Pre-holiday post

This coming Saturday, Jo and I are off to the Dordogne for a week with 4 other couples. Yesterday we were in Inverurie as usual, but it was the day of Carole's shoulder op so we weren't sure when she would get back home. Gary and Carole had checked in at 7 am but she must have been really unlucky as she didn't get to theatre until mid-late afternoon. By the time she had gone through the anaesthetic, the op and the recovery room, it was well in to the evening and Carole was going to have to stay in overnight, so we agreed to take Luca back to Banchory and I would run him back to school in the morning.

Carole is home now and Jo is going out to Inverurie tomorrow to see - and feed - her. It's now just a waiting game for Carole - take it easy and do the exercises and she'll be fine - although she has to go back for another procedure in 3 months' time.

On the way to school this morning, I was telling Luca about us going to France next week and he then started quizzing me what various parts of the body were in French? Of course, I knew a few, but didn't know some - although I confess to bluffing on a couple of them. Well, he wasn't going to know any better was he?

We then moved on to the American holiday and spoke about some of the different words used and their pronunciation. Trousers/pants was one that tickled him, as did the pronunciation of water (without the t).

Sunday was quiet and on Monday I was playing for the Seniors at Deeside. Today (Wednesday) was swimming for Jo and golf for me, but, in the morning, we had another "Energy Adviser" in - trying to sell us a new condensing boiler. It seems like the right thing to do, but I just baulked a little at spending almost £4K without at least checking with others.

Our little friendly red squirrel put in another appearance this morning and the deer that appeared at the back last week made a return visit yesterday.

I've been taking photos from our bed out the front window every morning for the last month or so, to provide a kind of time lapse sequence of the growth in the trees as we advance from spring towards summer. Here's the first one, taken on 24th April:

and here's this morning's one:

Pepys it ain't

There was a time when I was diarising daily, but it seems that in retirement I've been too busy to maintain this regularity. I didn't expect that the gaps between blog posts would regularly exceed a week, but I think I'm finding out now that what all my friends said about how they ever found the time to work is true after all.

Of course, I was away last weekend for a few days hill-walking and that doesn't help. Our trip to the West Coast began last Thursday and we got back Monday tea-time. (Check http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.co.uk/). You'll be pleased to know also that the walls are now finished - and they haven't fallen down yet. The front driveway still needs some work - I've flushed out some of the moss from the worst part nearest to our porch, but it now needs sand brushed in. I've got the sand and will try and do this before we head off to France for a week on Saturday.

We had a visitor on the embankment at the back of our house on Monday:

This little deer stayed there for almost an hour, munching away at the greenery.

My BMW needed some work done on it - brake fluid, stop/start mechanism and rear wiper - and I initially thought that I would try and get this done locally, rather than take it in to John Clark's in Aberdeen and be charged an arm and a leg for it, but I relented and eventually booked it in for last Tuesday. I suspected that the work may take more than an hour or two - more than I would be prepared to wait for - so I decided to put my bike in the back of the car and I arranged a meeting in the city to go over the plans for the Sponsored Golf Tournament at Banchory (yesterday) and thought I would cycle over from Tullos to Albyn and await a call from the mechanics. If the car was ready, I would go back to Tullos, but, if not, I would just cycle out along the Deeside Way from Aberdeen to Banchory and pick up the car the following day.

The inevitable happened, but it was a nice day and I quite enjoyed the cycle home on Tuesday morning - even although the 38 kms uphill ride in to the wind wasn't perhaps the best thing to do after a weekend of walking. I've cycled and walked quite a lot of the Deeside Way now, but I hadn't done the stretch from Aberdeen to Drumoak before. It's a good track, now tarmac'd and some of the old stations are still signed there - Duthie Park, Ruthrieston, Cults, Culter etc. I did make just one rest stop en route:

I got back home in time for a quick bite of lunch and then Jo and I headed to Inverurie for our usual Tuesday pick-up of Luca from school. Gary was actually off work that day - ill. He was in bed sleeping when we got back to his house and he was still sleeping when we left over 4 hours later. Carole said he was just exhausted.

The good news is that both Gary and Luca now have their passports, so it's now just a question of them completing their airline API and their ESTA applications. What do you make of Luca's expression on this (pixellated) photo?:

He'd obviously been told not to smile.

Wednesday afternoon was golf and Thursday morning was cycling, whilst on Friday, when Jo went swimming, I jumped in the car and headed up Deeside to distribute CAMRA's quarterly newsletter to the pubs in Torphins, Tarland, Braemar, Ballater, Aboyne and Feughside. It's the last one before the annual beer festival at Pittodrie, which unfortunately coincides with our trip to France.

Today (Saturday), I took part in, and helped organise, the Sponsored Golf Tournament at Banchory. It was a lovely day - and nice to play in shorts again. There was a meal afterwards, but Jo wan't up to coming along and joining me. She's not been feeling great recently - still coughing, tiredness and tightness in her chest - so much so that she's arranged an appointment with the Doctor on Tuesday.

I'm still here

Hello again - it's been over a week since my last post - probably one of the longest gaps in this long-running blog. I've been pretty busy and now I've got to try and remember what I've done since last Tuesday. Well, here goes.

I recall golfing last Wednesday afternoon at Banchory and again in the Seniors Open at Montrose on Friday, where I did rather well, coming in second in my class and winning a £60 voucher plus a sleeve of golf balls when I had an eagle two at the par 4 ninth hole. I had driven Jo in to Aberdeen for her to catch the Gold Bus down to Glasgow where she was spending the weekend with Mary and her family - it was Leo's First Communion on Sunday.

Last Thursday morning, I was cycling with our Freewheelers group but I managed to get some prep work done on the right hand wall in our back garden. I had a free day on Saturday when Jo was away and so I got the coping stones put on the left hand wall and cemented the bricks back in the right hand side. I ran out of mortar mix before I could finish the job off with the top coping stones, but here's how both sides now look:

Jo thinks the wobbly wall gives a rustic effect.

Not once have I managed to get a perfect mortar mix yet - the last one was too wet again, so I'm just waiting for the day when The Walls of Jericho come tumbling down. Not my forte - and not something I've attempted for a lifetime.

Sunday/Monday was our first trip over the Lecht this year to Grantown and Boat of Garten. It was our 59th trip in our 30th year, so next time (September) is our Diamond Anniversary! Unlike Friday at Montrose, my golf was shocking - I really struggled with my knees. I half expected my recently repaired left knee might get a bit tender but I was really disappointed that my new(ish) right knee was equally painful. I guess I'll just need to curtail the golf a bit - the lateral movement must be causing this. My physio, who I saw again yesterday, is still encouraging me to keep cycling and walking. She's asked me to up the exercise regime a bit, so we'll see how that goes. I was pretty disciplined when recuperating from my knee replacement last year, but I guess I've been a little complacent about the cartilage repair this year.

On the way over on Sunday, I made a slight detour in to Bellwade Farm, just short of Aboyne where the Kelpie "marquettes" are currently on display:

That reminds me that we must go and see the real thing near Falkirk - and also the Falkirk Wheel - next time we're heading that way.

Of course, yesterday we were over at Inverurie to look after Luca, but today I'm preparing for my hill-walking on the West Coast this weekend. We leave early tomorrow morning and head for Mull initially:

Gary sent us this nice, albeit slightly fuzzy, photo of Luca when he was at the trials for the school football team:

I'm having a rest from golf today, but I may try and finish the wall this afternoon if the weather permits and I get myself properly organised for tomorrow.

Tuesday Tales

It's Tuesday morning and Jo's out walking in the rain with Anne. We'll be heading to Inverurie as usual this afternoon to pick up Luca from school and take him back to his home. It's damp and it's forecast to be that way for the next couple of days - hope it brightens up for the weekend and next week - I've got my Boat of Garten golf outing Sunday/Monday, then, on Thursday I'm off to the West Coast for our annual walking trip. I missed last year as I was still recuperating from my knee replacement so I'm looking forward to the trip this time - I think!

We've now booked our trip to London in August. We're going down to see two musicals - Sunny Afternoon (www.sunnyafternoonthemusical.com/) and Beautiful (www.beautifulmusical.co.uk/). Colin and Johanne are coming with us. I've booked the tickets and the flights, but not any accommodation yet. One idea I spotted looks quite interesting - https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/5062078?checkin=12-08-2015&checkout=14-08-2015&guests=4&s=x94q. That would certainly be different.

I also discovered that Johanne's name on her passport is Johanna. At college and school she used to spell it Joan. Seems like she couldn't make her mind up.

Jo went in to Aberdeen to chum Anne on a shopping trip on Saturday. I did a bit more of the wall in the back garden then headed off to the Legion where a few CAMRA colleagues came out to Banchory to help with the presentation of Club of the Year. This photo has already been on Facebook:

Trish Ewen is the Steward at the Legion receiving the plaques, but two of my fellow members (Rigg Robertson and George Howie) appear to be archetypal CAMRA members, whilst Jim Strachan and I look like a different breed, I think? Appearances aren't everything.

Saturday was also the day that Partick Thistle confirmed that they are staying in the SPL for at least another season, after thumping St. Mirren 3-0.

Sunday was a complete write-off. I was due to play a golf tie but thankfully my opponent called to re-schedule it to last night (Monday) - a great decision as it turned out as it was a lovely day - the complete opposite of Sunday's washout. Well at least it gave me a chance to work my way through the Sunday Times.

I pulled out of our usual Monday afternoon cycle group as I was playing golf in the evening, but it was so nice in the morning that I decided to go for an early morning ride instead - up to Torphins and back. Start at Burnett Park and along the old railway line then through the forest tracks to Hill of Brathens. From there, head west towards Glassel, turning off along farm tracks and up to the small community at Mill/Hill of Beltie then down the lovely tree-lined avenue that takes you down to the main Aberdeen - Torphins road:

I crossed the main road and approached Torphins from Craigmyle Road which runs parallel to  and north of the main road. Lots of nice houses there - pretty big too - and some of the new ones not occupied yet.

The problem with cycling more than once a week is washing and drying my cycling gear, which gets pretty well mud-splattered on some of the off-road routes we go on - particularly the farm routes where the large pot holes retain rain water virtually all the time. So I finally decided I needed to buy another hi-viz cycling top (plus another couple of wickable marino wool base layers):

Monday afternoon was preparing the other wall in our back garden for repair - it too is falling down due to the pressure of the earth and plants inside it.

So that's my diary up to date again. Not exactly Pepys, but Jo calls me a "Social Historian"!

Dental addiction

Exactly a week after my last visit, it was back to the dentist again today. I had to decide whether to continue with the root canal treatment or abort this and just have the tooth extracted. After some further discussion, I opted for the latter. It was a fairly simple procedure and we were back home fairly promptly.

So today, rest and paracetamol is prescribed - and no alcohol, which is particularly bad timing as I always go out to the pub with the football guys on a Friday night. Note to self - ensure future dental treatments don't take place on Fridays!

We missed a FaceTime call from Kelly this morning as well.

Big change in the weather this week. No more shorts weather - the average temperature has dropped by 12 - 15 C. Still managed golf on Monday and Wednesday and cycling yesterday however - and a gentle hill-walk on Sunday too. Tuesday, of course, was Luca day and we bought more mortar in Inverurie and I've made a start on the next stage of the wall - the coping stones. It's not going to be the same level top edge, however. In fact, it's going to have a bit of the roller coaster about it. I didn't put the same height of mortar in the bricks below as was there beforehand and it's now a rearguard action trying to keep it as level as possible. You learn by your mistakes.

The other development this week is that I've been roped in to help save Banchory Sports Village's Sponsored Golf Tournament, which is only 3 weeks away. They have only attracted 5 teams so far and they were looking for 20. When we ran it for the squash club back in 2007, we had everything in place by now - although in the end it was all to no avail due to legal processes. We never even cashed the sponsors' cheques. I hope I can help BSV this time but it's very late in the day and the local economy is not as strong as it was.

Our friendly little red squirrel has been prominent this week. It seems he takes exactly the same route each time he comes - leaping from branch to branch.

Tomorrow, I've got to make the CAMRA Club of the Year presentations to the Legion - again. There won't be any room left on their walls soon.

Still researching for the new bike - I'll get there eventually.

Root canal failure

Jo came with me yesterday morning when I was getting my root canal treatment. It was a specialist root canal dentist and she worked on me for an hour and 45 minutes - all to no avail, it seems. The deep clean treatment seemed to be going well initially - the first two canals were cleaned out OK, but the 3rd one seemed to be causing a bit of a problem - it was pretty deep and she kept taking measurements. Then an X-ray was taken, after which she consulted one of the other dentists in the practice - and then another one after that. The problem was that they weren't sure whether the 3rd canal was perforated or not. If it was perforated, then it would be impossible to get a good seal and all the work - and cost - would have been wasted, and, in all likelihood I would have to have an extraction.

A second X-ray wasn't conclusive either and, in the end, I've been given a week to think about it. Next Friday I have to tell them whether to go ahead and complete the root canal treatment and hope for the best, or just have it out. I have no idea what's best.

Not surprisingly, the tooth was a little tender after that marathon session, so it's now paracetamol for me. Anyway, we went back home and Jo headed off for her usual Friday afternoon swim, so I decided to do a bit more work on the back garden wall. I knew my first mix had been too dry, so this time, I added a bit more water. Mixing away, it still seemed too dry so I added a little splash more and all of a sudden, it's too wet! After that, you can't undo it - all the mortar mix had now been used up - so just get on with it, Ian. Time will tell whether it will be OK. It's frustrating - Jo says it's just like baking or cooking - you go from undercooked to overcooked in seconds. Anyway, here's how it looks this slightly damp Saturday morning:

If the bricks are intact, I'll put the coping stones on top next week - but first I'll need to buy more mortar mix.

Last night, we went to dinner at Dan Corbett's. Archie and Eileen Cook gave us a lift down. It was a real throwback evening. Dan had prepared - without the offered help from his friend/partner Mary - 3 different types of steak meat and we were then to cook them in a fondue. How very 1970's. Good fun actually.

This morning, Jo's preparing food for the pensioners' lunch at the church. I've got nothing planned until this evening when 4 of our Headbang group are heading off to the Lemon Tree.

Tomorrow morning, weather permitting, I'm going on a short hill-walk instead of playing golf. It's my first walk with the guys this year and is coming less than 3 weeks before a weekend of pretty serious walking on the West Coast islands. I wonder how I'll cope?

Another (2) Brick(s) in the Wall

We're told that today will be the last day of the glorious spring weather - at least for now. Golf in shorts last night was glorious and this morning was equally nice - and I took full advantage when I joined our regular Freewheelers group for a quick 30 kms ride, squeezed in before my latest appointment with the physiotherapist.

My knee is ever so slowly getting better. I've been told to stop the daily icing and only to use it now when I feel the need. Keep going with the exercises, but still nothing load-bearing yet. Next assessment 12th May.

This afternoon, it was back to the wall for me. I mixed up a little bit of mortar and re-laid two of the bricks as a test run before I do the rest. Time will tell if I got the mix right or not:

I needed a hot bath afterwards. Looking in the mirror constantly reminds me of the effects of the ageing process on my body. Small things like new freckles/brown spots appearing on my neck:

The old sun spot on my nose is changing shape a little as well, despite the fact that I've been vigilant with wearing my hat when out at golf etc:

No doubt I'll now get chastised by the medics in our family.

Tomorrow morning, I'm off the dentist again for root canal treatment. Hope he's kind to me and I can enjoy my meal tomorrow night - we've been invited round to Dan Corbett's for dinner.

The Wall

No - not Pink Floyd's 1979 album and 1982 film - remember Gerald Scarfe's images?:

They didn't need no education, but I may soon - especially when it comes to wall-building. we've moved the loose bricks, taken out the earth and cleaned the old mortar off the bricks. Now it's a question of putting it all back together again. Of course, in hindsight, when the bricks were taken down, they should have been placed in position so that it was easy to put the jigsaw back, but we'll just have to try and figure it out ourselves now. Here's my first go at laying them out in order:

Jo's out at swimming just now - but no doubt she'll want them in a different order!

Luca spent the night here last night - I picked him up at school and I drove him back this morning. We discovered that he'd left his school sweater behind yesterday - it was used for one of the goals at football. Some things never change. I tried to retrieve it for him this morning at the school but ran out of time before the bell rang and he had to get in line. Hopefully Carole will manage to retrieve it tonight when she picks him up at the After School Club.

So this is my period of respite before I go to golf this evening - in shorts. The great spring weather continues. I'm also backing up files, music, photos, video etc on the new network WD My Cloud drive I bought. So far so good.

I've also got another new toy - The Vamp (http://www.thevamp.co.uk/) - a simple little device that makes any old speaker a Bluetooth speaker. Very nifty - play all the music on my new network drive via my new iPhone and connect it wirelessly to The Vamp, which is wired to the old speaker. No power cables required - take it anywhere.

No joy yet with the Marriott Phuket Beach accommodation we're trying to get next year. Ironically, we got offered it this year but chose not to take it due to the military curfews in place in Thailand at that time. We'll keep waiting.

Jo's booked a little trip down to see sister Mary and family in a couple of weeks' time - coinciding with my first Boat of Garten trip this year. No Club 55 available, so she's trying out the Gold Bus (http://www.citylinkgold.co.uk/), which we're told is very good. Zero cost for over 60's of course - apart from a 50p advance booking fee - and she gets tea/coffee and a sandwich. Sounds good.

Tuesday - Inverurie? No

It's yet another fantastic day today. I've just come in from clearing the old mortar off the decorative bricks in our back garden before attempting to re-build the wall, and I'm having a quick cup of tea and a biscuit.

This afternoon, I'm off to Inverurie to pick up Luca from school - his parents are going to the cinema tonight, so he's staying here, instead of us feeding him over there, and we'll take him back to school in the morning.

Kelly FaceTimed on Friday morning. Jo had just headed off to Costco and missed her call, but it was nice to talk to Kelly - and get kisses from Miller. We're already thinking about our next trip Down Under, but we're waiting to see if we can get in to the Marriott Phuket Beach Club first of all, to break our journey. I went for my first post-retirement haircut on Friday before my physio appointment. I think Jo was slightly disappointed - she wanted me to put a pony-tail in! I got more ultrasound on my knee and my next appointment is this Thursday. It is improving, but very slowly. Jo was out for lunch with Anne, so I went for a run on my bike after the physio. My route took me past Knockburn Loch:

We also had our free tea/coffee and scones at Raemoir Garden Centre on Friday afternoon, and it gave Jo a chance to look at some of the trees she wants to buy. Whilst she studied the options, I sat in the sun reading my paper:

Saturday was a lazy day but we were out in the evening at the annual Malaysian Evening at the church. Lovely food and a good laugh.

Sunday was golf in the morning and the Sunday Times in the afternoon - a period of rest before what I knew was going to be a hard cycle on Monday afternoon - and so it turned out. It was a nice run, however, albeit involving a fair bit of climbing - all the way up through Scolty Woods to Shooting Greens and then down to Feughside and back via Mill of Cammie to Banchory. I relaxed in a hot bath afterwards before heading out on the bus to a CAMRA meeting in the evening.

I had to cut another notch in my belt last week - I think the leather is stretching.

Cough, cough

It's 2 weeks now and still we're coughing away - not as much as before, but still enough to disturb our sleep - it's irritating and debilitating.

You may have read my anti-courier and Apple rants on My Pet Hates blog the other day but it looks as if we've got most things sorted now - but not without a fair degree of pain. I had made an appointment at the Apple Store to get them to get us all set up properly - I didn't want to make any mistakes in transferring my number and my data over from my old iPhone 4 to my new iPhone 6, not to mention coming from a company account to a personal account, and likewise getting Jo set up with her number and data on my former iPhone 4.

Simple you would think? Not so - the Apple Store couldn't complete the task as I couldn't prove my old company phone was now owned by me. I was told I had to phone Apple when I got home and see if they would authorise it. So that was most of Wednesday afternoon written off - and a chunk of this afternoon too.

However, at least my new phone seems to be working fine now, and Jo's got a phone that works at last - her old one was falling apart.

Jo was at her hairdresser's this morning and I had planned to go cycling again - for the first time in 3 weeks - but I had such a bad night's sleep, coughing away, that I couldn't face joining the rest of our group, so I cancelled. I lay in bed for a couple of hours, feeling sorry for myself - it was a glorious morning. Eventually, I decided to give it a go on my own - and I ended up doing exactly the same route as the others - a lot more than I thought I was capable of today, albeit fairly slowly and carefully. Photos on my cycling blog (http://bvetscycling.blogspot.co.uk/).

Tomorrow, Raemoir Garden Centre beckons - Jo has a voucher about to expire for coffee and scones. I've also got my next physio appointment at noon.

On Saturday, I've cancelled my golf - the tee time I had was too late as we're going out early to a Malaysian Evening at the church centre.

Back to just the two of us

Gary picked up Luca on Friday night after work and took him home to see his Mum after a week with us. He was good - but we were not. Struggling with this persistent cough/cold all week, it was hard to keep our energy levels up to match Luca's. We hope he had fun - he always seems to smile and enjoy his visits to the old fogeys in Banchory, but he must realise by now that his Mum and Dad have a bit more get up and go about them than we do.

It was great that the weather was nice all week and he was able to get outdoors. His favourite spot is climbing up the little former "Bonnie Banchory" slope, where the old Deeside railway line used to cross the main road:

I played my first competition "Medal" at Banchory on Saturday afternoon - not very well - and had a friendly bounce game on Sunday morning. Most of the evening entertainment from Thursday to Sunday, however, was the televised Masters golf from Augusta, Georgia. It was great - beautiful place, which I had the privilege to visit back in 2006 - and it always seems to kick off the golf season proper in the Northern Hemisphere for most amateurs.

Today (Monday) it was golf again for me in a Seniors match at Banchory. The weather's still fine, albeit a bit cooler than last week. I had hoped to come home to find my new iPhone had arrived. It was supposed to have been delivered on Saturday morning but never arrived, so I assumed it would come today - but, again, no sign. Quick call to Vodafone who traced it to the couriers' depot in Aberdeen. I am now assured that I will get a text tonight telling me exactly when it will arrive tomorrow - and even the driver's name. We'll see. It's the usual inefficient and unreliable service that seems to happen all the time nowadays - and it's a little inconvenient too as we had planned to go in to Aberdeen tomorrow, but I guess I need to wait a while now.

You may remember the little red squirrel that is a regular morning visitor to the trees opposite our bedroom. We first started seeing him regularly during my long convalescence period after my knee replacement and I've tried on many occasions to get a proper camera shot of him/her, but, this afternoon, he/she was back, feeding on the new shoots and buds on the sycamore tree and I was finally able to get my camera focused on him/her as he/she fed:

Satisfaction at last!

Physio diagnosis

Caroline tested my knee ligaments and cartilage and said they were fine. Her conclusion this morning was that I have Baker's Cyst - not really a cyst at all, more a sac:

She gave me some ultrasound and I go back again next week. I have to keep on doing the knee exercises, and ice the back of the knee, but no real need for any more Ibuprofen, which I'd stopped taking this week, without any noticeable difference. She said that these things normally disappear themselves between 6-12 weeks after the op, but the ice, ultrasound and exercises should give the healing process a nudge forward. She checked for DVT but no signs present.

I also asked if there was anything I shouldn't be doing, but she confirmed that cycling, walking and golf are all OK, and any of these will not cause any more damage to the knee - the same answer as the surgeon gave me - that's encouraging.

Deeside hotter than the Algarve!

What a great week it's been - more or less wall to wall sunshine and with the temperature getting in to the 20's - just!Comforting to note as well that the Algarve, where I was sweltering in 34 C last week, is down in the teens - and raining! Good timing for a change.

We're still suffering from this bug - lots of coughing in the house, and sleep has been difficult unless propped up. My voice went yesterday as well, which is why I haven't got round to getting my new phone yet - it needs a call to Vodafone and I couldn't risk doing that with my squeak. I had to miss our cycling group's outing to Aboyne and Tarland this morning on probably the best day of the year so far - I definitely wasn't up to any strenuous exercise.

It's been the school Easter holidays as well and Luca has been out every day playing with the kids in number one. Jo has been working in the garden and I've caught up with all my admin, and this afternoon I decided it was time to wash and clean both cars - inside and out. Hot work - especially as I rather suspect this was the first time Jo's had her car cleaned since she got it.

Jo found this in the garden:

It's tiny - poor little thing must have flown in to the windows.

It's the physio for me tomorrow - fingers crossed.

Easter and beyond

Ross, Gary & Luca, and then Carole - in that order - all arrived over on a hot sunny Sunday afternoon, with the promise of Jo's roast beef dinner. Lured by the opportunity to have a cigarette, Carole and Ross - yes, he's started again - were first out on the balcony, with Gary and Luca eventually joining them:

By now, Luca was in possession of his Easter Egg. Earlier he had been sent on an Egg Hunt in the back garden - Jo had hidden all our eggs out there:

Where are they?

Found some!

Where's mine Grannie?

Gary and Carole went home, leaving Luca here during the first week of the school holidays. He's a good boy and is no trouble - certainly not to me. He and Jo sit and chat away like Jack and Victor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_Game). It's just a pity that Jo - and now me as well - are suffering a little from a bit of a bug, so we're not exactly full of beans.

The great weather continued on Monday and Tuesday. I was golfing with the Seniors down at Ballater yesterday but this morning I had to go back to the dentist due to toothache. He did a bit of tidying up which will hopefully relieve the pain for a while, but he gave me a tough choice - have the tooth extracted or undergo root canal work. Any other tooth, I would have said take it out, but it's right next to the one that was extracted a few months ago and would leave a wide gap there, so I opted for the root canal treatment.

Anyway, Jo and Luca came in to Aberdeen with me and walked from Holburn St., along the Dee, and through Duthie Park to the Vue Cinema to see a film Luca was keen to see - again. Whilst they were watching that, I went over to my old work at Bridge of Don and got my car tyres changed over from winter to summer. It was a little weird walking in there again - especially seeing my old office locked up and empty. Next thing to tidy up is our mobile phones which are still on the company contract. They don't make it easy to change over - I'd tried before I went to the Algarve, but failed - and I didn't quite succeed today either - but we've made some progress. A combination of little techies trying to baffle old codgers like me, plus the Data Protection Act - and probably Health and Safety as well - are amongst the barriers to change.

Reverting to medical matters once more - I seem to have spent a lot of my retirement on these - I've got my first physio appointment for my knee this Friday. I've still got some pain and swelling - although it seems a little easier today - and ultrasound and massage have been prescribed. I've tried light compression stockings and tight elastic bandages, but these resulted in my leg looking like this at the end of the day:

You can see where my short socks stopped and pushed the fluid up to my calf and knee.