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More dancin’ – 23 April 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Dance class this morning. Wasn’t looking forward to it.

Queen of Hearts rumba to start with. Not a great favourite of mine, but certainly one of Scamp’s. All these rumbas and cha-chas just melt together into a conglomeration of steps that I can remember individually, but not in the correct sequence. I think that’s why I enjoyed Salsa so much, because you learned the steps of different moves and danced them in the order you wanted. Ballroom is a minefield for me.

Anyway, next was Quickstep and here I felt a bit better, mainly because Scamp and I had practised it the night before and I was beginning to come to terms with it. Maybe not to the speed of Paulo Nutini’s “Pencil Full of Lead”, but to a slightly more sedate Putting on the Ritz, I could handle it, or so I thought. My feet just wouldn’t do what they were supposed to do or go where they were supposed to go. I was having a bad day today.

After a quick break for a couple of sequence dances it was Sweetheart Cha Cha next. Actually I think we acquitted ourselves better at what is my most hated dance. I actually managed to fit in a couple of ronde near the end of the routine.

That was about it for today’s torture. The hall was being set up for a dance tonight and we were allowed away five minutes early for good behaviour.

We drove home via the Clyde tunnel to try to avoid the stramash that is the Kingston Bridge at any time on any day of the week. It actually worked. Although we still had to attempt to merge back into the main M8 stream after travelling along the express way, we didn’t have that agonising crawl up and over the bridge. I’ll maybe try that way again.

After lunch I took the A6000 with the standard lens and the 55-210mm lens for a walk in St Mo’s. A tangle of spider webs made PoD. While I was out, my dance teacher, Scamp, was perfecting her ‘Fishtails’ to that same Paulo Nutini track I mentioned earlier and was encouraging me to try keeping to the rhythm of the music, which, strangely enough was what Stewart was trying to get me to do during the dance class. Maybe that’s a path worth taking. I’ll try.

Tomorrow is maybe the last really warm bright day we’re going to have for a while. We may go a walk in the afternoon to enjoy it while it lasts.

 

Paisley – 22 April 2022

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Met Alex at the bus station in Glasgow and we walked down to Central station where we got the train to Paisley Gilmour Street station.

Ollie got home yesterday and I think the entire family is delighted with his progress. Alex, of course, had photos.

We got out at Paisley and walked through the town, had a bite to eat in Subway then got lost walking the wrong direction but found an old church at the end of a cobbled street at the top of a hill that looked interesting, so photos were taken. Further on another big sandstone church caught our eye and we spent some time there.

My phone was playing silly buggers and wouldn’t connect to the internet, but after a lot of swearing and a restart it was back in business and told me we were heading in exactly the wrong direction. We walked back through the town and passed a trio of blokes who were busking in the street. One of them looked familiar and the name “Rab Noakes” sprung into my head. I checked later and found I was right. I’m guessing he was just doing it for fun.

We manage half an hour in the Abbey and I got a few interesting photos of the stained glass windows, than we walked around and checked out the gargoyles, including the one that looks like the Alien from the movie.

I wanted some photos of Anchor Mill. Scamp and I have passed it many times driving through the town to go to the Paisley tea dance, but never had the time to stop and take some photos. Today was different. Not only had I the time and the company, I also had my ND filters and the attachments they needed to reduce the light getting in to the camera and allow me to use a slow shutter speed. Too much techy nonsense there, but basically I wanted to make the moving water look smooth and smoky. For once it worked a treat.

With that done, we were finished with our stated intentions and headed back to Glasgow on the train.

At St Enoch’s we bumped into Ross Malley and thankfully just missed his sister’s entourage as today was her hen party. I introduced him to Alex, we talked for a while, and then we went our separate ways. Alex and I walked up Bucky Street watched a street entertainer trying to whip up the Glasgow crowd to a frenzy and failing to encourage them to part with their cash for watching him jump through hoops of fire and knives.

We headed for our buses on opposite sides of the bus station and vowed we’d go back to Paisley again soon.

A shared Special fish supper bought on the way back home made a decent Friday night dinner for us. Scamp had been working in the garden and sowing some of the seeds she’d bought in the English garden centre.

The picture of Anchor Mill was PoD.

Tomorrow we’re dancing so we had a quick practise tonight.

Dancin’ – 21 April 2022

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Today Scamp wanted to go dancing in Paisley. It seemed only fair as I’m intending going on a photo walk with Alex tomorrow.

In the morning Scamp asked if I’d noticed the flowers on the magnolia in the back garden, I hadn’t. Last year it was feeling a bit sorry for itself and I think only about half the flowers came out. Today it was covered in white flowers. Obviously, whatever Scamp is doing is helping this old tree. I took a few photos of it, more for a record of the unexpected flowering than anything, but one of those photos turned out to be PoD.

