No rain?

We've had 3 virtually dry days in a row - that's a huge relief after the constant rainfall earlier in the week. We even managed an outing for our Freewheelers cycling group on Friday morning (check out http://bvetscycling.blogspot.co.uk/). I had a plan B in case we were rained off again - Keith Gray and I were going to go to Kippie for a swim and sauna. In the end, Keith didn't fancy the cycle but still wanted to go to Kippie, so I rushed in after the morning cycle, showered, bolted down some lunch and then headed off to Kippie. From sitting around doing nothing most of the week, all of a sudden it was all go.

We got some photos from Cade and Scott of Lucy's citizenship ceremony in Portland last week:

It's virtually a whole generation that Lucy's been in America, so it was hardly a surprise - in fact why did it take her so long? - but we couldn't help feeling a moment of sadness.

This family blog has now passed 400,000 viewings since inception almost 9 years ago. Although numbers have dropped a bit from their peak of a couple of years ago when it was viewed 200,000 times that year (last year was half this), there still seem to be about 300 people who read each post.

My Chronicles blog, which is now finished of course, attracted about 150 per posting and the other relatively active ones - football, cycling, music and beer - are each viewed about 100 times each posting. The golf and hill-walking ones are mostly summer seasonal and the squash and pet hates are only spasmodic ones now.

We're starting to prepare for packing now - I plan to travel as light as possible. It's dark in the very early hours of Monday morning in Adelaide as I write this and it's still 24 C there. The forecast for our arrival there this weekend is around the 30 C mark in daylight hours, which is thankfully a bit cooler than they're going to have it for the next couple of days, when it's again approaching the frankly unbearable 40 C level. Bit of a change from our low single digit temperatures in Banchory.

Will it ever stop?

What a week it's been - rain, rain and more rain. We thanked our lucky stars last month that we avoided all the bad weather and floods they had in Cumbria and the south of Scotland, but it seems like it's our turn now. Ever since Storm Frankie arrived last Wednesday, we've only had brief moments of respite, weather-wise. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday this week were definite indoors days - a pity because we had Luca here on 2 of those days and the only time he was out of the house was when Jo took him (in the car) down to Tesco.

Suffering badly from cabin fever, I donned my cycling gear first thing on Tuesday morning, ready and waiting for a break in the rain - but it never came. I repeated it on Wednesday and this time I was lucky - it was dry first thing so off I went as soon as there was enough daylight to make it safe.

I headed along the Deeside Way but it was blocked off by piles of debris halfway between the east end of Banchory and Milton of Crathes, so I turned round and went up through the Crathes Castle estate, where I took this photo using the timer on my camera - a lot easier than trying to take a selfie with my phone:

The back roads north of Crathes were fine and I managed to get 20 kms in.

One problem I've been having recently when out cycling has been numb thumbs - they always seem to get frozen and damp and I lose all feeling in them, no matter which combinations of gloves I wear. I decided to finally bite the bullet and go to our local outdoors shop and buy a pair of Sealskinz (http://www.sealskinz.com/UK/) gloves. Ridiculous price - and I also bought socks too - let's hope they both work.

We sampled my home brew last night and it was - I think the word is palatable - so I bottled it this morning - check this out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wt86qXq-D0. Now to sterilise everything ready to start the next batch when we return from Oz.

We're busy watching all the series that have built up on our Sky box to leave enough room on the disk for recording whilst we're away. Fargo is finished and we've got just 4 episodes of Homeland to watch. Some of the others I've now moved off the box and put on our network drive, so we can access them anywhere anytime.

I've also been doing some more digitising of my old vinyl albums. I've selected about 20 or so still to be done - no rush though.

As I write this blog posting, we're watching Wanted Down Under, which is from Adelaide today. Lots of places we know - McLaren Vale, Glenelg, Hahndorf etc - a nice reminder.

Wet Sunday

It's been a dreich weekend - certainly not the weather for getting out and about. Hibernation is OK for a day or so, but it doesn't take long before cabin fever kicks in. This morning (Sunday) I decided, despite the wind and rain, to go for a short walk down across the golf course to the Dee bridge:

The water level is much lower than a few days ago, when, for the first time in living memory, the bridge had to be closed.

I walked on to the Feugh to see what the torrent coming down from the hills to the Dee was like:

This is looking north towards the Dee

This one was taken from the footbridge, looking south

From the footbridge, looking at the road bridge

This short video gives a better idea - https://youtu.be/iFZgJ-Q4bQ0

It's been raining all day and it's not forecast to let up until tomorrow (Monday) night, by which time the water levels will be back up again.

I inspected my beer again this morning and it looks a little healthier today, so perhaps it's not a complete write-off after all?

