Category: Architecture

An Old Friend Returns – 28 December 2016

Posted on by Zogman

Today we drove in to Glasgow, but not for shopping.  We went down Glasgow Green for a walk.  A walk down The Green is usually a Sunday pursuit, but today was dry and open, so we chose to do our Sunday walk on a Wednesday – just for a change.

There were a few folk out walking off the Xmas excesses.  Some folk had even taken to the water to do some serious rowing.  There were even some like me who were out taking photos.  It was a fine day for it with low sun and some clouds to make the sky that bit more interesting.  A most enjoyable walk, but the best was yet to come.

We always use to complete our walk with a coffee and a roll ’n’ sausage (for me) and a peppermint tea and toast (Scamp) in the Wintergarden of the People’s Palace.  Until, that is, the day when a glass panel fell from the roof of the Wintergarden some time in July.  Since then the Wintergarden has been closed.  Today it was open again and it was quite full of families too.  Even better, they had fresh rolls, fresh bread and fresh sausages.  The coffee was real.  Not like yesterday’s brown water, this was coffee.  Brilliant!

After my Sunday lunch I usually go for a walk round the plants because these are plants you only get to see in a large, enormous glasshouse like this.  Today was no exception.  It looks like the gardens section of Glasgow Council has taken the opportunity to remodel the gardens while it was closed and the difference is quite dramatic.  It take it all back Glasgow Council.  You’ve done a great job here.

We needed some milk when we got back, so rather than drive to Tesco, Scamp decided to walk to the local M&S to get some and I came along for the walk.  On the way back, I carried on with my walk round St Mo’s while Scamp went home.  I managed to get my first decent shots of a couple of deer in a long while.  I could see the animals grazing quite contentedly upwind from me through the cover of some pine trees and I was able to get the camera set, focused and ready before I quietly broke cover and got the first few shots.  Then they sensed something and their heads came up.  I stayed stock still for a few minutes still taking a few more shots before they went back to grazing.  My next step broke a twig and that was all the warning they needed.  They were off, running and jumping.  I hammered off about 10 shots in motor-wind mode before they were lost in the bushes.  That was it for photography today.  Happy, I went home.

Tomorrow is booked solid for Scamp, so I’m free to do as I please.  I may get my hair cut, ‘cos it’s a ‘Pure Afro’ as we say in this house!

The day after the day before – 12 December 2016

Posted on by Zogman

Morning came too soon today after a late night yesterday.

Worse still, there was a lot to do and so it was a quick breakfast and start the baking for Scamp’s Gems party.  For me, that was bread first.  Hand made.  Kneaded and set to prove in a warm kitchen.  While the dough was rising, Scamp went to buy Tesco while I made the scone dough.  Unfortunately I made the beginner’s mistake of forgetting to put the oven on, so I faffed around for a while while the oven heated, with the result that the scones didn’t turn out quite as well as I expected, but that’s just the way things are.  If you’re making them for yourself, they turn out fine every time.  When you’re under pressure to produce, that’s when mistakes creep in.  By comparison, the bread looked very good and behaved exactly as it should, rising perfectly.  I’d a bit more things to do, a bit of furniture moving and adjusting, but after that was finished and I’d had a lunch of sorts, I made my excuses and left before the festivities could begin.

I drove in to Glasgow to make my final purchase from an actual shop for Christmas.  With that complete, I was free to wander and take some photos.  I took a few of reflections in the 110 Queen Street building.  I’m sure it deserves a better name than a postal address.  Something like the bendy glass building would be more Glasgow than 110 Queen Street.  The kidney building would do because it’s kind of kidney shaped.  Answers on a postcard please.  Along the way I picked up the new – old Dylan album from 1966 allegedly from the Albert Hall, but actually from the Free Trades Hall in Birmingham, but still reminiscent of that era when Dylan truly was God on Wheels.  Picked up Jackie and drove home.

Salsa tonight.  The Kizomba is finished for us for now.  Great night with three new dances, the best named dance was Oti Biscuits.  I kid you not!

