Architecture – Page 22 – My Photo Blog

Homeward Bound – 20 July 2016

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Zogman

I’m going to keep this short and sweet. The WiFi in this Travel Lodge is awful. You would think in this day and age that they could afford broadband for their paying guests rather than dial up. Unless it’s BT based, because they seem to be having problems today. They were not the only ones.

We expected, and got delays on the M25, but then we went on to the M40 and there were delays there too caused by … well, nothing really. I’d love to see the motorway system from the air to see these phantom problems that seem to hold up traffic for hours. On to the M6 and that is where the big problems started. Queue after queue. Some caused by roadworks, some caused by breakdowns and some inevitably caused by rubber-neckers wanting a good view of accidents on the south-bound carriageway. By the time we got to the Travel Lodge I was exhausted. Booked in and had a shower and felt a lot better. Went for dinner in the services. Oh dearie me, what a depressing place. When we drove down, we stopped at Birmingham services and had fish & chips and it was excellent. Today we had cold chips and something that might have seen the sea quite a few years ago wrapped up in yellow plaster of paris, at least that is what it tasted like. Before you ask, “yes” I have eaten plaster of paris. The yellow dye didn’t improve the taste at all. We decide not to risk the coffee and went down stairs to have Costa coffee. Here is what I wrote in the Costa on-line complaint form:

“I’m sitting in an excuse for a Costa coffee shop drinking an excuse for an Americano from a cardboard cup because the dishwasher is broken. Although there were lots of ceramic cups visible on the coffee makers we were not offered them, we HAD to have our coffee in a cardboard cup. I assume this makes clearing up easier for the staff and to Hell with what the customer wants. I asked for hot milk on the side. That wasn’t available either. Probably for the same excuse that cups weren’t, but the girl operating the coffee maker offered to pour some milk into my already watery Americano from a plastic carton. No thanks Costa. I’ll stick to Cafe Nero in future.”

I expect I’ll get a standard reply from Costa with a standard Costa gift card which I will cut up and put in the bin.

So, it wasn’t just the plaster of paris fish and the cold chips, it was also “couldn’t care less” Costa too. What do foreigners, French folk, German geezers, Spanish senoritas think when they visit one of these service stations? Everything is overpriced and the food is inedible. I remember the first time I travelled through France. We stopped at a service station. Everything was shiny and clean. I had a jambon sandwich that had half a pig in it and tasted magnificent. No plaster of paris there, even in France! France, paris. Well, I thought it was funny.

Today’s photos were of a pied wagtail taken earlier in the day. The imposing but falling apart Grade 2 listed tower at the Lancaster services and sunset through the hotel window. Not much of a view, but just look at those clouds!

This was meant to be short and sweet, but I rambled and ranted on again.

Heading to the cold country tomorrow!

Hampton Court – 18 July 2016

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Zogman

Today Scamp finally decided that we should go to Hampton Court. A short walk and two buses took us there. It’s a fascinating building, but far too much to take in on just the one visit. We settled on the Kitchen and William & Mary’s rooms. Walked for miles in the building and outside in the searing heat of the gardens. The best bit was coming in to Kingston after the visit and having a well deserved beer in a bar next to the river. Scamp of course had a Pimms.

It’s a short blog post tonight because I’m knackered and worse than that, my iPhone decided it didn’t want to count my steps so I can’t brag about how many miles I’ve covered. Oh well, what does it matter anyway.

It’s supposed to be hotter tomorrow. Is that even possible?

London – 16 July 2016

Posted on July 16, 2016July 16, 2016 by Zogman

Took the train into Waterloo and found ourselves on the South Bank soon after that. We walked along and crossed over Waterloo bridge then walked through Somerset House, but unfortunately the fountains were switched off to make way for an open air concert. Bummer. Scamp swithered whether our not to have a drink on the balcony of Somerset House, but finally decided that it was just a little too posh. I have to agree with her, but it was getting very hot and I would have welcomed a drink, posh or not. We walked along what turned out to be The Strand (Red on the Monopoly board) and finally settled on a little Italian restaurant with the strangest painted (?) leather seats. Service was slow, but the food was really good. It was very busy when we went in with lots of theatre-goers, but they soon vamoosed when it got near the time for the matinee.

When we left there, we walked through Covent Garden and the associated galleries selling all sorts of tat. We tried to get a seat in a few pubs, but they were all full, so we went to a Cafe Nero instead. We sat and watched blokes on scooters doing ‘The Knowledge’ with their maps and notepads clipped to their windshields. Walked on down The Strand and eventually Scamp chose the Golden Jubilee bridge as our crossing point back to the South Bank and from there we walked back to Waterloo Station (also on the Monopoly board) and home.

Not the best London visit. It feels like we need a target or a theme. After The Strand and Waterloo Station, maybe we should aim to visit a colour set next time. That might be a challenge.

Scamp made dinner tonight (stir fry) and we watched another excellent Hazy movie pick – The Martian. Both Hazy and I had read the book and the movie stuck quite accurately to the book until nearly the end. Impressed. That’s three good movie pics on three consecutive days. That’s good work.

Tomorrow? Tomorrow is a new day and a new beginning.

Life in the Wetlands – 6 July 2016

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Zogman

Well, so much for the plan to go walkies early in the morning. I’ve discovered that it only works if you get up early. 9.15 isn’t early, certainly not early enough to drive to Auchinstarry for a walk along the railway. That’s the only thing that prevented the walk. The weather was lovely. Unfortunately it didn’t last.

Went to meet Fred P for coffee at midday and after half an hour the staff in Costa were putting out the buckets and the signs that said “Wet Floor”. That’s what happens when you are sitting in the new town centre in Cumbersheugh. It’s only been open a few years and already it’s as waterproof as a sieve. It only took us the usual couple of hours and two cups of coffee to set the world to rights. Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn and the bastards who skimped on the seals in the glass roof of the Antonine Centre in Cumbersheugh. All topics of conversation today and all problems solved … our way. Hang them all!

The rain only got worse as the afternoon dragged on. Managed to get a few shots of flowers and plants in the garden. Not grab shots, nicely calculated shots. My only regret is that I couldn’t get a clean angle on the Gazania that didn’t include the hanging basket holder. I think it was still my favourite shot of the day.

Not as much rain predicted for tomorrow. Still wet, but not AS wet … allegedly.

Another Wet One – 4 July 2016

Posted on July 4, 2016July 4, 2016 by Zogman

Wet from start to finish today, but stuck to my guns and went out in the rain to capture something of the essence of the day. There were quite a lot of people about given the weather conditions. I felt sorry for the poor wee man sitting fishing under his umbrella. I hope he caught something – not the cold though! My cold has lifted thank goodness. Scamp is still coughing, but I think she is on the mend now.

It would be nice to say that these were all as they came out of the camera, but as usual, some ‘shopping’ was necessary.
The man with the dog for example:
When I got the base photo, the dog was off investigating an interesting scent in the woods, so I had to wait until it surfaced again, but then the man was facing me and had lost his hunched shoulders pose that really summed up the rainy day. No problem, I cut out the dog and added it to the original base photo, then blended it in with a vector mask. Although I knew it was raining heavily at the time, the photo didn’t show it, so I added some rain as a layer and changed the layer type to Lighten and it looked so much better. If you can’t see those carefully crafted raindrops, check out the version on Flickr 😉 EDIT! Well, you will when Flickr remembers how to upload files. What’s the point of having all these bells and whistles when the basic system doesn’t work. For Flickr read Fuckr.

Had coffee with Val in the middle of the day and enjoyed the chat. It’s always good to see old friends you haven’t met with for a long time. Had a long discussion about computers and programs. Picked up a few tips on new apps to try, both on the PC and on the Mac.

Dinner was a bit rushed as I decided at the last minute to go to salsa after all and with Scamp’s blessing. I knew that Jamie Gal wouldn’t be hosting tonight’s session, and was hoping it wasn’t Colin but dreading it might be Shannon although there is one worse than that. Surely she wouldn’t inflict him on an advanced class. Keep him for the beginners. It turned out to be Will who taught a good class very clear instruction and a great deal of humour. Total enjoyment for the full hour, 9/10 Will.

Driving home, I thought I might attempt Charing Cross Mansions as a sketching objective some time. One of the prettier architectural frontages of Glasgow. I would need a dry day for that, and the weather forecast doesn’t seem to include one of those for the foreseeable future.

A no news day and a new fence day – 25 June 2016

Posted on June 25, 2016June 3, 2018 by Zogman

Now that most of the furore of the last couple of days has died down and the UK hasn’t sunk beneath the waves of the Atlantic, life has returned to a bit more like normal. The media is still in full blown disaster movie mode, but who really listens to them. I only watch the news to see what the weather is going to be like tomorrow, all the rest I can get from ‘bbc.co.uk’ and only click on the links that interest me. It’s as if news has come full circle. At the start of last century newspapers were really the only form of news distribution, then came radio. The problem with radio was that you had to listen to all the guff before the news reader got to the bit that interested you. It was more up to date than newspapers, but it was Serial Access of information. Then came TV and as this medium has proliferated, news readers have become actors and presenters producing colourful presentations. News became more of ‘edutainment’ for the masses, but it is still Serial Access. You still have to wade through all the multicoloured drivel Robert Peston has to show you so you will understand just how much cleverer he is than you. Now that we have news online and especially on smart phones, we have returned to more of a newspaper format where you can immediately access the information you want without the drivel or the presentations. That’s the great thing about Random Access as opposed to Serial Access. For me, I just click on the weather and ignore the doom and gloom.

Alan, the fencer was coming today (not with his foils and epees, but with his spade, crowbar and nailgun). Today we were getting a new fence between us and Ghost, the gigantic Japanese Akita and also a new fence at the back of the garden. The old one which was very fragile was over 30 years old and had done quite well surviving the ravages of a Scottish climate for that time. It took Alan less that three hours to get the remnants of the old fences down and the new ones up. Thanks in part to the wonderful ‘nail gun’. Brilliant thing. Gas powered from a little propane cylinder. He hammered in 50 nails in as many seconds. I want a nail gun. I don’t know what I’d do with it, I just think it’s such a wonderful toy. I’d even say it was ‘cool’!

Scamp was decidedly under the weather today with a heavy cold, presumably from sitting in a bus for 10 hours breathing in the recycled germs and viruses from the coughers and sneezers around us. Anyway, we decided to go to the wee tea shop over at Johnston Loch and that brightened up our day.

I had a quick walk over to St Mo’s later and got some photos of a bit of yarn bombing that had been going on while we were away. Also a bit of landscaped seating that’s been added to St Mo’s. Let’s hope is doesn’t get damaged. It’s good to see NLC actually doing something in the community for a change, especially as pupils from local schools had become involved.

See, there’s always a bright side. Yes, Scamp, I have been listening to you.

Independence Day – 24 June 2016

Posted on June 24, 2016June 26, 2016 by Zogman

Wasn’t that the title of a disaster movie from the ’90s? Looks like it’s also a disaster reality of the mid early 20teens too. I couldn’t believe that two bumbling idiots, well three if you include Gove, managed to persuade 51odd precent of the British public that they could actually sail us through the uncharted waters of a Brexit withdrawal from the EEC. I’m not a great supporter of the EEC, but much better the devil you know than the devils with no brains and no policies. It’s like the Monster Raving Loonie Party winning a general election and suddenly finding they had to make up a parliament. I don’t for one minute believe that these Spitting Image puppets could make a decision without phoning their mummy. It will be as one ex colleague said tonight: “There are interesting times ahead”. I think there’s a Chinese curse along the lines of: “May you live in interesting times”.

I went in to Glasgow tonight to a retiral ‘do’ for a couple of teachers from my old school. It was good to see some old faces that I recognised from the past. Other teachers that had found the light at the end of the tunnel was sunlight. Good to see that others are still making their way towards it. Also good to see that there are others still attempting to climb that greasy pole. Good luck with that, people.

Walking on Sunshine – 19 June 2016

Posted on June 19, 2016June 22, 2016 by Zogman

Cadiz today. The last port of call on this year’s cruise. Cadiz is a favourite of ours, it’s got history, lovely buildings, beaches and cats. What’s not to like.

Breakfast first then watch the mad scramble to get off the ship. We had already had a warning in the Horizon newsletter that ALL the shops would be shut today, so best to book early for one of their excursions. If you’ve read the first paragraph, you will note that shopping is not among our highlights for Cadiz. Of course the big shops would be shut, but we knew that as long as there were punters out there with plastic and Euros in their wallets, there would be entrepreneurs ready and willing to remove some from us. So it turned out. We just did as we usually did. We walked through the parks with the fountains, the trees and the jakies. Lots of jakies. Some noisy, some snoozing. Nobody giving you any hassle. We found our way to the Cathedral Square and I sensed the chance for another 15 minute sketch. While I was drawing away, Scamp went for a look inside the cathedral. She said it was less ornate than she had expected, but interesting. My sketch was the same. Not ornate, but I enjoyed it. Sketching in ink is very unforgiving. You can’t rub out, so you either have to adapt ‘wrong’ lines or choose to ignore them. There were a lot of ‘wrong’ lines.

