'Sno fair

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Taking a day off work afforded me the opportunity to walk down to the village for a haircut. Jo was heading off to Morrison's so I chummed her along - both of us fighting our way along the snowbound pavements. The icicles on the buildings are getting longer each day:

There has been so much snow and the ploughs have been out constantly, with the priority to keep the roads open. The smaller ploughs have also been clearing the pavements outside the shops in the High St, but the result is that huge snow barriers/walls have been building up at the edge of the road - they are becoming a hazard in themselves and today, there were diggers out loading up lorries with the surplus snow:

The sight of this delighted Jo - she had remembered this from our first winter in Deeside 27 years ago, but had been pooh-poohed by others (not me!) who told her it was just another of her flights of imagination.

Here's our house and cars in the driveway this morning:

Guess I better get back and do some work now!

London weekend

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We got there in the end - expensively and a good bit later than planned. What should have been a simple trip to Terminal 5 with BA then a tube straight to Gloucester Road, just across from our Fraser Place apartment, became a bit more complicated when we had to go with Flybe to Gatwick, then the Gatwick Express and a taxi.

No matter - we got there in time to check in, grab a quick snack then walk round to the Royal Albert Hall. Jools Holland was preceded by a half hour set by Rumer, then Jools and his band did a straight through 2 hour set with the usual array of guest artistes, notably including a slimline Alison Moyet.

We walked back after the gig and bypassed the bistro I fancied, back down to the Compton Road/Gloucester Road junction. We failed in a couple of attempts to get a meal - too late, Guv - it's after 11pm - "but your sign says open until midnight" - not for food, mate. So, much to Jo's chagrin, we settled for a couple of pints, some pistachios, olives and crisps!

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we took a taxi to Piccadilly and wandered round Green Park, The Mall and Clarence House before our 11:30 am booking at the Ritz. I recalled my time between 1974 and 1977 working in Devonshire House for James Buchanan & Co - we even walked past the site of the IRA bomb that blew up our offices.

Nowadays there's a whole new entrance to Green Park tube station being constructed, which is the reason for the temporary green woodwork in Green Park as I posed in front of my old office:

It was a beautiful, crisp and bright morning with lots of tourists walking along the Mall to Buckingham Palace:

Finally, inside the glitzy Ritz tearoom:


A harpist played in the hall:

We needed to walk after almost 2 hours of drinking endless cups of tea and eating sandwiches and cake, so we strolled along Piccadilly and popped in to Fortnum and Mason's:

Up past Eros, and up Regent Street for a bit, then back along towards Bond St, then a full loop back to catch the Tube to Heathrow, where we were initially told that our flight was cancelled. Fortunately, I asked somebody else and it turned out, that, whilst Aberdeen airport had been shut intermittently, it was open again and our flight was going - so we got back at a fairly reasonable hour after a short but hectic weekend.

Weekend travel

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/


Feeling ripped off this morning - BA cancelled our 8:15 flight to London but there were no more seats on flights until 7:30 this evening - too late for us. Had to pay an arm and a leg to get a flight down with Flybe but, as we're still coming back with BA, there's no refund!

Added to which, I had to get up early to try and book alternative flights and, having now booked the lunchtime flights, I could have stayed in bed! Hope the Flybe flight is on time - our timetable is a bit tight now.

Snow blues

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Can snow be blue? Yes, I think so.

After Wednesday night's two and a half hour fiasco ice-dancing my way back home after the police shut the main roads back to Banchory, it was a no-brainer to stay at home yesterday. I did get up at the usual time this morning, however and drove to work. It seemed there was a bit of a thaw on - certainly the snow just fell off my car this morning - it wasn't frozen on. Deeside roads were still a little white, but Aberdeen roads were black and there thankfully didn't appear to be any ice around.

There have been snow flurries today, however, and I won't be waiting around too long before I head west again. I've printed off our boarding passes for our flights to London tomorrow and I hope we manage to make it OK.

Yesterday, I did some work at home but a lot of the day was spent tele-watching - golf, cricket, some old Mad Men episodes, Corrie and, later on, the final episodes of The Wire. That's us seen all 5 series now - some 60 odd episodes - and it was really interesting - very gritty, but the character portraits were fascinating. My favourites were Omar (the gun-toting assassin) and Bubs (the down and out junkie). Both found their own redemption in the end - Omar met his end the way he lived his life, but Bubs got clean and was welcomed back in to his family.

Anyway, enough for now - best head home before we get any more snow.

Tuesday

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Just a quick post today. Had a nice trip to Bergen yesterday - even though I didn't leave the airport terminal! Our flight was running late so our hosts organised a lovely meeting room with a spectacular view of the fjords and islands at the airport hotel. Very civilised flight and times too and I was home just after 6:30 pm - armed with a bag of Bamse Mums - does everyone remember them? I'll bet there are none left when I get home tonight!

Been to the gym again today and I've finally sent my passport off for renewal - hope it comes back quickly as I need to get my Visa application in for Oz soon.

Here's a quick one of Jo and Luca at the weekend:

Sunday blog

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/



Here I go again - last blogger standing. It was a perfect November day today - no wind, no rain, a trifle cool, but as good as we can expect it at this time of year. I played golf this morning - the first time I've walked a course since my knee ops - in fact, it's the longest walk I've been on. I managed fine - a bit stiff towards the end, but otherwise OK.



All set for my quick trip to Bergen tomorrow - not sure what the weather's like there - oh, just checked online - sunny and 3 degrees apparently.

We've got our trip to London next weekend to look forward to - going to the Royal Albert Hall to see Jools Holland, and then Tea at the Ritz on Sunday.

We had Luca this weekend as Gary took Carole horse riding for her birthday. Luca was in good form - he especially liked his short rides to and from the garage in our neighbour Amy's little tricycle with a push handle on the back. His little legs were whirling away OK, but the propulsion was coming from me, so at least I didn't have to wait for him. The first trip was for chocolate and the second for crisps - not for him, but for Granny Jo!

Just over 4 weeks till Xmas - and then 3 weeks after that we're off to Oz!

Confession

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been nearly 2 weeks since I blogged.

I do have an excuse, of course - I was away all last week - and, yes - I did manage to play 6 rounds of golf in Spain, albeit with the help of buggies. It was a little late in the year to be really hot - we were only in southern Spain - we reckon you have to go as far south as Tenerife or Marrakech at this time of year to get the really warm temperatures - but, hey - I played in shorts every day so it can't be bad. We dodged a bullet on Sunday when it rained - that was the day we were travelling home.

So this week's been back at work. I've been to the gym twice this week - guilty conscience perhaps? I also had my flu jab - the one I forgot all about on the day of Laura Mason's wedding - oh, yes, I haven't told you about that yet, have I? Nice day out at Ardoe House Hotel - here we are with the Kilgours, Hodgsons and Maura:


The little brown patch on my nose was treated again the day before this wedding and some more of the skin has dropped off - it looks better now, but I'll get it checked out in a few weeks.

My knees are feeling a bit stronger - I'd like to think I could manage a game of squash before Xmas - but we'll see how it goes.

I've got a rare business day trip on Monday - to Bergen - lovely place, but not necesssarily at this time of year!

and I've got a new laptop - a Sony Vaio - a lot smaller and lighter than my old one - a lot easier to carry, but I may need to add a monitor for the office! My old laptop has gone to Jo - at least for the time being. Normally we hand them down at work, but there's no takers just now. I think Jo enjoyed playing with it last night.

So that's me up to date - what about you other bloggers?

Quiet house

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/



Well, our sick family have all flown home now - how sad - the house is a lot quieter now! The Lesinas flew west on Thursday morning and Kelly headed in the opposite direction later on.



