Celebrations

It was Andy's 63rd birthday - and also my 600th match - and it was back to Strikers again. Here's the Oldies v Kids line-up at the start - before John M appeared:

The plan had been to go back to the Burnett for a change - and we'd been in to recce beforehand - but the beer, even though it was my 60th birthday ale, Nechtan, was a bit off - too sharp - so we hastily relocated to the Douglas across the road. The beer there was excellent - particularly Caledonian's Kiss Me Quick - but no soup or sannies had been organised, so we only had crisps to soak up the ale and the drams that Andy and I bought. It wasn't long before some of us were losing the power of speech! Here's the team who had the first round of drams:

We watched the the old pros playing in the Scottish Masters on Sky - wondering who some of the characters were - and the general opinion was that their game was much slower than ours had been!

Dave 57

The snow in Banchory meant  that the planned venue of DATA was out, so we relocated to Strikers in Aberdeen:

It was back to the Duglas for soup and sannies afterwards - and Andy presented Dave with a unique present:

Somebody made sure that their beer wasn't touched:

Lemon Tree gigs - Blockheads

Messrs Sharp, McWhinnie, Williamson and Grant all had their various reasons for not coming along to the Lemon Tree for the second gig in a week, but Andy Marshall managed to join us this time. We arrived for the 5:15 bus a little early so there was just time for a very swift half of OSH in the Stag first of all - the last time short measures were poured that night:


And yes, I did get on a bus - CK showed me how you do it and I used my bus pass for the very first time. Here's the rather unflattering evidence:

We tried the Star & Garter for a quick pint of Ossian, whilst watching the World Cup draw on TV, then headed down to Carriages. Disaster! Diners only - we couldn't get in. What to do? We were due at the Jewel in the Crown in half an hour. In the end, the logistics were against us and we cancelled our curry and headed off to Archibald Simpson's for ale and food. It's so convenient for the Lemon Tree anyway.

Although one member of the Grant clan couldn't make it, elder brother Donnie, standing in for Gary, met us at the Lemon Tree:

We had last seen the Blockheads in 2006 and they were great again this time. Norman Watt-Roy on bass was, as ever, the star of the show - you couldn't keep your eyes off him - but the rest of the band - including Mickey Gallagher on keyboards for the second week in a row - were terrific as well. Check their web site for the biogs of the band - www.theblockheads.com. Here they are doing Clevor Trevor, with Derek the Draw laconic as ever on lead vocals:

The band played straight through with no interval, so we had time for yet another pint of Old Speckled Hen in the Globe - good band playing there too. Beside our bus stop in Union St, the same old lonely busker was playing. Andy requested Tangled Up In Blue:

Then it was the bus back to Banchory:

Still time for yet another OSH in the Stag before heading off home. Great evening.

Lemon Tree gigs - Animals + SDG

The first of two consecutive Friday nights at the Lemon Tree saw 6 of us going to see the Animals (for the second time in 5 years), joined this time by 70 year old Spencer Davis. This rather poor photo shows Spencer on the left:

The piece de resistance - Keep On Running: