Sydney on to Adelaide

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Walking home on Wednesday night, we passed some traditional Aussie houses - a bit New Orleans-like we thought:

 Thursday morning was spent in the Botanical Gardens. This wasn't an exhibit - we just spotted it out in the park - beaut isn't it?:

We went to Hyde Park Barracks where a lot of the original convicts ended up - great exhibition - we could have spent more time there but we had a plane to catch. Here's a modern mock-up of their sleeping arrangements:

Eventually, it was Adelaide and Kelly was there to greet us and take us to our apartment in the gym buggy:

Kelly's cycle run (part of the Tour Down Under) started at 6 am, so we gave that a miss and just chilled out on Friday on the beach in front of our apartment block:

The final photo had to be shown. We both had on our Qantas jammies this morning as we stepped out on our balcony:

From HK to Oz

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We did the official coach tour on Saturday (including the steep tram up to the top of Victoria Peak) and our own thing on Sunday, which included a visit to Times Square, Happy Valley Racecourse, then an unscheduled couple of tram rides which were broken by a fascinating walk through a street market. The second tram ride was in the wrong direction however and we had to get off and take a taxi back to our hotel - a theme that was to be repeated.

Saturday's trip included a stop at a temple:

Dinner on Saturday was at a Szechuan restaurant we just happened to stumble upon, but Sunday was at the rooftop 188 restaurant at our hotel - fabulous and what stunning views from the 41st floor:

On Monday we decided to walk to the ferry across to Kowloon where we walked the Avenue of Stars - Jackie Chan was one of the 2 names of film stars we knew:

Great views across the water to Hong Kong Island:

The journey back was fun - we got on the wrong ferry! This meant we had to walk an extra couple of miles back to our hotel - we were both hot and sweaty by the time we got back.

Our overnight flight with Qantas was good - flat beds again - breakfast came before we were ready - we wanted to sleep on! It was an early morning arrival in Sydney and it was no surprise that our rooms at the Marriott at Circular Quay weren't ready. We used the early arrivals lounge for a while then eventually got our room. After washing and changing, we walked down to the waterfront to view the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and who should we bum into but Richard and Gail Simcox, who had flown in yesterday! We had a couple of beers with them at the nearby Paragon Hotel:

Then we tried to walk our beers off and went towards the Opera House and came back through Hyde Park:

Tomorrow Kelly meets us in Adelaide - as Lauren would say, whoo whoo!

Hong Kong

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

First posting from our long trip - just waiting for Jo to get ready to go out and grab something to eat and drink. Good journey out - wish we could afford to travel Club Class every time:

Our seats went horizontal, so we could actually sleep for a change. As a result, I only watched one movie - and it's one I've seen before - and we've got the DVD! The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo of course.

Service was great and our little pod was very cosy as you can see. When I awoke in the morning, I had a bit of a bloodshot eye however:

We got picked up by limo and taken to our hotel - the 5 star Harbour Grand (http://www.harbourgrand.com/hongkong/luxury-hotel-,default-en.html). Here's the view from our room - a little misty as you can see:

All set

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's been a busy week since we came back from Aviemore, but I think I've got most things done and can leave with a fairly clear conscience tomorrow.

Mixed news on the medical front recently. The skin damage on my nose has improved - the top layer was successfully frozen off and it certainly looks a bit more normal now. There is still some underlying (benign) damage however and I have to make sure I wear a fairly high factor sun cream. I have to go back and have it checked again in 3 months.

My blood tests last week were OK - my liver count was back down again, so I didn't have to see the doctor this week and don't have to have the tests again for another 2 months.

Now comes the bad news - it was back to the dental surgeon yesterday to look at the CT scan that was done last week. There is a hole in the bone of my gum that is a bit bigger than they thought, so, not only do I need to have a tooth implant, I've got to have some bone regeneration material added. Bio-Oss/Bio-Gide are the materials in question - the former is bovine in origin and the latter from pigs. The whole process lasts 6 months before the implant can be left to stand alone - and, of course, it's costing even more now!

