Category: A Walk

Solo – 4 April 2022

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Scamp was out driving the Blue car by herself today.

Before that, she drove me up to Tesco partly to get some messages, but also partly to assure herself that she can drive the newer version of her own Red car.

When we returned after the shopping, I took the wheel of the blue car and drove down to the shops were I parked at the far end of the car park and walked over to the repair garage and explained the problem with the red car. The bloke there said it was most likely to be binding breaks or a failing wheel bearing. I have to bring the car down tomorrow and then we’ll find out.

When I got back, and after lunch, Scamp was off again, driving solo this time. She was going to Calders garden centre for coffee and a cake with the now disbanded ‘Gems’. I left before her to post a couple of cards and also to get some photos. It was a fairly dull day with very little directional light, but with the help of the Lensbaby, I did get some useable shots. Not great shot, but useable.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon writing a fairly long email to Alex with some photos to keep his mind of all the things he has to do this coming week. No more word from him about the three generations of the family currently under “doctor’s orders”. No news is good news.

PoD was chosen by Scamp. It’s a wild currant flower. One of loads that are showing over in St Mo’s just now. A picture of a bright yellow whin flower took second place. You may know it as a gorse flower.

We watched the final of this year’s University Challenge and although there wasn’t a Scottish team in the final, at least the winners did have a Scottish captain.

It rained a bit today.  Just soft wetting rain that will refresh the plants in the garden.  More rain is predicted for the next few days and the gardens really need it.  Strange to say that we’re welcoming the rain!

Tomorrow it’s an early rise. The alarm has been set for 7.30am. We’re intending to drive the Red car down to garage and walk back to have an earlier than usual breakfast. Then we may go for coffee with Isobel.

A bit of gentle gardening – 3 April 2022

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Not a lot of work. Just planting one bush and preparing the ground for this year’s veg.

Actually, most of the morning was spent sitting in the warm, looking out at the world going by. Eventually after a lunch of fried lamb’s liver which was just a bit overcooked, but better that way than too bloody, I put my old boots on and went to pot up a Buddleia bush Scamp bought me about a month ago. It’s allegedly a tricolour bush, but the jury is out on that at the moment. We’ll see what we get. I dug over the raised bed again, but it really needs to be strengthened before we plant anything in it this year. I’m thinking maybe some leeks, peas and a few kale plants. Those are the things we grow and actually eat. I’d love to be like Jamie and plant courgettes and marrows, but we know they won’t grow in our climate. Heavens, we had snow falling three days ago!

After the planting and a bit of gentle pruning too, I put on the big Bergy jacket and kept my old boots on, then went for a walk down to Broadwood and across to the repair garage, but as I suspected, it was closed on a Sunday. I’m intending to walk over tomorrow to book the wee Red car in to be looked at. From there I went to M&S to get pudding for tonight’s dinner which was to be Paella, Scamp’s request. It seemed a shame to be passing St Mo’s and not visit, so I dropped in, but couldn’t see anything that warranted me taking a photo. On my walk past Broadwood I’d taken a few shots of tiny little white flower which must be some fruit blossom. One of them got PoD.

Spoke to Jamie after dinner and heard of Simonne’s bad luck. With a few days to go until they were due to fly home from Trinidad, her sister got a positive result for Covid, then the next day, Simonne got one. That meant cancelling the flights and booking new ones. Not only that, she and Sophie have to isolate from their dad and that was the reason for going to Trinidad in the first place.

More good news from Alex today. Ollie is going from strength to strength and Carol got home today. Hopefully now things can return to some sort of normal.

Scamp is out for coffee tomorrow with most of the disbanded ‘Gems’. I’m intending booking the Red car in for a new wheel bearing.

Dancing Day – 2 April 2022

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The dancing class was back today. We’d had a week off last week while the teachers were off on holiday to Cyprus. We had been practising at home a couple of days, but now it was time to face the music and dance … literally.

The traffic through the 40mph section of the M8 with its average speed cameras was fine really. We’d left early just in case, but it we arrived at Brookfield with lots of time to spare. Another beautiful morning, so we just sat and enjoyed the silence. Soon the others began to arrive and when Stewart & Jane arrived it was time to dance.

We started off with Mambo Marina as a warm up. It’s a fairly easy sequence dance. After that it was the waltz and we were fairly confident that we could muddle our way through it. We could, but it looked like we were muddling and that’s not what the teachers want, so there were a few corrections needed to both our routines, but not too many. If it hadn’t been for Scamp’s tuition in our practise sessions in the living room, it would have been a different story.

Next we did a Mayfair Quickstep this time to attempt to warm us up as the heating had just come on. Apparently the Hive that controls it had gone offline this morning and they were having problems getting it back online. That was the management at Brookfield’s explanation, but it left you wondering if this was simply cost cutting. Anyway, the Mayfair Quickstep certainly did the trick.

Next was the Cha-Cha, my nemesis. I really struggle with this dance. Scamp enjoys it, but my feet just don’t go where they are supposed to and it usually ends up with me walking away. Today I stuck at it and with Stewart’s help, then Jane’s help it began to fall into place. We’ve now danced the whole of the routine. What the teachers call the ‘Front End’ is now fine, but the ‘Back End’ is cloaked in mystery for me. I just can’t stop myself tripping over my own feet when I’m doing the Rondé and as far as the Split Cuban Breaks are concerned, they are just impossible to master. It must be a real laugh for the teachers watching us argue with our own arms and legs when we’re trying to master these techniques.

I was glad when the class ended, not because I hadn’t enjoyed it because I had. I’d also learned a few techniques too. I was glad, because I was exhausted. Now for the drive home.

The homeward journey took just over 45mins and that wasn’t too bad given the road conditions, but with a bit of lane changing at the right time we got home about our usual time.

After lunch Scamp went down to the shops to get some essentials and I gathered my gear together and started the usual reorganisation of files that happens every change over month. After she came back I walked two circuits of St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which is another larch flower. I called this one a Larch Rose which is its most common name. I think only I call them ‘pineapples’.

Dinner tonight was Thursday’s veg chilli reheated with a baked potato each. It was fine and saved me freezing it for another day.

Better news from Alex. Olly is now off all his supports and much more active. His mum is back home and on antibiotics for a post-natal infection, but feeling fine, especially because she got to hold wee Olly.
Carol is now walking with crutches and is hoping to get home tomorrow (Sunday).

Tomorrow looks like rain, so we may, or may not manage a walk.

Sunshine and snow showers – 30 March 2022

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Typical Scottish weather, but only two seasons in one day.

Beautiful sunshine in the morning and it looked great until you went outside, then you did believe what the thermometer said. I don’t think I even ventured out in the morning, preferring to concentrate on the important stuff that had to be done, like the Sudoku and making coffee. Jamie, I’m beginning to agree with you about Perth coffee. I’ve been getting Sumatran beans for years now and know what the coffee should taste like. Now it’s beginning to be a bit flat. Strong enough, but lacking in flavour. It was pointed out when I got a bag of the ‘coffee of the month’ earlier this month. It was Papua New Guinea and would probably be fresher than most of the beans in the shop. It certainly tasted fresher. It had a totally different taste to anything I’ve had recently. I’ll keep some for you if I can resist trying it again! Could it be that some of his sacks of beans have been lying too long? Maybe. I’ve a lot of coffee in the freezer. Once it’s used I’ll try something else. Sometimes you need someone to point out the obvious to you!

After lunch I got a WhatsApp from Alex with some photos of his new grandson, Ollie. He has been having a hard time since he was born on Sunday night, but he’s in the best hospital for neonatal care in the region. I feel sorry for Alex because Carol goes in to hospital tomorrow to have the knee operation she has waited a long time for. That means he will be solo cook and bottle washer for the rest of the family for a few days. Spare him a thought, and while you’re at it, spare a thought for wee Ollie.

Fred phoned me later and we had a good half hour on the phone, talking about nothing much in particular and everything in general. He reminded me that the new Ben Aaronovitch book is coming out next week. I may use some of my book tokens to get that.