Tomorrow we are hoping will run at a more leisurely pace.  We will see.

Santas on Parade – 4 December 2016

Posted on by Zogman

dec-4

We were driving into Glasgow when we saw a sign:   “Warning! Santas Running”  Hmm.  Looks like a Santa run.  I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of a PoD and that’s how it turned out.

After checking with the NLC volunteers, it turned out that the fun run had just started, but as we were about halfway round the course, we had a while to wait before the first runner, oops, Santas arrived.  These aren’t the real Santas by the way, but are some of his fleet footed assistants.  Having said that, Santa was only a few miles away in Falkirk yesterday, so I wouldn’t put it past the old fella to have sneaked in to the fun-run.  We watched for a while and Scamp got into the spirit of things and was happily cheering them on their way, while secretly wishing she’d heard about it earlier and had managed to wangle a Santa suit and an entrance number for herself.  Me?  I’d hold the jackets.  Lots more Santa pics on my Flickr page.

Once I’d got a few photos and was sure I had at least one contender for PoD, we drove the rest of the way in to Glasgow.  Scamp had the bright idea of parking at Cowcaddens and getting the Subway to St Enoch’s.  A stormer of an idea as it turned out when we saw the queues for different parking places around the town.  Just to clarify, Glasgow is a city, but it’s always been known as The Town or more likely, The Toon.  After we’d wandered round what is, apparently, the Medieval Part of Glasgow, down by Clyde Street and I’d taken some photos of extremely non-Medieval buildings, we had a coffee and headed for home.  Glasgow on a Sunday in December is no fun.  It’s full of shoppers and disappointed looking foreigners hoping to see men in kilts everywhere.  Thankfully the ‘Bastard Drummers’ were nowhere to be seen or heard.  Not even the mad “Bowie & Bolan” bloke who neither sounds nor looks like Bowie or Bolan was in evidence.  Thankfully again.

Came home and relaxed for a while before getting ready for the Sunday Social.  The highlight of the week for us.  Had a great time as usual and met an old friend (Kul) there, once we managed to get parked – nightmare during panto season – and basically that was it for Sunday.  Beautiful day with plenty of sunshine, although a bit cold.  Currently 0.3ºc with snow forecast.

Tomorrow is Monday with all the hustle and bustle that Mondays bring.

Walkin’ on Sunshine – 1 December 2016

Posted on by Zogman

1-decWhat a difference a little bit of sun makes and we had a fair bit of the big white ball in the sky today.  The grey had gone for a wee while at least.

We made the most of the sun by getting the bus in to Glasgow.  Actually, we took two buses in to Glasgow.  Scamp went in early and I fitted the new wipers to my car.  Surprisingly, it only took me a few minutes.  Sometimes it pays to buy the posh, Bosch wipers because they are so much easier to fit than the cheapo alternatives.  After fitting the wipers, I just managed to catch the bus, a different bus, in to Glasgow.  On the bus I discovered that I’d left my Kindle at home.  Worse than that, I’d left my headphones in my other jacket, also at home.  With nothing to distract me, I sat in the front of the bus and soaked up some of that sun.

I went to Millers art shop to get a couple of pens.  Before that I got myself an emergency pair of earbuds from HMV.  Skullcandy were always the cheap end of the market as far as I was concerned until I had the same problem I had today and had to buy a cheap pair of earbuds and succumbed to Skullcandy.  They were brilliant.  They are much better than my Sennheiser pair which are way to harsh and tinny sounding.  After this spending spree, I met up with Scamp and we went to lunch at The Italian Kitchen in Albion Street.  It was outside TIK that the reflections on the Herald building attracted my photographic attention.  After lunch we went our own merry way again.  Anyone watching would be wondering if we had fallen out, but that wasn’t the case, it was just about giving each other space.

I wandered around the city centre to get some more photos and even got a sketch of sorts done from the GOMA, then I wanted a look at a 21” iMac in the Apple shop.  The newly designed Apple shop, where there are no sales counters.  The Apple shop where a sales person was hogging the 21” iMac I was wanting to look at while she sold an iPhone.  Now I realise that the purchase of an iPhone is important, but wouldn’t it be a much better idea to have a sales desk where this transaction could take place.  It’s a bit of a barn of a place and it gives you an idea of the way Apple want things to go.

  • No Genius Bar
  • No sales desk, as I’ve mentioned
  • No Techys desk
  • No place to queue or sit while you wait to speak to a Techy

The other thing I noticed about this newly designed Apple store is the proportions of different machines on display.  Lots of space given to iPads and iPhones acres of deskspace given to Apple watches and entire tables given over to Macbooks of various kinds.  Only five desktop  computers on display, and that space itself being used as a sales point  It looks looks as if Apple don’t want/need to sell desktop computers any more.  Not a comforting thought.

Just managed to sneak on the X3 as it was about to leave and it turned out that Scamp was on the previous one, so we were running along behind each other heading for Cumbersheugh!  How sweet.

Hoping for another sunny day tomorrow, but today was good, so I shouldn’t be greedy.

An Early Rise – 25 November 2016

Posted on by Zogman

25-nov

Up and out of bed before 8.00 this morning, but it wasn’t the desire to take photos in the frost that was sparkling in the morning air that got me up, it was someone knocking the front door.  It turned out to be the wrong address.  The gas man was actually looking for the bloke next door.  However, it did get me up and that led to me achieving yesterday’s target.

Walked through St Mo’s and got a few photos, some of which are in the matrix above.  There was quite thick fog when I left the house with a temperature of -5.6ºc, but when I reached St Mo’s a few minutes later, the fog had gone, taking with it my chance of some ethereal early morning shots.  I did see a deer, but it was far to far away and moving like the wind.

By the time I got home, Scamp was scraping her car and since I was meeting Fred for coffee later, I decided to clean mine too.  The joker who lives a couple of doors down had parked next to me last night and left my car in the shade of the early morning sun that I’d hoped would have thawed it out.  People should think before they park next to me.  So it was frozen hands for me before lunch, but at least the windscreen was clear.

Met Fred for coffee and swap shop.  2 CDs from him to me.  1CD from me to him.  Not a lot to discuss today and I think the cold is getting to all of us.  He’d done some sketches of course and so had I, but not as many from each of us as we’d had in the past.

img_3579-flickrFred had to leave early so I did too.  I walked along the Luggie again and, probably with the thought of sketching in my head, got a quick sketch of a bridge done.  Not the most beautiful structure, but  architecturally interesting and demanding from a perspective viewpoint.  It’s not quite finished, but it was quite cold and my fingers were getting numb and I’d got a likeness of it.  I had my leather gloves with me, the expensive ones.  Two pairs for a fiver in Perth one year!  I should have worn the fingerless gloves Hazy gave me to keep my hands warm but my fingers free.  They’re not just for FOTO GRA4s! (in joke).  They’re going in my jacket pocket tonight.  I got some photos down the Luggie too.

From the 44 photos I took today, I whittled them down to 14 and from that I chose my 5 favourites.  That’s what you see above in the matrix.

Be careful how you touch the blog today as it might still be a bit greasy, that’s because dinner was a small fish supper for Scamp and a special fish supper for me (fish in breadcrumbs) eaten with the fingers of course.  I was feeling generous, so I shared my special fish with Scamp.

Looks like it won’t be quite as cold tomorrow.  Ice is nice as long as it doesn’t stay too long.

Design Obsolescence – 22 November 2016

Posted on by Zogman

22-nov

My car is just coming up for eight years old.  Its had a few bits and pieces replaced since new.  The usual consumables like the oil filter and the air filter every year at servicing time.  Every couple or so years it also has needed new tyres when they run a bit thin on tread.  More expensive items like brake disks, wheel bearings and CV joints have also been replaced when necessary.  Sometimes I use good quality third party replacements, but manufacturers parts are always available at an extra cost.  Occasionally I use them when it seems prudent to do so.  All based on the trusted advice from my local garage.  It’s a good car and runs perfectly well.