Better news on the holiday front - we've got one of the time shares I requested - and it's back to Newport Coast, south of LA again - where we were last March. We enjoyed the resort and are looking forward to going back again. Check it out - http://www.marriottvacationclub.com/vacation-resorts/marriott-newport-coast/overview.shtml We're heading there week commencing 14th August.

That's about it - Hong Kong here we come!

Aviemore and Moulin, by Pitlochry

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We're home again after escaping the snow blizzards of Aviemore this morning - but we had a nice weekend. Our drive through on Friday was OK, but I had to drive gingerly , particularly through Donside on our way to the Lecht. The steepest parts of the road - from the Allargue Arms up the hill at Corgarff, and up the hill at Bridge of Brown - were by far the easiest parts - it seems the ploughs had made special efforts to make sure vehicles could get up to the slopes OK.

We settled in our apartment down by the Spey and then walked up to the centre at Dalfaber for a beer to help us decide where to eat. There was nobody in the restaurant and we were initially a little reluctant to be guinea pigs, but eventually we relented and took our seats beside the central fire for our steaks. We even posed for a photograph after our meal:

We went back to our apartment and watched Shutter Island on DVD - what's that all about?

It snowed on Saturday morning, but we knew we had to get out and stretch our legs and by the time we were ready to go the snow had relented - but who would go out with a woman wearing a hat like this?:

Our walk was circular - along the river, across the golf course and back up through the Dalfaber estate to the town centre and then down to the Old Bridge Inn for lunch. Back to the apartment in the afternoon, read, sleep, G & T and then out again on the long walk back to town. We opted for Spice of India - pretty good - and we posed for a photo at reception as we left:

(Neither Santa nor the sax were real - thought I should tell you that).

On Sunday morning it snowed again - heavily for an hour or so - and we began to doubt if we could get out of Aviemore at all. We did eventually make the drive south, and once we were over the Drumochter Pass, it was fairly plain sailing on the way to meet Barry, Helen and Dawn at the Moulin Inn, near Pitlochry. Here's the team photograph at our favourite pub, with Dawn hogging the fire:

By the time we had eaten, the skies were now blue and I took this photo of Jo, taking a photo of me:

and that was our weekend - now to get ready for HK & Oz.

Sick and tired, you've been hanging on me

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

No - that's not how I feel - it's a song called January by Pilot from 1975. I don't think they were talking about the month, however - but it is known as a depressing month - holidays over, bills coming in, bad weather, family arguments etc etc. We hope that's not going to be the case for us - or you - escaping to the sun Down Under should help us as well.

Drove to Fraserburgh today - our canning plant opened again after its Xmas shutdown. As some of you may have noticed on my Facebook page, I made some forlorn attempts to get a snap of the Solar Eclipse at dawn today. I failed, but here's how I tried:

Never mind - worth a go.

Spent much of today clearing up - filing etc - and getting ready for a busy week next week before we head off, but I did have time to do a bit of planning for some other outings this year - golf and hill-walking. After last year's WHW adventure, we're considering the Lake District this time - but that'll be much later this year.

Kelly did Skype us yesterday, but the internet connection was so bad, we gave up eventually. Still, it was nice to see she was still alive and was recovering from her various parties. She always was the party girl, our Kelly. Wonder how she'll cope looking after twa old fogeys for a couple of weeks?

I think I'll sign off now - tea is almost ready. The news is on, but it all seems so depressing - especially all the talk of cut-backs and the VAT increase. Some people, it seems, want to talk us in to recession again.

Happy New Year!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

The New Year is only a few hours old but here's my first blog posting of 2011 already. We had a nice dinner last night - Jo cooked a lovely meal and everyone enjoyed it - but the house is a bit of a wreck with dirty dishes and glasses everywhere and we don't have the energy to clear them yet - so I'm whiling away time, blogging, Facebooking, texting and catching up with TV programmes recorded last night (Corrie, Only an Excuse).

Looks like the Aberdeen match will be on this afternoon so I'll be heading off to Pittodrie in a couple of hours - that might wake me up - or maybe not!

This is Jo looking a bit more relaxed - the meal is over now and she can take it easy:

and this is the rest of us - with Maura just out of shot on the right:

Hope you had a good time too.

Luca is 4!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

The video of the Happy Birthday song is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVJX9RckPxM

Carole was delighted with her Xmas present - a personalised cover for her i-phone:

 

but the main business was the blowing out of the candles:

and, of course, the cake had to be Ben 10:

Lovely day - nice lunch, Carole.

So I headed off from there to the squash court and then home. When I got there, Jo was already laying the table for tonight's dinner party:

The tree is starting to look a little dried up in the corner:

I didn't bother going in to the office today - had a bit of a long lie and I thought it best to be around in case I'm required to do any last minute running about for the dinner tonight, but, so far, all I've done is take some bottles and paper down to the recycling centre and do a bit of dusting. I kind of feel I'm cramping Jo's style - I'll just keep my head down.

Tomorrow, I've got my 3rd invite in a row to Pittodrie. The last 2 were postponed because of the weather - will I get lucky a 3rd time?

Have a good Hogmanay everyone - hope to talk to you some time soon.

Strange Christmas

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, it's been a bit of a strange Christmas holiday - the weather meant that postal deliveries were spasmodic to say the least prior to Christmas - no doubt there'll be a ton of mail arriving any day now.

We're still consuming turkey, despite having had it for our main meal on Christmas Day (just Jo, Ross and I) and also Boxing Day (six of us, including Gary, Carole and Luca). It's been turkey toasties since then - always enjoyable - but the trifle is still not finished, and nor is the cheesecake, and, to make matters even worse, Jo thought she would make a dumpling, so we've got that to consume as well!

Jo's been experimenting for Friday night - we've got guests coming round for Hogmanay dinner and she's not sure what to give them yet. My favourite was always her slightly curried chicken pie, but I've been told we're not having that.

Before all that, we've got Luca's birthday tomorrow - he's four! He's fairly growing up - we notice it most weeks now. He stayed with us last night as his mum and dad are working today and there's no nursery this week. He still seems to spend a lot of the night coughing - the other week he got up in the morning and was complaining of stomach pains - hardly surprising considering how much he had racked his body half the night with coughing fits. Last night he was coughing again and so we decided to move him to another room, just in case it was some kind of allergic reaction to something in that room.

Despite all that, he still gets up in the morning full of the joys of spring. "Is it morning now Grandad?" "Oh yes, it's morning in the curtains" as he delightfully puts it. "Shall we go downstairs?" "Wait for me, Grandad". "Can we put the TV on?" "Whoo - Ben 10!"

Mustn't forget Dawn's birthday today too. Hoping to catch up with Dawn and Barry possibly next weekend (8th/9th January) in Aviemore where Jo and I are going for a short weekend break - just days before we head off to HK and Oz.

That's about all my diary news. I did play squash last night, but not very well - still recovering from our annual football match on Christmas Eve. I knew my knees were sore, but I discovered last night so was my ankle and a wrist. It's getting harder and harder each year to keep it going.

Another symptom of age appeared recently as well. I've lost a bit of hair at the nape of my neck. The hairdresser thinks it may be a touch of alopecia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alopecia_areata). What next?

Been back to in the office the last couple of mornings, but didn't exactly rush in. How nice it is to be able to drive properly again instead of tip-toeing along trying to avoid snow and ice. It may be misty and murky but at least the thaw is continuing, although I suspect it'll be a while yet before the inches of permafrost on our golf course lift. Roll on spring - just 81 days until the Vernal Equinox!


On this morning's drive, I was entertained by Stephen Stills' Manassas. I hadn't heard it for a while and I enjoyed it. There's not that many stand-out individual tracks, but it's a proper old fashioned LP that should be taken as a whole rather than individual tracks. Actually, it was a double album when it was released, but that's another thing that's lost in the digital age, along with proper album covers to peruse. Tracks on vinyl albums used to be placed strategically - the opening and closing tracks of each side were intended to have impact and haste-ye-back qualities respectively, but now it's all end to end, and usually played on shuffle as well.


