Month: January 2020

Rain, rain, rain – 11 January 2020

Posted on by Zogman

It was wet today, in fact it never stopped.

It was obvious from early today that it wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as the last three or four days. We’d intended going out for lunch, but I’d ordered a new battery for the MBP and it was supposed to be delivered today. It was, but the delivery bloke didn’t even knock the door, he just left the parcel in the bin shed. That said, it was absolutely tipping it down when he came, so I couldn’t really blame him for not waiting at a possibly locked door.

It must have taken me at least ten minutes to disconnect the old battery, remove it, replace it with the new one and reconnect it. Then it took about two hours to charge it. The best advice I had from the ‘net was to leave it charging for at least a further two hours, which I did. In the meantime I tested and tasted my bacon, haggis, pork and whisky sausages. They were good, and an interesting taste. That’s as much as I’m saying just now. Had some of Hazy’s Columbian coffee too. It was much sharper and more bitter than my usual drink but, again, worth trying a second or third cup tomorrow.

After lunch we decided we’d eat in tonight and Fish Curry was on the menu. It should really be Egg Curry, but if you substitute fish for eggs it works equally well. It’s really a dhal with a lot of red lentils in it and also some coconut milk. We’ve been making it for years. It originated from a recipe book we bought in Woolworths. Remember them? I drove up to Tesco to try to post some of the calendars, but the post office closed at 12.30 and it was now past 2.30, so I missed it by a mile. Came home with rice for the curry and a couple of bottles of alcoholic beverages.

Time for laptop phase 2. Unplugged it and it started. The guide said to run it until it shut down. That took just over four hours, during which time we made the curry and ate half of it, leaving the remainder for tomorrow’s dinner (it was still raining by the way). We also watched an hilarious episode of Bake Off with The Derry Girls. Not something I’d have considered funny, but it just worked.

The laptop is now on phase 3 of its calibration cycle. It’s switched off and will remain switched off for at least five hours. That means it should be switched on about 2am. That’s where the “at least” factor kicks in. It may get switched on around 9am tomorrow, but not before.

Scamp and I had fun trying to fill a beanbag with polystyrene beads (does that make it a beadbag?). Eventually these beads with minds of their own were safely ensconced in their little bag and sewn in. I used it to prop up the camera which produced tonight’s PoD which is the Weemen ‘helping’ to swap out the new battery for the old one.

Tomorrow, on paper, looks better than today, but that wouldn’t be difficult. We’ll wait and see. No definite plans.

The Secret Garden – 10 January 2020

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Today we were heading south to East Kilbride.

Sticking to our stated objective, i.e. if it’s clear, let’s go out, we set off for East Kilbride for a walk in Calderglen Country Park, after I’d scraped the car and warmed it up. Finding EK wasn’t a problem and finding the location of the park was easy too. Finding a way in was a different matter entirely. The satnav took us past some extensive roadworks to the entrance, or so we though. Turned off the main road onto what appeared to be the entrance to the park and saw the big sign that said No Entrance to Country Park. Very helpful. So if that wasn’t the entrance, where was it? There were another two entries for Calderglen on the satnav. The second one took us to exactly the same road with the exact same sign. It was only after driving around for a while and stopping in an industrial estate, Scamp found an address for Calderglen Museum. Surely there would be someone there who could tell us where the secret park was. We set off again and my face fell when I saw us approaching those roadworks again. It was just as we passed them Scamp noticed a narrow road through the chainlink security fencing with what looked like a stone building behind it. Could that be the museum? We turned at that bloody yellow sign, drove back and down the road we found Calderglen Country Park. No sign, no arrows saying country park this way. Nothing. Isn’t it just like Scotland to hide things. We have all these wonderful attractions, but we won’t tell anyone where they are. It’s almost as if we’re ashamed of them.

Anyway, despite them, we found the park and off we went for a walk. Crossed the river at the Horseshoe Falls and walked along the path on the side of a steep ravine to the South Bridge. We did continue on a bit, but not knowing how far, or where the path led, we doubled back and took the path on the other side of the river. Some lovely waterfalls on both sides of the river that goes by the name of the Rotten Calder River. Rotten is apparently a corruption of Red because of the ironstone deposits the river runs over. Back at the cafe we had a cup of lightly browned hot water with some milk in it. Apparently it was a Flat White. It, and Scamp’s Latte was made from coffee bags. Like tea bags but with coffee in them. I haven’t seen them for ages and hope it’s an equally long time before I see them again. After that we walked home.

Today’s PoD was taken on the South Bridge and is a little Ash propeller. The ones that twirl like little helicopters in the autumn. Best of a bad lot I’m afraid.

Back home a parcel of coffee was waiting for me. It was part of my Christmas present from Hazy & ND. I look forward to tasting it tomorrow. I know it’s beans, so it can’t be coffee bags! Thank you both, and it was good to talk to you this afternoon Hazy.

After I washed the Juke and while I ordered a replacement battery for my now not even archive MBP, Scamp was carefully removing the almost 50 year old dress from the Christmas tree fairy and planning a way to rebuild it. The fairy will look so much better when it’s finished. Hopefully the same will be said about the MBP once its battery is replaced.

Tomorrow looks wet, in fact the weather is getting ready for it just now with some practise showers, so we may not go far.

Earwigging – 9 January 2020

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As soon as the sky cleared today we were off on our travels.

Today Scamp suggested we should go to The Smiddy for lunch and a chance for me to take some foties. I thought it was a good idea, but added a stop at Muirhead for some carnivore food. It was actually in the opposite direction, but would only take us half an hour at the worst. Stocked up on sausages, mince, burgers and chicken and then we were off along the M80 and M9 then the A84 to Blair Drummond and the destination for today. Two toasties, one each. Cup of coffee (me) and peppermint tea (Scamp) and an opportunity to earwig the conversation between two ‘auld guys’ talking about somebody digging the founds or ’foonds’ (foundations) for a house by hand. I say we were earwigging, but it was difficult to avoid one side of the conversation which was broadcast at full blast. It was when the auld guy started elaborating that he’d seen this man “… in the pishin’ rain wi’ an auld coat oan, digging’ away …”, that’s when I smiled. I could just picture this man digging the foundations of his house with rain dripping off his auld coat and running down his neck too no doubt. I felt like thanking them when they got up to leave. Just two auld guys.

We left soon after and I got four sausages made with haggis, streaky bacon, pork and whisky. They’re in the freezer now. I’m keeping them for the weekend because they sound interesting. Back in the car we headed towards Doune, but never reached it. I took a road we’d never been on before, the B8032 that took us by a twist, turny, up and down way to Callander. The land of the blue rinse brigade on a Sunday outing, but today was Thursday so we were safe.

Parked near the river, very near the river which was coming up to meet us. Scamp had noticed the sand bags stashed at the side of the entrance and it looked like they’d be needed soon. The riverside carpark is quite often flooded but today it wasn’t too bad by Callander standards. We went for a walk through the town which looked as if it was shut, but there were a few shops open. Lots and lots of charity shops, which is a mark of small towns in Scotland these days. Bought a few cakes to have when we got home. It was a bit cool today and I think we were both quite pleased to be back in the car. A pleasant enough drive home except the bright low sun was a pain and I had to resort to sunglasses. Sunglasses in January? Who ever heard of such a thing.

PoD is a picture of the gulls sailing down the river in the carpark at Callander with Ben Led in the background.

Tomorrow looks like the last of the dry(ish) days for a while, so if it’s fine and clear we’ll probably go out for a while.

Hooray the sun is working today – 8 January 2020

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A lovely change from yesterday. The sun was shining.

OK, it only lasted for about an hour, but even as the first raindrops fell, the sky was lightening again in the west. Another day when it would be wise to go out and have a walk in the sun. Scamp’s first suggestion of Muiravonside was the one that we chose. It’s years and years since we’ve been there and according to the satnav it’s only about 13 miles away.

Drove through rain and sun, but the Juke didn’t seem to be in a good mood today and also the mileage was only reading about 36mpg. Maybe JIC was right about the tyre pressure being the problem. I might check it tomorrow. It was sunny when we arrived, but the wind was quite strong over in the east and it was a cold wind too. Walked around one of the easy walks and then through the farm. Just a kids farm really with lots of birds and smaller animals to see, as well as some big fat pigs, a couple of highland cattle and also a couple of horses. After that we walked down to the river and that’s where I got today’s PoD which is the River Avon which begins its life strangely enough near Fannyside where I was on Monday. It was the Nikon that took the photo.  I was carrying both Nikon and Oly cameras, but I was surprised at how little I remembered about setting up the Nikon.  I couldn’t even remember the shortcut to format the disk.  Must be getting too used to the little Oly and Pana cameras that make everything so easy. On the way to the river we passed a load of apple trees growing beside the path, each one with its own little name plate on a wooden post beside it. Scamp was quite pleased to see a James Grieve. It was a bit younger and straighter than ours. Hope it fruits as well as ours. It was a steep path down to the river, but we didn’t really notice until we had to climb back up again. We were a bit out of breath after the climb.

Drove back and I thought I might have a chance of a photo or two in St Mo’s after a late lunch, but the clouds rolled in in earnest and the rain started again, so I left it for another day and went to collect my pills instead.

An email has just come in as I’m writing this to say that I’ve been fully reimbursed for the purchase of ON1 2020.  That was much quicker than I expected.  In the morning, I’ll check if the money is in the bank.

I think we’re both agreed we’ll go back to Muiravonside again, all being well. Tomorrow looks clear and cold again with just the chance of some showers, so with a bit of luck and good timing we may manage another walk in the sunshine.

Windy and Warm – 7 January 2020

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I thought I’d woken up in the middle of the night and then notice it was about 8.15am and it was dark outside.

It stayed like that all day with only about 30 minutes in the middle of the day when there was light on the horizon, but it didn’t last. Scamp wanted to go shopping today and that’s what we did. Because the only place she knew she could get some of today’s messages was Morrisons, and in an attempt to offset the shortfall in their winter sales figures, that’s where we were going. Next question was where. Falkirk is our usual preferred shop, but with the strong winds, especially in the east and the heavy rain showers, I suggested we go to The Fort instead. Closer and quicker to get to. Also, I wanted some stuff from Hobbycraft at The Fort. With that settled, we wrapped up well and drove off. It may have been stormy and wet, but it was also warm. The car thermometer read 12ºc when we left the house.

So we got what we wanted in Morrisons, except the bottle of Grants Sherry Casked which was absent from the shelves and also the Yorkshire Mixture which was also missing. Could it be the same person who had a taste for sweeties and whisky? Did they perhaps drop a couple of sweeties in their dram? Maybe I should try that. We bought a bag of polystyrene beads for me to make a bean bag to rest my camera on when taking low macro shots (they came in handy later). We also bought some sparkly foam backed card to make The Fairy a new pair of wings. Scamp is going to wash The Fairy’s dress, make her a new underskirt and also repair her wings. The Fairy is almost 50 years old and hasn’t had her dress cleaned or her underskirt replaced in all that time. Her wings have been repaired once or twice, but really do need to be renewed. Happy with our purchases we headed home.

Scamp went out to get her hair cut after lunch and came back looking even more beautiful than normal (if that’s possible). Then I discovered I needed spring onions for tonight’s dinner (Pad Thai), so I wrapped up well, stuck in a pair of headphones and enjoyed a walk in the rain with The Uncle Devil Show to get the spring onions. That’s when I noticed my thighs were aching a bit, presumably from the two days dancing I’d had Sunday and Monday.

