No - it wasn't pizza, but Jo is the 3rd one to go down with the gastro bug in the last week - first Kelly, then me, now Jo. Chris reckons he's immune because he took it earlier this month - hope he's right.
So today's plans to travel by train in to the city were scuppered. Jo spent most of the day in bed sleeping and I went out for a very gentle bike ride this afternoon - it wasn't too hot and I took it very easy with many stops just to make sure my poor little body could cope after the bug then the car crash.
We'll see what tomorrow brings. I imagine Jo will want to stay local even if she's feeling better. She would like to be fit for Australia Day on Thursday and certainly for the trip down to Carrickalinga on Friday.
Better news ahead hopefully!
Ian R. Stewart Family Blog
Tuesday, 24 January 2017
Sunday, 22 January 2017
Sunday evening update
It's not been a great weekend - not for me anyway. I picked up the gastro bug that Kelly had and was out of action from about Friday lunchtime onwards and it's only now that I'm starting to feel almost human again. Why, I've even had a glass of wine tonight!
We went in to the city this afternoon to see the final day of the Tour Down Under and Chris drove me back. As we were going along Prospect Road, we stopped at some roadworks and were rear-ended by a guy, who, ironically, claimed he was reading the warning notice and didn't notice we'd stopped! It was a fair shunt and I immediately felt it in my middle back and neck. Both Chris and I are OK just now, but these things often come out later so we'll see what we feel like tomorrow - and over the next few weeks.
To top it all, I've just watched Andy getting unexpectedly knocked out of the Aussie Open. I guess he's fated never to win this one now - this year was his big chance - world no.1, no. 1 seed and Djokovic already knocked out.
With apologies to those who saw it on FB, I do like this photo I took of Miller this afternoon as we were heading back to the car:
Tomorrow, Jo and I are babysitting all day as the usual sitter, Amanda. is also down with the gastro bug just now. Then, Jo and I have 2 "free" days - and the trains are running in to Adelaide again after some major works these last 3 weeks, so I dare say we'll take the chance to have a day or two in the city. After that, it's Australia Day on Thursday and then we're off to Carrickalinga for the weekend again. We come back on Sunday night and then we're having lunch with John and Lorraine McDonald on Monday - they're spending a quick weekend in Adelaide in between visiting their son in Sydney.
We went in to the city this afternoon to see the final day of the Tour Down Under and Chris drove me back. As we were going along Prospect Road, we stopped at some roadworks and were rear-ended by a guy, who, ironically, claimed he was reading the warning notice and didn't notice we'd stopped! It was a fair shunt and I immediately felt it in my middle back and neck. Both Chris and I are OK just now, but these things often come out later so we'll see what we feel like tomorrow - and over the next few weeks.
To top it all, I've just watched Andy getting unexpectedly knocked out of the Aussie Open. I guess he's fated never to win this one now - this year was his big chance - world no.1, no. 1 seed and Djokovic already knocked out.
With apologies to those who saw it on FB, I do like this photo I took of Miller this afternoon as we were heading back to the car:
Tomorrow, Jo and I are babysitting all day as the usual sitter, Amanda. is also down with the gastro bug just now. Then, Jo and I have 2 "free" days - and the trains are running in to Adelaide again after some major works these last 3 weeks, so I dare say we'll take the chance to have a day or two in the city. After that, it's Australia Day on Thursday and then we're off to Carrickalinga for the weekend again. We come back on Sunday night and then we're having lunch with John and Lorraine McDonald on Monday - they're spending a quick weekend in Adelaide in between visiting their son in Sydney.
Friday, 20 January 2017
Past half way
Yes - we're already past the halfway point of our holiday, so I thought it was time I notated what we've done since we came back from our Uluru/Alice trip last weekend.
On Sunday, it was Family Day as part of the launch of the Tour Down Under and we all travelled in to the city to have a look around. We started in the square:
Then we moved over to one of the parks, seeking the bouncy castle for Miller:
We got free ice lollies and Miller almost posed for his photo with the BUPA (one of the sponsors) Owl:
Asher has grown so much since we arrived - and his second tooth on the top has fully come through now - looks like he's going to be a gap tooth baby:
That was Sunday - but what happened Monday and Tuesday? I can't remember all the details - my camera has finally given up the ghost and I always used it to record what we were up to so that I didn't forget. I've still got my phone, however and I'll persevere with that for now.
