Month: September 2022

Dancin’ – 10 September 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We drove over to Brookfield in beautiful sunshine.

We arrived early, mainly because there were no football matches on today as a mark of respect for the death of the queen, so the road was fairly clear.

First today was a reprise and a cleaning up of the Charnwood Cha-Cha, which we managed fairly well. Next was a new Foxtrot routine. We only did about half of it, but it was looking quite good. A lot more technical than the older foxtrot we learned earlier in the year. After that, things started to go downhill rapidly for me. Stewart announced that we were going to learn a new sequence dance called there Balmoral Blues, and nodded to us, because we’d attempted it on Thursday by watching what others were doing and following them. Today was different. Today we were learning the proper version and it seemed to have many more steps than Thursday’s version. Jane said she hated this dance and by the end of the lesson I fully agreed with her. None of the figures seemed to gel with each other. It just looked like a hodge-podge of moves. Lastly was the waltz we’d been learning. I think my brain had shut down after the Bloody Balmoral Blues. I’d had enough. I just couldn’t figure out where we were and what came next. I apologised to Scamp and sat out the last five or ten minutes and watched other suffer.

We drove home by our alternative route through the Clyde Tunnel which cuts out the dastardly Kingston Bridge. It worked its magic again and we only had about five minutes of queueing on the other side.

Back home, Scamp went out to get chicken for tonight’s dinner and told me to get up and go out for a walk in the sunshine to brighten my mood. I took her at her word, but it wasn’t until she came back that I was kitted out to go for a walk in St Mo’s. Lots of butterflies, Peacocks, Red Admirals and maybe a Tortoiseshell. Lots of bees and hoverflies on the Scabious flowers too. PoD is a Common Carder Bee. Ended my walk by going down to M&S and sourcing a fish pie for tomorrow’s dinner.

I’m still searching for my next phone. I did think about an iPhone 13, but after some good advice from Hazy, I may review the Samsung again. Now it’s your turn Jamie and Simonne. I’m looking at either an iPhone 13 or a Samsung S22+ with 128GB. Hoping it will give me a decent camera and enough storage space for my needs. Do you pair have any suggestions?

Tomorrow is the Cumbernauld 10K.  We may go and cheer the runners on if it’s not raining and if we’re up in time.  We will not be running!

Jammin’ – 9 September 2022

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We were going out to Larky tonight for dinner at Crawford and Nancy’s

The bag was wrapped up and put into a bigger bag ready for tonight’s visit. It was only once the wrapping and packing was done that Scamp noticed the protective bag was still lying on the table. It seemed a shame to undo all that good wrapping just for what was a superfluous protective plastic bag, so she decided to leave it out.

Other than that, we did very little. I browsed the reviews of different phones and came to no conclusion. Eventually Scamp decided we should get rid of the bag of bottles we’d collected during the bin strike. So we loaded the bag into the wee Red car and she drove us up to Tesco because there was a bottle bank there. “Was” is the key word in that sentence, past tense. Boxes with code pads on them, presumably where you can pick up or drop off Amazon deliveries and some sort of similar thing for Tesco pick ups, but no bottle bank. It’s not as if they don’t have the space, because the entire car parking space was empty. We drove a circuit of the area and then went home. I said that we could drive to the council tip and smash the bottles into the big metal skips, but the suggestion was met with a stony silence. We drove home. I’ll probably take the bottles to the skips during the week. I’m not proud (and I like the crashing, smashing noise they make when they shatter!) I once worked with a bloke who said that it’s inbuilt in a man’s brain to throw things into the sea, stones and shells and such. A man will also throw things into a bonfire, wood, paper and anything he finds lying around. Maybe it’s the same with glass bottles and a skip!

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s. Not a lot of interest, photographically, but a Garden Cross spider repairing a well worn web got PoD.

By then it was time to get ready to drive to Larky and a night with Crawford and Nancy. We drove to Larky and Scamp handed Nancy the bag with the bag inside and she was delighted with her yellow handbag. Crawford also seemed pleased with his bottle of Bowmore whisky. After dinner, Crawford asked me “Did you bring your guitar?” and I replied “Of course!”. Once the table was cleared, we went through his song book. He played ukulele and I played acoustic guitar. We could only have been playing for about half an hour when Scamp told me it was time to go home. I looked at my watch and it was just after 11.30pm! Where had the night gone? I was sure we’d been playing for about half an hour when it was closer to an hour and a half at least.

