Month: March 2016

Not very bright intervals – 21 March 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bWell, there were a few bright intervals today, but they were few and far between. Since Scamp was going for lunch with Gems, I got the bus in to Glasgow to get my hair cut and have a wander. The barber was a laugh. He was a political hot wire with an opinion and a conspiracy theory about everything. While I didn’t agree with everything, in fact with very little to be exact, it was a laugh and the time passed quite quickly.  He recommended the film Idiocracy which I might just look out for. Wandered round the town looking for inspiration but found none.

I’m on the bus home now earwigging other folk’s conversations. Well, if they don’t want other people to know about their Tesco “disciplinary” then they shouldn’t talk about it on a bus and they definitely should reduce the output volume.  It seems to be the case now that people talking on mobile phones in public assume that they are inaudible to all around them.  If they were speaking to an actual physical person in their vicinity would they speak as loudly? I sometimes wonder if there is anyone at the other end of the phone connection.

Went to salsa tonight and noticed when I was sticking the parking ticket on the windscreen that the time on it was wrong.  When I checked the time of issue, I found that it was almost an hour out.  I wrote a note to the blue meanies that the machine was issuing tickets with the wrong time.  I went back and photographed the display on the machine as the iphone would timestamp the image with the correct time.  What else can you do in such a situation?  If you don’t have evidence of the mistake, it’s your word against the blue meanies and we know who Glasgow Council will believe.  I’ll check the time on the machine next time, and every time for a few weeks at least.

For the umpteenth time and the first time this year, I got a sheep tick.  It appeared on my wrist underneath my watch.  It always seems to be when I’m wearing the same jacket.  I like it, but I think I may dispose of it now.  These things are a menace.

Two in a row – 20 March 2016

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combo bWow!  Two sunny days in a row.  Allegedly this is the first day of spring, but with two sunny days in a row, it could be summer.  Not the start of summer, but summer itself.  Equinox be damned.  Everything could go downhill from here.  Despite the fact that the days are getting longer and the nights shorter, if it’s not sunny tomorrow then it’s a case of “nights are fair drawing in”.  Still, in the spirit of spring, Scamp got the mower out and cut the front grass.  This was swiftly followed by George across the corner getting stuck in and cutting his grass too.  I think he was slightly miffed that Scamp had beaten him to it.  I’d have cut the grass myself, but I know Scamp likes it done to her own formula and if I’d have done it, the stripes on the front lawn wouldn’t have been perfectly parallel, so I let her have first dibs.  Such a gentleman me!

What I did do was take myself off to St Mo’s to revel in the inexplicable second day of sunshine.  There weren’t many creatures to photograph.  No deer, no Mr Grey, not even a frog pushing its head above the pond surface.  What I did have was some low angle light to play with, so I shouldn’t complain.  Took the “Big Dog” (Nikon) with me as Little Dogs (Olys) are getting tired of being the general ‘dogsbodies’.  Managed to get most of the photos taken with ISO settings of under 2000.  It’s amazing what you can do when you have directional sunlight.  I was a bit concerned by seeing what I think was another ‘photog’ walking along the boardwalk.  I don’t know who he or she was, or how they worked out where “St Mo’s” is, but they must know that St Mo’s is mine and mine alone.  Yes, I’m willing to share it with others, but only if they write to me asking for permission first.  So, if you are reading this, interloper, do the decent thing and ask permission before you trespass on my personal space.  You have been warned.

Looking forward to see what tomorrow will bring.  Hopefully more sunshine, I’m not greedy.  Just one more day would be good.

Sitting in the Sun – 19 March 2016

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combo bSitting in the sun for a couple of hours at Loch Lubnaig. Taking foties, doing sketches and  being amazed at the difference a day makes. Yesterday, all was grey, but today there’s blue sky all around.

We couldn’t decide where to go today and last night had almost settled on a trip round the shops in Stirling.  This morning when we saw the bright blue sky, we re-evaluated our options.  Finally we settled on Callander with the option of travelling on to Lubnaig if the weather permitted.  The weather did permit and we did take the Lubnaig option.  We drew in at the first of the new parking places which are so much better maintained than the old ones where the dobbers would overnight camp from Friday to Sunday.  Buckfast bottles and who knows what else left behind.  The only good thing about it was that it was free, but you didn’t wander far from your car in case it was propped up on bricks when you came back.  Those days are gone now, so are the dobbers and the Buckfast.  Now you’ve got to pay to park, but £1 for two hours is worthwhile for peace of mind.