The Pad Thai worked really well. It was from a kit, but the only pre-prepared ingredient was the sauce, I’m sure I can find a recipe for it on the net and make my own. Noodles make a nice change from rice. After that I had to find a PoD. I found it in the bag of polystyrene beads. I sat a bunch of grapes on the bag of polystyrene beads. Lit it from below with two LED lights. Then used reflected light from a third LED light to remove some of the shadows from the grapes. PoD done.

Before I wrote this blog I cancelled my upgrade to ON1 2020. Too many bugs in it that would be caught, quote ’in a future update’. Sorry, but I paid for software, not to be a beta tester.

Tomorrow I may tackle the making of the bean bag. Also, we may go out somewhere for a walk if there’s any light and if the wind abates.

It’s a new dance class – 6 January 2020

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And we don’t have to drive in to Glasgow to do it.

Scamp was out at a gig in Steps, not the old 80s group, but the wee place on the outskirts of Glasgow. Gems were entertaining today, the first gig of the year. I was staying home to start tidying up the back bedroom. After about an hour’s work I could confidently say I’d found the sofa. It’s not completely unearthed yet, but signs are good that it’s there. It was really horrible dull day, so I didn’t really mind a bit of housework. Then all of a sudden it started getting lighter, shadows started appearing in the room which meant there was light getting in. Yes, the clouds had a bit of texture and they were definitely getting lighter.

Time to go out. I selected Fannyside as my chosen destination because the clouds were breaking up and with a strong west wind I might get some interesting skies. What I hadn’t realised was just how cold it was with that wind. I got a few shots at my usual place beside the pine trees on the far side away from the loch, but then the light was moving and I needed to move with it. Drove back onto the moor road and down to a draw-in where an old peat processing plant used to be before the moratorium on industrial peat cutting was introduced. Got a bunch of shots there across the loch and the moorland behind me. Finally got a shot with an old tree in it. I’ve taken shots of that tree in all sorts of weather.

Back home I cut the sky form an east facing shot and pasted it in to a west facing shot with the tree in it. A bit of colour enhancement and some Oofle Dust (the stuff Sooty used to use) and today’s PoD appeared.

Just as I was finishing the singer arrived home, quite delighted with the gig. Then it was time to make dinner before we headed off for our first dance class in Cumbernauld.

Lovely big hall. A bit cool, but I know from experience that it needs to be be cool when you’re dancing. We started off with a line dance of sorts, just as a warm-up. I survived it. Next was beginner’s Waltz. There were two of us couples dancing it, but Scamp and I were soon promoted to the intermediate class. Actually I could do most of the moves, but the different terminology from what I was used to and the slightly different combinations flummoxed me for a while. However, by the end of the night I was getting the hang of it. The girl who runs the class is a lovely dancer and seemed to know her stuff. I was most impressed. An hour passed really quickly, always a good sign and we both agreed we’d be back next week, all being well.

Tomorrow we are expecting heavy rain and strong winds, so whether we go out or not and where we go will be determined by the weather.

Dull but we went Dancing – 5 January 2020

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Today was nothing to write home about on the weather front. Just dull and grey.

I did get out for a while in the afternoon, but there was nothing inspiring to photograph. That didn’t stop me, of course, but there was nothing in the twenty shots that I took that stood out enough to be a PoD.

Slow cooked Lamb Shoulder for dinner had been started before lunch. Seared the meat in the frying pan then pierced it all over and stuck in some rosemary sprigs, rubbed some salt into the still hot meat and put it in the slow cooker for three hours. I came out nice and tender, although there were a few chewy bits away from the bone. What we in Scotland would call ’Cheuch’. The rest of the meat was fine. Scamp’s dinner was much quicker to cook. She had a fresh tuna steak which she cooked like I would cook a steak. Three minutes per side with a couple of minutes standing time. It looked lovely too.

