Category: weather

Dancin’ – 22 November 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Heading to Paisley for a dance class at 9:45am.

We drove through the thick Cumbersheugh fog, heading to Brookfield, but before we reached Glasgow the sky had cleared and the sun shone from a bright, blue sky. Welcome to Scotland.

It was a fairly easy run to Brookfield. No dramas today and no great holdups. Everything just running to plan. We reached the dance class with time to spare.

First dance was my much hated House of Bamboo, written by a Bampot, I think. When we’d disposed of that piece of excrement, we went on to the Foxtrot we’d been learning for weeks and I struggled to get all the bits in the right places.

At this time of year, the Christmas Waltz is a standard. After Christmas it changes its name to the Spring Waltz, then later it becomes the Summer Waltz and so on. Today we were in Christmas Waltz territory.

Then we started a run through of the Mayfair Quickstep set to new words that were quite funny, but I think they would begin to grate after a few weeks.

The next offering was a Samba. I thought we’d seen the back of this ‘dance’ a year or so ago, but it had returned with some new steps in it. I just couldn’t get the hang of it. Kirsty tried to teach it a couple of years ago, but thankfully it was dropped from the curriculum before it caused an injury!

I was on the point of walking out when the tempo changed to a Cha-Cha and I could manage that.

Finally we did one track of the Queen of Hearts Rumba, and after that we were allowed to go home.

The roads towards town were very busy, probably to do with the Christmas rush that’s just beginning, but I tried one of the back roads I’d used in the past that took us under the Clyde and out through the town in a lot better time than any other route. I reckon we were just lucky.

I took my A7iii out for a walk in St Mo’s and PoD was a Buckfast bottle lying on the sheet ice that’s covered the pond for these last few days. Thankfully the ice is melting now, but it’s still a lot thicker than it looks.

No plans for tomorrow yet, but I’m sure something will fill the space.

Another early rise – 21 November 2025

Posted on by Zogman

I was meeting Alex in Glasgow for a wander and a pizza later.

I was earlier than usual getting in to town. It was a cold morning. About -2ºc when I was leaving the house. I’d brought my Shokz headphones with me and I needed them. Some eejit was sitting behind me playing his hit-list of the worst jokes in the world with his phone turned up to max. The phone wasn’t a match for the Shokz.

I was nearly at the bus station when I looked out the window and a little voice in my head said “Get out and walk. Walk down to Rottenrow. You’ve plenty of time.” So that’s what I did.

Rottenrow is the old name for Royal Maternity Hospital. An old hospital that was founded in 1834 and finally demolished in 2001. It wasn’t completely demolished. The site was redeveloped by the University of Strathclyde into a public park known as Rottenrow Gardens. The park features elements of the old hospital, such as the original facade and a sculpture few sculptures. I’m almost sure I’ve been there before, but can’t quite remember when. Today I finally got some decent light to capture the giant Nappy Pin that dominates the site. Definitely worth a walk after hearing that voice in my head!

After I walked back to the bus station I’d only just sat down when he appeared. He’d been up at the other end of the town trying to capture his favourite piece of architecture, the Pavilion Theatre. Luckily for me I’d caught the Nappy Pin in good light but he had just missed the light on the Pavilion. A usual, a coffee in Nero gave us time for a catch-up, but neither of us had a definite destination in mind for the rest of the day. I suggested the Art Galleries, but we didn’t really have enough time for that, so we settled on a walk down to St Enoch’s Square where the ‘Shows’ were just beginning to start up for the day.

George Square is the usual venue for the Christmas Carnival, but allegedly the square is having an upgrade and won’t be in business for at least two years. I think you can call that Twenty Two years if the council’s usual slower than slow progress is anything to go by. Today we walked through the stalls and found nothing that encouraged us to stay, so we walked on to the Clyde Walkway, and even there the graffiti was poor. Not very much artistry or humour in the paintings. I did take a few shots of people walking across the suspension bridge and one got into Flickr, once it had been worked over.

We walked back to Paesano for a very nice pizza, then we walked up to the bus station, said our goodbye’s until next time and each of us got a bus home. I found a suitable set of tracks to take me home on the bus.

PoD turned out to be a woman in a red coat watching her grand-kids on the fairground rides in St Enoch’s Square.

Scamp had made some soup when I got home, which was gratefully accepted. Now I think it’s raining. Hopefully that will make for a warmer drive to Brookfield tomorrow after our sharp frost.

 

Another cold blast – 20 November 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Another sub-zero morning.

