Midweek marvel

Feeling good about myself today. Went to the physio yesterday morning and she was so pleased with my progress that she said she didn't need to see me again. She said I could always come back any time if I was concerned about anything and she stressed that I still have another 9 months or so of hard work in front of me, but she was confident my knee would continue to improve, just by regular daily use. Quite a change from our first meeting back in November when she was very concerned about my lack of progress and how little I could move my knee then. She even went as far as to suggest then that I shouldn't have been let out of hospital after just 3 days.

So I made a choice this afternoon. I had originally planned to go to the golf club's AGM tonight, but I also wanted to go back to the gym after work, and it might all have been a bit of a rush. So what did I do? Send my last minute apologies to the golf club, that's what, before heading to Bannatyne's. I did 30 minutes on the bike and then, buoyed by the physio's comments yesterday, I tested my leg on some of the weights machines - the first time I had used the machines since last summer. I was careful and reduced the weights from my normal level, and I managed OK, with just a little tremor here and there.

It's just 5 weeks tomorrow until I officially collect my Old Age Pension. I'm one of the last of our generation to be able to collect this at age 65. It's a significant date, but hardly a significant windfall. I feel for those that have to live off what is a very modest amount in these times. The Government web site charmingly words it:

"The most you can currently get is £110.15 per week."

Not that the Government can afford to increase it - but it's a salutary lesson, kiddies, that you have to look out for yourself and plan well ahead if you want to have a comfortable retirement. Will my lifestyle change dramatically in 5 weeks time? Unlikely, but some changes may take place - watch this space.

Tomorrow night there's a Meet the Brewer evening at the Boat Inn, Aboyne. It's a pub I've yet to survey, so, if the weather behaves, that might be a chance to do both. Forecast is for some snow tomorrow - at last - so I'll make a late decision.

Miller video

Discovered this sitting on my camera today - I'd forgotten I'd taken this short video of Miller lying on his back, kicking away:

Knee residue

Twelve weeks on, with the top of my scar (where the wound was closed) still a little swollen and angry looking, this morning a tiny fragment finally came out of the area that we have been treating to coax any residue out of:

Can you see it? A tiny little piece of we know not what. Will my knee now finally settle down? We'll have to wait and see.

End of the week

The last 2 days of the working week have been pretty hectic - I've hardly moved from my desk - mostly doing annual appraisals of our Managers. Eight down, five to go - scheduled for Monday/Tuesday. Then comes the worst part - documenting it all - that's always a pain.

I haven't been to Bannatyne's since Monday. I did half an hour on the bike then, and have had a few shorter sessions on the static bike at home since then. I've managed to move the saddle down another notch, so that's progress, I guess.

At least it's almost the weekend now and our regular Friday night will be at the Burnett tonight, when our friend Nigel Meany will be making one of his infrequent appearances, having flown in from Dubai - on the day of his 55th birthday too.

Tomorrow morning we've got a house call from Everest - apparently just checking that everything was ok with our kitchen installation - although I suspect there'll be some hard sell going on as well. We've got Woodend Barn in the evening to look forward to, preceded by dinner at Buchanan's.

Last night, I featured in a vintage photo in the local Evening Express. This would normally have been one for Renshaw's Chronicles, but I'm already past 1987 when the photo was taken, so it'll have to appear here:

That's me lurking at the back, 6th from the left, eyes almost closed. I vaguely recall the event - the one outstanding thing I remember is talking to joint prize winner Ray Dinsdale (5th from the right). He was the MD of Richards, carpet makers, (in)appropriately, because he was wearing probably the worst "rug" I had ever seen. Your eyes were magnetically drawn to this thing on the top of his head - it was spooky.

That's our (now deceased) Chairman, Dr. Francis Clark, receiving the award, 4th from the left, with my colleagues Bill Hazeldean and Ron Porteous, 2nd and 3rd from the left respectively. I was but 38 when this was taken.

Tuesday/Wednesday

Ross was first to leave Gary's after dinner last night and he took Jo's car back to Banchory, but Jo and I weren't far behind in my car. We watched Corrie, with Hayley's closing scene - Jo was in tears at her death - and then it was part 6 of The Bridge. That was enough TV for us for one night.

The downside of Ross taking Jo's car was that all my leg massage oils etc were still in it, so I missed out yesterday - and today so far. I've spent a lot of time in the car the last few days as well - over to Aviemore on Sunday, back to Aberdeen on Monday, and then up to Fraserburgh on Tuesday and back to Banchory, via Inverurie yesterday. The leg gets a bit stiff sitting in the car.

I did get to Bannatyne's on Monday and spent 30 minutes on the bike, moving the seat steadily further in to stretch my knee. I had a snack there too as my evening meal, with Jo and Ross still in Aviemore and me home alone.

Today some of us received the following picture of Miller in the bath from Kelly:

Wish we were there. Need to plan our next trip out.

Back in Deeside, we're still waiting for a proper winter to arrive - it's still too mild and when we do get precipitation, it's rain. Bound to change soon.

This weekend we've got Newton Faulkner (http://www.newtonfaulkner.com/gb/home/) at Woodend Barn, preceded by dinner at Buchanan's - that's something to look forward to. We're also considering going to the Winter Words Festival (http://www.pitlochry.org/whats_on/winter-words-festival.htm) in Pitlochry next month - as we did in the last few years.

In between, we have the first Headbang of 2014 two weeks on Friday (7th), followed by a tour round Deeside Brewery the following day. I had hoped to be able to do this over Xmas/New Year when everyone was here, but couldn't get it organised at that time.

I think that's about all that's on the go just now.

Weekend etc

Ross and his pals seemed to enjoy their short weekend in Aviemore, and Jo and I drove through on Sunday afternoon to take Ross out to dinner in Aviemore. We walked from Dalfaber - sorry, now called Spey Valley Golf & Country Club - down to the other end of Aviemore and had a nice meal in the warm and friendly Bridge Inn.

After dinner, we stopped outside and admired their external smoking shelter, complete with old piano, Chesterfield suites and logs for the winter too:

Very nice. On our walk back, we popped in to the Winking Owl for a quick half.

Monday morning and I had to go back to work - eventually - but Jo and Ross stayed one more night, and I am meeting up with them later on this afternoon in Inverurie, on my way back from Fraserburgh.

That's about it for now. Must dash.

Tuesday through Thursday

Tuesday was Aberdeen for me, then Bannatyne's - managed to do half an hour on the bike - then I headed off to Inverurie for tea. I saw Jo and Luca of course, but left about 7 pm before Gary and Carole were home.

Wednesday was a busy day in the office and I didn't get home until after 5:30 pm - pretty late for me. We watched episode 4 of the Bridge II, the Danish-Swedish co-production about environmental terrorism - it's looking pretty good so far. Saga, the Swedish female detective with no social skills at all is amusing. Just 15 minutes on the bike at home tonight.

Jo discovered an interesting site about knee ops - http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/total-knee-replacement-surgery-excercises-after - wish I'd seen it before. It contained a different angle on what a knee replacement looks like:

and I finally managed to file my tax return online - just 2 weeks before the deadline for 2012-13.

Today (Thursday) brought my first self drive to Fraserburgh since mid-October. I made sure I stopped halfway and got out and stretched my legs or I would have got pretty stiff.

Ross has just arrived for his tea - he's on holiday for a week and he's going to Aviemore, using one of our timeshares, for a few days from Saturday. We might join him on Sunday night, if his pals have gone by then.

Tonight there's a Seniors meeting at the golf club at 7 pm, so I'll toodle along there then.

Monday

Virtually a full day in the office today. OK - late arrival - 9:45 am, but late departure too - 4:15 pm. It was such a lovely day and I went for a long walk at lunchtime. Even had time for a quick photo at Aberdeen Energy Park:

Just before I left the office this afternoon, Keith Gray got in touch and asked if I fancied a pint, so we met at the Legion.

I forgot to show you the photo from Saturday's bike ride - taken at the cemetery:

Weekend so far

Our first weekend at home alone since they all flew off and what have we done so far? Well, Jo went to see Frozen at the cinema yesterday with Gary and Luca - and 2 of Luca's pals. So what did I do when Jo was away? It was a beautiful, crisp day again and so I thought I would get out on the bike and pick up my paper and also do a few of the local beer surveys at the same time.

Morrison's - Scott Skinner's, the Legion and, lastly, the Burnett Arms for a bacon buttie was my route. The hardest part was cycling up the hill to the Legion - I'd forgotten how unfit I was.

Today (Sunday) I walked over to the golf course and met the guys, and then, this evening we drove out to Alford to do a couple of pub surveys. We intended stopping off at the Learney Arms, Torphins on the way back to have some supper - but it was shut, so we drove down to Banchory and walked along to the Douglas - and it was shut too! It still wasn't even 8 pm. Thank goodness the Burnett was still open and serving food.

Going off at a tangent, I spotted this advert:

Do you think Jo and I should go for this?

I was checking my time share web sites and this was the image on one of them - remember this kiddiewinkles?:

10 weeks on

Yes - exactly 10 weeks ago today I was in Albyn having my leg hacked to bits, with chunks of metal and plastic inserted in place of the missing pieces of bone. I can almost look back fondly on it now, but it wasn't all that long ago I was in despair. Time is, literally, the healer.

That's my first week's work over. Today was the busiest day of the week - I was in before 9 am and didn't leave until after 3:30 pm. Six and a half hours - that's pretty much a full day.

I've been to Bannatyne's a couple of times this week, but I was a bit late leaving the office this afternoon, so I came straight home and jumped on the exercise bike. I've started again to digitise my old vinyl and it's all set up downstairs, so my time on the bike was exactly the time it took to record the first side of Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run - about 18 minutes.

I saw evidence of somebody else having used the exercise bike today. I don't think Jo's too keen however - she finds it very uncomfortable.

It's the time of year for the CAMRA pub surveys again so we went to the Branch meeting at the Bobbin Mill last night. Jo offered to drive, but I think she may regret it a little, as she found the whole experience fairly dull.

It's 7pm in the evening here, so it'll be 5:30 am in Adelaide just now. I imagine Kelly and Chris are up by now, and doing their final packing prior to their move to Semaphore. Exciting times.

Helen

Whew! Finally found a Helen song to go with the Dawn and Carole ones! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qnRvJZfh1c

Tuesday tales

I'm keeping up my (almost) daily blogs - so far anyway. As yesterday, I got to work today about 10 am again, after all the usual morning administrations. We were up at 6:30 am but it took until 9:00 am before I was ready to face the world. I suppose we could do it all a bit quicker, but I'm still surprised how long it takes.

Today, Jo's off to Inverurie to do her usual Tuesday Luca duties, so I'll be home alone for a little while this evening. Although I'm driving OK again, I'm still trying to avoid any long or unnecessary journeys, and a trip through to Inverurie would have involved me in 3 car journeys today rather than 2. I've even re-scheduled our Management Meeting this week to Aberdeen on Friday to save me having to drive through to Fraserburgh.

We spoke to Kelly on FaceTime last night - she and Miller looked fine after their marathon journey, but it'll still take them a while to adjust properly - and they've got to get organised for their house move to Semaphore next week. They'll only be a few hundred yards from the beaches - should be nice, although they might initially miss some of the facilities currently on their doorstep in Norwood. For those that don't know Adelaide, here's where they're moving from (B) and where they're going (A) - it's about 20kms in total:

Now we've got to think about our next trip Down Under - will it be over the Christmas/New Year holidays again, or will it be before or after that? Some of it may depend on the availability of "free" flights using our BA/Avios Miles and Companion Voucher. We would certainly have a stop-off as well - either on the way there or the way back - perhaps Thailand this time? Marriott have a couple of nice looking places there - in Bangkok itself and in Phuket.

First of all, however, we have to finalise our USA holiday arrangements - particularly the return stop-over in New York. Which hotel should we choose - the JW Marriott (Essex House) overlooking Central Park?:

or the Marriott Marquis in Times Square?:

To close today, I happened to be listening to my recording of Sounds of the 60's in the car on my way to work this morning - you know the one with the holiday period dedication to the "3 main girls" in my life? Of course, 3 tracks was the maximum allowed in Brian Matthew's 3-in-a-row spot, and although he did pass on my apologies to all other members of the family not mentioned, perhaps the other 2 girl relatives - sister Dawn and Daughter-in-Law Carole - will settle for these tracks as a kind of compensation for apparently being overlooked:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke4j3tz2YX8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgEc0hzTH7I (sorry no "e", Carole!)

Empty Nest

It's the 12th day today but we - mostly Jo - started taking stuff down yesterday. Our neighbour at No.1 - John - had offered again to take away our tree in his trailer, so we had to strip the tree pretty quickly yesterday afternoon.

We had time of course - all of our visitors have now gone - and all got home safely. In fact, the Lesinas were back in Oregon before I even went for a beer on Friday evening. Scott tells me they were all tucked up in bed by 7:30 pm local time - and didn't awaken until 4:00 am on Saturday morning - pretty good, I think.

The adjustment for Kelly and Chris - and Miller - will be more difficult, I suspect, but at least they can now shed some layers!

On Friday morning, I drove them down to Glentanar, a beautiful hunting lodge on an estate just outside Aboyne. It's a very popular wedding venue, but I'm afraid it didn't quite match up to the grandeur of Drumtochty Castle. Here's a couple of views however:

On Saturday, we all walked along to the village and popped in to the Burnett Arms for lunch, stopping off at Tease on the way home to say bye to Ross, who was working. We also stopped at Arbor Court to pose for a photo:

Soon it was time to head to the airport, where Gary and Luca were waiting for us. We said our farewells then followed them as they queued for security, staring at them through the glass panels:

All gone now, but we had dinner at Anne & Leslie Mason's to go to as a sweetener and that helped take our minds off the relative loneliness/peace (delete whichever appropriate).

On Sunday morning, I made a slight detour across the golf course on my way to pick up my paper. There was only Syd and Jack from our regular group playing, so I walked a couple of holes with them. I even had a small hit with one of Syd's clubs and a ball - and it didn't feel too bad. Encouraging with the golf season just 12 weeks away now.

Today (Monday) it was back to work for me - after over 9 weeks off. I didn't rush in - I did all my usual exercises etc and it was almost 10 am by the time I got in to the office. I didn't stay long either - I was out by 2:30 pm, but I headed off to Bannatyne's on the way home. They have some cycling machines there where the seat is adjusted horizontally rather than the usual vertical mode, and the adjustment is smaller, allowing me to start at a comfortable level and slowly move the seat in, to test and push my knee bend a bit more. 15 minutes of that was enough for me at this stage - then it was off for a brief stint in the pool followed by the steam room. Not a bad day all round.

When I got home, I realised this was probably the longest time Jo and I had spent apart since October!

Lesina left-overs

So far just two - one planned, the other accidental we think:

Lucy's running shoes were a bit too muddy to pack after yesterday's race

Braeden's book might be missed - but it was maybe a bit large and heavy

 We're still eating our way through Xmas. Is this a very large chocolate or is it a simple example of perspective?:

Meanwhile, how's my knee? Pretty good generally, although I did have to go to the nurse the other day to clean out the end of the scar where I keep feeling pin-pricks under the skin - perhaps a bit of suture is stuck there? It's still not completely clear and I've now got some Magnesium Sulphate paste to see if that will draw anything out.

My knee bend must be improving ever so gradually. I can get on the exercise bike easily now and I even managed to drop the seat one notch the other day - although I've since had to put it back.

So that's it - exactly 9 weeks since my op, and it's back to work on Monday. Ho hum.