Later in the afternoon, Scamp got the Dyson out and that was my cue to get my boots on and go for a walk. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I’d seen a wee patch of daisies the other day and they might look good with the Lensbaby. However, it didn’t look as if the weather gods were going to play ball because big black clouds were rolling in. After my second circuit of St Mo’s pond, the sun poked its head out and shone nice and brightly, so I got my shot. The lens produces some strange effects in the areas in front of the mains subject. This one looked almost like a nest for the flowers. It got PoD. Other contenders were a full unopened can of Coke, but I was rushing and didn’t notice that the horizon was tilted and the can was not. I might go back and reshoot some time if I get a chance, although that original can will be long gone by then. A full unopened can of coke? In St Mo’s? No chance!  Ten minutes after I took the photo of the daisies, there was a snow storm!  Luckily it didn’t last and the snow didn’t lie.

A short dance practise tonight of the waltz we’re learning. We can now stumble through the entire routine without too many mistakes. What’s the betting the teachers will change something “… to make it easier …”. It never is easier. They know that. We know that, and worst of all, they know that we know that!

No plans for tomorrow although a trip to the shops may be in order.

 

 

Strathaven – 29 March 2022

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We went to Larky, but Millheugh was shut, locked and bolted.

Scamp was out in the morning to meet Shona for coffee and I was feeling a bit down. The sun had forgotten to get up today and it was grey skies all around. Then I told myself to get up off my backside, put my old boots on and get out into the garden and start by chopping down the kale.

The kale is past its best now and is beginning to shoot. It really needs to be cropped, chopped and frozen if we aren’t to lose it. That was the easy bit. The little leeks were next to go from the raised bed. For some reason they just never took off like they should have done. Maybe they weren’t fed enough, or the compost was exhausted, but it seemed to feed the kale without any problem. Whatever the reason, they were coming out today and going into the soup later. That almost cleared out the bed, but there was a little bunch of aqilegia that I’d sheughed in (dug a hole and shoved it in to be reclaimed later) last year some time. I dug it out, split it into two plants and repotted it.

I spread some of Scamp’s cure-all fertiliser, Fish, Blood and Bone over the bed and started to fork it in. That’s when I discovered that at least one edge board of the raised bet has rotted right through. It will have to be replaced, but I don’t think the rot has stopped there.

It was round about then, Scamp returned with a bag of rolls for lunch. Bacon roll for lunch for me. Roll ’n’ Cheese for Scamp. After lunch we got ready and drove to Larky to donate Scamp’s now redundant reading glasses to the opticians to go to folk who need them. I went to B&M to get some superglue to fix my old Flying Tiger specs. Then we drove down to Millheugh where the big grassy bank beside the Avon Water has been barricaded because of unexplained dangers I get the impression they barricades and signs aren’t all that official. No explanations why you can’t fish there either. That’s Larky for you. It’s a different world, beyond the law.

Since Millheugh was closed and the weather was improving, I thought we might drive to Stonehouse. Got there, but there wasn’t anything interesting to photograph, so we travelled on to Strathaven. Parked in the bit car park on the Park and went for a walk through what used to be a great park, and actually, it’s looking quite good again. Some work being done on sprucing up the flower beds. A brilliant mural on the gable end of the toilets. Obviously aimed at children with bright colours and things to find in the painting. I may post it on Flickr.

I was photographing the trees growing beside the Powmillon Burn when a man, about my age commented on the blossom on a fruit tree we’d just passed. He gave me directions to a place to photograph behind Strathaven Castle. We couldn’t go today, but I said I’d go back on a day with better lighting, and I meant it. Then the strangest thing happened, he told us that he’d been diagnosed with dementia. It’s one of those times when you don’t know what to reply. He said he had had the test but was quite dismissive about it. Neither of us thought he really believed it was true. I was right about his age. He was a year older than me. Also, he went to Larkhall Academy. In those days, children who went to Strathaven Academy would leave school after third year. Only a few came to Larkhall for fourth to sixth year. I would almost certainly have been there when he came to the Academy.

