September week 3

Another week flown by - and you can now sense it's getting autumnal - definitely not as warm as it had been recently - and we notice the leaves are now spotting brown a bit.

My week went virtually as planned - and as outlined in last week's blog - a couple of cycles and 4 games of golf. Definitely going to be a slow one today - newspapers, TV - to allow my body to recover from the stiffness I feel just now. Got a big match tomorrow - can't let Scotland down in our annual Challenge match v the Rest of the World!

I went along to the Legion on Thursday night for a hands-on training session at River Dee Radio. the tutor/presenter, Richard, was keen for us to try out the mixing desk and do a test broadcast using the Zara Radio software, but I'm not ready for any live broadcasting - I would rather pre-record shows, but this means using a different piece of software (Audacity) and Richard didn't know much about this, so I'm going to do some training on this next week.

Incidentally, next Saturday morning (1st) from 10 am to 1:00 pm there's a live show going out, featuring all the volunteer presenters, each of whom has been asked to provide two tracks to demonstrate what their show is likely to be about. I don't think I'll be able to make it along as we've got our flu jabs and then we're going to the Cowshed for lunch (double 70th birthday celebration and 50th anniversary for Les and Angela Gray). Andy Marshall is going along to represent the Banchory Headbangers. Don't forget the link to listen to River Dee Radio is http://tunein.com/radio/River-Dee-Radio-s274232

Tonight (Saturday) we're going to the Kilgours for dinner - that should be nice.

I've enjoyed the two rides I've had on my new hybrid bike so far - it's definitely easier than my mountain bike, which is going in again to the bike shop on Monday to try again to have its squealing brakes fixed.

I noticed an article in the press giving a link to a web site (https://qrisk.org/2016/) on which you can input some of your personal details and it gives you your risk of heart attack/stroke in the next 10 years. I did mine and it came out at 20.4%, which is above the 16% norm for someone of my age etc:

I played around with it a bit to see if I could get the risk factor down - I immediately thought perhaps weight was a factor, so I lopped 10 kgs off my real weight, but it made very little difference to the overall score. What did affect it greatly was the tick box for Atrial Fibrillation - if I unticked it and pretended I didn't have AF, my risk fell to 12% - well below the healthy average. Scary thought - that's something I can't do anything about.

That's all for now folks - until next week. Take care.

September week 2

Another week has flown by - and the weather has been great. When Brian and Mary were here last weekend we went out to the Derbar for a meal - our second visit there in a few days - and it was just as good as the first time.

Ross and Lizzie seemed to enjoy their weekend in Hamburg for Lizzie's young brother's wedding - although Lizzie seemed to pick up a bug and has been a bit poorly these last few days. If you didn't see the photo of the two of them on FaceBook, here it is:

On Monday afternoon I went for a bike ride with Colin and Dave. We drove up to Aboyne and cycled along the Tarland Way, doing a couple of loops of the Tarland Trails when we got there, before heading back down through Dinnet and along the Deeside Way, stopping at Deeside Gliding Club. Nice ride.

Tuesday was a Seniors match at Royal Aberdeen, where the normal green fees are now £172 - glad we didn't have to pay that! It was a lovely day and we experienced the phenomenon of having a light breeze behind us on the way out, which turned right round and followed us on the inward half. Normally at least 9 holes are played in to a howling wind - what a pleasant change.

Wednesday was golf at Banchory while Jo was away on her usual swim session, then on Thursday we decided to go in to Aberdeen to watch the world premiere of the new Beatles' documentary Eight Days a Week.  I thought I would take the chance to do some bike shop browsing again so we headed to Evans Cycles near the Haudagain roundabout - and this time, I jumped - I bought myself the new hybrid I'd always promised myself:

Friday was golf again - this time at Arbroath, a course I'd never played and it turned out to be a wee gem.

Saturday was quiet - Jo and I strolled down to the village in the warm sunshine. The Farmers' market was on and we had a look but didn't buy anything. We watched the second episode of The Night Of in the evening - looks promising.

