Didn’t do a lot today. The furthest we got was Robroyston for coffee and a quick jaunt to Asda. Later I went for a walk to St Mo’s, but by then the light was getting low so there wasn’t much to see.
Nothing to see here. Just move along.
And that was April.
At least it was dry today, it’s forecast for rain tomorrow.
Must be the shortest blog post ever!
Friday used to be the beginning of the weekend, especially on a long weekend. Friday is the only day I regret being retired because you don’t get that TGIF (or TFIF for the atheists). My dad was right when he told me “you don’t get weekends when you’re retired.” Not to worry, the rest of the week makes up for Fridays!
Scamp wanted the drain in the fridge unblocked. It’s a messy, awkward job that means the fridge has to be angled out from the wall so I can clean the drip tray at the back after unblocking the drain hole in the fridge itself, then drag it back in. Only, this time when I dragged it back, one of the little wheels at the back came unstuck. The axle had come loose from the wheel and in an attempt to fix it, I tried to drive out the axle using the screwdriver as a drift (<Technospeak> a DRIFT is a bar used to push another into or out of place </Technospeak>). It didn’t work. The axle got jammed in part of the chassis of the fridge. Oh well, I’d just have to forget the wheel and use a packer to sit that corner of the fridge on. Switched it on and … the light came on, but the compressor didn’t. Shit!
Left it for about 10 minutes to settle but still no go. Switched it off and made a cup of coffee while Scamp priced a new fridge. I imagine I had rattled the compressor too much by hammering the drift. After the coffee and the shock that the most expensive fridge she found was £9900, I switched on the fridge and Lo and Behold, it sprang into life. Obviously my analysis of the situation was correct and the refrigerant just needed to stabilise itself. Phew!
Went for lunch at Cotton House, then had Scamp’s tyres checked at Jim Dickson’s and finally booked her car in for MOT next week. Lunch and housekeeping dealt with.
Walked over to St Mo’s and took the “Big Dog” AKA Nikon for a change. The batteries in the Nikons last forever compared to the Olys. About 750 shots at present with the battery on category 2 out of 4, 1 being New. Got some shots of mummy coot sitting on a nest with at least one wee red chick in it. Further on I actually framed my shot to include the round out of focus light. The rest of the shots were too poor to bother with.
On the way home, I saw a crow having a bath in a puddle. I thought it would make a good shot, so I brought out my camera. The crow took one look at me and walked away. Ok, camera back in bag and walk away. Took a few steps and watched the same crow walk back to the puddle again with its towel over its shoulder. It saw me watching again and did an abrupt about turn. I didn’t want to delay it’s bath time any longer and turned my back on it before its bath water got cold.
Today after a dodgy night with an upset stomach I was feeling a lot better. The upset was mainly due to too many Terry’s chocolate orange slices, but I don’t think the couple of mouthfuls of sour beer helped. Anyway, I made a decent attempt at finishing off the breakfast that was set down to me. It had snowed during the night and the hills across the loch from the hotel looked as if they had been dusted with icing sugar. Outside the window as we finished breakfast, it was obvious that the icing sugar was an illusion because big fat flakes of snow were falling on the garden. Nothing else for it but to get going, and that’s what we did. Packed the car and headed out past the big garage behind the hotel that held, not a car, but a large model railway layout. We saw it yesterday and I had hoped to have a word with the designer as he tended to it, but today the door was firmly shut. Good idea, because I don’t think snow and model railways mix very well.
We drove over the bridge, turned left at the roundabout and then under the same bridge, hoping for some photos of Castle Stalker and maybe Oban. It wasn’t going to happen. The snow just kept coming and on a twisty coast side I didn’t get much of a chance to watch the scenery. Castle Stalker came and went without a photo being taken. In fact, without us stopping. The sea was choppy and with the driving snow the view wasn’t what I was looking for. Maybe another day, a warm day with a nice sunset behind the castle, or at least, no snow.
