Month: January 2025

What we did today – 31 January 2025

Posted on by Zogman

With all the shenanigans yesterday, going to see a doc here and a consultant there we had no time to celebrate our unofficial anniversary, so we nominated Friday to stand in for the 30th!

Scamp went out to FitSteps as usual and arrived home tired, aching but happy. I’d been in slob mode writing yesterday’s blog while she was out, so both of us got changed into something a bit more in keeping for an anniversary and got the bus to Glasgow to look for dragonflies in December!

We found one in Argento in Princes Square. A pretty one with blue wings and diamonds was the choice. Deal was sealed and the girl in the shop saved my day by inserting the charm into the bracelet for Scamp.

With the main work of the day done, we walked round to get a book in Waterstones with a book token Scamp had given me along with a bar of Fruit & Nut. As it happened, I changed my mind and bought a fancy bookmark instead.

We had discussed lots of places we could go for lunch / dinner but hadn’t settled on any particular one, but we headed up the hill roughly making for Sauchiehall Street after I’d taken a photo of a building John Malley had told me about. We were discussing going to an Italian restaurant we’d been in before when we noticed a place called Mowgli on St Vincent Street. We’d tried to get in there a while ago, but didn’t have a reservation and it was a two hour wait, so we left. This time we did make it and were placed at a small table beside half a dozen ‘Ladies wot Lunch”, obviously having a great time.

Food was sort of Indian and interesting. It was served like tapas with different things appearing at different times. We had too many small portions to list here, but basically we had starters to share, three smallish mains to share and instead of a dessert, Scamp had a latte with a measure of Kahlúa (coffee liqueur). I had their version of an “Old Fashioned” (whisky cocktail with bitters, soda water cardamom and orange). I’m glad we chose to take the bus and didn’t drive!

We went for a wander along Sauchiehall Street before we got the X35 bus home with a crowd of rowdy weans on the top deck. We chose the bottom!

With a bit of tweaking the photo John told me about became PoD. It actually looks a lot brighter that it was in reality.

A lovely relaxing day just what an anniversary should be.

Hopefully dancin’ tomorrow, although we don’t have a confirmation that it’s actually on yet!!

Rather a busy day – 30 January 2025

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I was out in the morning. Scamp and I were out in the afternoon.

I was out first to go to the doc’s for the results of my PSA test. About three years ago my last test, result was 2.1 ng/ml (I have no idea what that stands for, except it was a good result I was told.) Today’s result was 2.5 ng/ml. Anything below 5 is considered good for my age group and everyone’s results increase over time. The doc was satisfied with that result and put me on a six month rolling program to tests.

Satisfied with that, I drove over to Boots to pick up my set of drops. I got Gort, the grumpiest of the assistants who grudgingly gave me the two boxes of drops and signed me in for two-monthly repeats. Drove home after buying some stuff for lunch from Tesco, next door.

Scamp had a meeting with a consultant about her tremor. It went quite well and the woman doing the test picked up on a few things we’d not noticed. She’s now booked in for a brain scan, some time in the next four months, to rule out the possibility of Parkinson’s. That might mean we won’t get a summer cruise in the early summer. Not a great problem, as we were thinking about having a couple of mid-week short stays at home, or at least in the UK. They could probably be slotted in somewhere without causing any problem.

Instead of driving straight home we went via The Fort. I was trying to get a photo on this disjointed day and Scamp was intending to get some chicken for tonight’s paella dinner. After a very short bit of prompting, she accepted my suggestion of a dragonfly charm for her nominations bracelet. Except … they didn’t have any in the Nominations shop, so we may go in to Glasgow tomorrow and hopefully get one there.

My photo (one of only three I took!) was the new frontage of a couple of renovated shops. After dunking it into a couple of baths of Photoshop, it came up looking interesting. That was PoD.

Dinner was indeed a paella. Afterwards we watched a less than inspiring The Apprentice, way less inspiring. It needs put to bed.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to take the bus in to Glasgow, for a dragonfly.

More of a relaxing day – 29 January 2025

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Today I was meeting Alex for a photo walk around Glasgow on a beautiful, but cold day.

He wanted to go to Guitar Guitar for a new set of strings for his new guitar. I fancied a walk around the Barras or maybe around Glasgow Green. We both achieved our goals. I think my offering of Glasgow Green came from standing for two hours at the Turner exhibition in Edinburgh. I just needed to stretch my legs and straighten my spine.

