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Up early and out – 12 November 2019

Posted on by Zogman

Off to a warm place

Early rise, just before 6am. Quick breakfast then a fairly easy drive to Glasgow Airport. Equally easy check in and then, as usual my bag got hand searched at security, but this time the tray holding my ‘tronic stuff got searched too. I’m was beginning to think the ground coffee was looking suspicious, but what is there in a Kindle, a Samsung phone and a ten year old laptop, all of which switched off that could give cause for concern? Anyway, we were sent on our way again.

Flight was on time and the actual flight was without event. It was actually an interesting flight with very little cloud after we left Scotland. Great having plenty of leg room in the Jet 2 plane.

Short wait for our pre-booked taxi, and a short run to hotel. The room was fine, on 5th floor with a sea view as advertised. Unfortunately there was no sunny balcony and it faced into wind. A strong wind. Fuerteventura is always windy, but according to the weather app this was a 20 – 25mph wind which is a lot stronger than usual.

Quickly got dressed in something more appropriate for the 23ºc temperature and went in search of our first holiday beer. It’s traditional, lunch and a beer in the sun. We won’t starve.

After dinner we danced to Tina, the saxophonist who we were hoping told be working the hotel. So we should be having at least two nights of dancing as she will be back on Thursday, all being well. We even had a visit from the dancing Pepe who wasn’t worked very hard because there were very few kids for the Kids Club. I think the visit made Scamp’s night.

PoD was a quick snap of the airies at Glasgow.

Tomorrow we investigate the hotel further.

They brought a tank – 11 November 2019

Posted on by Zogman

I made my decision this morning and packed up the Sony RX 100iii.

It was a pretty little thing, but in the end it was overpriced, even considering what I paid for it and it didn’t do what I intended it to. It had to go. Drove into Glasgow and returned it. I got my money back and also had the JL points deducted from my account, which is only fair. I then bought a Panasonic TZ 90. Not nearly as pretty as the Sony, but a lot more useful I hope. I wanted a camera with a large sensor, a long zoom and a tilting rear screen with a viewfinder if possible, Santa. The TZ 90 doesn’t have the large sensor but it does have a long zoom, a tilting screen and a viewfinder. Actually the Sony had ticks in all but one of my boxes too, but I just didn’t like it. It’s as simple as that. The TZ 90 is to replace a hard worked TZ70, so most of the controls are in familiar places. The fact that it was £100 cheaper was of no consequence.

Came home and Scamp was just going out to get Gems. After a quick lunch and a cursory glance at the users manual, I plugged the camera in and let it charge and charge and charge for about four hours. In the meantime I took the Oly out for a run. I needed petrol and a run in the country would lift my spirits, I thought. Drove up onto Fannyside Moss and that’s where today’s PoD came from. Lovely cloudscape over the far hills. They had been covered with a light dusting of snow this morning, but now almost all of it was gone.

Came back just as Gems were leaving. After some discussion, Scamp and I decided that we’d miss out on Salsa tonight, because we both had a lot to do.

On the way back from my photo trip, I took a run past the school and, oh dear. It looks like they brought in a tank after all. The glazing panels down the side of the Techy block are gone and part of T1 drawing room has gone. It won’t be long until it’s just a memory. Goodbye T4. I had some good days and some bad days there, but mostly good.

No great plans for tomorrow. We’ll see where the day takes us.

Bad coffee and good cakes – 10 November 2019

Posted on by Zogman

That seems to be the story of our outings recently. Why do so many people make such bad coffee?

We went to The Fort today, more to get out of the house than anything. It was a cold morning with -1ºc on the outside temperature when I got up. By the time we were heading for The Fort it had warmed up, but it was still single figures centigrade, thankfully positive single figures though. We were going to Boots. We could have gone to Cumbersheugh Boots, but a wee run in the car could just brighten our day.