On Monday, I went in to the city with Chris first thing in the morning. The plan was for me to cycle back from there along the River Torrens cycle path, but I ran in to some initial technical difficulties with re-fitting the wheels - the brakes were a particular problem. It took me ages to get it sorted, but then I noticed that the back brakes were binding so I inverted the bike and was trying to figure out how to sort this when a white knight pulled up beside me. Would you believe he was a jack of all trades, including, fortunately, mobile bike repairs! He got me going again in no time. A$20 well spent.
We walked along to the local short golf course on Tuesday and I managed to play 18 holes round what is just a pitch and putt course, but the good news is my left knee didn't let me down. It was very hot - 38C before lunchtime and heading for 40+ in the afternoon. Pity the poor riders in the Tour Down Under, who were starting the race today.
On Wednesday, Kelly wasn't feeling too well and took the day off work, which allowed us to take her car in to the city to see the matinee performance of Dusty, the Musical:
On Thursday, we stayed local. We had coffee and a cake on the upper patio at the Palais, then walked along the pier, followed by a stroll round the shops in Semaphore Road. I bought a cheap t-shirt and a CD - Dusty in Memphis. Our plan was to go to the cinema but we needed some refreshment first - it was very hot again. We had a couple of beers in Sweet Amber Brew then popped in to the cinema, but I didn't realise they don't have half an hour of trailers beforehand here and we had already missed the start of the film, so we just did the food shopping and headed back to Derby St.
We had a storm last night - thunder, lightning and rain, but it seemed to stop in the middle of the night. This morning (Friday) it was a cool and cloudy start, but I needed to get out on the bike again. It was pretty windy so I made it a short one. I'm now home alone as Chris, who's off today, took Jo and the boys down to the new Day Care that Miller and Asher will be going to at the end of the month. Apart from blogging, I may use some of the spare time to start putting together my next show for River Dee Radio - Aussie Rock is going to be the theme.
On Sunday, it was Family Day as part of the launch of the Tour Down Under and we all travelled in to the city to have a look around. We started in the square:
Then we moved over to one of the parks, seeking the bouncy castle for Miller:
We got free ice lollies and Miller almost posed for his photo with the BUPA (one of the sponsors) Owl:
Asher has grown so much since we arrived - and his second tooth on the top has fully come through now - looks like he's going to be a gap tooth baby:
That was Sunday - but what happened Monday and Tuesday? I can't remember all the details - my camera has finally given up the ghost and I always used it to record what we were up to so that I didn't forget. I've still got my phone, however and I'll persevere with that for now.
On Monday, I went in to the city with Chris first thing in the morning. The plan was for me to cycle back from there along the River Torrens cycle path, but I ran in to some initial technical difficulties with re-fitting the wheels - the brakes were a particular problem. It took me ages to get it sorted, but then I noticed that the back brakes were binding so I inverted the bike and was trying to figure out how to sort this when a white knight pulled up beside me. Would you believe he was a jack of all trades, including, fortunately, mobile bike repairs! He got me going again in no time. A$20 well spent.
We walked along to the local short golf course on Tuesday and I managed to play 18 holes round what is just a pitch and putt course, but the good news is my left knee didn't let me down. It was very hot - 38C before lunchtime and heading for 40+ in the afternoon. Pity the poor riders in the Tour Down Under, who were starting the race today.
On Wednesday, Kelly wasn't feeling too well and took the day off work, which allowed us to take her car in to the city to see the matinee performance of Dusty, the Musical:
On Thursday, we stayed local. We had coffee and a cake on the upper patio at the Palais, then walked along the pier, followed by a stroll round the shops in Semaphore Road. I bought a cheap t-shirt and a CD - Dusty in Memphis. Our plan was to go to the cinema but we needed some refreshment first - it was very hot again. We had a couple of beers in Sweet Amber Brew then popped in to the cinema, but I didn't realise they don't have half an hour of trailers beforehand here and we had already missed the start of the film, so we just did the food shopping and headed back to Derby St.
We had a storm last night - thunder, lightning and rain, but it seemed to stop in the middle of the night. This morning (Friday) it was a cool and cloudy start, but I needed to get out on the bike again. It was pretty windy so I made it a short one. I'm now home alone as Chris, who's off today, took Jo and the boys down to the new Day Care that Miller and Asher will be going to at the end of the month. Apart from blogging, I may use some of the spare time to start putting together my next show for River Dee Radio - Aussie Rock is going to be the theme.
Sunday, 15 January 2017
Alice Springs and Uluru mini-break
We got back from our 4 days/3 nights excursion to the Red Centre - well, that's what they used to call it anyway. Today it looks distinctly greener than they've seen it for many years after a number of storms hit the area when we were there. We were both fortunate and unfortunate with the weather - we got a rare chance to see this semi-arid zone having some precipitation bringing the desert plants to life all of a sudden, but we also managed to escape getting wet ourselves as every time we ventured out it was hot and dry. On the other hand, some thin clouds blotted both the sunset and sunrise at Uluru and we never quite saw the big rock at its finest, with the changing colours and shades as the sun rises and falls, but overall it was a great experience.
Before going on to the full story and photos of this, here's a couple from last Tuesday when we met up with David and Lorene for lunch. They drove us down to the Henley Beach Hotel and afterwards to Glenelg for ice cream:
Chris drove us to the airport on Wednesday morning on his way to work. We didn't mind being there a bit early, but we were disappointed to find out that the only lounge there was Qantas and we couldn't get in there as we were flying cattle class. Never mind, it's a nice airport and Muffin Break filled the time.
Arriving at Alice Springs airport for the first time, you get a real feeling of the outback - no long travelators there - you walk from the airport through what seems a bit like the bush to the terminal building:
We were picked up and taken to our hotel, where our room was ready for us, so we dumped our bags and grabbed a quick lunch before our next pick-up for the Alice Springs afternoon tour, which encompassed:
- The School of the Air
- Telegraph Station
- Flying Doctor service
- Reptile Centre
- Anzac Hill memorial
The first one taught us how kids are taught remotely over the vast distances of central Australia's Northern Territories - and we finally managed to buy fly nets here, which we had been told were essential for our visit to Uluru the following day.
The second one was the most interesting for me - a well preserved site from the very early days of communications, with some lovely walks and mountain bike paths all round it. We didn't have time to do any of the walks, but there was a little hill there - Trig Hill - and I worked out I had just enough time to climb it and get back in time for the bus leaving:
On to the famous Flying Doctor service - memories of old black and white TV series which started in 1959. Here's the opening credits for you nostalgia freaks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smCe8TBF3po.
The Reptile Centre not only let us view the most dangerous snakes in the world - virtually all Australian - but we also got a tutorial on what to do and what not to do out in the bush, with particularly detailed instructions on the procedure to follow should we be bitten by a snake. It felt a bit like a Health & Safety talk, but it was surely sound advice.
Our last stop was at the war memorial on Anzac Hill, from where you get fine views of the town and surrounding countryside:
We were returned to our hotel at dusk, just in time for us to jump in the pool to cool down after a hot and sweaty afternoon. We dined on site that night.
An early start on Thursday for the five and a half hour drive to Uluru/Ayer's Rock resort. Yes, that's right - five and a half hours (including stops) - it's 467 kms! The coach was comfortable and the ride easy. Our first toilet and refreshment stop also afforded us the opportunity of camel rides (declined!):
Further on was the Mount Ebenezer Roadhouse:
then it was the Mount Conner viewpoint:
to the uninitiated, it looks a lot like Uluru. Locals call it fooleroo.
You can see why this area is called the Red Centre - the dust and grit gets everywhere. On the other side of where Jo's standing, there's a large salt water lake.
The real thing we wouldn't see until later on, but you can see the difference now between Uluru and "fooleroo", can't you?:
We got to Ayer's Rock resort in good time to check and have a spot of lunch. The Sails in the Desert hotel was lovely - pity we weren't going to be spending much time there.
