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A Wild Night – 14 June 2016

Posted on June 14, 2016June 15, 2016 by Zogman

Last night was a wild one and no mistake. 50mph winds and heavy seas. We’re down in the bowels of the ship and therefore we feel it the most. Last year we had the room below the kitchen and this year we have an even noisier room. Worse still, the weather is to be equally bad tonight. Oh what fun.

We were up and out early this morning and waiting in line for our ticket to freedom. Ville Franche is a small town and the dock area is nowhere near big enough to take a ship the size of ours, so we are ferried off with a tender. To achieve a semblance of order, you have to queue for a number. Once you have this you have to wait in one of the restaurants or bars for a tender to become available. Since there are around 2000 people on board and a tender takes less than 100, it can take a while. The tenders themselves have to obey the local speed limit of 5 knots in the open water of the bay and 3 knots nearer shore. This means the transfer takes even longer than it needs to take. French rules apparently. Also, because the tenders are constantly travelling there and back, they occasionally need refuelling. It was going to be a long morning. Actually, the girl who was giving out the tickets estimated an hour and she wasn’t far wrong. One of the blessings of tender departure is that there are no bloody motorized wheelchairs or scooters. These things are not only a menace, they are a downright danger in the close confines of a ship. I understand the need for wheelchairs, but the amount of them, and the bloody bleeping scooters on this ship drives me to distraction. I was standing in a bar tonight and some idiot decided to park their son’s scooter right behind me then proceeded to get shirty when I wouldn’t let him drive over me. Apparently I should have had eyes in the back of my head!

Once we got our tender across to Ville Franche, we were on one of Scamp’s route marches to the station to get the train to Monte Carlo. Train took 15 minutes to travel the 9 or so miles to the millionaire’s playground. Once we got off, we followed the crowd up the stairs, up the escalators, up in the lift and out at St Devote corner, famous to F1 fans. We walked down the street, down steps, down in a lift and on to the harbour where we had a pizza each, shared a carafe of wine, and with free WiFi got two blogs posted. Then we headed back, thinking that we’d need to climb up the near vertical streets to get back to the station. Then we met an Indian family who had been on the train in. They had found a much easier alternative route. This took us from street level along a gentle incline on a travellator directly into the station. Superb. No climbing necessary.

Back in Ville Franche, we wandered round a market, I took some photos and we headed back to the ship. After an hour or so of sunbathing it was time to get ready for dinner. We sat with a cheery Yorkshire contingent who were on their first cruise, and they kept us amused throughout dinner.

Afterwards, we went to see the Piano Brothers second performance of the week and then had coffee in the buffet on 15 before turning in. It’s getting a bit noisy now with crashy waves, so I’m off to get a few hours shut eye because I didn’t sleep much last night.

Tomorrow is Livorno, an old friend. We both like Livorno with its canals and markets like The Barras.

This blog upload courtesy of Grand Bar in Livorno.

Other peoples conversations – 13 June 2016

Posted on June 13, 2016June 22, 2016 by Zogman

We had a mixed bag at the breakfast table this morning. All english and all patently ignoring us after we’d said our “Good Mornings”. Maybe they didn’t understand the accent, but the lower case ‘e’ in ‘english’ should give an indication of their standing in my eyes. I decided to use their part conversations to start today’s blog because you don’t put baby in a corner. They will probably never read this blog, but you will and, are doing

Lady 1
“… He’s not a lap cat. If you pick him up he bites you. Well, he bites me anyway …” I can see why madam!

Man 1
“Mum died a couple of years ago. We’re cruising on mum. She always looked after us really well …” Too well, you ungrateful, ignorant idiot.

Lady 1
“… I have a disability …” <she pauses for effect>. Spoken in a ‘bird with a broken wing voice.’ Those wishing sympathy, please for an orderly queue behind this lady. By the way, being english is not a disability.

Man 2
“We’ve been to Rome. We’ve seen the Coliseum and the Parthenon …” Oh, so they’ve moved it from Athens to Rome? Is this to help clear the Greek debt?

