It was warmer but overcast and we had toast and coffee at Forestside Drive and a leisurely start. Mike decided he wanted to go to Banchory Lodge for dinner. He used to take doctors there for lunch when he was a medical rep for Ciba-Geigy ( which later merged with Sandoval to form Novartis). Anyhow. We called in to Banchory Lodge before heading to Bob and Sylvia’s for lunch. 

Banchory Lodge has a lovely outlook over the river Dee (this is royal Deeside) remember. We are not far from Balmoral.  We were going to have a walk along the river but the rain came and it was later than intended so we just enjoyed the view after making the dinner reservation. 

We had a lovely afternoon with Sylvia and Bob. Sylvia is Mo’s older sister and she trained as a nurse. Bob was a mechanic and had his own shop, then taught in the polytechnic and then they had a bus company. Mike and Ian and Bob got into numerous scrapes and there are some hilarious tales of male stupidity (essentially) but hilarious nonetheless. 

Sylvia had a yummy lunch of soups and sandwiches for us and she brought out her parent’s photo album which was great. There was plenty of reminiscing and various attempts at identification. 

Bob had a stroke over thirty years that significantly disabled him but he is still going strong and was in good form. They have lived at Homeacres for about 50 years. It is a small holding not far from Aberdeen airport. The property has numerous outbuildings which 2 of their sons use for their businesses and poly tunnels for growing flowers and fruit and veges. Various of the sons and grandkids have cars and vans in states of disrepair which are parked ‘temporarily’, much to Sylvia’s irritation!  Sylvia raises goats and now has 3, one of which is still milking. She has won numerous awards for her goats in past years. They are doing pretty well for a couple of 80+ year olds. 

We headed off in time to slightly glam up and head to Banchory Lodge for dinner. It was a very nice meal though not fabulous (in my opinion).