We drove in to Paisley in the afternoon and had a hit and a miss day as far as dancing skill went. Most of the sequence dances came back to me eventually, but the waltz and quickstep were not our best. However, we did enjoy the day and the banter from the others sitting having tea. Well, it was a tea dance!

Back home and after dinner I started to rebuild the blog. Lots of writing to do and lots of photos to process. That’s why this is a catch-up as most of you will realise. The other thing I did was plant some of the basil seeds that Scamp had bought me. They are at present sitting in the sun in the front bedroom.

Tomorrow Alex and I are hoping to go to Paisley (again) to photograph the abbey and the Anchor Mill near the river.

Recovery – 20 April 2022

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Today was a getting back to normal day. Auld Claes and Purrich.

We went for the messages in the morning. Just the usual things and a wander round Tesco with a trolley. Not a lot of fun, but it has to be done.

Later, after lunch, Scamp was working in the garden, cutting the front grass and feeling grateful that we don’t have an enormous lawn, so do not need a petrol driven mower that just runs away with you. I too the Sony over to St Mo’s and set it loose taking photos of the whin bushes that are in full golden bloom just now. Basically that was it for the day. One of the pictures of the whin bushes got PoD.

Tomorrow we may be going dancing in Paisley.

The long way home – 19 April 2022

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It has to be done and it’s always a drag, no matter how you travel.

After a morning trying to resist repacking the bags, I gave in and just saw staring into space for a while. One last walk round ‘The Policies’ and then Simonne was ready to squeeze us and our luggage into the car. Vixen knew something was up and was really fidgety, hardly leaving Simonne’s side, so she came too in her crate.

She dropped us off at the train station after some clever manoeuvring round back streets of Stowmarket to avoid being held up at the level crossing which has a reputation for becoming a bottleneck. We said our goodbyes and dragged our stuff onto the platform, only to be told that the train was delayed by 3mins. Given that we only had 8mins to change platforms at Peterborough, that was a bit worrying. However, the driver made up that 3 minutes easily and we actually arrived at Peterborough ahead of schedule.

On the train to Edinburgh after a mix up when whoever was reading out the sections of the platform for the different carriages got them round the wrong way. We found our seats and were fed and watered all the way to Edinburgh where we’d just missed the earlier Glasgow train. Taxi was waiting for us at the station and we were soon home.

A long day, a bit fraught at times, but listening to Alan Cumming reading “Baggage” lightened the load.

PoD was a picture taken from the viaduct crossing the Tweed into Berwick on Tweed.

Tomorrow will be a relaxing day.

Last full day – 18 April 2022

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Our last full day at the house and we wanted to cram everything we could into those 12 waking hours.

It started off with a walk round the garden and the outside of this remarkable house and also some time for interior shots. I was glad I’d brought along the 18mm wide angle lens. Really useful for showing off the odd shaped rooms. Flowers, oh yes, lots of photos of flowers, but also photos of plants in Jamie’s greenhouse. Not just the immediate environs either, but also the church next door, St Mary’s. A few shots of that too. I’d thought I might get a last walk through it and down to the wee bridge, but there just wasn’t enough time.

Jamie drove us to look for some plants at a garden centre. The first place we went to had some plants they wanted and bought, but no compost which they needed. The second one was more like a retirement home for ill and dying plants. Not worth the name of a garden centre. The third one did have plants, compost and seeds. They didn’t want the seeds, but we did. I wanted Teasel seeds, but I also grabbed Yellow Rattle, Basil and Rocket micro greens. Scamp bought me a packet of Ammi majus which look like Cow Parsley, so hopefully I can have some in the garden, to save me walking to St Mo’s to capture hoverflies in the summer. Thanks Scamp!

Then we were off again, being driven to Bury St Edmonds to go for a walk through the Abbey gardens. Clever planting in the gardens with good colour combinations. We took more photos of the ruins in the gardens, but time constraints didn’t allow us a chance to visit the actual abbey. Maybe another time, if we’re allowed back. Outside the big ornate front entrance to the gardens there were a bollard and a post box that had been yarn bombed. I don’t know what I liked best, the Easter bunny or the flower garden with the bee. Both fun additions to the street furniture.

We had a rather high cholesterol lunch in Cafe Nero. My favourite being a Chouxnut which Jamie called a Croconut because that’s what they are called in the US where he’d seen them first. It is a soft choux pastry filled with white chocolate mousse topped with caramel biscuit fondant and crushed biscuits. Delicious and very fattening, but who’s counting when you’re on your holidays! I haven’t seen them up north, but maybe that’s a good thing.