We drove home in the dark, which is a strange feeling when you’re not used to it. No time to write and post the blog because we needed to be up and out by 10.15am to drive to Brookfield for the dance class.

Of course, this is a catch-up blog … again. But it’s traditional to say at the end what we’re going to do the next day. We are hoping to go dancing.

Off to the dance – 8 September 2022

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Tea dance today, so we were off to the hall and we arrived there ahead of time!

As you will have read, yesterday’s blog did a disappearing act never to be found, so I spent most of the morning rewriting it.

Lunch was a piece ’n’ banana and a glass of orange juice. Then we were off to Glenburn Community Centre. We were one of the first ones there, for once. That’s what happens when you leave the house at the proper time and don’t get caught up in traffic. I didn’t think we did all that well with our dancing today. Too many mistakes in the simple dances like the waltz, but there two dancers who stood out. Before they even held hands, you could tell that these were semi-pros. We’d seen the girl before dancing by herself at Gorbals. She was a bit strange, other worldly, but my, could that pair dance. One thing I’ll say about the group who go to the tea dances is that they are never overawed by the semi-pros, nor are they critical of beginners like us, because, despite what Scamp will say, we are beginners.  HOwever, we did a brilliant salsa routine just before we left.  That made up for all the mistakes.

We were sitting with a couple we’ve not spoken to before and I doubt if we’ll rush back to be with them again. I found them quite condescending, but Scamp liked her golden shoes! Thankfully two others came to join the table and we’d met them many times before, and a good laugh.

We left early, just after 3pm to avoid the worst of the school rush and came home by the M74. A much quicker route compared to that bloody Kingston Bridge. In fact we only took about 40 minutes which beats our usual 50 – 60 minutes along the M8 / M80. We might try that one again.

Tonight’s dinner was to be Bacon and Borlotti Beans, but we didn’t have any mushrooms for it, so I walked down to the shops to get some. It had been raining heavily in the afternoon and there were puddles everywhere. One of the oak trees that line the path was starting to lose its leaves and the leaves in the puddle made PoD.

Later when we tried to catch the news, it became apparent that things were not right with the Queen. Half an hour later the announcement was made that she’d died. She was a good age, but didn’t manage her century. It’s always sad when someone dies and so it was tonight.

Tomorrow we’re intending to parcel up a bag, in a bag and then put the combination of bags into another bag. I hope she likes it.

The Fort and The Phone – 7 September 2022

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Scamp was looking for a bag. I wanted to look at a phone.

Armed with a measuring tape we went looking for a bag, a paper bag that would be big enough to hold another bag which would hold a yellow bag. She was also looking for a birthday card for her sister. She found a really funny one. Maybe she does have a sense of humour after all.

Meanwhile I went to EE to look at a prospective phone. The assistant asked me how she could help and I told her I was looking for a new phone because I was reaching the end of my contract. With the words “… end of my contract.” I saw her shutters come down. I’m guessing that there is far less kudos attached to an Upgrade than there is to a New Customer. She did show me the phone I was looking for, but it was a bolted down dummy with a picture of the screen glued on the front. She apologised and said if I wanted to see a “Live” phone, I could go next door to O2 where they had live ones that actually worked. I noticed that she didn’t say “Then you can come back and we can work out the details of what you need.” It was more like “We don’t do upgrades. Goodbye.”
I did go to O2. I did see the phone working, but nobody there was interested in getting my business. Maybe they are just fed up with punters coming in from EE to play with their phones!

Lunch was a nuked roll ’n’ sausage for me and a nuked chicken wrap for Scamp with a coffee each in Costa. Which apparently doubles as a creche judging by the number of prams parked in the aisles.

Back home, Scamp was going to do some ironing. I grabbed both cameras and took them for a photo walk in Fannyside Moor. No insect life today, but lots of birds massing on the telephone lines (they still have telephone lines in these rural areas). I think the majority of the birds were swallows. It must be getting close to the time for them to fly back down south for the winter. I always try to record the day when I see the first swallow every year, but it’s much more difficult to set the date you saw the last swallow! A landscape shot of the cloudscape at Fannyside got PoD.

On my way home I went to see what Tesco Mobile had to offer and managed to muddy the water, because they didn’t have the phone I was ogling in O2, but did have a newer and allegedly better, but cheaper model. Now I’m going to spend waste another day comparing and contrasting both the phones and the providers!

Dinner tonight was Fish Fingers, Egg and Chips with Tinned Spaghetti on the side. A fall back when you can’t decide what you fancy for dinner and a common occurrence in this house.

Tomorrow we’re driving what Scamp calls “That awful road” because we’re hoping to go dancing!

An Explanation.
Later in the evening when I was writing this blog, I inadvertently clicked the wrong button on the menu and wiped today’s entire blog. Despite my best efforts searching for the text, it had gone. I know it’s not really gone, all the app has done is remove the header from it and the bulk of the writing is still there, but this morning I did a deeper search and eventually rewrote it.

 

 

Rain! – 6 September 2022

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Today we drove to Stirling for lunch.

A week or so ago we went to Coast, a restaurant on the banks of the Clyde. Today we went to its sister restaurant, River House in Stirling. We’d been there many times in its previous incarnation and the food was always exceptional. Today we weren’t disappointed. Steak and Sausage pie for me. Fish ’n’ Skinny Chips for Scamp. We both agreed the owners may be different, but the food had remained the same.

We couldn’t decide whether to go shopping or head home. Eventually we decided to just go home and I changed the route, to take us over the wild switchback that is the Tak Ma Doon road. I wanted some photos form my favourite place near Loch Coulter and it didn’t disappoint today, although I must admit the sky was a lot greyer than the one you see in the PoD. Just one of the tweaks that’s possible with new software.

We had just left the parking place when the first raindrops hit the windscreen. After that, the rain just got heavier and heavier. It wasn’t the easiest drive home, but the wee blue car dealt with it well. However, we got soaked just running in to the house from the car!

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon researching new mobile phones. I’m not exactly settled yet, but I think it’s going to be another Android phone. So may different prices with confusing ‘deals’ from different providers. After spreadsheeting the results, I think things are becoming clearer and the ‘obvious’ deals are maybe not so good as they seem. It’s a changing picture.

Strangely, both Scamp and I had an upset stomach tonight. Maybe that great restaurant in Stirling wasn’t as good as we though it was, because it’s unusual for both of us to be affected.

No big plans for tomorrow. It really depends on the weather, as usual.

Getting lost in Glasgow – 5 September 2022

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It’s easier than you think, especially if you follow the signs!

We were heading back to the House for an Art Lover today, but we were parking in town and taking the subway over to the South Side, then walking the rest of the way. What could go wrong? All we needed to do was follow the Glasgow Council signs from Ibrox subway. That would be the signs that pointed one way, then by a circuitous route, took us back to almost where we’d started. Eventually I gave up with the signs and with a little help from Google maps we found our way to the House.

Last night there had been some torrential rain and we’d decided we’d better come prepared and wear our raincoats. By the time we got to Bellahouston we were beginning to think the raincoats were a bad idea. The sky had been blue and the sun had been shining for our hour long walk, but when we got to the house and decided to have tea outside, the first raindrops fell. We did have shelter under a patio umbrella, but it wasn’t needed because the clouds rolled away, taking the threat of rain with them.

The visit was a success, though. A birthday present was bought and it was almost exactly what Scamp had been looking for. I’m glad our walk through the hinterland of Glasgow wasn’t in vain!

Rather than try to walk back the way we’d come, Scamp suggested we get the bus. According to my phone, the No 9 or the No 10 would take us in to town. The woman at the House told Scamp we needed to walk down to Paisley Road West to get the bus and that’s what we did. The bus took us on a mystery tour through Govan, eventually crossing the Clyde and dropping us on West Nile Street. Ten minutes later we were in the car and heading home. I don’t think we’ll risk using the detailed Glasgow Council signs again. In fact, I don’t think we’ll bother with the subway either. If we go back, we’ll get the bus. It’s so much easier.

Back home and after a light lunch, Scamp got ready to go to the dentist. This was to be the last visit in a treatment that started in December 2021. Covid rules, retirements and finding a new dentist had made a drama out of what wasn’t even a crisis. She returned with the usual slurring of speech that comes from a visit to the dentist. She’s not due to return until March 2023, but I might be the next to try out the new dentist.