Our afternoon/evening tour took us to the Cultural Centre where we learned about the local indigenous Anangu aborigines, who regard Uluru as a sacred place and, as a result, photographs are not allowed in certain areas - but we more than made up for it in other areas. Our guide took us round part of the rock and told us a few of the Aboriginal fables:
At the sunset viewing area, we met a couple of young girls from Dundee who took this photo for us:
We also met a guy, originally from Edinburgh, and his wife, and we sat beside them at dinner, which was held indoors at the Cultural Centre due to the threatening storms.
Friday morning was a really early rise - we were being picked up at 4:30 am to head for the sunrise viewing point at Uluru. The sky to the east promised much:
Slowly, aided by an almost full moon, Uluru came in to the light:
Those eyes and that face kept haunting me - and I don't mean Jo.
Next stop was the range of 36 domed rocks at Kata Tjuta, which were as impressive, or even more so, than Uluru itself:
I'm not sure I captured their full majesty in any of the above photos - they were very impressive. There was a gap between a couple of the domes - Walpa Gorge - and we took a walk through there:
By 10 am we were back in our hotel, where we showered, changed and packed for the long coach ride back to Alice. There were still storms in the area and when we hit the Stuart Highway again, the sight from the front of our bus was a little alarming:
We got through safely in the end and settled in to our hotel and ordered room service for dinner.
In the morning (Saturday), we awoke to the sound of another storm overhead. By now, the Todd River was in full flow - so much so that, when the rains eventually subsided and we went out for a short walk, we heard the sound of kids laughing and went to have a look and found an Aborigine family wallowing in the muddy waters - they probably had never been able to do this before in their lives as the river bed is usually just a dry sandy base:
In the town centre, we spotted an artistic wall:
So that was it - a hugely enjoyable break.
Monday, 9 January 2017
Start of the working week - for some
Chris and Kelly were back at work today after a 2 week break - well, I say it was a break, but in reality, they've had the Lesinas then Jo and I staying with them all that time, so they've had little or no time to themselves. We'll be rectifying this for a few days at least when Jo and I fly up to Alice Springs and on to Uluru on Wednesday.
Jo is trying to look cool and natural above, but the reality was she was boiling up - this close-up gives a better picture:
On Saturday morning, Chris took Miller for a haircut and then, in the afternoon, he drove Jo and I out to Brewboys' tap room for a few beers:
On Sunday, Chris took his new mountain bike up to the hills for a trail ride, then met his best pal Anthony for lunch. The rest of us planned to go out for Sunday lunch too, but we had some logistical problems as there were 5 of us, with two child seats taking up the rear seat of Kelly's car, so I decided to cycle down the coast to Henley and meet the rest there. When I got to Henley, it was mobbed - there was a huge religious festival going on on the pier (jetty to my Aussie friends), which I later discovered was the Greek Orthodox Christmas celebration of the Blessing of the Waters by throwing the cross in to the sea - there's an almighty scramble to be the one to recover it. There were so many people on the old wooden pier that I thought it would crumble and sink - but it never did.
Anyway, Kelly and Co made it down to Henley and we had lunch at one of the outdoor cafes in Henley Square, after which I watched a bit of an Aboriginal dance, put on as part of the G.O. Xmas celebrations, then cycled back to Semaphore.
Back at Chris and Kelly's, I spotted this lovely butterfly come to rest in their garden:
Since my last blog posting, Jo and I - like the proverbial Mad Dogs and Englishmen - went out for a walk in the 40 C heat on Friday. In terms of miles, it wasn't that far, but we had to stop several times to rest and re-hydrate. We stopped for a brief rest at the former swamp on part of the Kaurna Heritage Trail:
Jo is trying to look cool and natural above, but the reality was she was boiling up - this close-up gives a better picture:
On Saturday morning, Chris took Miller for a haircut and then, in the afternoon, he drove Jo and I out to Brewboys' tap room for a few beers:
On Sunday, Chris took his new mountain bike up to the hills for a trail ride, then met his best pal Anthony for lunch. The rest of us planned to go out for Sunday lunch too, but we had some logistical problems as there were 5 of us, with two child seats taking up the rear seat of Kelly's car, so I decided to cycle down the coast to Henley and meet the rest there. When I got to Henley, it was mobbed - there was a huge religious festival going on on the pier (jetty to my Aussie friends), which I later discovered was the Greek Orthodox Christmas celebration of the Blessing of the Waters by throwing the cross in to the sea - there's an almighty scramble to be the one to recover it. There were so many people on the old wooden pier that I thought it would crumble and sink - but it never did.
