Month: January 2026

Dancin’ – 24 January 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Today was Saturday and every Saturday we go dancing, well, not really every Saturday, but most.

Today I wasn’t really looking forward to driving for three quarters of an hour to get to Brookfield for a dance class that would entail me ‘dancing’ the Samba. It’s not a real dance, just a way of shuffling around the floor to music. That’s not dancing!

Right, I’ve got that out of my system and I can now talk about what we did today. Drove to Brookfield and it was a busy dance floor. Lots of folk willing to have their hip joints dislocated for no good reason. Oops, there I go again. You’d think I didn’t like Samba! I’d rather dance Salsa or Soca or anything other than Samba, but I must cool down now and concentrate on what I did enjoy, and not mention SMA again tonight.

We had a Waltz to manage first and it, at least had some redeeming features. For a start, it’s got ‘real’ music not just heavy beats and no structure, and once you learn the names like “Syncopated Whisk” and a “Double Reverse Turn” it becomes a bit clearer. I just think it makes me sound clever when I say “Oh yes, we were doing a Double Reverse with a Syncopated Whisk”. I don’t know what it means, but other people listening to me might believe I was fully ‘au fait’ with the subtleties of this dance. Don’t be fooled people. I was just “doin’ a wee bit of spinnin’ roon the flair”. Scamp, on the other hand, knew what all these mysterious words meant. Either that or she’s a very convincing liar!

After the statutory hour and a half of gyrating round the floor without bumping into too many people, I was so glad when Stewart called a halt to the proceedings and sent us on our way, probably with his head in his hands and asking himself what he’d been teaching for that hour and a half.

We drove home through fairly heavy traffic with some of the signs on the gantry reducing our speed to 20mph. Do these people really understand what 20mph looks like? How many folk could honestly say they have driven at 20mph on a motorway. Very few I’d imagine I’d think.

Long story short, we went through the Clyde Tunnel and on to meet the M8 on the other side of the Clyde and from there it was an easy drive home through glowering clouds constantly threatening rain that never came. Lunch was half a Ginster’s for me and Toast & Banana for Scamp. Then an hour to work on the answers to Wordle et al.

In the afternoon I went for a walk round St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was a drooping weed and a lifebuoy with the title “The Titanic Sinks Tonight”. They’re on Flickr if you choose to peruse them. We watched the Great Pottery Throwdown which is actually a lot better than I thought it would be. I can’t remember being shown how to ‘throw pots’ but in my first year at Cumby High I do remember John Swan teaching John M and me how to make slab pots and coil pots too. I’ve actually still got both pots somewhere about the house.

Tomorrow we may go looking for a carpet cleaner. What fun we have!

A lazy day for me – 23 January 2026

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Not a lazy day for Scamp, she left for FitSteps while I was still working out what to do today.

I did eventually decide on a walk in St Mo’s. It was a cold morning, a late morning, but before noon, so that counts as morning. Alex had been showing off his hand warmers the other day and I decided to buy a pair from Amazon and a cold day would be a good test.

By the time I’d got myself sorted, Scamp had returned from FitSteps so I allowed myself an hour and a half or thereabouts to grab some photos. The hand warmers didn’t seem to be balanced properly to start with, but later in the walk I realised only one face of the heater works, the other remains relatively cool. I really should read the instructions first, but I never do. I think I was paying too much attention to the hand warmers and didn’t realise the camera lens was set wide open and therefore not at its most creative setting, anyway I did take some blurry photos of Cladonia lichen and a few shots of the hairy looking buds on a gorse bush. The gorse buds got PoD.

On my way home, I got a call from Scamp telling me that her appointment in Dundee had been brought forward. We had expected it to be between four and six weeks before her appointment. Hopefully this will bring good news.

When I got home we walked over to Brodens for lunch. Fish ’n’ Chips with a glass of wine for Scamp, Steak Pie and Chips for me washed down with a pint of Guinness. Apparently the restaurant has been taken over, but the food is just as good as it ever was. Long may it prosper in these changing times.

Back home Scamp was browsing the internet for a short holiday in the next couple of weeks. We have no hard and fast favourites as yet, but we’re hopeful that we’ll find somewhere warm to tide us over until summer.

We’re intending to go to Brookfield tomorrow if the weather is fair.

Dancin’ – 22 January 2026

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Today was Thursday and every second Thursday we go dancing in the afternoon if we can manage it.

We drove through the rain today to get to Glenburn and were surprised to see a lot of empty tables. We knew that David and Carol wouldn’t be there, but hoped that more would be coming, and they were coming. In their dribs and drabs they filed in, paid their entrance fee, had a word with Stewart or Jane and found a spare seat to change their shoes to dance shoes and join in the conversation. I think it’s the camaraderie I like best about dancing, especially dancing in Glenburn. There are no airs and graces, everybody talks to everybody else, plus there is always some Tea Loaf to go round at half time!

Today we hardly missed a dance. Sometimes one of us would get it a bit wrong, but nobody notices or sometimes just pretends not to notice and the dance goes on. Some ballroom dances today but lots of sequence dances. Most people gravitate to one or other, other just dance. The time seemed to pass very quickly today and then it was time for the Tea part of the tea dance. After the tea drinking and the chat, we started again. The second half of the afternoon is usually all sequence and it’s a shorter half than the first half. We’re usually in a rush to get out before the schools come out, because the roads get busy then, with the homeward rush beginning. We just took it easy today and drove the M8/M73 route with is longer in miles travelled, but usually faster than the stop/start on the Kingston Bridge. In the end, there’s very little difference between both routes.

Dinner tonight was a chicken curry, made from an easy recipe that provides all the spices for you, leaving you to supply your own meat, fish or veg. It’s one of our favourite dinners and this one was no exception.

We watched another episode of Landscape Artist of theYear. They, the experts picked the wrong person this week. They need a good talking to these folk. Too busy spouting nonsense and then picking a numpty as this week’s winner. Bah!

Since it was dark by the time we got back from Glenburn, PoD was an inside shoot. It turned out to be three miniatures of whisky on a white ground. “Getting ready for Burns Night on Sunday” the story said!

Tomorrow I think Scamp may be going Fit Stepping in the morning. If it’s dry, I may go over the road for a walk. If it’s wet, I’ll probably start filling a black bag with rubbish to go to the skips.

Glasgow – 21 January 2026

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I got the bus to Glasgow to meet up with Alex for a photo walk.

I’d arrived early and managed a walk round a few of the buildings near the bus station. Since Glasgow is built on a series of square blocks, nobody would ever get lost there. It’s a comforting thought, especially late at night or after one has consumed a generous amount of alcoholic beverages. Not that I had time for that pursuit and anyway, it was a Wednesday and being a weekday, drinking is not allowed in this family on a weekday.

I walked back to the bus station and met Alex, then we wandered down to the nearest Nero and had a coffee and a catch up. It had been about a month since our last walk, so we had a lot to talk about. Since the weather was still good, we chose to walk down Buchanan Street. Stopped in at the Clyde Walkway to see if there were any good bits of graffiti there to admire and then walked on to shoot more shots of the riverside Cathedral. By then it was pizza time, so Alex had his usual Tuscan Fennel sausage with tomato, mozzarella and olive oil. For once I went off piste and had Tomato base with sliced ham, rocket and grated cheese. We sat and talked about cameras, computers, photo management and lots of other techy stuff.

When we left the pizza place you could feel the light failing and night approaching. Alex had a couple of tries at some graffiti on a wall nearby, then we trudged our way up the hill to the bus station. We promised ourselves another meeting in a couple of weeks.

For once, I walked round to the stance for the Cumbersheugh bus and there it was with the last few passengers just boarding. It’s not like me to be lucky with buses, but I was today.

Back home Scamp was talking to Hazel and I joined in towards the end. We heard all the news about Epsom and roundabout. I promise Hazel I’ll wear the duck sweatshirt tomorrow and I’ll have a photo to prove it!

Dinner for Scamp and me was Scotch Broth made by our next door neighbour who always says she makes too much. I think she’s just showing off her soup making skills. I must bake some bread for her next week, just to show our appreciation.

PoD went to a Glasgow pigeon ( usually called a Doo in and around Glasgow ) all fluffed up to ward off the cold winds we are about to get

Hopefully dancing tomorrow if the weather is open.

 

Another bright clear day – 20 January 2026

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Maybe not quite as good as yesterday, but by midday the clouds were clearing and the sun was getting through. Plus, of course, it wasn’t raining.