Golf again this morning (Sunday) then crispy aromatic duck for dinner - lovely.

Busy week coming up again:

• Monday - gas service + our IFA arriving to update our finances, followed by a game of golf
• Tuesday - cycle in the morning, Inverurie in the afternoon/evening
• Wednesday - golf in the afternoon
• Thursday - cycle in the morning then local radio training session in the evening
• Friday - last Seniors match of the season at Scotscraig (Tayport)

We've got our annual Scotland v Rest of the World Challenge match on Sunday - traditionally the season ender.

The more observant readers will have noticed the reference above to local radio training on Thursday. River Dee Radio has started test transmissions - check it out at http://tunein.com/radio/River-Dee-Radio-s274232/ - and they are looking for volunteers to help out. We - the Banchory Headbangers - are considering putting a programme together. I've done some online training and am booked for a hands-on session on Thursday night. I'm not sure about the presenting bit, but I like putting programmes/themes together. We'll see what develops.

Ross 33

It's now Thursday morning and Ross and Lizzie have set off on their journey down to Edinburgh and onwards to Hamburg to attend Lizzie's brother's wedding. Ironically, they'll pass Gary who'll be on his way back from Hamburg tomorrow.

Last night, the 4 of us went out for dinner to the Derbar - and very nice it was too. Ross had just had his hair cut and he's removed his facial hair now as well:

Ross doesn't think he's very photogenic and I kind of half agree that this photo of him and Lizzie doesn't quite do him justice. We thought he looked very smart and we look forward to seeing photos of him when he's got his new suit, shirt and a tie on at the wedding.

Lizzie had brought along the beer mats game, which we all tried out:

Not sure who won that contest!

The boiler installers are working away downstairs as we speak. They've sprung some small leaks in a couple of radiators already - let's hope they get it all sorted out today. Apart from this, so far, so good - Jo seems happy that they're following her instructions anyway. Perhaps our "dummy run" last year when we almost got a new boiler installed only to pull the plug at the last minute has helped.

That's our flights to Australia booked now. The Amex card has taken the hit - we're going Emirates again, leaving here on Boxing Day, which necessitates us having to go to Gary and Carole's for Christmas - hope they don't mind! Our trip includes a visit to the Red Centre in the middle of our holiday and a few days in Brisbane at the end.

Tomorrow (Friday) I'm meeting up with my old work colleagues Jacquie and Nikki for a spot of lunch. We've arranged to meet at Garlogie and if it's dry again, I'll cycle over there. I cycled on Tuesday morning but perhaps it was too soon after my golf weekend at Boat of Garten, because I certainly felt tired at golf yesterday afternoon. Today's very much a down day, however, so that should help.

Brian and Mary are coming up on Saturday - but just for one night. Jo's busy changing the bed linen just now in the room where Ross and Lizzie normally are - I guess it's quite convenient that they're away this weekend.

That's about it for now, I think

Is it really autumn?

It's Tuesday morning. I've just been out for the papers and down the golf club to put my gear back after our weekend at Boat of Garten and I can't believe how warm it is outside already. I'm planning to go for a short cycle and need to find something really light to wear. And they say that, meteorologically speaking, it's now Autumn? Doesn't feel like it.

Well it's been over 2 weeks since I last posted - possibly the longest gap in this blog for some while. Trying to fill in what I've been up to since then:

• Golf of course - including some Seniors matches and our 62nd outing to Boat of Garten this weekend.
• Made arrangements to go to Stratford upon Avon to discuss potential sale of our Hollywood, Florida timeshares - tie-ing it in with a trip to the Cheltenham Literature Festival.
• We're now all booked for our trip to York at the end of October.
• We've finally committed to a new boiler and it's getting installed this Thursday.
• Been to the local CAMRA branch's Beer Festival "post mortem" when the perennial organiser shocked us all with his resignation after more than two decades of doing it. The rest of us are going to have to pick up the pieces now.
• Had a nice couple of days in Nairn with the 3 other couples we went to France with last year.

Time for a couple of photos then:

Jo and I outside our hotel in Nairn - the Golf View. We'd last stayed there on a scorching hot weekend in 1987. Lovely outdoor jacuzzi overlooking the Moray Firth.

Nairn town centre was ablaze with colour.

On the drive up to Grantown/Boat of Garten on Sunday, my chauffeur, Rob, stopped the car to have a look at the 4 new copper coloured "things" next to the standing stone with a view of distant Corgarff Castle.

It turns out that the "things" were, in fact, all seats.

We've booked 8 shows/talks at Cheltenham:

• John Simpson
• Val McDermid
• Jeremy Paxman
• The Ages of Bowie
• Brian Wilson - A Life
• I, Me, Mine (George Harrison)
• Shetland (TV series)
• Wilko Johnson

That should keep us busy. They're all just one hour long so we still have plenty of time to look around Cheltenham - and we've got spare time in Statford upon Avon too - and maybe time for a quick look at Bath as well.

That's a quick update of the last couple of weeks. Today, of course, we're off to Inverurie as usual then, on Thursday, I'm driving Ross and Lizzie over to Stonehaven to catch the train to Edinburgh for their flight to Hamburg for Lizzie's relative's wedding. On Saturday, Brian and Mary are coming up here for a night or two - and some golf.

First full week with Ross and Lizzie

It's Sunday night and Jo's on FaceTime with Mary so I thought I would take a few minutes to update my blog - and check my diary for the coming week. I've been so busy this last week I haven't known whether I'm coming or going - and you all thought retirement was easy?

Ross and Lizzie have fitted in nicely without any major disruption to our life - and I hope we've reciprocated in theirs. It can't be easy for Lizzie moving in here, albeit just for a few weeks, but we've tried to make her feel at home - especially Jo.

This was last week:

• Tuesday - Cycling then Inverurie with Luca
• Wednesday - Medal at Banchory
• Thursday - Golf at St. Andrews
• Friday - Golf at Stonehaven, then Headbang in the evening
• Saturday - Aberdeen v Partick Thistle

It would have been a nice day for a cycle today but I needed to rest and catch up with stuff - including my online Tax return. This coming week is just as hectic:

• Monday - Seniors match at Banchory, then KT Tunstall (standing) gig at Woodend Barn
• Tuesday - Inverurie
• Wednesday - Medal at Banchory
• Thursday - Golf at Deeside, then Cardiologist at Albyn in the evening
• Friday - Seniors match at Montrose
• Saturday - CAMRA Beer Festival post-mortem meeting
• Sunday/Monday/Tuesday - Golf View, Nairn with the Grays, Cooks and Grigors

I won't go any further - but there's more of the same until things quieten down a bit from about mid-September onwards.

All of this and we're looking at the possibility of selling our Hollywood time share weeks in Florida. The 2 weeks we have are Xmas/New Year, which is prime time in USA, but we haven't been able to use these weeks ourselves and have merely tried to exchange them through Interval International. We've had some good holidays and short breaks this way over the years, but, a bit like Air Miles, it's getting harder to get the exchanges that suit us and if we're not using our time share and we're not getting exchanges - and it's costing us in maintenance fees - then I think we need to move on. We'll still keep our Marriott Points and Marbella week however.

That's about it, I think. I've been so busy I've hardly watched any of the Olympics - and it's now over.

Monday down day

It's been a quiet day today - despite the fact that we're a house with 4 inhabitants again. Ross and Lizzie were out at work most of today anyway so it hasn't exactly been a sea change for Jo and I. The main change we've noticed is the introduction of Ross' fancy coffee machine to the kitchen!

I would have gone cycling today but I was too tired - had a few beers over the weekend and that probably contributed to my lethargy today. After golf yesterday morning, Jo, Ross and I went to the Banchory Beer Festival:

Nice afternoon - then the 3 mile walk home.

Schools go back tomorrow so it's back to the old routine of travelling over to Inverurie on Tuesday to look after Luca after school.

Whoops!

