Author: Zogman

Driving the ladies to town – 16 February 2020

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Today Scamp was off on her travels again. This time with her big sister to meet their wee sister.

The bus to Inverness was at 9.10am on Sunday, so we were up early. Out about 8.30 to pick up June then the drive through the wind and rain to Glasgow. Dropped them off at the Concert Hall and watched to make sure they were across the road safely and then drove back home for a restful day.

Didn’t actually do much with Storm Dennis thundering around the houses. I did manage to drive up to Tesco and buy myself a steak for dinner, then decided instead to make Chicken, Chorizo, Beans and Tomatoes. No recipe and no chicken, so I went for a walk to St Mo’s to see how high the water was and then do a detour to the local shops to get some chicken thighs. The water level in St Mo’s pond was fairly elevated, but not as high as I’d expected. The weather was actually quite decent, apart from the wind, but by the look of the clouds it wasn’t going to stay that way for long. Cut short the walk after I’d got my planned PoD which was an apple sitting on a rock. When I go out for a walk in the woods I usually take an apple. I eat about half of it and leave the rest somewhere conspicuous and it’s usually gone the next day. Deer, rabbits, squirrels and mice are all welcome to join in. Today that apple became PoD.

Walked back via the shops. No chicken thighs in the first shop, but that’s the benefit of having three grocery shops in a row. If you don’t find what you want in the first one, one of the others is sure to have it, and that’s what it was today. By the time I’d finished my last bit of shopping, the rain joined me for the walk back home.

Made what I think of as a chicken and chorizo stew and put it in the slow cooker to, well, cook slowly. Then finally produced yesterday’s sketch of Rooftops. Sort of from my imagination and also partly from photos I’d found of Robin Hood’s Bay. So that’s yesterday’s SoD done, but no time to attempt today’s topic of ‘Basket’. I really must get better organised.

Scamp seems to be enjoying the luxury of a night in an Inverness hotel with here sisters, while I eat chicken and chorizo stew. Actually it tasted quite good.

Tomorrow I’m intending going dancing by myself!

A day in town – 15 February 2020

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Scamp was determined to go into Glasgow today despite her heavy cold.  I needed my ‘Pure Afro’ hair reduced to a normal thatch.

Drove in today. Scamp was in no condition to face the rigours of travelling for forty-five minutes on a cold bus. It’s a known fact that the heaters on the X3 bus only work from June to August. The rest of the time they blow cold air. Surprisingly for a Saturday, we got parked on level 4 of Buchanan Galleries without any bother. I’m guessing that Storm Dennis was keeping folk at home. On the topic of Named Storms. I think we may run out of names soon. This is only half way through February and we’ve already used up almost a fifth of our name quota.

While I went to the barber, Scamp investigated the bargains at M&S. As it turned out when I eventually came out of the shearing shop a tenner and a good bag full of hair lighter, it was me who secured the bargains at M&S. Got a new zip-up jumper and another new bunnet for my number 2 Bergy jacket.

We’d intended going for lunch somewhere, but after walking in driving rain for a while, we chose instead to have coffee and a bite to eat in Costa and then deal with dinner when the time came. As it happened, Scamp had made some Just Soup and that fitted the bill for both of us.

Drove home through more torrential rain and Scamp stocked up on alcoholic beverages for her trip to Inverness tomorrow.

Back home I struggled with today’s topic of Rooftops. I usually find roofs and houses no problem, even from my imagination, but today I drew a bland. Well, actually I drew a few things that would have been better if the page had remained blank, so I left it until tomorrow. It’s not the first time this February I’ve had to play catch-up.

PoD was a shot from the JL bridge showing a view of Glasgow that you wouldn’t see on a postcard.

Tomorrow Scamp and her sisters are travelling to Inverness for a ladies overnight, and I’ll probably be getting caught up with my blog, drawings and photos.

Recovery – 14 February 2020

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It was a wet day again and we were still in the grip of one weather system with the second waiting in the wings. Where’s the ‘warming’ in Global Warming. All I see is rain, wind and cold.

Scamp’s cold doesn’t seem to be lifting much. We both think it came about wandering around in a cold wind at the tower of London. Most of the day was spent in recovery mode, just trying to come to terms with the wet and windy weather we’ve been sheltered from down south.

I went for a walk across at St Mo’s. I couldn’t really be bothered, but it had to be done to comply with the new ruling that the 365 must continue. PoD is of green shoots. A sycamore seedling pushing up through the leaf litter. Maybe spring will push its way through the storm clouds some day soon.

Managed to clear the backlog of drawings and paintings for February with a fairly decent ‘Day at the Seaside’ painting which covered the Wave topic, followed by a dire black and white sketch for the ‘Light’ prompt.

