Glorious May

The weather's great again - we have hardly seen any rain since we came back from Oz and there's none forecast for at least the next 10 days. The ground is tinder dry and there's a Scotland-wide warning about field and forest fires - there's been a few already. Temperatures in the low 20's - perfect!

Ross has had his eye test and his medical so it's all now with Stagecoach to offer him a start date for HGV training.

Luca was back at hospital to see if his foot had healed sufficiently for him to be able to start playing football again after 3 metatarsal fractures but he and his Dad were frustrated that no X-ray was taken to be sure he was now OK to resume, so he's back on the waiting list for this.

Sad news for both Gary and Luca was that Yoda's days finally came to an end this week:

Jo, meanwhile, had her consultation with 2 doctors yesterday. The good news is that nothing adverse was found in any of the blood tests etc. They suspect her leg problems may be Peripheral Neuropathy.

My fractured implant is proving to be a problem. I had a consultation with a dental specialist this week but he wasn't very reassuring - it seems it's going to be a problem to fix it. Here's the before and after shots:

We need to find out exactly which make and model implant this is - I've been in touch with the dental proctice that fitted it back in 2011 but no joy so far. I'm going to be stuck with my pirate smile for a while, it seems:

No more news on my knee operation yet but much better news is that Scott and Lucy are coming over to Scotland in July!

I've been cleaning up the decking on our balcony - here's the before and after shots:

Congrats to grandson Braeden - just turned 21 and now a Sergeant:

The big news is that we have a new Pope - Leo:

Medical news

It's 7 weeks today since I had my pre-med for my knee op and, if they'd stuck to their 8 week time limit, I'd have had an appointment letter by now - but I haven't. Looks like they're going to push it out nearer to their new limit of 14 weeks - or beyond.

In other medical news, I had a shock yesterday when flossing - my incisor implant fell out. It turns out that the pole/screw had sheared. I got an emergency appointment with our dentist this afternoon, but the only thing he could do was clean the gap and fit a temporary filling. He doesn't do the type of implant I have and another problem is that the other half of the screw is still sitting in my gum. He has referred me to somebody he has worked with as he has more knowledge, experience and equipment that might be able to help. My initial consultation with him has now been arranged for next Monday.

I checked back and it was February, 2011 when I got the implant fitted. I guess if I manage to get a replacement and it also last 14 years, that should be enough to, as they say, "see me oot".

Staying with the medical theme, Jo goes for her blood tests on Wednesday then has a face to face consultation on Friday - both in relation to the recent problems she's had with her leg - possibly vascular.

Ross goes for his eye test on Friday and his medical is on Thursday 8th May. All being well, he should begin his HGV training in June.

Luca has started his job at the Co-op in Oldmeldrum and seems to be enjoying it, but the early/late shifts don't fit with the bus times so poor Gary has to be the taxi driver - and they've still got Skippy (the foster dog not the bush kangaroo!). Let's hope Luca passes his driving test first time next month.

Not a very cheerful post - and no photos either - but I've got our monthly golfers' beer do tomorrow - and the weather forecast is very good - so that's something to look forward to.

Quick update

Following up on yesterday's blog post, some good and some not-so-good news. First of all, I heard from my knee surgeon's secretary yesterday. I had been told at my first pre-med last year that the op had to be done within 8 weeks but yesterday I was told it's now 14 weeks after the pre-med - and sometimes they can even do it after that.

After last year's disappointment when they withdrew the funding for sending people down to Clydebank because the Grampian waiting lists were too long, this is a bit of a double-whammy. I really believed that the op was going to happen this month but now it looks like it could be late June. I feel my life is in limbo just now - I can't arrange to go anywhere - either locally or internationally - until at least 3 months after the op, which would take me through till September/October.

In better news, Ross is making progress with his application to be a driver on Stagecoach buses. His HGV training will start in June once they have seen his full medical records, had a medical and eye test. He now has the medical records and the tests are arranged for the first week in May.

Talking of Ross, he's becoming a master baker - we have fresh rolls for lunch every day:

Still on the job front, Luca has finally secured one - with the Co-op in Meldrum.

Locally, Aberdeenshire Council (Marr Area) are proposing to put 20 mph speed limits on most of Banchory - but have stopped short at Corsee Road. We would like them to extend this to Glassel Road, particularly given the number of cars now turning off the main road in to the Unit gym next door. I've written to Banchory Community Council and our local Councillors about this but I may have been too late. While the proposals are still up for consultation they have now been sent to the Scottish Government so any change would mean withdrawing them completely and re-submitting - it would take a major issue to get Aberdeenshire Council to do this. Maybe our Community Council can come up with some other arguments for change to add to mine.

To clarify, here's Aberdeenshire Council's proposals:

 Green is 20 mph, orange 30 mph and purple 40 mph.

Over a month later .....

My last blog post was 5 weeks ago, just after we'd returned from our holiday. I guess a lot has happened since then but one thing I'm still not any wiser about is when my knee operation is going to be. My pre-med was 5 weeks ago and I'm led to believe that this only lasts for 8 weeks, and given that they need to give me some notice, you would think it would only be a matter of days now. I rush to open the post every day but no luck so far.

Good news however about one other outstanding matter - the complaint made to Aberdeenshire Council by our neighbour. I got a phone call from the planning officer dealing with the case a couple of weeks ago and he was very reassuring that nothing was wrong and today we received confirmation of that in writing.

Jo gave me and Ross a little scare on Saturday morning - she said the bottom of her leg felt like wood and she was initially alarmed that there may be a possibility of a blood clot. Jo phoned 111 and described the symptoms - they advised her to go to ARI's Emergency Dept, so off we went. Nice quiet morning there so Jo was seen pretty quickly and thankfully soon got the all-clear, with the proviso that she should make an appointment with her GP - now done. Jo was due to go there anyway following the recent routine cardiac and COPD review.

As well as our usual annual cardiac reviews we've both caught up with the dentist and I've also had my annual eye check. I received a text advising of my next COVID vaccination - in Scotland, us oldies are still scheduled to get spring and autumn top-ups - but I'm not sure whether I'll take it this time. I've had pretty bad reactions to the last 7 - whether Moderna, Astra Zeneca or Pfizer.

It was Asher's 9th birthday on Sunday - apparently his party was attended by 18 friends!

Gary and Luca are coming over on Easter Sunday. They were here a couple of weeks ago and brought "Skippy" with them. He's a rescue dog that they're temporarily fostering until a full-time home is found for him - and it looks like that's going to be happening very soon. Anyway, here's the handsome lad:

To finish, Gary put one of our holiday photos through an AI process and came out with this:

Jo wondered who I was with!

Back home & bringing blog up to date

We finally got back to Banchory early afternoon on Sunday, UK time, 29 hours after we had left Chris' and Kelly's. The journey, although long, went well - no hitches - more of that later. We managed to stay awake until early evening, knowing full well that, despite our tiredness, our bodies would not have adjusted yet and we would most likely awaken well before dawn.

The following day (Monday) I had to be at Woodend Hospital for my pre-assessment for my long-awaited knee op so I couldn't afford to sleep in either!

Back to the blog diary now - carrying on where I had last finished off:

WEDNESDAY 5th Mar (cont'd)

After Jo had finished the usual morning laundry routine, we took the train in to the city then the tram out to the National Wine Centre of Australia (https://www.nationalwinecentre.com.au/) - South Australia is the country's leading wine producer and Adelaide is at the heart of it with the McLaren Vale, Barossa, Adelaide Hills and Clare Valley wine areas all surrounding the city.

We had booked a 90 minute educational tour and paired tasting - the latter part being the best, of course:

Here's the canapes that were paired with the wines:

and here's the wines:

An excellent session at a great venue - one that is now owned and run by the University of Adelaide. There is a nice restaurant and they have approx. 100 wines set up for tasting every day using a series of innovative machines - you can choose a taste, a pour or a glass:

We left with a smile on our faces:

Leaving the Wine Centre behind, we headed back to Rundle St where we knew we would find something for our supper, but, first of all, we stopped for a drink on the balcony at BRKLYN:

We eventually settled on a simple pizza at nearby Cafe Brunelli then headed for the next train back to Seaford Meadows. At this time of night, the trains were only every half hour so I checked the timetable and found out we could catch the next one if we got our skates on. We made it - just - rather breathless as we ran part of the way.

Anyway, it got us back to Old Noarlunga at a fairly decent hour - early enough for us, although the house was quiet - everyone was in bed. The only problem we had was when we tried to go to the loo, the door was locked! No problem for me but a bit more challenging for Jo.

THURSDAY 6th Mar

My 76th birthday and we had plans to meet up with David and Lorene again in McLaren Vale, where we had coffee and pancakes in a cafe and then strolled along to Bracegirdle's (https://bracegirdles.com.au/) for more coffee and some of their wonderful chocolates. Asher and Miller had presented me with birthday beers before school and I donned my new shirt for the day:

 

Lily had also left me a present - an unseen one on the doorstep to our garden room - what a way to start the day. Here she is, looking guilty, with Rufus, taking the sun:

The offending "present" can also be seen, with Rufus' similar gift more tactfully placed a bit further away.

Matt came over in the evening and Chris opened the leaving present he'd received from his boss:

There was a bit of local excitement at dusk with a major search and rescue operation in full swing looking for a missing man - fire, ambulance and helicopter, the latter coming so low at one stage that we thought he was about to land in a neighbour's garden.

FRIDAY 7th Mar

Our last full day and we had unfinished business to attend to - a couple of weeks' prior we had to turn back when we had planned to walk to the mouth of the Onkaparinga river, so we were going back to Port Noarlunga to try again. Only problem - no car - both Chris and Kelly were driving to work today. This gave us a chance to sample the delights of the local bus service.

The bus took a bit of a circuitous route for what, in miles, was a relatively short distance but a short stop at a local cafe refreshed us and soon we were on our way along the beach and this time we made it to the estuary fairly easily:

As usual, there was a throng of schoolkids at the port, heading to the sea for their last lesson of the day. Piles of wet suits await them every day:

We stopped off at Drifter's for a quick refreshment and then caught the bus back - a bit easier this time.

I jumped in the pool to cool down when we got back. Nobody joined me, but after dinner, they were all - bar Kelly - in there:

SATURDAY 8th Mar

The day of our departure - but our flight to Dubai wasn't until 10:40 pm so we had all day free. David and Lorene drove up from Port Eliot to say goodbye and Matt had planned to come over too but he phoned to say he had Covid - oh no!

We walked swiftly round to Long Shot cafe to catch them before closing at 2 pm but it got rather complicated when some of their electrical circuits blew and their card reader was out of action, but we sorted it all out in the end.

Our Emirates' chauffeur drive arrived, bang on time at 7:10 pm. We bade sad farewells to all after 8 wonderful and adventurous weeks and steeled ourselves for what we knew was going to be a long journey home, taking us back ten and a half hours in time and over 10,000 miles (16,000 kms) in distance.

The flight to Dubai was in a Boeing 777. The G & T's and wine went down well, as did the excellent food. We were both pretty careful with the quantities we ate - Jo even went as far as skipping dessert - this was what she missed:

SUNDAY 9th Mar

We arrived in Dubai after the 13 + hours flight, on time at approx. 5 am local time, landing at terminal C which meant getting bussed over to terminal A - the first time we had ever had to do this, and it meant 2 lots of security which was a bit of a pain. We didn't get much time in the lounge before boarding.

Departure was on time again, shortly after 7 am local time - and this time we were upstairs in the huge Airbus 380, which even has a bar (which we didn't use):

Two meals were to be served - first of all breakfast, followed by "lunch" 4 or 5 hours later. It all seemed a bit strange as our body clocks were still in Adelaide time - it felt like evening when the second meal arrived and thus permissible to have a little refreshment to wash it down:

We arrived at a slightly misty but beautiful warm, sunny Glasgow, ahead of schedule at 11 am local time and were soon whisked back to Banchory by our Emirates' chauffeur service, despite a few wrong turnings, one of which was my fault. Our chauffeur seemed uncertain about which way to go but then revealed later on that he lived in Aberdeen!

When we arrived at Arbor Court, we could barely make it in as there were major gas works going on - replacing the old metal pipes with plastic. We're not absolutely sure yet whether they will need to dig up some of our driveway or not.

We were also now faced by the reality of "fence wars". In our absence, complaints had been made to the Council about our shed, fence and an alleged illegal installation of a heat pump. The Council had to respond to this and had tried to contact us to arrange an inspection when we were away. Having not had a response to their letter they had visited on Friday, armed with a drone to take a look for themselves. Fortunately, Ross had met them and let them through the house to see for themselves. I followed this up with an email with further information concerning the heat pump. Hopefully all will be well but we await a formal response.

Ross made fajitas for us for tea. Jo didn't quite make it to 8 pm but I lasted a bit longer.

MONDAY 10th Mar

It had been very easy to get to sleep but we both awoke way too early. Jo got up but I lay there a bit longer, trying in vain to get back to sleep. Ross was up fairly promptly although at a more regular time. He had to walk to Caldwell & Dempster to pick up our car after its MoT on Friday.

Jo came with me to the hospital for my (2nd) pre-assessment for my knee operation. It was a bit shorter this time as they still had all my notes from last year's ultimately wasted visit, but they still did weight, height, MSRA swabs, ECG, blood pressure and 3 blood samples etc. Hopefully this time it's going to happen - soon.

Jo and I then popped in to the nearby Tesco superstore, grabbed a late snack lunch and did a full shop, then home again. 

That's it - hope any readers have made it this far. I like to keep a detailed record of our big holidays - it's always nice to look back and remember. Future blog posts from Scotland will be far less detailed.

Back in SA

FRIDAY 28th Feb (cont'd)

The tradesmen working at Chris' and Kelly's home hadn't managed to meet their planned schedule of work while we were away, so, faced with the prospect of no toilet and no shower, Kelly had managed to find a 2 bedroom city centre flat to rent for 2 nights. Kelly swapped places with Chris and headed back to Old Noarlunga to look after the dogs, with Chris, Jo, me and the boys staying in the city.

The flat was lovely - all mod cons, neatly designed to fit in to a relatively small square footage. It was on the 18th floor with a decent sized balcony affording nice views of the city and the hills:

We were right next to Rundle St in the heart of the city, leading down to 2 of the main Fringe centres - Gluttony and the Garden of Unearthly Delights. We opted for the former venue as the latter were charging $5 entry as it was peak time on Friday.

We had our meal there from a number of the street food vendors set up in the park and watched at dusk at an amazing display of bats overhead, heading south apparently - it was continuous for 10-15 minutes - there were thousands of them:

The bats are the large "Flying Fox" type that we had first encountered many years ago in the park in Sydney.

SATURDAY 1st Mar

We all had shopping to do this morning - the boys needed new running shoes while Jo and I were on the hunt for books and a hair clasp. We met up for lunch downstairs at the food court in the Myer Centre - Asian food all round - dumplings for us and sushi for the boys.

Chris' brother, Matt, came to see us this afternoon. We fought our way through the crowds on Rundle St. - no traffic and dining tables set out on the street all the way down - and made our way to the Garden this time, just beating the time when entry fees would start.

We had a good wander round and then managed to find a table for the 6 of us, near where Asher was desperate to go bouncing:

He was then "rewarded" with a potato treat:

Matt, Chris, Kelly and the boys were patient enough to wait in the long lines for food but Jo and I declined. After a bit we all headed back to the flat but, first of all, we had to replenish the wine stocks, which was surprisingly difficult in the city, given that most of the "bottle shops" there are attached to grocery chains like Coles and Woolworths - and they all seemed to close about 8 pm.

After substantially increasing our steps for the day, we found Thirsty Camel, bought a couple of bottles and headed back to the flat for cheese and wine.

SUNDAY 2nd March

We packed our bags and Kelly came to pick us up and take us down to Old Noarlunga where some toilet and shower facilities were now available. It was dressing-up time:

MONDAY 3rd Mar

Nothing much to report - Kelly was back at work, Chris was working (his last week with current employers) from home and Asher was all day at OSCH (it was a school holiday). Jo and I didn't leave the house.

The bathroom was far from finished but the new shower was at least operational:

The replacement vanity unit - formerly used by us in the "garden room" - was in place but not plumbed in yet:

and the old one was sitting outside with Rufus and Lily looking on:

The dogs had just returned from their evening cliff and beach walk with Kelly and they had found this, which we think is a fox head:

The boys were sufficiently impressed that they planned to take it to school tomorrow to show it to their classes.

TUESDAY 4th Mar

Jo and I were long overdue for another walk, so I suggested Morialta Conservation Park - a huge gorge with a number of waterfalls which, sadly, are completely dry at this time of year. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful place with lots of trail walks and even though it was to the north of the city and involved a reasonably long drive, as we hadn't been there for a few years, I felt it was worth a return visit.

It was, however, hot again - 33 C, no clouds, no wind and scorching sun. I had remembered to take water, but it wasn't enough - we had to eke it out as we walked, first of all to the foot of the first falls, then back up to the top after which we took the Plateau trail back to the car park where we gladly bought ice creams and Coke from a truck. Here's a few of the photos:

Wallabies

Lunch now - up through the Adelaide Hills wine region to Uraidla's pub, bakery and brewery - we had a Ploughman's washed down with beers:

Google maps took us back to Old Noarlunga via a winding, circuitous route - we both felt a bit groggy afterwards. Chris cooked burgers for tea and then he and the boys jumped in the pool:

WEDNESDAY 5th Mar

This is Miller's last year at primary school and everyone in his class was handed a school uniform with their names on the back alongside the names of all of their classmates. Asher joined the pre-school pose:

More work going on today in the bathroom. Altough the new shower is operational - and Chris, Kelly and the boys have been using it - Jo and I have opted daily to use the outdoor shower.

Spent a bit of the morning bringing this blog up to date. We'll soon be taking the train to the city - we're going to the National Wine Centre of Australia for a "Taste of South Australia Guided Tour and Tasting", which involves pairing with canapes.