Well apologies for that little blip - I accidentally posted a cycling blog to my family blog! First time I've ever done that in approaching 2,000 blog postings. If I ever do it again, please have me tested for early onset.

So, having had to do another post I may as well carry on. Let's start with a cute picture of little Asher:

Now a couple of late photos from our Fringe visit:

These were taken as we were waiting in line for the Henning Wehn show. The next one was from the Royal Mile:

In some ways, the Wicker Man above reminded me of the first time we were in San Francisco with Lucy when the Bush Man (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Famous_Bushman) made me jump. He died in 2014 unfortunately.

It's been a busy week - took a walk up Scolty on Sunday and then we had two solid days of walking round Edinburgh on Monday/Tuesday, followed by 3 consecutive days of golf on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday. My car went in to have its MoT on Thursday but the work wasn't finished until Friday - it's getting to that stage when it's starting to cost money to keep it on the road, and it's not like I do a lot of miles in it nowadays. I now walk far more than I drive - the golf course and the village are very close, fortunately - quite a reversal from my days at work when I spent so much time in my car up and down to Fraserburgh and in and out to Bridge of Don.

Anyway, I told them I would pick up my car this morning (Saturday). I had 3 options - I could cycle in (20 miles) and pick it up, or I could catch the bus, or perhaps Jo might take me in in her car. It was a beautiful morning and I felt fine, but I decided it might be best to have a rest day after the hectic week, with more to come next week, so we opted for the latter choice.

Tomorrow morning is the Rotary Charity Golf Tournament at Banchory and then it's the Banchory Beer Festival in the afternoon. We have 4 tickets for the event close to Woodend Barn but Lizzie's working so we've got a spare one now.

As I write this, Ross is busy transporting their stuff down from his flat to ours - tonight's the night when he and Lizzie move in to Arbor Court. Our lives will never be the same again! At least until October. Jo will love to have somebody to natter away to again. I'll find a quiet corner somewhere.

Today cousin John Kelly is getting married to his partner Joanne (Sahal). We wish them well - we couldn't manage to accept their kind invitation to the wedding, but I'm sure they'll have a great time and we look forward to seeing them again at the next Family gathering - hopefully this year.

To close, I saw this article in the press recently - thought it might give our Lucy some pointers:

Back from the Fringe

It's Wednesday evening and we're back home after two days of pretty solid Fringe-ing in Edinburgh. It was all go from the time we arrived late Monday morning. Most of our shows were in the Bristo Square area - Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Assembly etc. Our first show was a "taster" Best of the Fest, where we got 10-15 minutes of half a dozen very different shows - a nice introduction.

We moved on to a musical tribute to Otis Redding - Movin' Melvin Brown was pretty good vocally and very nifty with his tap shoes, although his backing band left a bit to be desired.

Hardeep Singh Kohli was next. We'd seen him before when he was doing his celebrity chef thing, but this time it was supposed to be his mixed tape - definitely a throwback to the '80's. He rambles a lot and never gets anywhere near through the script he's apparently prepared - and there's extensive use of the F word - so much so that an old couple (yes - even older than us) walked out halfway through and the man turned to the stage as he was leaving and said in a loud voice - "there's no need to use that kind of language - you're funny enough without it".

We had just enough time before the next show to walk back to our hotel and dump our bags and then we headed to the tiny Stand Comedy Club to see Shappi Khorsandi - using the new Edinburgh tram system for the first time - and having to pay cash for the ride, horror of horrors. An ethnic theme was developing and it was no surprise that all of the comedians we saw spent a fair bit of their acts talking about immigration and Brexit.

Between shows we only had time for a quick beer - finding the time for a proper meal was difficult. We'd shared a pizza for an early lunch but that was about it. Come 10 pm, we were hungry but we didn't fancy going to a restaurant for a meal this late, so settled for a shared fish supper. Still the beer we'd consumed would provide us with plenty of calorific input.

Jo and I had an early light breakfast at our hotel on Tuesday morning as we knew we were meeting up with Ross and Lizzie for brunch. A random Google search led us to choose Loudons (http://www.loudons-cafe.co.uk/) and what a great choice it was. Ross and Lizzie had been flat-hunting yesterday and there was more to view today - and we had another Best of the Fest lunchtime show to attend anyway.