We drove home by a twisted, circuitous route that brought us back via Millheugh, then it was a straight road through Larky to the motorway and home. I made soup as I’d intended with the leeks and some kale with carrots, turnip and some lentils. It was really good. I was impressed, even if it was 7pm before we got to eat it with a roll each.

PoD was a shot of East Church House, now a hotel beside the Powmillon Burn.

Tomorrow we have no plans.

Too many folk! – 26 March 2022

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Today we were heading east on the train. We were going to Edinburgh or Embra to give it its proper name.

We were a bit surprised at how many folk were already waiting at Platform 1 for the 10.25am train for the capital. There didn’t seem to be rugby on, nor was there a football clash. We shrugged and got on the train.

In Embra, once we got out of the station at Haymarket, there were a lot of changes since the last time we’d been there. Great glass monoliths had sprung up dwarfing (are you allowed to say that in these terribly PC days) the old sandstone building that looked disapprovingly on their new brash neighbours. We walked up Morrison Street to the Conference Centre then into Ladyfield and on to Conference Square. Canyons, both of them. Narrow paths between towering glass and steel buildings. They look like canyons and feel like canyons when that east wind is blowing, but catch the light nicely when the sun shines, and the sun was shining today. Crossed the road for coffee in Nero, our usual watering hole when we’re visiting the capital.

Refreshed we walked through the Farmers Market after glancing at the Van Gogh exhibition site and feeling glad we hadn’t bought the extortionate tickets to watch stars float across some wildly blown up photos of the artist’s work.

It was while we were walking through the market that I got the first inklings that it was a bit busier than it usually is at this time of year. As we neared the Grassmarket we both agreed that it was indeed a bit crowded. Every stall seemed to have queues of folk two or three rows thick trying to get a look at what is really just tourist tack. No chance of going to Petit Paris today for lunch. Up over West Bow to the Royal Mile and the crowds were still milling around. We walked through the Princes Street Gardens, but there were no seats available and people sitting on the grass everywhere. When we got to Princes Street itself, I think we both made the decision to go home.

We almost had to run to get on the train home and managed to get a seat after walking half way along the train. Each carriage was full. Finally we did get a seat, but once the train reached Haymarket it was standing room only. A most uncomfortable journey in a hot, crowded train. I don’t know why everyone had decided to go to Embra today, but we were both happy to get back to the house.

Scamp sat in the garden for a while enjoying the sunshine, while I tried to fix one of her light globes. I’ve just realised I’ve got it charging in the back bed room. Must switch it off before I go to bed.

We had stopped at Tesco on the way home to get a cooked chicken and a loaf and we had Neil’s Chicken Salad for dinner. Bramley Apple pie for dessert.

I think the next time we feel the need to visit Embra, we’ll go mid-week.

PoD was the view up West Bow.

Tomorrow a bit of basking in the sun, hopefully.

Off to Larky – 25 March 2022

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To see the optician.

Thankfully I didn’t need new glasses, in fact, the optician said that my long vision had improved since my last visit! I have no idea how that happened. Scamp did need new reading glasses, but she’s getting Transition glasses which darken in sunlight. I know they’ve been out for some time, but these new ones darken much quicker than the older ones I had once upon a time. Hers will probably more akin to the ones Zaphod Beeblebrox had that darkened when danger threatened! When we walked back out into the Larky sunshine I needed sunglasses because of the drops the optician put in my eyes. Trust us to both go on the brightest and warmest day of the year so far!

We sat in the car for a while until I deemed it safe for me to drive. To drive to Gouldings on Clydeside for lunch. Being Friday, it could only be Fish ’n’ Chips. For dessert we had an enormous double meringue with four flakes sticking out of it and a strawberry on top. Slightly over the top, but we shared the load of eating it!

After that it was back home for Scamp to try out her new compost scoop tool to help her to plant her new roses. The scoop has been a great success, the gardener reported and it hold a lot of earth. Meanwhile I took the Sony A7iii out for a walk in St Mo’s and PoD was one of a deep pink wild flower. Actually, I took a picture of a flower that looks exactly the same, a week earlier in 2021. That just shows two things:
1. Wild plants follow exact cycles every year.
2. I’m becoming very insular. Photographing in the same locality too often.

