Back for good

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, I made it - but it was tough - going up the hills pushed my cardio system and coming down tested my skeletal system - i.e. my knees and hips. Read all about it on my hill-walking blog (links on sidebar of this blog).

I've been OK at work this week, although a little tired and sore in the legs. We had Luca as usual on Tuesday, and he's here again tonight, but, apart from that, I've just been vegetating since I returned from the West Highlands.

Luca's staying overnight tonight and will be here tomorrow when Mary, Julie and little Leo come to pay a (very) brief visit. When I picked the wee man up at nursery this afternoon, I couldn't believe what he was up to - remember he's still got his arm in a sling after breaking his collar bone a few weeks ago. He was hopping all round the nursery! One legged and one armed - risk assessment required! Fearless.

What else is new? Well, surprise, surprise - look at the sight that greeted me when I drove in to the drive last night:

Spot the gap? Yes, the Jag has finally been moved. The tow truck showed up yesterday afternoon and Jo had to help get it moved - there was no battery in the car. Ross was totally oblivious - he knew nothing about it. Same again please with the old Merc.

Tomorrow (Friday), we've been invited to a house-warming just round the corner, and on Sunday we have our end of season do at the golf club - 35 or so of us for lunch.

Woe is Me

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

That was a title from a Helen Shapiro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Shapiro) song from 1963 and pretty much sums up how I feel today. Let me tell you about it - but stop here if you get bored easily or can't stand the sound of constant whining.

As they say in all the best blues songs, well, I woke up this morning - that was a good start anyway - another day on this planet - number 22,473 to be exact. It was my usual waking time of 5:15 am, but I decided to roll over for a bit and try and get another half hour or so of shuteye. I don't bother with alarms nowadays - my body clock does the trick.

Anyway, next thing I hear is Jo's phone making noises - she'd forgotten to switch it off. It was 6:15 am anyway - definitely time to get up. "Who is it?" said I. "Oh, it's just Mary". "Why is she texting at this time?" "Just saying good morning".

Our next conversation is after I've had breakfast and brought Jo's coffee up. There had been further exchanges of texts. "Mary says it's not looking good for tomorrow". For an instant I thought they might have been thinking about poor me heading over to the West Coast for our walk on the West Highland Way, but, no - silly me - it's the Pope's visit tomorrow and Mary is singing in the choir - outdoors.

I expressed my slight disappointment and was promptly told - "Oh, I'm not feeling sorry for you - you chose to go on this walk" - "and Mary volunteered for the choir" quoth I. Even less sympathy after this remark. What a caring and sharing relationship we have.

What else is bugging me? - firstly, the dentist yesterday. She X-rayed my gum to check out the lump that had appeared. "Oh, dear", she says - "come and look at this". The tooth underneath the lump had been root canal filled many years ago and it looked like the amalgam at the end of the root had moved and it was this that was causing the lump in my gum.

"You'll have to see the oral surgeon" she says. There are only 2 possible solutions - he can either cut a flap in the gum and see if he can fix it that way, but my dentist believes it's most likely that the eye tooth will have to come out and it will have to be an implant to replace it. She quickly muttered something about a cost of £1,900 - surprisingly, I didn't faint.

The oral surgeon only works on Wednesday afternoons and he's not available until 29th September, so that's when I'm seeing him - just 2 days before my knee ops, which, in turn, is 3 days before I see my cardiologist again.

When you're young, you think you're invincible, but when your body starts letting you down like this, mortality becomes a stark reality.

Are you still with me, or have you given up on this depressing tale?

Tuesday night meant Luca for tea as usual, but, with the twin treats of cartoons on a giant TV and Grannie Jo, do I even get a hello from the little man? Not likely.

When Jo took Luca home, Colin came round to watch the Man U - Rangers match. We finished off the last couple of bottles of Nechtan (my birthday ale) but the match was goal-less - pretty disappointing.

