First Feb posting

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Hello again - it's now February and it's very noticeable how much longer the days are getting. What a difference it makes to get at least part of the drive to/from work in daylight. Just 50 days until the clocks go forward - and only 14 days until our holiday Down Under.

What have I been up to this last 10 days or so? Not much, to be honest. Usual round of twice weekly squash doubles and a game of golf on Sunday morning. I did get my blood test results through and I've got the all-clear - no need to go on antibiotics for Helicobacter Pylori. I also had a check-up with my implant dentist and he confirmed that my implant has settled down well and there's no abscess or infection that could be causing the bad taste I've had in my mouth since October. So I guess I have to wait for my appointment with the specialist - and then it's another endoscopy.

Frustrations with suppliers are a bit of a theme just now. I got a replacement Archos (my mini DVR which I use to record from the Sky box) under extended warranty and it seemed to play OK - until I put it in its docking station. It would only record intermittently and I had to do it manually as the remote device wouldn't work with the new unit. I contacted them, thinking they would talk me through what I had to do to make it fully operational, but no - they said send it back again! So, it's gone again - along with the docking station and remote. Hope I get them back before we go to Oz.

The loft insulation people are just as bad. Carillion's surveyor measured the loft and depth of insulation, priced it and we accepted the quote, but when the men came out to do the work, they said our existing insulation was too deep and they couldn't do it for that price. I've complained 3 times so far, but still haven't received a response.

Then there's the new WC, shower and basin we want to install downstairs. We can't really complain about the supplier as we've agreed Ross' pal, Dan can do the job as a homer. Only problem is that Dan has been moving house this week and he's getting married soon, so where's he going to find the time from? We haven't even ordered the goods yet - Jo wants Dan looking over her shoulder before she does this.

I haven't fitted our loft ladder - I was put off by the complex instructions. I could probably do it, but can't summon up the will. The ladders are fine as they are - free-standing and extendable - do we really need them to be fitted as retractable? How often do we need to get in the loft? Jo's been up in it this week and has unearthed some old football programmes (heading for Gary now) and some children's books, which she's cleaning up for Luca. Jo has threatened/promised to get Trevor Stephens in to do the fitting - fine, I said - go ahead.

Last moan today is about the old Merc sitting in the driveway for what must be its 4th calendar year now. Derek Glass (the owner - Ross transferred it back to him) has been promising to move it for what seems like an eternity. I forget how many times he has told Jo & Ross it will be moved "tomorrow or the next day", but still it sits there, rusting away.

Tonight we have another headbang at Dave's - it's 3 months since the last one. Perhaps that'll help me calm down!

Tradesmen!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

What can I say? No sooner had Jo left for Inverurie yesterday afternoon than the loft insulation workmen started to do that thing that it seems tradesmen all round the world have perfected - the long, slow intake of breath as they consider how they can sting the poor mug punter for a bit more.

The insulation in our loft is of differing thicknesses, as explained to us by Carillion's surveyor when he priced the job a couple of weeks ago. Strangely enough, the thinner it is, and the more insulation you need to bring the thickness up to modern standards, then the cheaper it is, as the Government part finance the scheme, giving the most help to those lofts that require it the most.

Well, the workmen yesterday disagreed with their own surveyor and said they could not possibly put in the thickness that the surveyor had quoted us for - not unless, of course, we were willing to pay £100 or so more! Bloody typical - the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

I proclaimed our innocence in all this - we hadn't measured the loft, nor decided on the existing thickness of the insulation - but we had signed a contract with Carillion for a certain amount of insulation at an agreed price and I think they should honour that contract.

Anyway, the workmen left and I've now put in my formal complaint and we await their response.

So, tonight is the golf club's AGM - and that will formally signal the end of my one year spell on the Committee. I've got mixed feelings - I don't feel I did much during my time, nor did I feel I had a real job to do anyway, but I didn't feel I could change matters from within either, and, given the amount of time we're going to be away from home this year, I wasn't going to be able to contribute more in 2012.