I was out in the morning to get my meds and some messages from Boots and Tesco in that order. I was meant to get sone veg, milk and a chicken, except I completely forgot about the chicken. It wasn’t until I got home that I realised my error. Scamp said it was ok and we could survive without the chicken and I took her at her word. I also realised that Boots had short-changed me on my meds. Two lots of them just weren’t there. I did get a message from them two days ago to say that my prescription was partially ready, but yesterday’s message said that it was ready to collect. Crossed lines somewhere, Boots. This is the first time I’ve had a message like that. I’ll maybe have a word with them next week if I have the time.

Back home it was time to get ready to drive to Glenburn for a Tea Dance. I thought we were going to be late because of what looked like a collision between two large lorries, but the Polis managed to sort it all out and we arrived just in time, before the doors closed.

I thought it was a bit of a washed out tea dance. Just not a lot of life in it. Maybe that was because most of the attendees had recently been at Perth for the autumn dance weekend. For whatever reason, there was just not the same ‘life’ to the day. We left later than normal and got caught up in the homeward bound masses. Just as we neared M&S in Cumbersheugh, we saw the line of waiting traffic and gave up on any idea of having a chicken for dinner. Instead we had a very nice pizza I’d stashed in the freezer earlier in the week.

Watched another episode of Portrait Artist. Some good work, but some equally poor stuff. I won’t say I could do better, but I was veering that way.

PoD was a setup shot of a Lindt chocolate bear. That’s what happens when you spend an hour going for the messages and then your day disappears and you don’t get an outside photo.

Hoping to meet Alex tomorrow for a blether and some photos.

Freezing – 19 November 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Yesterday was wet. Today it was freezing with temperatures around -1ºc in the morning.

However, we were safely tucked up in bed by then. When I did eventually get up to make the breakfast for us, the temperature had risen to -0.4ºc. Positively tropical. Not tropical for us to get out of bed, though. When I took a proper look out the back bedroom, there was a covering of snow on the Meikle Bin and also a scraping of snow on the Campsie Fells too, but the sky was blue with just a few clouds.

We didn’t venture far in the morning, although I did take out a pair of secateurs and gave the Alec’s Red rose a gentle trim, just to remove the old flower buds. That will probably be the last cut for this year.

I went for a walk in the afternoon, well wrapped up, of course. Alex is still holding on to my Sony A7iii and the 25-105mm lens, so just for a laugh I took the A7c and a very old 28-70mm kit lens I got with the Sony A7ii a long number of years ago. I must have a look through the records to see just how old it would be. At the time I thought it was the bees knees, but now I see all its faults beginning to show. It’s not the best lens in the world, but it is better than nothing at all. PoD was a photo of a dozen Canada Geese walking from their feeding ground in St Mo’s park to the relative safety of St Mo’s pond where fewer predators threaten them. I’m guessing they were overwintering from their summer habitat in Alaska to our milder winters in the uk.

By the time I was walking home, my ears was getting chilled, but by adjusting my trusty St Andrews ‘Buff’ I kept them from getting frostbite.

While I was out, Scamp was making a rhubarb pie with some of the rhubarb Jamie’s had brought up with then the last time they were up in Scotland for a wedding. The rhubarb was really quite sharp and although it had some stem ginger in its mix, I felt it could have done with some more sugar. Pastry was up to Scamp’s usual excellence. Home made fish ’n’ chips for dinner, followed by rhubarb pie with home grown rhubarb. Excellent.

We watched another episode of Shetland and the plot thickens even more. Can’t wait for the next instalment.

Hoping to get to Glenburn tomorrow for a Tea Dance. However, it depends on the weather. Ice and snow forecast. Temperature just now at 11.15pm is – 0.9ºc.

It was Wet. – 18 November 2025

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It was wet from start to finish today.

Sometimes heavy, sometimes light, always wet. Thankfully we weren’t going anywhere today. The furthest I got today was a quick trip to the tip to dump some of the odds and ends we’ve gathered in the past year and some that have been lingering in cupboards for a long while before that.

Other than that, I set up a still life of Alstroemeria flowers and that became the PoD. Not great, but it worked quite well on such a dull day.

Dinner was pasta with tomato sauce and spinach. It looks like becoming a favourite in the house.

For once I watched the World Cup 2026 qualifiers because Scotland were playing in it. I wasn’t expecting them to win against Denmark. Imagine my surprise when they not only won that match, but won by four goals to two. Amazing or lucky? I don’t think it matters to the Scotland fans, judging by the antics on the park after full time. Good Luck to them all.

No plans for tomorrow, but it would be nice if the rain would stop for a while.

Another bright, but cold day – 16 November 2025

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The temperature when we woke this morning was 0.4ºc. At least it was still positive!

We both struggled with Wordle, but survived to tell the tale. Other puzzles were not as successful. It must have been the cold temperature that was doing it.

We didn’t actually do much and we certainly didn’t go far. The temperature did rise a bit in the afternoon, but not enough to entice us out, there was even some ice in the bird bath in the back garden. First time this season.

