Down Under (7)

It's Sunday afternoon here in Old Noarlunga and we've just returned from a brief stay down on the south coast at Carrickalinga. We - Jo, me, Kelly, Chris and the boys stayed in the Beach House and Chris' parents and brother hired a cabin in nearby Normanville.

But first to last week's activities. Kelly's trip to NZ seemed to go well - Chris picked her up at the airport on Thursday evening.

With Kelly away for 4 days, and Chris occasionally having to travel to the city, suddenly Jo and I were in charge! On Monday, we took Rufus to the local dog park:

On Tuesday morning we took a drive up to Hallett Cove Conservation Park where we'd been in previous years. Lovely place - lots of photos on FB and WhatsApp already.

On Tuesday evening Jo and I drove over to Glenelg to attend possibly the worst Fringe show we've ever been to - in Adelaide or Edinburgh. It was certainly the worst Beatles' tribute band I've ever listened to. They tried some of the more technically challenging songs and fell flat on their faces. The event was held in a typically high ceilinged church and the acoustics were pretty rubbish.

And to worsen my evening my iPhone suddenly stopped taking a charge. The cable worked when I connected my phone to my laptop and transferred data OK but it still wasn't charging and there was an error message in the settings on my phone. I had no option but to book an immediate appointment at the Apple Store in Adelaide.

So on Wednesday morning I took the train to the city. It turned out that both my cable and my phone were faulty. The battery was running at below recommended capacity and would continue to degrade from now on - I could either replace it now or continue to use it as it died away. I didn't really have time to wait for them to replace the battery today so opted for a simple cable replacement for now. I'll either replace the battery or the phone when we get back home.

While I was away, Jo was having fun and games with Asher when she took him to school. His water bottle that day was a soft flexible one and Asher decided it would be good fun to use it to "skoosh" some of his classmates. Jo told him to stop, whereupon Asher turned the water on her! Jo managed to get the bottle off Asher eventually but he was not best pleased and did a runner, heading straight back home again. Jo followed him all the way but Asher was definitely in a foul mood. Unfortunately, Jo never had time to explain to the school what had happened and had no means of phoning them to explain as her phone doesn't have international roaming - and I was away.

The school had observed that Asher wasn't in class although his school bag was there so they immediately tried to contact Kelly (who was in NZ) and she contacted Chris (who was at work). The head teacher and a classroom assistant eventually walked round to the house and Jo was able to explain to them what happened. By now, Asher had forgotten all about it and was perfectly calm and happy to go back to school. It was all over in an hour thankfully.

On Thursday, we went beach exploring - Seaside, Aldinga Bay and Sellicks. At Aldinga Bay, we found this nice shaded spot:

We took a longer walk along the whole length of Sellick's Beach after which we were both ready for lunch:

For tea on Thursday, Chris, Jo and I took the boys round to the "Oldy" - the local Old Noarlunga Hotel. Chris eventually had to disappear to pick Kelly up at the airport - an opportunity for the boys to indulge a little:

Everyone was at home on Friday. It was "Values" day at school:

Asher chose Respect and went to school dressed as a red-bellied snake.

Meanwhile, I had now fixed the puncture(s) on Chris' gravel bike so I took a ride out to Christie's Beach and had a nosey round the local vinyl records store. Nothing doing this time but at least I got back without any punctures - or falls:

Later on Friday afternoon we took both cars down to Carrickalinga. Photos have already appeared on FB and WhatsApp but here's a couple of others:

That's about it for now. Just a week left of our holiday now.

Down Under 2024 (6)

It's early Monday morning here in Old Noarlunga. I've just returned from driving Kelly to the airport - she's flying to Auckland today for 4 days' work in NZ. I was up at 2:30 am and Kelly not much later. The drive to the airport, although it was dark, was nice and easy with very little traffic so the whole trip only took me an hour and 10 minutes. The dilemma now is - do I stay up or go back to bed? So far, I've opted for the former but no doubt I'll squeeze in a nap - or two - later on.

Now to recall the events of the last week. I previously reported that Jo seemed to have recovered from her seemingly endless series of illnesses this year but I was a bit premature. Finally (hopefully), yesterday she had a full day of eating - the first time she's managed this since Bali. It's been a long haul for her but we hope that she can fully enjoy the last 2 weeks of our holiday. Yes, it's 2 weeks today that we begin the long journey home.