We didn't have much time between our first and second shows and we had to hot-foot it over to the Assembly Hall on the Mound for the Glasgow Girls show. It's on tour just now, so it was good to catch it at the Fringe. Immigration was yet again the theme.

For me, our best show by far was Henning Wehn. His voice and accent make him a bit of a comical character anyway, but he was exceptionally sharp, quick-witted - and very funny.

Our last show was Bookends - a Simon and Garfunkel tribute act. Their harmonies were wonderful and the acoustics in the hall were excellent - a lovely end to the evening.

We met up with Ross and Lizzie for a quick drink afterwards and they took us to a pub that specialised in White Russians so that was our nightcap:

We caught a fairly early train this morning so I was back in plenty of time for golf this afternoon - and there's more tomorrow and Friday. My car's in for service and MoT tomorrow as well - busy day.

Going back a few days, I did manage to get to Ellon on Saturday afternoon for the CAMRA meeting - courtesy of Jo, who volunteered to come with me and drive home.

Sunday was intended to be a rest day, but it was such a nice morning that I thought I would take a walk up Scolty. Pretty windy at the top but it was a lovely walk. As I got near home again, I passed Bill & Fran Aitken's house and noticed that they'd erected a flagpole with a Union Jack fluttering away. No, they're not forming a local branch of the BNP or National Front - I think it's to do with the Olympics!:

The calm between the storms

The heading doesn't refer to the weather but more to the fact that Jo and I are experiencing a quiet house again after Luca left on Friday night - but it won't be long before we're busy again. Ross has just been round this morning to confirm the arrangements for him and Lizzie moving in here for a short time, whilst they look for suitable properties in Edinburgh. August is the month when the Fringe is on and it's almost impossible to find anywhere, but this should change from September.

Our garage will be full for a while - Ross has already packed up a few boxes of their belongings.

Other than that, what have we been up to? For me, golf, golf and more golf. I did say I would be trying to catch up with the weeks I missed when we were in USA and I'm doing my best. I didn't play on Saturday - that might have been a day too far - so Jo and I travelled down to Braemar on CAMRA business to see the changes the new owner had made to the Moorfield House Hotel, which overlooks the Royal stand where the famous Braemar Gathering is held at the start of September. They've put in some nice decking there:

On Monday, I had to captain our Seniors team in the match against Kemnay. I was asked to do this and it was hard to refuse, but it's not something I really enjoy. It's just not me, standing up to give welcome speeches - and I don't do jokes, like most seem to do, but I got through it.

On Tuesday, it was Jo's time to get her ears syringed by the nurse. She's been putting olive oil in her ears for the last couple of weeks, then walking round with huge blobs of cotton wool sticking out. It appears her ear passages are now completely clear and clean, but she still hasn't completely recovered her full hearing and there's still whistling going on in her head, so she may have to return to see the doctor again. Her hearing first went bad whilst we were in USA, but some of the symptoms can be traced back to the virus she had before we travelled.

On matters medical, I haven't had a phone call back after my last blood test. Now I don't know whether that's good news and my readings are back to normal, or whether it's because our regular GP is on holiday - or I've missed a call. Should I phone them to check, or just leave it for now? Which reminds me, I have my appointment at our local medical practice tomorrow morning for the annual Cardio Clinic. My private annual visit to my cardiologist is on the 25th of this month.

Managed a cycle yesterday afternoon - nice conditions, but felt a little weary and weak afterwards, so it was lecture time from Jo - "don't push yourself!" she said. My bike is giving me problems again - squealing brakes and difficulty in changing gears. This has happened before and been fixed by our local bike shop, but I had a go at fixing it myself yesterday - but failed miserably, so it'll have to go back in to the bike shop, I'm afraid. I think this has finally convinced me to get myself a new bike - a hybrid, which I can use both off and on-road. I'll keep the existing mountain bike with fat tyres and use it as a spare - or for any strictly off-road adventures. It only cost me £100 and has given me a good few miles already, so I think I've had fair value from it, but it's time for a change.

