Author: Zogman

An improving picture – 18 August 2022

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Scamp tested negative this morning. Me, I’m at the coo’s tail as usual, still positive.

Scamp was careful not to look at the pink column as it rose in the recording window of the test kit. Then after about twelve of the required fifteen minutes she gave a yelp. It was a negative result. Not even the slightest ghost of a ’T’ trace. At last, one of us had broken free. Mine was slower than usual to confirm a positive, but it was there for all to see by the fifteenth minute. I didn’t expect it to be any better, but it would have been a nice surprise …

I took a walk down to the shops to get some bread and a bunch of flowers to brighten the house. Also got some cherries and the stuff to make a stir fry for dinner. Later in the afternoon we both went for a walk in St Mo’s. Just once round the pond, but that was enough for me to snag a few shots of dragonflies resting on the boardwalk. I reckon it’s the daily rain showers,  another of which we had in the late afternoon, that are increasing the water level in the ponds and that’s encouraging the hatch of dragons. Mostly Common Darters, both male and female, but a few Black Darters occasionally added to the mix. One of the low down views of a dragonfly made PoD.

Stir fry was ok, but I inadvertently picked up a carton of Vegan broth mix instead of Chicken. I’ll be more careful in future. I much prefer the milder chicken flavour.

It was a bit dull today. Couldn’t really get myself interested in anything. I’m just finishing my first Stuart McBride book in years and am not all that impressed with it. Too predictable, I think. However, I bought the Audible version with the Kindle book and it helped the flight home pass much more quickly than reading.

We may go out somewhere tomorrow, just to get out of the house.

Another day, another test – 17 August 2022

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This morning Scamp did another test, but it was just positive and no more.

The general rule seems to be that you have to stay at home for five days from the first positive test. I assume that after that time you aren’t definitely clear, but are unlikely to pass on the infection. Everything is so vague now that hospitalisations are so much fewer than they were last year.

Anyway, Scamp declared herself still positive although she was feeling better than yesterday. I declared myself happy that today I was up to date with blog posts and also with Flickr posts, but was intending going for a walk in the afternoon to get more photos to post and stories to tell.

While Scamp was busy in the garden I went for a walk in St Mo’s. There were lots of lovely dragonflies fluttering around the boardwalk at St Mo’s pond. Mostly common darter males but also a few black darters circling the ponds. Butterflies too were in plentiful supply almost all of them were Peacocks. Had a chat with Fred while I was out and before my signal broke up. I really do need to look into the possibility of changing my phone. One of the common darter males (head on) got PoD.

Hoping for another sunny day tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Jamie – 16 August 2022

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Second day in his new job and it’s his birthday too!

We did another test this morning, just to get an idea of progress, or not. Mine was immediately obviously positive, but Scamp’s test wasn’t quite so conclusive with a light red line that grew a bit darker as the fifteen minutes passed, but we both agreed it was still positive.

Not a lot to do today. It rained on and off all day. Lighter rain this time and with occasional dry spells. I nipped out for the chance to take a few photos in between showers.

Had a word with Jamie in the evening and he sounded happy enough with his new position. He seems to know what is required of him and is up for it. We never doubted that he would be.

Nothing more to say about things other than almost up to date with Flickr posts and also with blog posts.

Cabin Fever – 15 August 2022

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Cabin Fever was setting in. I can’t stay cooped up for long.

It had been a wild night, with more thunder and lightning during the night. Also a lot more rain. Torrential rain that came along with the thunderstorm, but also just sheets of straight-down rain that soaked the gardens and grass. That was the kind of rain we needed. The torrential rain just runs off the hard baked ground, but it’s the gentler rain that soaks down into the roots of the plants and trees and that’s what the roots will soak up.

In the afternoon I decided it was calm enough to risk a short walk round St Mo’s. A chance to see what difference the change in the weather had made. There were slugs and snails everywhere. It looked like they were having a party. I suppose slugs especially dehydrate in the heat and so need to get out into the wet to absorb the water into their bodies. Snails can survive for longer by retreating into their shells. I’d taken a camera of course and my PoD was a little Scabious flower with pink among the blue petals. Also, as it was still raining, there were some water drops to add some fine detail. Everything seemed to shine in the sunshine through the rain. I felt better for that short walk.