When Jo started a bit of a clear-out last week in an effort to unclutter the house a little, I was faced with some tough decisions. My pile of old 45's was an issue - "what shall we do with them?". Knowing I had to make a contribution, and aware that I've still got all my vinyl LP's and back copies of Mojo lying around, I had little option but to say "dump them" - but, boy, did I choke on the words. That's my life history and many memories of youth - when my body still worked - going out the door.

There's still the question of the many souvenir beer glasses, mostly from CAMRA festivals. They've been boxed, but where do we put them? Is there a good home out there for some or all of them?

Moving on, I finished one of the books I bought in USA earlier this year - Rob Sheffield's Love is a Mix Tape. Rather poignant, I thought, but it read well. I've now finally started reading The Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S_Thompson), who was a bit of a maverick. I'll see how I get on with this one.

To finish with - a modern moral dilemma. I got my tax assessment in last week. They had worked out that I was due a refund of over £7K for last year - what? They've even since paid it directly in to my bank account. Coming at the time when there's all this publicity about the Revenue issuing error notices to virtually half the population of the UK - and refusing initially to apologise for them - it's left me wondering how to handle this. I know they have miscalculated - they have missed a chunk of my income (I get paid by two separate companies). I know what I'll do in the end - I have to write and tell them - but part of me wants to ignore their error until they discover it themselves.

So, that's it from me for now. My next posting on this blog is likely to be next week. I'll probably update my hill-walking blog with photos from the WHW first of all next Tuesday/Wednesday. Wish me luck - hope my cardio system can get me up some of the climbs.

Morrissey

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

• I've just returned from seeing the dental hygienist and have to go back tomorrow to see the dentist - I've got a lump in my gum - I first noticed it on Thursday and thought it might be an abscess so I phoned the dentist on Friday to get their emergency number in case it flared up over the weekend. It's actually receded a little, and the hygienist assures me that it therefore can't be an abscess, but she can't do anything with it - I have to come back and see my dentist and get it X-rayed tomorrow.
• It's dark and wet outside my office today.
• The Dons and the Jags both got beaten on Saturday

Heaven knows I'm miserable now.

Getting everything ready for our trek this week. We leave on Thursday afternoon and return on Monday. I do hope the weather on the latter part of the West Highland Way is a bit better than it is here today.

Hope you're all having a better start to the week than me.

Belated birthday treat

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We hadn't had a chance to take Ross out for a meal on his birthday, as we had Luca on Tuesday, so we decided to go out last night - and we invited Gary and Carole along. Here we are, walking up to the Tor-na-Coille hotel - Ross in his new shirt - bought by Gary and Carole - and Luca still in his sling:

The most photographed boy in Scotland can still be coy like his mother when he's asked to smile for the camera:

Slightly better this time - half face at least:

and finally, his Dad succeeded where I had failed:

So, did Ross get this birthday shoes on Wednesday? - nope - "too expensive" says he - but we're paying, Ross! Did he pick any tops etc? Also nope. Have the old cars moved out of our driveway yet? - I think you can guess the answer. Frustrating.

I didn't feel too good yesterday and I'm not sure about today either. Discovered what I think is an abscess in my gum, immediately above where I lost some plaque on one of my eye teeth a few months ago - coincidence or not? Perhaps the poison is getting me down a bit. Need to be fully fit for the West Highland Way next week. I've got an appointment at the dental hygienist's on Monday anyway, so, assuming I survive the weekend, that'll be a chance for them to look at it.

Well, it's 9/11 tomorrow - always get a bit of a shudder when I think about it. It doesn't help when all the loonies come out of their trees, as seems to be happening again now with this nutty pastor from Florida. Better to fight the battles on the sports fields, I think. Which reminds me - the Ryder Cup starts 3 weeks today - when I'm in hospital having my knees done.

Quiz night at the golf club tomorrow - should be fun - and let's hope it stays dry for the weekend too - it doesn't look too nice now, but the forecast's not too bad.

