Month: September 2016

A day in “The Toon” – 30 September 2016

Posted on by Zogman

30-sept

It’s been a while since we just went for a wander round Glasgow, a flânerie, just stravaigin, so today we remedied that.

Up (fairly) early and out into the rain to get the bus to Glasgow.  Planned the day in Cafe Nero and then headed down Bucky Street.  Did a wee detour into the recently reconditioned Apple shop to see what this new OS Sierra looked like.  Decide it was alright, but nothing much to write home about.  Maybe you need to get down to the nitti-gritti of it to appreciate just what wonders it offers, but there’s not much chance of that any time soon, so we left.

By the time we got down to St Enoch’s square the sun was coming out and lighting up the new entrances to the underground.  Needless to say I managed to get some shots there.  After that, it was a bit of shopping for both of us separately for once.  All the shopping was making us hungry and I’d just the place. We went to a fairly new pizza place, Paseano Pizza.  It was judged a success by both of us.  The pizzas were good, if a little soft underneath, and the alleged 175ml of wine was generously poured.  That in itself helped us say “We’ll be back.”

Wandered up to Sausage Roll Street and I visited Waterstones while Scamp risked the tortuous labyrinth that is Watt Bros.  We’d considered having another wee drink to seal the day, but then decided that we should just head for home.

Overall, a very satisfying and relaxing day in “The Toon.”  Ye cannie beat it, honest, ye jist cannie.  It was a lovely day.  Heavy showers but lots of sunshine to make you forget the wet bits.  Good company as always.

As always, the photos look much better and larger on Flickr.  Click on the mosaic or here to be transported there.

Oh yes, I’ve removed the August gallery and replaced it with the much more interesting Skye September gallery.  Do go and have a wee look.

Tomorrow we may do the same in another town, and then again we might not.  That’s us, rebels without a clue!

Almost a wasted day, but not quite – 29 September 2016

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I got a phone call just after 8.00 this morning to say that the ‘engineer’ would be visiting between 11am and 1pm to assess the situation with the aerial and provide a quote.  I must admit that I lost a bit of confidence when he then asked “What exactly is wrong?”

11am came and went.  Two hours later, 1pm went too.  I gave him a generous 45minutes before heading out.  I wasn’t intending wasting another day in the house.  I drove to Falkirk in torrential rain followed by blinding sun followed by torrential rain.  Just on the outskirts of the town my phone rang and when I picked it up on Hands-Free ( a great boon ), it was the engineer.  “Is your door dark red?” I told him it was, but he was late.  He asked what time it was and when I told him it was almost 2.15, he said “Oh, I must be running late.”  An understatement from the man without a watch!  He then told me that his estimate was £75 plus VAT.  If it took him two days to get to me and then arrived over an hour late, with an overpriced ‘estimate’, there was no way he was going to do a decent job, so I thanked him for his price, but no.  He seemed surprised!

The pop-up gallery I went to was a mixture of the beautiful, the pretentious and the downright gruesome.  Luckily the beautiful was really beautiful, the pretentious was almost funny and the gruesome was instantly forgettable.  For a gallery of amateur work this was very good.  The watercolours were very well finished and framed, but the winners by far were the pastels.  Something I’ve never been happy with.  Maybe something to try in the future, but it will be a long time before I can achieve this level of work.

For once I drove (fuming after my phone call to the ‘engineer’) through Falkirk without the usual murderous traffic.  It was almost a pleasant experience.

Today’s picture is of two roses.  Lady Emma Hamilton and Alec’s red.  Two of Scamp’s favourites, both with heady perfumes.

Tomorrow I’m going to forget about aerials and ‘engineers’ and enjoy a ‘Day in the Toon’ with Scamp DV.

A wasted day – 28 September 2016

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I phoned around this morning to get an aerial removed from the side of the house.  We didn’t put it there, we presume the old lady who used to live next door had it installed because she couldn’t get a picture on her TV and her own house being single storey didn’t have the height to fit an aerial that would improve her picture.  This is all supposition as we came home from holiday one year to find a 2m aerial fixed to our gable wall.  If it was her, then we shouldn’t complain because she’s dead these two or three years.  Her grandson lives in the house now and he’s got cable and doesn’t need the aerial, so we bit the bullet and decided to get it removed.  That’s why the phone calls this morning.  One was a dead number.  One said an engineer would call tomorrow.  One said they would phone back within the hour.  He didn’t.  After waiting for an hour or so, I tried the last number in the local paper and the voice sounded familiar.  So did the name, Sean.