That sounded like a real old f**t ranting away about the good old days, didn't it? Of course, it wasn't all good and there are many things that are better now, but occasionally I'm reminded of things that have gone and I miss a bit - and some aspects of vinyl recordings are one of them. The standard LP usually had 14 tracks - 7 a side - and lasted 40 minutes if you were lucky. Some of them were ridiculously short - less than half an hour on occasion - what a rip-off.


Anyway, enough for now. Hopefully one more posting before the year's out.

Christmas/Boxing Day

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Jo wearing her Christmas present - a starfish shaped pendant:

I tried to use the old wine bottle opener that we got a number of years ago in USA - it prises the cork out- or at least it's supposed to - but on this occasion the cork just fell in to the bottle, splashing wine everywhere. I had no option but to decant the wine, and all I could find was a huge big jug - not the prettiest sight for the dinner table:

On Boxing Day, Gary, Carole and Luca arrived. Luca was first to open his presents - this one was a remote control car that Ross bought him:

After dinner, Carole tried to get a quick 40 winks, but Luca was having none of it:

We then got the Lego opened:

but Gary looked a bit pensive - perhaps thinking about his most recent promotion at work?:

Jo, too, was obviously thinking about something:

So that's our holiday photos. I also managed to talk to Barry and Dawn on the phone and Lucy Skyped us, but Kelly was visiting friends and didn't have Skype access, so it was just a quick exchange of texts, but hopefully we can Skype later in the week.

Christmas Eve

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

So here I am, back in the office again this morning. Two management meetings over earlier than planned - ordinarily I would have gone home now and then taken a lift back in with some of the guys coming in from Banchory for the traditional Xmas Eve football match for Dave Williamson's birthday.

However, there's a problem - we should have got our turkey yesterday, but it wasn't ready at Kelly's of Cults, so Francis Clark said he would pick it up and bring it in this morning - but he forgot! I offered to go to his house to pick it up now but he says he's going to do it and then bring it back here. The only problem is it's almost 11:30 am already and I've told him I'm leaving here at 1 pm - will he make it in time, or will I have to put in place Plan C? Watch this space.

It's almost Christmas with Kelly in Oz and it's 3 weeks today that we head off there - BA and the snow permitting, that is. Looking forward to it. But first we've got Xmas (3 of us) and Boxing Day (6 of us) meals to get through. If the turkey doesn't arrive, it could be just stuffing and chipolatas - could be worse!

Today's the big travel home for Christmas day throughout the UK - reminds me of many years of doing the same thing. First of all, back in the 50's coming up from Corby to Glasgow with Mum, Dad, Barry & Dawn. Then it was our turn in the 70's coming back up from Broxbourne. In the early 80's it was a bit easier - just a short hop through from Balerno, but Banchory was just a bit further, but, by this time, it was mostly Christmases at home.

The big change over the years has been the quality of the roads - and the quality and reliability of the cars we've been travelling in. My Dad's old Ford Anglia (FNV 347 - see photo below) was not as bad as our first car after Jo and I got married - an old Fiat 850 - it needed a new engine not long after we bought it and I didn't have the cash at the time so had to borrow £200 from Jo's Dad. One problem solved, but another soon loomed with holes in the floor appearing. Nightmare - but it did manage the return journey from Hertfordshire once at least. It was like the Flintstones car.

The photo shows Mum with Dawn on her knee, and me with the skinny legs and Mum's knitted Shetland sweater on, with Barry and his usual surly face for the camera - that's another thing that's improved with time!

Have a good Christmas and no doubt we'll talk/Skype over the holidays some time.

The return of the list!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Gary and I were both delighted when Lucy asked for suggestions for music for her I-pod - a good excuse to make another list! As it happens, I've acquired very little genuinely new music this year - I've spent a fair bit of time digitising some of my old vinyl collection, and I've also transferred some of Ross' library to my memory sticks for listening in the car - courtesy of the neat little home network we now have here, whereby Jo, Ross and I can share each other's files via a home network.

I've only acquired a total of 6 new albums - and 2 of them were oldies anyway - Crosby, Stills & Nash's Greatest Hits and The Crane Wife from the Decemberists. The other four I would rank as follows:

1. Edwyn Collins - Losing Sleep
2. Phosphorescent - Here's to Taking it Easy
3. Laura Marling - Alas, I Cannot Swim
4. Black Francis - Nonstoperotik

I do now, however, have 300 or so albums on my memory sticks to keep me endlessly entertained as I drive around the North East.

Winter Solstice

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Hello again. It's the Winter solstice today and, in theory, it's all downhill from here to Midsummer - at least in terms of hours of daylight anyway - I rather suspect we've got a few more months of bad weather to put up with before then.

The radio this morning also advised us that there was a full Lunar eclipse and it was highly visible in the clear blue skies in the North East of Scotland. Sure enough, as I drove to work and looked up towards the Hill of Fare, it was almost completely gone:

At roughly 240,000 miles away, it's a bit difficult to represent with a small digital camera the same image as the eye could see, but I hope you get the idea anyway. The dark side of the moon was still visible to the naked eye so it was quite a sight.

It also would have been my Dad's 90th birthday today - and Jo's Mum would have been 88 a couple of weeks ago - but they've both gone now, I'm afraid. I remember them meeting for the first time - it must have been about the time that Jo and I got engaged (Guy Fawkes night, 1971 - Lottie thought I was trying to make a point by choosing the date of an alleged Papist plot!). I had told my prospective in-laws that my folks didn't drink much (and they didn't generally) but the time they met, my Dad was matching Lottie whisky for whisky - she was most impressed, but I'm not sure my Mum was!

Things are pretty quiet at work - our canning plant closed down last Thursday for 2 weeks for its festive holiday/maintenance, and you get the general feeling that all businesses are winding down for the holiday. Our other 2 factories have to keep producing every day, however - Tesco are open 363 days p.a. and we have to produce and deliver chilled mackerel and herring to them every one of those days. It's been a bit of a nightmare recently with all the snow - you can imagine the logistical problems of distribution from Fraserburgh all over the UK.

The business problems of the weather pale in to insignificance, however, when you hear about some of the recent personal stories - particularly those that have been stranded at Heathrow and Gatwick airports for the last few days. It's just over 3 weeks until we're due to depart on our trip to Oz - hope we get a bit luckier.

Got a busy day tomorrow at work but after that it should be fairly easy. Getting our smoked salmon and prawns tomorrow, and our turkey on Thursday. Jo bought our tree last week - dwarf variety, it seems - perhaps she'll show it on her blog?

Hoping to play squash again tomorrow - played again last night and, so far, the new knees have stood up pretty well. They'll get a real test on Friday, however - it's our annual football outing when those of us that have retired come out to play to celebrate Dave Williamson's birthday.

Barry and Helen retire this week - do I envy them? Not really - I'll be interested to see what they do from here and how they get on, but I'm sure they'll be fine.

That's all for now, folks.

Make up your mind

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Plans for today were thrown a bit when the snow arrived just as I was heading off to Fraserburgh. Listening to the forecasts put me off going and I reached the other end of Banchory and turned around and came home. It just so happens the 3rd Ashes Test was on TV - 33 degrees in Perth - so I watched that for a while, did a little work, finished my book, and that was my day.

Cancelled squash as well, but we're still planning to go to the Douglas this evening for the Cairngorm Brewery tasting - if they made it over here that is. Actually, the snow turned out to be not half as bad as forecast - pity - I feel better when it really snows and you know you've made the right decision staying at home. It's a bit more awkward when you've stayed off work and you know you could have got there and back without too much trouble.

Kelly Skyped this morning - won't be long now till we're over there with her.

Before Luca left on Wednesday morning, he was making family fish with the stones in our back room - Baby whale, Mummy whale, Daddy whale and great, big enormous Granda whale! - can you see them on the floor?: