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Training – 13 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Today we went for a run to Stirling.

Drove to the station and left the car there. Then got a train to Stirling. At the station I bumped into a former pupil. I don’t know who was more embarrassed, her or me!. Thankfully she was going in the opposite direction to us.

An easy journey to Stirling, but the first time in ages we were only going for the run. No shopping in Waitrose, no driving through multiple roadworks, just a day out. We stopped at a coffee shop for refreshments before we walked into the centre of the town.

When we arrived in the centre of Stirling a military band was marching and playing in the town. We were just too late to see them, but you couldn’t miss the sound of the band and later the bagpipes. It was good of them to put on a show just for Scamp and me.

We wandered round the shops and Scamp got one bargain and I got another. Unfortunately the jeans I’d picked had drainpipe trousers and were far too tight on me. They will go back tomorrow, hopefully and I’ll get the proper jeans for me.

Lunch was a panini and a coffee in Nero, followed by a walk through the mall in the town. I nearly bought a book but held back because I’m already reading one and have two others on the side. Stirling seemed a dull and dowdy today. The weather didn’t help with constant drizzle, but it wasn’t all about the weather. So many closed shops don’t give a good look to a town.

Got the train back to the station and picked up the car, then drove home. We watched a less than exciting Spanish GP. Maybe it will liven up when the race proper runs tomorrow.

Spotted today’s PoD on a nettle and thought it was some new caterpillar, but it turned out to be Nettle Rust Fungus. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.

I actually enjoyed viewing Stirling from a different direction. Good to see some of the ‘old’ shops like the bike shops on the main street are still there and flourishing.

No plans for tomorrow.

Not quite such a wet day – 12 June 2026

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Driving round central Scotland looking for trainers unsuccessfully.

I got the message from Henry’s Coffee Company that a bag of coffee was ready to uplift. Drove to Falkirk, only to find that the shop was closed. A phone call sorted things out and the coffee would be delivered to our door today. That’s what makes Henry’s such a great company to work with.

We retraced our steps and drove to Go Outdoors next, looking for trainers. Not much luck. I saw one pair that were reasonably priced, but only one pair. We might go in to Glasgow tomorrow to see what Tiso has to offer. It all depends on whether Scotland win tonight. If they don’t, batten down the hatches and stay safe for a week or so.

Drove back home by the twisty backroads of Coatbridge and found the big orange parcel waiting for us in the usual place. Sent a thank-you message to the person who brought the coffee.

In the late afternoon I buckled up and went for a walk over to The Shops in and out of the rain all the time. Came home with another bag, sweeties this time. We watched a short episode of Hannah Fry explaining the benefits and pitfalls of AI. Quite interesting, and totally believable.

It had been a slightly better day than yesterday. A bit less rain and although there were a few times when the wind got bit high, at least the rain was lighter.

Hoping for a better weekend tomorrow. Also hoping that Scotland don’t do anything stupid.

Rain, Rain, Go Away … – 11 June 2026

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… Come again another day.

It was a very wet day. We complain when we have no rain for a fortnight and we complain when “It’s always raining”. We’re just never pleased that’s what’s wrong. The weather is just the weather, that’s all.

Having said that, it was a dull day. What we, in Scotland would call a Dreich day. I think I went out once in the afternoon to do some shopping, but I was glad to get back home again, in the dry. I hope our hardy hillwalkers were having a better time than us.

One thing the weather did do, was give me a chance to tidy up some of my computer stuff. I’d noticed that the bin in the Mac was filling up drastically. I usually don’t have a problem with it, because I use Noodlesoft’s ‘Hazel’ app to keep it under control, but for some reason it wasn’t working the way it should. I think I’ve managed to clear the blockage tonight and things will flow again.

Dinner tonight was one of Scamp’s specialities, Cabbage, Bacon and Potatoes, with the addition of Jamie’s Asparagus. Nice and crunchy. Now we’ll have to wait another year for it to regrow, all being well. So thank you to all you gardeners.

Today’s PoD was another Alec’s Red flower dripping in the rain.

We have no real plans for tomorrow, but I may go out looking for a decent pair of trainers as the Goretex on mine is wearing a bit thin, as are the soles!