That’s about all you can say about today, other than tomorrow will be better.

Going Home – 13 February 2020

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There’s not a lot you can say about going home.

It’s good to be going home to your own bed in your own house, but it’s sad to be leaving family behind. Even if plans have been made for another reunion in the near future. We just trundled our cases along to the station and caught a train, then another train and another train and another train, then a taxi. And we were home.

PoD is the iconic shot of the roof of Kings Cross station.

SoD you will see tomorrow.

Parrots, Pizza and Reverse – 12 February 2020

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A strange mixture, but all in the correct order.

Last full day down south and my how the time has flown. All the things we were going to do and all the places we were going to see. Well we did do some of them and we did see some of them too. Today we were going to take Hazy to the garden centre, the same one Canute and Delia had taken us to, so I knew the route. We had some time to waste first, so I left Scamp to guard the house while I went for a walk in Horton Park.

Like I’ve said earlier, is a well kept park. Lots of little pathways going everywhere. Cycle tracks with obstacles to jump or ride over. Confusing signage which seems to point out five different ways to get to the same place, all in different directions and with different distances, and parrots! Well, actually they are parakeets, green ones that screech their way across the treetops, never coming close to the ground. Found lots of interesting little nicknacks all over the place. Rusted fenceposts that must have been pre-WW1. Little clearings in the woods and more parrots. I’d only been given an hour at most to investigate the woods, less than that once I’d navigated my way round a roundabout. Soon my phone was warning me that I’d used up half my time and it was now time to return to the house.

Managed to drive out the driveway and on to the road without hitting anything. For some reason the traffic was kind to me and allowed me a space to exit on to what is usually a very busy road. Followed the road Canute had taken and quickly found the garden centre without having to cross the standing water that had dogged his journey. Pizza in the garden centre is usually a must, but today it must have been the apprentice chef who was in charge, because when my buzzer announced its arrival from the oven, what I took charge of was a bit thin and scorched. I ate most of it. Scamp’s baked potato looked no better. Bought a few things then wheeled Hazy to the car and found out how to fold the wheelchair neatly into the boot. That’s when the trouble started.

We had to reverse out of the parking space, but every time I though I’d selected reverse, the car moved forward. I checked the gearstick to see if I had to lift the stick to select reverse, or push down on it, but neither of those was available, it was simply a case of push left, then forward … except that didn’t seem to work. Hazy even phoned Neil in Goa to find out if there was a magic word you had to use first, but he just confused me even more by saying that you moved the stick left, but kind of left and back, and then forward. If it had just been Scamp and I in the car I’d have started swearing then. If I had I’d have missed the sight of a beautiful bird, a Red Kite flying up out of a field across the road. I was half watching it the the stick slipped neatly into reverse and we were off again on our way. I was careful not to do anything stupid that necessitated reverse gear again until we arrived home and the passengers were safely in the house. Then I did the unforgivable. I read the manual. It said to use a dynamic movement to select reverse. More a curve left and forward, rather than two discrete movements. It worked like a treat. Now I saw what Neil had been describing. However, after I’d managed to get the car into the position it was in before we left, I got out, locked the door and walked away. I don’t think we’ll bother looking for a Mini as our next car.

PoD is one of the old pre-WW1 fenceposts.
SoD is a rose, using what I remembered from the technique I learned from an old man on a cruise a couple of years ago.

Spent the evening packing everything into two roll along cases one bag and a rucksack. Tomorrow we’re off home.

The Men in Red – 11 February 2020

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Today we went to the tower. Luckily we came back again.

Walk to the station. Train to Wimbledon (no Wombles again!). Underground to Earls Court. Change train for Tower Hill, and we’re there. Tower of London awaits.

Walked to the ticket office and got our tickets, concessions of course. Had our bags searched and joined the crowd for the first of many interesting and really entertaining bloodthirsty stories of the tower’s chequered history told by the Yeoman Warder in his black and red uniform (Don’t dare call it a costume!). Beheadings, stranglings, hangings and interments, they were all laid out in their gory glory. It was great fun. The only problem was the wind. It stole away any warmth in the sun and nearly blew away our Yeoman Warder’s hat. Poor bloke must have been chilled to the bone having to stand there and give his talks.

