Month: September 2024

A busy day – 10 September 2024

Posted on by Zogman

I was meeting Val and John for coffee and a blether today.

Val was the first to arrive and once we’d rearranged the furniture and got the coffees sorted we had a blether, just the two of us. Then John joined us and I went to get his coffee while he and Val had a chin way. They worked in the same school for a few years and knew a lot more folk than I did. After that it was a free for all. I’d forgotten that Val used to work in Jersey and actually had lived just round the corner from the hotel we were staying in. I wish I’d spoken to him before we went away, because he could have told me what other interesting places were available to us.

After a couple of hours Val’s wife joined us and of course the conversation turned to doctors and the lack of them in the surgeries we all attend. It’s a constant complaint that you can’t get to see a doctor these days. Their get-out clause is to get you to photograph that part of your body you want to talk to them about. That’s not the way to run a practice.

When we split up to go our separate ways, I went with John through the Antonine centre and Val and his wife went the other way. John went on to drive home and I got some fruit in Tesco and then drove up to GO Outdoors with a new list of criteria to apply to the jackets there. So far it’s come down to three possible jackets. No real front runners yet.

PoD was grabbed at the back door of the house. Just some Bizzie Lizzies in a hanging basket in the rain. Seemed a good title for a busy day.

Just a Monday – 9 September 2024

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We didn’t do much today. It was a drizzly, grizzly day with very little good light.

It was a day to drive down to Tesco and get the messages. So that’s what we did. Nothing exciting, just shopping, although we now have ice lollies in the freezer. That might brighten an even duller day if such a thing exists.

The miniature sunflowers are doing their level best to shine, so they became PoD. Also we watched University Challenge and we got four right answers between us. Only just being beaten by the worst pair of university no-hopers I’ve ever seen.

Sunday was dull and cold – 8 September 2024

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Nothing really to recommend it, but I decided I wasn’t going out hunting for a jacket that probably doesn’t exist!

Found we’ve got a leak in the sink in the toilet. Not sure where the water is leaking from, but it’s not a lot, so short term answer is probably to seal it with some silicone from a gun. That will do until we can find a plumber or until I can get the parts to fit it myself. Not the best start to the day.

Scamp was pruning and deadheading in the garden and cutting the front grass. I went to St Mo’s and got a fairly sharp shot of a spider repairing its web. PoD went to a wee spider repairing its web. I wonder if it’s any good with repairing leaky sinks?

Spoke to Jamie later and actually we did most of the talking, although he was bragging about getting to actually eat most of his sweetcorn before the squirrels got to it. His wild tomatoes growing in a compost bin are amazing. Well done you, Jamie!

Still looking – 7 September 2024

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After yesterday’s failure to find a suitable rain jacket, today we were venturing into Glasgow to cast my net wider.

First stop was Tiso, but there wasn’t much I was willing to shell out money for, but I did have other possible places, so we went up Sauchiehall Street to the rather posher Nevisport where the bloke who was serving got all technical and explained the difference between all the jackets and also talked a lot of sense. Although the jackets he was selling were expensive, I could understand where my ideas of a waterproof, breathable jacket with lots of pockets was a pipe dream, rather than a practical piece of kit. It looks like I have to be more realistic in my search.

I thanked him and wandered down to Blacks. Once upon a time it was a very well thought of walking and climbing sports shop, in fact we still have a tent and flysheet deep down in a cupboard that we bought in Blacks many years ago. For a while there it was a bit nearer the GO Outdoors type of shop than the Nevisport, but although it is a bit more cut price than quality, it’s moving up in the world again. I saw a few jackets that might just work. I’ve given up on the possibility of lots of pockets, but now want at least a double skin jacket with a decent wire framed hood. Colour is immaterial! We had a look in the smaller Tiso in the centre of town, but they had a very limited range, so we went for lunch.

We went to Wagamama, after the success of Izakaya I wanted to compare it to Wagamama’s version. There was no comparison. Izakaya may have been expensive, but the flavours they put into a bowl of beef stock were miles ahead of the watery taste of Wagamama. So disappointing. Scamp also said her curry was a bit tasteless too, so it my just be that particular shop that’s worth avoiding.

Got the bus home and I went walking in St Mo’s with the A6500 and the 70-180mm zoom lens. It’s a strange combination of the big lens with the small sensor, but it just seems to work. Got a nice PoD of a male damselfly backlit so the head and mouth parts of the insect almost seem translucent.

No Dancing for Scamp – 6 September 2024

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There was no FitSteps class today because the teacher was under the weather. I felt sorry for Scamp, I think she was looking forward to some exercise.

I had an appointment at Monklands hospital for a check-up because I’d had a problem with dizzy spells and with my BP. However, that seems to be fixed now but it’s best to get it checked. It only took a few minutes to stick on the sensors all over my front then to read the results. The girl working the computer didn’t tell me what the results looked like and I didn’t press her. Results in a week I’m told.

From Monklands it’s just a hop and a skip to GO Outdoors. I was looking for a new raincoat, a good one like my blue one used to be. I’d hoped to get one exactly like the blue one, but couldn’t find what I was looking for and went away empty handed.

That was about it for the excitement of the day. The PoD was a close up with a specialised lens called a LensBaby which does a great job of distorting things. The subject was a Switch Ophelia, a colour changing Hydrangea.