Then we were driven back to the house, because Jamie wanted to show off his latest acquisition, a petrol driven lawn mower. Not a ride-on one, although that may come. Scamp was the first to try it out and found it a little bit more demanding than she’d anticipated. I have a video! I was a bit more cautious, since I’d had a chance to watch Scamp’s antics and realise that you don’t just go full speed all the time. I don’t do the ‘grass hoovering’ at home, but I can see how much of a boon this must be when you have such a big lawn on a slope.

Jamie wanted a head and shoulders shot for his profile page and I took a few shots when we were finished playing with the new toy. After a bit of cosmetic adjustments in Lightroom he was satisfied with the result.

After that it was time to start stuffing all our clothes into our bags, and for me, finding places to store cameras, lenses and all the assorted paraphernalia that photogs carry about with them. We had a final drink and then it was time for bed.

PoD was an ingenious lock on a little shed which holds the gas canisters that provide the means of cooking in the house.

Tomorrow is the long journey home.

The payback day – 17 April 2022

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Yesterday was the day of the big posh lunch. Today was different.

While Simonne was at church in the morning we were just wandering around the garden, or maybe it was just me who was wandering around the garden taking photos. Scamp was weeding the flower beds and Jamie was in his greenhouse. I took the opportunity to go for a walk round the church and down to that dry stream bed. Again I went right at the bottom, but went on past the bridge into uncharted territory. I soon found a path turning left dividing two field and climbing a hill. That’s where I found the Small Tortoiseshell butterfly that became today’s PoD. I met a couple there who gave me directions to get back to the house by a different route, past a football park. I thanked them and followed their directions, but just as I found the combination football/cricket ground, I felt the tug of the leash. Scamp was telling me Simonne was back and it was almost lunch time. No time to find the alternative path. I retraced my steps.

After lunch we stared in the garden again. Scamp and Simonne were rooting out the weeds in the flower beds and Jamie was intent on breaking up the compacted ground near the sheds. We think the sheds had originally been stables because they had the two part doors you associate with stables. That might be a total fallacy, but it would also fit the house and garden. Anyway, there is a large area of well trodden earth at the end of the lawn and it does look like the bald patch on the back of a man’s head.

Jamie was making heavy weather of digging into the compacted earth with a trowel, so I had a scrounge around the shed to see if there was anything a bit bigger and with more heft. I found what turned out to be a garden fork adaption for digging out Ragwort from horses’ pasture land. Ragwort is a weed with bright yellow flowers. The entire plant is deadly poisonous to animals, but especially sheep and horses. I think the fork must have belonged to Simonne, but it was easily better than the trowel Jamie was using. After he saw how easily I was breaking up the soil with it, Jamie took over from me and I found a hoe in the shed and used it to further break up the bigger clods. Between us we managed to clear the entire area.

Jamie had initially thought he’d get the area raked, rolled and seeded, but he sensibly decided to leave that until the next day at least and water the beds instead. Once he’d started watering his end of the garden, Simonne started watering the flower beds and Scamp went to sit in the ‘Gallery’ and read. The place was looking a lot better and we were both pleased that we’d done at least something when we were “Dahn Sarf” as Ray, a Londoner, would say.

While they were watering the garden I found another of the elusive Bee Flies and this time I managed to get a few shots of it on my phone before it flew away. I think we’d done enough for one day. We all sat and had a beer in the Gallery which is a little lean-to sun trap on the side of the house. We listened to the church bells and the rooks, then watched the sun go down behind the church.

Later we watched a strange film “Black Crabs”. A Swedish production with badly lip synched dialog, but beautiful photography.

Tomorrow we may be going to Bury St Edmonds to walk round the abbey gardens.

Posh Lunch – 16 April 2022

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Another sunny day and we were being taken for lunch.

Wandered round the garden in the morning then Jamie drove us to Bury St Edmonds for lunch at Maison Bleu and what a lunch. Here goes!

Starter
Scamp: A Beetroot Gateau which really did look like a slice of Tipsy Cake.
Jamie & Simonne: Seared Isle of Orkney King Scallop, Chicken Wings, artichoke, Pancetta and Chicken Jus.
Me: Slow braised Beef Cheek, Lettuce Ravioli, Carrot Crisp Kohlrabi with carrot and Curcuma sauce.
Main
Scamp: Isle of Gigha Halibut, celery gel, nori seaweed powder, fish sauce grilled leek and broccoli.
Simonne: Fillet of Aberdeen Angus beef, Maury wine sauce, Celeriac, Roscoff Onion Confit, Béarnaise espuma, and salt fermented celeriac.
Jamie: Roasted Balotine of saddle and leg of Rabbit, reduction sauce, shallot confit, Jerusalem artichoke and chervil.
Me: Roasted haunch of Breckland venison, Tornatore black olive sauce, black potato purée and parsnip.
Dessert
Scamp: Pear with Honeycomb (which I’d have called Puff Candy).
Jamie & Simonne: Opera Gateau.
Me: My dessert was called, simply, Apple. It looked like a shiny red apple, but when you cut into it with a spoon it crunched like an old fashioned candy apple. Inside was an apple mousse.
We washed all the foregoing down with a bottle of wine which Scamp chose but Jamie chose instead to have a bottle of beer.