Scamp gave me a lift to the station and I was comfortably on time to catch the express train to Glasgow. Met up with Alex at the bus station as agreed. After the usual Cafe Nero, we had a long walk down Buchanan Street and along Argyle Street to the guitarist’s Mecca, Guitar Guitar. Once Alex had his strings we walked down Saltmarket and then went through the McLennan Arch and along the avenue to the sadly neglected People’s Palace Wintergarden. Took a few photos there before walking back beside the River Clyde, back to Saltmarket.

From there we walked along Parnie Street which used to have a thriving group of games shops, now nearly all closed. Likewise the host of cafes. We turned right and walk along a narrow lane that eventually took us back to Argyle Street, but not before Alex set up a nice still life with a half empty bottle of Corona Extra on an electricity substation and a view down to the River Clyde. With a few tweaks I used his setup and took a few shots of my own. That photo made my PoD.

After that is was only a couple of zig, zags to reach Paesano. I had my traditional Anchovy and Olive Pizza and rebel Alex had a Vegan pizza with peppers, sliced potatoes and asparagus. I must admit, the colours in it were a sight to behold.

We had a quick look around the GOMA, but there wasn’t much to photograph until Alex found an asian girl with her dog dressed for Lunar New Year in a red embroidered jacket. He (Alex) got photographed by the girl feeding the dog for a ‘project’ she was doing. The biter bit perhaps! A walk up Buchanan Street before we went our separate ways to our buses. Mine was an hour late and then two X3s arrived at the same time. That’s what happens sometimes.

I’m hoping I’ll remember to be out early(ish) tomorrow to go and get the results of my PSA test. Scamp is due a visit to another doc in Coatbridge later.

Today we lost an old friend. Clive Davis passed away today. A lovely man.

Simonne lost an old friend too when her beautiful white horse, Valioso had to be euthanised.

It’s been a sad day.

What a day! – 28 January 2025

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Grab a cup of coffee or anything else and listen to the story of our day!

The day started with me driving down to Jim Dickson’s garage.

I was getting a rough estimate for a couple of bits that were needed for the car and he gave me a reassurance that after a quick look underneath, apart from those bits, the car was fine. That was my mind set at rest for a while. It goes in to get the work done on Monday. It would have been sooner, but Storm Éowyn had driven a cart and horses through everyone’s plans it seemed.

Next stop was Tesco because we needed milk, except they only had the more expensive Cravendale filtered milk, but since it was ‘on special’ it was worth buying. They had absolutely no bread. None! The reason that there was no ‘Tesco’ brand milk and no bread was that Storm Éowyn had driven a cart and …! I’m beginning to think that poor Éowyn is getting the blame for everything including Donald Trump’s bald patch!

Picked up Scamp at the house and we drove down to Croy station car park hoping against hope that there would be an empty space. There wasn’t. However while I was driving back to the exit, I clocked a woman pushing a pram. Maybe, just maybe she was going back to her car and we could pinch her space when she left. Scamp was my lookout and she reported that the lady was reversing out of her space. I managed to get there first before any other vultures arrived and she signalled that she was leaving.

As it turned out she had one young child and a baby and was trying to keep them amused while she bolted them into their car seats. As she got more and more frustrated, Scamp offered to hold the baby while she worked at the car seat for the boy. Finally she go the boy secured and the baby was next, but she couldn’t work out how to get the pram folded and into the boot of her car. She explained that she was ‘the granny’ and that the car was new. Her daughter had dropped the children off at the car park and said it was easy to fold the pram. Actually it looked easy, once you saw how it was designed to fold in both the body of the pram and the wheels. The problem was the big Tesco bag full of baby clothes that was stuffed into the pram. After removing that, everything slipped into place.

After loads of “than-you’s” she reversed out and drove off while I signalled to the three vultures who had been circling that the space was mine. KEEP WELL CLEAR. The look on my face must have been enough. They gave me space and we were parked.

We had just enough time (7mins) to literally, run across the car park just as the train was approaching, buy the tickets, run over the footbridge and jump into the first open carriage before the train departed. I think we might have reached Falkirk before our breathing had returned to normal and our heart rate was no longer in the RED area. The journey to Edinburgh was uneventful by comparison. Did I mention that we were going to Edinburgh to see the Turner watercolours?

We walked from Waverley station to Royal Scottish Academy and joined the queue that was at the bottom of the stairs into the building itself. We were told it would take an hour to an hour and a half to get to the room with the exhibition. Well, we’d come this far and been Good Samaritans for on harassed lady, and run across the carpark then jumped into a train that we were sure would leave without us. Sure, we could handle an hour and a half walking into the gallery.

