Category: A Toy off the Rack

I thought I’d have a day in town today – 24 October 2019

Posted on by Zogman

Just window shopping mainly, but with intent.

Drove up to the station to see if there were any spaces. There weren’t, there were cars everywhere. Cars parked up on two wheels on the verges, cars in the flower beds, cars double parked. This is just carnage from Tuesday to Thursday. I think a lot of folk either work from home or take a holiday on Mondays and Fridays, because I can usually get parked without a problem then. However, there is always the worry that when you come back some moron has parked in front of you. Maybe a ‘ten pence coach line’ would remind them that behaviour like that is not acceptable. Sooo I had to drive in to Glasgow.

I was give a list of shower gels to get for Scamp in Molton Brown. Of course they don’t call them ‘shower gels’, they call them Body Wash. Isn’t that what shower gels do, wash your body? Anyway, today was the start of their annual 20% off offer so that’s why I was given the list. With the job done I wandered my way back up Bucky Street to see what goodies Jessops had for me. My attention was a girl interrogating an older couple. Then I felt a hand on my chest. It was attached to a woman about my age and it was there to stop me walking into her! I hate folk that don’t look where they’re going, and here was I doing exactly that thing. I apologised and laughed and thankfully she did too. Never did find out what the girl was doing.

I hadn’t heard that Jessops were on the point of being put into administration – for the second time. It was only when another customer asked one of the assistants if the shop was closing. His reaction gave the lie to his explanation that nothing was certain yet. Another one bites the dust, I think.

I had another look at the Sony RX 100 camera and for once the salesman I was talking to didn’t push me to try the version 5 of the camera, but said the best bargain was the version 3. I’m still not sure if it’s what I’m looking for. It has a silly little pop up viewfinder that I’m sure I’d break within the first month and then regret shelling out my money for it for the rest of the ownership.

Back home via Tesco to get the makings of dinner. Then I just had to visit the new Aldi store. It was a bit smelly and that could have been the veg counter, or just the great unwashed. I’m not sure which.

Back home I was in the middle of making a pot of Scamp’s Just Soup when the lady herself returned from her gig. It seemed to be a resounding success as it always is in Abronhill.

I left her to cool down and talk to her sister on the phone while I went to get today’s PoD. It turned out to be a little bush which grows wild around here with white berries and pink flowers. It’s called a Snowberry Bush. I liked the flower and the composition.

Apart from fish and prawns, I ‘m not a great fan of seafood, especially shellfish. However, that was today’s topic and needs must … Most of the bits and pieces were cobbled together from various photos of shellfish on the Internet. A splash or two of paint and we’re done!

No plans for tomorrow.

Dancing and a screamer – 23 October 2019

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Wednesday is dancing day. Screamers are just nutters with a different name.

My new phone vibrated just after 12 noon to tell me it had changed numbers, back to the one I’ve had for the last eight(?) years. A result. Thank you to the bloke in EE who sorted it. Now I can go ahead and unlock the old phone.

Drove in to Glasgow and started again into the new routine, adding the subtly named Bump and Grind. After that is was a practise session for the Quickstep and the Waltz. I had problems with them both, but the room is simply too small to be able to go over these steps. Add two speaker stacks and a piano and it becomes more challenging. If you add the third complication of the thick couple Gary and Freda who will happily stop anywhere and discuss who was making the mistakes. Actually, like most couples both were at fault, but do they really need to block everyone else’s path while the blame each other? It appears they do.

Coffee afterwards and coming back from the toilet, I noticed an iPhone on the floor behind where a woman was sitting. I tapped her on the shoulder to tell her and she let out this cutting scream. Honest, I just tapped her on the shoulder. I didn’t think I was that scary, although years of S1 pupils at school might disagree. Some folk just want to be the centre of attention. Nutters by any other name.

Back home I went out for a walk with the “Big Dog”. Thinking that as it was really dull, the bigger sensor on the Nikon would handle it better than the Oly. I was wrong. Lots of grain showing on the images. I finally chose a shot of a swan as PoD.

When I got back it was time to get the sketch sorted out. The topic was “A Fried Egg”. Where do these people get their ideas from (it was an old list for EDIM actually)? It should have been fairly easy, but I’m not that good at getting eggs into the frying pan without breaking the yolk, (and that’s what I did with the first one.) Tomorrow I’m expected to continue the food theme!

I packed in early and that’s why this blog post is a catch up. Sorry!

Tomorrow Scamp has a gig and I may go in to Glasgow.