Scamp keeps telling me off for listening in to other people’s conversations, but sometimes they are hilarious.

Today was hot, so we wandered off in search of some shade, gave up and Scamp went off in search of two sunbeds next to each other and I packed my painting materials and headed to Deck 18 to learn how to mix colours, something I’ve been doing for years, ever since I got an Alwyn Crawshaw paint box in the ‘90s with only six colours and learned how to work with a restricted range of colours. However, I soldiered on and ‘learned’ that blue and yellow make green! Who knew? Then we discovered that if you add a two contrasting colours together you get mud. This really is a very basic art course. There may be a few beginners, but not enough to necessitate this ‘Topsy and Tim’ approach. On Saturday (the next sea day) we get to paint a sunset.

Once the turgid lesson was over, I found Scamp at the stern of the ship where she had acquired two sun beds. We did a bit of sun worshipping under a hot sun until I deemed it time for lunch. Salad and cold meat for me. Salad and fish for Scamp. We went back to the room after lunch for Scamp to compose herself for the afternoon ballet lesson and I had a snooze and also finished off yesterday’s washing in the tumble drier. After that it was back to the stern again and more sunbathing (it’s a hard life this, don’t let anyone kid you that it’s all plain sailing!! Winking smile ) and I went for a dip in the pool too.

Tonight was a Black Tie night, so it was kilt and waistcoat and jacket and all the gear. I don’t mind it, in fact, I’d go further and say I really enjoy the kiltie experience. Our cabin boy, Jemmuel who may possibly be gay, seemed entranced with the sight of me in the kilt. The night was marred slightly when we came out of Metropolis on deck 18 and bumped into a drunk scotsman (see, it applies to Scots too) with his “Hey Jimmy! Like the kilt”. I didn’t give him air time, but foolishly Scamp replied. That made him think he was Billy Connolly and that he had an audience. He claimed he’d been drinking coffee, but when he terrorized a wee girl with her mum in the lift and then went on to say loudly “I’m gonnie fart!”, I thought, “Dobber!” It’s not only the english we have to avoid. Unfortunately we have scots to avoid too. Both sides of the border have their ‘stupids’. They walk among us.

Ville Franche tomorrow. May get the train to Monte Carlo and try to post the blog there.

Throw those curtains wide – 12 June 2016

Posted on June 12, 2016June 22, 2016 by Zogman

Today we were back in the UK sort of. We were really in Gibraltar which seems to think it’s in the UK, even to the extent that there are “I’m In” stickers on shop windows and doors. It begs the question, why does the UK hold on to these tiny vestiges of its once great empire. Wake up and smell the coffee, people. The empire is no more. The commonwealth is no more. In fact, the wealth is no more. How much money could we save by giving these enclaves back to the countries that really own them. Gibraltar is a tiny Spain-locked bit of Britain that we should get shot of. Likewise for the Falklands. If the people who live there want to remain British, let them return to the UK where they can enjoy the climate and lifestyle they talk so much about. I’ve never seen so much jingoism as you get in these far flung places. That said, the booze and fags are cheap. Not so much the electronic goods. I wanted to buy an extra SD card for my camera. At home in Glasgow, a Toshiba 16GB micro SD cost me £4.95. In Gibraltar, the best price I could get was £10. Exactly the same card by exactly the same manufacturer and exactly the same speed. Twice the price. Cut price booze, hiked up price for electronic consumables. I don’t like Gibraltar, I’m sure you’re getting that vibe. It’s more English than England and it smells of pish. Yes, that about sums it up for me.

The ship arrived at 11.15am and was ready for disembarkation by 11.30. There were three gangways in place, two on deck 4 for all passengers and one on deck 5 not suitable for wheelchairs. So why is there a prick in front of us with a wheelchair trying to get it down the steps from deck 5. The steward had already told him that it was unsuitable for wheelchairs, but still he continued. These people are not born stupid, they have made a lifetime study of stupidity and have achieved a masters degree in the application of stupidity. Anyway, nobody helped him with his wheelchair which was for another passenger who had already disembarked and eventually we all got off then headed down the long trek to the town. Most of the shops were open, but M&S, BHS an C&A were closed because it was Sunday, or there was a cruise ship in, or it was a day with a ‘Y’ in it. Who knows? I didn’t care. I wanted to stretch my legs, post my blog and possibly get a memory card for my camera. Managed two out of three. Walked the length of the high street, which ticks off item 1. Had coffee in Costa and achieved item 2 courtesy of their free WiFi. Due to the price locking of all the Indian and Pakistani electronic salesmen, I couldn’t achieve item 3. No big deal. I got a nice bottle of whisky and Scamp got a nice bottle of gin for the price of a smaller bottle of the same whisky in Tesco back home. Scamp also got a new Pandora bracelet. We headed for the sanctuary of the ship.

Had lunch at “Smash & Grab” and saw a Globemaster military plane landing at the airport. Scary looking dog-leg to final! It was while we were having lunch that the Elbow track came over the tannoy. I just thought “one day like this a year will see me right” summed up this bright sunny day. After lunch we were lucky enough to get a sunbed by the nice wee pool at the back of the ship. Soaked up the sun there until about 5pm when I went to put some washing in the laundrette machine.

Dinner was in the Indian restaurant and it was really, really good. Most impressed, as was Scamp. After that we found a couple of seats in the theatre to listen to a NZ tenor sing. That’s the second time I’ve heard him and I was impressed. I’m not a big opera fan, but I did enjoy it. After that we had a drink in the ‘Crows Nest’ or whatever it’s called on this ship before heading for bed.

Another day at sea tomorrow.

Land of the Custard Tarts. – 11 June 2016

Posted on June 11, 2016June 12, 2016 by Zogman

My Uncle Bob, when he was returning to Larkhall would say “Back to the land of Sugartops.” For those not born in Larky, a sugartop was a Saturday morning staple. It was a bit like a flattened roll with sugar syrup on top. The syrup acted like an adhesive to hold the lump sugar on top. You spread butter on the flat bottom of the sugartop (unsalted butter was best) and ate it for breakfast on a Saturday. As far as I know, they were only made in Larky and then only by one bakers, Eadie’s which closed a long time ago and took with it the sugartop. If Larky was the land of the sugartops, Lisbon must be the land of the Portuguese Custard Tarts. I know you can get them in Costa’s in the UK and I’ve seen recipes for them in books, but nothing comes close to the Lisbon Custard Tart. With that in mind, our first stop once we alighted from the bus was the tart shop. Scamp remembered how to get there and flew as straight as an arrow to the cafe. Two custard tarts, one sprinkled with cinnamon (for me). One sprinkled with icing sugar (for Scamp). Two coffees, one white, one black. Cost? €4.50! A bargain in anyone’s book. You eat the tart and drink the coffee standing at a shelf in the cafe. There are no seats. It’s a eat an go thing. Maybe Eadie’s in Larky should have adopted that strategy with sugartops.

After our second breakfast we wandered round the squares of Lisbon. By the way, when we were at the breakfast table in the restaurant this morning, it caused great hilarity when I said we were off to find some tarts in Lisbon. I can’t see why. We walked up and up and up the hill to see the view from the top. On the way I listened to a girl singing and playing a spanish guitar. A dangerous thing to play in Portugal I’d have thought. The don’t have much truck with their bigger neighbour. A bit like Scotland and England, so I can understand their mindset. Anyway, I listened to this girl playing and singing and I quite liked what I’d heard, so I bought her CD for €5. Then it was time to start on the upward trek again. The view from the top when we reached it was great. I remember it from the last time. The easy way to get up to the viewpoint is to take the funicular tram. We chose to use this tram to get us down to the level of the three central squares. It only takes about five minutes to complete the downward journey and halfway down you meet the other tram coming up. Very neat and orderly. I don’t know if they use the downward tram as a counterbalance for the other one coming up to safe energy or not, but it’s a gentle way to spend five minutes on these veteran trams.