Anyway, Kelly and Co made it down to Henley and we had lunch at one of the outdoor cafes in Henley Square, after which I watched a bit of an Aboriginal dance, put on as part of the G.O. Xmas celebrations, then cycled back to Semaphore.
Back at Chris and Kelly's, I spotted this lovely butterfly come to rest in their garden:
Today (Monday), Jo and I walked down to Grange - a distance of about 10 kms. It was a still, warm, cloudy morning and the flies were out in full force - we had to walk along the beach at the water's edge for the last few kms to try and escape the worst of them. It brought to mind my Dad's oft-heard quote about his posting to the Middle East during World War II - "Egypt's great - 10 million flies can't be wrong".
We dipped out of walking the return 10 kms, but, instead, caught the bus to West Lakes shopping centre, did the food shopping there, then caught the bus back to Semaphore. Jo cooked tonight's meal - chicken fajitas - giving Chris a very well-earned night off from cooking duties. The only downside to today was that Asher threw up a couple of times before dinner. Hope it's just one of those things that young babies have, and nothing worse than that.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), David and Lorene are coming up to Semaphore to see us - after a couple of previously planned meetings had to be changed.
Thursday, 5 January 2017
More cycling
After my unfortunate experience with Chris the other day, I went out with Kelly for a longer, but easier, ride and I was out again on Thursday morning in the heat for a short ride - didn't last long as we're heading towards the 40 C mark. It's got a lot hotter since the Lesinas left last weekend.
Jo and I looked after the boys on Wednesday whilst Chris and Kelly went on a "date" - lunch and cinema. Our reward was a couple of pints with Chris in the evening at Sweet Amber Brew Cafe:
Nice place - look forward to returning there for Chris' 40th in a couple of weeks.
Our second reward came on Thursday lunchtime when Kelly took us back to Penfold's Magill Estate for lunch. We did a tour of Penfold's original premises, opened 170 years ago:
It's now Friday morning and Kelly's done her early morning gym session and now Chris is out on his bike at the BMX track, which I had a look at yesterday:
Not ready for that yet!
That's about it so far. Today Miller is heading for the water slides and we're being dropped off at the Wheatsheaf Hotel to drink ourselves silly. Tomorrow (Saturday) we're heading south to meet up with Chris' parents David and Lorene.
I was asked what's happening to River Dee Radio in my absence? I won't be missed - there's plenty of other presenters and a couple of the other Headbangers are doing occasional live shows, but I thought I'd make sure there was some fresh content on our nightly cycle so made up two shows before I left and these are now being transmitted on Saturday and Sunday nights between 8 pm and 9 pm, but you don't need to wait until then to hear them - just click these links:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/519b8kyt69iedf8/Favs%2020-11.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gsa21affbghbw8f/Favs%2010-1.mp3?dl=0
A few years ago, each of us compiled our favourite tracks so I decided to reprise these. I'm not sure they would all still feature in my current Top 20, but decided to go with it anyway. I had to divide it in to two shows, which meant, as there are only 10 tracks on each, there was a lot of non-music time to fill, so there's more waffle than usual from me on these recordings.
Lastly, here's the Strava video of my cycling stats for 2016:
https://youtu.be/-w8tH_iMgKw
Jo and I looked after the boys on Wednesday whilst Chris and Kelly went on a "date" - lunch and cinema. Our reward was a couple of pints with Chris in the evening at Sweet Amber Brew Cafe:
Nice place - look forward to returning there for Chris' 40th in a couple of weeks.
Our second reward came on Thursday lunchtime when Kelly took us back to Penfold's Magill Estate for lunch. We did a tour of Penfold's original premises, opened 170 years ago:
It's now Friday morning and Kelly's done her early morning gym session and now Chris is out on his bike at the BMX track, which I had a look at yesterday:
Not ready for that yet!
That's about it so far. Today Miller is heading for the water slides and we're being dropped off at the Wheatsheaf Hotel to drink ourselves silly. Tomorrow (Saturday) we're heading south to meet up with Chris' parents David and Lorene.
I was asked what's happening to River Dee Radio in my absence? I won't be missed - there's plenty of other presenters and a couple of the other Headbangers are doing occasional live shows, but I thought I'd make sure there was some fresh content on our nightly cycle so made up two shows before I left and these are now being transmitted on Saturday and Sunday nights between 8 pm and 9 pm, but you don't need to wait until then to hear them - just click these links:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/519b8kyt69iedf8/Favs%2020-11.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gsa21affbghbw8f/Favs%2010-1.mp3?dl=0
A few years ago, each of us compiled our favourite tracks so I decided to reprise these. I'm not sure they would all still feature in my current Top 20, but decided to go with it anyway. I had to divide it in to two shows, which meant, as there are only 10 tracks on each, there was a lot of non-music time to fill, so there's more waffle than usual from me on these recordings.
Lastly, here's the Strava video of my cycling stats for 2016:
https://youtu.be/-w8tH_iMgKw
Monday, 2 January 2017
2017 so far
We didn't see the bells in, Adelaide time, but I hatched a cunning plot to observe Scottish time and celebrate New Year at 10:30 am on 1st January over a fine brunch of bacon and eggs, washed down with a dram and some shortbread, while listening to Radio Scotland welcoming in 2017.
Kelly and Chris had made an early morning start and had hiked up Mount Lofty with their friend Matt, but I wasn't up to it at this time, primarily because of my knee, so I stayed behind with Jo and we looked after the boys. It was another coolish morning, although Kelly perhaps went a little bit over the top with her apparel:
Jo and I went for a short walk after brunch and the rest of Ne'e'rday just seemed to disappear.
This morning (Monday), Chris took me up to the bike trails at the other side of the city. They turned out to be a bit more technical than I'm used to and I came off a couple of times. The first fall was a fairly gentle controlled one, going down a tricky slope, but the second one was almost inexplicable as I was cycling down a fairly gentle slope and came through some dappled sunshine and couldn't see the trail clearly, so I panicked a bit and squeezed the brakes too hard, causing them to lock and skid on the gravelly surface and over the handlebars I went. Analysing it afterwards, the v-brakes are not as responsive initially as the hydraulic ones I have on my own bike and I over-reacted by squeezing too hard. Schoolboy error.
Of course, it would be my false knee I landed on, wouldn't it? The ride was curtailed, which was a pity for Chris, who hadn't had a chance to use his new mountain bike much recently, but we posed for the photo afterwards anyway:
Here's the damage:
This afternoon, we all drove in to the city to do a little bit of shopping - I bought a new pair of thongs/flip-flops, merino cycling pants and a waterproof cover for my rucksack, while Chris picked up a light rain jacket in the summer sales, but these were mere diversions for the main event, which was a visit to Scroll, a specialist ice cream parlour where they prepare the ice cream scrolls in front of you:
Poor little Asher has been excreting from all orifices these last couple of days and threw up in the shop, but he seems none the worse for the experience this evening:
Kelly and Chris had made an early morning start and had hiked up Mount Lofty with their friend Matt, but I wasn't up to it at this time, primarily because of my knee, so I stayed behind with Jo and we looked after the boys. It was another coolish morning, although Kelly perhaps went a little bit over the top with her apparel:
Jo and I went for a short walk after brunch and the rest of Ne'e'rday just seemed to disappear.
This morning (Monday), Chris took me up to the bike trails at the other side of the city. They turned out to be a bit more technical than I'm used to and I came off a couple of times. The first fall was a fairly gentle controlled one, going down a tricky slope, but the second one was almost inexplicable as I was cycling down a fairly gentle slope and came through some dappled sunshine and couldn't see the trail clearly, so I panicked a bit and squeezed the brakes too hard, causing them to lock and skid on the gravelly surface and over the handlebars I went. Analysing it afterwards, the v-brakes are not as responsive initially as the hydraulic ones I have on my own bike and I over-reacted by squeezing too hard. Schoolboy error.
Of course, it would be my false knee I landed on, wouldn't it? The ride was curtailed, which was a pity for Chris, who hadn't had a chance to use his new mountain bike much recently, but we posed for the photo afterwards anyway:
Here's the damage:
This afternoon, we all drove in to the city to do a little bit of shopping - I bought a new pair of thongs/flip-flops, merino cycling pants and a waterproof cover for my rucksack, while Chris picked up a light rain jacket in the summer sales, but these were mere diversions for the main event, which was a visit to Scroll, a specialist ice cream parlour where they prepare the ice cream scrolls in front of you:
Poor little Asher has been excreting from all orifices these last couple of days and threw up in the shop, but he seems none the worse for the experience this evening:
Saturday, 31 December 2016
Hogmanay
It's New Year's Eve, mid-morning, but it seems much later to me. I drove Lucy, Cade and Braeden to the airport early this morning to catch their flight to Sydney, so I was up before 3 am. They've completed the first short hop but have now got a 14 hour plane journey to LA to look forward to, with a 7 hour stopover there before shuttling on to SFO and then Medford - but they still arrive on New Year's Eve, Oregon time. The joys of international travel.
Since my last post, we've had Christmas, of course - and a lovely day in Inverurie with Gary, Carole and Luca, plus Liz and Fergus and Guthrie. We had a super meal, but missed out on Carole's famous lime chocolate cheesecake, as Liz had a rather unfortunate accident, with the 3 dogs the grateful recipients. Here's Luca in full flow with Guthrie and Gary looking on:
Luca directed the present opening after dinner - and woe betide you if you weren't paying full attention, or were distracting the master of ceremonies.
Monday morning was the start of our long journey - not to mention it being Boxing Day and our 44th anniversary. Whereas Christmas Day was positively balmy - Aberdeen was the warmest place in the UK, just failing by fractions to beat the Xmas Day temperature record of 15.6 C - we awoke to a reasonable covering of snow the morning after. Cairn o' Mount was closed, of course, but our driver managed over the Slug Road OK and we thought it would be plain sailing after that, but, just north of Dundee, we hit a patch of ice and slalomed our way across the dual carriageway. Fortunately, we had an experienced driver who steered in to the skids and recovered the situation. My right hand might never recover, however, after the vice-like grip Jo exerted on it.
The rest of the journey went well and, despite a late departure from Glasgow due to de-icing the wings, we made our tight connection in Dubai and got to Adelaide nearly an hour earlier than scheduled on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, we spent most of the day with Lucy, Cade and Braeden, as they had just 3 days of their holiday left before returning to USA. A traditional walk down the length of Semaphore pier first:
The plan was then to take the train in to the city and perhaps have something to eat at the Asian Food Court in Central Market, but our train was late and we were fast running out of time, so opted for Plan B, which was a walk up to Port Adelaide:
We were keen to see whether any visible progress had been made on the restoration of the City of Adelaide:
We walked back to Semaphore and had tea on the upstairs decking at Lickerish. Back in Derby St, I hit the wall at 8 pm and toddled off to bed.
Plans to head to Cleland Wildlife Park on Thursday had to be aborted - there had been overnight storms for the second night in a row and they had to close the park until further notice whilst they cleared up - so we reverted to a journey in to the city and to Central Market for lunch:
Cade and Lucy went for a short pedalo trip on the River Torrens afterwards:
Notice how brown the water is after the storms?
We got back to Derby St in good time for Chris' BBQ. Matt and Abby had come over for the occasion and the usual team photo was taken:
Miller has got two little figurines - an old man and an old lady - and he calls them Grannie Jo and Granda Ian:
By Friday morning - Lucy's last day - they had managed to clear most of the debris and open the Wildlife park again, so off we drove up the hills to Cleland, where we spent most of the morning in the low cloud, but the boys enjoyed viewing and feeding the animals, especially the kangaroos and wallabies.
Chris, Kelly and the boys arranged to meet us for a late lunch in the pretty little nearby German town of Hahndorf. None of what happened before at Cleland Wildlife Park seemed to stop Braeden from eating Kangaroo Fillet for lunch.
We had time for some silly tourist photos:
Nobody was all that hungry in the evening so we just took a short stroll along Semaphore esplanade and some had fish and chips before heading to bed to get a couple of hours' sleep before the early rise.
As I complete this post, Kelly's at the gym and Chris and Jo are just about to head off to the cinema to see Star Wars' latest, so I'll be holding the babies for a short while. I'll see if I can summon up the strength for a short cycle later on.
Since my last post, we've had Christmas, of course - and a lovely day in Inverurie with Gary, Carole and Luca, plus Liz and Fergus and Guthrie. We had a super meal, but missed out on Carole's famous lime chocolate cheesecake, as Liz had a rather unfortunate accident, with the 3 dogs the grateful recipients. Here's Luca in full flow with Guthrie and Gary looking on:
Luca directed the present opening after dinner - and woe betide you if you weren't paying full attention, or were distracting the master of ceremonies.
Monday morning was the start of our long journey - not to mention it being Boxing Day and our 44th anniversary. Whereas Christmas Day was positively balmy - Aberdeen was the warmest place in the UK, just failing by fractions to beat the Xmas Day temperature record of 15.6 C - we awoke to a reasonable covering of snow the morning after. Cairn o' Mount was closed, of course, but our driver managed over the Slug Road OK and we thought it would be plain sailing after that, but, just north of Dundee, we hit a patch of ice and slalomed our way across the dual carriageway. Fortunately, we had an experienced driver who steered in to the skids and recovered the situation. My right hand might never recover, however, after the vice-like grip Jo exerted on it.
The rest of the journey went well and, despite a late departure from Glasgow due to de-icing the wings, we made our tight connection in Dubai and got to Adelaide nearly an hour earlier than scheduled on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, we spent most of the day with Lucy, Cade and Braeden, as they had just 3 days of their holiday left before returning to USA. A traditional walk down the length of Semaphore pier first:
The plan was then to take the train in to the city and perhaps have something to eat at the Asian Food Court in Central Market, but our train was late and we were fast running out of time, so opted for Plan B, which was a walk up to Port Adelaide:
We were keen to see whether any visible progress had been made on the restoration of the City of Adelaide:
We walked back to Semaphore and had tea on the upstairs decking at Lickerish. Back in Derby St, I hit the wall at 8 pm and toddled off to bed.
Plans to head to Cleland Wildlife Park on Thursday had to be aborted - there had been overnight storms for the second night in a row and they had to close the park until further notice whilst they cleared up - so we reverted to a journey in to the city and to Central Market for lunch:
Cade and Lucy went for a short pedalo trip on the River Torrens afterwards:
Notice how brown the water is after the storms?
We got back to Derby St in good time for Chris' BBQ. Matt and Abby had come over for the occasion and the usual team photo was taken:
Miller has got two little figurines - an old man and an old lady - and he calls them Grannie Jo and Granda Ian:
By Friday morning - Lucy's last day - they had managed to clear most of the debris and open the Wildlife park again, so off we drove up the hills to Cleland, where we spent most of the morning in the low cloud, but the boys enjoyed viewing and feeding the animals, especially the kangaroos and wallabies.
Chris, Kelly and the boys arranged to meet us for a late lunch in the pretty little nearby German town of Hahndorf. None of what happened before at Cleland Wildlife Park seemed to stop Braeden from eating Kangaroo Fillet for lunch.
We had time for some silly tourist photos:
Nobody was all that hungry in the evening so we just took a short stroll along Semaphore esplanade and some had fish and chips before heading to bed to get a couple of hours' sleep before the early rise.
As I complete this post, Kelly's at the gym and Chris and Jo are just about to head off to the cinema to see Star Wars' latest, so I'll be holding the babies for a short while. I'll see if I can summon up the strength for a short cycle later on.
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