Still feeling tired and the cough is still there, but Scamp is a looking and feeling a lot better. We’ve agreed to do another test tomorrow.

A day in the sunshine – 14 August 2022

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This looked like it would be the last day of fine weather before the rains would come.

It’s no fun being confined to the house with the coughs and sneezes that seem to go along with the general fatigue that comes with Covid. Heaven knows what it would have felt like to those poor folk who caught it two years ago, before the vaccine became available. Although we’re feeling miserable now, it must have been a hundred times worse for them. We should be thankful for small mercies.

Well, we may not be able to go out into the wider world, but at least we could enjoy the sunshine in our garden. Scamp was busy deadheading the roses and most of the other garden flowers. Just keeping herself busy. I was happy to read in the sun with a bottle of beer to keep me company.

PoD went to a little industrious spider who was building its web in the apple tree. It was a tiny little thing working methodically round and round the web before it settled in the centre and waited for visitors. I guess these tiny arachnids must have the instructions for web building hard wired into their brains, because there are no teachers to show them how to do it.

Later in the day the clouds rolled in and the predicted thunderstorms arrived bringing the heavy rain in their wake. I felt sorry for the spider. All its work building that web had been washed away in the deluge. We had buckets out all over the garden collecting as much rainwater as we could. We’d also left the tomato plant and the chillies out too to benefit from rainwater.

The heat will be gone tomorrow, but there will be a fresher feel to the place. I might, just might go for a short walk tomorrow if I feel up to it.

 

Look what I got on holiday – 13 August 2022

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This is what happens when you sit in a metal tube with a couple of hundred others breathing recycled air for three hours. At least it happened on the way home, not a week earlier. Lucky 13th!

At least now Scamp and I are twins. She’s a couple of days ahead of me in the Covid race. Sore throat, runny nose and that awful annoying cough. I usually feel a bit deflated after we come back from holiday, but this just puts the tin lid on things.

The highlight of the day was a grocery delivery from Tesco.  Scamp had managed to grab a slot yesterday and with me now under house arrest too, at least we’d have something for dinner.  It wasn’t a big order, but it broke up the day.

Hopefully we’ll begin to feel better soon.

Back to life – 12 August 2022

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Back to reality. Back to the here and now.

This was the day for unpacking and for bundling clothes into the washing machine and then hanging them out to dry. Admittedly, I wasn’t doing much of that. Scamp did most of it.

After lunch I went for a walk in St Mo’s to get some ‘ordinary’ photos. PoD was a close-up of a Yellow Rattle plant. It’s a parasite, feeding on the nutrients in the roots of any nearby grasses. And yes, it really does rattle when you brush past it! It’s the dried seeds in the desiccated pods that make the noise. I also got a shot of a grasshopper hiding deep in the grass, but no Hummingbird Hawk Moths I’m afraid. Too cold for them up here in the frozen north.

It wasn’t really that cold, in fact it was pleasantly warm sitting in the garden. Thunder and lightning predicted for the next few days. We really should make the most of this warm weather before it all comes to a crashing end.

We’re not going anywhere any time soon.

Flying home – 11 August 2022

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There isn’t much you can say about going home, other than that it’s usually very carefully orchestrated by P&O and Jet2. Usually

We left our bags outside the cabin last night and knew they’d be picked up and taken away by midnight. The next time we’d see them would be when we took them off the carousel at Glasgow Airport. We were ushered into one of the restaurants after breakfast and waited there until our buses were ready to take us to the airport. Then the rain came. Torrential rain. The staff wouldn’t allow us to go to the coaches because it was raining! Why couldn’t they just bring the buses to the bottom of the gangway and allow us to leave? No, they couldn’t do that. Were they frightened someone might slip and be injured and they’d be sued? Possibly. Eventually they had to let us go.

