North Lanarkshire Life
03/11/25 08:01
Country living was not too relaxing as there were events, campaigns and great fun to be had. Since my strokes I have been unable to participate in curling with my cub, but have take on Treasurer responsibility for the club and for the Atholl Province. At least I am contributing in my own way. For the last few years in Killiecrankie Village Hall I was the strict Quiz Master and I gained and lost friends and respect throughout those eight events. Such fun!
Here in NL, we are spending time getting to know what is where, how to get from A to B/C/D/E and back. The M73 is very close but it is well soundproofed somewhere in the west. Here in Craignethan we are one of the first to move in, with nine more over the next week I understand. That will see the community grow. The first night we were here we could not sleep as it was TOO WARM in the house, after the almost 10 years of OFH!.
Here in NL, we are spending time getting to know what is where, how to get from A to B/C/D/E and back. The M73 is very close but it is well soundproofed somewhere in the west. Here in Craignethan we are one of the first to move in, with nine more over the next week I understand. That will see the community grow. The first night we were here we could not sleep as it was TOO WARM in the house, after the almost 10 years of OFH!.
Healthy update
02/11/25 17:33
Remembering I had two strokes on Christmas morning in 2021 - such a pain -, and my continued troublesome high blood pressure which peaked for so long at 249/99, I was put on a trial for a new drug which slowly reduced my blood pressure alongside the stent which was inserted into the dodgy kidney. There is only one left that works a little and I am borderline with the dialysis. However the new drug has done wonders. Pharmacology should be a Nobel Prize - oh wait it is! Last winter Ninewells Hospital/University of Dundee Medical School entered me in a double blind trial which boosted my new drug and now to everyone's surprise I have the blood pressure of 114/78.
Slowly I am getting back to being my old self and energy is picking up, but the retention of fluid is a nightmare and 15Kg of me is just liquid. I have a table to whoosh liquid out, but the wonderful new drug makes me thirsty and I am on lots of tea each day. My Renal Consultant suggests I suck frozen pineapple, so that should help but there are so many delicious soft drinks around to tempt me, and I am easily tempted.
Further to the update below, we decided to put Old Faskally House on the market a year ago and had a few bites before someone decided that they loved it and wanted it. The process dragged on until 13 October. We had put our names down for a new build home, having scoured west Scotland looking, even as far south as Ayrshire. We are now in the new place, which is 8 minutes from George Square and 24 from Glasgow Airport - no more leaving home at 3am to get a plane to Europe to connect with destinations far and wide!
We were in a Tesco the other day which was so large you could have parked two Space Shuttles under its roof. I guess that will be my port of call, although there is a Co-Op nearby for the tomato-free pizza. That is something I developed over the last years was a sensitivity to the skin of the tomato, which caused me to walk with a stick. My goal in retirement was to become a foot model but the damage has been so severe I now look like the "before" rather than the "after".
Slowly I am getting back to being my old self and energy is picking up, but the retention of fluid is a nightmare and 15Kg of me is just liquid. I have a table to whoosh liquid out, but the wonderful new drug makes me thirsty and I am on lots of tea each day. My Renal Consultant suggests I suck frozen pineapple, so that should help but there are so many delicious soft drinks around to tempt me, and I am easily tempted.
Further to the update below, we decided to put Old Faskally House on the market a year ago and had a few bites before someone decided that they loved it and wanted it. The process dragged on until 13 October. We had put our names down for a new build home, having scoured west Scotland looking, even as far south as Ayrshire. We are now in the new place, which is 8 minutes from George Square and 24 from Glasgow Airport - no more leaving home at 3am to get a plane to Europe to connect with destinations far and wide!
We were in a Tesco the other day which was so large you could have parked two Space Shuttles under its roof. I guess that will be my port of call, although there is a Co-Op nearby for the tomato-free pizza. That is something I developed over the last years was a sensitivity to the skin of the tomato, which caused me to walk with a stick. My goal in retirement was to become a foot model but the damage has been so severe I now look like the "before" rather than the "after".
New start, new home!
02/11/25 17:31
I have been keeping quiet over the last 7.5 years when I was CEO of OSMTH, on advice from various security specialists, but now I am back!
What a time it was! Being in charge of the direction and development and encouragement of knights and dames of the global Templar Order was a great responsibility and one I took very seriously. I was able to travel a lot, visit wonderful grand priories, priories and commanders in development and encourage their membership to grow and continue their chartable work. In addition I rand the United Nations branch of our operation, with wonderful volunteers in UN Vienna, Geneva and of course UN New York. Of course there were some glass ceilings to break on my journey up through the ranks, but I have to say I never enountered any bad feeling other than worse on that meteoric rise. Surprises galore in some places of course, but not even the slightest negative feeling. I hope I have paved some easier pathways for the future knights (and dames of course) on their journey of service to others.
My last day chairing OSMTH Grand Magistral Council in Buenos Aires:
My time as Grand Commander (CEO) was not without its troubles and challenges but these were met with maturity and good grace and hopefully not too many toes were bruised from the action! You can read more about my time at OSMTH on this link.