I'm currently in the process of upgrading Jo's laptop to Windows 10. Can't do it for mine as it's too old - shame.

2016

We're all now well in to 2016 so it's a Happy New Year to everyone everywhere.

Let's start off the first blog post of 2016 with a look back to 2015. I started taking pictures of the trees through our bedroom window back in April, so here's how the year looked:

April

May

June

August

September

October

November

December

Our Hogmanay dinner with the Kilgours went well I feel. We had Chicken Balmoral for our main course. Colin and Johanne left just before 2 am and we then began tidying up. We FaceTimed Lucy and Kelly simultaneously to wish them all a HNY.

Unsurprisingly, yesterday (Ne'erday) was a bit of a slow one, but Gary, Carole and Luca came over for a steak pie dinner. Ross was busy but texted and we'll see him soon as he's off for a couple of weeks as Buchanan's is closed.

It's Saturday morning and I'm up, listening to Sounds of the 60's, but Jo's getting some well-earned rest. She had been getting up early recently - I think all the Christmas and New Year planning was playing on her mind.

I suppose I better go and check how my brew is getting on. I suspect it's failed - uneven temperatures or possible contamination? Never mind, it's a learning curve - I'll get it right next time.

Hogmanay

It's early evening Hogmanay in Scotland, but it's already 2016 in Adelaide - HNY to all our Aussie family and friends. Looking forward to seeing you soon - we leave here two weeks tomorrow.

I'm relaxing with a cup of tea at the moment, having just had a bit of a Freddie Mercury moment. Can you picture the scene - me doing the hoovering in just my underpants? If that thought puts you off your meal, I apologise. I'll be getting fully dressed soon and going to pick up Colin and Johanne. It'll just be the four of us for Hogmanay dinner at ours this year as both Anne and Leslie are ill - shame.

My last post here was on Boxing Day - since then, I've had 3 much-needed cycles - a solo one on Sunday and with a few of our group on Monday and this morning. We went down to the West Coast on Tuesday - there and back in a day. Our first disappointment was on the drive down, pulling in to the Horn, looking forward to a roll and sausage, only to find out it's shut for 2 weeks. We had to invoke Plan B and pop in to the nearby Glendoick Garden Centre for bacon butties. That was the first in a long line of snacking that day.

We went over to Elderslie to see Brian and Mary, who kept us topped up with a constant supply of food all afternoon. A cup of tea with Xmas cake first of all, then soup an hour later, followed by regular refills then, finally, sausage rolls, chips and beans. Julie, Guy and the boys popped over for a little while too.

We eventually said our goodbyes and drove over to Knightswood to see Barry and Helen and drive them in to the city centre for Dawn's surprise 60th birthday party. Of course, Helen gave us tea and cake as well.

Dawn's do was in the Tea Rooms at the Butterfly and Pig in Bath St. - a nice, old fashioned Glasgow tea room. Here's some of the photos of the evening:

Mara enjoyed playing with the balloons as Kieran held her

I wonder what Barry's looking at?

Dawn and her pal, Rona

Lauren lit the cake for her Mum

Cousin Lesley took this one of me, Dawn & Barry

This latter photo brought memories back of probably the last time the three of us posed together:

Barry told us how he hated that kiss-curl! I reminded him that Mum had done the same thing to me a few years earlier:

We left the party at 9:15 pm, having stocked up with sandwiches from the party, as we had to be home for Luca's birthday the following day and we also knew that Storm Frank was on its way and we didn't want to get stranded. As it happened, we were back safely in Banchory by 11:30 pm.

The direct effects of the storm mostly bypassed Banchory, but it hit Upper Deeside a lot harder and the consequent effect of all the water there had to come our way via the River Dee - and it did. The water level got so high that the bridge over the Dee in Banchory had to be closed, as did Potarch and other bridges. It's the first time I ever remember that happening. The online community is full of the images - even the North Deeside road has been washed away down near Crathie.

None of this stopped us from driving over to Inverurie on Wednesday for Luca's 9th birthday:

Luca chose the picnic-style lunch again.

I was going to corporate hospitality at the Aberdeen - Partick Thistle match that evenng so I decided to catch the train in. I walked to the station, bought my ticket, but then missed the train - and the next one was an hour away. I did eventually catch a bus in - with a little bit of help from Jo - and although I had a bit of a hike when I got to Aberdeen, I made it in reasonable time.

I was marginally fragile this morning, but the biggest shock I got was when I stood on the scales - 13 stone 4 lbs! Just a week ago, the reading one morning had been 12 stone 8 lbs. Surely I couldn't have put on 10 pounds in one week? Jo told me it was probably just fluid retention. Mmmm...

Well, I had better go and get dressed then. Have a good one, everyone - talk to you later.

Xmas photos

Happy Boxing Day to all - and Happy Anniversary to Jo and I - 43 years ago today. We got married at 4 pm - it was pitch dark!

Facebook prompted me this morning and so I posted their choice of photos of Jo and I - to selected family only. I was complimented on it by both Jo and Carole, who thought I'd made it up myself, but when I told them it was all FB's work, I lost all my brownie points!

All's well again - my beer is now at 22 C:

We had planned to go and see Star Wars today but we've had a re-think this morning and will do it tomorrow instead. I think we're just going to zone out today.

Now for the photo gallery from yesterday:

Jo's flowers

The smokers

Luca & Minecraft torch

Yes it's a Minecraft Xmas

Carole's pressies

Lizzie's pressies

Ross' pressies

Jo's pressies!

More Jo's pressies!

Family

Merry Christmas!

Hope you're all having a good one. I'm temporarily home alone as Jo is at church, but I've got my instructions - oven on at 10:40, turkey in at 11:00 am - job done!

We've been on FaceTime with the Aussie branch of the clan this morning at the end of their Christmas celebrations in the sun. Kelly is looking healthy:

After a break of nearly 40 years, I've started to dabble with home brewing again - using a Cooper's (of Adelaide) kit coincidentally. It's in the utility room, just above the boiler to try and keep it at the correct 21-23 C temperature, but it's fallen to just 18 C so I've had to put some claddding on and install a heater in there temporarily:

Apart from monitoring the temperature daily, my next task is on Tuesday when I have to check the specific gravity. Once that's stable, it's ready to drink - or bottle. It doesn't look very wholesome just now, but it should clear - fingers crossed.

Gary, Carole and Luca will be over early afternoon - in time for Top of the Pops, says Gary and Ross is picking up Lizzie from her work at 2 pm and they'll be in after that. Looking forward to it - and no doubt we'll FT with Lucy later on.

Shortest day

I'm told today is the Winter Solstice - I had always thought it was the 21st, but apparently this year it's the 22nd December. Dad's birthday was the 21st - he would have been 95.

It's nearly a week since my last post, so what have I been up to? Well, we had our Cycling group's annual Xmas lunch last Wednesday at the golf club, after a short cycle in the morning. I couldn't make the usual Thursday morning cycle because we had planned to go and get our Christmas tree then, but I managed to get out for another short run in the afternoon.

We went back to the same supplier as last year, down at Dess. We bought the first tree we saw - amazing. Having done that in record time, we took a slightly circuitous route home which eventually brought us to Torphins, so we popped in to Platform 22 for a coffee, where I noticed they had now started brewing their own beer as well.

Friday was a quiet-ish day until we went for our 3rd Headbang of the year in the evening. The only exercise I got was walking along to the shops to get my paper, passing the workmen who are progressing the construction of the houses on the site of the former filling station:

I picked up the Deeside Piper as well and noticed that my photo featured as the Picture of the Week:

Saturday was tree decoration day. Didn't I do a good job?:

The artificial tree is up in the back room as well:

as are the cards, which Jo put up in new places this year:

Jo was busy preparing for Sunday as well - steak and ale pie was on the menu for the visit of Dawn, Barry & Helen on Sunday. I met the three of them out at Buchanan's for a coffee so they at least got a glimpse of Ross, who was working that day. Gary, Carole and Luca also came for dinner. No photos, I'm afraid.

Yesterday (Monday) I had a Doctor's appointment. I've been getting more dizzy turns than usual and wondered whether the new drug (Rivaroxaban) was causing it. I've been advised to go back on aspirin for a couple of weeks and then revert to Riveroxaban as a final test before deciding whether to try an alternative drug. Going back on to Warfarin is also a possibility, but the regular monitoring of the levels that's required here is not really possible when I'm in Australia for 6 weeks, then the same in USA in June.

Inverurie this afternoon, as usual. It' Luca's last day at school before the break.

Thawing out nicely

It's Wednesday morning and the snow and ice have long gone, replaced by grey skies and unseasonably high temperatures. At least that means I can get out for a cycle this morning - just prior to our cycling group's Xmas lunch at the golf club.

We did our usual Inverurie trip yesterday. Gary was off work - still not fully recovered from the cold/flu he had last week - but we went ahead and picked up Luca from school anyway. Jo had arranged a picnic style tea - at Luca's request - and we ate it on the floor of their living room:

Sorry about the lack of focus.