I’d taken a couple of shots from the JL bridge in Glasgow, but they were nothing special, so I took my camera out with me for a walk in St Mo’s. Saw a couple of large dragonflies circling the pond, but they were busy egg laying and weren’t stopping to talk. Couldn’t quite catch them, so PoD went, instead, to what looked like a wee posy of wild flowers. Taken with the LensBaby which I haven’t used for ages. I still like the effect it produces.

No real plans for tomorrow, but Scamp thinks we might go out for lunch.

 

More rain – 4 September 2022

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We’re never happy. Either there isn’t enough rain or there’s too much. Today the moans were about too much.

Not real moans, but it would be good if it would rain all night and leave the days for us going for walks.

After lunch we did go for a walk. Down to Broadwood Loch, over the dam and round the exercise machines, which are gradually being swallowed up by the grass that surrounds them. On the walk we found some pretty purple and yellow flowers that looked a bit like potato flowers, but they seemed to produce bright red berries that the birds didn’t eat. That usually means they are poisonous and after a bit of research online it turned out that they were Woody Nightshade, also known as Bittersweet and were indeed poisonous. The flowers looked so good, they became PoD.

On the way back past Broadwood Stadium we chanced upon a different kind of berries. Lots of lovely fat, juicy brambles in easily accessed clumps beside the car park. We managed to pick just over 700g of berries which, added to my 550g from Friday gave us over a kilo of the black fruit which is now chilling in the freezer, ready for Scamp to boil it down with some apples to make juice that will in turn produce bramble jelly.

Speaking of apples, we had our first apple from our tree today. It was a bit tart, but perfectly edible and without any wasp bites of flaws. Lots more to come, but we were discussing today how best to support the poor tree, because it’s leaning over, pulled down by the weight of the apples. Perhaps Scamp’s right when she says we should reduce the amount of fruit we produce on it. It seems such a shame to remove fruit, but I suppose we have to consider the health of the tree too.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Escalopes.  Chicken breasts bashed flat with a rolling pin before being dipped in egg, then breadcrumbs and fried in the frying pan.  Really, really good.  Of course, Scamp made them.

Spoke to Jamie and thanked him for my fancy tea. He had been buying it online but it seems that there are shops, mainly in the south of England, but there is also one in Scotland. Good to hear from him that he’s beginning to settle into his new job.

We’re hoping to continue our search for a suitable birthday present tomorrow. Somewhere in Glasgow I’m led to believe.

A late rise – 3 September 2022

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We must both have had a hard day yesterday. My excuse was that I’d been out cycling and Scamp’s was that she and the witches had been talking almost constantly for all of yesterday afternoon.

Once we’d dragged ourselves out of bed, dressed and completed today’s Wordle successfully, we discussed where to go and what to do with a very dull day. We settled on a run to Torwood, looking for something to buy for someone who has a birthday coming up soon. Unfortunately Torwood Garden Centre was having a bit of an Autumn Clean, which is really just a Spring Clean six months later. Lots of the garden furniture that usually lives outside was now inside and none of the usual stuff that Scamp expected to see had been put into storage, it seemed. For what must be the first time in our Torwood history, we left empty handed.

I suggested we try Calder’s in Cumbersheugh as an alternative, but although they had lots of things that “might do”, they didn’t have the exact article she was looking for. We were just about to leave when the heavens opened and the threatened heavy rain made us think again about walking out just then. Once the rain had eased, we ran to the car and drove home.

Later in the afternoon the sky cleared and although the sun didn’t shine, it was bright enough to take a camera for a walk in St Mo’s. The PoD went to a photo of a hoverfly on a Scabious flower, a wild scabious. While I was out, Scamp was talking to Jackie in Skye. She and Murdo are just recovering from the dreaded Covid and they both seemed to have it bad, but feeling better now.

On our walk earlier in the week, Alex and I had been discussing processing old photos taken years ago and tonight I worked on a photo of Castle Stalker in Appin from 2005. Taken with my old D70 it scrubbed up well as you can see here.

Tomorrow we may go looking for that birthday present again or we may leave that for a weekday when there will hopefully be fewer crowds

Pills off the doctor – 2 September 2022

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Scamp had an appointment at the doctor’s surgery today.