Hope to get a game of squash tomorrow - haven't had any exercise at all since last week. I should really be at Bannatyne's just now, but I keep finding additional things to do - like this blog - it seems like I'm dodging the gym. Should I give up my membership? I don't think I've even been there once a month since I had my knee ops 15 months or so ago.

That's it for today - I'll just add the quick photo that I took with my Blackberry this morning and put on Facebook - me with my new PTFC mug in the office:

It always looks slightly weird when you hold the camera and take a photo of yourself!

Blood test

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Working from home today because I had to go see the nurse at noon for a blood test, following my visit to the Doctor yesterday. He wants to eliminate the possibility of a particular bacteria - Helicobacter Pylori it's called (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori). Seems that half the world's population have it. Should get the results in a couple of days. Assuming negative, then it's the specialist and endoscopy for me.

Got a call last night that the loft insulation men are arriving this afternoon, so it's just as well I'm at home, or Jo would have had to forgo her trip to Inverurie to see Liz, Carole and poor little sick Luca this afternoon. By coincidence our new loft ladder arrived yesterday - just in time. The instructions for fitting look pretty complicated, so it could be that we just use it as a simple ladder for a while and don't bother screwing it in to the loft.

Oh - and I went to the Royal Mail sorting office to pick up a couple of small parcels they tried to deliver last week. One was a book for my holidays - The Art of Fielding, a debut novel by Chad Harbach (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9012593/The-Art-of-Fielding-by-Chad-Harbach-review.html) that was featured as Radio Two's Book of the Week not long ago - so I thought I'd take it to Oz with me. The other parcel contained the bits to fix our leaking shower - all we need to do now is get Ross' pal, Dan to fit them. He's still waiting for our order for new ceramic ware for our downstairs loo - Jo can't quite find what she wants yet.

That's about all for now - back to my work now.

Another hectic weekend

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Busy week at work was followed by a pretty hectic weekend as well. We were down at Firhill partaking of the corporate hospitality on Saturday (check http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/ for photos etc) and then on Sunday, it was Luca's (slightly belated) birthday party at Hoodles (http://www.hoodles.co.uk). It was all go with Luca's group of 19-20 kids plus other parties going on in the adjacent rooms and buildings - it's quite a set-up.

Luca was as high as a kite but was able to run off some of the surplus energy safely on the padded floors and walls of the kids' gym. He was really pleased to see his pal from nursery, Michael:

Could be love?

Luca blew out the candles on his cake - check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X0v3LIxzb4&list=UUBDeleoM99bWx2-P6rMydgA&index=1&feature=plcp

Carole asked me to take a photo of the cake:

So that was the weekend - now for the medical reports. Jo was back at the cardiologist last Thursday and she went through another ECG stress test, which she passed with flying colours. This means the pains she has been getting are not cardio, but probably just pure stress.

As for me, I was back at the doctor's today. My 6 week course of stomach pills has come to an end, but they don't appear to have completely resolved the problem, so I've now to get a blood test tomorrow to eliminate the possibility of a bacteria (which could be treated with antibiotics). I'm also being referred to the specialist with a view to having another endoscopy. The young doctor alarmed me a little when he said he didn't think it was the Big C! It hadn't even occurred to me until he said the word!

Blast from the past

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Anyone recognise this face?:

It's Austin Donohoe! Who he? - Lucy's godfather. I hadn't quite reached this stage in Renshaw's Chronicles, but Austin trained beside me at Fraser, Martin & Co and was at our wedding - and we at his. I stumbled across his name almost by accident today. Austin has had kidney problems almost all his life and is actively involved in various Kidney charities and hospices and he provided a foreword to a book about kidney failure (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kidney-Failure-Explained-Everything-Wanted/dp/1872362907/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326459277&sr=1-1).

I then Googled his name and came up with his speech at the National Kidney Federation Conference in 2003 - http://www.kidney.org.uk/conf03/donohoe_a.html

This also reminded me that I must try and do at least one more episode in Renshaw's Chronicles before we go to Oz (5 weeks today!).

Not a lot else to say on this particular blog today, other than the fact that Jo and Ross will be busy at home today - we've got Scottish Gas returning to fit the new downstairs radiator, and they'll almost be bumping in to Taylor's of Banchory's men coming to fit the new blinds in the downstairs office/music/computer/work room.

Ross has got a rare IT job on this afternoon - a former customer - but he's been back and forward to Elgin the last couple of nights after work, picking up and returning his pal Richard. When he was away last night, one of his other pals, Dan, was in looking at our downstairs loo with a view to replacing the WC, shower etc as a "homer". Whilst he was there, Jo got him to look at the cistern in our en suite, and also our leaking shower. For the last few weeks, every time we flush our WC, it's like the whole plumbing system is going to explode - an incredible racket, guaranteed to waken even the heaviest of sleepers. It happened once before a few years ago and it's just a valve next to the ballcock that needs replacing - hopefully today as well.

Aberfoyle

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We had a nice, albeit brief, trip to the Forth Valley last weekend, staying at Macdonald Forest Hills (http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/our-hotels/macdonald-forest-hills-hotel-spa/?gclid=CKqbrq34x60CFYEmtAod8A8Biw) in the heart of the Trossachs - but where exactly is that, some of you may ask? Check this map:

Ignore the red trail lines - we were staying at the Hotel marked in the bottom left, on the shores of Loch Ard.

It was a beautiful day in the North East when we set out on Saturday morning - not a cloud in the sky, and warm enough for us to go over Cairn o' Mount without fear of it being closed with ice. From Perth west and south, however, there was a noticeable change - there was obvious evidence of widescale flooding, and damaged and fallen trees from last week's wind storms. The narrow road from the village of Aberfoyle alongside Loch Ard to our resort looked like it had been - or was about to be - closed. The loch seemed very high and choppy and looking like it was above the level of the road.

We left our car at the resort and Barry and Helen - and little Harriet in her cage at the back of their car - drove us over the Duke's Pass to Kilmahog, just outside Callander, to the Lade Inn, a well-known little brewpub. Jo sat in the back of Barry's Merc and suffered a bit on the windy road - she had to sit outside for 10 minutes before she was ready to come in for lunch. Dawn was already there, waiting for us at a nice corner table that Barry had reserved. That corner spot was cold and drafty and we moved twice as other tables nearer the open fire became vacant. We managed to get just one team photo, in which Dawn is, unfortunately, looking the other way:

We all popped in to the adjacent Scottish Real Ale shop where Harriet had to be carefully controlled:

By the time we got back from lunch - going the slightly flatter alternative route, with Jo sitting in the front of Barry's car - and checked in and unpacked, there was only time for a quick snooze and a swim/steam room/jacuzzi visit before dinner. We were located in the Ben Lomond timeshare apartments, which looked like it was the first block built and it was adjacent to the hotel, where we had decided to dine, so it was just a short stroll for us. The dining room was very nice and so was the food - particularly the steaks.

The forecast for Sunday had been reasonably promising but when we woke up we were disappointed to see how overcast and misty it was. Nonetheless, we headed out in the car, initially exploring westwards, but then we drove back in to Aberfoyle to buy the papers and have a coffee, taking in the well laid out and interesting Tourist Office as well.

With the weather so dreich - intermittent drizzle and poorish visibility - we ended up doing 3 very short walks - round the nature trail that follows the path of the Forth in Aberfoyle; then back over the Duke's Pass to find a suitable forest walk, where I took this photo of Jo, toiling up a slight hill:

Our last mini-walk came on the short waterfall trail at the David Marshall Lodge (http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/recreation.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/ScotlandStirlingQueenElizabethForestParkAchrayForestDavidMarshallLodgeVisitorCentre). This marks the start of Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, which is one of the places Dawn used to take Mum on day trips in her later years. The Lodge itself - and cafeteria - was shut but we managed a couple of photos on the trails:

The view from the top of the trail at the front of the Lodge was very nice, even on this dreich day:

We had lunch in the Forth Inn in Aberfoyle - Jo didn't fancy it much at first, but a bunch of walkers arrived and helped drown out the noise of the football on TV in the adjacent bar and this certainly helped improve the atmosphere where we were sitting.

Back to our apartment and another little snooze, then a walk round the resort grounds followed by another quick swim and soon it's time for dinner - doesn't time fly? We went back to the same hotel restaurant - it was nice and it was very convenient. I had brought the latest DVD from LoveFilm of The Killing TV series that we'd missed first time around, and, over the weekend we took in 3 of the last 4 episodes, leaving the final chapter until we got home.

Sod's law, Monday was the best day of the weekend and we had to head home. Although the exchange was for a full week, we never intended to spend more than a few days there. Ideally, if check-in had been on Friday, that would have suited us better. We could still have been there if I was fully retired, but work has to come first for now.

The outlook from our balcony over the resort gardens towards Loch Ard was a bit more photographable on Monday:

The hotel's dining room is the curved building on the left.

On the way home, Jo wanted to have a proper look at Callander so we made a slight detour there, but parking was tricky and we couldn't find a nice-looking coffee shop so we ended up driving out to Kilmahog again and went to the Woollen Mill for a scone instead. Just along the road is the Lade Inn, where we had lunch on Saturday and there was a nice snowy, hilly backdrop from this angle:

After that, we made good time on the drive home and I was able to detour past Banchory to drop Jo off and grab a spot of lunch before heading to the office for a short afternoon's work. In the evening we settled down for the final episode of The Killing, so, after 20 episodes, we now know who did it! There was one little loose end that could have done with more explanation, however, and I think Jo was a little miffed that this wasn't properly tidied up like they do in the Poirot and Agatha Christie's Miss Marple TV crime series that she loves!

Back to work

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

It's back to work today, but it's still fairly quiet here so I'll head home early again.

I've watched the news video of Kelly's dramatic rescue umpteen times today (http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/national/watch/27757738/) and each time I see her wobbly little chin, I want to burst into tears. She so nearly did that herself. Wish we could be there now, but I suppose it's only another 6 weeks or so until we see her in the flesh again.

Before that, we've got Aberfoyle this weekend - lunch with Dawn and Barry at the Lade Inn (http://www.theladeinn.com/) on Saturday then back home on Monday - just in time for the Gas Man to fit our hall radiator. Only a couple of weeks until Gary, Ross and I go to Firhill to sample the Corporate Hospitality at the Dundee match - hope the weather stays fair.

We've now got up to Episode 16 of The Killing - just 4 to go now - exciting stuff!

And another milestone has been passed - we've had over 16,000 viewings of this blog now - wow!

So much to write about!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

So much has happened since my last posting that I could fill a few pages, but I think it's best to start with the most recent. We had just had breakfast this morning and I was casually trawling Facebook and my eyes bulged as I read Kelly's posting about her near-death experience in the waters off South Australia. We managed to get her on Skype and she seems fine - thanks goodness she's always been a good swimmer and is so strong and fit now - otherwise she would never have survived two and a half hours in the ocean.

As most now know, Chris headed off for shore and got there after an hour and a half swim and summonsed the rescue boat. Kelly was in the water for over two and a half hours with Chris' Dad and uncle - ages 65 and 73 respectively, with the uncle being a very poor swimmer, and only one lifejacket between the three of them. Kelly thought they were going to lose Chris' uncle - he mentally gave up fairly quickly, saying he couldn't keep going as the three of them tried to swim to shore, making absolutely no headway in the heavy seas. Chris' uncle lost consciousness and has been kept in hospital, but they think he will recover OK.

Kelly didn't know what to fear most - the threat of sharks, who are known to frequent these waters - the heavy seas that were crashing round about them - or Chris' uncle not surviving. Chris' Dad survived OK, but was treated for hypothermia, but Kelly was fine - she heated up again just sitting in the sun! South Australia has been having a heatwave, with temperatures of 40 degrees C.

Kelly said they were on Channel 7 News - Chris spoke to the camera, but Kelly could only offer a trembling lip - she couldn't actually utter any words! I haven't been able to find this clip on the web yet, but I did find a brief news report in one of the local papers - http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/four-rescued-from-capsized-boat-near-granite-island-victor-harbor/story-e6frea83-1226234956192. Perhaps there will be more available tomorrow.

I'm shaking just thinking about it as I write this.

Then, of course, we had Luca's 5th birthday party on Friday. Jo and I went over to have lunch with Carole and Luca, with Gary joining us later after getting home early from work. Here's Luca looking very pleased with himself, in anticipation of his chocolate birthday cake:

Here's a short video of him blowing out the candles, then rushing to the door as the bell rings and yet another present arrives - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1LwMbDNX_E&list=UUBDeleoM99bWx2-P6rMydgA&index=1&feature=plcp

The next day was Hogmanay and there was a late change of plan. We had originally planned to have dinner at Ann & Leslie Mason's, just round the corner in Birch Grove - it was their turn to host, but there were complications with Ann's mother which resulted in her asking if we wouldn't mind hosting dinner. Ann would still do all the cooking and just bring it round to ours. No problem we said - all we had to do now was clean the house and set the table.

Jo followed me round as I dusted and hoovered, making corrections as I put ornaments back in place. She was practising her own particular brand of feng-shui in our front room, and this is how it looked before our guests arrived:

The evening went well and we were able to step out on the balcony after the bells to watch the Tor-na-Coille Hotel's Firework show from the golf course - there's a short clip of it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oUQDrjDrRA&list=UUBDeleoM99bWx2-P6rMydgA&index=2&feature=plcp

Ne'erday was a bit of a write-off - we were too tired to move, although Jo did cook her traditional steak pie. Today was better - a lovely day - crisp and bright, so, after assuring ourselves that Kelly was OK, we headed off to Stonehaven for a short walk to try to get rid of our lethargy and blow away the cobwebs. I had spotted the walk in one of the books that Jo had bought some time ago - this was our route:

We started off in Market Square and walked down to the beach, where we came across this model boat:

Along past the harbour, then up the hill to the clifftops overlooking the town:

By the time we got round to Dunnottar Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunnottar_Castle - where parts of Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot) it was pretty blowy, as you can tell from this photo:

The castle was closed, of course:

Our route was a circular one that took us through Dunnottar Woods, where we came across what they called the Shell House:

Nothing to do with the oil company of that name - much simpler than that as can be seen from the inside:

We finished our walk back down in the harbour, where we went to the Marine Hotel for a swift pint (me) and coffee (Jo).

Boxing Day/Anniversary

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

We had a lovely Christmas - especially opening the presents. Luca was in charge, handing out the gifts, getting ever more excited with each one that was for him. There were a couple of strange ones, however -  one of Jo's presents for Gary was a Science Kit:

Note the top right corner - ages 5 and up. I suppose Gary is more than 5, but what was Jo thinking of?

Worse was to follow with Gary's next present - from Dawn and John - it was a Joke Box. Yes, fake dog turds, nails through fingers and the Pièce de résistance, at least as far as Luca was concerned, was the ring that squirted water - we all got a good soaking.

Ross bought Luca a Monster Truck:

and we got him a Pirate Ship jigsaw - here he is reading the instructions:

Jo helped him complete it:

When it came to opening our present from Dawn and John, there was a slightly embarrassing moment when we spotted the tag that was on the bag it came in:

It's good to re-cycle, but always remove last year's tags before you use the bags again! Dawn, of course, is far too young for Senior Moments, but as I was hanging up our Xmas cards this year, by coincidence, two in a row of the same card appeared and seemed to come from the same source:

Luca wasn't quite sure about a hat he got for a present, but his mother immediately took to it:

Carole also posed with the teeth from the Joke Bag:

Then the team photo - with Ross holding Yoda:

and it's our 39th Anniversary today - and, for the first time ever, Jo remembered and bought me a card!

Xmas Eve disaster averted

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

The aftermath of the gas men working here for 2 days was that there was a pile of rubbish sitting outside our house, including 2 spent radiators. They'd neatly bagged the rubbish and told us - again - that a team would be along to take it all away - but, as usual, they never showed, so we had little option but to take it all to the tip ourselves.

After all, the front of our house looks like a big enough tip without adding more to it - we've had the planks on our porch missing since early this year, waiting for the builders to come back and fix the leak on our balcony, after which they were supposed to replace the harling, which is coming away from the building after the Virginia Creepers did their worst. Then there's the old Mercedes sitting at the front door, rusting away - we were assured again that it would be moving "in the next couple of days", but we're still waiting.

So this morning I put the back seats in my car down and started to load the radiators. It was only as I was lifting the second one that I realised they hadn't been fully emptied - there was black gunge seeping out - in my car and on the driveway. I rushed back in to the house calling Jo for help - but I never thought about my feet. My shoe soles were carrying the black gunge in to the house - help!

Eventually we managed to drain the radiators and block up the holes sufficiently to allow me to drive them to the tip, whilst Jo was left mopping up the mess. All's well that ends well, but it could have been a real disaster. Even the inside of my car seems not to have suffered too much.

So we're sitting here waiting for the turkey to defrost. You would have thought that almost 3 days would have been enough, but apparently not, so I'll need to nip to the Cook Shop and try to pick up a food thermometer/probe. Jo may have to wait until tomorrow to cook the bird.

I was back at the Doctor's on Thursday, getting my 6 month check-up on the damaged skin on my nose. He said it was mostly OK - no sign of anything happening apart from one tiny bit at the top of the mark. He offered to zap it there and then - and he did, but it means I'll be featuring a red spot on my nose in my Xmas photos - see if you can "spot" it.

Whew!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well - what a 2 days it's been - I'm glad I was at work as our house was torn apart by the Gas board as they attempted to fix the saga of the leaking radiators. They ended up stripping and draining the entire system, cleaning out all the gunge and it appears we now have a fully functioning central heating system again - just in time for Christmas.

There was one final potential crisis averted as well. Just as the men were tidying up and preparing to leave, Ross was heading for his shower prior to going on his work's night out. He decided the main shower upstairs wouldn't be ready as the heating had been off most of the day when the men were working on the system, so he thought he'd use the downstairs electric shower. It seemed to be working again after shorting out a few months ago. Ross got in to the shower, then - bang! All the power went - no TV, no cooker - nothing except the lighting circuit was left on.

I initially thought it was something Jo had done as she was fiddling with tree lights for our second (mini, artificial) tree in the back room. Then my mind turned to the work that the gas men had been doing, but all was revealed shortly. We managed to get it up and running again eventually, thank goodness, but we definitely need to get an electrician out to fix this weak spot in our electrical system.

I was out at the Golf Club Committee and Staff Christmas dinner at the Tor-na-Coille last night. Very nice it was too - 19 of us there, but the staff were vastly outnumbered by the Committee. We made a £10 contribution to the food and drink, but that seems paltry - I felt a little guilty at using Golf Club funds for this, but I suppose it's the one perk that the volunteers on the Committee get.

Hopefully a fairly short day today - and some squash this afternoon. Tomorrow is our annual oldies football match which also celebrates Dave Williamson's birthday. It'll be a bit like outdoor Subbuteo - at least on my part. Not sure how my knees will stand up to it - I'll take it easy.

Enjoy the festivities everyone.

Crisis approaching

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Why a crisis? Well, I still haven't got a 2nd present for Jo. Should I panic? Probably.

I did get our other (joint) present yesterday - a replacement TV for our bedroom - very nice it is too - it's a Samsung 32" Smart TV. Why "Smart"? Well, it's got wireless and there's a number of Android style Apps on it, including BBC i-Player, Facebook etc. There's also an inbuilt Freeview HD box, but we can't use that yet, because the aerial cable they supplied is so short! We also now need to get another Sky HD box to properly use the HD facilities of the new set.

Ross had a frustrating time at the Doctor's yesterday. He nipped out from work for his 2pm appointment but had to wait an hour before Dr. Platt appeared - but even then it wasn't for him - it was the previous patient! Ross had to go back to work so this appointment will have to be re-arranged for another time.

It's the shortest day of the year - and it shows - it's barely been light today. It also would have been Dad's 91st birthday.

Christmas week

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Last week was - unusually for me - a pretty full and busy time at work, including 2 consecutive day trips to Fraserburgh. I had thought that travel might be a bit tricky as I go cross country along some of the lesser used roads, but we're fortunate in not really having had any proper snow yet, and although it's been cold and we've had to scrape the cars in the morning, I haven't encountered any of the horrendous black ice we experienced last year - not yet anyway.

I got a couple of games of squash, but didn't golf yesterday - nobody was very keen after our night out on Saturday (see golf blog for photos). It was, in fact, a day of vegetation - or, as Sky Sports called it, Super Sunday - 3 big matches on TV from noon to 6 pm. What with all that, plus recorded Match of the Day, and the Sunday Times too, I didn't move much from my chair. Jo was out for dinner with her pals last night at the Tor-na-Coille so we didn't see much of each other yesterday.

We had a brief trip out on Saturday morning to drop off some salmon and then select a Christmas tree at the garden centre. £50 it was - although they did deliver it. I should think so too at that price. A little controversially, the tree was not erected in its usual place:

Still to be decorated of course.

Now that Kelly's moved house, we've also had to change our plans a little for our upcoming trip to Adelaide. We had originally booked our first week in Semaphore, which is a bit nearer where Kelly used to stay in North Adelaide, but now that she's moved, I've re-arranged and we're going back to the same apartments in Glenelg that we were in this year - only this time with a sea view.

Been trying to sort out our Sky TV subscription as well - been having problems with our multi-room connection ever since Ross did some re-wiring of our telephone system a few months ago. I didn't realise at the time what the full implications might be, but as Sky can't get a callback signal from the second box in our bedroom, their system immediately defaults to an assumption that the box could have moved - to a second home, for instance - and they now charge another £34.50 per month for it. Ross thinks he has a solution but it means moving so much stuff in our garage to access the connections. Meantime, we've had to put some temporary cabling from our bedroom to our back room - Jo was horrified when she saw it running across the floor and then drooping off the lights last night!

Still haven't picked a replacement TV for our bedroom either - there's so many choices - Freeview HD, internet TV, 3-D etc etc. I was also thinking about DAB radio as well. I currently record a lot of radio programmes on the Sky box, then transfer them to my Archos, then to my PC, then convert them to audio, then put them on my memory stick to listen to in my car - quite a process. So I thought that if I had a DAB radio and I could record directly on to a memory stick, that would save a lot of hassle - but it appears that none of the DAB radios on the market do that. Many of them record, but they all seem to do it to an SD card, rather than a memory stick - why?

So, turkey ordered - all set now, except for the fact that, apart from her big present which we got at the Apple Store, I don't have anything else for Jo yet. Mmmm - thinking cap on.

And just to prove that we're always thinking about our children:

Last photo was taken yesterday morning from the War Memorial looking towards Arbor Court, on my way back from buying the Sunday Times. It was a beautiful, bright, crisp morning and it shows the miserable dusting of snow we had overnight - the first this winter:

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Well, we had a nice time on Sunday when Dawn and Kieran (Jordon was a late cancellation) came up for the afternoon. Luca was still here, of course - I had taken him to his football practice on Sunday morning and his Mum came over early afternoon to have lunch with us and take him home later on.

This was the only photo I took that afternoon:

Kieran's new semi-mohawk was actually done by his Mum!

Dawn also gave us our pre-invite invites to Lauren and Malcolm's wedding:

I managed another game of squash last night. We'd had the Gas Board out again yesterday as we've got more problems with our central heating system - it's never been right since they tried - and initially failed - to do a "Powerflush" a year ago. They have now agreed to try again next week - but then, overnight, we had another radiator leak so they're now coming this Friday - although they did send a man out tonight to turn the offending radiator off properly. Jo's now got a hotline to their main man locally - she seems to have elicited some sympathy from them, judging by the response we've had so far.

So that's been my week so far. Fraserburgh the next 2 days for me - hope the high winds don't bring down any trees on my route.