Drove in to Glasgow and got parked right away. In fact there were lots of parking places available. Found out that 12 folk from one of the salsa classes have booked a week long holiday in Cuba and hired a salsa teacher to boot. That would have been a good break, but probably a bit too much ‘away time’ at the busy start of the year. Danced with a few folk I knew from class and so did Scamp. Managed to remember how to salsa and made up a few ‘new’ moves that I can’t remember now. That’s how it goes some days. Still can’t imagine two classes being taught at the same time in such a small space and with bar service running at the same time. Good luck with that Shannon.

Spoke to JIC in the evening and he gave some advice on curing Scamp’s dodgy tummy problem. She will be out tomorrow morning buying JIC’s remedies.

Today’s PoD was taken with the Teazer2 from where we parked just off Byres Road. I tried it with a lower ISO and a longer exposure, but this was definitely better, even with the heavy grain.

Tomorrow Scamp has a gig and we are hoping to go ballroom dancing in the evening.

Heading west – 4 January 2020

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Today we were heading for Helensburgh, despite the rain.

A day by the sea with a bracing walk along the prom would do the both of us a world of good. I’m sure some people would turn up their noses at the idea of Helensburgh (one in particular), but it has the best pizza shop outside of Glasgow. Not that that was an ulterior motive of mine!

Went by the scenic route through the wee villages of about five houses with their 30mph signs and the twisty turny roads. Driving through low clouds that seemed to think they were doing us a service by tipping their rain down on us. Reached Helensburgh without any great problem drove in to the carpark and saw a sign. New Carpark Charges. It had always been free. Surely they hadn’t put meters all over the place. Needn’t have worried, there was the sign behind the first one No Charge for cars, buses, lorries or motorcycles. Hmm it must only be the occasional tractor or helicopter or perhaps Jumbo Jet that needs to buy a ticket then.

We walked along the prom and that’s where I got my PoD. Somebody obviously thought the sunglasses were an optional extra today and left them, intending to pick them up again if the sun started blazing down later in the day. They were still there when we walked back again through the rain.

Walked round the shops which didn’t take all that long. This isn’t a shopping metropolis, just a run down wee town with more coffee shops and charity shops per head than anywhere we’ve been for a while. The pizza shop was open, but when we went in I noticed the pizza ovens were off. Was he doing pizzas today. “Not just now” was the reply. This must be the first time we’ve been to Helensburgh and been told “No!” Maybe the sign of things to come.

Had coffee and a bite to eat in Costa where the coffee wasn’t just drinkable, it was good. It must be the baristas or the coffee in Cumbersheugh that’s rubbish. It’s been good almost everywhere else, other than Falkirk where they teach bad coffee making to would-be Cumbersheugh baristas.

Bought some stew and some sausages in a butchers shop and we headed home via Waitrose to get tomorrow’s dinner. Decided to take the M8 road home and it was much more pleasant than the ‘scenic route’. Getting near Glasgow I could see the red brake lights in front and a sign announcing slow traffic ahead. It was a queue easily a mile long – I kid you not – to get into the retail park at Braehead. We changed lanes and avoided it, but as we passed the entrance, the single lane queue turned into a four lane traffic jam. The trouble is once you’re in that four lane queue, you’re committed and have to just follow it where it leads. Glad we hadn’t decided to go to Braehead!

Dinner tonight was a Spice Tailor curry which could have been better, the chicken being a bit tough. Scamp kindly said that it was probably tough chicken and not my cooking that was at fault. I knew the truth.

Tomorrow we may go dancing.

Out and about – 3 January 2020

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It was bright and it was dry when I was making the breakfast. No lounging around today.

We made the excuse that we needed printer ink and that was why we were going to avoid the crowds by driving in to Glasgow early. We ended up on level 5 of the Buchanan Galleries carpark, partly by design and partly by necessity. We were going for printer ink and that’s on the “Toyshop” 1 level, level 5 of John Lewis. There might have been spaces on levels below that, but there were plenty to choose from on 5. We got the last bottles of ink, four of them: Blue, Pink, Yellow and Black, the last ones in the rack. Cost about £35 for the lot. It’s an absolute steal when you think that each bottle contains 70ml and an average ink cartridge holds about 10ml and costs the same as that bottle and you still need four of them!