Time to get the big jacket out – 21 October 2019

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I went for a walk today when Gems were in. I was decidedly underdressed.

It’s not like I was wearing tee shirt and shorts, just my usual jeans shirt jersey and my blue windproof rainy coat, but the wind today was biting. I think it’s time to bow to the inevitable and bring out the big Bergy jacket with its heavy lining.

The cold didn’t stop me enjoying the walk and I got today’s PoD down by the Luggie. I don’t know where this spider was going, but it was on a mission. Clambering over the rough gravel path. Look at the size of those teeth, or are they fangs? I don’t know. I didn’t want to get too close.

After I got as far as the road bridge, I had to give up because I was only wearing trainers and while they are waterproof, they are not mud and glaur proof. ‘Glaur’ is an old Scots word for really sticky mud. At least that’s my excuse, but really I was getting chilled by the cold westerly wind and glad to turn my back to it.

Back home I spent a profitable 15 minutes drawing today’s sketch of a bag Scamp bought me. The words “I’m away for the messages” will be familiar to most Scots, but if you are not of a Scottish persuasion, this means “I’m going shopping” Not window shopping or lightweight shopping. No, this is heavy duty serious buying for the week ahead type shopping. Anyway, I like the bag, it’s cotton and feels good. I’ve not actually used it yet. I must do soon. I also liked the sketch. It seemed to flow, not like a few of my Inktober 2019 efforts.

Kept watching the new and old phones while I was making the dinner, but no amount of watching, waiting or wishing would make the phone number on the new phone magically turn into the old one that seems to be stuck firmly to the iPhone. PAC code has been issued and as far as I am told it’s been accepted, but even after we returned from Salsa, never the twain would meet. Will speak to the new provider tomorrow with a bit of luck.

Salsa was the usual stramash that results from Jamie G introducing a new move. The ‘New’ move this week was called DJ and it was really a rehash of something we’d done before. Scamp and I both agree on that. It was a good move, one I think I could dance ‘in the wild’.

Tomorrow we’re off to Falkirk to speak to a man from Yorkshire.

A rather lazy day – 20 October 2019

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I only completed 4 out of 8 of my active hours, but I did complete my 10,000 steps.

Half my order from Amazon dropped through the letterbox in the morning. After a bit of a struggle and a cautious paring away of part of the SD card and SIM carrier, everything fitted and the storage memory was installed in the new Samsung. Then I spent most of the afternoon trying to find out how to download the default ringtones from the iPhone without any success. Finally gave up and went for a walk.

Walked around St Mo’s for an hour to clear my head. Took a few arty shots, but I liked them. Found the chestnut tree had disgorged it’s autumn load of chessies. You may call them Conkers if you’re English, or even Chestnuts if you’re not from the UK, but to me they will always be chessies, because that’s what we called them when I was wee. Playing chessies at school was a great way to keep warm, and to arrive in the classroom with bloody knuckles. The twelve I brought home were destined to be PoD. Later they will overwinter in the little greenhouse and then hopefully be planted in the spring when the world warms up again.

After much soul searching between us, we finally decided to go dancing tonight and although I was brain-dead as far as moves were concerned and I also had a sore back, I did enjoy the exercise. Walking back up Bucky Street my Fitbit buzzed to tell me the 10,000 had been completed. Always makes you feel good, that.

Got home to find another parcel waiting for me. The last two bits of yesterday’s order. The new phone now has a new jacket to keep it warm in the winter. After a late dinner, we spoke to JIC and it was during the phone call that he said when referring to the ringtones, “Somebody must know how to get them.” That set me thinking. Perhaps I’d been tackling this problem the wrong way. What if somebody else had had the same problem, but they had found the solution. And so it was that some smart American in 2010 had not only found the solution to downloading the standard iPhone ringtones, he or she had also gone and Zipped them into a neat little file and posted it on the Internet. Hooray! It was the work of about ten minutes to unzip them, upload the necessary ones to the new SD card in the phone and install them. Brilliant. An afternoon wasted, but a result!! Thank you JIC for the advice.

Today’s topic for sketching was “A Camera”. I think Scamp laughed out loud when I told her. “Which one will you choose” she asked. There’s a famous photogs saying :

The best camera in the world is the one in your pocket

In my case it’s got to be, either the TZ70 or the iPhone. Both immediately accessible but the TZ70 (Codename Teazer) just wins with its super zoom and the ability to shoot in RAW. That’s the sketch done.

