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Soaked – 27 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It was a wet day, a very wet day. Spring was giving in to the rain.

  • Stayed in the house and watched the rain for a while
  • Eventually Scamp and I got fed up and we decided to go for a walk.
  • We went across the road and found a path I’d walked five years ago, a different one from the other day.
  • The further we walked, the heavier the rain became and the more lost we got, although not entirely lost because we occasionally glimpsed the golf course we were crossing through.
  • We were looking for a cafe we knew was there somewhere, but eventually gave up and walked back to the main road. That’s when we saw the clubhouse and presumably the cafe.
  • By then we just wanted to get out of the rain, and I was beginning to think the clubhouse was a mirage anyway.
  • Aren’t mirages meant to be found in hot, dry, arid places like deserts?
  • Eventually soaked, we dried off.
  • Neil brought filled rolls from a bakers and a newspaper we could stuff into my leaky trainers and leave to dry out on the radiator. Thank you Neil.
  • Dinner was in an Italian restaurant with Canute, Delia, Hazel, Neil and us. Good food and a comedian of a waiter. Lots of laughing and some planning too.
  • Evening was spent packing our bags for the train home tomorrow.
  • PoD was a dragonfly carving we passed on our trudge through Horton Country Park

Londinium – 26 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

A visit to the big city.

  • The options were a walk in the park or a walk round London. No contest.
  • Neil gave us a lift to xxx and we took a train from there to Waterloo.
  • We wandered round the streets near the Thames and saw some strange sights that I won’t reveal here, except to say that the people concerned were happy to reveal!!
  • Our biggest find was the Tate Modern. Neither of us had been there before and thought it might be too high brow for the likes of us.
  • It wasn’t. It was a gigantic space. Definitely worth the visit.
  • Hopefully we’ll investigate more the next time we’re here
  • Lunch was a beer and a packet of crisps for me.
  • Lunch was a glass of Malbec and a packet of crisps for Scamp.
  • We got train back from Waterloo to Chessington.

A better day today – 25 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today was a better day. More sunshine and some broken cloud.

  • Jamie arrived right on time and he, Neil, Scamp and I went to a different garden centre for lunch
  • Hazy was resting at home and Simonne was looking after Vixen.
  • We had lunch and were careful not to overdo things because we were having dinner later.
  • Scamp was in her element wandering round the plants, mostly varieties of lavender.
  • I do believe, if we had the space, she would have brought half of the plants home with her.
  • After Neil drove us home we said goodbye to Jamie who had a two hour and more journey home.
  • Hopefully we’ll see him and Simonne in a month or so’s time when they break a journey to Arran, with us.
  • I got some photos of the sparrows and bluetits feeding on seeds in the garden.
  • Later Scamp and I went for a walk in Horton Country Park. A maze of paths through trees that we’d ventured through the last time we’d been here, five years ago.
  • On the way home we passed the strangest garden. The front garden of the house was a collection on toys and hand painted signs. Weird!

Hopefully we’ll visit London tomorrow while Neil and Canute go to football on the other side of the capital and Hazy has another day’s rest.

A dull day – 24 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

  • After a lazy morning, we intended to go to the Lavender fields, but after some investigation we found that they weren’t open for another two weeks.
  • Instead, Neil drove us to the Lavender fields cafe where we had lunch.
  • We spoke to one of the gardeners at the cafe who had once lived with a man from Glasgow, but left him because she couldn’t understand a word he said. Cheek!!
  • Neil made Turkey Pilaff for dinner.
  • PoD was a rose from Hazel’s front garden.

The Number 71 to Kingston – 23 May 2025

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Another day of sunny skies with a few clouds.

  • We walked up the hill to catch the No 71 bus to Kingston.
  • After a fairly circuitous journey through Surbiton because of roadworks, we reached Kingston.
  • We walked around the town for a while trying to see where there were changes from the last time we’d been.
  • Food came from a stall in the square. Lightly spiced chicken on a sub roll.
  • Got the No 71 back to the usual stop and walked the rest of the way.
  • Neil’s mum and dad arrived in the early evening for dinner. That seems to be a tradition.
  • Dinner was a variety of fish with chips. Scamp had haddock and I had cod.
  • It was good to see Canute & Delia again.
  • Quite a busy day, but a well filled one

No plans for tomorrow.

Let the train take the strain – 22 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It could almost be subtitled. “Busy doing noting”.

  • Taxi to Croy from the house
  • Train from Croy to Edinburgh.
  • We got access to the posh waiting room with it’s shower ( broken) and Wi Fi (broken).
  • Four hours on the train heading south being fed and watered (not bad!)
  • Scamp directed us through the labyrinth of the London Underground to Vauxhall.
  • She also took us up to catch the overground train.
  • Got out of this seemingly constant procession of trains to be met by Neil outside the station.
  • Neil also made tonight’s dinner, spiced chicken in wraps. Lovely.
  • An early bed tonight.

No plans for tomorrow yet.

Hot again today – 21 May 2025

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A day that started with 14ºc but which did have a few sprinkles of rain to cool us down.