After our Boots visit we went for coffee in Costa, but the queue was even longer than usual. Gave up and went to Pret a Manger, because the other option was Starbucks and we wanted a coffee, not a Starbucks. Maybe we’d have been better taking the risk, because the brown liquid in a paper cup I got didn’t taste of anything, not even Costa’s burnt water tastes that thin. The cakes were good, but that’s not a reason to go back.

Back home and after our lunch with Real coffee, I worked on a shot I’d taken in the morning of some Japanese maple seeds. Ones we’d picked at Colzium a week or two ago. I used the Sony to take them and they turned out ok. There’s a lot to this camera. A lot of complicated looking menus that I’m beginning to get my head round. For how much longer, I still don’t know. Scamp said tonight that she’s never seen me so undecided about any purchase. Anyway, that photo made PoD.

Later I walked over to St Mo’s to see if there was anything more worthwhile, but the light was fading rapidly and the cold and damp were making the walk uncomfortable. Some blokes, adults were racing little dune buggies, radio controlled with petrol engines on the BMX track. I’ve seen them there before, but there were about half a dozen of them today. I’ll maybe have a go at photographing them some day. Some day with better light, I mean.

To increase my step count, Scamp and I went over last Wednesday’s Jive routine. It works now and we’ve got the video to help us clean it up. I did manage to get my “8 Active Hours” because of the practise. Still well away from achieving my 10,000 steps.

Tomorrow it’s Gems in the afternoon and perhaps dancing at night. It depends on how we’re feeling.

Pythagoras, Roast Chicken and a Baked Potato – 9 November 2019

Posted on by Zogman

It was a cold start to the day and it only gradually got warmer. The best thing that happened today was Roast Chicken and a baked potato. Pythagoras was useful too.

It was one of those days that my dad used to warn me about. “When you’re retired,” he told me, “you don’t get weekends.” It’s true. Weekends are just like any other day … almost. Mondays are different. Mondays are days to wake early. Walk to the window and look at the rain streaming down, then go back to bed for an hour. Today was Saturday and we didn’t have anywhere we wanted to go. So we got up and sat and read the news on tablet or on computer.

I decided I’d best take the new piece of technology out for a test drive. It performed well enough, but not enough to convince me not to return it to JL. It might get packed up tonight, but more likely tomorrow morning. It’s good, but not worth the money that’s being asked for it. It’s touted as being a 1” sensor, but the actual dimensions of the sensor are 13.2mm by 8.8mm. Now, applying Pythagoras to that will give you a diagonal size of 15.86mm. As far as I can remember, 1” = 25.4mm, so the diagonal of the sensor in this camera and others like it is in fact 0.62 of an inch. That’s if and only if the entire sensor is used, because it never is! Do you realise that the ‘camera’ inside a phone is actually smaller than your pinkie nail? Like all things photographic, it’s a con. One of the photos I took with the ‘medium dog’, the Oly E-M1 graces the top of this page and became PoD. It’s a close up of the seed head of cow parsley. Shot against the sun it’s quite pretty IMO.

Lunch could have been in a restaurant or cafe somewhere, but ended up being a piece ’n’ black pudding for Scamp and a piece ’n’ bacon for me. Suitably refreshed, we started making plans for dinner and my suggestion of roast chicken met with Scamp’s approval. We walked down to the shops and got a chicken and other stuff for dinner. The car park was full, absolutely full. Maybe some folk were hoping for a glimpse and perhaps a selfie with Denise Van Outen whoever she is, because she was opening Matalan this morning, but I imagine she would be well gone by the time we arrived.

It’s a pleasant walk down to the shops now. I imagine Tesco is feeling a slight pinch, but nothing too serious. The roast chicken and baked potatoes were lovely. Even better, there’s more for tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I have no plans, but I my parcel up the Sony camera and give someone else the chance to be disappointed with it. Scamp is doing stuff in the house, I believe.

