Category: Architecture

Around and about – 15 April 2017

Posted on by Zogman

Today we started out being driven to Hitchen for lunch and a walk around the shops.  It seemed like a plan as the sun was out and it was fairly warm.

It seems a pleasant wee town with a busy market in the centre.  Had lunch in a Greek restaurant.  I had lamb casserole as my main after a starter of Borek which is filo pastry filled with Greek feta cheese & spinach.  Afterwards we went for a walk around the main part of the town where a Sikh group were giving out free food and cans of juice to anyone who wanted it, free of charge as part of their Vaisakhi festival.  We had just had lunch, but there were big queues at the stall, happy to make the most of the food on offer.  It appears that there is such a thing as a free lunch!

It being Easter, there were a few others stalls dotted around, a town crier shouting the odds and even a couple of Imperial Stormtroopers searching for those droids, I presume.  We were looking for Just Desserts, a dessert restaurant, but it when we found it, it was closed, not just for Easter, but for good.   It had had its just desserts.  Instead of a dessert, we settled for a posh, artisan coffee shop.  Coffee was lovely, if  a bit sharp and there were loads of cakes on display.  JIC and I had Yoghurt and Cranberry slice.  Best laugh of the day was when I went to the toilet and found the toilet brush was stuck in a Starbucks mug!  Someone with a sense of humour and an opinion of Starbucks much like my own.

Back in the town the Vaisakhi procession was in full swing with drummers and marchers who were preceded by two men spraying water on the road in front of the markers, presumably to ritually clean it for them.  It was all quite a jolly and colourful affair in the sunshine.  However, our parking time was nearly up, so we made our way past and old church back to the car with a few minutes to spare.

Went out later to see the new Mill House and it’s quite a revelation although there is still a fair bit of scaffolding enclosing it.  Sketched it, but I’m not impressed with the sketch.  May redo it later.

Dinner should have been in the Benington Bell which is a traditional British pub serving traditional Trinidad food!  I had Aloo Pies to start with, but everybody else had Salt Fish and Tomato.  Main for me was Lamb Curry for me and for everyone else was Chicken Curry.  I just like to be different.  Unfortuntely, Sim wasn’t feeling too good, so we just ate and left. (Since I’m writing this on Sunday, I can tell you that she was fine after a night’s sleep.) The food was really, and I mean really excellent.  Thank you JIC and Sim for that.

When we got home, Sim went for a snooze while we watched Black Mirror on Netflix.  Interesting programme.  Must search for it when we get back home.

Tomorrow (or to be truthful, today 😉 we’re hoping to visit a garden centre.)

To the Manor Born – 14 April 2017

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Actually Wimpole is an estate, not a manor, but ’estate’ didn’t make such a good title I thought.

JIC drove us all there in the morning, and this being Good Friday, there were already hundreds, if not thousands of people there.  Most seemed to have brought their 2.5 children with then.  I did hope there were an even number of families, otherwise it might become messy with that poor 0.5 of a child wandering around.  Got parked and Sim set off in search of the ticket office and managed, somehow, to get to the front of the queue.  Tickets purchased we went in search of the formal gardens.  Most of the other families with their 2.5 children in tow were taking part in the ’Easter’ Egg Hunt which had been cunningly renamed to Cadbury’s Egg Hunt so as not to offend any non-Christians while they searched for eggs.  I thought it was a petty and childish piece of semantics and, as my mum used to say, “That’s how wars start.”

It being early spring, there weren’t a great variety of different flowers in bloom, but the colours of the daffodils and tulips made up for that.  You can see a couple of shots of them above.  As well as flowering plants, there were also veg and fruit plots and it was good to see that many of the plants had been labelled.  I learned on our visit to Kew a few years ago to photograph the label as well as the plant.

The estate farm was quite interesting, but there were too many weans squealing around the place, so I was quite glad when we left.  Even more squealing and grunting was coming from the enormous pigs in the piggery.  It’s not until you see these providers of our bacon that you realise just how big they are. Just as we were leaving the farm, which thankfully is a real farm and not just a petting zoo, an old plane flew over, a biplane.  I thought it was a Tiger Moth, and when I got home and checked the reg, I found I was right for once.  So strange looking at it through the EVF (Electronic View Finder) because it looked as if the propellor was stationary.  Must be due to the refresh rate of the EVF.

I took some photos of the Wimpole Hall itself. It was very grand and enormous.  Such a terrible waste of accommodation.  How the other half live.  Even more astounding was the view down the tree lined avenue which appears to be about a mile and a half long.  Another demonstration of one family’s wealth.

Having said all that, it was a great day out.  A bit cold, especially when you weren’t sheltered from the wind.

Back home, Sim made Trinni Stewed Chicken while Scamp watched and made mental notes.  Chicken was lovely.  Much better than anything we saw the contestants making on Masterchef later.  However I did have a nice bottle of IPA to take the edge off the bald bloke’s “Oh Mate!” exclamations.

Vixen still doesn’t seem to take too kindly to male bearded strangers, especially if they are standing.  Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow we may be going to Hitchin for a walk round the shops in a quiet wee town.

Quart into a pint pot – 12 April 2017

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Trying to cram too much into today.  I got up fairly early and drove to Perth to get some coffee (for JIC) and tea (Scamp was off into town to meet up with Annette).  Got the coffee and tea and also got myself a book.   Another book.  My final purchase was some mounting board to frame up a few of my masterpieces.  Oh, yes, and I finally handed in some books and DVDs to a charity shop.  See Hazy, I’m doing it, almost like the book says a little at a time.  “Start with your sock drawer”.

Perth was beautiful in the morning light.  Cold and windy, but clear blue sky.  It matched my new blue jacket, worn for the first time in public.  Like all things, it’s a compromise.  There are some things I like about it and some I’m not so sure about, but the labels have been cut off and it’s been worn now, so it’s a ‘keeper’.
The book I bought was about sketching, especially portraiture which is one of my big stumbling blocks at the moment.  I’m taking Fred’s advice and trying to build the face from the bone and muscle structure, because that makes sense.  Rules, it’s all about rules.  If you’re good, you can ignore them and just draw.  I need those supporting scaffolding lines.

Drove home, but unfortunately left the brilliant blue skies behind and gathered more cloud and showers as I drove south.  Went to B&Q to look for materials and prices for Scamp’s idea of duckboard to put some of the myriad of plant pots on.  Saw some decking that might provide the surface and some treated square timber that will be the support.  Meant to get some beetroot seeds to plant in the raised bed, oh yes, and some peas too.  See what I mean?  That’s what happens when you try to cram too much in.

Lunch was a grabbed roll ’n’ sausage and a cup of tea, before measuring the space in the back garden that the duckboard would have to go on and found that indeed one length of decking and one length of square support would provide one square plant support 800mm x 800mm.  Perfect.

Did a wee bit of painting and then Scamp sent me a text to say that she was on the way home.  Where did the afternoon go?

Went out to salsa tonight but met Colin in the carpark.  Oh no, It looked like Jamie wasn’t taking the class and it would be another of Colin’s “Slow – Quick – Quick” Salsa/Ballroom classes.  It was worse, it was a Cha-Cha class.  Some of the women weren’t too pleased.  I just grabbed my jacket and left.  The man needs to realise that salsa is totally different from cha-cha.  He’s a good teacher and very inventive, he’s simply on the wrong track these days.  We don’t want ballroom.  That’s not what we signed up for and that’s why the company is called Academia de SALSA.

Beautiful sky on the way home, but I didn’t have a camera, so this morning’s shot of a lane in Perth is my PoD.

The Wee Boy – 2 April 2017

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Another day of wall to wall sunshine, well, it was sunny for most of the day, but there were a few April showers too, but much shorter and less sharp than of late.