In the afternoon I managed a walk around St Mo’s to get some photos. The cloudscape was very nice, but by 4pm the sun was heading towards the horizon and the colours were changing. My favourite photo was another of the reflection shots I’ve become attached to. This time it was taken with the Sony 10-18mm lens. It’s really an APS-C lens, but it works magnificently on the full frame camera. It became PoD and was a shot looking across the flooded pond to a beautiful skyscape.

One circuit of St Mo’s pond was sufficient for me today, not because it was cold, although it still was, but because I was cooking a stubby short rib for my dinner. Scamp was having salmon. Her’s was cooked in about ten minutes while mine took three hours. Both were deemed lovely, but my short rib was a bit tough. It might have been left in the freezer just too long. I must go back to Muirhead to get another one, soon, and not keep it so long in the freezer this time.

We spoke to Jamie and heard about his plans for the next couple of months. It must be great to be going to warm places while we shiver, even if it’s not for the happiest or reasons. We also heard that he has a leak in roof somewhere. It’s in a place that wasn’t updated in his previous work. Thankfully he says it doesn’t look too serious.

Scamp and Shona are booked for on a one-day trip up north tomorrow. I hope the weather is kind to them. I might be taking some stuff to the skips.

Today was to be a lazy day – 15 November 2025

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We accomplished that task.

We’d half agreed that today would be a relaxing day after the comings and goings of yesterday. I thought we might go out for a while in the afternoon, but it just sort of drifted away. It was good to look out at the blue sky and the fluffy clouds, but the cold temperature didn’t encourage us to go out and experience it, so we stayed home and watched from the safety of the house. No point in going out into the cold and ending up with frostbite. Granted there was very little chance of catching frostbite, but was it worth the risk?

In the end we stayed at home. The cases had to be put up into the loft until it was time to take them down for our proposed visit to Calpe next year. Yesterday, Scamp had done a fair bit of tidying up and today was my turn. Shoes had to be put away and old trainers had to be disposed of. Two large boxes were taking up space in the small bedroom and they needed to be taken to the council dump. I shelved that idea until I knew exactly how many boxes were going. Anything to put off the decision. It looks as if I will need to do some work on the boxes in the coming days, but not today. Instead, I went for a walk in St Mo’s.

Two days of constant rain had flooded the pond up to but not quite over the path, but careful stepping was needed to avoid wet feet.  It’s been a long time since the pond has flooded.

It was indeed cold, only about 7ºc with a gentle breeze. I walked round the park and got a few photos. One that I liked was a low view through the reed and rushes and it became PoD. I walked down past the back of St Mo’s school to see if the flag irises that grow there were producing seeds, but I’m sure now that none will be fruiting this year. Maybe they are biennials and only produce seeds every second year. Either that or the strong winds we had earlier in the year damaged the plants. Whatever the cause, there were no seed pods to be seen. I walked back to the house and realised just how cold it was outside. You sometimes don’t realise until you are in a warm place.

Watched Strictly in the evening and weren’t all that impressed with the efforts of the dancers. Too many tears from the professionals and the competitors.

Tomorrow if the weather warms up in time, we may go for a walk somewhere interesting.

 

A different Doc – 13 November 2025

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This time it was Scamp who was going to the doc’s. I was just there to listen and to contribute a little.

In the morning I went to put some petrol in the Blue car, always useful. To get some chicken for lunch and some flowers to brighten up the house again because the last ones were beginning to wilt.

After lunch we just wasted time, really waiting for the clock to say it was time for us to go to the hospital in Coatbridge for Scamp’s meeting with the consultant. The weather was terrible, with torrential showers. but I’d set up a Google sat nav that told me where to turn right and where to turn left. So much better than the Nissan’s sat nav. We reached the hospital a lot quicker than the last time when we went on a tour round half of North Lanarkshire.

The meeting, this time was a fairly short session. Just going over what we’d discussed at the last meeting and confirming that Scamp was interested in finding out more about the Deep Brain Stimulation. That was all that was needed to set the ball rolling. The consultant also changed some of Scamp’s meds and that might reduce the tremor in the short term. Now we have to wait and see.

Drove home by a different and even better still route on roads we already knew, although we’d never driven them in the dark. Back home, lo and behold there was space to reverse into. You people with your own parking places don’t know how lucky you are.

We watched another Portrait Artist tonight and just like the last one this one was full of corruption. I think we need a someone to come out from Virgin to diagnose the problem.

PoD was a last minute photo of a Toblerone triangle with a wee daft story attached.

Tomorrow we’re hoping for better weather. I’m intending meeting Alex in the morning to talk about cameras. Hopefully we’ll get home before dark!!