In the end it took a little more than two hours to follow the snaking line of art lovers to reach our goal. It was a bit like the queue at the airport, without the security check. It was also good humoured and I actually enjoyed most of it. Folding stools were available for those who couldn’t or didn’t want to stand for two and a bit hours. Eventually we reached the exhibition room. At first the paintings were underwhelming, but then, when you saw the vast amounts of detail in the sketches and the lack of detail in the watercolours, you realised just what a genius this man was. People in the paintings were just tiny little brush strokes, but they were obviously people. We were allowed to photograph any and all we wanted. I just chose a selection of my favourites, then we were gone. Out into the cold of Edinburgh. I was reassured when I saw that the queue was just as long as it had been when we had joined.

We had dinner in the posh restaurant below the gallery. Simple Fish ’n’ Chips. Then a cup of take-away coffee before getting the train home.

PoD was a wee asian man taking a photos of two members of his family. I liked his stance!

Well, that was a long story, and I’m sure I’ve missed out some details. I’ll sleep on it tonight and write myself a bullet point list of things to remember. I may post it, but it would probably mean nothing to anyone other than Scamp and me, and maybe a ‘granny’ who was getting flustered trying to fold a pram into the boot of a car while the baby bawled it’s head off!

Tomorrow I may meet Alex for a photo walk.

Dancin’ – 27 January 2025

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Out fairly early to speak to Mr Dickson.

As usual on a Monday, Jim Dickson’s garage was mobbed. Not with people today, but with cars all waiting for their time slot to get up onto the jack and have their innards examined. I guessed the Blue car wouldn’t be getting worked on today. The place was just far too busy, especially after the stormy Friday we’d just had when folk were told not to travel. That meant there would be a backlog of work to be done today, because Dickson’s doesn’t open at weekends. I did manage to buttonhole Jim D and explain what I wanted looked at. He agreed to do it on Wednesday. That would be a problem for Alex.

I just arrived home when Alex’s WhatsApp arrived asking if I was free this week. I phoned him to tell him it was unlikely I’d be able to go for a photo-walk this week. Every day is booked except Friday and I knew that Alex is always busy with grandkids on Fridays. After I’d explained the situation, we had a blether and compared Éowyn stories.

Scamp and I drove over to Tesco to get a trolley load of veg and fruit and the usual assortment of odds and ends. It also gave us a chance to have a look around the area and see just how lucky we had been not to have any serious problems with the wind.

Scamp had a phone call booked with Jackie for the afternoon, so I put on my boots and went for a walk over St Mo’s. I didn’t expect to see much and I wasn’t disappointed. Nobody was walking around the paths today, nobody but me, that is. I did see a Treecreeper going from tree to tree. They seem to climb around the tree in a helical direction looking for insects in crevices. When they get to the top, they fly down to another tree and start again. I hadn’t seen any of these secretive wee birds for a couple of years and I thought I could maybe get a photo of this one. Unfortunately I slid on my bum down the steep banking and by the time I’d righted myself the bird was long gone. Thankfully there was nobody to see me!

Back home it was almost time to get changed to go dancing with Kirsty’s class. Tonight started with a reprise of last week’s waltz, followed with a short introduction to the Foxtrot. It wasn’t really an intro to it, because we’d all danced it last year. This year’s routine was a bit different and was slightly more difficult too. We both enjoyed it, but sometimes we didn’t agree on the finer points.

We drove home in a dark, gloomy winter’s night. Scamp made Haggis Neeps and Tatties, but although Scamp thought the veggie haggis was ok, if dry, I thought it was like eating cardboard. Now I haven’t eaten cardboard recently, but I imagine it tastes better than the haggis. No taste and no spice.

PoD should have been a treecreeper, but it ended up being some Cladonia growing out of a carpet of sphagnum moss.

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere.

Late start to the day – 26 January 2025

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At least there was no snow and no high winds. In the late morning we went for a walk down to the shops. On the way we found our next door neighbour’s wheelie bin lying across the road and in a hedge. I managed to haul it out and take it back to its rightful place.

It was a cold walk down to the shops. Temperature had started at 0.3ºc when I was making breakfast and it didn’t feel as if it had risen much above 1ºc all day. Paths were icy although the wheel tracks of the little grit sprayer were clear to see, unfortunately there was no sign of any grit being sprayed. Probably the council told them to drive around and folk would think that the paths had been gritted. Fly barstewards.

By the time we returned with the food for lunch and dinner, the light was improving, so I went out with the A6500 and the long Tamron lens, hoping for something interesting. A group of maddies were using the BMX track to race radio controlled cars and I thought I might get some photos there, but by the time I found my way round the fallen trees and the slippery paths, they were heading for home.