The problems she’d been having with dizziness and not hearing properly were diagnosed as an ear infection. A course of antibiotics would solve that, said the nurse.

After lunch I took her prescription over to the chemist in Condorrat and brought back a box of pills. By which time, Scamp was waiting for Jeanette who was driving her to Moira’s for a Witches Day Out. After she left, I checked my bike tyres which I’d inflated to the normal 35psi and thankfully they were still holding that pressure. I was going looking for brambles while the ladies sipped their G&Ts. It took me ages to find my cycling shorts, my helmet my cycling shoes and track mitts. Then I had to manoeuvre the Dewdrop out of its hiding place in the “Wee Room” and down the stairs. A squirt of WD40 and we were ready to go.

The first part of the journey to my favourite bramble site was fairly easy, because it was basically downhill. I did stop to take some photos of scarecrows in the barley fields where they were busy cutting the grain. One of the scarecrow pictures made PoD. After that, it was the uphill stretch and finally on to the off-road section. Cycling on a road is no fun any more. I don’t mind going on paths and towpaths, but jousting with lorries and boy racers is no fun on a bike.

In the hour and a bit I’d allotted myself, I managed to pick just over 550g of black, juicy brambles. Sometimes it’s a struggle to find juicy ones and I know that Scamp will rightly chuck out the dried up fruit. Today it was a delight. Then once I’d arranged camera, extra lens and bag of brambles into my sling bag, I was off home. It was uphill all the way and it was a slog. I managed the climb without stopping, but this was no fun at all. This is what happens when you think you’re keeping fairly fit, then try cycling a route you’ve travelled on the same bike for years, and find yourself struggling. I either need to get out more and use the bike, or I get rid of it. It’s a difficult decision.

A cup or two of Pan Gallactic Gargle Blaster and a shower (but not at the same time) worked wonders and I began to feel human again, or as near to it as I can manage. I was just working through my dozen or so photos when Scamp arrived home. It seemed like they had a relaxing day, and although mine hadn’t been relaxing, it was certainly successful.

We had planned to go shopping in Glasgow tomorrow, but Celtic are at home to Rangers and that sometimes isn’t much fun. Weather looks rough too. We may go somewhere else and have lunch.

White Rabbits (x3) – 1 September 2022

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Scamp was feeling a bit dizzy this morning, so instead of taking Shona out for coffee, she came to us instead, for tea.

It was really a ladies morning with the two of them going over Shona and Ben’s recent visit to her cousins in London and Warrington. There was so much talk going on that there was no time to show her our holiday snaps. Just before we left to take her shopping, a parcel arrived for me! It was a surprise packet of tea from Jamie. Not your ordinary tea either, this was Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster tea. It’s peppermint and blackcurrant flavoured in a black tea base with ‘sparkles’ that glitter when it’s brewing. It actually tastes quite good. Maybe not quite as good as the bright blue “Intergallactic Space Juice” that came as a concentrate and was added to Sodastream bottles, back in the late ‘70s and early ’80s. Thanks for that, Jamie. It certainly brightened my day.

Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster was of course a cocktail created by Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

We dropped Shona off at the Town Centre and headed back to Tesco for some messages. After lunch I took the camera out for a walk in St Mo’s, but found very little to inspire me. However, back home Scamp had managed to get a photo of a Peacock butterfly on one of our multicoloured buddleia bush. This is probably the first butterfly to visit these “Butterfly bushes” and is certainly the first this year. I think she was quite pleased to beat me to the photo. I managed to get a few shots of it when it returned to the bush, but none are as good as Scamp’s. She must have a really good camera!

It was Mince ’n’ Tatties for my dinner and Bubble ’n’ Squeak for Scamp’s. Both good old fashioned plates of food. I managed to keep a few spoonfuls of the M&T to have for my lunch tomorrow.

PoD was a ball of thistledown waiting for the wind to distribute it to the four corners of St Mo’s. I liked the way it seemed to be bubbling out of the flower head.

Scamp has an appointment at the health centre tomorrow morning to let one of the nurses have a look at her ears and hopefully see if that’s what’s causing the dizziness although it seems to have settled down as the day progressed. After that she’s off to a Witches meeting at Moira’s. I’m thinking about getting the Dewdrop back on the road and going hunting brambles, if the weather holds.