Lunch – 10 June 2026

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Our visitors were off the mark quite early this morning. Thankfully they didn’t interrupt our beauty sleep!

A lazy start to a day that didn’t quite know what to do with itself. One minute it was pelting down with rain and the next the sun was splitting the trees.

Scamp drove over to Shona’s house and brought her over to ours. We were booked for lunch in the afternoon. At a new restaurant, at least, it was new to us. The food was OK, just ok, as far as I was concerned. The starter was Rosemary Focaccia allegedly with side plates of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), nor Balsamic. However the Pesto, Nduja and Sugo Dips saved the day. Neither of us could find any EVOO, just dry bread.
The mains were much better. Risotto with king prawns, cherry tomatoes and roasted red peppers was great, according to Scamp and Shona quickly cleared a large plate of Spaghetti alla Carbonara. My Penne all ‘Amatriciana wasn’t just spicy, it was on fire!
Scamp and I had three flavours of ice cream and Shona had Sicilian Bombolini which looked interesting. Like an upmarket Italian churros.
All in all it wasn’t at all bad. Food service was slow and some of the drinks were a bit overpriced. Alcoholic drinks vastly overpriced. Would I go back. Probably, but in a few weeks, when they iron out some of the problems.

When we got back home, Scamp and Shona had great fun watching the videos Jamie had created earlier in the week.

I went out to leave them to it and walked over St Mo’s in the rain. I discovered that a ‘bunnet’ is a great thing for keeping the rain off you. PoD went to a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on a Marsh Cinquefoil.

No plans for tomorrow because the walkers will be on Arran. We may go looking for trainers for me.

The gardener’s nightmare – 9 June 2026

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Today was one of those days when you just have to knuckle down and get things done.

Scamp was out for coffee with Isobel and was intending to bring some messages back with her.

Yesterday I made a list of things to do today. Today I added to that list. The only thing to do then was to get started.

The first thing to do was some tidying up of May. I’d a lot of loose ends that needed clearing up. Nothing difficult, but a whole lot of little things that I wanted to sort out. The blog was one of them.

The blog was only half finished but it didn’t take too long to roughly fix it. Next job was to get all the independent units of it into the correct order. I knew the problems it would bring if all the dates were in the wrong places. Best to get it sorted while it was still clear in my head. After that I had some tomatoes and veg to chop up to be made into soup for freezing later.

Scamp returned just after I was checking that all my tasks had been completed properly. By then it was time for lunch.

Jamie and Simonne got back about 4.30 and although the black clouds were gathering, I thought I could get a few shots before the rains came. It didn’t quite work, because I got caught in a rain shower. Nothing very heavy, but then I heard the rumbling of thunder and thought walking through the trees wasn’t the smartest place, but sometimes I’m not all that smart and anyway I was as far from home as I intended to be, so I walked back through the park, just in case.

PoD went to the gardener’s nightmare, Buttercups. Scamp does not like them and I can see why, but they stood out well from the background and I liked them.

Dinner tonight was Chicken and Peas, but it wasn’t as good as it usually is. Maybe I did something wrong, but there is very little you can do wrong with it. Scamp made Syllabub and it was just as good as it always is.

Jamie and Simonne are intending to go off on a walking holiday. I hope they get good weather.

Alyth, Dragons and Dancin’ – 8 June 2026

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Jamie and Simonne went off this morning to meet up with their friends in Alyth we went dancing in Kirsty’s class at night.

After Jamie and Simonne left, we drove to Tesco and did our usual Monday shop. There were quite a few heavy showers throughout the day, but we managed a walk over to St Mo’s. That’s where I saw the first Dragonfly of the year, a Four-Spotted Chaser. Four-Spotted because of the four spots on the wings of the insect. That made PoD.

In the evening we went to Kirsty’s dance class. That’s where we learned the Dalshannon Swing, a fairly simple, but fast dance the lady herself had devised.
We also learned the correct way to dance Rumba One, finding out that we’d been doing the ‘Fencing’ part completely wrong. Other than that, I think Scamp sat all evening working through old movies that now run on new technology. Now, I wonder where that DVD camera went. Maybe I could get it going again and that would mean I could …….. On second thoughts, probably better not!