When we got to Oban we had to navigate its maze-like one way system. When we eventually got the hang of it, we couldn’t find a place to park which was within walking distance of the main street. By this time the snow had turned to sleet, so we both agreed to come back another day. A warm day waiting for the sunset behind the castle and definitely no snow – or sleet. Am I expecting too much?
Off on the road to Crianlarich which was a logistical nightmare finding the correct route through that one way system again, but we managed it. Sleet had turned back to snow and it was getting heavier. I remembered bits of the road through the Pass of Brander and I remember my dad telling me that birds didn’t fly over it because of the number of hawks that nested there. I was watching the windscreen wipers and noticed that they didn’t have that much work to do as the streamlining of the car eased the snowflakes over the windscreen rather than splatting them on to it. I even turned the wipers off and it made very little difference. I think the fact that the snow flakes were light and fluffy meant that they floated better and this helped the effect. Still it’s an impressive demonstration of the streamlining of modern cars.
Met the main road at Tyndrum and drove down past Crianlarich and stopped for a while just to get a rest from driving. From there it was a fairly easy run to Lubnaig as the snow was lessening. Stopped at the parking place at Lubnaig and had coffee and a jam scone each. That’s where today’s photos came from.
Stopped at Dobbies in Stirling for Scamp to get some pansies to decorate her pots in the garden and that was the end of the run south. There were blue skies over Cumbernauld when we arrived home, but soon after hail battered down and then the snow started. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.
After a lazy morning (well, yesterday was a bit frantic, so we are due a lazy morning) we headed off just after midday bound for Ballachulish in Lochaber.
I just had to stop on Rannoch Moor to get one last time lapse. Yes, I know it’s old hat now, but just one more wouldn’t hurt. After 15 minutes I had my 10 seconds of video and 100 frames of high quality RAW files I’ll never use again. Such a waste and such a hammering the camera shutter takes making those 10 seconds of video. The good thing about travelling with two cameras is the ability to wander around taking shots while you’re waiting for the 100 shots to be taken. Saw a wee lizard on the moor. Didn’t realise you got them this far north. Maybe it was on its holidays.
Continued up to Ballachulish and booked in. As it was the end of an Itison deal, the hotel was full, but Scamp had pre-booked and also upgraded to a loch-view room with, as it turned out, a jacuzzi bath! Unfortunately neither of us could be bothered to try it out.
Went for a walk to Bishop’s Bay, a place we’d been the last time we were here, back in October 2015. The scenery and views were just as spectacular as last time. Time for dinner when we got back. Food was good, but our supercilious waiter needs to work a bit on his people skills. Scamp ordered scallops and he assumed she was ordering for both of us! What? Does his mummy order for him when he goes out to a restaurant. I had a burger which was fine and Scamp had a seabass fillet, but I’ve seen bigger sardines. She decided to have pudding and ordered sticky toffee pudding with ice cream. I ordered gin and tonic pannacotta and after leaving, he returned to ask if I wanted ice cream or cream with it. I was a bit bemused as you don’t usually have anything with pannacotta, but settled for the cream. I needn’t have bothered. It came as it was without an accompaniment and also without any semblance of G or T in its flavour.
I’d just remembered that the hotel had a lovely microbrewery IPA and we went through to the bar after our meal to see if it was still available. There was the pump with the River IPA. Unfortunately, there also was Mr Personality, the original dumb waiter. Scamp had a G&T and I asked for an IPA. The scoosh from the tap signalled that the cask needed changing. “It’ll only take a minute” he said. He was right. It only took him a minute to come back and say “mvbemdm fnsn dm” or something like that. He certainly speaks fluent Mumble. It translates as “I don’t know how to change the cask”. I asked for a pint of the River Blonde beer instead. I’m still not sure if he used a clean glass or the dirty one from the aborted IPA, but the beer was boggin’. I had two mouthfuls and left it on the table. The last time we were here there certainly was Service With A Smile. This time was different. Maybe we were just unlucky or maybe this is a turn in fortune for the Loch Leven Hotel. Only time will tell.
Hoping to head south via Oban tomorrow. Also hoping for decent weather, much like today’s.
A full dance card today. Lots of stuff planned and some added later.
Tuesday morning we were getting the central heating boiler serviced, so that meant the cupboard it lives in had to be cleaned out so the gas man could at least see his quarry and with a bit of luck, reach the beast. Once that was finished, the man arrived and the maintenance was completed. Our boiler is about 15 years old and is getting to the end of its useful life so we signed up to an appointment to price a new one. We did well to get the boiler through the winter and had planned to replace it during the summer, so this was a good opportunity to commit to the replacement.
In the afternoon we were getting Smart Meters fitted to replace the gas and electricity meters. That meant the drinks cabinet, which doubles as an electricity cupboard, had to be cleared out. I hadn’t realised we had so many bottles of spirits in that cupboard. I won’t say how many bottle bags we filled, but it was less than six, just less than six! Each bag holds six bottles. Mind you, some of them only had a little drop in them, well, that’s what I’m saying anyway. Scamp wanted milk so I offered to go and get some. I was just putting on my jacket when my hand brushed the light switch and I got the lightest tingle. I blamed it on static, but when I deliberately touched one of the retaining screws, it happened again. Not static then. Checked it with an electrical screwdriver and the little neon light went on. Oh, oh. We need to get someone in to have a look at that. I checked all the other light fittings and all but one passed. It looks as if the upstairs/downstairs cable needs to be replaced. That will definitely need an expert to look at. I taped off the screw heads with insulating tape and tested again and it is safe for the moment, but it needs attending ASAP. Add to the list.
The Smart Meter fitter came and fitted the meters, but couldn’t get them to connect to the server in the office, so they need to be checked in the next two weeks. Add that to the list too.
Scamp had phoned the osteopath in the village to get her shoulder looked at and had an appointment at 6pm, so we had to have an early dinner and then I dropped her off at the surgery then went to get some photos. Got some decent landscape shots with dramatic rain filled clouds behind. as delivered above.
When I went back to pick up Scamp, I listened to Bryan Burnett’s programme Get It On which has a daily theme. Scamp and I try to work out the most apt track when we are travelling in to salsa on an evening. Today’s theme was “Vinyl Records” I chose Richard Thomson’s “Don’t sit on my Jimmy Shand’s” Which mentions 78s and “They don’t mend with sticky tape and glue” I had the time and the opportunity to send in my suggestion, so I did! I’d just finished when Scamp got in the car. She was impressed with what the osteopath had said and done and couldn’t stop talking about it. I was half listening to her and half listening to hear if my suggestion would get a mention. We’d almost reached the Town Centre when I heard “Zog” from Bryan! Yes! I got my mention on the radio. Unfortunately, Scamp just kept talking, and they didn’t play my suggestion. Their loss.
One of JIC’s birthday presents was a lump of 99% pure cocoa with instructions for cooking it into a cocoa drink. This is the one that when wrapped had a label explaining that it wasn’t a suppository! Today I tried it and it was really rich and smooth. Not at all what I was expecting, but I won’t say what, exactly, I was expecting!
So, a day of some successes and some failures and some “Work in Progress”
Most Mondays are manic for one reason or another. Usually because they are formulaic in that we both float about in the morning, then have lunch and immediately after that Scamp goes to pick up some of Gems while I pack my bag and head off to the gym. Get back once Gems have dispersed, grab a quick PoD and then make dinner before we go to salsa practise. Back about 9.30, process the pics and write up the blog. Manic.
Today we went to the pool for a swim because Scamp’s shoulder isn’t up to gym type exercise. Swam for a while before the pool got ridiculously crowded (eight people trying to swim lengths were five are uncomfortably close). Spent some time in the sauna and the steam room, then came home for lunch and for Scamp to pick up Gems. I tried to paint for a while in the afternoon but I couldn’t concentrate, so I booted up and went for a walk to St Mo’s. I immediately noticed a couple of deer right in front of me. I tried a few shots but they were all views from the rear. I didn’t bother to post them because nobody is interested in deers’ bums, except perhaps other deer and since, to the best of my knowledge no deer are visiting my blog or Flickr page, I thought I’d give the photos a miss. I did get some nice (well, I think so anyway) contre-jour shots of trees and leafs, oh yes, I also got shots of a patient hoverfly and a shivering butterfly. Taken in a hail storm while the sun was shining – It’s Scotland, you get used to that kind of weather.