It wasn’t a day for doing much or for going anywhere. Most of the work we were doing was in the house for a change, at least it was cool there. I couldn’t be bothered going over to St Mo’s for photos, so restricted myself to photos of the bees on the rhododendrons and a few from the aquilegia that are beginning to set seeds now, although there are plenty of flowers on them yet. Both the flowers and the seedheads are good subjects for photography.

In the afternoon, Scamp treated us to a glass of Pimms and dinner tonight was another variation on Neil’s Chicken Rice. This was the third meal we’ve had from the chicken we bought on Sunday!

The sprinkles of rain we got wasn’t as heavy, nor as long lasting as we’d hoped, but the weather fairies are adamant that there will be heavy and more prolonged rain next week. Let’s hope they have it right this time.

No real plans for tomorrow.

Back to the heat again – 20 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

After a respite from the heat yesterday, today it was back to the heat again.

The weather fairies keep telling us that rain is coming and that temperatures will return to the May norms, but unfortunately nobody has told the weather itself, yet. Today was another hot one, but there were signs later in the day that a change is coming. Cooler than it has been in the early evenings and a few more heavy, possibly rain bearing clouds crossing the sky. We live in hope.

I spent most of the morning writing and posting the blogs I’d just finished, along with the ones I’d collected the bare bones of from the weekend. It’s only Tuesday, but the weekend feels like it was ages ago.

We went shopping in the afternoon, just getting the bare essentials, but Scamp remembered we needed a couple of bags of cheap(ish) compost to fill up the potato bags and bucket. The warm weather really brought them on. Also, I remembered that they are Arran Victory.

Shopping done and after lunch, I put on a pair of shorts and went for a walk over to St Mo’s. PoD came from that walk and it’s an upside down spider. Google Images thinks it’s a Tetragnatha extensa, but I’m not sure it is. When I got back, Scamp had made a jug of Pimms with some apples and oranges chopped into it. Very welcome. Dinner was Neil’s Chicken Rice. I don’t know what the proper name for it is, and I don’t think Scamp knows either. It was as delicious as it usually is.

We watered the garden using watering cans tonight. I think we felt guilty about using a hose. There isn’t a hosepipe ban in force here yet, but the news folk keep banging on about it, so this is our contribution to the crisis.

No plans for tomorrow, yet.

 

Troosers – 19 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

I was looking for a cheap(ish) pair of walking trousers and came home with two!

In this month of excessive heat, I’d grown attached to a pair of walking trousers, lightweight Brasher ones I got in a sale in Tiso a few years ago. I’d forgotten just how comfortable these trousers were and also how versatile with a multitude of pockets of varying sizes.

We drove over to Tiso and only after rummaging around all the expensive ones and rejecting them because they didn’t feel as comfortable as my old lightweight Brashers did I eventually find only two pairs of Brashers in the bargain bin. One pair were size 30 (too small) and the other pair were size 40 (too big) . No Goldilocks trousers for me from Tiso.

Scamp stuck the address for Go Outdoors into the sat nav and we drove over to Coatbridge. There they did have exactly the trousers I was looking for and in two colours too. Nothing dramatic in the colour scheme, just either black or brown. Scamp suggested that it looked like the trousers were being withdrawn, I should take advantage of the cheaper price and buy both pairs. That seemed like a sound investment, so that’s what I did.

Now I just need a decent pair of trainers to complete my ensemble or maybe I should just be grateful that I’ve got a pair of trousers that look like they’ll fit me.

Drove home and Scamp made chicken and mushroom pasta for dinner. Usually my creation, but on this occasion, I let her have her head and she did produce a good filling meal.

Spoke to Hazel later and heard that Tilly’s leg seems to be ok after her x-ray which is a weight of their shoulders, and Tilly’s too I expect.

PoD was a sunset, taken from the house. I was quite impressed with it.

No plans for tomorrow as yet.

Driving home – 18 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

After an hour’s dancing.

Woke about 5am to the joyous sound of hundreds of screaming seagulls. Well, it felt like hundreds, but it could have been thousands. Really, why do we call them seagulls. Most of them have never been near the sea!

Went down early for breakfast and were some of the first folk in the restaurant. At least we didn’t have to queue for the breakfast. After that we went for a walk down to the viewing gallery over the River Tay and at the early (for us) hour of 10am, it was pleasantly comfortable to walk around without a jacket or a hoodie.

We took a circuitous route round the town that led back to the Salutation, thinking we might be the first there, but we were wrong, there were lots of other dancers there tying on shoes and discussing yesterday’s high points.

We danced a mixture of old and new dances, mostly sequence dances with the occasional ballroom or jive dance thrown in. An hour and a half later we trundled out of the hotel and drove out of Perth. We’d already dropped our bags, rucksacks and other stuff in the car.

A relatively quiet drive home with a stop at M&S in Dunblane for tonight’s dinner which was a roast in the bag chicken. I’d already bagged a few frames in Perth as a backup just in case.

Dinner was great. Nicely roasted chicken which was moist and tasted great. Served with a side salad and the last of the new potatoes.

Watched the Emilia Romagna GP and gave a small cheer for the driver who came second, only because he was British.

PoD was a shot of a padlock on the railing of “The Ship” viewing gallery of the River Tay. A kind of abstract.

Tomorrow may be tidying up day.