“I think you promised to phone me back an hour ago” I said.  After confirming my name and address he agreed it was him and an engineer would call in the afternoon to give me a quote.  It’s now almost 5pm and no sign.  Winds of 50mph predicted for tomorrow, so I don’t think the first firm will be taking the aerial down tomorrow.  We’ll have to wait and see.

Because of the above, I’ve not been able to go out.  I’d intended going to an art exhibition in Falkirk, but that’s been postponed until tomorrow or maybe Friday, depending on what happens tomorrow.

Today’s single photo is of a bunch of toadstools that have appeared growing from an old rose I replanted a couple of weeks ago.  It looks like the compost is infected and will have to be chucked out.  The rose seems to be growing well and has come to no harm from its fungal neighbours.  Let’s hope the fungi don’t put up an aerial when it’s not looking.

Frogs and Snails (no Puppy Dogs’ Tails) – 27 September 2016

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27-sept

This morning we did go for a swim and went through the ridiculous login procedure where you have to pay a £2 deposit for a locker key and also sign to say you’ve received said key.  I’m not so bothered about having to bring my own towel, but the ‘key thing’ irks me.  Ok, I get it that people are stealing the keys and something has to be done about it with the emphasis on something.  Singular.  Either make people leave a deposit OR make them sign for the key (I typoed ‘sing’ by mistake there.  Perhaps that would be a better solution – make everyone sing for their key, in their chosen key of course). It makes no sense to force people to both sign and pay.  I think people are becoming pissed off with this new regime.

The pool was busy again.  Five swimmers and it’s busy.  Six and it’s congested.  We even had an interloper today, a frog no less.  A tiny wee frog was hopping along the tiles.  I put him out, he may have been another Zog, but he went out into the wide world.  I wonder what would have happened if he’d got in the pool.  Would the chlorine have killed him?  Anyway, I’m sure he was happier outside.

Lunch was a bowl of lentil soup and a slice of bread.  The soup was made from a ham hock we got in Fort Billy on Saturday and the soup, though thin was tasty.

I decided to face the storm force winds and go for a walk along the railway after lunch.  Not a lot to see, except leaves from the trees being blown about.  I’ve made a solemn promise to myself not to photograph leaves this autumn.  I don’t know how long it will last once the reds and oranges appear on the leaves – it’s all to do with the sugar you know!

That was about it for today.  More wind and rain tomorrow with the promise of even stronger winds on Thursday.

Tree Climbing Snails and Rain – 26 September 2016

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26-sept
The plans to go swimming this morning didn’t come to fruition.  Perhaps tomorrow.  I did go to the physio and he was quite impressed with the improvement in my shoulder.  He did however still bend me, shake me and stick the inevitable pins in me to see if he could make me jump.

The day had started out with heavy leaden skies, well, they would be heavy if they were made from lead.  However, when I drove down to the leisure centre, the cloud was clearing and there was a touch of blue sky there.  It didn’t last.  While the physio was pinning me down to the table with his acupuncture needles, I could hear the rain battering on the window. The day was going downhill.

It stayed in that downhill frame of mind for most of the afternoon but by about 4 o’clock I was ready to grab the last little bit of sunshine, because there was some, to get a photo or two.  Actually I got four I was pleased with.  Clockwise from top right:

  1. It’s those tree climbing snails again.  Now the slugs are at it too  Are the snails teaching them?  I still don’t know why they do it other than the human answer – because they’re there.  The best answer I’ve read is that they eat fungus or lichen from the bark of the tree.  The stupidest answer is that they want to get away from the heat of the forest floor – Naw!  It’s Scotland!  We don’t get heat in the forest floor … or anywhere else in late September.
  2. I saw this flower blooming away happily in the midst of nothingness.  Not another flowering shrub or weed for miles around and thought it looked a bit lonely, so I took its picture.
  3. Mr Grey looking hunched over and grumpy.  Well, you would be too if you were stuck in the rain in the middle of a pond in Cumbersheugh with a manic photographer constantly chasing you.  Poor old Mr Grey.
  4. I took this shot because I like cowparsley, not to eat, but to photograph.  It wasn’t until I was looking at the pics on the computer and pixel-peeping (viewing the shots at full magnification to see which is sharpest – not to be confused with Chimping which is a completely different affliction) that I noticed the tiny wee snail on the bottom right of the seedhead. I know it’s really hard to see, but click on the composite and it will take you automagically to my Flickr site where you can see the bigger picture.

As you will see from Mr Grey’s picture, it had started raining while I was out.  It was inevitable because as I was walking over to St Mo’s I’d just been complimenting myself on grabbing an hour in the sun taking photos.  Blue sky and sunshine.  I should have known the rain wasn’t far away.