Tomorrow is Gems day. Time for a sharp exit for me.

Out to Lunch – 19 October 2019

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We’d half intended taking the train to Embra today, but that was before the rains came.

Judging by the weather forecast yesterday, the east was going to be battered with rain, so Embra was off the list for today. With that said, we couldn’t decide where to go for lunch. Sometimes that’s what it comes down to now. Not so much where will we go today, more where will we go to lunch today. Italian or Indian that was the first choice. Scamp suggested Vecchia Bologna in Bridge of Allan, but sometimes it’s booked solid at weekends, so then what about a curry. Either Hamilton or Stirling. It’s a while since we’ve been to Stirling for a curry, so that was it settled. I wanted to get a case or some sort of protection for the new phone and there was a good stall in the Thistle Centre where I could get one. If we’d gone to Hamilton I’d have managed to get some material there for my new waistcoat project. So, either destination suited me.

Drove to Stirling on a bright morning. Curry was fine. We both have our favourites in this restaurant and that was what we had. Scamp – Veg pakora and Vegetable Dhansak. Me – Chicken pakora and Chicken Tikka Chilli Bhuna. Both deemed excellent.

Went looking for the stall that used to be in the Thistle Centre, but it seemed to have disappeared, then I noticed that it was now a shop in the centre. They did have the cover for the phone, but there were no prices visible. When I asked the bloke how much they were, he seemed to pluck the price from midair. £10 he said. They looked exactly the same as ones I’d seen in Amazon for £5 before I left. I suppose the lease for a shop is much more expensive than for a market stall, but I didn’t want to contribute a fiver to that fund. Said thanks, but no thanks and left empty handed.

Scamp was a bit more successful in getting a bargain from the beleaguered Bonmarché which has just gone into administration. The second of her shops to fall by the wayside this week, Watt Bros having failed on Friday.

Back home I ordered some new toys for the new phone including a cheaper case than the bloke was selling in Stirling. After that I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD of a Jenny Long Legs in the late afternoon sun. Today’s topic for Inktober was “A Coffee Grinder”.  JIC bought me this Krups Coffee grinder a few years ago and it has give absolutely amazing service. The grinder burrs are probably needing replaced now but it works tirelessly to reduce Cuban, Sumatran and Colombian beans to a useful and consistent grind.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go dancing at the new venue of Revolution. Other than that, no plans.

A sign of things to come perhaps – 3 September 2019

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Today the Red Juke was going in for service and I had a courtesy car booked and it was a surprise!

Drove to Stirling in the morning and was passing the ‘New Shops’ just around 9.30am. The new M&S food store was opening at 10am and the crowds, half an hour before it opened were a very, very long snaking queue along the shop frontage, along part of the car park and down the side of the building. At a guess, I’d say between 500 and 700 people were standing in the rain hoping for one of the Golden Tickets that would give them up to £200 worth of shopping vouchers and a bad dose of the flu in to the bargain. I phoned Scamp to warn her that she was too late already. She just laughed

I had to wait half an hour for the courtesy car to be delivered, but when it arrived it was a ’19 plate Micra. Then the service manager dropped the bombshell. It was also an Automatic. I’ve only rarely been in an automatic car and certainly never driven one. How was I going to get this home? Luckily the lady was very positive about it and explained quietly how it worked and drove me round the block. She then offered to sit with me to allow me to get used to driving it round the block. Oh dear I must have looked terrified, but I took her up on her offer anyway. Then it was time for me to ‘go solo’. Despite knowing that there was no gearstick, I still tried to change up and down with the drive selector for the first few roundabouts, then concentrated a bit more and found it was quite a natural way to drive. When I got it home, I took Scamp out for a drive, but she refused to have a go. It’s amazing how quickly you adapt to a completely new driving style. By the time I was taking it back, it was as natural as any other car I’ve driven.

When I got to the garage the same lady came to deal with me and all I said was “Well, that was a lovely car.” I didn’t add “I want one.”, but she knew that was in my head. However, outside was a shiny clean Red Juke that will need two new front tyres this year, so I put the thoughts of an Automatic Micra to the back of my mind for now, paid for my day’s insurance and left with a smile on my face. Western Nissan aren’t so bad after all.

The drive back home took almost twice as long as going, because everyone in Central Scotland seemed to want to go the same way. I was hungry and was looking forward to Scamp’s Prawn Stir Fry for dinner, otherwise I’d have taken it for a run away from the motorway bizz to test out the updated sat nav card they’d plugged in as part of the service. Maybe we’ll get a chance to try it out tomorrow.