Scamp went out first. She was heading for Tesco and I was gathering all my bits and pieces together then headed off not far behind her. I was using the A7c and saw a lone berry on a tree on the way to St Mo’s. Turned the camera on and saw the message “Battery Exhausted”. I was glad I wasn’t far from home and could just walk back and grab my A7iii instead. If I’d been in the depth of the woods and seen that message, I’d have been saying ‘Sweary Words’. Lots of them.

With the cameras swapped over, and with about 80% charge in the A7iii I was good for an hour or so. I wandered round the pond and got a few shots, the first one being the lone berry on the tree! As usual I went half way round the pond then reversed my direction and went the other way. It’s strange that the view one way round the pond is totally different from the other direction. The proof is the PoD which I didn’t see when I was walking anticlockwise, but found it right in front of me when I was walking back, clockwise!

With some shots in the bag and a PoD taken, I walked home and bumped into Scamp unpacking the car. I was settling down to look at the photos when Scamp showed me her new box of ‘Rice Krispies’ which weren’t normal Rice Krispies, but some alien version with twice the amount of sugar. We’re both trying to reduce the amount of sugar we eat and I could see she wasn’t happy with these lumps of sugar. It was still light so I suggested I’d walk over to the shops and buy a proper box for her. Usually Scamp will disagree, as a measure of her annoyance, she gave in and allowed me to go search a Real box of Rice Krispies. She also handed me a winning ThunderBall ticket that’s been stuck on the fridge for far too long. So, off I trotted and redeemed the ThunderBall ticket for three new ones. Then I walked down to the shops and picked up the a box of the Real Rice Crisps. After that, calm returned to the house. We won’t find out if we’ve won a million pounds until tomorrow, but at least breakfast will a quieter affair.

The PoD was what looks like three leaves stuck together by the rain and backlit by the low sun. I liked it. If you prefer a photo of Oak Moss ( that isn’t only on oak trees and isn’t moss at all, look on Flickr).

We watched ‘The Night Manager’ (second series) and I’ll admit I became completely engrossed in it. Can’t wait until next week!

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Alex for a photo walk round Glasgow. I think Scamp has a meeting with the other witches.

 

Sunshine at last! – 19 January 2026

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Hooray for a day of bright sunshine. A bit chilly, but we can live with that, we’re Scottish!

I was out in the morning to get my broken tooth replaced with another more solid one. I had already had the preparation done and this was just the fitting and gluing in place. Also I talked the dentist into repairing a tooth whose cap had come off a month or so ago. She very kindly did both jobs at the same time, well one after the other, obviously!

Drove home with a strange feeling in my mouth. My tongue was a bit upset with this new interloper, but by the time I got home, tongue and tooth were getting along fine. Let’s hope it’s a marriage that will last.

The sun was still shining brightly when I got back, so I took that as a sign that I should get out and get some photos while the big ball was still in the sky. I drove up to Fannyside.

When I was driving there I passed a load of new houses. One of them had a jet of water outside it shooting straight up into the sky. The water must have been more than three storeys high. One poor bloke was in charge of waving traffic through the water. Somebody was going to have the “Looong Monday” John Prine sang about.

I hadn’t been to Fannyside this year, and went for a walk. I found some old rotting fence posts simply covered with Cladonia lichen and took a few shots. I gave myself a limit of the farmhouse at the top of the hill. From there I walked back, past the car and on as far as a stand of trees that create interesting shadows if the sun is in the right place. Then I had to drive back home to have lunch. For once I stuck to my pledge and got back with a fair few photos, certainly enough to get one or two ‘keepers’. On the way home I noticed the gusher had stopped gushing and the road was almost dry again.

Scamp had an appointment for a video appointment with a neurologist who specialises in Essential Tremor treatment. We were only on-line for about fifteen minutes, but in that time he, the neurologist, had agreed with Scamp that she should go to Dundee to have more tests to find if the procedure would work for her. He also explained that more modern techniques were now available. Now we have to wait and see what the outcome of a Dundee visit will be.

Today’s PoD was a stand of trees on a long straight road at Fannyside.

Today’s dance class with Kirsty was a bit of a hit and miss. We danced three different routines, but none of them seemed to gel with either of us. Scamp was feeling dizzy with some of them and I just felt lost. As Scamp said tonight, Kirsty is good at demonstrating, but isn’t great at choreography. I know I left wondering what I’d learned tonight and couldn’t really say I’d learned anything useful. Maybe next week Kirsty.