Sadly one of the challenges faced was the sudden departure of the wonderful Vincent, my Newfoundland, who had given me and all around the most wonderful love and a store of memories. Although I knew from the start he was not going to be a long-lived companion, those 8.5 years were so precious and there is a Newfoundland shaped hole in my heart where he now resides, like Lord Hanuman storing Shiva and Sita. Thankfully we still have Alfie to cuddle, and he has been so good in the nomadic life we led recently between so many different hotels!
All the while, as you can read in following posts, life took some often dramatic changes, but now living closer to the action on the edge of Glasgow…
What a time it was! Being in charge of the direction and development and encouragement of knights and dames of the global Templar Order was a great responsibility and one I took very seriously. I was able to travel a lot, visit wonderful grand priories, priories and commanders in development and encourage their membership to grow and continue their chartable work. In addition I rand the United Nations branch of our operation, with wonderful volunteers in UN Vienna, Geneva and of course UN New York. Of course there were some glass ceilings to break on my journey up through the ranks, but I have to say I never enountered any bad feeling other than worse on that meteoric rise. Surprises galore in some places of course, but not even the slightest negative feeling. I hope I have paved some easier pathways for the future knights (and dames of course) on their journey of service to others.
My last day chairing OSMTH Grand Magistral Council in Buenos Aires:
My time as Grand Commander (CEO) was not without its troubles and challenges but these were met with maturity and good grace and hopefully not too many toes were bruised from the action! You can read more about my time at OSMTH on this link.
Sadly one of the challenges faced was the sudden departure of the wonderful Vincent, my Newfoundland, who had given me and all around the most wonderful love and a store of memories. Although I knew from the start he was not going to be a long-lived companion, those 8.5 years were so precious and there is a Newfoundland shaped hole in my heart where he now resides, like Lord Hanuman storing Shiva and Sita. Thankfully we still have Alfie to cuddle, and he has been so good in the nomadic life we led recently between so many different hotels!
All the while, as you can read in following posts, life took some often dramatic changes, but now living closer to the action on the edge of Glasgow…
Craigston Castle Reprised!
27/09/25 14:10
Our great friend form Arizona, Kurt, came over again for a touring vacation of the North East of Scotland, visiting places missed on the last trip. This tome only Mike and Jill could join in the fun so the hire car was smaller. The castle had changed only a little since our last visit two years previously and it was a pleasure to stay once again.
We started off visiting Stirling Castle early morning. I had not been there since a St Machan's Primary School visit in the early 1970s. There are lots of unicorns and a tapestry series of the Hunting of the Unicorn.
We even managed to get up before dawn to catch the first train to Edinburgh for the day, and despite the Festivals all being over in August, the city was jumping with tourists. We celebrated the city in the Willow Tea Room on Princes Street with a wonderful view of the castle, then a long walk along Rose Street with a boost stop in a bar for some, soft drink for me. It was there that Mike spread the terrible image he took on the morning train ride of us all snoozing and certainly not looking our very best.
Our days were spent on Cullen Skink Safari - you can never have enough oil that, and we saw some wonderful castles on the drives. Kurt hopes to build a house on the castle estate grounds, but he was very taken by fishing village life, so there is a period of reflection required there! Anthony could not come for the full time, but drove up on Thursday to join us for served dinner which was really nice.
Sadly on Saturday they all had to head back to the USA to prepare for heading to Argentina ten days following…
Click for our Grand Tour Images!
We started off visiting Stirling Castle early morning. I had not been there since a St Machan's Primary School visit in the early 1970s. There are lots of unicorns and a tapestry series of the Hunting of the Unicorn.
We even managed to get up before dawn to catch the first train to Edinburgh for the day, and despite the Festivals all being over in August, the city was jumping with tourists. We celebrated the city in the Willow Tea Room on Princes Street with a wonderful view of the castle, then a long walk along Rose Street with a boost stop in a bar for some, soft drink for me. It was there that Mike spread the terrible image he took on the morning train ride of us all snoozing and certainly not looking our very best.
Our days were spent on Cullen Skink Safari - you can never have enough oil that, and we saw some wonderful castles on the drives. Kurt hopes to build a house on the castle estate grounds, but he was very taken by fishing village life, so there is a period of reflection required there! Anthony could not come for the full time, but drove up on Thursday to join us for served dinner which was really nice.
Sadly on Saturday they all had to head back to the USA to prepare for heading to Argentina ten days following…
Click for our Grand Tour Images!
Northern Isles with FJT
14/03/25 14:10
It was a surprise in November 2024 to hear that Fiona wanted to spend her Big Number Change birthday in Shetland rather than the warmth of Australia but I was up for a trip north. After debating should we limit our visit to the murrrdr sites of the BBC TV drama "Shetland" we added a few days of Orkney to our schedule and it was well worth it.
Orkney
Shetland
Orkney
Shetland