My Macbook Pro is also coming up for its eighth birthday.  It’s also had a few ‘improvements’ over the years.  It’s had a memory upgrade and a new hard drive installed, then last year I added a super fast Solid State Drive.  Some from Apple and some from third party alternatives.  Now its battery is failing, so I went to the Apple store in Buchanan Street to find out how much it would cost for an Apple fitted new battery.  I was shocked to hear them claim not to have replacement batteries for “such an old computer”!  Really?  A company the size of Apple can’t source the parts to repair its own computers?  I was told by a ‘Tech’ that I would have to phone technical support to see if they still had any in stock, and if they did the repair would cost around £160.  I don’t think so.  Amazon are advertising a replacement battery for £40 and I’m not so ham fisted I can’t fit it myself.
Since I’ve had the Macbook I’ve become a great fan of Apple, but my allegiance is fading after this example of Designed Obsolescence.

Right, now that I’ve got that out of my system, here’s a synopsis of the day:

Had an entertaining phone call with Hazy in the morning (yes, I did look up the Hive – impressive structure, H), then out to visit the dentist and no fillings, no scale and polish, just a cap replacement and no charge.  What a nice man.

After lunch Scamp and I drove in to Glasgow for some pre-Christmas shopping.  Better to go mid-week when the crowds are at work earning the pennies to spend at the weekend when we head for the hills, literally.  Parked in the Buchanan Galleries carpark with its wonderful panoramic walkway to the galleries proper.  Such a great view of Glasgow (and carpark is cheaper than Concert Hall!)  I headed off to the book shop for a couple of books I’d my eye on, but which turned out to be less than enthralling.  Scamp went looking for girlie stuff.  Met up later and had my introduction to the wonders of Designed Obsolescence – Apple style.  How to kill of a potential sale in one easy lesson.

Coffee and then trudged back homeward, but not before Scamp noticed that Jacques Vert had a sale on.  I’ll give her that, she always makes it look as if it’s a great surprise to see the sale posters in the window.  More girlie stuff bought.  Walked back across the bridge to the carpark and the light was just marvellous, so I had to stop to take some photos.  Such a beautiful sunset and one you knew just couldn’t last, so I made the most of it.  If I’d hurried past I’d have saved myself £1.50 in parking money, but I’d have missed today’s PoD (I’d also have brought the price of an Apple replaced battery down to £158.50, but I’m not bitter!)

Back home I found out that the books weren’t as interesting as I’d thought and have decided to return them (in pristine condition) tomorrow.  After a lovely stirfry cooked by Scamp I made some scones that turned out the best yet!  No eggs Hazy!

Was posting a condensed version of my rant on the Buchanan Street Apple shop page on Facebook when my eye was drawn down the page to a bloke complaining about exactly the same thing.  So, I am not the only grumpy old man then.

Travel clinic tomorrow to book our jags for foreign climes and maybe take that book back.  Unless Apple phone in the morning and offer me a brand new Macbook Pro – top of the range and an iPhone 7 to go with it to make up for their shocking customer service today.  But then I’d wake up and it would all be a dream  😉

JIC and Sim Homeward Bound – 20 November 2016

Posted on by Zogman

20-nov

This morning we drove JIC and Sim to the airport for their flight back down south.  We stopped in Glasgow on our way back for some shopping and a coffee and then returned to an empty house.  It was good to have a busy house for a while, but they had to go back to their own life and Vixen.  Oh yes, and back to work too.  We really did enjoy the visit and Friday was a brilliant day, one we’ll remember for a while.

Back in the land of computers, I finally got the photos backed up on to the new external drive and the battery rallied for a while on the Mac, but it was a temporary respite before it dropped again to 37%, currently 31%.

Salsa in the Garage tonight was uplifting to say the least and we left feeling a lot better than when we went in.

