Category: A Walk

Out on the town – 12 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Out with my brother today. Walking the streets of Glasgow looking for something new.

We took a walk down to the Graffiti area on Clyde Street. It’s actually called Custom House Legal Wall because it’s one of the few places where you can legally paint on the walls. I hadn’t realise that, after all the times I’ve walked around there. Every day is a school day, indeed.
I grabbed a clever looking bit of art there and it became PoD. Probably not to everyones taste, but it takes all sorts …

From there we walked left along the Broomielaw and then under the M8 before walking up the hill looking for the professional artists pillars that Alex had seen a couple of weeks ago. We got a few photos there before we got the ‘Bums Rush’ from a couple of blokes who told us that the area was a building site and we had to keep clear. We did that, for the most part, but then I went further and skirted the Express Way. It’s really strange, I’ve driven along that bit of road, but had never really stopped to see what was around me.

After I’d disentangled myself from all the roads round about that area, I retraced my steps and met Alex again. We decided it was time for lunch and Paesano is the only place we go on our walks. We were almost at the door when the rain started. The streets were dry by the time we left Paesano and we went for a coffee before we caught our respective buses to go home.

Scamp was sitting in the garden when I got home and I joined her while we waited for the eclipse, but although I got a few distant shots of the sun, the photos weren’t good enough to see any detail. Also, the clouds had rolled in and obliterated any details that would have been there. Oh well, maybe next time … when the next total eclipse comes in about 70 years.

Looking for insects – 11 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was another hot day. Not as hot as it was in the south of England, but certainly warm enough for us in Scotland.

The only thing we did today was to go for a walk to the shops. Well, to be honest, Scamp went for a walk to the shops, but I cut the walk short and went down to St Mo’s. Behind St Mo’s is what is usually a boggy area which is usually wet in all weathers. Of course, today it was almost bone dry. I was looking for the seed pods from the Flag Iris plants that grow there, but I realise now after some research that I have to wait until about November to get the distorted seed pods that grow down there! I’ll try to be patient.

On my walk back, I spotted a little Hover Fly sitting and probably feeding on a pink Knapweed flower. It took a few shots to get what I wanted from the wee fly, but in the end I had a PoD.

Back home it was my turn to cook and Scamp requested Pasta Puttanesca. That’s another recipe from a long while ago. I eventually found what I was looking for and Scamp said it tasted just right. I wasn’t too sure, but I’ll stand by her decision.

TV schedules were all over the place tonight which meant that the Sewing Bee hadn’t recorded on our dodgy Virgin device. It seems that every week we find another failure from this recorder. I thInk it may be time to move away from Virgin and get a more trustworthy recorder.

That was about it for today. Sat in the garden for a while soaking up the sun. Hoping to meet Alex tomorrow for a walk. I might even get back in time to watch the partial eclipse.

Off the leash – 10 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Today Scamp and Shona were off on a day trip, I was off the leash.

I dropped the girls off at the town centre to catch the Ember bus that would take them to Dundee for the day. I had the whole day to myself. That gave me time to read for an hour or so and to plant a new batch of potatoes that would hopefully be ready for around Christmas, all being well. It was strange to think that I was planting them on one of the warmest days in the year and expecting them to ripen in time for Christmas, in four month’s time.

The butterflies were working hard among the Buddleia bushes in a corner of the garden. No more sightings of Hummingbird Hawk Moths unfortunately, but I’d take the half dozen Peacock and Red Admirals as a decent substitute. These butterflies are suckers for the buddleia flowers.

Later in the afternoon, I went for a walk in St Mo’s hoping to see some more butterflies, but none were flying there today. However there were a couple of Dragonflies and the warmth of the boardwalk seemed to make them lazy and easier to capture in camera. I got quite close, but had the wrong lens for the job – it seems I always do!
A nice shot of a Common Darter with its tail up in the air got PoD. I happily walked back, wondering how the ladies were getting on.

Not long after that I got the message to say that the girls were on the bus on their way home. An hour or so later my phone pinged to say they were just leaving Stirling. Picked the travellers up later and took Shona home, then drove home.