PoD was a shot of the last of Scamp’s sweet peas standing up to the incessant rain today. We were promised some sun. We got rain instead.

No dancing tomorrow because Scamp has an appointment with the doc to check out the insect bites she’s got, and no other plans. No dancing at night either because Jamie the Salsa teacher won’t be there. Even worse, he won’t be there next week either.

Finally up to date! – 22 August 2019

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Today the blog came up to date. Flickr’s up to date with the option to add more holiday photos when I want to. Blog is up to date and posted. Just today’s post to get done before the witching hour and all will be well.

So, today. It started out well in the morning with some sunshine and a bowl of porridge from oats I’d bought in Wales. They needed to go, as did the older ones that were taking up space in the cupboard. Today we needed a good clear out and Scamp was the one to do it! I just bought new porridge oats. She did all the cleaning of the house. I got the last of the washing into the machine.

Scamp decided that it would rain later, so it would be a good idea to cut the grass in the morning. That’s when we found the strimmer cord, not the electric cable, but the cord that whirls round at a fair rate of knots and severs the grass, was dead. Every time we pulled out a new bit and switched on the machine the cord would break again. Need to get a new cord. Bear in mind that this is the original cord. Since the grass still needed cut, we hauled out the mower and while I moved all the pots and troughs around, Scamp cut the back grass. While she was busy upstairs cleaning stuff, I offered to cut the front grass. The mower has been playing up for year, at least three years. The blade is chipped and blunt, but the dangerous bit is that the interlock that will switch off the mower when you release the handle doesn’t work any more and hasn’t for some time. For someone who is usually safety conscious, Scamp was quite laissez faire about the lack of a safety cut-off. For me, I’d say it was becoming a liability and we need to think of getting a new one. I think I may have talked her round, but if she reads this, she’ll stonewall again. Won’t you dear?

With the cleaning done and the front and back grass cut it was lunchtime. Earlier in the day I’d bitten the bullet and bought X-Plane 11. A pure indulgence. Some would call it a game, but what do they know. It’s a flight simulator with very realistic graphics and it had just finished downloading. That gave me something to do in the afternoon when the rains came. I did fly it a couple of times but had to go out and get the PoD sorted out. It turned out to be an orange Rudbeckia flower I saw in St Mo’s. Dinner was a roast chicken and it was cooking while I was out walking. Cooking in the new roasting pan Scamp had bought yesterday. It’s still sitting in that pan while I’m writing this and the smell is very tempting. Unfortunately, Scamp has just put it in the fridge so it’s out of sight, out of mind!

No plans for tomorrow yet, although we might go to the Strathaven Balloon Festival if the weather is decent tomorrow evening.

Dancing and New Shoes – 7 July 2019

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Not Dancing IN New Shoes. That would be torture.

It was another of those strange days we’ve been having for some time now.  In the morning the sky is clear and blue, but then before midday the clouds roll in and obscure the sun.  The afternoons are warm but sunless with those same milky white clouds covering all the blue sky.  In the early evening the sky starts clearing and by about 9pm it’s blue sky again.  It happens over and over.  But we shouldn’t complain because at least it’s dry and that in itself is unusual for a Scottish summer.  It looks as if it’s not going to stay that way all week, though.  Heavy rain and the potential for thunderstorms later in the week.  Ah! that’s more like a Scottish summer.

We were going dancing today.  First Sunday in the month is a Sunday Social day and for just now it’s in  the Record Factory in Glasgow and it’s big selling point is the wooden dance floor.  Not exactly a sprung dance floor, but wooden, which is much kinder on the feet and legs than concrete with tiles.  But before that there were photos to take.

I took a walk in St Mo’s in my new Merrell Moab 2 GTXs.  I hadn’t noticed the GTX when I bought them, but they’re alright even if they are cut a bit lower on  the heels to give that Gran Tourismo feel.  Actually, GTX stands for Gore Tex, or so the InterWeb tells me, and it’s never, well rarely, well actually quite often wrong.  Anyway, the decision was made this morning that the label gets cut off and the shoes are free to travel untrammeled across the length and breadth of the country, or at least over to St Mo’s.  Got some pics of beasties there.  Fifty Four photos to be exact, but acutally they were reduced to Nine by my swingeing cuts to the not-so-good ones.  Still, tonight the icon showed the first signs that the battery was starting to become depleted and would need refilling with electrons soon after taking over 130 shots.  That’s pretty good going for a non-OEM battery.  I’m impressed.  One of the final nine, a Large Red Damselfly became PoD.