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's been pointed out to me that it's been 2 weeks since I posted on this blog - although there are many postings on my other blogs - so I thought I'd start with a photo, just in case you'd all forgotten what I looked like:

This was taken last week as I travelled back from Stracathro from a business meeting. It was a beautiful day as I drove up Cairn o' Mount on the way back to Banchory. Usually, if we stop at the top, we get out at the little car park, where it seems you can see half of Scotland on a clear day, but this time, I thought I would actually go up to the cairn itself - I'd never actually been there before.

I remember when the stones were just a tiny little pile of rubble, but everyone that stops adds a stone and the cairn is now about 15-20 feet high and the same in diameter. Yes, I did add a stone of my own as well. It's also a little bit of a shrine, with flowers and cards on part of it.

Apart from that, what's been happening? Well, sadly, the golf season - and, seemingly, the summer - is coming to a rapid end. No more midweek evening golf now - it's too dark after work to get 18 holes in. The weather feels a bit autumnal as well. 18 of us were at Boat of Garten this weekend - for our 50th outing there in the 25th year of the trophy - and it was really windy, although at least dry, sunny and warm enough to have the shorts on.

Of course, it was Ross' birthday yesterday - 27! We had Luca over for tea as usual and he really enjoyed the chocolate birthday cake and candles - Jo took the photos and will post them on her blog. Jo and Ross are going in to town this afternoon to buy Ross some shoes (last Christmas' present!) and a top or 2.

I'm supposed to be playing in a Seniors match at Kirriemuir this afternoon, but it looked a bit doubtful overnight with the wind and rain. However, it's a bit drier this morning and I've been assured their course is open, so, fingers crossed for a dry afternoon.

One of my pals who was golfing with us at Boat of Garten this weekend - Dick Taylor - Taylors of Banchory - was rushed off to hospital yesterday morning. He was in the shop and felt poorly and had to lay down on the floor, so they called the doctor, who called an ambulance to take him to hospital. They've kept him in for some more tests and some bed rest - it could have been a small stroke, or possibly a viral infection. Dick's always one of the fittest and most bubbly characters - he'll be 65 in a couple of weeks. Scary.

We've got the Quiz night at the golf club on Saturday, which, unfortunately clashes with a gig that the band that is booked for the wedding is doing at the Burnett Arms. Pity.

I think that's me up to date. I corresponded with Kelly on Facebook yesterday and I see Lucy's updated her blog with photos of the boys going back to school, so that was nice to see.

Blood on the tracks

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

So, still on the subject of health and medicals, I've to go back and see my GP again in 6 weeks after the nurse has done my bloods. I've started on a low dose of beta blockers and last night was my first statin so we'll wait and see how I get on.

Funnily enough, 6 weeks takes me to the time of my knee arthroscopies and also to my next appointment with the cardiologist - I need a medical season ticket.

I spoke to Barry last night - he and Helen have finally got the package they were looking for and both are now retiring at the end of the year. How does that work anyway, that Barry, who's over 5 years younger than me, is retiring?

Nice birthday present for Barry - 56 last Sunday - and Kieran was 21 yesterday. Not long till Ross' 27th and then Lauren's 28th - busy time of year. It would have been my pal Terry Edmonds' 64th birthday today as well, but he's been gone for a while now. The circle of life.

Got golf at St Andrews on Friday, followed by a curry - sorry, there I go again - I've mentioned that already. No golf on Saturday or Sunday this week, however. Might be the movies on Saturday - or possibly Pittodrie - or maybe even the CAMRA meeting - beer festival post mortem. Need to be bright and alert on Sunday as that's the day we're planning to go up Lochnagar, weather permitting.

Next week is looking busy socially as well - corporate invite to Gleneagles on Tuesday; last Wednesday of our midweek golf; then the Terry Edmonds' Memorial golf at Aboyne on the Friday, whilst we're off to a barbeque in Culter on the Saturday, then it's Boat of Garten weekend - our 50th outing in our 25th year!

