Blog

Walking round the town – 9 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp said we hadn’t walked round to the marina and suggested we do that today. It was warm again, so that sounded like a good idea.

We walked along the promenade that follows the line of the beach and takes you round the edge of the town, rather than through it. We saw some changes in the marina area, but only a few. If anything, it had become more gentrified and had lost some of its old character, although I did get a photo of a well rusted bench seat that looked as if it was falling apart.

We continued our walk round the coast and past a few houses. Watched some guys fishing off the rocks and tried to ignore the ever present chipmunks. Rats with furry tails.

We finally found “The English Bar” whose real name is The Trafalgar. We stopped there for a G ’n’ T each. At least that’s what we asked for. What we got was a glass of half melted ice with some (very little) alcohol in it and a bottle of tonic each. This used to be a place we’d always stop at. Scamp liked the coffee which was always Nescafe and I liked the food. I think they’re just taking the Mickey now. I don’t think I’d go back.

We were now on our way back to the hotel and walked through the town and back on to the promenade. As we were walking the clouds were rolling in towards us from what used to be called Chipmunk Hill which is now covered with housing and hotel developments, which is probably why the chipmunks are now down on the beach.

There were a few spots of rain before we got to the hotel, but not real rain. Just the edge of a cloud.

Tonight the entertainment was two singers, a man and a woman. Quite pleasant to listen to for a short while, but I wouldn’t have wanted to stay for too long and we didn’t. The singing was ok, but the pronunciation was poor. Probably would have been better if they’d sung in their own language.

PoD was a view towards Chipmunk Hill with a threatening rain cloud.

Tomorrow may be marred by preparations for going home!

Dull and cold wind – 8 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Sat for a while out of the sun, but gave up after a while and went into the big round building where yesterday’s Gala Event had been. It was warmer there.

Eventually when the skies cleared a bit and the sun shone, we walked to the ‘Island’. It’s actually a man-made island built on boulders and the last time we were there we had to queue for a table. Today was similar, but we managed to get an inside table out of the wind. I had a burger and Scamp had two of the fattest Sea Bass fillets we’d ever seen. We both had Mojitos.

By the time we were going back, the weather was improving and I went for a walk again in the wilderness. Got a photo of a group of wild goats and also what looks like a locust. I remember seeing locusts in Lanzarote a few years ago and these were very similar.

Came back to the hotel and watched the qualifying for tomorrow’s F1 GP. Didn’t find out who was on pole, because somebody pulled a plug somewhere and we were left with a black screen and muddled sound. No explanation. No apologies. That’s the way it is here.

Entertainment in the evening was two acrobats. The bloke seemed to have trained as a ballet dancer and the girl’s speciality appeared to be the splits. There was a fair bit of faffing about and posing. Entertaining for a while, but I was glad when it was finished.

PoD was a stunning Bird of Paradise flower in the hotel garden. Beautiful colours.

Tomorrow is Saturday and the days are slipping away.

 

In the big city – 7 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We got the ‘Cooncil’ bus to the big city of Puerto del Rosario.

A slow trudge through roadworks, then an unnecessary detour through a satellite town on the outskirts of Caleta where nobody got off the bus and worse still, nobody got on, but the driver was doing his job and covering the bases. Then out to the airport where one person got on and a host of hopefuls asked if this was the bus to Caleta and were told in no uncertain terms that this was the bus to Puerto del Rosario and the next bus, also a Number 3 would be going to Caleta. I don’t think he was believed, but it turned out to be the truth.

We stopped at the big central shopping centre and walked down a hill hoping to find something interesting. We found the church with the bar in the grounds, but although the church was open, the bar was securely shut. We found a three storey building whose gable being treated to a black and white mural of someone. Then we found a street cafe we’d been to the last time we were in Rosario.

There was a street market in the pedestrian area, mainly because two cruise ships were in the port. A fairly large P&O Azura and the enormous Aida Cosma. Not for the first time I marvelled at just how big these ships are. We walked down to the port and took some photos of them because that’s going to be the nearest we’ll get to a cruise this year, then went on an expedition looking for a fountain with models of dolphins round it, a line of hand painted benches and a big white Puerto del Rosario sculpture we’d photographed ourselves at. Despite our best efforts, we found none of the above, but went back up the hill to the cafe and had lunch. Scamp had Spanish Tortilla and I has Serrano Ham and Tomato in a baguette, both walked down with a beer.