I had hoped to see the seaplane land on the loch, but I think that company has now moved to Loch Lomond.  What we did see were mountain climbers on a ridge, canoeists on the loch and a beastie on my painting.  First time for a long while I’ve painted in public.  It wasn’t the best effort, but it was a sketch and it was in the open air – I won’t use that arty-farty French expression, but it was fun.

A grey day – 18 March 2016

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combo bIt started grey.  For a while around midday I thought it might manage to become a lighter grey, but I was wrong, it stayed grey.  Later in the afternoon it became grey.

I wasn’t impressed much with the day.  I took the car down to Auchinstarry and introduced the Oly to Dumbreck.  It wasn’t very impressed, but then it wasn’t an impressive day, just grey.

Maybe tomorrow will be more colourful, or even just less grey.

A grey start with late brightness – 17 March 2016

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combo bThe day started off very dull and grey.  Scamp went off to meet a friend for coffee in Hamilton and reported that the weather there was much better than here in Cumbersheugh.  Nothing surprising there with our omnipresent Cumbersheugh Cloud.  I went up “The Toonie” to meet Fred for a coffee.  It’s not as if we don’t have coffee or coffee makers at home, it was just a coincidence that we were both meeting different friends for the same beverege.  Had a natter with Fred and we set the world to rights as usual then the unthinkable happened.  The Costa repair man came in to service the coffee machine and they could only provide tea.  Now I’m perfectly happy with tea, but as far as I know, Fred only drinks coffee and beer.  Hardly ever spirits and never tea.  So we had to either walk to the other end of the centre and enter the dingy Costa there or sit coffee-less in the light.  We chose the latter.

When I came home, via Tesco as I was cooking tonight and Dobbies because I wanted to be self-sufficient in mint for mojitos, the weather was definitely brightening up, so I got my boots on and went over to St Mo’s to get some foties.  Got a couple of shots of a pair of deer and a lot of contre-jour ones against the low light.  The monochrome one of the trees was a happy accident.  I was trying to  work out how to use my phone to geotag the photos in the new Oly and just took a grab shot.  When I got home, I found that I had indeed geotagged the shot but it was unremarkable and was destined for the bin.  I must have pressed a hot key that did a basic conversion to mono and when I was doing a final check of shots for the bin, I liked the result.  Not PoD, but interesting enough to save.  Have a look at it on Flickr viewed on the lightbox (press L) and see what you think.

A case for better weather – 16 March 2016

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P3160679- flickr--76Today we spent our afternoon in Livingston selecting a case sufficiently large for Scamp to pack for our next holiday although it’s not even on the horizon yet, in fact we haven’t even decided for certain where we’re planning to go. That’s forward thinking for you. I did manage to get myself a waistcoat in a sale, so it wasn’t a total loss for me.

The day started with high cloud and although the east seemed to have better weather than the west, contrary to what the forecasters said, the sun never really got through the cloud. When we were on our way home, the cloud just seemed to get thicker and darker and the light got gloomier.

I went out to get basil to make pesto for dinner and there was just a glimmer of golden light appearing between the cloud and the land, so I took a detour from the road home and grabbed a few shots. Saw some geese flying north, another sign that winter is on the way out for another year. Further on, I saw a field full of geese. I’d have stopped to grab a few shots, but I was on a really narrow, almost single lane, road and couldn’t find a passing place. Another day maybe.

That’s about it for this Wednesday.

Back in the old routine – 15 March 2016

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combo bIt was a struggle but today we set off for the gym and a swim. The gym was tough, but I did my 6 torture devices and proceeded to a busy pool where I managed a couple of lengths without bumping into anyone, but gave up as more people entered the water. Went and sat in the steam room for a while before finishing off with five minutes in the jacuzzi. Exercise done for today.

Managed a short walk through St Mo’s later in the afternoon and caught a couple of oystercatchers unawares, then got another shot of a duck lifting off. Took “The Big Dog” (yes, JIC your terminology is rubbing off on me) with me today with the Tamron in place. It seemed to behave perfectly, mainly because I was limiting the ISO to about 3000, not its usual 25000. At least that gives the lens a fair chance to show its mettle without having grain the size of golf balls.

Other than that, it was a dull day with a cold biting wind, not a bit like yesterday. Might as well have been in Corralejo!

Sunshine – 14 March 2016

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combo bHey, maybe we brought some sunshine back.  Deep in the folds of our bags there must have been a little seed of Canaries magic sunshine.  When I woke this morning, just after 7.00am the sun was shining through the windows and the sky was blue.  Got up and did a little more catching up on the blog then after breakfast I set to to clear my ToDo list for the day.  By midday it was clear, apart from some more blog posts and Flickr post to upload.  The heavy lifting was done.  I must say that it would have been a much more onerous task without the magic of DayOne and Dropbox.  DayOne on my phone means I can peck away at the keyboard and write about things as they happen during the day and that means it’s not such a chore (I hate that american sounding word) to remember and write up my day when I’m tired at night (like I am now).  Dropbox allows me to sync the DayOne write-ups with the Mac.  Anyway, as usual, I digress.

Got the bike out and went out wearing shorts!  I took my longs as well as insurance, just in case the sun was lying and it was really cold.  It wasn’t.  It was windy though, an easterly wind, which means it’s a headwind when I’m on my way home.  Not to worry though, that would be later.  It was a tail wind on the way out.

Got some good macro photos of Coltsfoot Daisies.  They always remind me of my dad.  He used to say they were one of the first signs of spring.  It was him who told me how it got its name.  It’s to do with the shape of the leaf.  Also got some green blobs – my name for the fruiting bodies of moss.  Pretty little things if you take the time to look and quite colourful too.  Got one shot of a duck doing its vertical takeoff.  Ducks make me think of fighter planes the way they take off in a straight line, climbing away into the sky just like a Typhoon or a Tornado does, but a lot quieter.  Beautiful flight patterns when landing too, with down pointing wings – technically anhedral as opposed to dihedral.  Less stable, but better for controlling the airflow.

Salsa and bachata at night.  Old moves, but well remembered in salsa and good combinations that we’ll need to work at in bachata.

Mixed forecasts for tomorrow.  As Scamp says, we’ll need to see what the weather’s like.

Auld claes and purrich – 13 March 2016

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combo bBack to life, back to reality.  Maybe Fuerteventura was cold and dull by Canaries standards, but the light was bright compared with a Scottish late winter/early spring.  It was a sea change being back home with ISO ratings back in four figures again, but it was also good to be back home.

This being the second Sunday in the month, there was no Sunday Social to brighten our day, but also no need to rush around getting things done with a 4.00pm cut off as happens on SS days.  Like most things, it was a double edged sword.

The furthest we went as Tesco on a shopping expedition and then I went to Condorrat via St Mo’s to get some Soda Water because we had decided to have one more Mojito each before the diet and withdrawal of alcohol started.  Seemed like a good move – the Mojitos, not the withdrawal of another innocent pleasure.

It looks like a decent day tomorrow.  May go the the gym and may go cycling.  Whatever we choose, it will involve some exercise.  It must.

At the Airoport I’m happy – 12 March 2016

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combo bListening to the “Passaheros” and “Condestinos” announcements while we wait in one queue after another, I’m almost tempted to stand to attention when German flights are called. German seems such an abrupt stentorian language. More a set of commands and demands than lyrical French or stiff upper lip English or even drunken Gaelic. Like the lady who informed the chef at breakfast “You vill cut up the fried eggs for me.”  A statement.  Not “Vill you … ?”, a request. Thinking along those lines, wouldn’t it be better if we used local vernacular at places like airports: “Aw right, them thits gaun tae Zurich git in the queue noo. Them thits no, jist haud yer wheesht an’ wait ’till yer telt.” Now doesn’t that have a bit more character and humour?

Anyway, for once we were called to the gate, then boarded well ahead of time and we are currently flying through the air strapped in to an armchair in an aluminium tube, heading in the general direction of Dublin. Isn’t technology wonderful?

Arrived ten minutes ahead of schedule in Glasgow. It took about 20 minutes to get through security, possibly because three planes had landed in swift succession, possibly because the much vaunted automatic Euro Passport booths weren’t working again – well, to be honest, they’ve never worked since they were brought in. It took another 20 minutes for the cases to be delivered. What’s the point of having faster and faster transport links when the infrastructure at the airports isn’t up to the job? Anyway, we were home and the weather was, as a flight attendant once said “… eh, Scottish.”

Today’s title comes from the Loudon Wainwright III song “Lowly Tourist”
“… at the airoport I’m happy ‘cos I know I’m going home.”