Really quite an excellent and very posh lunch. Many photos were taken of the food as befits foodies like us and many stories will be told about it in the future, I hope.

We had a gentle walk round the outskirts of the centre of Bury St Edmonds before Jamie drove us home where we sat in the garden and admired the sunset over the church. I found a miner bee digging in the grass at the back of the house. The first time I’ve seen one of those. The insects down south have been an eye opener for me.

PoD was a picture of the church taken when we arrived back at the house after our lunch.

Tomorrow we may be doing some gardening.

Walking the dog – 15 April 2022

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A bit of freedom for Vixen.

In the morning, after breakfast and a cup of Jamie’s coffee from his posh Sage coffee machine, we went for a walk round the garden, a conducted tour, in fact. The garden covers half an acre. I don’t know how big that is, but it is a fair swathe of grass with a veg area purely for Jamie and lots of island areas of flowers that are Simonne’s area. Best of all, he has a greenhouse, a real glass glazed one, not a little plastic one like ours. Lots of potential there.

After the tour, Jamie drove us to a dog walking field where Vixen could run as far as she wanted without fear of meeting any other four legged friends (or enemies). We spent about an hour wandering round three fields of different shapes and sizes. Vixen may have been the reason we were there, but I was searching the trees and hedges for photo opportunities. Almost right away I saw a Bee Fly, but of course my camera was still in the bag, but my phone was handy and was sure I could grab a snap with it. Next time I’ll buy a mobile with a macro facility. Missed the Bee Fly, but at least I saw one.

What I did find was an almost totally brown Shield Bug and I did get two photos of it. There were apple trees in one of the field hedges and they were still holding their blossom and one of the Lensbaby shots of the blossom was in for PoD. With Vixen exhausted and my Lensbaby having captured a potential PoD, Jamie drove us back home for lunch.

After lunch the other three went to do some gentle work in the garden and I took my camera for a walk past the old church and down the hill to the dried up stream bed at the bottom. I turned right before the bridge over the stream bed and walked for about half a mile to another bridge over the same stream bed, crossed the bridge, turned left and found my way back to the house. I was passing between two fields. One with what looked like beans and the other with some form of corn or maize. The soil was interspersed with big chunks of flint.

By the time I got back, there was just enough time to have a beer in The Gallery before dinner.

PoD did indeed go to the apple blossom.

Tomorrow we’re off to Bury St Edmonds for lunch.

Heading South – 14 April 2022

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You could say were were in train-ing for a holiday. You could say it, but only if you were into bad puns.

There wasn’t a lot to say about the day:

09:30 Taxi to the station.

09:45 Train to Edinburgh – First Class, of course.

11:00 Train from Edinburgh to Peterborough – First Class again.

14:45 Arrived in Peterborough after a somewhat disappointing lunch. A veg wrap for Scamp and a tub of veg salad for me. We made up for it with alcohol, though!

An hour to hang about in Peterborough station waiting for the next train. There’s not a lot to do in Peterborough station if you’re not a trainspotter, but I did get a photo of Scamp with a <spit> Starbucks latte, or Babychino as she described it.

15:50 Train from Peterborough to Stowmarket.

17:15 Arrived in Stowmarket.

Couldn’t find Simonne who was our chauffeuse for the final leg of the journey. She said she was in the car park, but she must have been lying … or else, there was more than one car park. Aha! There was another car park and there was Simonne! Hooray, we will go to the ‘new’ house!

It was only about a fifteen minute journey to Old Newton. After meeting and being greeted by Vixen, we went on a tour of the house, complete with the 3’-6”high doors. Almost like half a door, given that the width of it was normal. It was just the height that was a bit disconcerting.

When Jamie got home, later, it was too dark to get a tour of the garden. Instead, we had dinner of Thai Fish Cakes, which we’ve never managed to master and then we just sat and talked then watched TV for a triple episode binge of Anatomy of a Scandal which was quite interesting, or maybe we were both just zonked after a day of sitting, eating, drinking and changing trains.

Surprisingly the bed was comfortable and the room was, well, ‘roomy’. The original tenants might have been short, but they certainly liked lots of space. In a 16th century house I was expecting creepy noises in the night, but either the spirits weren’t interested or we were both too tired to be bothered, but we had an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

PoD is a rather scruffy building that used to be part of the station at Stowmarket. It might be a bit of an eyesore now, but if you look at the brickwork you’ll understand the amount of work and skill that went into the building of it.

Tomorrow we would discover the garden.