After listening to what the girls had got up to in Dundee, I felt as if I’d done nothing back home, but I’d enjoyed my day ‘off the leash’ and had a lazy evening watching TV.

Tomorrow looks like another hot one.

 

Another long lie in – 8 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

This is becoming a habit.

Unfortunately today, when we should have been driving to Brookfield for another dance lesson, we were just breaking the surface. Personally I blame the cup of Hot Chocolate I had last night before I went to bed. It always makes me sleepy. The half a bottle of Piquito Jumito we’d enjoyed had nothing to do with it. No, nothing at all.

So, it being extremely unlikely that we were going to get to Brookfield in time, we had a leisurely breakfast and planned the rest of the day. Scamp suggested that, since I’d been talking about going to Dunfermline sometime soon, we should do just that and go. That sounded like a great idea.

So it was that we walked down to The Shops where we picked up the local bus that would take us to the Town Centre and from there we would get another bus to Dunfermline. Oh, if only it was that simple, but we just missed the bus at the Town Centre and Scamp found herself trying to avoid a conversation with an old guy who was sure I was gay because I was wearing an old pair of pink trousers. Thankfully the Dunfermline bus arrived on time and we got on while the old guy went on to talk to someone else. I did feel a bit sorry for him. As my pal, Colin says, “You don’t know what they go home to at night.” I always try to remember that.

The rest of the journey was going fine until we took a detour that added at least half an hour to our journey. Why is Scotland going through a renovation boom just now? And more importantly, where is all the money coming from? However, we did finally get to Dunfermline and had a coffee and a pastry to calm us down.

We walked down to Pittencrieff Park but found that the Greenhouse was closed because of problems with the glass roof. Instead we walked round the carefully laid out flower beds. It wasn’t until we arrived back home that we discovered that the fruits of those beds, they were related to Ricin! I still made the Castor Oil Plant PoD.

After we’d taken some photos of the plants, we adjourned to Wetherspoons for Fish ’n’ Chips with a glass of wine for Scamp and a pint of Tennants for me. Then we just missed the bus home.

We seemed to be having a “Just missed it” day today as we watched the X3 disappear from the Town Centre stance in Cumbersheugh.

Despite all that, we had a good day. I would go so far as to say that I had a great day. Just a relaxing day. Thank you Scamp.

A much cooler day – 6 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were on our way to The Fort, well, it was actuallyMorrisons which is close to the fort itself.

We were going looking for Potatoes, because our last lot had far too many eyes (all the better to see you with). I think Scamp thought we could maybe have stopped at the fort to a coffee, but one look at the length of the queue to get a parking place put an end to that idea. So it was back home after Morrisons.

Back home, Scamp was determined to get the front grass cut. I didn’t think it was badly needing cut, but what do I know. I was the labourer, moving the pots around when needed and not a lot else. We both thought it was going to rain, all the signs were there, but for some reason the big black clouds passed us by.

Later in the afternoon I put my boots on and went over to the Shops looking for a bargain or two and came home with a few things. It was strange to see the crowds of folk all desperate to get a parking place at the fort, but back home there were hardly any queues. Scamp suggested it was because the kids would soon be going back to school and there would be a demand for new shoes, blazers and jerseys and our nearby shops didn’t sell much in that line.

Dinner tonight was yesterday’s Fish Risotto for Scamp with Mince ’n’ Tatties for me. Both food groups were being finished off to make room for fresh food and veg.

I did a bit of experimenting with a month’s lot of photos last night and found that I could get the screensaver to work properly again. Someone who had posted online suggested that maybe the screensavers were being hidden, ready to be removed in the next version of Adobe. This might indeed be true, because the software that controls the screensavers is buried deep in the bowels of Castle Adobe. That would be a sin. A bit more work today made it work the way it was supposed to, thankfully.

PoD today was a much worked photo of Geranium Rozanne after it had been dunked in various buckets of messy stuff. I quite liked the finished result.

No plans for tomorrow, but maybe lunch somewhere?

Overslept – 5 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I had decided to go to bed early last night. But that didn’t happen. We didn’t wake until well past 9am, and then we had a late breakfast, we didn’t really want to go anywhere. A cold wind was blowing along the back of the house and it wasn’t really making me want to go for a walk.