Wild windy, rainy, sunshiny day forecast tomorrow, then Wednesday will be dreadful.

The Day After – 25 September 2016

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25-sept
I’d planned on having a lazy day with little or no driving and that’s exactly what I got. It was a sunny morning then the rain came and went off and came on again and went off and so it continued all day, so at least I didn’t drive.

I frittered away most of the day on trying to install an upgrade to Windows 10 on the Linx. It was never meant to go on these little tablet computers, but I’ve never let that stop me in the past. The problem is that the main ‘drive’ only has 32GB bare, so once windows is in, there’s about 20GB left. The installer needs 16GB and there’s no way on this earth that I can get that amount of free space on the drive. It just wasn’t meant to be, but to quote Mr R, it’s now become a ‘wee challenge’. After spending most of the afternoon on it, I think I may be nearing a solution, but just in case, I’ve made a backup of the working system. I’ll probably make another backup tomorrow with a different backup prog. Belts and braces, that’s me. It felt good to go through all these hoops, something of a reality check. You get so blasé about installing upgrades without a second thought on a Mac. It’s nice to know that with all it’s bells and whistles, Windows 10 is still a piece of Microsoft junk. Nothing ever works on it. All these whingers who write copious bleating complaints about a Mac OS that slows down their computer want to have tried installing Windows on a home-built PC. Then they would know about grief. Windows 10, puts you back in the driving seat. Just the seat mind you, there’s no engine and they forgot to put in the fuel tank. The wheels are available as an optional extra. Steering wheel? You mean you were thinking about controlling it? No way!

I did go out into the open air in the afternoon and shot a few birds, photographically speaking. Mr Grey was over at St Mo’s so I had to go over and annoy him, then there was this little robin who looked so solemn and downtrodden, maybe he was taking time out from updating his laptop too. Then there were some jaggy things. Thorny branches. Maybe it’s just the way I’m feeling, but they seemed to sum up my mood today.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go swimming in the morning and then I’ve got the physio in the afternoon. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll return to backing up and updating my PC with Windows 10 Anniversary edition. It’ll be crap like the rest, but I’ve got to give it a chance. Then I’ll go back to the Mac to get some real work done.

The Wee Red Car – 24 September 2016

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24-sept
After a wild and windy night with rain battering on the bedroom window, we woke to face the journey home.  It was still windy, it was still raining and there was no sign of either of them abating.

After breakfast I turned the car round so it was facing into the wind.  That way the boot lid wouldn’t blow up when I was loading in the camera bags, rucsacks, luggage bags, flask, poly bags, books and even more bags.  Finally we were loaded up and ready to say our goodbyes and hit the road.

The first stint was from Staffin down the east side of Skye through Portree and Broadford to the bridge.  I thought we might have trouble crossing the bridge, but the wind had dropped a bit by the time we got there and the crossing was really very easy.  On down to Dornie and a chance to grab a couple of shots of Eilean Donan Castle.  The castle that has graced a thousand biscuit tins.  Over the causeway and a stop for a coffee and a scone in the castle tea room.  Despite its tartan and shortbread overload, the coffee is surprisingly good. It was there we saw the blue Fiat 500 on the flatbed being towed by the camper van.  I liked the little touch of the hamper, clogs and tulips.

From there it was the most scenic part of the road normally, but today the weather took most of the scenery away.  Another uneventful, but boring drive to Fort William to stock up on food and drink then get back on the road again.  That’s where we picked up a Wee Red Car.  Now look, I’ve got no problem with people staying within the speed limit and Fort Billy has a 40mph limit for most of its length, but when you see the white circle with the diagonal black line, that generally mean floor the pedal for a bit.  No, the Wee Red Car was determined that 40 was a comfortable speed.  Occasionally it would accelerate to 45, then drop back to 35 just so that it wouldn’t be caught out by any average-speed-cameras that tried to pop up in front of it.  They didn’t, but better safe than sorry the Wee Red Car said.  Of course, there were plenty straights when those following could have passed the WRC, but there were always cars coming the other way.  To add to the holdup, just before the head of the glen at Glencoe, there were ‘mobile roadworks’.  This turned out to be a Cooncil van acting as a convoy vehicle to slow folk down just in case the WRC didn’t do its job properly.

I’d intended stopping at Tyndrum, but I was so determined to pass the Wee Red Car, with Scamp’s consent we just continued on.  At Crianlarich I hoped against hope that the Red Bastard would take the new road down Loch Lomond side, and when it disappeared, I gave a silent cheer.  Then a couple of miles outside the village, there it was again, two cars in front of me.  How did it get there?  We reckon WRC was stuck at 45mph and drove at that speed through the village.  I waited my chance, with unaccustomed patience, dropped a gear and hammered it past both the cars in front of me, waving a victorious ‘Vicky’ to the WRC at the front of the line.  Life after that was just a bit boring.  No more Wee Red Cars to vent my anger on.

Arrived home just after 5pm, which meant we’d spent about 7 hours on the road, about par for the course.  Of course we’d have been home an hour or so earlier if it hadn’t been for the Wee Red Car, but then I wouldn’t have had much to write about, would I?

Lazy day planned for tomorrow with little or no driving.  Thanks for a great few day Murd and Jac1.  Also thanks to Jac2 for the tour round the Cow Shed.

Rainy, Windy Friday – 23 September 2016

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23-sept

I was tardy this morning, very tardy.  I woke just before 8am and the next thing I knew was when Scamp gave me a prod and asked if I was GETTING UP!

After breakfast we drove to Portree to post a postcard to one of our friends.  After that we went to Jans Vans for lunch.  It was Scamp who noticed that it was predominately locals who were sitting in the cafe.  If it wasn’t for Jac1 telling us about it we wouldn’t have considered it and after yesterday’s upset stomach, which I must lay at Café Arriba’s door, it was brilliant by comparison.  Just a simple sausage, egg and bacon with toast and tea for a decent price.  The best thing is the decoration.  It’s bike porn.  Not like the last definition of Bike Porn, just unusual cafe decoration.

Left Jans Vans and headed up to the north of the island again and this time we were looking to follow in Jac2’s footsteps and go to Camas Mòr.  Scamp told me we’d been there before and I remembered the ruined church when we came off the main road.  It looked a bit creepy the last time I went there, probably around 15 years ago and it didn’t look any more welcoming today.  I remembered that Murd didn’t say much about it and if he hasn’t got a funny story to tell you about something, then there’s a reason for that.

Further on we reached the shore and sat there beside one other car in the car park watching the waves crashing on the far shore.  I did eventually decide to face the elements and take some photos.  That’s what contributes to most of today’s mosaic.  It wasn’t very comfortable with rain being driven over the bay on a gusty wind, but that’s what makes a 365 (or a 366 this year) so interesting.  You just have to go out there and get the photos taken.  After that one of the locals wanted access to the slip and we were in the way, so that was as good an excuse as any to head back to Staffin.

I’d half intended going back out to the slip to see if I could get any more photos, but the wind and the rain made me think twice.  I eventually decided that I’d forego the pleasure of taking photos on that great place for the comfort of a coal fire in the sitting room.  I think it’s the sight and sound of coal fires as much as the heat that attracts me.  Yes, I know that they are a nuisance to clean out and prepare, but they are so welcoming.  So much more welcoming than central heating with all the benefits of the modern equivalent.  I’d love a coal fire again.  I haven’t lived in a house with one for over 30 years and still I hanker for one.  I’ll just have to be satisfied with borrowing one for a few days in Skye.

Until the next time, goodbye to this island.  Homeward bound tomorrow.

Windy & Bright – 22 September 2016

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Sitting in the Coffin House in Skye. Having coffee, eating a brownie and gazing at a wide, wide landscape. Scamp is eating something unpronounceable (Pear and Almond Streusel I’m reliably informed!) with coffee. What a place to build your house! Just imagine waking to this view every morning!

At least, that’s where we were. Now we’re in Cafe Arriba in Portree. Globetrotters that’s us.

Or at least we were.  Now the big hand’s almost at 6 and the little hand is heading rapidly towards 12, that’s 12pm!  It’s been a lovely day and I’m trying to catalog it before it becomes tomorrow.

22-sept

After we left the Coffin House or Turf House to give it its proper name  and to be absolutely perjinct, the house is called the Turf House, but we were in the adjoining coffee shop and its proper name is Single Track.  It’s in Kilmaluig on Skye.  It was Murd who christened it the Coffin House because of the elongated hexagonal plan view of the house itself, although the coffee shop is actually in what is the studio of the house, not the house itself.  They tried to name it Turf House, but to the locals it will always be the Coffin House.  Inside the cafe it’s warm and quite spacious with that wonderful view out to the sea.  I went there hoping to see some of Wil Freeborn’s watercolour paintings, but they were almost all sold.  Only one left and priced at £90 was outwith my pocket money.  I wasn’t all that impressed with it either.  The two ladies who run the cafe were very forthcoming about Wil and told me that the paintings had almost sold out within a week of opening.  His stuff is good, well, I like it.