I did get a photo of a wee robin, all puffed up against the windchill and that made PoD on Flickr, but more interesting for me were the fallen trees scattered all around one side of St Mo’s park, the other side was barely touched. Something to do with the direction and angle of the wind I think. I took a few photos of the destruction on my iPhone, because the Tamron was not covering a big enough area.

Just past the boardwalk there were three trees all large and fairly mature, ripped out of the ground or broken blocking the path. Somebody before me had worked out a route that took me round the trees and water filled holes on to the path on the far side. I imagine the tree surgeons will have their work cut out clearing the path this coming week.

I walked back to the house after one circuit of the pond and by that time the sun was dipping behind the clouds and the temperature was dropping again.

Lunch was bacon and black pudding with a handful of mini tomatoes, while Scamp had black pudding, egg and those mini tomatoes.

Processing the photos showed just how fierce the winds had been on Friday, and I scattered some across the blog.

Dinner for me was a rump steak from M&S and Scamp had ‘Rats’ which we all know is Ratatouille. We shared some sautéd baby potatoes and I pinched some of Scamp’s Rats.

We spoke to Jamie later in the evening and heard that one of our friends is now in a nursing home receiving palliative care. So sorry to hear that Clive. A lovely man.

Tomorrow I’m going to ask Jim Dickson to give me an estimate to repair the blue car. I’m pretty sure there’s damage to a spring and at least one shock absorber after a meeting with a deep pothole last Thursday.

Winds have gone – 25 January 2025

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We should have been driving to Brookfield this morning, but I didn’t fancy the drive in the conditions and thankfully, Scamp didn’t argue.

The ‘conditions’ were that I had to get from Brookfield to East Kilbride after the dance class on a day when the weather didn’t seem to want to “play nice”. As it happened, although the snow did come as predicted, I’d have had plenty of time to drive over to EK. My fault. My bad. I regret it now, but as Scamp says, it’s over, it’s in the past, leave it.

We drove up to Hairmyres about an hour earlier than we needed to, but it was snowing and EK has a reputation to uphold for snow forgetting to turn off once it’s been turned on, so an hour in our pocket seemed like a good idea. And it was.

It was hard driving into the sun after most of the snow had disappeared. Even wearing sunglasses didn’t really help, but we made it out to the edge of Hamilton and up the hill to the Whirlies roundabout. Brilliant name for a roundabout. It was just after that we saw the red lights ahead of us, hundreds of them. After driving in first gear for a few metres, waiting a few minutes and crawling further along what’s really just a mile or two long straight, half an eye on the car in front and half an eye on the clock we saw the blue and red lights of either an ambulance or a polis car. We never did find out which, because it was long gone before we reached the next roundabout where a car was parked half on the road, half on the 200mm high verge of the entrance to the roundabout. That’s the worst parking I’ve ever seen.

After that long crawl, it was a fairly easy drive to the hospital. We were still a bit early, but that was just luck. I got taken right away and the two nurses who did the pressure check on my eyes were impressed with my results.

Then we had a long wait to see the doctor, about an hour I’d reckon. Last time we were there it was football was on the tv. Today it was horse racing. Almost as boring as football, but not quite. Eventually my name was called and Mr Sharma was not quite as dismissive as last time. He even answered some of my questions after he told me that the drops had worked and the pressure in my eye had reduced by a half. I’d still have to keep using the drops for a while, but for now he didn’t want to see me for three weeks or three months, I can’t quite remember which. All I heard was the the pressure in my eye was down by a half.

We drove home, parked the car and did nothing for the rest of the day. Dinner was an omelette for Scamp and a couple of lamb burgers for me with a baked potato each and shared a tin of beans. Great relaxation food.

PoD is a Rhododendron bud in the back garden.

Tomorrow we may go shopping after I do my drops!

Well, that was a scary one – 24 January 2025

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The wind came early in the morning.

We had been well warned about the coming storm Éowyn and boy, it was a corker! It started around 9am and rapidly strengthened up to midday with 60mph winds and gusts in excess of 90mph. It was an uncomfortable morning. Almost a year ago with Storm Isha, I was writing that I was sure the front windows were going to blow in with that. This year I’m writing that I was 100% certain the front windows were going to blow in, but, again, they survived and so did we. After yesterday’s calm, and in the belief that the weather fairies had got it wrong, we told ourselves it wouldn’t really be as bad as last year, but it was, and some.

With our bins scattered around the street, it looked like a bomb had hit us, and I suppose in a way, it was what Americans call a Weather Bomb. Described by the Weather Centre as: “A low pressure system whose central pressure falls 24 millibars in 24 hours in a process known as explosive cyclogenesis.”

Eventually after a good seven or eight hours of battering things began to be just a little bit calmer out there and we began to hope the end was in sight. However, it wasn’t until the Red warning was reduced to an Amber warning we began to breathe a bit easier. The warning level is now Yellow, the lowest warning level. That warning level will remain tomorrow (Saturday) but will be linked with snow and ice rather than wind. Of course, there is another weather system waiting in the wings for next week, just as there was last year. It’s funny how cyclic these warnings are.

I’m supposed to go to the hospital tomorrow to have my eyes checked again by Mr Sharmer (The Charmer!) and Scamp want to go dance class first. I hope we can manage to fit both visits in. It’s probably a good idea, really. The dance class might take my mind off the eye drops and Mr S!

PoD turned out to be a picture of the bins scattered along the path outside the front of the garden. It’s called The Massacre of the Wheelie Bins.

Hoping for a calmer day tomorrow.

Dentist and Dancin’ – 23 January 2025

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But not at the same time!

A couple of days ago I had a pain in one of my wisdom teeth at the very back of my mouth. A few moments later I had a horrible taste in my mouth too. I thought it might be an abscess and drove up to the dentist’s surgery. The girl there is very good and squeezed me in to an appointment for this morning – It’s a really busy surgery practice.

The dentist had a look, but couldn’t see any sign of infection, but she took an X-ray just to be sure and although the photo came out clear, she said she’d give me a course of penicillin just in case there was something there. Two tablets, four times a day when my stomach is empty. An hour before food or two hours after food. Far too complicated for a bear with little brain! Worse, they taste awful!

Back home we decided to go to the first Tea Dance of the season. The fact that we were promised home-made Tea Loaf had nothing to do with our decision. Awful weather and a host of potholes made for something less than the best journey we’ve had, except for the train journey home after Christmas!

We arrived late and were met with Stewart’s favourite comment: “Don’t think you can just Waltz in here!” I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that old joke. Anyway, we were seated far away from our usual table and we were directly under the speaker. Maybe that’s why we were on the dance floor most of the day – to keep away from that speaker. I think we must have been up for every dance except the Scottish selection. Traditional if the Tea Dance is nearly at Burns Night. The tea loaf was excellent. Home made as promised by Jane.

Most of the second half was a collection of Sequence Dances and although Scamp was as sure footed as usual, I must admit to being a bit rusty and needing a prod in the right directions sometimes.

As usual, we left early to avoid the worst of the schools coming out. The weather had deteriorated by then and it was an uncomfortable drive home. I think I may have damaged a shock absorber on one or two of the potholes which seemed to be everywhere today. I may take the car down to Jim Dickson to have it looked at next week.

No outside photos today because of the atrocious weather. Drizzling rain is not conducive to taking photos, unless you want to have your camera ruined. I didn’t. So, PoD was a bunch of violet and white Lisianthus cut flowers that Crawford and Nancy had brought yesterday.

We’ve been given a RED weather warning for wind tomorrow. It has gradually climbed up the scale from Yellow to Amber to Red in the past few days with winds in excess of 100mph on the west coast and over 60mph inland. No trains, schools closed, no GPs, no buses. We’ve been told to be prepared for possible power cuts too. The danger of life warning blared out at about 5pm, scaring the living daylights out of me.

Hopefully it won’t be quite as bad as they are predicting, but we have to be ready for it anyway.

Cooking – 22 January 2025

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A busy day. Crawford and Nancy were coming for dinner.

I hadn’t been feeling great in the morning and grabbed an extra half hour snooze after taking a couple of paracetamol. They didn’t seem to do much good, so I drove over to Tesco to get more veg and stuff for the dinner and by the time I came back the pills had kicked in and I felt a lot better.

After dinner I took a camera out to St Mo’s and got a few photos of a tough old Bramble branch with lethal looking thorns.

The rest of the day can be condensed into some bullet points.

  • I was making Mushroom Soup
  • Scamp was making Chicken Stroganoff for main course
  • Scamp was also making Tiramisu for the dessert
  • Neither of us were really impressed with our creations, but they seemed to go down well with the guests.
  • The guests arrive just after 7.30pm and left about half past midnight.
  • We loaded the dishwasher after they left and went to bed.
  • I had to forego my usual dinner party whisky because I was driving to the dentist in the morning, and it was already late.

Tomorrow it looks like Windy Willy is coming round again!