We walked down through the street market and the further I went the more sure I was that we were on the track of the tree missing items. Sure enough at the bottom of the hill we found the big white 3D sign and the painted seats, but alas, no dolphin fountain. Maybe the next time we come this way DV.

After a seat in one of the painted benches we walked back towards the town and found another missing item, not dolphins, but a massive mural of Time Square NYC. Now looking a bit worse for wear, by still impressive. We went in to the big multi-level shopping centre looking for somewhere that sold power adapters. We found one, exactly like the item Scamp was looking for. Bought it and headed for the bus stop. Just got to the stop and the No 3 arrived, our bus to Caleta. No available seats. The bus drove away. Next one was about 10 mins later and it was a rammy! Folk shoving other folk out of the way and an opportunity for us to sharpen our elbows for a change.

A long journey through more traffic works and we got dropped outside the Atlantico Centre where we bought some stuff and went from there to the hotel

We had a Gala Dinner to look forward to except:

  1. Service was slow and without a smile
  2. Some of the starters were baked on to the plate because they were under heat lamps. Fillings were tepid inside.
  3. My entrecôte was as chewy as my walking boots and my roast potatoes were actually baked potatoes.
  4. Best of all, Scamp’s Mango Sorbet was actually a Blackcurrant Smoothie.

Gala Dinner showing off what the hotel can offer? I think not.

We did get to dance salsa again to Tina on the sax. Great fun for us and we got two rounds of applause!

Long day, some disappointments and some highlights. That’s what it’s all about.

PoD was a beautiful sunset over the hills.

As usual, no plans for tomorrow.

Wilderness – 6 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Today I walked in the wilderness. My name for the sandy desert just south of the hotel. Nothing much to see here unless you take the time to look hard.

I saw a Snowy Egret and a further on a Little Egret. I was hoping to see a Shrike because I’d seen one a few years ago in this place, and there it was. Away in the distance, a single Shrike sitting on the top of a thorny bush. I was kicking myself that I hadn’t brought the 210mm long zoom lens. The little 50mm is a great go-to lens, but it’s struggling with distant objects..

When I came back we sat in the sun for a while, just taking in some rays!

After dinner and the now mandatory coffee in the upstairs bar we had our second visit to the kids club. More families had arrived during the day so there were more kids in the club and more parents too. Pepe was just as entertaining as the first night.

There was no other entertainment for us tonight, so we took a G&T and a Rum ’n’ Coke up to the room and enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.

PoD was a bunch of weeds growing at the side of the dusty track through the wilderness. They made me think of yellow jelly beans!

Hoping to go to Puerto del Rosario tomorrow.

First full day in the sun – 5 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Woke around 7am and watched a glorious sunrise

Breakfast was fairly gentle affair. No big rush to get a table.

We walked in to Caleta town to see what changes there had been. Not a lot. Lots of the shops were closed on a Tuesday and a Wednesday, apparently. We’re guessing this is the low season.

Ice cream cones each and a seat in the sun.

Booked a special dinner for Thursday – Tex Mex. We did the other option (Italian) the last time we were here, five years ago.

Just for fun we  went to the kids club to see Pepe. Only a few kids in the club, but the main man was there and that made up for everything. Lots of mums and dads and grannies and grandpas up dancing along with the weans

Entertainment tonight was a rather aloof girl playing an electric cello. The only dancers on the floor were two Russian (?) girls performing what Loudon Wainwright called ” a modern dance”. Very arty, and they looked three sheets to the wind, but after last night, who am I to criticise? By the interval, half the audience had left, and we did too!

PoD was a picture of two bright red flowers in the hotel garden.

No plans for tomorrow.

The alarm rang out – 4 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

I suppose it was a charming little tune, but it didn’t raise a smile from either of us. We rose, dressed and trundled the bags to the car, then drove through an almost deserted Glasgow to the airport. We dumped our cases and went off to find some breakfast in Frankie and Benny’s.

We sat and read, solved Wordle, bought overpriced sweets and watched the athletes who had been competing in the athletics in Glasgow saying their goodbyes to their colleagues before taking their seats in the lounge. Then they too sat and watched, willing the gate to be confirmed before heading home, some with smiles, some despondent and some just aching from their efforts. Our gate showed up at the specified time and we were off in a metal tube in the sky for four and a bit hours before we landed in a new world. One where the temperature would be in double figures, we hoped.