Feeling down to earth – 5 September 2024

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Not just physically down to earth, but also emotionally down, because the big adventure was over for now.

Hundreds of photos to wade through. Literally almost 800 photos to grade and work through. It’s great fun taking the photos, but not so much fun culling them and organising them. I addition to which, the month changed half way through the holiday and there were conventions to sort through putting files in order in the right place … Aargh! It’s a nightmare just thinking about it, but it has to be done. I have to remind myself, this is a task I’ve set myself for more than ten years now. Every year it gets harder, but I won’t change it just yet.

Today the cases were opened and the first load of essentials were dumped in the washing machine and then it was switched on.

I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was a Jenny Long Legs. Not to be confused with a Daddy Long Legs which is an arachnid, as you well know.

We had taken the bins out last night and today it was time to drag them back in again. Normality had returned.

Tomorrow, more of the same, probably.

Flying Home – 4 September 2024

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One last photo from the room with a view over St Helier. Then the taxi arrived a few minutes late and we were driven to the airport.

No spitfire to wave us goodbye, it had flown over to Guernsey at the weekend to fleece the unwary of their £3,500 for 30 minutes of adventure.

After having both my bags searched for illegal substances the lady at security reluctantly allowed us to go on our way. Then it was just a case of getting on the plane and off to a Scotland with blue skies for a change. The landing was the least bumpy of any flight we’d been on, partly because this looked a very new EasyJet aircraft.

Drove home with some pretty pictures of South West Scotland in the bag. That almost made up for being back to “auld claes and purrich”.

Off to see the lighthouse – 3 September 2024

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We got the Liberty Bus (Liberty is the bus company on the island) to La Corbiere lighthouse in the south east of the island. It’s a scenic spot with a great view out to sea and a walkway that will take you through the rust coloured rocks to the lighthouse itself. We just sat on a bench and took in the scenery.

Lots of things to see and do there. We found a bit of yarn bombing with a decorated post box celebrating 150 years of the RNLI. The postbox was no longer in use, but that didn’t affect the crochet work! There are old German gun emplacements dotted around the coast and a strange looking finely balanced mobile in someone’s garden I think. It was making the most of the wind that day. Did I mention the wind? It was gusting all the time and making it feel colder than the thermometer said it was, as wind usually does. We were happy when the Liberty Bus appeared over the hill and we got a round trip of Corbiere then rejoined the road back to ‘civilisation’!

Dinner tonight was in Izakaya again. Almost as good as the last time, but more subdued, it being mid-week and also I suppose because we knew we were going back to the hotel to pack and to prepare for tomorrow.

A Castle, A Dragon and a Wee Boy – 2 September 2024

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We caught the minibus down from the hotel to the town. We’d heard so much about Locke’s food shop, we visited it first. It was a bit of a disappointment. My coffee was bitter and thin and Scamp’s wasn’t very hot. Style over substance again.

We got the Liberty Bus to Gorey. Gorey was a fishing village with a castle, a dragon and lots of rain. We sheltered in a bus shelter and were entertained by a wee boy explaining to his dad, exactly how he would deal with dragons. Basically it meant kicking them in the head and then being friends with them. Sounded like a plan. The rain was fairly light until we paid our entrance fee and started walking up the terraces of the old castle. Then it just got heavier and heavier. I was glad I’d bought a brolly before we got on the bus!

Halfway up the terraces there was a room for children to dress up in historical outfits. On this day it was more like hysterical outfits, because it was teenagers who were caught by us dressing up!

Further up and in to the castle proper we found the dragons. One was in a glass case. Another was very metallic looking and hung from the ceiling. Both scary beasts. More climbing took us to the old fashioned cannon battery and a great view over the battlements to the village below.

We walked down a slippery looking paved slope that took us down to the village and in to the bus shelter again. Where we caught the bus back to St Helier, where the weather was more forgiving.

Late lunch/ Dinner was in the Italian restaurant called Rigatoni. Then we walked back up the hill again to the hotel.

 

 

 

The Morning After – 1 September 2024

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  • Woke not quite with a hangover, but feeling a bit sick
  • Life returned to a bit more like ‘normal’ after a shower and breakfast of Weetabix and milk and a slice or two of toast with ‘fishy jam’.
  • Scamp was fine with mixed fruit and a couple of slices of toast with jam.
  • It had been raining during the night.
  • Couldn’t decide where to go today so after some discussion, said we’d walk down to the bus station and get the first bus available. Except, no services were available. It seems buses almost shut down on Sundays.
  • However, on  the way I got a photo of an ancient camera and a stoneware bottle that held ink … once upon a time, in an old dusty shop window.
  • Walked through Liberty wharf instead to get photos I’d missed last Wednesday.
  • Walked to La Frégate Cafe which is like an upturned boat.
  • Leave it well alone. Food is poor but highly priced. Building looks good.
  • Watched the Amphibious Duckws driving along the path to Elizabeth Castle.
  • Only accessible for walking at low tide.
  • We walked along the breakwater instead and had a look at the posh boats.
  • Walked back into town and had a beer (me) and a G ’n’ T (Scamp) at a pub playing old style music
  • Went to El Gato Gordo (The Fat Cat) for an early dinner. Good food.
  • Bought some tonic and walked back to hotel.
  • Thunder storms forecast tonight.