We passed through security quickly this time because I’d organised all my camera gear and electronic gadgets plus my laptop into easily manageable chunks and it all passed muster. Then we were through and almost immediately we were given the gate number.

Fairly pleasant flight home until one baby at the front of the plane started screaming its head off. I don’t know if the mother was deaf or just didn’t care, but I kept thinking about the scene in Airplane where all the passenger queue up to slap the hysterical woman. It wasn’t the wean that we’d be queueing up to slap, but the mother.

Finally we landed in Glasgow and the next calamity occurred. The person who drives the ‘airbridge’ couldn’t get it aligned correctly with the door and was attempting a second run at it, but then the airbridge broke down and wouldn’t reverse. Eventually they solved the problem by bringing in a set of steps manually. I think everyone was happy to get off that plane. It must be the first time we’ve arrived in Glasgow and our cases were in the reclaim carousel before us!

Driving home the traffic was terrible on both the M8 and the M74. I opted for the M8 which was the wrong decision. It took us an hour to get over the Kingston Bridge because some poor soul had broken down just past the bridge on the part of the motorway that has two lanes now instead of four. That meant only one lane in four was in use. We did get home, but it felt that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

As soon as we got the bags and cases in, we did our tests. I was negative, but Scamp was positive as she’d expected. At least we were home.

PoD was two street cleaners sweeping up Valletta’s streets this morning.

Tomorrow will be another day.

Packing – 10 August 2022

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Today was a sea day and for once, we didn’t do much.

Scamp wasn’t feeling quite right and had the beginnings of an irritating cough. We didn’t say the words, but maybe, just maybe things weren’t right. We did some packing after breakfast then sat and read on the balcony afterwards. After lunch we watched the dance class for a while. They were doing Argentine Tango. Not something we’d have been interested in. We walked around the deck on level 7 and that’s where today’s PoD came from. Looking back at where we’ve been hoping to see some dolphins, but none appeared.

After dinner in the Oriental restaurant, we did some gentle dancing, mainly sequence dances before heading for an early night.

Got to be up and out early tomorrow.

Šibenik – 9 August 2022

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We’ve been pronouncing it ‘Sibenik’, but the folk who live there pronounce it ‘Shibenik’. I’d assume they’ve got it right.

Looking out from our balcony at just after 9am, we were looking out over a bay to wooded hills echoing with the constant scratchy sound of a million cicadas. A couple of hours later we were walking along the seafront of Šibenik town, after being ferried from the ship’s anchorage over to the a little township in a tender and then on to one of a host of local buses out along country roads and dropped in a car park near the ferry terminal for Šibenik. We just followed our noses, admiring the expensive looking seagoing yachts, until we reached the old town and found a road taking us up and away from the sea. There was a castle right at the top of the hill, but we’d no intention of climbing up to it. A walk through the narrow streets that opened out into open squares with roads leading in different directions would do for today. Maybe a spot of lunch too.

It was very hot and we found a wee outdoor cafe where we had a beer and then decided we could manage some lunch too. I had a beef burger and Scamp had a chicken wrap, both with chips. Then I had another beer. Service was pretty slow, but we weren’t in a rush to go anywhere.

From there we walked back to the car park to get the bus that took us to the jetty and the tender back to the ship. On the way we passed a municipal building with a walkway over another path. Under the walkway a cat was snoozing in the shade. I grabbed a couple of shots, then thought I’d get a better angle from the other side. I thought I might have spooked it, but it just lazily opened one eye and then dismissively went back to sleep.

Big queue for the bus, but then four buses came at the same time. Same big queue for the tender, but there were cups of cold water ready for us on the jetty, so time passed quite quickly.

Dinner in The Glasshouse tonight and although the steak I had was lovely, the menu was limited for vegetarians and also for those with shellfish allergies. I think, too that we’d eaten more than we should have at lunch and didn’t really do the meal justice.

Tomorrow is going to be packing day. It’s a sea day and our last full day on the ship.