Today we had planned to go to the Art Galleries in Kelvinside to hear one of our friends from salsa, singing in her choir.  Scamp was going to hear …. , I was going to sketch.  We walked down through Kelvingrove Park from Kelvinbridge Underground station and it really did feel like spring, with blossom on the trees and families having picnics on the grass.  After a quick coffee in the Galleries cafe, Scamp got settled in the audience and I headed off to find a subject.  I chose a knight’s helmet and got stuck in.  I wasn’t all that impressed with it until a wee boy and his mum came along.  He asked me if I was an artist, but when I said, “No, I just like drawing.”  He didn’t seem disappointed and said “You’re really good”.  I thanked him, but I don’t think he realised how much that meant to me.  Wherever you are, wee boy, you made my day!

After that, I messed up the sketch completely, trying to render it with a marker pen, so went looking for other subjects.  I’ve always liked the rear entrance to the Galleries and preferred it to the entrance from Argyle Street.  Allegedly, the architect had agreed with me and also preferred that entrance.  A man of taste, obviously.  Anyway, I chose the rear entrance stairs as my sketch of the day.  It was a difficult one with angles, arches and lots of Victorian embellishments.  I’m not all that keen on the finished sketch, but I will certainly go back and try it again.

I took some photos of the choir and our friend in particular.  I also enjoyed some of the singing.  I didn’t enjoy the organ recital.  I hate organ music, but Scamp likes it and I was quite happy that she enjoyed it while I sketched today.

Embra – 25 March 2017

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We took the train to Embra this morning in the sunshine that was predicted would last all day.  It did.  Blue skies over Embra, but also over Cumbersheugh which was a greater surprise.

Wandered up the Grassmarket and decided that we’d just have an early lunch at Petit Paris, except that it was 12.00 and we were half an hour too early.  Rather than be disappointed like yesterday, we sat in the Grassmarket in the sunshine and waited until nearly 12.30 and then made our way down to the restaurant.  Scamp had Soup de Provence and I had what I always have there, French Onion Soup because they do it so well.  For main we both had Poisson de Jour which for Scamp was Coley with Red Pepper Sauce, served with mashed potatoes.  Mine was the same, except they had run out of Coley, so I had Cod.  Same difference.   Scamp had a crêpe with Grand Marnier for pudding and I had coffee.  I took a risk and had a glass of house red with my meal.  Ha, ha Nick the Chick, I wipe my nose with your drink driving limit!

Walked back down the Grassmarket rather than go up past the Royal Mile and all the twee gift shops, because, to be honest, the only reason we were there was to have lunch.  Got a book I’ve been looking for, for ages in Waterstones and then got a cut-price Bergy jacket in Tiso’s.  Actually it’s exactly the same as the one I’ve had for ever except it doesn’t have inside pockets.  Same style, same material almost, even same colour.  Boring, that’s me.  It was a bargain.  You can’t let a bargain go past, can you?

Back home we watched Best Marigold Hotel again.  Still has the same magic as the first time we saw it.

A lazy day in the sun.  Bought some fat hand made sausage rolls and some pork sausages too at the Farmers Market, so that’s tomorrow and probably Monday’s lunch sorted.  Hoping for more sunshine tomorrow.  Always hoping!

Lost and Found – 23 March 2017

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Sometimes I feel that the day just got brighter.  When I look back on it to see what it was that happened to make me feel that way, I realise that it’s not what happened, but what didn’t happen that made the change.  It’s like finding something I was certain was lost.  I haven’t actually gained anything, just not lost it and that subtle difference changes everything.

I drove in to Glasgow this morning to drop Scamp off at the hospital to have a *bite* as the dermatologist described it, taken out of her arm where the mole had been.  This was to be a larger excision than the one she had before we went to Trinidad in January.  Neither of us was talking about it on the way in, but it was playing through our heads, that was obvious.  As she was going to wait for an hour and a half before she would go to the theatre, and as she had company in the ward, I took my leave.

I wandered round the town, seeing nothing very much to photograph or to take my mind off the day.  Totally by accident, I walked into the exhibition room of Cass Art and admired the portraiture of the winner of the Sky Portrait Artist of the Year and especially his portrait of Graham Norton.  I saw the bloke who sits on the toy horse outside the Apple shop ‘blacking up’ ready for a hard day in the saddle.  I watched one of the beggars who’s hands shake all the time outside Buchanan Galleries pluck a smart phone from her inside pocket and hold it to her ear, steady as a rock, then remember to start shaking her other hand holding her cup.  I walked back through to the car park and grabbed a few shots of the city skyline through the glass panels of the bridge and that’s what you see above, slightly edited.  Well, considerably edited.