From the Cathedral it’s an easy transition to the promenade and it goes on for miles, right around Cadiz. I wanted to see the cats again. They live among the gigantic concrete cubes that make the breakwater. The cubes have holes in them to make them easier to lift, I imagine, and the cats seem to use these holes as hiding places or simply a place to cool down. They needed to find shade today, because it was very hot. 27°c was the predicted temperature today. After getting some shots of the cats we headed in search of a beer. We found a place near the castello with good views of the beach and the sea. Good cold beer, lovely! We decided that we’d walked far enough and pointed ourselves in the general direction of the Cathedral which stands on a hill, so is fairly easy to find. When we got there we found a nearby bar advertising free WiFi. Got connected and then lost the signal. Tried again and couldn’t get back in. I think there were just too many folk wanting in. Anyway, it only cost us a beer and you need to properly hydrated in this heat, well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Finally Scamp followed her nose and found us a route to the ship. We had to pass through security on the quayside and once we were through, I saw a sign advertising WiFi area. Logon was free with no password, but a long wait to be connected, but once I was in, I got the two pages of the blog uploaded, because there was no chance of free WiFi for the next two days on P&)!

When we were back on board we did some serious sunbathing which nearly turned out to be sunBURNING, but I think I remembered in time to put on the sun cream and prevent a painful peeling session. After that we got dressed for dinner and went to watch the ‘sail away’. Felt quite sorry to leave Cadiz. It’s still one of our favourite cities on the ‘med.

Dinner tonight was weird, or rather the rest of the guests at the table were weird. One ex-pat Scot (allegedly) who had a very big ‘bool in her mooth’ and her husband who reminded me of the fat bloke judge from Masterchef. One older lady who used big words in exactly the right places (I wasn’t having wine so she asked if I was ‘abstemious’.) and a part Indian lady who was sitting next to me with her husband and she was very experienced in reading body language. Strange group who seemed to know each other, but didn’t seem to particularly like or enjoy each others company. I can’t put my finger on it, but I felt we were being assessed.

Entertainment tonight was Jimmy James. Old School Motown and soul singer. Absolutely brought the house down. May go and see him again.

Tomorrow is a day at sea. Eating in the posh restaurant, Epicurean!

Napoleon, Napoleon, Napoleon – 17 June 2016

Posted on June 17, 2016June 25, 2016 by Zogman

This morning we docked at sunny Ajaccio which was the birthplace of Napoleon. You’d never tell, though. There are bars named after him, coffee shops named after him, statues to him round every corner, there’s even an ice cream shop with a picture of poor old Nap holding a cone. As with every other port on this itinerary, we’d been here before. It’s a bit of a mixture with some old streets connected to the shore by narrow alleyways and also some modern buildings, some high rise, on the outskirts of the town, although it prefers to call itself a city. There are also a host of fancy yachts moored at the quay. Not the kind with sails, the ones that have price tags running seven figures. Massive great beasts they are and so are some of the blokes guarding them. One stuck out as different from the rest. It was grey/blue for a start rather than the traditional white. Also the front of this rich boy’s toy looked more like a WW1 battleship with a vertical prow and no rake. Quite strange.

We walked into the town after breakfast, through the open air market and found that the prices of the fruit and veg were on a par with what we pay at home or slightly more expensive. So far on this trip, the produce in the markets is a lot cheaper than our supermarket prices, but it looks like Ajaccio is moving up market (no pun intended). We looked in vain for a little boating pond we’d found ages ago on our first visit. We’d sat there eating tart au pommes in the sun. It had disappeared under a new carpark. Strangely, when they were building the carpark they unearthed the stonework of the original Roman docks. Some of the earthwork and stonework is there to be seen now while the cooncil decide what to do with it. I hope they don’t decide to build another carpark on top of it.

I gave myself a target today. One sketch in 15 minutes done in the open air, in public. I actually managed to do two ink sketches one 15 minutes, one 10 minutes. Both were of buildings. I quite like buildings. They don’t move about and don’t get stroppy when the see you watching them. Also, they’re not critical of your work and say you’re giving them too big a nose. Yes, buildings are good and safe as an art project. Painting class on Monday has a building in it, a Tuscan farmhouse. I’ve been studying them. They have small roofs compared with UK buildings and the overhang is greater at the eaves. Tomorrow is a sunset at sea Sad smile Not impressed or enthused by that, but I’ll get a chance to use my new brushes so that should be good.