Kelly, Jo, Miller and I took a drive up to Stirling, near where their new house is going to be. We attended a presentation at the Montessori school there, which hopefully Miller will be going to when they move. It's a different form of education - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education. Miller would be going there for just 3 years - from 12 to 15 - before moving on to a more "normal" establishment to finish off his schooling. The Montessori school in Stirling only has 40 pupils and it's set in a lovely rural spot. We think Miller quite liked it, but he's also viewing a more traditional secondary in Noarlunga.

I've been out for some shortish rides on Chris' bikes 3 or 4 times now - but two of them ended badly and I ended up having to walk back. I started off on his upmarket mountain bike but got a puncture on the gel-filled back wheel. Yesterday I was on his drop handlebar gravel bike and got a puncture on the front wheel, meaning another long trudge home.

Friday lunchtime, Jo and I went to the local cinema to see:

Naturally, the music is the best bit and the showing we went to was advertised as having "Quake Sound" which made it sound even better.

We attended another couple of Fringe events this weekend - both of them alcoholic. On Friday, Jo, Kelly and I paid a return visit to Ayers House for another Gin Flights. Last year it was a riot as the organisers lost control, gave up and just put bottles of gin on the tables for everyone to help themselves. This year, it was the complete opposite - tight budgetary control and miniscule helpings of gins and tonics. Plenty of cheese, however - in fact it felt more like a cheese tasting rather than Gin. Kelly and Jo still managed a smile, however:

On Saturday, all 6 of us drove up to the beautiful and vast Belair country park for Drinks on the Grass. It was a lovely casual event. Acres of space for the boys to throw model aeroplanes and frisbees whilst Chris, Jo and I had a few beers and all of us enjoyed the pizzas. Here's the team in a selfie:

Here,  a role reversal as Miller seems to be educating Jo:

Some beautiful large pine trees amongst the native gums:

Afterwards, Kelly, Jo and me took a slight diversion and went to look at a potential new primary school for Asher at Scott Creek. Some of the photos have already been shown on WhatsApp but across the road the school has extensive playing fields:

This week, Jo and I have our 4th Fringe event tomorrow (Tuesday) night - 15 Beatles Songs that Changed the World. Then on Friday, it's our annual trip down to the south coast where we stay for a couple of nights at a house in Carrickalinga. It's a bit of a family tradition with Chris' parents, brother Matt and his daughter Abby coming along too - and sometimes Chris' best pal Anthony and Matt's ex-wife Amanda make an appearance as well. 

I'll close  with a personal success. Every week recently I've been doing the Times' online Quiz of the Week and this time I achieved perfection!:

Down Under (5)

I'm writing this at lunchtime Monday, Adelaide time. Jo seems to have pretty much recovered from the tiredness and stomach cramps she started getting as we left Bali. We had a little scare with Kelly yesterday as it appeared that she was now suffering from the same symptoms, but she's made of tough stuff that girl and was up pre-dawn this morning, working away on her laptop, and now she's made one of her very rare trips to an office somewhere.

Chris and Kelly are fortunate to be able to - it seems to us - set their own working arrangements. Kelly's usually home 4.5-5 days a week whilst Chris goes in to the office or pays a site visit probably 2 or 3 times per week. All of which makes their child care so much easier. This morning Jo and I had to stand in for an hour or so between the time Kelly went to work and Chris returned home because today was a "no pupil" day ar school.

Although Jo was still a bit sluggish on Friday, Kelly persuaded her to come out late afternoon and pay a visit to the nearby Never Never Distillery for a gin tasting. Lovely place. On Saturdays Kelly cleans house while Chris does the big weekly shop. They've got a decent sized fridge but to get all the shopping in is a bit like a game of Jenga - Chris seems to manage it OK though.

On Saturday afternoon, Chris' brother Matt and parents David and Lorene came over in the afternoon for a slightly belated celebration of Chris' birthday. In the evening, Jo and I drove down to Victor Harbor to see the first of our planned Fringe shows. It was a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band gig and narrative, held in the local cinema. I guess there must have been a couple of hundred there but we seemed to be the only ones who didn't know anyone else.

When we got home - about 10:30 pm, the house was all quiet but when we walked in to the living room there to greet us was:

There was a note on the table:

On Sunday morning, Chris manfully tried to keep up with Kelly as she ran up the hill opposite. They passed the scene of the crime, where I had fallen a couple of weeks' earlier, but there was still no sign of my lost Sennheiser earbud, nor their drinking bottle. I doubt we'll ever see them again as the undergrowth will have buried them for all time by now.

In the afternoon, Jo and I drove over to Port Noarlunga, which was heaving, so we carried on northwards past Christie's Beach which was pretty busy too but we finally parked up at the southern end of O'Sullivan's Beach and walked the length of it, paddling in the sea along the way. There was a cafe at the end but, although it was open, it was undergoing construction work and wasn't an attractive proposition, so we headed back south along the long stretch of beach:

Halfway along, I could see there appeared to be some kind of walkway, which turned out to be a pedestrian/cycle path, above the small dunes, so I headed up there to check it out. Jo waited until I could confirm it was OK, then eventually, up she trudged:

Soon we came to another cafe - one we'd visited in previous years - but we were met with a gruff "kitchen's closed, mate" so we walked back out again. Two down.

"Let's drive back to Port Noarlunga" I said - "there's lots of eating/drinking places there". That is a true statement but can you park your car there on a busy Sunday afternoon? No is the answer, so we just drove back to Old Noarlunga, dropped the car off and walked round to "The Oldy" - Old Noarlunga Hotel. It was mid-afternoon so lunches were finished and dinners hadn't started as we walked through the Bistro half to the bar and beer garden.

We opened the bar door to a cacophony of noise - the place was packed and virtually every TV screen was tuned to a UFC bout, with the volume up high. We ordered - me a pint of Guinness and Jo an ice cream sundae - then quickly retreated to the sanctity of the Bistro.

I'll finish with an Asher tale. Like an Octogenarian with dementia, he has no filter - he just says it like it is. The other day he was trying to explain something to us and we couldn't quite understand. Asher is quick to pick this up so then turns to us with a sneer and says "you two need hearing aids" and walks away in disgust!

Back from Bali

It's Thursday here now in Old Noarlunga. We flew back on Tuesday and the travel, added to the time difference, meant it took virtually all day. Kelly dashed out to the supermarket and quickly bought some essentials for an evening meal and also the boys' lunchboxes for their return to school in the morning. The carbohydrates - bread mostly - were a big hit as we weaned ourselves off from a week of rice and noodles.

We didn't escape Bali entirely scot-free - despite being very careful not to consume water from the taps - danger points include salads, ice and even brushing your teeth - Jo and I did get a bit of "Bali belly" on the morning of our travel back to Oz and took some of Kelly's anti-diahorrea pills. Thankfully, there were no little accidents on the flight.

Wednesday was always going to be a slow day. We went to the store for some food top-ups, picked up books at the library for Kelly and the boys plus a parcel at the Post Office. That was more than enough for Jo - she was exhausted and has since spent most of the time sleeping. She seems a little brighter this morning and hopefully the worst is now past.

A few final Bali photos:

Jo at the main statue on the peninsula "island"

The other statue on the peninsula

Jo and me at the entrance to Nusa Gede peninsula

The daily housekeeping team always made an effort

I've now booked some shows etc for us at the Adelaide Fringe, which officially starts today, I think. It's a huge affair - 2nd only to Edinburgh in size, we're told. Our first event is this Saturday, down at Victor Harbor.

Although I posted some photos on WhatsApp, I made no mention in previous posts of my nasty fall when out on a short hike just a couple of days before our travel to Bali, partly because I'm still in recovery mode. Most of the external cuts and scrapes have now healed but my upper body is still very painful when I move. My neck, lower back and stomach muscles are still restricting movement. I suspect some of them are still in spasm.

My mind still goes over the event and I often shudder about what might have happened. I would love to go over the river again and repeat that particular walk - or any of the others - but, right now, I know it's best if I don't go out alone - and Jo's not able to accompany me.

The walk is one that I've done several times before - it's circular and this time I chose to do it clockwise, so the first bit of the walk isn't really hilly at all, but then you come to a bit of narrow dusty track, with the river down a steep slope to my left. There's then a bit where you have to drop elevation down to the river level and this is done via a series of natural, irregular height steps down a rock face. It's OK when walking anti-clockwise as you have to climb the steps but a little trickier when going down - especially with my joints. I decided to be safe (!) and go down the rock "ladder" backwards but when I stretched my left leg down to what I thought was a solid step, it slipped away from me and I was gone.

Somersaulting backwards, I tried to grab anything that would halt my fall and I did manage to grab a bush which slowed my momentum. Thankfully, the actual landing was fairly soft on thick marsh reeds and grasses, but, on the way down, I'd obviously hit a few of the solid rock "steps" which caused the cuts and bruises etc but at least my head escaped solid contact and I was conscious - sore and bewildered but otherwise OK. My new earbuds were lost in the marsh (one of which Chris subsequently recovered) and the water bottle was lost but I managed to recover my hat and stumbled back to Riverside Cottage.

Apologies for being long-winded but I felt I had to re-tell the tale - if only to remind myself of what I went through and as a warning not to do it again - at least not alone. My confidence has been shattered and I'm now very wary of losing my balance in even the most simple of downward steps.

Bali

It's now Saturday here in Bali - day 6 of our holiday. We arrived early Monday morning and leave early Tuesday morning next week. Before we came here, Jo and I paid our annual visit to the Cellar Door Festival in Adelaide. Kelly should have been with us but was at home recovering from her illness and praying that it wouldn't affect her travelling to Bali. Chris might have been a potential stand-in but he was a bit wary too, having a tickly throat. In the end Chris' brother Matt came along with us.

The Festival itself was fine but the Masterclass we chose was a little disappointing - a pairing of whisky and chocolates. There was a bit too much waffle from the presenters and we didn't think the pairings were great. The Australian whisky was a mere 2.5 years old - not even legal in the UK - and it seemed pretty raw. It's a lovely "classroom" with huge glass windows looking over the river to the Oval:

After this was over we wandered round the stalls, sampling a few of the wares on the way. The usual collection of wineries, segregated by region, but also a number of new distilleries exhibiting this year. Unfortunately for Matt, who's a bit of a whisky buff, only one of them had a whisky available. It was all white spirits - gin and vodka.

Did I tell you that we'd spent the previous Sunday down in Port Elliot with Chris and his Mum and Dad? We had a nice time visiting their new house in a retirement community, lunch and then a look round the record and book shops in Victor Harbor. I bought a couple of old vinyl albums - couldn't resist.

On to Bali - as I said, a very early start on Monday morning for the 5 hour flight and we were at our resort by mid-morning - too early for Kelly and Chris' large apartment to be ready but the single room for Jo and I was, so we were able to take all our bags in there and it allowed the boys to get in to their swimmers and jump in the pool just a few yards away.

We had a nice lunch at the lovely pool bar surrounded by the lazy river and later Kelly, Chris and the boys were able to get in to their room. Kelly, Jo and I took a short walk to the local supermarket. When you enter, the smell hits you. We couldn't make out what it was at the time but we now know it was coming from the fresh fruit counter, dominated by the pungent durian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian). The odour is so strong that our resort has completely banned it - if you bring any on site, you are liable for a $250 fine!

The temperature in Bali is always around 30 C (86 F), day or night. It only ever seems to differ by a couple of degrees either way. It's humid, of course - tropical - so it feels even warmer. Plenty of rain - usually overnight - that's why everything looks so green and lush. The gardeners here must have a real hard time keeping the resort's extensive plants so pristine - everything grows so fast.

So far, we've spent a few days at the resort - it's hard to keep the boys away from the pool - but we had one day when we travelled up to Ubud by taxi - a distance of just 41 kms (25 miles) - which took us 2 hours negotiating our way through the busy narrow winding streets, with all human life surrounding us - fascinating for a while. You would not believe the number of scooters/mopeds on the road. Some of the riders are wearing helmets but many are not. We've seen families of 4, including babies, on one scooter; boys clearly not old enough, riding home from school, just to mention a few. Highway Code? Are you kidding? It seems at first as if it's just every man for himself but watch carefully, there is some kind of pecking order/rules in place.

Anyway, the two places we went to - the Monkey Jungle and the Rice Terraces - were really interesting and well worth the effort, although the two and a half hour drive back tested our patience somewhat as we hit rush hour in Denpasar. Here's a shot of the lovely Rice Terraces, taken just before the tropical rainstorm hit:

and here we all are at the Monkey Jungle:

That's our driver on the right - obviously receiving another lecture on Balinese culture from Jo!

Chris, Kelly and the boys took a cab to the water park yesterday but Jo and I stayed here. We shopped in the morning, swam to the pool bar for lunch, then took the shuttle bus to the beach:

We wandered through a couple of the huge beachfront hotels - especially the Grand  Hyatt, which is a massive upmarket complex. From there, we wandered round the Bali Collection, a fairly upmarket and spread out shopping complex. Then it was back to the resort to have cocktails with Chris for his birthday. Mine - basically a fancy G & T - came in a shiny copper mug:

This morning (Saturday) was the official start of the Chinese - or Lunar - New Year - the Year of the Dragon. We were treated to a morning show at our resort, with the dragons coming round to our door:

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Carole's Dad yesterday. Carole drove down and just got there in time. I think we only met Mike once but Gary really liked him and he'll of course be a miss to Carole and the rest of her family, including Luca.