The Highs and the Lows – 8 November 2019

Posted on by Zogman

Cameras. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

I’ve been looking for a replacement for my Panasonic Lumix TZ70 which is a wonderful pocket camera. Long, Long zoom, shoots in the malleable RAW format, nice comfortable grip and an ideal form factor. Its big drawbacks are the small sensor (the digital “film”) and its habit of sucking in dust to the lens and ultimately to the sensor. A tiny bit of dust on a DSLR sensor is a bit of a pain, as is a tiny hair. On a sensor that’s smaller than your pinkie nail, that tiny bit of dust is a great black blob. My Teazer has a host of those blobs and now has a hair to keep them company. That’s my reasoning for looking for a replacement. Not ‘another’ camera as JIC will have it, but a replacement. One in, one regretfully out.

I’ve been charting the price fluctuations of a Sony RX100iii for the past few weeks and had a look at the camera in Jessops which was the cheapest of the local shops and Amazon too. Today when I checked, the price had risen by £30 from £449 to £479. The price hike, I presume is so they can ‘reduce’ the price again for Black Friday at the end of the month. It looked like it was out of the question, but I had a second runner in the race and thought I’d have a look at it. Went to JL and they had it in stock it was a Panasonic LX10 (I knew you’d want to know that JIC), but although it had a viewfinder, it didn’t have tilting screen which I now use a lot on my Olys. Bummer! Then I noticed in the reduced section in JL, the Sony I’d been denied by Jessops false price hike. Better than that, it was a kit, complete with a finger grip and a leather case. Best of all, it was about £100 below even the original asking price for the kit in Jessops! I took it. Things were on the up, perhaps. Scamp had got herself ‘another’ pair of jeans in M&S, so she was a happy bunny too.

Came home and went to lunch at Milano Express at Old Inns. Pizzas were a bit of a disappointment, lovely light, well-fired base, but far too heavy on the cheese. Must ask for less cheese next time. Had a relaxing lunch and Scamp was driving on a beautiful sunny day.

By the time we got home there was hardly any time to grab a photo and I did want to unpack this small miracle camera. It was small, it is tiny. Without the finger grip it’s very difficult to hold. Quite slippery. The controls, too are tiny and the menu is a labyrinth of jargon filled abbreviations. You can control the camera using NFC which is great, but the software is a bit clumsy and doesn’t always work. Also, the ‘control’ you have is whether to shoot with a time delay or not. No chance to change aperture or shutter speed. No clue what you’re focusing on. It’s all a bit hit or miss, but mostly miss. Long story short, although the camera is perfect and looks like it’s never been used, I think it may go back on JL’s shelf soon.

Today’s PoD is a slice of pomegranate, but could equally well be a slice through my befuddled brain!

Tomorrow we have no plans.

Dull, Dull, Dull – 7 November 2019

Posted on by Zogman

That sort of sums up the day. Dull with the chance of Brexit.

I’m getting fed up with the amount electioneering we are getting on the (supposed) news. The first thing they talk about is the election or Brexit. No news there. We know there’s going to be an election. We’ve been saddled with Brexit since 2016. Why is the important stuff always playing second fiddle to this nonsense.

Then it’s Labour slagging off the Conservatives. Conservatives slagging off Labour. Lib Dems labouring under a delusion that they’re going to oust both of them and the SNP slavering for another referendum. Then there’s some poor reporter who’s sent to some god-forsaken town to try to drum up some interest in the whole shebang. Haven’t you heard yet? Nobody’s interested, and apart from the party faithful, nobody has found any party in the whole mess worth voting for. For what must be the first time in my life I don’t want to vote. Scamp even suggested that I should spoil my ballot paper and I might just do that and write “NONE OF THE ABOVE” at the bottom. There, I’ve got that out of my system.

Today was a dull day, but it brightened up in the afternoon and the rain dried up too. I managed out for a walk in St Mo’s and came back with the monochrome offering at the top of the page. Walked on down to the new shops and got a nice wee bottle of wine to go with the dinner. I’d made some soup and Scamp made Chicken and Mushrooms. The wine washed it down beautifully.