Tomorrow?  Well, tomorrow’s Monday with all that a Monday entails.  Busy, busy, busy.

Scraping the car – 18 November 2016

Posted on by Zogman

18-nov

Yes, it’s that time of year again when you need to scrape the car in the morning.  No heated screen or heated seats luxury here JIC!

Scamp was going to the dentist this morning, so I helped her defrost her car while I ran the engine on mine and turned the heater up full speed, full heat and air-con on.  Mine was soon defrosting nicely while we scraped away at Scamp’s.  That’s where the pic of the frozen leaf came from that.  When Scamp left to get her filling done, I headed back in to have porridge for breakfast.  First time for ages, and it worked its warm magic again.

With Scamp’s tooth fixed, we all headed off to Loch Leven to have a walk in the cold, fresh air under a clear blue sky.  Perfect conditions to test the F707’s infra-red capabilities. Well, the F707 and a furry monkey. The furry monkey which usually sticks to our fridge has magnets in his/her hands and feet.  The magnets are fairly strong and are the only ones that have been able to overpower the spring in the solenoid.  For that reason, the furry monkey came with us today to Loch Leven.  He/she … Let’s fix this ridiculous he/she thing now.

In a book I’m reading (and eking out the pages to make it last) his/her references are solved by making it ‘XYr’.  The ‘XY‘ stands for the unknown chromosome balance so ‘XYr’ can be male, female or indeterminate gender.  That seems an elegant solution, especially these days with LGBTIQ.  Life used to be simpler with just  LGBT and it made sense.  I think the ‘I’ is for ‘Isnae Sure’.  I have no idea what ‘Q’ stands for.  It could be ‘Questioning the Magic Donkey’ for all I know.  Anyway, thank you Becky Chambers for solving that problem.  I hope I got that right Hazy!

Soooo, getting back to the monkey, remember the monkey?  XY seemed to enjoy the trip and is now happily back in place in XYr place on the fridge.

The selection at the top came from the 70 odd photos from the day, plus the one from the frozen car.  The IR images took a fair bit of post-processing to get the effect I was looking for and although the quality isn’t great, the effect is.  I’m not sure if I prefer the false colour version or the monochrome.  Mono looks cleaner, but the false colour is more interesting and alien.  Further experimentation is required if the furry monkey is up for it.

Lunch was excellent as usual in Loch Leven’s Larder although the shop seems to get posher and more twee every time we go there, which is a pity, but I suppose is inevitable.  After that we drove back home via the Forth Road Bridge to get an updated view of the new cable-stay bridge.  Dinner was a carry-out from Bombay Dreams.

A good day, most enjoyable.  Cold tonight.  Temperature just touching zero.  Hoping for another sunny day tomorrow.

A Full House – 17 November 2016

Posted on by Zogman

eb172319-flickr

Tonight we would have a busier house as JIC and Sim were coming up for a flying visit.

Scamp was out this morning meeting one of her in-laws for coffee and I was charged with clearing up the painting room ready for JIC and Sim.  Of course, I didn’t do that, there were more interesting things to do like format one of the borked drives and test copy files to it to make sure it was working properly.  It was.  I also worked out how to get my Sony F707 camera working in IR mode again, more of which later.  Eventually I did get round to clearing up the room at least so that it looked like a room again.

When Scamp came back I drove in to Glasgow to see if Staples had a decent price for the 3TB backup drive I’d picked on the net.  They didn’t, but it looked like Argos in Cumbernauld of all places did have it, so it was back in the car then back to Cumbersheugh in the driving rain, only to find that the drive I’d earmarked had been sold.  Blast – well, I did actually say a different word which also started with ‘B’ but finished with a ‘D’ and had the letters ‘A,S,T,A,R’ and ‘D’ in the middle.  You’ve probably heard it, and maybe even used it before.  Not you Scamp, not you.  Anyway, I settled for the slightly cheaper 2TB version and payment made, new toy collected, headed back to the car through the rain.  That’s when I saw today’s PoD.  Cumbersheugh isn’t a pretty town, but it does a really good gloomy.  I instantly liked the shot with the little silhouette of an out of focus ‘wee wummin’ (remember ‘wee wummin’ from a couple of weeks ago?) in the middle distance.  It looked good in colour, but I guessed it would look even better in mono.