Tomorrow we’re possibly going shopping.

Sunday – 18 January 2026

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Another late start, but it was the weekend, although we don’t really have weekends now.

Watched Lisa Nandy talking sense for the first time. Even Laura Kuenssberg seemed to be less contentious with her than she usually is with politicians. Even Scamp was impressed … well, a bit impressed, anyway.

After lunch I went for a walk over to St Mo’s.
Note to self: Don’t leave it so late to go for a walk. It was almost dark when I was coming home with very little in the camera. Eight frames is nothing to be proud of.

PoD turned out to be a bush of Gorse flowers. The other seven shots were a waste of time. Must get out earlier all this week!

Dinner was Sea Bass for Scamp with Potatoes, Sugar Snap Peas and some Corn off the Cob. If you swap Sea Bass for tough Rump Steak, you have my dinner.

Spoke to Jamie later and gave him and Simonne the praise they deserved for the hamper of fruit that appeared in our house on Thursday. Delicious Christmas, you two!

Hope Simonne’s first day in a new job goes well. We’re sure it will!!

Tomorrow I’m getting my crown fitted in the morning, then Scamp and I are taking part in a video appointment with a consultant from Dundee.

Dancin’ – 17 January 2026

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Out early to go dancing at Brookfield.

We arrived way too early. Quarter of an hour early, because the long straight along to Paisley was almost empty of traffic. I don’t know why, but it if hadn’t been for the 40mph zone where they are constantly repairing something, we’d have been half an hour early.

The first warm-up was the inevitable “House of Bamboo” which I must admit now that I’ve mastered it, is just a bit of fluff. A waste of time. Stewart likes it and thinks it’s great. I’m not a fan.

Next was the Feta Foxtrot – I have no idea where that name came from. It’s quite a ‘nice’ dance. Nothing too difficult or demanding. Of course my mind went a blank after I’d filmed it, but then with encouragement from Scamp, and strangely from Jane, we managed to do it with included ‘Sway’ which is a lean to one side or the other. The Sway actually added interest to the dance and I just know that Scamp is going to love it.

Next it was Blue Angel Rumba. I find it a bit of a clumsy dance with nothing to recommend it. We danced a couple tracks, I think, mainly to take our minds off the Feta Foxtrot with its Sways.

Next was my nemesis, the Samba. This really is an awful forward, back, back, forward piece of nonsense. Maybe if you’ve had a few shandies it’s great, but for non-alcoholics at 11am it’s not all that much fun. I couldn’t go forward for going backward. It’s just crap, that’s the only word for it. I failed miserably in my attempts to get my feet going in the correct direction. No, it’s not for me. The music we danced to reminded me of Soca but without the fun. I didn’t like it. Did you notice?

Another sequence track got me out of Brookfield alive. Having said that, I did enjoy a lot of the dances this week, just that awful Samba wasted it for me.

The drive home was the exact opposite of the drive to Brookfield. Stop, go and stop again. I don’t know what was going on ahead of us. Maybe an accident or a breakdown perhaps. Somebody ahead of us was having the worst Saturday of the year. I decided to try going through the Clyde Tunnel instead of sitting behind cars that were crawling along. It turned out to be the best option. Maybe a little bit longer in time, but at least the wheels were turning all the time.

Lunch was Fish Finger Sandwich for Scamp and a Piece ’n’ Banana for me. After that, I went for a walk over to St Mo’s in the late afternoon. The light was getting quite low but I managed to get a shot of a chunk of moss clinging to a tree. Nothing special, but nice colours and textures. An easy PoD.

Dinner was a Three Egg Omelette each. I thoroughly enjoyed it and although Scamp would have liked only two eggs, she managed to finish it. Dessert was a slice of Madeira cake with one of the big strawberries from Jamie’s Christmas present on top.

We watched a poor, almost comical, episode of Grantchester. Maybe it’s just me, but nothing satisfied me today. Maybe I should just go to bed and hope for a better day tomorrow.

No real plans for tomorrow, but some research needed.

A fairly lazy day … for me – 16 January 2026

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The furthest I went today was a short trip up to the town centre to drop Scamp off at her FitSteps class. She was meeting Isobel after that for a blether. I was going home.