Here's a few of the pre-departure photos - firstly Braeden, looking a little reflective and wearing his new Scotland hat that he got at Castle Fraser, Kemnay on Sunday:

I dropped Lucy, Scott and the boys at Aberdeen airport and took a quick photo as they disappeared to the terminal building. Braeden and Cade noticed me, but Lucy was intent on getting to check-in, whilst Scott was out of shot, lugging the rest of the cases:

I met Jo and Kelly inside the terminal building and we said our farewells and off she dashed - I just managed to get this slightly out of focus shot as she disappeared through to security:

So, it's back to the old routine now - well, maybe not quite yet - it was the Stonehaven Beer Festival last night and a few of us went over - not Jo this time - she wasn't feeling up to it, and we've got another wedding to attend this afternoon, so she decided it was best to give it a miss this year. (Festival photos on my ale blog -http://iansaleadventures.blogspot.com/).

I also went back to see my knee surgeon on Thursday - just a routine follow-up visit. My knees are progressing pretty well - even my troublesome right knee is a little better now, but Mr. Bidwell confirmed that a new knee is definitely on the radar - it's just a question of time. He thought that I could probably get away with a partial replacement, rather than a full one - most of the damage is on the inside of the knee. He told me to just carry on as normal just now and see how I get on with the knee as is - best to put off the op for as long as possible.

That was the first of 4 planned visits to the medics in 2 days. On Friday, I went to see my GP to get the results of my latest blood tests - the previous one had shown an adverse liver function reading after I started on the statins a month ago, but this one was OK, thankfully. I've to get it checked again just before we go to Oz in January.

Just an hour later, I went to see one of the other partners in our local medical practice - this was a follow-up to the freezing treatment he had applied last month to the sun spot on my nose. It's improved a little but it's still there, so he applied another treatment and we'll see how this one goes.

Then, this morning, I was due to go for my flu jab - but I forgot! Whoops - must have been too much beer last night.

So, I better go and pack now - Laura Mason's wedding this afternoon, then off to Spain tomorrow morning. I haven't had a chance to play any golf for 6 weeks, but I did go to the driving range on Wednesday night to see how much it was going to hurt. It wasn't too bad, although I had to take it very easy, not knowing whether my knees would stand up to it and also how much my ribs would hurt as I swung through. Fingers crossed.

The Wedding

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Guess there's not much to say since I last blogged - oh no, there was the small matter of a wedding - whoops, nearly forgot!

It was a lovely weekend and all went well - great venue and really nice bright sunshine - looking forward to seeing the professional photographer's work - a selection of my photos are on Facebook - as are a number of others - and my video clips are now on You Tube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6X6-K29YS8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dpEus0n4Ks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAoWEN_HPj4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6w3DSXbEuw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5G5OjVLfSw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlEAQtMnZ3k

It was nice going out for a bar supper with Brian and Mary on Friday (to the Redgarth) and staying there the extra night made things a lot easier for us on the day of the wedding.

Everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves too - and it was great to see all the family together. As I said at my 60th last year, better to do it in these happy circumstances than wait to get together on a less happy occasion!

So, just 3 days now until Scott, Lucy and the boys head West again, and Kelly heads in the opposite direction - it's gone too quickly. Kelly, Ross and Braeden are now not well, but at least Scott is on the mend. Come to Scotland to get sick!

Kelly again

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Kelly's night out got aborted last night - her pals were not feeling too good. Never mind - I think she was glad to have a quiet night in anyway. Here she is, on her return, still in her glad rags:

Wednesday was a work morning for me - then dentist's at lunchtime and then home. Kelly and Lucy had planned to go for a run together, but this never materialised, so Kelly climbed Scolty instead - then, not having exercised enough, she borrowed my car and drove over to Inverurie and went up Bennachie with Carole.

However, today's big story was Ross having his hair cut! He finally did it - he's still got his pony tail - but only just - he's lost over a foot of hair.

Scott and I went over to the golf club to practice chipping and putting - I still can't take a full swing. We had a couple of beers with my pals afterwards and now we're home vegetating. Tomorrow it's the gym for some and swimming in the afternoon for others.

Two more full days to go - then it's the big day.

