First post of 2024

Happy New Year everyone! Although it's not been a great time for us - both Jo and I have been ill. Christmas was OK - Gary and Luca made it over to ours for dinner, overnight and presents (Luca loves retrieving them from under the tree and handing them out - especially his own):

Here's Jo in her new cosy jammies:

Gary and a reluctant Luca did get up and do the Boxing Day Fun Run in the morning:

A couple of days' later, Jo had to go to Elderslie to join Mary and Julie at the ballet, so I drove her down - I couldn't stay because I had a hospital appointment the following morning. We travelled on a day when we really shouldn't have - there was a storm forecast. The journey down was slow-ish - especially as we neared Dunblane, where the roads were flooded. As a result, when we arrived at Brian and Mary's, I just had time for a very quick cup of tea and sandwich and then I was off back up the road again.

All was good until I got to Dundee and the signs were saying the main road north was closed, so I decided to head up one of the coastal roads via Arbroath. No joy - they were both shut too, so it was back to Dundee to join the huge queue who were being detoured by the police round narrow country roads. It took 3 hours to travel 10 miles and even when I did eventually get back near Banchory, the main N. Deeside road was closed. I did finally get home - via a dodgy, flooded S. Deeside road - but the return journey had taken over 7 hours.

My morning hospital appointment turned out to be a waste of time as the consultant still hadn't received copies of my MRI scan from the NHS radiologist team - so I could have spent the night in Elderslie after all. I spent some time wandering round Aberdeen anyway, taking my first walk down to the refurbished Union Terrace Gardens lower level:

I visited the statue erected of locally born former footballer Denis Law - my all-time sporting hero:

Near there, I discovered there was a wall of "Everyday Heroes":

Then the following morning, it was back in the car and down to Elderslie again to pick up Jo. Thankfully the journey passed much more smoothly this time. The only thing we may have picked up was Brian's cold.

The following day, I was, naturally, a little tired but it was the start of me coming down with whatever bug/virus I had picked up. On Hogmanay morning we had to cancel our planned trip out to Drumoak for our usual dinner with the Masons and Kilgours. It was the 3rd year in a row we'd had to cancel - not all our fault.

We advised Gary and Luca not to come over on New Years' Day - and Ross hadn't made it either so our dinner was a bit of a low key and lonely affair:

I spent most of the rest of that week in bed. There was a Headbang on Friday night but I had to run it remotely, instead of enjoing the company - and curries - with the others out at Potarch:

I started to feel a bit more human that weekend - albeit still coughing like mad (still am) - but it was now Jo's turn to suffer the same illness. We were due to be having lunch in Dundee with 2 of my old school pals and their wives this Thursday, but that has now been cancelled too. We're due to go over to Inverurie on Saturday for dinner with Gary and Luca, but that must be a little doubtful now as well.

Oh - and my consultant did eventually manage to set eyes on my MRI scan (but not the report) and phoned to let me know. It showed that the arthritis on the medial (inner) side of my knee was more extensive than had showed up on the initial X-ray. (The lateral and rear parts of the knee are in good order). The question is what to do about it? He dismissed injections and another arthroscopy and came down to the conclusion that I either live with it and just avoid the things I do that cause the pain (golf, hill-walking) or consider a partial knee replacement - either private or NHS. Need to think.

The one great bit of news was that little Kendall got through her heart operations OK and seems to be recovering well. Braeden got home for the holidays and was delighted to meet up with his niece.

Can't wait to head off to Australia next Tuesday.

December so far

Well, I got my MMR vaccine on Monday. When I asked if I should expect any reaction, I was told "sore arm, fever, rash". Thankfully, none of those have yet occurred. What I didn't realise, however, is that this was the first dose of two - I have to go back on 3rd January for the 2nd one.

Jo and I had a brief overnight stay in St. Andrews on Wednesday. We stayed at Rusack's Hotel which looks on to the 18th and first fairways of the Old Course and out across West Sands (where the famous race in Chariots of Fire was filmed) to the sea:

It was a beautiful, still clear day - albeit freezing. We met up with Barry, Helen and Dawn who had booked in to a nearby B & B - in fact, they were waiting for us in our hotel when we arrived. We had a light lunch and then set out on a walk out to the clifftop caravan site at the other end of town where Mum and Dad had taken Barry, Dawn and I on holiday 60 years ago.

We walked past the castle, cathedral and harbour on the way:

We then looked for the spot where I took the family photo in summer, 1963:

So we decided that the 3 of us should line up in the same order as this one, taken back in the 1950's:

Not much has changed, eh? Here's some other photos taken on our walk:

This line-up was in height order

On the way back we walked round St Andrews' streets, stopping briefly at Innes' bookshop, which, sadly, is closing after 144 years in business. Coffee and scones followed and then it was back to our accommodations. We met again in the evening and had dinner at Forgan's:

That's all from me for now.

November 2023

Happy St. Andrews Day!

For those on Facebook, there were plenty photos from our recent theatre trip to London, so I won't repeat them here. It was a short (2 nights) trip but a really nice one. We went to Tina, the Musical, the Van Gogh Experience and Cabaret. All were excellent - especially the last-named, although it comes with a word of caution as you have to be fairly broad minded. Like the film, it's set in decadent pre-war Berlin, but it's not quite as sanitised.

Last Saturday, I made my first trip to Firhill for a while to see Thistle comfortably beat Queen's Park in a Scottish Cup tie. Nice day - but a long one, leaving the house before 8 am and not getting home until 10 pm. It would have been even later if Jo hadn't driven in to Aberdeen to pick me - and Ross, who was travelling up from Edinburgh to meet his pals - up. Here's the hallowed ground:

Then, last Sunday, we finally made it along to Craigellachie. We had booked to go there over 3 years ago but the prolonged lockdowns etc meant we never made it until now. We were a little unlucky in our timing as it turned out that they couldn't do one of their themed whisky tastings as their "Quaichmaster" was off on holiday - and there was a double whammy when we were told on arrival that the famous Quaich bar with all the whiskies would not be open either due to staff absences. We were able to get a sneak look however:

It's a lovely room - perhaps another time.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon, checked in then went for a short walk to the old Telford bridge:

My earlier version of this was taken from the beach below but Jo wanted to include the towers at either end of the bridge - I managed to get one of them in this selfie.

In the heart of Speyside - whisky country - we weren't surprised to see this on our walk:

We had a really nice meal on Sunday evening in the hotel's Copper Dog bar. After breakfast on Monday morning we had originally planned to go for a walk along the adjacent Speyside Way to Aberlour and back, but the weather beat us, so, instead, we decided to go for a drive along the north coast. First stop was Cullen, which sits in a lovely rocky bay with a large viaduct as the backdrop. In between the showers there was some really bright sunshine and we saw a photo opportunity as the sun shone on the white waves crashing on the rocks but just missed the best of the light:

Next stop was Sandend where we saw some lovely small shorefront properties. The wind and waves were whipping up the sea foam on to the shore:

We drove on through Portsoy to Banff and MacDuff. By now, we were ready for a coffee stop, but didn't see anything worthwhile so headed south and eventually got a nice cafe for a spot of lunch in Turriff.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we finally got our Hep A top-up in advance of our trip to Bali in February. We'd had the first vaccine nearly 4 years ago, in preparation for going to Bali then, but Covid intervened and we had to cancel. One issue that the pharmacy did raise was the question of measles immunity. Jo's pretty certain she had it as a child but I don't remember having it, so I've now been referred to the vaccine centre as the disease has been growing again in the UK, following the drop off in children having the vaccinations.

That's about it for now. Pickleball for me again tomorrow. I've now set up a group of 17 and we're playing twice a week - it's become hugely popular and it's a great indoor sport during the winter months.

I'll plug again my appearance on BBC Radio Two's Sounds of the 70's show on Sunday - here's the link:

https://soundcloud.com/ian-stewart-911268803/sot70s-26-nov-23-no-music

To close, a couple of Audrey's photos of Kendall:

October 22nd - 3rd post

 More photos:

Lunch in Puerto Banus on Saturday 14th - the day before the boys arrive

We walked right round the harbour and Jo needed a sit-down

Another angle

Inside church in Mijas on Sunday morning (15th)

A little shrine in a cave in Mijas

Disc golf on Monday 16th - before my fall

Bridge in Nerja on our day trip on Thursday 19th

Another view of Jo and Ross on our acqueduct walk on Friday 20th

Our walk passed a hornet's nest and Gary was the unfortunate recipient of a sting

Chill out day Saturday 21st - the day before the boys' early morning departure

View from my sunbed on Saturday 21st

Another post from Costa del Sol

My earlier post this morning must have been a bit grim reading - and there were no photos, so I'm going to put that right now. Here's some recent photos that didn't appear on my Facebook page:

Lynnhurst Hotel, Johnstone where Jo and I stayed

Kendall getting ready for Hallowe'en

Barry and Helen after completing their epic walk round Menorca

Jordon all spruced up for a friend's wedding

View from our villa the day after we arrived

Jo with the little car we hired for the first few days

October post from Costa del Sol

It's been a while since my last blog post and a lot has happened since then, most tragically the passing of Guy. Jo and I drove down to Renfrewshire on the Sunday and spent a couple of days with Julie, the boys and Brian and Mary. Unfortunately, the earliest date for the funeral was some 10 days later, by which time we would be in Marbella with Gary, Luca and Ross. We toasted Guy on that day.

Jo and I flew out to Malaga the day after (Wednesday). We hired a small car for a few days and returned it on the following Sunday when the boys were flying in. I had hired a bigger car for the rest of our vacation and Ross was added as an additional driver but when we went to pick it up I realised I didn't have my passport, but I did have my driving licence, alternative ID and credit card and the rental company - Firefly - already had my passport details from the small car I had just returned. However, we were confronted with a real jobsworth - "no passport, no car". In the end, I had to endure a long phone call to cancel the booking and Ross would take out a new booking in his name - but I wouldn't be allowed to drive.

Subsequently, I checked Ryanair's confirmation of booking, which read:

Things to remember when picking up your car
• Your voucher.
• A valid credit card in the main driver's name.
• Your Driving Licence (Both parts if applicable).

No mention of passport there. I've tried taking this up with Ryanair but to little effect, surprise, surprise.

Anyway, another airport story today (Sunday 22nd October). Ross, Gary and Luca set off for the airport at 4:30 am local time. Dropped the car off, got through security and were then in a 50 minute queue at passport control (due to staff industrial action apparently). They - and a dozen others - finally got to the gate 10 minutes before take-off but 20 minutes after the gate was closed.

The upshot is that the 3 of them are now sitting at Malaga airport. Ross is now booked on a 4 pm flight this afternoon - to Glasgow, which is not a problem for him, other than the fact that he has wasted return train travel from Aberdeen to Edinburgh. Gary and Luca, however, are now booked on the 6:35 am flight tomorrow morning - again to Glasgow, which means they have had to book in to an airport hotel tonight.

What a nightmare end to their holiday.

Jo and I are going back on Wednesday - let's hope we don't have the same problems.

Mid August update

The months have rolled on since my last blog post. We returned late June from the heat in Oregon to the tail end of the good weather in Scotland. Since then, it's been a pretty poor summer here - July was particularly overcast and wet occasionally. None of this disturbed anything we were likely to do post holiday and, so far, none of my (limited) golf has been cancelled, but it would have been nice to have had a bit more sunshine and heat.

Barry, Helen, Dawn and Jordon recently came up to stay for a couple of days. Barry and I cycled from Aboyne to Tarland to look at the new Tarland trails system, which has caused some controversy since it opened, with several accidents, necessitating the local Braemar Mountain Rescue Team and occasionally Air Ambulance, to be called out. We were careful, only trying the lowest trails, but even that was a bit much for me. Barry fared a bit better. Here we are at the start:

 We all went for a walk round the Crathes estate the following morning:

Barry and Helen went home on Saturday but Dawn and Jordon stayed another night and we all went to Banchory Lodge's Sitooterie for dinner that evening:

Of course, we just missed the birth of our first great grand-daughter, lovely Kendall Brae. Audrey has been posting lots of photos on Facebook - here's one of them:

Incidentally, Lucy is having a surprise visit from her BFF Lorna this week. It was all kept under wraps until she arrived in Medford a few days ago - well done to Scott for managing to keep it all a secret. Lucy and Lorna both celebrated their 50th birthdays this year but they hadn't seen each other for a decade.

Miller had his 10th birthday a week past Saturday. Here's the cake and Miller blowing out the candles, watched carefully by Asher:

Gary and Luca are now in their new house - and Luca has a new bike:

We all went over there for lunch when Barry, Dawn etc were here. Luca got his Highers results last week - he did OK in English and is appealing his Maths grade. He goes back to school for 6th year next week.

Dawn was hospitalised for a few days just over a week ago. She collapsed on the train heading in to Glasgow and was unconscious for a few hours. She had a number of tests in hospital but they came to the conclusion that she had Syncope (fainting). She's now trying to take things easy - she's not allowed to drive for a while.

Jo has been monitoring her blood pressure for a while and yesterday she was at the Doctor's. A review of the results was pretty encouraging and it's likely that she will be coming off some of her medication which seemed to be causing the problem. An ECG is lined up for tomorrow just to confirm.

My turn now - I have an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon at the end of the month. My left knee (the non-metal one) has been causing me problems whenever I exercise - initially it was mostly when playing golf that I suffered but now it's affecting my walking too. I can go for a couple of miles with only discomfort but after that it gets really painful. Last year's X-ray and the physiotherapy I've been doing didn't produce any positive results so I need to have this investigated further. The wait on the NHS is about 18-24 months so I'm now going private - for the consultation only at this stage.

Jo and I are heading off to the Edinburgh Fringe on Sunday. We're meeting up with Ross for dinner then. We only have 4 shows/events lined up (one was cancelled) so it's not going to be a hectic break.

We've now booked our flights to Australia next year - using Air Miles, which we normally use for our American trips, so next year these will be paid with hard cash. We've enjoyed going to USA earlier the last couple of years. May/June avoids the west coast fires and smoke - and the excessive heat (it's 43 C there today) that you get in July/August, but a slight downside is that it comes fairly soon after our long Australian trip. We are currently thinking about perhaps trying September/October next year. We'd like to do some kind of road trip then as well.

Our Costa del Sol break comes up in October this year but I've made a provisional booking to go there in April next year, which would accommodate a trip to USA in the autumn.

To close, Lauren, who now lives and works in London, recently met a small Glaswegian singer, who's ages with me:

(Lulu).