I’d half intended going for a run up to Fannyside to get some landscape shots, but it was drizzling and it was cold and I like my creature comforts, so I drove home instead, knowing that Scamp wouldn’t be back for a couple of hours and I’d a couple of things I wanted to fix in the house.

It was one of those silly things, a misaligned toilet seat that should have been easy to do. A five minute job. We’ve all made that mistake. I firmly believe there is no such thing as a ‘Five Minute Job’.

I got my socket set out and started finding which of the sockets would fit. They are in such an awkward position, the nuts that hold the seat, but I couldn’t find the socket I needed and was beginning to wish I’d never started the job. Then I realised none of the sockets would work because the nut holding the seat wasn’t the normal hexagonal one. Then I remembered that there was a special plastic one I’d used when I fitted the seat before. After that it was easy to loosen one nut, tighten the other one and then tighten the original one again. All in all, that five minute job took almost an hour.

The rest of my time was taken up with the beginnings of a tidying up of my room. I’d an old briefcase that I wasn’t ever going to use again. It took a while for me to empty it of old papers and note, odds and ends and basically rubbish. The next one to go will probably be my ancient Black & Decker boxed drill with its totally useless battery pack. Why I keep these things, I do not know.

By the time I was finished, Scamp had returned and we had lunch. I’d missed an hour or so of decent weather and now it was raining again. I decided that PoD was likely to be a photo I’d taken yesterday of a wee bear ornament. I used a neat little app I’d bought years ago to change the creation date from yesterday to today and it looked genuine. Isn’t it great when you realise you bought an app years ago that adapted perfectly to work on today’s PoD. Sometimes plans do come together.

Dinner was Fish Risotto baked in the oven. Later we watched the first episode of Landscape Artist of the Year with a new presenter. Then we watched The Great Pottery Throwdown which is just Bakeoff with a twist. They make things out of clay, rather than flour. Even the presentation of it is too much like Bakeoff.

I think we have a quorum for dance class tomorrow.

Off the leash – 15 January 2026

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There was a big cardboard box heading our way today.

The man handed over the big cardboard box which wasn’t quite as heavy as it looked. We put it on the table and gently sliced away its Sellotape binding and even more gently lifted the contents out with their wicker handle. Then we untied the bow and stripped away the cellophane covering to reveal a large basket which looked as if it was made completely of fruit. Strawberries, some dipped in chocolate, different kinds of sliced melons, grapes on sticks and pineapple flowers. All arranged beautifully and very fresh. WoW!!!

It wasn’t until later we realised everything was held on spikes that had been driven into a carved out cabbage to support them. Ingenious! Of course we had to sample all of them just to make sure they were real and they were they were also delicious. Thank you Jamie and Sim. A wonderful surprise and the fruit is just ripe too!

Scamp was expecting visitors, Annette and Shona who were both coming for a blether, so you can imagine they too were impressed with this basket of so many fruits. I drove off before the ladies arrived, leaving Scamp to present the goodies.

I was heading for Kincardine Bridge on the Fife side of the River Forth. I’d taken photos there before and was hoping for a decent day, but it wasn’t quite as good as I’d thought. A bit breezy and decidedly cool on the banks of the river there. I’d been there a few times and knew you sometimes just have to take what you get. I walked along the path beside the water and guessed the tide was still coming in. I went as far as the old pipeline and turned back. I had a bunnet on, but had left my Buff at home. Silly old fool. I had my photos for the day and thought I’d head home when my phone chirped. It was a message from yesterday’s optician to say my glasses were ready to uplift. It seemed a shame to drive home when I could add a few miles to the journey and pick up the glasses, so that’s what I did.

The glasses were fine, as I knew they would be, so I paid the assistant and did head home this time. I missed Shona who was off at yet another meeting. However, I did bump into Annette and as she was driving home, she left me a space to park in. Thank you Annette.

That was most of the excitement for the day. The photos were ok, but nothing special. The fruit however made an excellent dessert after our Potato, Bacon and Cabbage dinner. Would you believe it, Scamp chopped up the cabbage and cooked it to go with the potatoes and bacon. Waste not, Want not!

Thanks again, Jamie and Sim for a lovely Christmas surprise.

PoD was a view looking over to the Kincardine Bridge.

Tomorrow Scamp is off to the first FitSteps class of the year. I may go a photographing again if the weather is good.