We'd been to Costco beforehand and I spotted a balaclava style hood/mask which will do me nicely for cycling in colder weather conditions. I also picked up my new driving glasses, and I'm wearing them in this photo:

The big round mirror we recently acquired has been moved from the hall downstairs to our back/TV room - and Jo is much happier with this location. It's like a porthole through to the kitchen.

It's exactly a year to the day since I formally resigned as Director of all the Group companies. Tempus fugit.

Sunday evening

Lucy's on FaceTime just now - I just listen in as she and Jo natter away. I don't think they're quite going to make the 2 hour mark tonight.

Jo's been busy preparing food for the Seniors lunch at the church - that kept her going Friday morning and a good chunk of Saturday too, but she managed to squeeze in her usual Friday afternoon swim as well. Whilst she was doing that, I decided to get some more of the pub surveys done, plus delivery of our quarterly newsletters and membership forms. Ballater, Tarland, Aboyne & Feughside were all done, but I passed on Braemar - maybe another time.

Got some golf in this morning - winter course. It was a beautiful day - cloudless skies and not a breath of wind, but the temperature never got above about 2 C.

This week, I have to pick up my new driving glasses from Costco, and we should really start putting the Xmas decorations up - and buy a tree of course. It's our Cyclists Xmas lunch at the golf club on Wednesday and we have a Headbang on Friday night. Dawn, Barry & Helen are coming up on Sunday - not sure yet whether it's just for the afternoon or whether they'll stay overnight.

To close, here's a photo Jo took of me in St. Andrews Brewing Co on Wednesday:

Whoops - it's sideways!

From this weekend's Deeside Piper, there was a photo of the foreign fishermen wearing the hats that Jo's been knitting for them these last couple of years:

St. Andrews

We got back from an overnight stay at St. Andrews at tea time last night - fish and chips from The Cowshed was the easy option rather than cooking. Before our little trip, we were in Inverurie as usual on Tuesday - Gary arrived home from work, feeling a bit under the weather with a cold, and he slept through the whole of the Manchester Utd. match that I watched whilst we were there. I even had to move his car so that we could get ours out and head home - and he never stirred once.

We drove south on Wednesday morning when a number of bridges in Scotland were closed due to the high winds. Fortunately, the Tay Bridge was ok - for cars at least. Arriving in St. Andrews just before noon, we parked our car, checked in to the Rusacks Hotel then took a short stroll along the Scores and up to Market St. to look for Forgan's, where we had booked lunch. It had been recommended to us by Keith and Annette Gray, as had St. Andrews Brewing Co, where we had a quick beer before lunch. Both recommendations were excellent.

Returning to the hotel, we relaxed for a couple of hours, enjoying the view from our room:

After a glass of Prosecco, we decided to pay a visit to the cinema before dinner - Sunset Song was on. The film is about life in the Mearns, Aberdeenshire farming community at the start of the last century. Our dinner wasn't until 8 pm and the film was scheduled for 5:25 pm - more than enough time, we thought. We didn't figure, however, on a very lengthy preamble of adverts and trailers, plus a longer than normal film - 2 hours, 15 minutes, to be exact. It's what could be described as a slow burner - it's all about atmosphere and scenery. We wondered if it would ever end and we knew we were going to be late for our booking at The Seafood Restaurant.

It was lashing rain and a howling wind when we left the cinema and we went to the wrong place initially. When we finally got to the restaurant, we were soaked - and we were the only customers there. The staff - all seven of them - looked a little exasperated initially, but it didn't show in terms of the quality of food and presentation. There were a couple of unexpected extras - Amuse Bouche to start, and a couple of petit fours to finish - but the main courses we ordered were:

My order - sole

Jo's order - monkfish

The waiter  took our photo:

Our nightcap back at the hotel was another glass of Prosecco. The room we stayed in was nice - in line with the location, they all had golfy themes - ours was the Bobby Locke room. The Breakfast Room in the morning overlooked the Old Course, which was initially bathed in sunshine before distant storms gave us some nice rainbows to watch:

We sat in the pretty reception area after checking out, then decided to go for a short drive round the East Neuk of Fife - through Kingsbarns, Crail and eventually Anstruther. It was bright and sunny, but the wind was really strong and our initial idea of a stroll was soon nixed and we headed for the relative warmth of the Scottish Fishermen's Museum:

We had planned to visit their Tearoom afterwards, but it was now lunchtime and the place was packed with schoolkids, so we moved on to nearby Pittenweem and found a cafe there, after a walk around the small fishing port:

Driving back up north, our last stop of the day was at Guardbridge, where the Eden Mill Brewery and Distillery (http://edenmill.com/) have a nice visitor centre. We arrived just in time to join a brewery tour. It was well done, but I had to restrict my intake of their samples as I still had to drive home.