Instead of waiting for a bus from the airport, we took a taxi to the hotel and then had to wait in a queue while the overstressed staff booked us in. Ah, but it was worth the wait in Glasgow airport, and the four hour flight, and the booking-in scramble. It was worth it for the first view from the balcony of our room on the 5th floor and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore just beyond our hotel grounds. This is what we did it for.

The hotel is in the process of getting a major upgrade. The dining room especially is airier and brighter than it was before, five years ago. Lots of ’Suits’ wandering around, presumably checking the progress of the upgrade.
The room too has had a facelift. New furniture and a bit wide screen tv on the wall. Annoyingly it turn on as soon as you put in your power key. You can of course turn it off, but sometimes it decides for itself that you need to see and hear more of what it has to offer.

We walked along the esplanade past the slightly posher Elba Carlotta and then the very posh Sheraton and the end. On the other side of the esplanade, looking out to sea is the wee cafe on the island, reached by a bridge. We left that for another day.

Entertainment tonight was our favourite saxophone player, Tina. Then we just had to celebrate with a fairly inebriated Salsa, got a cheer and went to bed to sleep it off. It was the jet lag, not the Jameson’s Whiskey or the Rum ’n’ Coke that was at fault!

Tomorrow we may walk into town.

 

A day to tidy things up – 3 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We didn’t do very much today. Didn’t go out although it was dry but cold. Just a day when we had to get things done. Mainly it was packing and unpacking cases and bags and rucksacks. Checking the weight of each of them and rechecking them, knowing all the time that we were well within the limits.

It’s days like this that are the worst. You know you can’t actually go until tomorrow, and there is nothing you can do to make tomorrow come quicker. Time just doesn’t work that way.

Almost time to go to bed, not to sleep, because we know we won’t. Well, maybe we will, but that will be just before the alarm wakes us.

PoD was a photo of the Rhododendrons in the garden.

Tomorrow we fly south.

Dancin’ – 2 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Today we drove to Brookfield for the first dance class in a while.

Last week I was under the weather and we cancelled. Two weeks ago we did go to the class, but I was not feeling well. That has been the extent of our dance classes this year. Today was better, just better, that’s all.

Class started with the LA Swing sequence dance. It’s a sort of Charleston thing, but nothing to do with Los Angeles. The ‘LA’ part stands for Lace Agate and it’s an exhausting piece of nonsense. I don’t mind telling you, I was knackered after two tracks of that.

Next was a more sedate Spring Waltz which started life as the Christmas Waltz, then the Winter Waltz and now the Spring Waltz. “Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent” as the voiceover for Dragnet used to say. After a tricky bit of cheating with the Back Corté being noted and corrected by Jane, it all started to flow. I actually got to like its elegance.

Another sequence dance, the Melody Foxtrot gave us a chance to relax, because we knew this one fairly well and were in the minority for that, because it seemed to be lost on some of the other dancers. It’s nice to shine at something.

Next was Jive. One of Jane’s favourites and she was adding in new patterns to this exhausting dance. Nothing difficult, just moves with fancy names. We got through them fairly easily.

The class finished with Scamp’s favourite ’Shivers’ by Ed Sheeran. Actually it was only three quarters of the track because Jane ‘accidentally’ pulled the plug on the tape machine and that put an early end to that. Scamp my never forgive her.

We drove home along a busy M8 much busier than the traffic we’d had going to Brookfield in the morning. I took the Kingston Bridge route for a change and I think that was a mistake, but we weren’t going anywhere in a hurry, luckily.

Dinner tonight was a stir-fry from M&S and it was OK, just OK. As Scamp would say, “it filled a space.”

PoD was a Christmas present from Hazy. It’s the top of a beetroot, growing in plain unadulterated water. It’s sitting in a perspex container on the window sill. It’s been growing for a couple of weeks now and I’m thinking of planting it outside in the greenhouse.
This is the third successful ‘plant’. The first two were a garlic clove and a cutting from a spring onion. Great idea Hazy.

Watched the first F1 GP of the year. It was interesting, but it was the usual suspects who were leading from the start. I think it’s time for something new.

No great plans for tomorrow. Maybe some tidying up now that the sketching and painting are over for a month or so.

The first day of Spring – 1 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Meteorological spring that is, but it certainly didn’t feel like it. A cold wind put paid to any thoughts of warm spring days.

We drove up to Tesco for messages, but they didn’t have the whisky I was looking for at a price I was willing to pay. I can wait. It will come down to a reasonable price soon.