That’s about it for Monday. Not quite as manic as usual and not as formulaic as it sometimes is. It just takes a little change to make all the difference.
Went for a walk around Broadwood Loch rather than its little cousin St Mo’s. Broadwood is a bit duller than St Mo’s in my opinion, but nowhere near as dull as Strathclyde Loch. Like SL it’s a manmade or manflooded loch that originally was a piece of bogland with loads of peat underneath. It was always being set on fire during the summer. Flooding the area produced a loch and reduced the possibility of it going on fire. Originally there were great plans to have it stocked with fish and there was to be a sailing club. Neither of these plans saw the light of day. What NLC did was categorise part of the loch as a nature reserve which has the advantage of costing nothing and preventing either of the leisure activities from taking place. Cost saving from NLC? Surely not.
After lunch I chose cycling rather than the gardening that Scamp opted for. Went out with the intention of finding some damselflies to photograph, but they were still swimming in the ponds dressed in their nymphal disguise. Maybe I was being a little optimistic, but I just thought with the increase in the temperature and light recently there was just a chance of some of them hatching early. Maybe next month.
What I did get were, from the right and going anticlockwise, Mr Grey’s cousin from the morning walk around Broadwood. Next it looks like a volcano, but it’s a pit bing near Kirkintilloch. On the left is a wee bit of interesting sky I saw on the way home. At the top a monochrome landscape shot with the Arran hills in the background. Centre stage is a recently ploughed and seeded field with tractor tracks heading over the hill.
Not a bad Sunday. Not bad at all.
After yesterday’s biz, today was just another Saturday.
We went to Stirling and bumped into Scamp’s sister and her daughter (the same ones from yesterday) in our favourite curry shop. I wouldn’t have bothered going back there after the disappointments of our last two visits, but I’m glad we did. The menu, if more expensive, had gone back to its previous old faithfuls and I’m guessing the chef was back from his/her sabbatical because the food tasted like it used to. The only stumbling block was the nan bread which we both agreed was too soft and doughy. We’ll let them work on it.
Walked round Stirling shopping centre. That didn’t take very long. Stirling, apart from the castle and the old buildings leading up to it, isn’t all that interesting. More and more shops closed in the shopping mall it’s a sign of the times. Not as bad as Dunfermline the other day. Things are getting bad when the Cash Converter shop closes down. Anyway, we didn’t linger long in Stirling and drove home empty handed apart from a Thunderball ticket that proved not even worth the paper it was printed on. Oh well.
Today’s photo is the final one in the series of Shug and Tam meet the Queen. By the way, just in case you were wondering, it has nothing to do with Mrs McQueen turning 90. It’s just such a nice wee minifig, I thought I’d like to do something with it. I’m done with Comic Life for a while. I’d forgotten just how irritating it was to work with. Until you’ve experienced it, it’s difficult to explain just how badly coded it is. Even the version 1 as its flaws, the most annoying is when it loses focus on the object being edited. Leave it for a while to get its wind back and focus returns. Not something you want to happen when you are working to a deadline, so I doubt if you’d use this on a commercial basis. However, it cost me nothing so I shouldn’t complain, but I always do 😉
To those who read my blog posts, I apologise for the number of updates to it recently as I struggled to add two short videos. I finally worked out today that the only video format that WordPress would abide was MP4. I was sure I’d added a MOV once, but I was wrong. It was only when I was checking the HTML code today that I realised my error. I may not embed any more videos for some time, but hopefully I’ll remember that I wrote this explanation – partly to you and partly to myself!