That was about it for today. Lovely sunny day again. Tomorrow we may go further afield.

 

Happy Birthday Scamp – 24 March 2022

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A day of celebration, overeating and a bottle of wine into the bargain.

Spoke to Hazy in the morning and after the traditional singing of “Happy Birthday” she told us how Granny’s 90th birthday party turned into a Super Spreader event, with everyone present becoming positive for Covid! Luckily, Hazy hadn’t attended, unluckily for Neil, he had and is suffering today. Hope he feels better soon and Hazy stays negative.

After she had opened her cards and replied to most of the well-wishers on FB, we got changed into slightly dressier clothes and drove over to Falkirk. Actually not quite to Falkirk, just to the outskirts, to The Boardwalk restaurant for lunch. It’s an airy, modern building, part of a chain.It’s part of the same company as Coast, a restaurant we’d been to a month or so ago, near Port Glasgow. The meal that day was superb. While Scamp’s food today was very nice, I was disappointed. Starters was Mixed Tempura which I thought was oily, but Scamp disagreed. She was allowed to, it was her birthday. Mains were Smoked Haddock Gratin for Scamp and it did look impressive and tasted the same I’m told. Mine was Duck Ragu Rigatoni. The sauce was bland, the duck tasteless and the pasta overcooked. There’s not a lot you can say about it after that. Nobody came to ask how the meals were and the service was very slow. However, I’m glad Scamp enjoyed her meal.

After lunch we walked up to the Falkirk Wheel and watched a bus load of people get lifted up on the giant machine. I took some photos, but it was one of the lined up canal boats that got PoD. The centre was working on its winter timetable and was closing down at 4pm, which is fair, I think as there weren’t many folk there.

First stop on the way home was at Torwood for a pot for the new rose, and two bags of compost. I talked Scamp into another new rose which she reluctantly agreed to and also a pretty red anemone. Neither us had seen a red one before! That meant another two pots!

Final stop on the way was at the shops for a Bramley Apple Pie, ice cream and cream to go with it. Back home we had the apple pie as a belated dessert. We had a bottle of wine to wash it down and then watched the final of this year’s Apprentice. I think we were a bit surprised at who won in the end.

Tomorrow we’ve both got appointments with Simpson Opticians in Larky. Hope the sun doesn’t shine too brightly after getting the drops.

Waiting, waiting, waiting – 23 March 2022

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For the postman to arrive. Hopefully bringing a parcel.

It took a while for the postman to arrive with the parcel and two cards. Scamp had already been down to the shops and back, leaving me to wait for the parcel. I did spend my time wisely, going out into the sunshine and photographing the Forsythia bush with my strange new lens. It’s a bit cumbersome and difficult to work with. If I’d put the camera on a tripod and then adjusted things, it would have been better. However, like most things photographic, the instructions that come with it are only a starting point. Mostly you learn by doing.

After lunch we set off for a walk in Drumpellier park. Scamp got to choose the paths this time, because it’s her week. She wanted to try a path to Bishop Loch. The sign pointing out the way seemed to think it was 1.5 miles to the loch. We followed its path until we came to the main road. There was a another signpost there telling us to go left. That was strange, because I was sure Bishop Lock was right. Also, the distance to the loch was now 1.75 miles. We both though the signs were just leading us a merry dance and we went back the way we’d come.

We hadn’t walked far when I got a call from the lady who asks us questions and gives us cotton bud things to stick down our throat and up our nose. Not out in the wilds of Drumpellier park, you realise, but back home. We agreed a time and walked a shortened version of our original route. A route that took us past the ice cream van, where we stopped for a ’99’, or as I said “a 99 with a flake”. Silly bugger. We found a seat by the loch (not Bishop Loch) to sit and watch the world go by as we ate our cones.

On the way back we stopped at The Fort. Scamp went to browse clothes shops and I went looking for a book in Waterstones. I came out with two books and still with a fiver in my book tokens to reduce the price of the next book I fancy. I’d hoped to get a birthday card for Scamp too, but Waterstones didn’t have any and I didn’t want to run the risk of Scamp spotting me going in to a card shop.