I like Lisbon, we both do, and not just because of the custard tarts either. The city seems as if it’s stuck in a timewarp. Some of it looks quite Victorian, some of it harks back to the ‘50s, but not a lot of central Lisbon is modern. The train station which also houses Starbucks has a lovely Art Nouveau frontage. Possibly the poshest Starbucks I’ve ever seen. Just along from Posh Starbucks is a tiny wee shop that is always seriously locked up with steel shutters on the door and behind the windows. In the window is a wide selection of wicked looking knives. Best of all though is the advert on the side for pistols, carbines, rifles and ammunition. I wouldn’t be surprised if they could furnish you with an AK47. They used to also sell fake, but very convincing police ID in a variety of nationalities. They no longer have them in the window, but that doesn’t mean they don’t sell them inside.

Back at the ship we found a small pool at the stern and settled into sunbeds there, only to find that we had left the oversize towel pegs at home. Scamp thought I’d packed them and I thought she had. Oh dear. Maybe we’ll find a Lakeland at Gibraltar tomorrow and get a new set. They’re so useful for attaching your pool towel to your sunbed.

We stayed there until we sailed away from Lisbon for this year. Hopefully we’ll be back. As we sailed under the combined road and train bridge on our way out of Lisbon, I thought back to 6am this morning standing on the deck in my shirt sleeves freezing in the chill wind photographing us going under it on the way in. It’s still impressive and it gives you a sense of scale of the ship seeing the minimal clearance between the top of the mast and the underside of the rail bridge part.

Show tonight was “Blame it on the boogie”. Least said the better. Not so much Boogie as Boggin!

Much later arrival in Gibraltar tomorrow, 11.30am.

It’s Called Tomorrow–10 June 2016

Posted on June 10, 2016September 13, 2017 by Zogman

Today was the first port of call on this year’s cruise, Vigo. We’d been there before, we’ve been to all the ports on this cruise before, some more than once. We had breakfast in the sit down restaurant as opposed to the buffet (where you also sit down to eat, but one of the ladies at our table this morning called it the ‘smash & grab’ restaurant, I understand that). After that, we made our way off the ship on to dry land. I remembered most of the layout of the town. It’s a straggly layout, spread over the side of a hill which rises up to a citadel at the top. We weren’t going there. We weren’t going to the park we visited last time either. It was a bit overgrown and untidy looking. Scamp grumped most of the way there, but agreed there was a great view from the top. I liked it. I like Vigo too. It reminds me more of an Italian town than a Spanish one. It’s very laid back, taking things easy, the Italian way. Anyway, we walked up the hill a bit, but avoided the park. I was looking for a cafe with free WiFi to send my previous two blogs. We had passed a couple of them on the way up. On the way down again, we took a few turnings to bring us down near the harbour. Finally we found a cafe with the free WiFi sign and got two coffees and the password. It didn’t work. No combination of the numbers, space or dashes made the slightest difference. It wasn’t a big deal. I was happy to pay for the coffee and continue our walk, but Scamp was determined to find a place for me to upload the blog. Finally we got back to where we had started our circumnavigation of the centre of the town, and she was off. She knew where there was a free WiFi cafe. It turned out to be a lovely cafe called Cosmos Cafe. I had a beer, Scamp had a red wine. I got the password and it worked. I uploaded the blog, then we decided to have tapas for lunch (Cooked ham with paprika and sea salt, Chicken Fajita and Tortilla [tortilla was also the password for the WiFi!]). Scamp had another red wine and I had one too. Sitting in the sun eating tapas and drinking wine under a blue sky in Spanish Spain. That’s the life.

We walked back to the ship and found some more streets we’d passed down in our previous visit a few years ago. When we got back, we went to the Smash & Grab (that name is catching) for a coffee, then went looking for a couple of sunbeds from which to watch the sailaway party. We weren’t long sitting when this fat, overexcited camp ‘entertainer’ got up on stage and started shouting and screaming his excitement into the mike. Obviously nobody had told him that with a mike, you didn’t need to shout, that’s what the mike is for, duh! From then it was mayhem. One side of the ship versus the other to see who could do the best Macarena and who could shout the loudest. Oh, spare me! We left. I had forgotten to pack my earplugs.

Dinner in the sit down dining room. I found myself next to a woman who had been in the art class and we spent most of the time discussing what paints we used and what we painted. A woman across from us with a wig made from steel wool, well, that’s what it looked like to us and her granddaughter(?) were from Ayr and they had flown down from Prestwick. As Dylan said “A question in my nerves was lit …”. Were these two the couple who held us up in Glasgow on Wednesday morning? The two who had decided to fly down and not tell the bus company? I hope not, because contrary to what you’d think, steel wool is very flammable!!

After dinner we went to see the Piano Brothers. Not the comedy act I’d expected, but a pair of very talented pianists. Scamp was entranced.

We decided to go see if we could get some salsa played to dance to in the Atrium. Yes, the lady said, they could organise some SOLSA. I didn’t want to correct her, and we did dance, very badly. Scamp’s heart, for some reason, was not in it. I was too cautious of causing more damage to her weakened right shoulder and basically we were crap. After that, the night was a dead loss.

While we were finishing off our tapas in the afternoon, I noticed a bloke with a paper carrier bag. This was on the side of it:

“Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called Tomorrow.”

I hope that’s true.

Lisbon tomorrow. Portuguese Custard Tarts here we come!

All at sea – 9 June 2016

Posted on June 9, 2016June 10, 2016 by Zogman

Today was the first sea day. Usually a boring day with little going on aboard ship apart from trying to get a decent place for a sunbed away from the wind. Today wasn’t like that. Firstly, for a change, there were quite a lot of interesting things on the day sheet. Secondly, the wind was from the south at 20mph and we were heading south, almost straight into the wind at 20knots which gave an effective wind on deck of around 38mph or gale force to make it simpler to understand. I saw a few sad looking folk near one of the swimming pools huddled under towels trying to look as if they were sunbathing. They weren’t fooling anyone. As we were crossing Bay of Biscay, the sea was in a bad mood with the ship doing ‘rockyboats’ all day. This caused tidal waves in the pool which made the poor windbathers even more uncomfortable.

The pitching and rolling of the ship also made the painting class I went to a bit more interesting than it should have been. The tutor, Julie King was teaching washes in watercolour and although most of it was well known to me, I did pick up a few tips that I’ll make use of. She seemed a bit snooty as did some of the participants. Most of whom claimed that they had ‘done a little’ then unrolled their brush rolls with 27 odd brushes in every shape and form known to mankind. Strangely though, they were all painting with Cotman paints which are deemed to be student quality. I’ve used a wee white Cotman box for years, but prefer the fuller colour of the artists quality paints now. Only two of us were using artists quality paints and we were rather ignored my Ms King. I’ve read one of her books before on painting flowers, in fact I’ve got one at home. Like most of these people, meeting her in the flesh was a bit disappointing. I got the distinct impression she was teaching this course as a kindness to those less able than herself. Maybe she sees it as a charitable action. She probably doesn’t even know she’s a dobber!

Lunch in the ‘cooncil’ restaurant and it was really good. Too much again. I must watch my intake. I don’t want to be rolled down the gangway at Southampton! After lunch, during which I’d been joking about how to cause a riot on a ship was to shout “DOLPHINS!” or even better “IS THAT A DOLPHIN OR A WHALE??!!”, we went for a walk round the ‘blunt end’ (Technical Term), I suddenly spotted a dolphin jumping clean out or the water. I shouted “DOLPHINS” and Scamp said “Aye right”, that famous Scottish Boolean double negative that is a positive. (Two wrongs never make a right unless you’re NANDing in Boolean). Anyway, I was right. We were just passing a school of dolphins, and not just one, there were two or three. Must have been a school outing!

Maybe as karma for those bitchy thoughts about Ms King, but after lunch I got struck down with a ‘dose of the runs’. Nothing serious, and it might have been from breakfast. It also might have been what the Captain said in one of his talks yesterday. “If you’ve touched something that other people may have touched, wash your hands before they go anywhere near your mouth.” Sound advice. I took it to heart this afternoon once the ‘Di Horrea Hi Hay’ as Billy Connolly called it had been washed out of my system by copious amounts of water. I know this probably falls into the too much information category, but just remember: “Let he/she who is without sin cast the first stone”. Karma will always get you in the end. Mixing my religions there a bit. Sorry Neil D’.

Went to a Cha-Cha dancing lesson later and enjoyed it. Scamp had already been to a ballet class. Opera singer yesterday, ballet today. We’re quite the culture vultures.

Tonight was a formal night, so it was highland dress for me and gold and black cocktail dress for Scamp. Enjoyed dinner. Even sampled Scamp’s lobster and haven’t felt any side effects, so it will probably be ok to order it for myself next time. The show tonight was a dance spectacular and spectacular is what it was. Sea is a bit rough tonight, so is the price for WiFi on board. Two hours would cost the unwary £35!! I will try to find myself a cafe advertising free WiFi tomorrow and for the price of a cup of coffee and a pastry will post this. If you’re reading this, then I probably have been successful.

Update:
Posted on 10th June from Cosmos café in Vigo. Sitting here with a beer or cerveza I should say. Scamp, of course has a red wine. Sunny and warm after a rather rough crossing of the Bay of Biscay.

A very early rise–8 June 2016

Posted on June 8, 2016June 10, 2016 by Zogman

4.15am. I didn’t think such a time existed, but here we are sitting in a bus of grey hairs ready to head off for Southampton in search of more sun now that ours looks as if it will soon be in short supply. I just hope we don’t have to wait for anyone who has made a last minute decision to stay at home and luxuriate under grey skies.

Well, it’s just after 8am and we’ve just had our first stop near the lakes in a heavy mist. We did get away on time although one pair had decided to fly down rather than slum it on the coach. Unfortunately they didn’t tell the company. I was impressed by the fact that the driver made the decision to leave on time rather than wait. THEN the second driver phoned the folk to tell them he had left without them. That’s the way to do it.

Big holdup outside Manchester. Seem to be making up time now. By the Time Now is 10.35. Glad I’m not driving today.

Despite our holdup, we arrived only 15 minutes late in Southampton and with P&O’s usual efficiency were boarded in no time at all. Our cabin is quite small, but bright and airy. It was worth holding out for an outside cabin IMO. Wandered round the ship to find lunch and shared a table with a London(?) couple who were also veterans of cruising. After that, the inevitable lifeboat drill that is not the best part of the trip. However, it is a necessary evil.

When the drill was completed, and we returned our ‘Mae Wests’ to the cabin, we went on deck to watch the ‘Sailaway’. P&O almost seem embarrassed to take part in this. They say there is a sailaway party, but apart from a DJ playing music, there’s no ‘party’. No enthusiasm, no flag waving, nothing.

We were doing Freedom Dining for the first time and it seemed to work. Some of the people at our table were a bit stand-offish to start with, but once got started chatting they were fine. From there we went to the theatre where Scamp wanted to see an opera singer. He was a New Zealander and very good. Then I realised I didn’t have my camera bag. I’d left it in the dining room. Dived back to the other end of the ship and, after explaining to the person in charge, found it where I’d left it under the table!!

We went and watched the sunset after that and then had a drink in the piano bar on deck 16 (top deck). Scamp had a Strawberry Daquari and I had a Mojito. Then it was time for bed. Clocks go forward an hour tomorrow.