Only 10 weeks to the wedding as well - look forward to seeing everyone.

Still no news of any offers on our time share exchanges for Oz and Or next year - I think we'll be struggling for the former - it's the middle of the school holiday season down there - may have to pay for some hotels etc.

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/


Well, it's been a week since I blogged so I guess it's time to update the diary. What's been happening since we had our weekend at the Fringe? Recovery is the first phase - took me a couple of days to feel OK again after a hard weekend pounding the streets of Edinburgh until the wee hours of the morning.


Got some golf on Wednesday evening - and, would you believe it, there's only two more Wednesdays left in our Summer Quaich competition - after next week, it's too dark to play 18 holes after work - how sad. Even daytime/weekend golf will be phasing out over the next 5-6 weeks as we head through autumn to winter. The end of season events are being organised now.


Still, you didn't really want to hear about golf, did you? Too bad - it's my blog and I wanted to let you all know how sad it now feels to realise the summer is slipping away.


We had Luca for 2 days last week - the usual Tuesday and, on Friday, he stayed over as Gary and Carole hit the town on nights out. Talking about Gary, do you all realise he's now hassling me because I haven't been to get my kilt fitted yet? After all those months of inactivity Gary, how could you? (I'm only teasing really - I'm going along this week).


We had a lovely afternoon on Saturday - we'd been invited along to Hugh and Jackie Riches' for an afternoon party/meal. What a glorious day it was - Jo and I walked down to the old coach house down at Bellfield/KGV park. I thought I'd take a picture of Jo and the flowers on the main street - standing in the bus turning circle. Of course, a bus came along just at the wrong time - Jo thought it was hilarious:

We stayed in and watched another episode of The Wire on Saturday night - that's us on to Series 4 now, so I guess we're hooked.

Monday morning, it was back to my GP again - he wanted to check on how I was getting on with the beta blockers, and to prescribe my statins - plus check on when I'm going to get my knees done (1st October). He read some of the specialist's report out - he said the next stage for me after the arthroscopy would be a complete - not partial - knee replacement - hopefully not too soon, however.

Going to St Andrews on Friday - it's been a while since we played any of the old links courses there. Whoops, sorry - I'm back to golf again! Hope to go and see The Girl Who Played With Fire this weekend or next week - the second of the Millennium series' films is released on Friday. Only problem is that Jo hasn't finished the book yet - best get cracking, Jo!

Videos

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

A couple more videos from last weekend at the Fringe are now on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=976VOeBuGus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkKHE57aUnc

What a beautiful day today - pity I have to face the long drive back from Fraserburgh - and Jo's out tonight as well.

The tale of the badly located parliament

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Sunday morning - breakfast 8:45 am, then pack our bags and off we go again. The plan this time was to head straight for Holyrood Park and go to Foodies at the Fest again. Our train home was at 4 pm so we had plenty of time - the only problem was we were carrying our backpacks - and it's all uphill from our B & B.

I was wondering if there might be a shortcut to Holyrood Park which didn't involve going all the way up Broughton St and the Bridges then down the Royal Mile. Jo jokingly suggested we should climb Calton Hill and have a look from there. We laughed the idea off at first, but then thought - why not? It was going to be another nice day - misty start, but clearing, so up we climbed - two old fogeys with cardiac conditions, puffing away.