Down Under (2)

It's the last day of January and it's now been 10 days since my last holiday post. I've been for one walk up the hill opposite and one relatively short cycle plus a stroll round the village with Jo. That's about the extent of the exercise I've had. We have, of course, been in the pool most days and I've been doing some leg exercises in the water.

Jo and I are both feeling fine now but the bad news is that Kelly is now sick. Did she catch something from us or is it Covid or something else? Who knows? Let's hope she recovers soon.

As most will have seen from the photos on FB and WhatsApp, Kelly organised a lovely wine tasting for Chris, Jo and me. We got taken in a golf buggy round the huge estate and its different grape varieties, several of which we sampled straight off the vines. Multiple wine tastings too - I think we got up to about 16, but by that time none of us were sure.

Jo and I also topped up our Metro cards and took the train in to the city yesterday for just a few hours. Up Rundle Mall and into an arcade for coffee, then through the university and over the river for a bite at the cafe at the Oval, after which we headed back.

This morning we walked Miller and Asher to school while Kelly was in bed and Chris was working. Tomorrow it looks like we'll be doing it again - and picking them up after school.

Sorry - no more photos.

Down Under 2024

Well, the sickies finally made it to Chris' and Kelly's. We got picked up by taxi (driver - Attila!) at 2:30 pm on Tuesday with further snow threatening. The roads were passable and our driver was canny so no issues and we arrived at the airport in good time for our connection to Heathrow, which, thankfully, wasn't running too late - unlike a number of other services from Aberdeen.

Plenty of time at London too and again the plane was only a little late in departing for Sydney via Singapore. We had been a little confused as we only had one boarding pass each, which said LHR-SYD with no mention of Singapore. Were we going to stop there? If so, do we stay on the plane or get off for a bit? The answer was the latter - we had approximately 90 minutes stop at Singapore - barely enough time to make it to the lounge and back in time to go through another security check.

It was the same plane, same seats - but we'd had to remove our stuff so that it could be cleaned. We survived the second long flight, despite the ever-changing times - was our next meal supper or breakfast? Should I really have a gin and tonic with my breakfast cereal?

We got to Sydney in very good time and were lucky enough to get through passport control, immigration and baggage collection quickly. So quickly, in fact, that we could have caught a much earlier domestic flight to Adelaide than our scheduled 11:10 am departure. It meant a further 3 + hours wait in the airport (no lounge access now!) but we got through that ok and Kelly met us at Adelaide and drove us home to Old Noarlunga. It was now Thursday afternoon - almost exactly 2 full days on the clock since we left Banchory - albeit we were now ten and a half hours ahead.

We both felt not too bad at this point, despite the long journey and our lingering bugs. We slept pretty well in our newly created room in the outhouse next to the pool - call it our isolation ward - but felt a bit rough on Friday. Thankfully, we had no plans to do anything exciting then anyway, but we did manage lunch with Kelly, Miller and Asher at the local Sushi Train franchise.

On Saturday, Jo was still struggling with her cough and I seemed to be going backwards - I now had a sore throat and had lost my voice. Chris and I did manage the very short walk to the main road through the village to watch the Tour Down Under whizz by - but that didn't take very long at all. Here I am watching the start of the peleton go by (red shorts and light top):

The boys were in the pool - again. Kelly and Chris supervising:

We went to pick up beer and throat medication later on and that was that.

Jo had a bad night but I felt a good deal better on Sunday. I sat on the lounger in the morning and took in some rays while watching the boys in the pool. Here's a reflective view:

We all travelled over to Aldgate in the afternoon to view the piece of land that Chris and Kelly had bought to build their new house, but the boys had to be bribed so we paid a return visit to Melba's Chocolate Factory first of all:

We skipped the adjacent cheese factory and headed over to Aldgate to picnic on the bare land, now owned by Chris and Kelly:

Sunday evening now and it's back to work tomorrow for Chris - and Kelly too, although she mostly works from home. It's the final week of the boys' summer holidays coming up - it's back to school for them in just over a week's time.

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.