Blackout – 7 June 2016

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Zogman

Today we were due to have heavy rain in the afternoon. It’s 5.30pm now and it’s still not rained – touch wood. We were also promised thunderstorms and again, touch wood we have had none. We had initially intended having lunch at Vecchia Bologna, but then Scamp suggested we just wait for a while and go to Milano instead. We waited, and then I noticed that the wifi on the laptop had switched off. I checked the modem and there lay the problem. The modem was off. Switched on the lights and they refused to light. Then I realised that someone’s house alarm was wailing away somewhere. Oops, it looks like it’s a power outage. So it didn’t look like we were going to Milano because all of Cumbernauld was out. Also, it was too late to go to Vecchia Bologna now. What I did was try to complete today’s Sudoku (failed!) and Scamp soaked up what might be the last of our June sun. I was amazed at the total quiet (once the house alarm had switched off) with no electrical appliances. You get so used to the hum of the fridge, the freezer, even the TIVO box. Such a lovely quiet. After about an hour, the freezer chugged into life and immediately switched off again. So, they were at the problem and working on it. Less than 30 minutes later the power was restored and the peace was broken by the combined hum and rattle of the various electrical appliances starting up again. The distant house alarm added its wail to the cacophony. Too late now to go to Milano. Oh well.

Took a walk over to St Mo’s to get a PoD and saw Mr Grey gasping rather than basking in the sun. Not a lot of sun by then, it was getting a bit cloudier and felt a bit close too. Uncomfortable. I actually felt sorry for Mr G. Saw more dragonflies, but they were busy flying around and attempting to make more dragonflies for next year and too quick for me.

Didn’t get to Milano. Didn’t get to Vecchia Bologna. Just about to tuck in to Charlie Bigham’s Fish Pie..That will do nicely.

Extra! Extra! – 6 June 2016

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Zogman

I got the train in to Glasgow today. The fast train, but also a bit of mystery tour. What should have been a 15 min journey took just over half an hour. The reason was the closure of the tunnel at Queen Street Station. They are electrifying the line and are using that as a chance to repair the tunnel that hasn’t had any decent work done in it for over forty years. I knew it would be a long journey, but I wanted to experience the trip through stations I hadn’t been to in ages. Ashfield, Dawsholm Park, Maryhill. All names from the past. I quite enjoyed it.

I’d gone in to Glasgow to get a 37mm UV filter for my new toy, the 12-32mm lens. This 37mm diameter piece of glass cost me £18 in Merchant City Cameras in Parnie Street. That’s almost 50p per millimeter. Ok, pedants, I know it’s not really 50p per mm, but 3.4p per mm² doesn’t have the same gravitas!

While I was coming to terms with the hole this filter had made in my finances, I noticed the crowd outside the Trans Europe Cafe in Parnie Street. It looked like a Lights, Camera, Action thing and after talking to one of the extras, well, I think he was an extra, it wasn’t Johnny Depp. I’m sure I’d have notice him if he was there. Anyway, the extra told me that it was a comedy being made for Netflix. I don’t think I’ll ever see it, because we don’t have a Netflix, just a ‘cooncil telly’.

Got the rattliest bus ever home and sat in the garden to soak up as much of the sun as possible while Gems went through their paces. Thunder storms and heavy rain forecast for tomorrow. Coming home from salsa tonight, even the CITRAC signs were forecasting heavy rain and they are never wrong (sarcasm).

Down Glasgow Green – 5 June 2016

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Zogman

It was such a beautiful day, we just drove down Glasgow Green and wandered through to the McLellan arch and back along the river on the park side this time, not the Gorbals side like we did a few weeks ago. That was a bit strange. It seemed to be Ladies Day on the river with only a very few men out rowing. We’re sitting in the People’s Palace now. Near the door to get the benefit of the cooling breeze. We usually avoid these seats because of the cold draught. Not today.

After that gentle exercise, we drove home and while Scamp did a bit of sun worshipping, I went out on the bike and cycled down to Auchinstarry (because I reckoned I wouldn’t get parked – I would have) and from there along the canal which is where I was and photographed Mrs Mallard and her seven wee ducklings out for a paddle. I simply couldn’t pass up that opportunity now, could I? From there it was all uphill. Up the first tough climb from the canal to Twechar itself, then the long slog up to the Drumgrew bridge. I stopped off there for some water. This was the first stop from the canal at Twechar and I’m quite proud of it. Had a wee rest in the garden after my run. My legs are sore tonight, but I enjoyed it. May go in to Glasgow tomorrow to get a UV filter for the new lens. Saves me using and losing the tiny wee lens cap. Best make good use of the sun as it looks like drizzle on Tuesday. Oh dear!