After talking to Val in the morning I gave Linux on the Linx another go, but I’m getting tied in knots with it now and beginning to think that it’s more trouble than its worth. I’ll just put Windows back in, reset it to factory settings and sell the big black slab. It’s always been ok, but not great. Windows 10 kills it. Might get a few quid for it and put that to getting a replacement for my dust ridden Teazer.

No plans for tomorrow other than hopefully going to Milano Express for lunch.

Mainly Dancing – 6 November 2019

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Today was dull and cold, but the dancing was good.

We drove in to Glasgow today under a dull November sky. We’d had another short practise this morning and I felt I’d got all four parts of the new routine off pat. So what happened? Michael was back and he wanted us to dance the old routine instead, Over the Rainbow. I couldn’t say I was Over the Moon about it, but needs must when the Michael drives. He added a bit of spice to the mixture by mixing up the couples and thankfully I got one of the ‘experts’ and Scamp got Anne Marie, the second in command.

We both survived Over the Rainbow and were allowed to go back to our normal partners, then we started on the new routine, and I must admit we were almost flawless. Others weren’t so lucky, but after last week, I know how that feels. We even went on to the next part of the routine which is the Forward and Reverse Sleeves which sounds as if it’s part of a knitting pattern, more than a dance routine. It is a bit more complicated than Over the Rainbow, but that’s to be expected. The main thing is we survived Jive and then it was time for Waltz.

We weren’t so perfect with the ballroom, but we did brush up on some of the routines in both Waltz and Quickstep. Who knows, we might even be able to dance at Stuart and Jane’s Christmas Ball without crashing into folk.

Went to see Dougie’s pictures – first time for Scamp and second time for me. The ones I liked are still stunning and Scamp was impressed with the quality of the prints.

Had a look for the Sony camera in City Centre Cameras in Parnie Street, but it was out of stock. After coffee we drove home through the gathering gloom. Not even 3.30 and the light was going. Today’s PoD is of some tangled Boris Bikes on Queen Street. Nothing great about it at all, but I liked the random chaos of the grey metal frames.

Tomorrow we have no plans.

Over the Forth on the Fifth – 5 November 2019

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Yesterday was Gems day. A Tuesdays is rapidly becoming our day.

It was a lovely morning and we decided we had to go out and enjoy it. Scamp suggested Kirkintilloch and I suggested Dunfermline. Scamp then said that was her second choice and we’d go to Kirkie on our next free day, so Dunfermline it was.

The River Forth was shining beautifully when we drove over the Kincardine Bridge. I was tempted to stop, but I’d proposed Dunfermline and while Scamp wouldn’t have complained about me taking a diversion, I thought I’d better stick to the plan. We parked just at Pittencrief Park and had a walk round the park in beautiful light shining through the trees and lighting them up. Found today’s PoD there too. A genuine fairy toadstool. The notorious Fly Agaric. Look but don’t touch unless you want to wake up in hospital, or never again.

The walk up through the town was less photogenic. Boarded up shops and more than their fair share of charity shops. It was like an outdoor version of the Cumbersheugh Town Centre. Good enough for coffee and a bit to eat though. After that we just walked back to the car, via M&S for Scamp and Waterstones for me.

As we were driving home the clouds seemed to be gathering, but I don’t think they were serious about it because the forecast is for sub zero temperatures tonight because of the clear skies. Also, as we reached the Forth again on the way out of Fife, with the low sun the river was shining again. I resisted the temptation again.

Practised the Fearsome Four Jive moves for tomorrow and I seem to have a finger hold on them at last. I’ll let the little grey cells work on them overnight and file the successful method away for further reference. Tomorrow morning we’ll try again and all will be well, I’m sure.

That was about it for today. A lovely day, most enjoyable. Tomorrow, hopefully, we’re dancing again.