Tomorrow we await the return of the walkers.

Mowgli – 7 June 2026

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On Sunday we all drove to Croy to get the train to Glasgow.

Arrived in town in a fairly busy train and went for a walk to see the damage to Union Corner that is still not completely cleared. Really high scaffolding and also barricades blocked the view of this memorable set of buildings.

We walked back to Mowgli which seemed to fit the bill for today. Great dinner with far too many and varied food options to share. Just as good as the last time Scamp and I had been there. Unfortunately nobody’s birthday today, so no Brownies with a dollop of ice cream and a candle on top!

In the last few days Scamp and I had been discussing how to get our old home movie films from DVDs into a more usable format. Jamie came to the rescue and showed us how to let the computer do the hard work. He spent most of the evening rebuilding the clumsy DVD disks into a format that could be sent to anyone who has One Drive. I’m still not completely clear on the details, but I understand the method. By the end of the night, we had four DVDs converted. Amazing.

We watched the Monaco GP between the technospeak and lost count of the number of penalties and broken cars in a few hours of mad driving.

PoD went to Queen Street Station’s new architectural ceiling.

Tomorrow Jamie and Simonne are intending to do an overnight with friends in Aylth, near Blairgowrie.

The Japanese Garden – 6 June 2026

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Jamie and Simonne arrived last night and today Jamie drove to the Japanese Garden outside Dollar.

The route his sat nav took wasn’t the one we would have chosen. Narrow single farm tracks that didn’t leave much room for driving and certainly wouldn’t accommodate two cars meeting. Thankfully we didn’t meet any other cars!

The weather wasn’t great, but there was almost no wind which gave me great reflections on the pond and it would have been perfect if I hadn’t forgotten to take a spare SD card! However, I managed to offload some of the older photos to create enough space to get some decent shots.

We had coffee and a scone each in a wobbly wee lean-to bench at the back of the booking hut. We walked up to the Fairy Houses that are still there and thankfully the sun was shining for a while. I think the visitors were impressed!

Drove home by a more sensible route and Jamie & Simonne got ready to drive over to see Andy and Cat and the children in the evening.

We stayed at home and watched the qualifying for the Monaco GP. A few bumps, but not as many as we suspected.

PoD was a trio of Rhododendron flowers from the Japanese Garden.

A sad day – 5 June 2026

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Today was Val’s funeral. Scamp and I were intending to bring Colin with us, to the crematorium in Falkirk, but in the end he decided to get his daughter to take him. The only folk I knew were Colin and Fred, although Fred knew a few of the teachers from Abronhill High who knew Val.

I nearly burst into tears when we were walking in to the crematorium because the music started playing Pink Floyd’s “Wish you were here”. The title says it all.

We didn’t go to the tea or the meal, I think we just drove home in silence.

Again I will say it. I’m so glad I went to see him and have a blether for one last time at the hospice.

Lacewing – 4 June 2026

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A day of torrential showers then sunshine!

I was supposed to meet Alex for a photowalk in the morning, but he phoned to say he wasn’t feeling well and was calling off.

Scamp was out this morning for coffee with Shona. That left me all on my lonesome.

I used the time to weed out the losers in my May photos and to backup those that were left. Then I created a new folder for the new July photos. That left me half an hour to complete today’s puzzles.

Just as I was finishing, I got a call from Colin, an old friend to ask about timings for tomorrow’s trip to Falkirk for Val’s funeral. Once we were settled and just hanging up, Scamp returned and the rest of the morning was spent talking about how things were going in Darley Road.

After lunch I think I was getting under Scamp’s feet and she told me it would be a good idea for me to go for a walk. I agreed and did my usual circuit of the pond, then a walk across the football park. I got a few photos of bees of a variety of colours and sizes when a very light insect flew past. I immediately identified it as a Blue Lacewing. They used to be quite common, but I hadn’t seem one for a couple of years. They are good for keeping the aphids down on plants. They are such delicate insects, it looks like a gust of wind will blow them away. The Blue Lacewing got PoD.

We’re expecting Jamie and Simonne to arrive tomorrow, all being well. That must be why everything in the house is being polished tonight!!