Back home, we still had an hour to spare before the Covid Survey lady was due to come, so I grabbed my camera bag and told Scamp I was going over to St Mo’s to get a few more pictures. Instead I walked down to the shops and got a card there. I’d also intended getting a bottle of Bramble Gin, but the queues in Aldi were ridiculous, so I gave up, put the bottle back on the shelf and walked home. Sorry Scamp. IOU a bottle of Bramble Gin. On the walk I did find something to photograph. It made the cut too and is on Flickr. It’s another bunch of seeds from a Silver Birch, lying on the ground. A boy on a bike watched me as if I was mad. Had he never seen a man on his hands and knees photographing a bit of stick lying on the ground? These are exactly the antics that get photogs a bad name!

The lady came and we told her some lies variations on the truth, but mainly truthful. We shoved the stick down our throats and gagged a bit. We stuck it up our nose too, both nostrils. Note! It’s really important that you do the throat first, not the nose. Think about it. There are some things you don’t want to put down your throat!  The last question they ask you is always “Have you been out of the country in the last 28 days?”.  We always look sad at that point, but today the lady did a little dance and said that she was hoping to get out of the country and go to Teneriffe next week.  She looked so excited I forgave her for making us feel worse!  It’s nice to get an interviewer with a sense of humour.  Actually most of them have been fairly happy folk.

Dinner was Easy Fish and Cabbage Risotto. The oven does all the work and nobody will be able to tell that you didn’t spend half an hour feeding hot stock into slowly thickening rice starch.

Hoping to go for lunch in Falkirk tomorrow, then a visit to Torwood Garden Centre.

 

Waiting for a parcel – 22 March 2022

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You wait all morning and then two come at once.

I got an email yesterday to say that a parcel would arrive for me today. It was a new, well, second hand, lens. Not your normal lens. It’s a bendy twisty turn round corners lens called a Lensbaby. It wasn’t too expensive in the camera lens terms. I ordered it last week and it was coming today! Also coming today was a birthday prezzy for Scamp. Scamp was going to the dentist today and I was hoping that her parcel would arrive while she was away. It didn’t happen.

After lunch and before she left for the dentist, the DPD man arrived with both parcels. I might still have got away with it, except as he was photographing it and signing it into his handheld device, he said “These David Austin roses are expensive, but they are good.” I knew then the game was up and brought both parcels into the living room where Scamp was laughing her head off. Well, it just extended the birthday celebrations I suppose. The rose I’d chosen was, thankfully, on her short list. It’s a Lady of Shalott.

After the excitement she came down to reality with a bump when she found out that she’d need a crown on her tooth. When she told how much it would cost, I thought it might be a real crown! Another long wait to get it done too. First appointment she was given was for mid June! Also, our dentist is retiring next week. He was good, well, I liked him anyway. So now we need to hope that the new lady dentist who is his replacement will take us both on as NHS patients and end the misery of me being NHS and Scamp being private.

I was just getting the mower out to cut the front grass when Scamp arrived back with her sorry tale about an expensive piece of porcelain. She told me to leave the grass cutting to her and go out an play with the new toy. I didn’t need told twice. I just laced up my boots and got on with the test.

It really is a weird piece of equipment. The body of the lens is in two parts, held together in a ball and socket joint. The lens itself fits into this contraption. There is no electronic connection to the camera itself an very little assistance to focusing the beast. The image in the viewfinder took a bit of getting used to, but I could see how the thing worked after I’d taken a few experimental shots. First thoughts are that it’s not a lens for everyday photography, but it does things I’ve never seen before from a lens. I’ll keep it for a while at least.

Today’s PoD wasn’t taken with it. That shot camera from a ‘normal’ Samyang 18mm lens. A bit of tweaking in Lightroom revealed the image you see of St Mo’s under a wonderful sky. The weird photos are on Flickr.

Tomorrow we may be going for a walk if the weather holds. If not, then it’s maybe a trip into Glasgow.