Right, this Sony F707 IR thing needs a bit of explanation.  If you look here, you’ll understand what it’s all about, maybe.  I’d forgotten all about it and the magnet trick, but today, again in the seridipity of the Internet, I chanced upon a more up to date post about exactly the same thing.  That got me started again, sticking an Infra-red filter on the F707.  A 720nm filter is virtually black to the naked eye, but  allows a narrow band of Infra-red light through and virtually none of the visible spectrum.  The Sony just pretended it wasn’t there, except for making everything have a red tint.  I think I prefer the results from the crossed pola filters.  There’s a bit better range of colour to them.  I’m intending to try it out tomorrow with some hoped for sunshine.

Popped in to the airport to pick up the travellers and then back past CITRAC signs warning of ice tomorrow.  Ice in Scotland in November?  Surely not.

Hoping for sun tomorrow.  Always!

Thunderstorms, Blazing Sun and Airies – 5 November 2016

Posted on by Zogman

5 Nov

This morning we had breakfast – a lighter breakfast than yesterday and retired to the pool. 

There are two pools one for each main building.  Both buildings have the same ground plan, but one has the restaurants and the reception in addition to apartments while the other is entirely apartments.  Ours is the second one.  This means that our building is a bit quieter than the other.  Unfortunately, half of our pool is currently being renovated so we don’t have the ‘swim-in’ bar which is perhaps a blessing in disguise. 

We grabbed a couple of sunbeds after breakfast and we sat and read for an hour, then got a sketch done,  before I decided to find out just how cold the water was.  It was quite cold, but I was prepared for that after last year’s cool pool in Tenerife.  Once you’re in it’s not so cold, and once you come out again it’s lovely and warm.  I read a bit more while I was drying off and then went up to the room to get yesterday’s blog finished and the photos processed.  When Scamp came up she said it was starting to rain and as we watched the clouds roll in, we heard the first peal of thunder.  Oh dear, there goes the day.  We waited a while and then went for lunch which for me was a thin steak, a hamburger, spinach and potatoes.  Lovely.  By the time we came out the rain was off and the sun was out again.

After lunch we went for a walk in the direction of the airport.  For those of a binary persuasion, this was Left along the front, not Right like yesterday.  We walked on and on until we reached the airport.  Not the actual airport building, but the very end of the runway which was almost within touching distance.  The sound of the airies taking off is surprisingly loud this close up.  It was actually worse further away because the buildings shielded us from the sound of the engines as the plane thundered along the runway and it was only when it rose above them that you heard the roar.  Actually it was worse than that because for a couple of seconds the plane lifted in silence, then the roar began.  Those of a mathematical and scientific frame of mind will tell you it’s all to do with the relative difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound.  It does look strange. 

While we were sitting a (French?) family decided to scramble down a steep ramp to the sand.  First the mum and wee boy tentatively edged down.  Next the dad, much braver, pushing the empty pushchair just ran down it.  The front wheels of the pushchair caught in the soft sand at the bottom and stopped dead.  Dad didn’t.  He did a clumsy sort of cartwheel before landing on the sand.  It was one of those things you see happening, but are helpless (with laughter?!) to stop.  The only injury was to the poor bloke’s dignity.

We watched a few airies taking off and then headed back with more than a few stops to rest our weary legs.  The promenade is mainly flat, but it is quite long and it takes its toll on the feet.

After dinner we went to see if the singing duet would perform any songs worth dancing to, but Scamp declared them unsuitable (both the singers and the songs, I think).  Since the dance floor was littered with weans running about while their parents watched from the audience, it was probably a good decision on safety grounds.  We retired to the waiting G&T in the room.

Sat on the balcony under the stars with a couple of G&Ts.