The views at the top were great - across the Firth to Fife in the north and across the city to the west. There's a bit of a Greek temple style folly at the top:

and this one is taken with my back to Princes St:


Round towards the north west, Jo sat on the edge looking down over the Glass House where we had stayed on our last visit to the capital a few months ago:

South east towards Salisbury Crags/Arthur's Seat, peering through the early morning mist:


then looking directly down Princes St with the zoom:

South east overlooking the Scottish Parliament, which, to me, is the wrong building in the wrong place - what was wrong with Calton Hill? Donald Dewar is no longer around to face the music on this one:
Holyrood Palace is a different matter altogether - a graceful building in what was a fine and natural setting:

We even stopped to have a cup of tea at the Palace after we came down from the hill:

Then it was the Foodies Festival. Jo opted for the rum tasting - what was wrong with the gin one, Jo? By now it was a glorious day and we sat in the sun and listened to a few of the performers, including the Soweto Gospel Choir and the Oxford Belles female accappella group. Time to grab some grub - pig in a bun was the order of the day:

Took this snap of the Palace on the way back:

Walking back towards the foot of the Royal Mile, I looked up and saw two walkers in the far distance on top of Salisbury Crags - it must have been at least half a mile away, but the air was clear so I zoomed in as best I could:


Then it was the train home and we were back in Arbor Court well before 7 pm. Lovely weekend - but much rest needed now.

I bought a blue car today

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

No I didn't really buy a new car - that was the title of Alan Cumming's show late on Friday night/Saturday morning. Apparently, this was a sentence he had to write when he became a naturalised U.S. citizen a few years ago to prove he had a grasp of the Queen's English!

Saturday morning was a very slow start - hardly surprising - and we would probably have stayed in bed for a while longer had we been staying in a hotel, rather than our usual B & B. It's very nice and homely, but breakfast was at 8:30 am sharp and we were out of the place, pacing the streets again just after 10 am.

We strolled up to the west end of George St and the Book Festival in Charlotte Square - a regular stop for us. We were able to relax, have a cup of tea, read the papers and buy some books. We had tentatively planned to do the 10 am walk down the Royal Mile, but our late night scuppered that.

I read about the Five Guys Named Moe show on at McEwan Hall at 5:15 pm - it's a show I've tried to see a few times, but kept missing it, and this production had Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon from The Wire) in it, and we had time between shows if we could get tickets. So, off we wandered to the Udderbelly complex and we were lucky enough to get a couple of tickets.

OK - now some lunch, then back to the Gilded Balloon for the Life and Rhymes of Ian Dury - and very good it was too. (More photos etc on my other music and ale blogs, and also on Facebook and You Tube).

Jo wanted to have her photo taken in front of the Udderbelly - a giant inverted cow:



Later on, she insisted on taking one of me right inside the complex:



There was only a short break between shows - a total of 4 today, all just a few yards away from each other. Five Guys Named Moe and Danny Bhoy were both inside the McEwan Hall:



Both shows were terrific - Danny Bhoy was another I'd been meaning to see, but hadn't got round to until now.

So now, we had time for dinner before heading back to the Udderbelly for the late night John Cooper Clarke show. After a bit of huffing and puffing, we finally chose well - Maison Bleue ( http://www.maisonbleuerestaurant.com/).

JCC was pretty good as well - Jo was prepared for the worst, but she was, I think, expecting some kind of ogre - and he's certainly not that nowadays.

So we got back to bed at the relatively early time of 1:30 am - just one day left!

Hit me with **** ****** *****

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/





Here's some more of the Fringe weekend story. Our first "show" on Friday was the Ale Tasting at Leslie's Bar. It was a little confusing at first - we thought we were early and bought ourselves some beer before we noticed a small group sitting in the corner with some jars of hops etc in front of them. Never mind, we sat down and joined in and tasted three half pint samples. At the end of the talk, we were astonished when we were told we could have another two pints free plus a commemorative glass - all for just £10!





Then it was on to see the Paul Robeson story - small, intimate surroundings and a Nigerian singer (Tayo Aluko - wonder if he's a relative of Aberdeen footballer, Sone?) with a deep rich voice. The story itself had Jo in tears and the occasional song was very good. The one by which he'll always be known - Old Man River from Showboat - has been uploaded to You Tube - watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IUc1yCh6Hs




From there it was off to the Royal Mile where we grabbed a bite to eat at a nice little bistro - Lazy Lohan's and saw the most awful show:

There has to be one at every Fringe - and this was it. The cast numbered 10 and the audience just out-numbered them at the start - by one! - but, by the finish the cast were definitely greater than the remaining audience. Frankly, we expected a play going by this title to contain at least some music, but, apart from the odd snippet of miming, there was nothing.