Kelly's alive!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, Kelly finally got back to Banchory on Monday morning but her all-nighter with her pal Kat on Saturday had taken its toll and she was in bed sleeping by the time we came home from our swimming trip. We went to the Marriott, Dyce and it was nice and quiet. The boys enjoyed the usual tomfoolery in the pool:

Meanwhile Her Majesty tried to catch up with her reading backlog - keep going Jo - the 3rd film in the Millennium series is released soon - will she manage to finish it before we see the movie this time?

Lucy took the chance to use the running machines:

We stopped off at the Shepherd's Rest, Westhill, for some supper on the way home - and pretty good it was too:

Today (Tuesday), Kelly came with me to the office and we then went down to Bannatyne's at 9:30 am where I signed her in for a morning of exercise classes etc. I did a little bit of work in the gym myself, then went back to the office for a few hours' work, returning to pick Kelly up at 2:30 pm. Yes, she'd managed to keep herself busy there for a full 5 hours!

Incidentally, how did it happen that my family, who had been couch potatoes all the time when I was running, playing squash, football and golf, turned to exercise freaks? It kind of snuck up on me, but they're all at it now - except Ross, that is!

Kelly's out again tonight - but in Banchory this time. She shouldn't get up to too much mischief here on a Tuesday night!

Monday moans

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

I'm at work waiting for the rest of them to come and pick up the swim vouchers I've got for them - do you think they'll arrive early? No, I don't think so either.

Trouble with my ribs again last night - hardly slept. Thought they were getting better, but not judging by last night they're not.

The Lesinas are having their kilt fittings now - that should be fun for them.

Other than that, nothing much doing - I've updated the archive photos on my blog sidebar - that shows how bored I've been!

Chaos reigns

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, they all got here safely on Friday - and seemed not to be suffering too much from jet lag either. Kelly actually got an earlier flight - although her luggage was a bit later, not arriving until Sunday afternoon.

We had a fairly quiet Saturday - Carole, Luca and Gary arrived over late afternoon and we all had chilli for tea, then it was out to Gary's stag night, which started at the Douglas. We got the chance to meet Ross' girlfriend, Katherine, as well, so that was a bonus.

Next stop was the Stag, but I then baled out and left the youngsters to it. I understand they went on to a house party and got back about 3:30 am, so Sunday has been a bit of a sleepy day for some of them. Even Cade and Braeden slept in, but here's the latter looking cool:



Kelly stayed in Aberdeen and hit the town with her pal on Saturday night - which at least gave Gary a bed at ours - but she's suffering today and hasn't made it back to Banchory. We'll see her tomorrow morning no doubt.

What have I done to deserve this?

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Dusty - and the PSB - said it all. My luck is showing no sign of turning for the better. I was out cycling again yesterday afternoon and decided to go along the river on the golf course. The path got a bit narrow and slopey at one point and I made the fatal error of slowing down - I should have kept the pace up - and off I tumbled, smashing my body in to a birch tree - boy did it hurt!

I eventually managed to get up, dust myself off and make it back home. Moving was painful and I knew sleep would be difficult - and so it proved. At 5 am this morning, I'd had enough - I got up and thought I would try to head to work as I'd originally planned, but any kind of movement was painful and I decided it would have to be Casualty for me, so I got Jo up and we headed to ARI.

If ever there's a good time to visit Casualty, it's early on Monday morning - we were the only ones there. I was examined by one of the Doctors - no ribs broken or cracked - just bruised - but he told me it could be painful for a few months yet - what? I've got my Spanish golfing holiday in 3 weeks' time - oh no!

So here I am, at home again, blogging and moaning away again about the state of my body. I was really enjoying the cycling as part of my recuperation after the knee ops and was looking forward to a trip to the gym and pool again today, but this has set me back again.

I should have stuck to better surfaces and not risked the tighter tracks down at the river. I'd also cycled on Saturday - up to Banchory Car Centre. Ross had finally spotted a vehicle - a Mazda 3 - that would do for his business and could take the "Banchory Techies" name and numbers etc - so that's his company's first acquisition. Now all we need to do is get rid of the old Merc from our driveway.