After our 45 minute tour we went in search of some coffee and possibly some soup to warm us. It was tomato and basil soup and it was very welcome. Next Scamp wanted to see the Crown Jewels. Now I’m not entirely convinced that what we saw were the actual Crown Jewels, but they were certainly impressive. As well as the Crowns, lots of them, Sceptres another bucket load and a cardboard box of Orbs, there were platters, plates, punch bowls (one big enough to use as a bath) and assorted cutlery and tableware. All behind glass and looking splendid, but how would I a non-expert be able to tell if they were real or fake? I reckon the real stuff is in a vault somewhere guarded by a dozen big Alsatians and a battalion of the SAS. The vault itself is on an island with a moat infested with crocodiles and the Loch Ness Monster’s wee brother. That’s where I’d put the Crown Jewels, not in a glass box for every Tom, Dick and Harry to gawp at. They weren’t even in the Tower itself. They were in a building across the road. The Tower is used to display all the guns, swords and assorted weaponry from down the ages. Interesting, but pointless these days. (Note: Some of the swords were definitely NOT pointless. They had very real points.). It was the tower that provided the PoD.

When we’d had our fill of riches and weapons and been told all the blood-thirsty stories, we took the trains back to Hazy’s and dinner. It was good to be somewhere warm after all that freezing wind.

Today’s prompt was ‘Burn’. My take on it was burning the candle at both ends. We all do it. We all think we’re getting away with it, but sooner or later, that plan of action will catch up with us.

Mr Simon Roe – 10 February 2020

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A man who doesn’t understand spoken English.

Took the bus into Epsom today. I must say that England, or at least Greater London does a great job at making public transport easy to access and cheap too. Admittedly, ours is even cheaper thanks to our Pensioners Ticket, but down in London they’ve had Oyster cards for years and we’re only getting them now. They’ve had pay by debit card for almost as long and we in Scotland have only had them since last year. It’s a connected travel system that just works.

So we reached a cold and dismal Epsom, but most places are cold and dismal on a Monday in February, even without the gales and the driving rain. We went for a coffee first as is our usual procedure and then we went to Waitrose to get the ingredients for tonight’s dinner. We got most of the stuff we needed, but couldn’t see any bacon. I stopped a ‘Partner’ wearing a suit, so not just a shelf filler and asked where I could find bacon. He pointed over to a stand and said “That’s the vegan area there.” No, I said, “Bacon”. Again he pointed and said that “That’s the vegan shelves.” I was beginning to think I was in the Burniston lift sketch. You must have seen it. “No,” I said, “B A C O N!” That’s when the sketch changed from Burniston to Monty Python. “You asked for Vegan. Bacon’s at the end of the line” he said. Oh, oh. Please don’t tell me what I said. Please don’t treat me like an idiot. I got as far as “Now listen ..” when he starts shouting “Don’t point your finger at me”. It’s a finger for heaven’s sake. It wasn’t loaded and anyway, the safety was on. At this point Scamp entered the argument and tried to calm things down with “He said Bacon, you weren’t listening.” I’ve not written the email to his manager yet. Mr Simon Roe, you may think you’ve had a bad Monday morning, but worse is yet to come!

It took me a while to calm down, but eventually I did. We paid for our ’messages’, had a walk down the main street and a spot of lunch in Nero, then waited for the next bus back to Hazel’s.  Epsom’s not my favourite place.  It’s really drab and dowdy.  I think it might be overshadowed by its famous racecourse.

Back home I took my bad temper out for a walk in the woods around the golf course at Chessington. There wasn’t much to see, but it was a pleasant enough walk in the windy woods. Still a bit windy here with occasional showers, but not nearly as bad as yesterday.  I got my PoD there.  It’s just a glove, but its title on Flickr is “They went that-away”.

SoD was a painting of canal boats at Auchinstarry.  I wasn’t all that pleased with it, partly because I was painting in artificial light and it’s always hard to judge colour in that lighting.  I think it’s a bit too orange, but it seems to be getting enough attention on FB, so who knows. The topic was Reflection.

Tomorrow we may go in to London again. This time we might get to the Tower and I’ll behave myself or else I’ll get kept in.

Windy Willy – 9 February 2020

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Windy Willy was doing his best to make life difficult today.

Actually, Willy had nothing to do with it today. The trouble was all caused by Storm Ciara as it swept in from the Atlantic. Even in Hazy’s fairly sheltered bungalow, the wind was fairly thumping the roof as it bounced around the houses.

The storm didn’t stop Canute and Delia arriving and taking us to lunch. Just the two of us because Hazy chose to stay and rest after the excitement of JIC and Sim’s visit and the revelations after dinner. We drove to Chessington Garden Centre. I didn’t think it would be open with all the storm warnings and Canute said there were a few trees blown down near them. However, we needn’t have worried. There were hungry people out there with money to spend, so the garden centre was open and doing a brisk trade in meals.