Rain and Balloons – 4 November 2019

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All day, it rained. I think it should stop now, we get the message.

There was no point in going anywhere today unless you had to. Scamp had to go out to collect some of Gems, because today was Monday and that’s what happens on a Monday, Gems come. After she came back and after Margie and I had a look at each other’s drawings, I got my wet weather stuff on and drove out to the local council tip to get rid of the bottle of stinking oil I’d used to make the pakora the other day. After that I drove back via Tesco to get some money from the money machine and to get milk. You understand that there are times when these things are the highlights of the day.

Salsa tonight was enough to brighten any day. Tonight was Jamie G’s Halloween Party with balloons, fairy lights, glow sticks and reindeer antlers. There should have been witches hats, but one the other teachers had stolen them. Children? What can you do with them? As well as the usual festivities, this was the first night of a beginners class and we were called upon to help out. It wasn’t an onerous task, in fact it’s quite fun to be considered an “expert”. It’s also fun to watch their faces when Jamie demonstrates what they’ll be able to do in eight weeks time. You can see them whispering to each other, “I’ll never be able to do that!” But the thing is, They Will! Yes a Halloween party with everybody acting like big kids and a chance to be an “Expert”. Those two things made me forget about the dull day and the rain.

Today’s PoD is a sycamore seed which was stuck by the rain on the rear light cluster of the car. I liked the patterns the rain made more than anything else.

Tomorrow looks like a better day, but we’ll have to wait until morning to see if it works out that way.

Rained again last night – 3 November 2019

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And most of today too.

It was one of those days that entice you out with the promise of sunshine and the unwary will venture out and end up soaked. The more circumspect will notice that there is a fine drizzle sparkling through the sunshine and wait for it to clear completely. For most of the day we were in that second group, then we made an excuse, any excuse, went out and got wet. There, that more or less sums up the day.

Spoke to Hazy in the morning and then she phoned back to sort out a couple of iPhone problems for me. It’s great to have an expert on hand for just those niggling problems. After a puzzling hour Scamp and I finally managed to get my calendar and hers to speak to each other. You would think that in this day and age of technical wizardry, something as simple as sharing a calendar would be easy peasy, but it’s not. But then it’s associated with emails and it’s well known that emails and printers are the biggest nuisances in computing, other than trying to install Linux in a Linx computer that its, but that’s another story.

Here is that other story. I have a Linx 12×64, 2 in 1 laptop. It works fairly well, but it’s saddled with the despicable Windows 10 OS. It forever wants to “Get me back on track”. I don’t want to get back on track, I just want it to do what it’s told. That’s when I thought it might be a good idea to install Linux. Linux for those of you who have never heard of it is a free (as in free beer and free speech) operating system that runs on a UNIX base, much like a Mac. It’s a bit geeky, Val uses it, so it’s a lot geeky and the two of us are now competing to get it to run on our 12x64s. He’s almost there and I thought I was today until the screen on Elementary OS closed down every 15 seconds, no matter what I did to try to stop it. The challenge still continues and I’ll have another go tonight. I thought I’d broken the Linx last night when it ended up in no man’s land with no OS at all. No Linux and no Windows. Then I crossed my fingers and used Macrium to restore a backup of Windows and it rose from the dead again. I’m trying to keep this light with very little technospeak for JIC’s benefit, so I won’t explain my big mistake that led to that little problem. Suffice to say I won’t do it again … until the next time it sounds like a good idea.

Eventually Scamp harrumphed and said it was time to go out and get wet. We walked down to the new shops in the almost dry, got our messages and came home in the rain, just solid, straight down, rain. We knew we’d get wet and were dressed for it, so that was fine.

PoD tonight was taken, hand held with the pens sitting on a couple of tissues with another couple behind to hide the mess on the coffee table. I quite liked it.

Today’s blog title came from a Tom Paxton song, by the way “The Things I Notice Now”.

Tomorrow it’s Gems and I’m hoping to go out for a while, rain or shine.