Might get wet at golf this afternoon - fingers crossed. More golf tomorrow with some old business contacts who I first met at a corporate outing at Castle Stuart a few years ago. We, as a team, won that event (and I won the individual too) and got a freebie back at Castle Stuart, which we played the following year. Then one of our team invited us out to Meldrum House, which was nice. I then offered to invite them back to Banchory - I was supposed to do it last year, then earlier this year, but failed on both occasions, so I'm hoping the weather holds up for their visit tomorrow.

Looking ahead, we're off to Edinburgh - Scotrail strikes permitting - on Monday/Tuesday. Before that, on Saturday there's a CAMRA local committee meeting. I've missed the last few and really should go along this time, but it's in Ellon, which provides some logistical challenges. Need to think about this.

This week with Luca

Well, Luca's week with his grandparents ends today. We survived - and so did he. We think he enjoyed himself - were we more lenient than his parents? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure we weren't tougher.

Last night's tea was Luca's favourite - a "picnic" - indoors. Sandwiches, prawns and mango on a stick (?), Doritos, smoothie, grapes and a Fruit Corner, all laid out on a large tablecloth on the carpet in our back (TV) room. He was a happy camper.

Three times this week I've had him down at the practice facility at the golf club to hit a few balls. He seems happy enough to do it, but, as always with Luca, there's a price to pay - we have to go to Tease afterwards for him to have another hot chocolate with marshmallows, washing down a brownie. Yesterday, Jo joined us, but she said it was even less fun having coffee with Luca than it is with me. As soon as he was finished, it was time for us to go, whereas Jo wanted to relax and take her time over her coffee.

Of course, any time we go down to the village, we have to pass Corsee Road and Luca loves to climb up the embankment there:

On Tuesday, all three of us went for a walk in the woods in the afternoon. The route back took us through the former Inchmarlo golf course, now sadly overgrown:

On Wednesday afternoon, Jo and Luca took the bus in to Aberdeen while I played golf. They saw the latest Ghostbusters - this was the 3rd time Luca had seen it!

We FaceTimed with Kelly yesterday. Miller was all go as usual whilst little Asher was calm and happy. Can't wait to see him - nor can Lucy, who's considering going to Adelaide over the Christmas holidays. If she does, we'll dovetail/overlap with her.

Gary is coming to pick up Luca after work today. No more early morning Play Station in Arbor Court!

Out-negotiated by a 9 year old!

When Luca was heading to bed last night, I had a word with him about when he was going to get up in the morning (to play on his PS). The following conversation ensued:

• Luca - "Between 6 and 7"
• Me - "OK - "let's say 6:30"
• Luca - "No - let's split the difference - 6:15"
• Me - "I already did split the difference!"

Too smart for me!

In the end, he got up promptly at 6 am anyway.

Monday morning update

Well, we've FaceTimed with both Kelly and Lucy now. Nice to see everyone's faces again - particularly little Asher.

It's Scott and Lucy's 15th wedding anniversary today. We still remember the stifling heat of Patrick's Creek back in 2001. We thought we were going to melt - and some of the butterflies did!

Started to look at flights for next year - nothing much coming up yet, but we should probably resolve the timing of our Australian trip first. I think this time, we'll probably do a bit more travelling Down Under - perhaps to Uluru and maybe Brisbane.

I made it to my golf on Friday - although it was a bit of a rush, coming straight from my latest blood test, which was running a bit late. As a result, I arrived on the tee with my arm still oozing blood. I had to go in to the pro shop and ask for a couple of plasters to stem the flow. It was a beautiful afternoon for golf - as was Friday at Edzell. Saturday at Banchory was also nice and hot, but my golf certainly wasn't.

Gary came over with Luca first thing on Sunday morning. He then headed off for a training run, in preparation for the Fort William marathon next Sunday, whilst Jo had church duties to perform, so Luca and I headed down to the golf course - via his favourite little hill at Corsee Road, of course - to practice his golf. One he'd had enough, we went back up the High St - I bought my paper and then he persuaded me to go in to Tease. He loves the hot chocolate with marshmallows there - and the chocolate cake:

Luca's here for a week, so Gary brought his bike and his Play Station over, as well as his golf clubs, so I set up our TV for him. His Dad told him he couldn't have any more PS on Sunday as he'd already been on it at home, and once a day is more than enough, but Luca must have been excited about using it on our big TV, as he woke at 3, 4 and 5 am this morning to check the time. When I finally got up just before 7 am, he was already downstairs playing away. He had been careful, however - the door to the TV room was shut and the volume was turned way down, so as not to waken us. Too late!

Nice start to the day, so I'm off for a short cycle soon. Rain forecast to arrive at lunchtime.

Post storm update

It was a strange day yesterday. We knew there was a major storm coming and it certainly seemed to be exactly as forecast when, mid-morning, the skies blackened - it was like the middle of the night in our house - and we heard the thunderclaps and then the rain.

There was an immediate announcement from our golf club that the course was closed and, with forecast lightning and more heavy rain still to come, we had no option but to re-schedule our usual Wednesday golf.

Then, as quickly as it had arrived, the rain stopped and the skies lightened - the sun even came out later in the afternoon - and the golf course re-opened late morning. Still, we didn't want to take any chances, did we? So we just sat tight at home.

The timing was obviously a bit out, because we were awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of constant dripping going down our chimney breast - and seemingly other places too. Surely our roof wasn't leaking again? The rains had come back - it was lashing outside and we couldn't get back to sleep for a few hours. As a result, we didn't get up until 9 am this morning - much later than normal - by which time any chance I had of joining our cycle group for a short ride had gone.

Still, it's looking good now for golf this afternoon. It's going to be a tight schedule for me as our golf group is starting at 2:30 pm and I have another blood test at 2:20 pm! I guess I'll be in the last golf group then - hope the appointments are running to time.

I discovered what I think is the start of a wasp bike just outside our bedroom window this morning, so I've bought the white powder and will dispense it tonight - apparently it's best to wait until the evening, by which time all the wasps have returned to the nest.

Jo's away at the hairdresser just now. I wonder if she'll return as a blonde? Her hair was pretty heavily bleached by the sun when we were away - and it suited her, so she may decide to keep it in a similar shade. We shall see - she still hadn't made up her mind when we walked down to the village this morning.

Golf today for me, then again tomorrow - Edzell - Saturday and Sunday. Four days in a row - how will I cope?

Next week we have Luca staying with us - he and Jo have a lot of catching up to do.

Tuesday swelter

Like everyone else in Scotland today, we're baking. We don't often get temperatures above 30 C. Somehow it seems hotter when we get this in Scotland than it does when we're away on holiday. Explain.

Jo and I did a bit of primary weeding this afternoon - especially between the paving slabs in the back. At the front, apart from the line of weeds at the foot of the small wall that separates our driveway from No. 5's grass, the main issue is the increase in moss - it's pretty obvious that it's been wet when we've been away. Anyway, we've made a start.

Golf at Balmoral last night was lovely - it was such a nice evening and it's a beautiful estate. Saw Prince Andrew driving through in his Range Rover, followed by a few very upmarket Bentley SUV's, which must have had a total value somewhere between £0.5m. and £1m. We understand it may have been a Chinese trade delegation.

Of course, high pressure brings consequences - thunder and lightning inevitably follow and we're told it will be here as soon as tomorrow. Looks like no golf for me then.

Ross is down in Edinburgh for a couple of days, talking to his old friend Harris about the potential of doing some work with him. Hope it works out OK for him - and Lizzie.

One major change we noticed on our return was how the apartments on the old Tor-na-Coille filling station site had come on since we've been away:

Almost ready then. Wonder how long it'll be before they're all sold? Not easy in the current local economy - and the initial asking price of £325K for the 2 bedroom apartments may be under pressure.