After lunch we browsed what was available in the garden part of the garden centre. Scamp wanted to pot up a London Pride which my mum always called Nancy Pretty so we got a bag of compost an a pot. Canute and Delia also bought something, but it’s redacted until ND comes home.

Canute drove us back thorough more stormy weather, flooded roads, road works fences spread across the road, tree branches blown down, the usual aftermath of a storm, except the storm was still there as the news broadcasts were happily telling us.

PoD turned out to be a fig still clinging on to the tree in H&N’s front garden.  SoD was a padlock because the prompt was “Lock”.  For some reason ink drawings get fewer ‘likes’ than watercolours in EDiF and 28 DL.  Must try a pencil sketch soon to see how that fares.

Tomorrow we may go to Epsom if the storm has subsided a bit.

The 365/6 must continue – 8 February 2020

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JIC and Sim were visiting us today for lunch.

We’d bought a chicken yesterday and today it was due to be roasted. However, before that I was tasked with making some scones. I’ve only ever made them at home in our oven which I have a love/hate relationship with. Sometimes it works perfectly, but as it’s a fan-assisted gas oven, setting temperature is a bit of a hit and miss affair. Scamp is very good at getting it to the right setting for most things, but I’m always unsure exactly how it should be set. Hazy and ND have an electric eye level fan oven and it’s really easy to set and easy to use. I’d like one of those. It would go well with the four ring gas hob I’d also like. Yes, H&N have one of them too. The upshot of all this is that the scones, although made from a sticky wet dough, turned out perfectly. The best Lemonade Scones I’ve made, ever. All evenly baked and browned.

After my scones came out, the chicken went in. J&S arrived bang on time and dinner was great. Just one big family gathering. It’s such a pity ND wasn’t able to be there, but I suppose it’s a fair distance to travel from Goa just for a chicken dinner and some well baked scones. Maybe next time. It was at the end of the meal that The Next Time was revealed.

There has been some planning going on for my birthday, it seems. JIC, Hazy and ND are coming up north to celebrate with me. Unfortunately, Sim will have to dog-sit for Vixen as they can’t get her in to kennels because the visit will be during the Easter holidays. That revelation took me quite by surprise. I hadn’t expected it at all and nearly had me in tears.

The other thing that transpired was how much my readership enjoy the 365 or 366 as it is this year. So, despite my protestations that it takes a lot of time and effort, not to mention software to keep it going, it will continue. I was really sorry when JIC and Sim had to leave, but it won’t be long until Easter.

PoD was a desiccated plant in Hazy’s bathroom. I just liked it.
SoD was a wee man in a boat fishing to take the prize for “Fish”.

Tomorrow Scamp, Hazy and I have been invited out to lunch by Canute and Delia. More people. More chat, and entertaining chat too as it always is with Canute.

London – 7 February 2020

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Today we were going to the Tower of London, except …

When we’d walked the mile or so to the train station I realised that neither of us had the details that Neil had so kindly typed up for us. Time for a change of plan.

We’d still go in to London, but instead of visiting the Tower we’d go for a wander and find somewhere new to visit. To start with we’d find a coffee shop. Not as easy as you’d think in London. Loads of coffee shops, but none where I’d deign to actually drink their coffee. Eventually we found Westminster Bridge and along from that we found St James’ Park which looked promising on another beautiful bright sunny day. Loads of other folk seemed to find it interesting too and most of them were Italian or French or Spanish it seemed. Hundreds of them, maybe even thousands, and all of them were watching the pelicans or having their photo taken with them. Pelicans in London? According to Wikipedia ”Pelicans have been a feature of St James’s Park since 1664 when the Russian Ambassador presented them to King Charles II.” Who knew? Well, apart from Wikipedia.  A picture of a pelican made PoD

Further on, we went to look at Mrs McQueen’s big hoose, but I don’t think she was in. Either that or she was hiding from the hordes who were gazing intently through her railings hoping to catch a glimpse of somebody royal. Either that or they were waiting to see the changing of the guards. I don’t know why they’re changing them anyway, they seemed alright the last time I saw them on the TV. We walked back along the Mall and found a coffee shop in Waterstones where they sold a decent latte fro Scamp and some burnt water for me. Lovely Danish pastries though! After that we went to Covent Garden where we heard some dodgy opera singer and I got a tee shirt.

After searching for somewhere to eat we settled for a pub lunch. Macaroni and (a ton of) Cheese for Scamp and an apparently prize winning pie for me. The pie casing was lovely, as was the veg, but the meat was tough. Walked along the banks of the Thames and caught the train back. Maybe we’ll visit the Tower another day … with the directions!

Today’s topic was “Fly” and my take on it was a fly of the Dragon persuasion.