Searching the news for anything not related to the forthcoming General Election, my attention was caught by the announcement that Aberdeen City Council has awarded a £475,000 contract for new signs relating to the city bypass, which has now been fully open for almost a year.
Bruised, battered and bewildered. And it’s not over yet.
One of the most heartwarming stories of recent years surfaced last week with news that well-known Aberdeen magician Bill Duncan had remarried his wife, Anne, because the ravages of advanced dementia meant he could not remember their first wedding 12 years earlier.
If the pessimists are to be believed, nobody reads newspapers anymore, and print on paper is in terminal decline.
I spent a thoroughly enjoyable day at the weekend at the Day at the Races event in the grounds of the spectacular Castle Fraser near Kemnay in Aberdeenshire and was very impressed by the enthusiasm and dedication of the many volunteers working for North East Sensory Services, the charity benefiting from the proceeds.
The advent of summer traditionally created a sense of dread for journalists.
Freedom is perhaps one of the most under-rated benefits of living in a western democracy.
Long,long ago, in the days when I was editing this fine newspaper and still had hair, I was often driven to pull out large clumps of it in frustration at the way the police refused to harness the eyes and ears of hundreds of thousands of readers in the fight against crime.
It's official. I am now a pensioner, which means that should I be stupid enough to commit a crime or unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident, newspapers will refer to me as "elderly".
When is the Aberdeen bypass going to open? A simple enough question but one which appears to be just a little bit too tough for those who should know the answer.