Drove home and found it strange to be sitting alone in the car going along the motorway.  Lunch was a *piece ’n’ banana*.  Not long after I got the text from Scamp to say that she was back in the ward with a BIG bandage and then the text to say that a taxi was required.

Since she had been a very brave girl she got to choose tonight’s dinner, which turned out to be a fish supper with a pickled onion and a tub of Tablet Ice Cream as pudding.  She deserved it.

Windy Willie – 20 March 2017

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Windy Willie was Scamp’s explanation for strong winds when the weans were wee.  No need then for Storm Agatha or Storm Benjamin.  No, when the house was shaking in the gusts, Windy Willie was out there, that was enough explanation.  Windy Willie was out today.

Scamp was singing again with Gems today.  This time in Stepps.  I had intended to go sketching in Glasgow to get back to more architectural subjects, but when I got there, the horizontal rain and hail put me off, so instead I drove to the Fort to get some cheap pens and not so cheap painting stuff.  I say *painting stuff* because Inktense sticks are difficult to categorise.  They are part pastel sticks and part aquarelle.  Aquarelles are usually in the form of pencils and these are just sticks of pigment in a binder and are like pastels, except when you add water to them they turn into watercolour.  Worth a few quid to try them out and see what kind of mess I can make with them.

I drove back past the old Gartloch Hospital, a scary looking ex asylum on the outskirts of Easterhouse.  I kind of want to photograph it, but it comes into the same category as graveyards for me.  I often feel uneasy about photographing graveyards and most times don’t get the camera out.  It’s almost as if I have to ask permission to take photos there.  I can’t really explain it.  Some day I’ll make time to go to Gartloch and get some images.  Whether or not I’ll keep them I can’t say.  I might just format the card after they’re taken.  I will say this though, it will be a bright sunny day I go there.

Only two photos worth showing today.  One of contrasting textures between the grey sky and the grey aluminium of  the M&S building at the Fort and another of an old knife with a couple of beads of jam on it (not blood!) sitting on the draining board at the sink at home.  I just liked them both.  PoD was  the knife.

Before salsa tonight, I was enlisted to help with beginners Bachata which Cameron was teaching, and teaching quite well.  He still needs to relax, but his voice control is much better and he also needs to realise that he doesn’t need to show off so much.  It all looks like a lack of self-confidence to me, but I’d never tell him that.  Enjoyed it.  Salsa was fast and furious.  New move tonight was Tresario Doble, I think.  Interesting and counter intuitive at times.  We need to practise it.  Also Cubaa Se from last week.  Good fun.

No plans for tomorrow.  Snow and ice forecast with Windy Willie around too.

A walk down The Green – 12 March 2017

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We decided, well I suggested, last night that we go for a walk down Glasgow Green today.  It fitted with the new regime of getting up that wee bit earlier, especially if we were to miss the hoards of ‘Billys’ and ‘Dans’ who would be heading for Celtic park for a local derby, AKA a punchup, because that’s what usually happens.  Actually, although Celtic park is close to Glasgow Green, I’d rather drive there than Ibrox which is the Rangers park.  Both Scamp and I know lots of short-cuts we can take to avoid most of the Parkhead traffic, but if Rangers are playing at home, the motorway becomes one big car park with all the maddies desperate to get there before anyone else.  I imagine living near Ibrox must be a nightmare, no matter which team you support.  I can just imagine all those cars parked everywhere.

So we drove through the green and white hoards to The Green and got parked without any problem.  Walked down to the McLennan Arch at the far end, then back along the side of the Clyde past the rowing clubhouse.  The high flats on the far side of the Clyde always impress me.  They seem to catch the light so well, especially in the winter and spring.  I took some pictures of them, but preferred the shot of the washing drying behind the perspex screens.  Lots of rowers out today and an unusually large number of ‘8s’ with the self-important looking coaches cycling along beside them shouting through tannoys.  Stood on the suspension bridge watching the coming and going of the different boats with their varying skill sets.  Then went up the hill to the People’s Palace.

