down for a couple of hours late afternoon.

We've got some clouds/haar this morning - not sure if it's going to clear or not. The forecast is for the weather to go downhill a bit for the next few days.

Monday scorcher

Still fabulous weather here - shame to be at work - but what would I do? Too knackered to have a round of golf after playing Wed/Thu/Sat/Sun with football on Friday in between. Still, maybe manage a few holes with Jo tonight. We probably would have gone out last night but by the time Gary and Carole picked up Luca, it was getting a bit late to go out.

Btw, I got a roasting for posting that photo of Jo in yesterday's blog. Apparently it's my fault that I caught her at a bad moment, and when she's water retentive.

Do any of you remember our holiday in Florida when we went to visit Jim and Mary Cowie and their boys from Scrabster? Jim was a fish processor and the Clarks owned 50% of his business. He subsequently cracked up and did a runner, leaving us to pick up the pieces and sort out the mess he'd left and all the unpaid creditors, including the bank, so he hasn't exactly been flavour of the month round here for the last decade or so. Anyway, he changed careers and became a chef - see the article below from the P & J a week past Saturday:

Fabulous weather

It's been glorious these last few days. On Thursday night, I played for Torphins at Inchmarlo and then on Friday, we had a football match at Goals to celebrate Ken Black's 50th - followed by beer and curry. It was a good night, but I was suffering on Saturday morning - not from a hangover, but from a tired and sore body. It was the annual Sponsored Tournament and the beneficiaries of the fund raising - Alzheimer's Society - must have been delighted at the weather. Just a pity none of our team played well, but we all enjoyed the morning anyway. Check the football and golf blogs for photos.

We decided to go along to the dinner at the golf club in the evening. Beer on the balcony first:

(Object subsequently removed due to the objections of the subject)

It was just 2 years since this event was held in aid of the Squash Club. Unfortunately, all our efforts were in vain - but at least the sponsors had a nice (free) day out.

We didn't stay after dinner for the infamous "Sammy the Shammy" and the dance - we decided just to stroll home.

Today, the weather has been even better. Gary and Luca are away to the Perth Races and we've got Luca for the day.

The week ahead has CAMRA's beer festival at Pittodrie. I'll be helping out most nights, but I was rather hoping that we'd have enough to run a bus on Friday, but it looks like we might not have enough to merit this. Not sure how we're going to manage the logistics.

Next weekend, Colin and I are off down to London to see Scotland in the Twenty:20 Cricket World Cup at the Oval. We're staying with Dave Williamson at his flat in Reading.

Birthdays in absentia

We tried to Skype Lucy last night on her birthday - we were all there - Kelly, Ross, Gary, Carole, Luca, Liz, Jo and I - but she wasn't online! Nonetheless, we still cut the cake and sang happy birthday:

Don't we all prefer Gary with hair?

The Inverurie gang all went home - after the Champions League final was over - and Jo, Kelly and I settled down to watch the Apprentice - wrong choice, Sir Alan! However, goodbyes had to be said first of all - huggles and kissies all round:

Tonight, I'm playing at Inchmarlo for Torphins and tomorrow night I'm playing football in Aberdeen - it's Ken Black's 50th and we're all going for a curry afterwards.

My brew

I did eventually make it down for the latter stages of the beer being brewed for my 60th birthday yesterday - but I had to come hot-foot from seeing our visitors off at the airport at 3 pm (their plane wasn't until 6:30 pm!) and, of course, I wasn't really dressed for brewing.

I'm glad I made it along, however and at least observed some of the process in action. Of course, Rob did most of the work, aided and abetted by his father in law, Sandy. The ingredients and recipe were from my suggestions and Rob's interpretation of what I was looking for - a straw coloured, hoppy IPA - similar to some of the American brews I like. Here's the mixture of hops:


It was a lovely afternoon so I was able to sit outside when I received a phone call from our lawyers:



Rob has made up some posters which he is going to erect in the brewery shortly. Here's one about the process:

At the end, I finally got to do something - add the yeast!:

I'll be going back in 7-10 days to help with the bottling. Some will go in cask and Rob has indicated that he would like to launch it as one of his new brands, and he's chosen the name Nechtan, which fits in with his historical theme - check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nechtan_II_of_the_Picts

Anyway, Kelly arrived last night, sans Craig, at about 11 pm, so I'm going home to have lunch with her today. Craig is flying up tomorrow night after making their new home a bit more habitable. Carole, Liz and Luca arrive about 3 pm and Gary will come along after work.

Lastly, happy birthday to Lucy today - talk to you later.

Scolty Ale

Boo-hoo. I had to cancel my planned brewing day again today due to work - people coming up from Manchester (who had cancelled 4 times before, but this time, they're actually coming - sod's law). Because it was a fairly late cancellation, Rob asked if it would be OK to go ahead and brew it anyway and I could maybe catch the tail end of the process later on, and I could also go along next week for the bottling. I couldn't really say no to him.

Kelly and Craig arrive tonight and we're going to have lunch with them, Carole, Carole's Mum and Luca tomorrow.

Back to work on holiday Monday

Another national holiday - but not for us here. It's been a fairly busy weekend. We went on the (free) bus to Macbethfest on Friday night - it was good fun. I didn't take many photos but there's a couple on the football blog.

Golf on Saturday and Sunday mornings and then Sunday afternoon was just crammed full of TV sport. Ross and Gary had gone to Pittodrie - I couldn't get there in time for the 1 pm start as I was playing golf - so I was channel hopping whilst the final matches in the SPL were played, and the Monaco Grand Prix was on. Good outcome for the Dons, but bit of a shock with Calderwood and his team going. The best part of the match was Aberdeen's bizarre 1st goal - check the football blog to see the video clip.

Then it was the golf from Wentworth - I played there last year - followed by the relegation battle in the Premiership - and then, lo and behold, I found Andy Murray's first match in the French Open on Eurosport.

It was such a nice day and I'd spent the afternoon goggle eyed, so, after tea, I suggested to Jo that we go and have a few holes of golf. Normally we would just walk across the road and nip on at the 3rd, but the course was unexpectedly busy last night and we had to walk round to the clubhouse and start from the 1st tee.

I know I'm not the most patient or the best teacher - but then again, Jo is hardly the ideal pupil either - there's a definite obstinacy there to accept any form of tuition or instruction - know anyone else in our family like this? Most of the evening was spent trying to get her to line up properly - she has a definite tendency to aim right - almost at 45 degrees at times, and my constant pleas to go further left were met with querrulous looks - in fact, the source of the "angry eyebrows" of years ago became apparent to me. Anyway after a few tetchy moments, Jo did pretty well and hit some really nice shots - that was until she got to the 11th hole. I kid you not, Hitler spent less time in the bunker than Jo did. I thought she was digging her way down to Oz to meet Kelly and Craig. She must have moved mountains of sand and earth and it took her almost as long to rake the bunker after she finally got out on or about the 14th or 15th attempt.

We both deserved the quick beer we had at the end. We met Les Gray and Ian Sharp in the clubhouse and had a brief chat with them before walking across the golf course to home.

I do have some video footage of Jo in action last night, but it was probably her worst (apart from the bunker) shots of the evening, so I'll spare her blushes on this occasion - that is, unless she gives me some abuse in her blog! Here she was on the 5th hole:


We had to wait at the 12th hole and sat on the bench overlooking the river and took this photo from a distance on the timer: