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Back to the Blog

Well, it’s been about 6 years since I retired and I have been busy with charity work as a volunteer in that time.

I think it’s about time I got back to posting some of what I’ve been upto since my last post which was in 2020 (believe it or not).

I started in 2020 with Ye Amphibious Ancients Bathing Association based in Broughty Ferry, initially as their Communications Convener (looking after their Social Media and Website) and after around 9 months, also became the club treasurer. Both roles I still hold today.

I am interersted in Photography and have spent lot’s of time photographing their championships pver the years, some of which I will post shortly to give a flavour of what the club does. Many of my photos are on the club website (wwww.yeaaba.org) .

Watch out for more posts, coming soon

Strathspey Railway

Running from Aviemore, through Boat of Garten to Broomhills (Extension to Granton on Spey is underway but not yet completed). It’s been a couple of years since we last visited.

This is an excellent journey with great views to be had of the cairngorms. I can particularly recommend their Afternoon Tea Service for a great day out. My next foray will have to be their evening dining service (post lockdown obviously) which sounds a wonderful experience.

Well maintained stations, engines and carriges make for a great visit. Aviemore is a busy place (particularly in summer months) so services can be busy. It would be best to book in advance if you possibly can.

Here are a few photos from our visits.

Kieth and Dufftown Railway

Whilst on holiday in the highlands during 2018 we paid a visit to the village of Dufftown. We had spotted the station on a previous visit and this time decided to pay a visit and take a trip on their heritage DMU to Kieth Town station at the other end of the line.

There is a nice shop on the platform at Kieth Town and a great buffet at Dufftown station. Well worth a visit if your into railways and are in the area.

End of April 2020

Well – had the grass cut yesterday. It looks a bit better now.

Been using Zoom quite a bit over last few weeks for various bits of charity work but missed the Tayside MERG (Model Electronics Railway Group) meeting last night as was on phone with my sister for around an hour, and family always come first, especially in these difficult times.

Today is a day of pottering around in the house doing some domestic chores, but tomorrow i’m thinking of going out for a little exrcise and taking my camera with me. Hopefully will post a few images later when I get back tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to Colonel Tom Moore on reaching the grand age of 100 today. What an inspirational man. £30 Million raised (and still rising) so it was a well deserved flypast from the BBMF Spitfire and Hurricane to mark the event and to have a GWR loco named in his honour. What a fitting tribute to the hero of 2020 amidst the doom and gloom spread by Covid-19.

Lockdown Lowdown #1

Well, we are at end of week 4 of lockdown. Just been out to supermarket for the weekly shop. Arrived at 06:55 and 2nd in queue for opening (Hurrah). Done and dusted in quiet shop by 07:30 and home by 07:50.

Trip out to Chemist this afternoon to collect prescription and that’s it for another week.

Must say though, the house cleaning is coming along very well over past few weeks, and in addition I’ve been busy getting 2 sets of charity accounts sorted out, so they can be audited sometime later on.

Garden is going to need some attention soon, but I’m certain there will be plenty of time in future weeks for that.

Had been doing lots of photography since I retired, and rather enjoying the exercise combined with taking snaps outdoors, but that came to a sudden stop at the end of Feb, when this crap all kicked off.

Visit to Japanese Garden

This hidden gem lies just of the A91 between Yetts Of Muckart and Dollar and is clearly signposted.

Boasts a nice little cafe, woodland walk and the garden itself. Well worth a visit. Here are some photos taken during my visit.

Very tranquil and peaceful place – highly recommend a visit.

Welcome to Retirement

Well, having retired from work in July this year, I have decided to resurrect my interest in photography. So I am going out and about in the local area brushing up my skills and will use this blog to show some of the results.

A selection of photos of A1 Tornado heading the “Aberdonian” northbound (Down) approaching Broughty Ferry on 08 Aug and Southbound (Up) through Broughty Ferry Station on 31 Aug.

TCCL fundraiser

Sat 23rd September saw me travel to the Abbey theater in Arbroath to see Dani Girl, a play which was being staged as a fundraiser for the charity.

The theatre is a very intimate space, holding around 90 people, so you all feel as if you are part of the play, rather than a remote audience.

The 90 minute play was superbly acted by a cast of 4 players, and told the story of Dani, a 10 year old girl who had leukaemia and her journey with this diagnosis.

It was directed by Janet Irving, whose idea it was to put it on locally and raise money for TCCL in the process.

Photo of cast on stage (l-r) Marty (Ryan Wink), Mum (Heidi Cathro), Danny (Kirsty McDonald) and Raph (Blair Ruxton).

Of the 280 seats available over 3 nights, over 95% were sold. At each performance they had a raffle and also accepted donations after the show.

The cast gave up their time freely, to raise funds for TCCL.

As chairman of the charity, I am extremely grateful to them all for all the work and effort they put in to produce such an enjoyable show for those who were privileged to see it.

Sorry It’s Been So Long

It’s been a while since I last posted. The last 18 months have been quite hectic. Mum had a fall and a series of recurring infections in early 2017 and was quite poorly. Hospital investigations revealed Bile Duct cancer which was inoperable and given her age and general health chemotherapy / radiotherapy were also not advised.

They managed to get her stabilised and she was returned home in early June 2017, but only lasted 2 weeks before another fall and infection saw her back in hospital. At end of July prognosis was not good, we were told 2 to 3 months (4 at best) was the medical forecast. She was then in Ward 5 at Queen Margaret Hospital, and we had her transferred to the long term stay ward (Ward 7) at Queen Margaret.

The care of the nursing staff was excellent, so much so, that by end Nov 2017, she was recovering so well, they were talking of transferring her to either home or nursing care.

However in early Oct 2017, my Dad, who was in a care home with dementia, suddenly took unwell and after 5 days in a comatose state he quietly passed away on Oct 5th. Organising Dad’s funeral and dealing with his estate took up a lot of my time at the end of last year.

At the end of October, we lost our family pet Tipsy, who was 18 years old (a good age for a cat).

In December we kicked off the process of getting my mum moved into a nursing home with a 4 week trial at Abbotsford in Cowdenbeath. She saw Christmas in the home and in January decided that she would be happy to remain there so she became a permanent resident early in 2018.

She had her 89th birthday there on 23rd Feb. Not bad for someone who wasn’t expected to see out 2017. Although now immobile, she is still alert and quite healthy, given her age and condition.

The house was quite empty after Tipsy’s demise so on Hogmanay we got two kittens (Deanyo and Mizza) who are settling in well and keeping us on our toes. They are now 6 months old and very couthy as we say in Scotland.

Now that things have kind of settled down a bit I hope to continue blogging of my journeys and other musings during 2018.

Return to Galashiels

Drove back to Galashiels on Sat 29th Oct to pick up the item of furniture that we bought the previous saturday during our trip by rail to the borders.

Also went back to the bakers in Gala for a couple of large “Selkirk Bannocks” which are absolutely delicious.

Didn’t have a lot of time this visit as we had to get my Mum to hospital for hearing aid fitting in morning and didn’t leave Fife till around 13:30 to head down.

Got to Gala around 14:50 and parked for an hour whilst we had a quick look round the shops. Tried to find a cafe to get a cup of tea around 4pm but all were closed by that time so we headed back to the car and left at 16:15 to return home.

Will go back nect year I think to have a proper explore around this part of the borders.