After Coffin Coffee we went on a run to Aird.  We’d been there in March?  The last time we’d been on the island anyway and found a fairly sheltered parking place out of the worst of the wind and sat there watching the world go by.  Scamp wanted to go there again today and we spent another hour and a big bit watching the world go by again.  I got a fairly decent watercolour done of the wee white house in the mosaic above.  I’d painted it the last time we were there too and I don’t think today’s effort was better.  Only had one interruption by a bloke wanting to get directions to Flodigarry.  We sent him in roughly the right direction, hoping he’d bump into someone who would give him a more accurate road.

When we left Aird, we headed south to Portree for more high jinx trying to second guess what the stupid motorists would do before they did it.  You can never tell when some people want to drive at 10mph through the town, signal left then go right while others are trying to perform a 93 point turn in the middle of the main street with a camper van.  I really do despair of the intelligence of these drivers.  I’m sure they’re the ones who voted Out at the EU referendum.

Lunch was at Café Arriba in Portree and I’m suffering for it tonight.  I don’t want to tell you how many times I’ve been to the toilet.  Maybe the last time for this lunch venue.

After lunch we went to Braes which is out on a headland just south of Portree.  We managed to go on another new road!  Got some photos and came back by a really dodgy under maintained road.  Not very funny at all.  However, we didn’t meet any of the stupids this time … thankfully.

Coming back north we stopped at Storr Lochs and grabbed a few more shots before dropping Scamp off at Burnside and heading down to the shore to get the last few shots of the day.  Saw a strange looking lorry down at the slip with a wide door in the side and what looked like a stage or a catwalk extending from it.  A mobile theatre perhaps?  On Skye??  Got a few shots of Staffin Island and then the rain came on, right on the forecast time.

Tomorrow looks like rain all day.

A road less travelled – 21 September 2016

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21-sept
We woke to a beautiful morning with good colour in the sky and a sprinkling of clouds.  According to the weather forecast, rain was on the way in the afternoon, so we needed to get out fairly early.  I must admit it was me who was tardy in rising and greeting the day, so there you go, blame me.

We drove up the road to Uig to visit our niece Jac who has just started work in a boutique hostel.  I think we were both quite intrigued by the descriptions we’d heard from her mother, another Jac, and Murd.  We met more than our usual lot of crazies going the other way.  Mother Jac (I think Jac the mum, we’ll call Jac1 – seniority!  Our niece will be Jac2. – There, that’s much simpler … I think).  So Jac1 had warned us about the amount of crazies driving on the single track roads and the arrogance of them.  Today we met them.  They seem to think they own the road.  They really have to understand that they are only visitors to this island.  There are other road users, people who live on the island and then there’s me and I DO own the road.  Yes, I did get it when I bought the motor!  However, we reached Uig in one piece.  The next warning we’d had from both Murd and Jac1 was about the road from Uig to the Cow Shed where Jac2 works.  I’m glad she did.  It reminded me of a road from Clydeside up to Craignethan Castle, except on that road there are warning signs.  On this wee road there are no sign.  Suddenly the road rises up right in front of you and continues to rise through three hairpin bends on a single track road.  Thankfully there were no crazies coming the other way this time.  Also, this achieved today’s goal to travel on a road we hadn’t been on in Skye.

The Cow Shed itself is very luxurious.  Calling this a hostel is a real misnomer.  This is a luxurious place.  The only ‘hostel part of it is the bunk beds in the dormitories.  And what a view!  From the lounge there is an uninterrupted view right across Uig bay.  Scamp was determined to get a look at the ‘pods’ and we did get a look in one.  Clever design and environmentally sound.  Good thinking too with mini pods for dogs on holiday with their owners.  I think we may be paying for a night in one of the pods the next time we are in Skye, but not one with a dogpod!

From Uig we drove over to Waternish and down to Stein and parked next to the loch.   That was when the rain came on.  In Skye when the rain comes on, it sometimes forgets to go off.  We headed back to Sligachan and from there to Portree.  The rain thinned a bit, but always came back with a vengence.  Got myself a shirt in Skye Batiks, another one, a purple one.  We drove back to Staffin and had a cream tea in Columba and a natter with Jac1.  After that we drove down to Staffin beach and the roads were in just as bad state as Murd and Jac1 had warned us about.

Headed back to Burnside and dinner which was boiled ham, cabbage and potatoes, my second old favourite.  Best favourite being mince and tatties!

Don’t know what we’re doing or where we’re going tomorrow.  It’s in the lap of the weather gods.  Looks good, but you never know on Skye.

There Jac1 you got a mention!  Don’t know if Jac2 reads this, but if you do, you got a mention too.