The Dome in the rain – 11 November 2025

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Today Scamp and I went to Edinburgh on the train in the rain.

Scamp had asked for Afternoon Tea in The Dome in Edinburgh for her Christmas present last year. The year had been one of the most mixed up we’d ever had and the afternoon tea voucher had been put on the back burner. After we came home from the cruise in October, Scamp started looking for a suitable date to use the voucher, before we lost it! We finally decided to take a slot on the 11th of October and today we went to see how the other half lived.

Actually, they lived a lot like us. No fancy dresses, well, not very many, and no airs and graces. There were a few tables of “Ladies Wot Lunch” out enjoying themselves. We weren’t on the ground floor, but we did find one poor man who was – more about that later.

We were upstairs where the sparkles were quite restrained. We had a table for two and after we were settled, the cake stand arrived with sandwiches and sausage rolls (vegetarian for Scamp) on the bottom layer. The scones (orange and chocolate for me, plain for Scamp) with the jam and cream. The top layer was the cakes. Macarons, mini Victoria sponges and tiny choux buns too. I’ve probably missed out some of the delicacies, but you get the idea. I don’t suppose it would be any good to you Hazy, apart from the sandwiches there were eggs in everything!

We had tea (Peppermint for Scamp – Darjeeling for me) both served in the most awkward shiny teapots. Almost impossible to get a grip on and I nearly burned my fingers pouring them.

When we were done we walked down to see what the ground floor was like. Busy, was the answer. I don’t think there was an empty seat in the place. Upstairs the sparkles were restrained. Downstairs the were almost blinding. We wondered how much their heating and lighting would cost.

When we’d gone in and were being escorted to the afternoon tea room, there was a clatter from down on the marble floor. One of the waiters or assistants had fallen dropping something as he fell. He got up and quickly dusted himself down then promptly fell again. That’s what happens when you wear leather soled shoes on a wet, slippery floor. I hope he didn’t hurt anything more than his dignity.

It had been raining when we went in to the dome and it was still raining when we came out. We decided to go home. We walked to the station then ran to the gate, just managed to squeeze on the the train which was running late. Arrived at Croy and were told the taxi wait was 30 mins, It was still raining, so we waited in the waiting room. The problem was a three-way signalling system on the road for roadworks. We had another fifteen minute until we were on the road home. What is it with roadworks this year. They seem to be everywhere. However, we were just sitting in the car. I think I saw steam coming out of the driver’s ears. Who would be a taxi driver in the rain with three-way traffic signals?

Arrived to a warm house, and a cup of tea.

PoD was Paddington in St Andrews Park in Embra … in the rain.

I’ve an appointment with the doc tomorrow morning first thing.

Chasing the squirrels – 10 November 2025

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Annoying little “rats with furry tails”.

When I was making the breakfast I spied a grey squirrel walking vertically down the fence and investigating the pot that Scamp had planted some of her bulbs in. Usually I just open the kitchen window and that’s enough to scare them away. Not this one. It just looked up at me and I swear it grinned. Rattling the back door had no effect on it either. It wasn’t until I’d opened the back door and started to walk across the garden that it decided a few bulbs weren’t worth the bother and scampered away. I know it’ll be back, but before it does, I’ll lay down some hot pepper. My mum used to swear by it for chasing away cats and other creatures from her garden.

It was a fairly decent day, although my weather app on my phone was warning about heavy rain coming tomorrow, so I kept that in mind. However, nothing much came of it today.

Scamp went out to get some bread and something to put between the slices for lunch. Afterwards I drove over to the town centre. What a sad looking place it is now. All the upper shopping area is boarded up, the ‘going down’ escalator is boarded up too, although the ‘going up’ side is still struggling along. For how long, is hard to say. I was looking for a hard drive for my computer and did find one there that did the job, even if it cost about twice what my old, full one, did.

I drove back via the east end of Broadwood Loch. I was fairly sure there would be some gulls preening on the outfall of the loch and I wasn’t disappointed. Lighting could have been better, but “Beggars and Choosers …” I managed to get a few decent shots, enough to make it worthwhile. Enough to make one of them PoD..

Back home it was time to get ready to go to Kirsty’s class. A disappointing class tonight. Only two couples and one girl without a partner. Scamp and I were agreed that Kirsty just wasn’t prepared for tonight’s class and was trying to ‘wing it’. I’ve tried that myself in the past and it rarely works out well. So it was tonight. Maybe she just had a bad night. We’ll give her another chance next week. It must be soul destroying teaching to five people.

Back home we had a slice of Focaccia which was ok, just ok. I think I could have made better, but at least the one we had was just ready to heat in the oven. A real focaccia takes ages to make. We watched the trilogy of Monday game shows we usually watch. Very informative and we even got some right!

Tomorrow we might head east,