One high point of the day was our Friday lunch in Brodens. Fish & Chips for two and a glass of Merlot for Scamp and a pint of Guinness for me. All the elements of the lunch were perfect, as usual.

I was tempted not to take a camera out later in the afternoon, but I went anyway. However I might as well have stayed home in the warm house for all the interest there was over in St Mo’s. My PoD was a branch of four catkins bolstering my belief that this is Spring, despite the cold and the wind.

It was good not to have to think about sketches and painting. But there’s a lot more to it than just the drawing. There’s the time it takes to get the sketch scanned, cleaned up and then there’s writing the story that I always like to add. After that I post the sketch to Flickr then Facebook and finally add it to EDiF and/or 28DL. It’s not just about painting pretty pictures. I may do it all again in May, all being well.

I’ve just been told that the dance class is on tomorrow. Don’t know what the ‘menu’ is yet, but it seems we have more than enough couples for a qourum.

 

The 29th day of February – 29 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It only happens once in every four years and today was it.

Scamp was out to lunch (again) with Isobel and I was out taking photos with Alex. She drove to the Village and I took the bus in to Glasgow. Maybe we were celebrating ‘family’ because of this special day. Or may be we were just out having lunch.

Alex and I met at the bus station and went for a coffee while we discussed our outline plan for the day. I suggested taking the subway to Kelvinbridge, taking some photos, having a Paesano pizza for lunch and taking in some architecture and graffiti. I was fairly sure this would suit Alex as well as me, and I was right.

There were a few places around Kelvinbridge that met both our requirements. I always find the way the Kelvin rushes over the rapids and down under the bridge a bit strange and unnerving. I can’t explain that, I just find it a bit nightmarish and it always draws me in to watch it again. It’s something to do with a bridge above me with the water of the River Kelvin running under me.

We left the Kelvin to do it’s stuff and walk up the hill to Paesano (West End). Fed and watered we walked down the steps that took us to the walkway above the Kelvin and over it to photograph both Mrs McChicken and also the Caledonian Mansions a restored sandstone building above us on the corner of Gt Western Road. Alex loves architecture and so do I to a certain extent. From there we returned to Gt Western Road and walked west to Byres Road.

While I was buying two books with a book token I got from Scamp at Christmas, Alex was off photographing a wee lane near the Spanish restaurant Scamp and I had visited on Monday. We met up again outside the book shop and headed towards the subway to go back to the city centre. It was there we found some lovely light on Kelvinside Hillhead Parish Church and spent another twenty minutes or more photographing it from all angles. Alex demonstrating his ability to photograph the reflections of it on car bonnets and roofs. He is one of the most inventive photogs I know.

Finally we walked into the subway and as the train came in, Alex was asked by a lady who seemed three sheets to the wind whether that train went to Glasgow. It’s a strange question, because the trains follow two concentric routes round the city. All trains go to Glasgow! He tried to explain that to them and they got on anyway. It was all part of a big adventure to them. Unfortunately we were in the same carriage as them and were caught up in their conversations which revolved around Fascinators and Hats. I sense a wedding was in the offing. When they got off at Buchanan Street I distinctly heard one ask if the train went any further. To which the answer was probably YES and NO. It’s all to do with the concentricity.

We went on to St Enoch and found some more subjects to photograph. Centered around the Metropolitan Church of St Andrew and the reflection of it on the mirror glass of its next door neighbour.

Another coffee to prepare us for the bus home and we went our separate ways. I had 105 photos with three of them rejected. Alex had a lot more. It was a really good day. Good conversation and interesting photos. I look forward to sharing them soon.

Today’s PoD was the Caledonian Mansions building.
Today’s prompt was for Gold. I’m not a seeker of wealth, so generally don’t have much gold about my person. Neither do I have any fish, although I did used to have a few Goldfish and a lovely Shubunkan until the cat found it, but I digress. I chose a goldfish as my final sketch for EDiF 2024. Such a placid fish it only needed some air bubbled through the water in its tank and the occasional flake food. This was an official 15 minute sketch with about half an hour of paint splashing later.

Scamp seemed to have a good day with Isobel who is considering whether to have another knee op. Strangely, so is Alex’s wife thinking the same thing. She has an appointment with the doc tomorrow to discuss the likelihood of it getting done. Who knows, they may end up in the same ward!

No plans for tomorrow, but I’m hoping I won’t be doing any sketching for a wee while.