The late night show was Alan Cumming's opening night. I wasn't sure what he'd do, but it was mostly musical with a few tales in between. He developed a pretty nice rapport with the audience, many of whom were obviously big fans, but perhaps on reflection he slightly over-did the gay thing and there were one or two, not quite awkward moments, but you could sense some uneasiness in certain sections of the audience.

So to bed - 2:30 am and another 2 days to go!

From Beasley Street to Chicken Town

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Don't have much time just now to post all the photos of our weekend at the Fringe - but it was fun, although pretty tiring. It was 2:30 am on Friday night/Saturday morning when we got back to our B & B, and just an hour earlier the following night - we're too old for this nowadays. Glad we got the train down so at least I didn't have to drive.

Just one quick photo of Jo for now - at Stonehaven station on Friday:


Spare a little thought for her today - it was exactly 19 years ago that her Dad passed - William Lincoln Sowerby never properly recovered from the heart attack he suffered.

Though she was born a long, long time ago, **** ****** should know

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yes - I can hardly believe it was 8 years ago today that Mum died. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a Monday and Barry had phoned me to tell me that Mum was going downhill and I should come down. Jo and I made our preparations and drove down, but we'd left it too late - she was gone by the time we got there. Barry phoned again to tell me - we were between Dundee and Perth. I stopped the car for a while but then drove on.

Jessie Hamilton Stewart (nee Barr) was 81, but she hadn't been at all well since her fall in the bathroom at Foxbar Drive a few years before - and Dad couldn't cope with her after that. Here she is in her younger days - isn't she bonny?

Yesterday, we had a couple of deliveries - first the new bed for where the futon used to be; then John Lewis delivered the TV cabinet. It needed a little bit of assembly for the base, but Ross did this and tidied up all the wiring. Here it is now:


Not a moment too soon either - the old one was on the brink of collapse.

Hanging around, nothing to do but frown, ***** **** *** *******

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's not a Monday, but it is a rainy day - why does it always seem to rain on Wednesdays - my regular midweek golf day? It's certainly been that way for the last few weeks - every other day fine, but Wednesdays seem to get the worst of it. Oh well, nothing I can do about it.

Come to think of it, the rain did start last night. Jo took Luca home after tea and I was sitting there watching TV, listening to and watching the rain falling out the back. Suddenly, I noticed some bright evening sunlight lighting up the tops of the trees at the back - it looked lovely. I tried to capture it on camera, but I'm not sure I did it justice:

That one was without the flash - this was one taken seconds before when the flash was still on, which, of course, makes it seem darker beyond the range of the flash:



Which one looks better? I'm not sure.

Just to brighten up a dull day, would you like to see what Albyn sent me?:





It's all happening on 1st October - hope I recover in time for the wedding - can't miss out on all the dancing, can I? - and for my golf trip to Spain a week later. By coincidence, I go back to see the cardiologist on Monday 4th - I guess Jo will have to wheel me in then as well.

Well, I finally finished my tedious book last night - The Song is You by Arthur Phillips (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Phillips). I had bought it (and a few others) at our favourite bookstore in Medford in March, but never got round to reading it until recently. It's a relatively slim novel, although very wordy, but it seemed to take me ages to finish it - I guess it didn't exactly grip me, but I was determined to finish it - and I did. The last section was the only decent bit of the book. The critics' quotes on the cover kind of gave the ending away, which made things a bit worse, I think.

What else did I do while Jo was over at Inverurie? Well, I watched another couple of episodes of the re-run of Tony Palmer's All You Need is Love series, plus I finished watching an interesting 2 hour film about Donovan's life before going up to bed to finish my book. Jo was pretty late home and I was out for the count by the time she got back.