It wasn’t a bad day. Up a bit earlier than normal today to take my niece and her mum to a hospital appointment. Rather than sit in a crowded carpark waiting for them, I thought I’d just drive in to Glasgow. Followed my nose and relied on guesswork to get to where I was going. On the way I passed a Chinese supermarket and went in to see if I could find Dried Fenugreek Leaves because I’m sure the Indian chef who took the cook school I went to had listed them as one of the main ingredients in pakora. They had loads of dried an fresh herbs and veg, but no fenugreek, dried or otherwise, so I left empty handed, but I’m going back there some time for some Chinese curry mix like Jackie made for us in Skye.
I got parked easily up on St Mungo Avenue in Glasgow and walked down past Queen Street station and looked across past the College of Building and Printing as-was, now Glasgow Metropolitan and liked the light on the old sandstone building (top middle). On through George Square where I caught the wee man looking bemusedly at his iPad and down Queen Street to peruse the bargains at Cass Art. There were none – bummer. Walked back up and admired the reflections on the new office block, not for the first time. Managed a few shots, but then a crowd of school weans arrived out of the GOMA (Gallery Of Modern Art) clutching sketch pads and pencils and proceeded to sketch everything in sight. I put my camera away, knowing I had my PoD in one of the reflection shots. I’d just sat down with a coffee in Pret when my phone rang and I knew the Outpatients were ready for their lift home, so back up the hill again and back home via the hospital.
After lunch which was fried bacon, potatoes and egg (not the healthiest perhaps, but very, very tasty) Scamp wanted to go shopping. I decided my calling was more cycle related and put the bike on the rack on the car and got going to Auchinstarry. I’d decided it was warm enough for shorts. It was, but only just. Today was not as warm as yesterday or Wednesday with clouds massing over the hills. Colder, but ideal for another go at another time lapse (That technique is becoming a bit ‘old’ now that I can remember its name – time for something new). Cycled along to Dumbreck and set the camera up on the Gorillapod on a fencepost and fired off a 100 frame, 10 second interval movie.
Then changed lenses and did another 100 frame, but 5 second interval movie. That was enough for me. I was getting cold standing around so I packed up and headed for home.
I was just fitting the bike on to the rack when the first splashes of rain appeared on the roof of the car. There was that delicious earth smell you get when it rains after a long (for Scotland) dry spell. It rained all the way home, but when I drew into our street the road was dry. Got the bike in to the house and the raindrops appeared on the window. It must have followed me home.
So, on reflection, it wasn’t a bad day!
Two good days of sunshine in a row. That’s what we in Scotland call Summer! We decided not to waste it, so Scamp had the brilliant idea of taking the bus to Dunfermline in Fife. No driving for me, so that put a smile on my face – for once.
Bus to the “Toonie”, then another less rattly and rickety bus to Dunfermline. We walked down to Pittencrieff Park where we were accosted by the squirrel that stood there quite the thing in front of us and begged for peanuts. Unfortunately for Tufty (reference to an ancient road safety cartoon) we didn’t have any, not expecting to be waylaid by a hungry animal. We walked on through the park and strayed for a while in the greenhouses admiring the flowers and the goldfish pond. Lots of hand painted mobiles that looked almost like puppets hanging in part of it. I really should have taken some photos of them, but only now realised I hadn’t. Oh well, a reason to go back again.
Had lunch in a Wetherspoon’s. Cheap and cheerful – you can’t beat it. Walked round the town and I added some books to my Bento booklist. Why on earth Filemaker stopped supporting this excellent app, I’ll never know. Filemaker Pro is a great piece of software, but it’s no use on an iPhone. It’s a sledgehammer to crack a nut, whereas Bento is a nutcracker. By that I mean it fulfils the purpose it was designed for. I’m sure there is enough space for both of these apps in the world. Filemaker, you made a big mistake there, and it’s not just me saying this. Google Bento and just count the number of people worldwide who are mourning the cutting off of this software in its prime.
Bus back from Dunfermline and then the rattly, shoogly X3 back home. Another lovely day. Tomorrow isn’t to be as nice, which is a great shame.