Instead of going for a walk, I had one last attempt at speaking to a human about my painful right foot. I was amazed when a lady answered my story, asked a few questions and said she had referred me to our local health centre to take it further. Hopefully I won’t have to wait long to have it looked at.

Although we hadn’t had much for lunch, I suggested could we have a Fish and Cabbage Risotto for dinner except we didn’t have any cabbages, so I grabbed a camera and my waterproof jacket, just in case and walked down to the shops. With the roads still being dug up, it was almost as quick to walk to the shops as to drive. Besides, I might have missed some beautiful butterflies, even on a blustery day. I didn’t, but I got the cabbage and some frozen spinach which we are beginning to enjoy and got a photo of a Cow Parsley seed head that became PoD.

Let me explain last night. Scamp had been watching a program about Geoff Hamilton who was a garden expert on TV about 30 years ago. I watched it for a while then went off to write the blog and the photos. I’d just finished when Scamp was talking about what was worth listening to on the BBC Proms. She said two things, ‘Respighi’ and ‘Pines of Rome’. I don’t know where I heard it first, but many years ago I was doing something in the house and half listening to the story of the Pines on the radio. Then when I heard it played by a full orchestra, I was hooked. The story is about the centurions returning, exhausted from a battle and arriving as heroes to Rome. It’s very etherial, almost ghostly music that builds and builds as you get dragged into it. That’s why we didn’t get to bed last night until about half past eleven. Fantastic music. I think Scamp thought I was taking the Mickey to begin with, but realised I did really like this music.

No plans for tomorrow. Not yet, anyway.

Best laid plans – 4 August 2026

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I had three things to do today:

  1. Drop off a sample at for the docs to poke and probe into.
  2. Book the MOT for the Blue car.
  3. Send a message to the Podiatrist.

I managed two of them, which is quite good for me. The first one was easy until I realised I’d left the sample pouch at home. Now, bear in mind that about half of the roads in Cumbersheugh just now are blocked for two weeks. I lied earlier in the week about it being three weeks. Well, what’s a week between friends? So now I had to drive through the a whole load of speed bumps to get back to the house to pick up a plastic bag. Then I had to drive round again and overt the bumps to deliver it to the sample box in Medical Centre. Task 1 completed.

Drove on to the very end of Cumbersheugh and booked the car in for MOT and promised it a scrub and polish if it behaved itself at the MOT place. That was easy!

Tried twice without success to describe a problem I’ve got on my left foot. It feels like I’m walking on broken glass, just like Annie Lennox if you remember her. I couldn’t just phone the podiatrist, because for this whole week they open at 9am and close at 1pm. There is only one podiatrist and there were already 7 people ahead of me in the queue. By the time I filled in the page explaining my problem it would be well into three figures. No, I decided to go the slow way, and type up my problem, except you only get one line to do the explanation. What am I going to say? “I HAVE A SORE FOOT THAT CRUNCHES WHEN I WAL” There is no room to finish the sentence! North Lanarkshire at its clumsy best!
I gave up. I may try again tomorrow. I might get lucky. Two out of three isn’t bad.

Really heavy rain shower in the afternoon, just as I was considering a walk in St Mo’s. It must have lasted about 20 minutes, then it tapered off and after a while, the sun shone. I did get out for a walk and grabbed today’s PoD which was a Valarian plant with a tiny little green spider dangling from it. I liked that one.

Scamp made Saag Paneer Kedgeree. Delicious, if a little bit hot. Needs some tweaking, but worth trying I can photocopy the instructions if anyone wants it. It’s got a sliced, boiled egg, Hazy, but that’s not a game changer. You could just miss it out, or Neil could.

No plans for tomorrow.

 

Out to see the doc – 31 July 2026

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Or at least the doc’s assistant.

It was time for my annual checkup, or my MOT as some folk call it. Dropped Scamp off at Tesco for her to make her way along to Costa where Isabel would be waiting for her. I drove on to the doc’s surgery and signed in. I was way too early, but that didn’t bother me, I had my iPhone and it had my Sudoku puzzle on it, so I’d have something to do.