Went dancing in The Record Factory and actually got asked to dance by three, yes, THREE ladies.  Now that might have been because there weren’t a lot of men around, but I think it because of my stylish moves and dashing good looks.  Believe that if you will!  It was a good night, although there weren’t many dancers of either sex strutting their stuff.

So tomorrow I’ve a doc’s appointment to check my new medication (Cheapo pills) are working and the rest of the day is our own to do with as we will.  Hoping to bag some sunshine while it lasts!

 

 

A Stitch in time – 4 July 2019

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Today was dull. No sunshine. A very short sprinkle of rain. Nothing for it but to get the needles and pins out.

After breakfast I took the scissors and cut out the front of the waistcoat complete with all those strange wee triangles that stick out of cut out patterns. After consulting with Scamp and also after watching a few YouTube videos I was prepared to mark the darts with needle and thread. I’d also seen a video that recommended using a chinagraph pencil to mark out the lines. What it failed to mention was that when you iron the darts flat, the heat melts the marks made by the chinagraph pencil and they disappear. Numpty. I forgot the three rules of watching YouTube videos:

  1. Don’t believe anything you see here.
  2. Don’t try this at home.
  3. If you must ignore Rule 1 and Rule 2, test it on a scrap piece first.

Luckily the iron wasn’t quite hot enough and I could see the marks faintly glowing on the dark material. Then I used tailor’s chalk to complete the marking.
Later in the morning, I fired up the sewing machine and after a bit of jiggery pokery with Thread Tension, Stitch Width and Sweary Words, I’d stitched the darts to my satisfaction. Later I made a Welt (No, I don’t know what it is either). Exhausted, that’s where I left it today.

The DPD man came to deliver my new batteries for the new toy. Hopefully they’ll be more successful than the other lot and I set them to charge while I took the old Oly 5 for a walk around the pond. Not many beasties about, but I did get a moody shot of an old apple tree growing all by itself in the park. After a bit of work in ON1, that became PoD.

Dinner tonight was a delicious piece of smoked haddock with chips. Watched the tennis, well it was on everywhere by the look of things, and eventually managed to get the TV to respond to the Red Button to allow us to watch Andy Murray and his partner win their doubles match. Doubles is so much more interesting than singles. No long tedious grunt punctuated rallies. Much faster and good fun wondering what they were whispering to each other between shots of banging the ball over the net. Probably just deciding who’s round it is in the bar after the game.

Hoping against hope for a nice sunny day tomorrow to brighten up the end of the week and for a chance to take the OM D E-M1 (Now renamed Oly 1) out for a few shots of somewhere nice.

A New Toy – 2 July 2019

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Ordered on-line yesterday, delivered free to the store today.  Impressive.

Ordered a second hand Panasonic 14mm lens on-line from WEX at lunchtime yesterday and got an email from them today, just 24 hours later, to say it was ready for collection in their Glasgow store.  Impressive service.  So, I drove in and picked it up.  I could have waited until tomorrow, but I was doing nothing else today and it seemed a pity for it to be cooling its heels in a store room when I could be putting it through its paces in  the sunshine.  Drove home via B&Q to get some black Sugru to try to fix the battery door on my old, but good Oly E-PL5.  However, as usual with this branch, they had blue, red, yellow and white Sugru, but no BLACK.  Left disappointed and drove over to the Antonine Wall and got some landscape shots of the hay bales under a blue sky.  The above shot made PoD.  I must admit I’m impressed with the lens.  In case you’re interested (I know you’re not). It’s a Silver Panasonic 14mm F2.5 Lumix G II ASPH Lens.  It came in its original box with the instructions and warranty still in their sealed wrapper.  Nobody reads instructions these days.  If in doubt, Google it.  What do you mean you don’t have a computer?  How the hell are you going to view your photos?  Take the disk in to Boots and ask them to print them?

While I was out doing the rounds, Scamp was at lunch with her pal.  She should have gone last week, but uncharacteristically, forgot.  By the time I got back, so was she.  Basically, that was the day.  Highlight for me was the new lens.  Highlight for Scamp was lunch and a natter.  We’re easily pleased, you see!

Tomorrow we’re probably going dancing in the afternoon at Michael’s Fun Palace, and he better be on his best behaviour or fur will fly! Then intending to go to Jamie Gal’s Salsa class at night.  Should be a fun day!!!