Went for the usual lunch of Roll ’n’ Sausage for me and two rounds of Toast for Scamp.  My sausage was inedible.  That’s the first time that’s happened to me.  I think it must have been left over from New Year’s Day and had been ‘nuked’ in the microwave once a week since then to heat it up and kill of the bacteria.  I left it on the plate.  I value the few teeth I’ve got left and wasn’t going to risk damage to the expensive crowns.  Maybe I should have complained, but, like I said, this is the first time it’s happened, so I’ll cut them some slack.  Did a quick sketch of the inside of the Wintergarden.  It’s still got its emergency sheeting in place to prevent any further risk of falling glass panels.  I expect that sheeting will become a permanent feature, which is a shame, because it does detract from the look of the wrought iron trusses, but safety before beauty, I suppose.  I am quite pleased with the sketch because the perspective is fairly correct, but also I managed to include a couple of people, something I must practise.  Walked round the plants and took a few shots.  Smiled when I saw a wee girl with her wee sister and a point-n-shoot camera. Talking into it as if she was conducting an interview, finishing with “… and that’s it for this visit to Glasgow.  Handing you back to the BBC in London.”  Imagination.  That’s what it’s all about.  The camera wasn’t even switched on.

Came home and dumped my photos, then the sun came out.  It had been raining on and off all morning, but now the clouds had rolled away and the sun was coming out.  Scamp was ‘Tidying Up’ and I didn’t want to get involved in that, so I too the ‘Big Dog’ out to St Mo’s to see if there was anything interesting there.  Some coots building nests, but they were too far away to make anything of.  A cormorant, but it flew away.  No deer to be seen, but load of frogs.  Spent a wee while watching them, watching me.  I took some photos of some of them, but didn’t notice them photographing me.  Maybe they did and have posted them on FrogFlickr.  Maybe they’re writing in their blog about the BigBloke with the BigCamera who they saw today.  Who knows.  We are not alone in this world.  Might go back for some more photos tomorrow.

Dinner tonight should have been Tuna steak, but neither of us were impressed with it.  It just didn’t taste right, so we ditched it.  It looked so nice too.  Last time we’ll go to that fishmonger – it wasn’t even Tesco!

Hoping to go in to Salsa early tomorrow to get some ‘messages’.

A Posh Lunch – 11 March 2017

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Scamp had booked us a posh lunch today at the Blythswood.  It was an Itison voucher lunch, but a posh one, none the less.  This was our second posh lunch this week.

As it happened, neither of us were over impressed with the Blythswood or the lunch.  Now don’t get me wrong, the food was good, just not great and the surroundings were nice, just not all that impressive.  Maybe we are being over critical or maybe places like this aren’t trying all that hard for the voucher brigade.  I don’t know what the answer is.  The food was Smoked Hake starter for Scamp and Chicken Liver Parfait for me, followed by Chicken Supreme for both of us.  Like I said, good but not great.

After lunch we got the subway out to Byres Road and walked through the Botanic Gardens which are celebrating their bicentenary this year.  Usually we just walk through the Kibble palace, but this time we took in both glasshouses.  Oh, it was almost like being back in Trinidad with the heat and the humidity.  However, alas and alack, when we came out it was just Glasgow humidity.  It was raining.  Not heavy rain, just a Scottish smir.

We thought we had nothing more to do than dodge across the street and go for a drink in Oran Mor.  Unfortunately, that was not to be.  The place was mobbed.  Not a seat to be had anywhere.  Most of the punters seemed to be engrossed in Scotland getting gubbed by the english again, at rugby this time.  Instead of a drink, we walked down Byres Road and got a piece of Tuna for tomorrow’s dinner, then got the subway back into town and walked up to get the bus home.

Just as the driver started the engine, I saw this wee wummin running across the road, arms outstretched like a scarecrow, carrying two bags in one hand and one in the other, trying frantically to catch the driver’s eye.  As he put the bus into reverse to exit the stance, I saw her visibly deflate as she realised that she had another 30 minute wait in front of her, because he wasn’t going to open the bus doors.  I don’t know what she said, but I’m sure it wasn’t “Oh dear”.

<Technospeak>
Back home, I think I’ve parted company with Dropbox.  It seems that my temporary term with 10GB of storage is rapidly coming to an end and the 2GB I’ll have in a week or so just won’t cover my requirements.  So I have to move my backup to Google Drive which generously gives me 15GB.  There is a ‘but’ and the ‘but’ in question is, ‘but it is the very devil to set up’.  I’d read up on it last night and didn’t understand a word.  Tonight I found a YouTube video explaining in words of one syllable how to do it, so I got started.  After an hour and a half of setting up a project, getting a ‘secret’, authorising it, failing, authorising it again, failing, resetting my ‘secret’ before authorising again and this time succeeding, it now seem that I have a new home for my WordPress backup.  I felt a bit like the wee wummin.  I had just thought I’d caught the Google Driver’s eye, but then he pulled out of the stance.  Never mind, it’s done now and I hope the wee wummin is home with her three bags full.
</Technospeak>

Today’s photos are from the Botanic Gardens and also a couple from Tobago.  You see Hazy, Shug and Tam did go on their holidays.

Celtic are at home to Rangers tomorrow.  We’re hoping to go for a walk down “The Green”.  Need to go early to avoid the battles.

Spring? – 5 March 2017

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There’s a smell in the air around the end of August, beginning of September.  It’s the unmistakable smell of autumn.  Possibly an amalgam of the smell of fallen leaves, beginning to decay and that sharp tang of the first frosts.  I notice it every year.  What I’ve never analysed is the smell of spring.  I recognised it yesterday.  It’s a warm, happy smell.  It may be the fragrance of the new growth and of the first flowers, daffodils and crocuses for the main part, but it is definitely there.  The promise that winter is on the way out.  It’ll be snowing tomorrow, just to prove me wrong.

It was a bright sunny day after a rainy damp start.  When we got up, I started the slow cooking of the lamb shank I was having for dinner, while Scamp went for the messages.  When she got back, we started making the pudding which was to be Pineapple Snow.  I say WE were making the pudding, but I was just stirring the sauce while Scamp did the clever stuff.  We had decided to go to Will’s styling class at the Garage before the Sunday Social, so that defined the shape of the day.  However, as the afternoon wore on and we I got involved in the making of the pudding, it became obvious that we weren’t going to make that early class.  That left with the opportunity to walk through St Mo’s and hopefully get some springlike photos.  I took ‘Big Dog’ (the Nikon) with ‘Wee Dog’ (the Oly 5) in my pocket.  Best of both worlds.  No sign of any deer or of Mr Grey.  There were a couple of cormorants in the pond, probably visitors from Broadwood Loch where there are a strong contingent now.  What I did get were some photos of Sphagnum Moss fruiting bodies or the flowers to be precise sitting on some very bright green moss.

When I got back, we drove into Glasgow, watching a gigantic pall of smoke all the way in.  It turned out to be a fairly extensive fire at a scrapyard in Govan.  While I was glancing at it and not knowing at that stage what was causing it, I was thinking that by the colour of the smoke, it was some dirty and probably heavy duty stuff that was burning.  If that was so and all that muck was being lifted by the heat into the atmosphere, where would it eventually condense out and what damage would it do when it landed?  When we found out the cause of the smoke, I began to think about the toxic chemicals in that smoke drifting across the sky.  Makes you wonder what effects it has on wildlife when it eventually comes back down to earth.

After we parked and were walking down Sausage Roll Street, the light on The Beresford was beautiful and I grabbed a couple of iPhone shots.  Salsa was good, and at times relentless.  I was quite pleased when Scamp called a halt.

The slow cooked lamb shank was delicious, but the star of the show was definitely the Pineapple Snow.  Quite the most stunning dessert, mainly due to my expert stirring.  If there’s one thing I’m good at it’s stirring!