A while later the automated voice called me to speak to the sister. It was quite a positive discussion. I knew there were a few things I needed to do, like losing weight. The sister wanted to do a PSA test and a blood test too. I’d been lucky enough to get the tests in quickly before the bloke who takes the samples away for analysis left. Better to get it done quickly. After that and after answering all the sister’s questions and after she answered all of mine, we had a plan of action to put into place next week if there are enough free spaces to get an appointment. That was my morning done and dusted, so I drove home and had a well deserved coffee and waited for Scamp.

As it happened, when she arrived we discussed what we’d been doing in the morning and had lunch. Then we solved the Wordle and all the rest of the puzzles that keep our brains active. In the afternoon the rain started and it looked like I wouldn’t be going for a walk, but later the sky cleared and I did manage a short jaunt round St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was the seed pods of a Gorse plant, although every time I look at it, it looks like a wolf! Too wild an imagination.

Scamp made Chicken Milanese which is a chicken breast that’s had the living daylights beaten out of it. I imagine calling it “Chicken Milanese” describes it better than my example! Whatever you call it, I thoroughly enjoyed it with potatoes and a lovely ratatouille, or “Rats” as Scamp describes it.

We relaxed to Gardeners World for an hour in the evening. Actually, not a bad day.

I think we may be going dancing tomorrow.

Another warm day – 30 July 2026

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Scamp was taking Shona to have a tooth removed. Rather her than me

I took some time to myself and read a few more chapters of my latest book, The Midnight Train by Matt Haig. Strange book, but I’m only about a quarter way through it. I want to find out where it goes, but am not in a hurry.

When Scamp returned she started a conversation with Jackie and not wishing to earwig, I put on my rain jacket and put three new windscreen wipers on the blue car. What a difference that made. Wish I’d dine it weeks an ago. With that done, I drove up to my favourite photography spot to get some wild sky photos. It was quite cool up on the moors, but I did get a few photos I liked.

I drove home and after I’d been brought up to speed with Jackie’s comings and goings and Murdo’s possible need for a new cataract op Scamp made dinner. Salmon, Potatoes and Corn on the Cob. Very nice, I really enjoyed the salmon slice, Scamp.

Tomorrow I’m booked for my annual checkup and as usual, I’m not really looking forward to it. At least it’s going to be in my usual place and not in the main surgery.

We are hoping the wildfire down near Dunwich burns out soon, or the wind changes direction.

PoD went to a landscape that brightened up my day.

Oh yes, and Shona did get her tooth out without too much trouble.

 

Raindrops on Roses – 29 July 2026

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Another of those days when the rain just forgets to turn off.

It started in the morning, just a drizzle that wouldn’t go away. As the day progressed, the rain got heavier and then it disappeared, but I knew it was just waiting for me to go out, then it would return again … and it did.

In a short dry spell we drove to Tesco, and found for some Peppadew spicy peppers. Next thing I needed was a set of windscreen wipers in Halfords. The last time I went looking there they had hardly any.Thankfully, they had all three in stock. When I came out Scamp was heading for Aldi where I got a packet of Butteries (also known as Rowies). I’m sure two of my readers remember them from their time in Aberdeen. Scamp got a couple of Carmel Custard Doughnuts.

On the way home there was a long, long queue to get round one of Cumbersheugh’s roundabouts and the reason was some roads were closed and those that weren’t were restricted to one lane. Scamp had noticed a warning when we were heading out that claimed the all the roads round the roundabouts would be close for three weeks THREE WEEKS! I can just imagine the chaos that will bring. Anyway, we did manage to get back home … just as the rain came on. I wasn’t going to get those windscreen wipers fitted today.

We put the Peppadew peppers into yesterday’s Carrot & Lentil Curry and that made it taste a lot better. Also, Scamp just had to test the custard doughnuts and I had to do a similar test on the butteries. Both passed with flying colours.

After dinner the clouds blew away and the sun shone and I got today’s PoD in the garden. A rose branch covered in water droplets.

Tomorrow, Scamp is intending to take Shona to the dentist to get a tooth removed. I hoping to stay well clear.