I dumped the ink in the boot of the Juke and noted that in the 15 minutes or so we’d been in the shop the parking spaces on level 5 had almost all been taken. With the main reason for the visit ticked off, we went for a walk. Scamp suggested we walk round Glasgow Green and since it was still a bright dry day, that’s what we did. We walked down Bucky Street and along Argyle Street, then zig zagged down to the Green. Walked under the McLennan Arch which is where I got today’s PoD from. Well, almost. Because as usual, all is not as it seems. I had to do a bit of cut ’n’ paste to get the photo looking the way I saw it in the viewfinder, but that’s normal. Walked round to the suspension bridge and watched the rowers chasing each other’s tails up and down the river. Walked back past the now barricaded Wintergarden that Glasgow Council seem to want to pretend doesn’t exist any more and back into the city. Cup of coffee and a spot of lunch then home. Thought I might manage an hour in St Mo’s, but it wasn’t to be. We were hardly in the door when the rain started. By the time it went off, the best of the light had gone.

Dinner tonight was Braised Peas with Bacon, Lentils and Cod. It’s becoming a firm favourite with us. Quick to make and very tasty. Note: No Potatoes!

That was about it for the day. Much better day than yesterday, even managed my 10,000 steps, but not my 8 active hours.

Tomorrow we’re going to do the same thing in a different place. Rain or shine we’re going out, or so the plan reads tonight.

  1. So called because it’s the level with the technology ‘toys’ for sale. It’s a sort of creche where women leave their husbands to prowl and drool over the lovely toys in the glass cases. While they go and browse the sensible stuff like dresses and washing machines. ↩

The day that never started – 2 January 2020

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Grey and almost dark when we woke and it stayed like that all day.

The only difference seemed to be that as the day progressed, it started raining too. After some discussion it was agreed that it would be foolish to go out when we didn’t need to, so it was a stay at home day.

After lunch I went on a food run to Tesco for bread and milk. The bare essentials. Scamp was making soup for dinner while I got the NAS drive to work with the MBP, then I removed the old hard drive from the case an remarked at the silent running of a purely digital storage drive. It’s not new, it’s a good four or five years old, but it’s been running in conjunction with the slow, noisy hard disk that sounds as if it’s been on its last legs for about four years. Now it’s been released from the computer. There’s not a great weight gain, but there is an increase in speed which is good news. I’ve got the bare essentials I need to use the MBP and if I get a decent battery into it, there could be the makings of a good second computer there. The next thing to do is decide what happens to the Linx which I’m thinking I’ll probably reset to factory settings and sell at CEX. I’m not expecting to get a lot for it, but I’ve had my fill of using a low spec machine struggling under Windows 10. I could of course turn it into a Hackintosh, but I want to use the hardware, not be constantly having to tinker with it. Did that in the past and wasted too much time on it, although it was fun when I did get a project working. No! I mustn’t think like that. Sell it and move on.

After dinner we watched The Thomas Crown Affair a 1968 film about a heist in the US. It was confusing at times with its use of multi-split screens, but a great wee bit of escapism.

The other films we watched today were black and white photos from the ’70s and early ‘80s. Most of them were taken in and around the houses in Larkhall and the stars were a boy and girl. I can remember taking some of them, but can’t remember scanning them. Found them on a partition on the NAS drive when I was looking for something else. Scamp and I spent a good hour reminiscing. I blame it on the time of year.

Today’s PoD is the little green shoots of my jalapeño plants. These are the most advanced ones with healthy looking ‘real leaves’. I’m thinking I should pot them up soon.

Both of us agreed that we are aching today from too much sitting around. We must get up and go somewhere tomorrow. Maybe to Glasgow to get ink for the printer. Just an excuse really to get out of the house.