We had had a coffee on the main street earlier. White coffee for Scamp and a tiny little strong espresso for me, but it’s hot work this investigating new places, so we were on the lookout for a cafe with WiFi so I could upload the blog. Found one and although the beer was expensive, it was much better than the beer on the ship. While I was struggling with the WiFi connection that kept coming and going, Scamp had been eyeing up the salads that were landing on tables near us. She eventually decided she’d have some Ajaccio lunch and opted for the mixed fish. Since my French wasn’t strong enough to make sure there was no shellfish in the mixed fish (there was no written menu), I chose the lamb which I’d seen at a nearby table. Both meals were lovely, although my lamb was on the raw side of pink when it came. I later blamed that on my upset stomach tonight. Like the beer, the meal was expensive, but we both enjoyed it.

When we were finished, we just had enough time to wander over and negotiate the motorised wheelchairs, the disability scooters, the zimmer frames etc. to get back on what has now become known as The Cripple Creek Ferry (apologies to Neil Young). These things, or to be more exact, the dim drivers of these things are a menace. They either stop right in front of you, giving you no time to avoid them or drive right into you. The drivers look straight ahead and remind me of the cartoon people in the Far Side cartoons, you know, the ones with no eyes. Blank looks everywhere. They drive the bloody things in to breakfast in the morning and get the waiters to park them because they can’t do it themselves. Then, when they’ve gorged themselves and complained that the tea is cold or the coffee tastes funny, they tell the waiters to turn the scooters round for them. These idiots don’t seem to know what a three point turn is. Now, I realise that some folk need wheelchairs and I appreciate what a boon it must be to have the mobility they offer. I also realise that one day I may need one myself, but I’m sure not every one of these people need these mobility scooters.

Tonight we sat with the bloke from Liverpool. I thought before that he was a bit of a pain, but tonight I enjoyed his repartee, in fact everyone at the table was conversing so well that we missed the start of the show and had to wait to go to the 10.30 showing. It was a song and dance review of hit west end shows and was great apart from The Lion King or to give it its proper name That Bloody Lion King. As you probably realise, it’s not my favourite show. The rest of the show was excellent, just TBLK spoiled it.

Tomorrow is a sea day, so it’s up early and grab a couple of sun beds, then think carefully about what the PoD is going to be. We saw a whale tonight, so something like that would be good.

Livorno, Terrapins and Pigs – 15 June 2016

Posted on June 15, 2016June 16, 2016 by Zogman

It’s Livorno today and yes, the sea was a bit rough again last night. I don’t think it was as rough as the night before, but maybe we were just really tired and fell asleep more easily. Anyway, as I said, it’s Livorno today. Livorno is an old friend. It’s the port for Pisa or Pizza as the great unwashed call it. It’s also the port for Florence (who was the cow in Magic Roundabout, strangely there isn’t a town called Zebidee, at least not in Italy).

We were not going to Pisa or Florence or even Pizza. We were just going to Livorno. It’s got lots of places we like like the big town square that is actually a big long bridge over one of the canals. It’s got a flea market much like The Barras, but Scamp doesn’t like it. You can get a pair of jeans there for €2. One careful owner, well at least one anyway. You know all those charity bags that drop through your letter box? Guess where a lot of that stuff ends up. We walked round most of the places we’d seen before, but like we do on Skye, we were looking for new roads, new places we’d never been. I thought I could see a park on the outskirts of the town along the road from the Town Square Bridge. This would be our new attraction for the day. It was a strange place. First there was an imposing sandstone building that looked like a courthouse or a council building of some sort, but it was boarded up and locked down securely. Next was a dog park, well, that was what it looked like. There were a couple of jakies hanging about and a man walking a pair of serious looking dogs. There was a sign about dogs and I took this to mean that it was it was a dog walking park. Not the sort of park you’d take Vixen to JIC. More a Carbrain style park, but without the knives! Next was the park proper. It looked like it had been a substantial park at one time with a mini-zoo and a boating pond, but it had fallen onto hard times and was in need of a fair bit of TLC and money thrown at it. Such a shame. There was a fountain, or at least what had been a fountain. Now it was just a pit with a brick surround and some dirty green water in the middle. There were dovecots without any doves. There was a pond with ducks, geese, pigeons and terrapins. There must have been at least twenty terrapins sitting on rocks warming themselves in the sun. Over by the side of the dried out boating pond was what looked like a factory, also fallen into disrepair. With the sun shining through the gaps in the roof and also in the round windows on the far side, there were textures galore to capture. Really now it’s a roosting place for even more pigeons.

Once we left the park, we retraced our steps back into town to find some free WiFi. The first place was ok, but I couldn’t get the laptop to connect. A mixup with what I thought Scamp had ordered and what she actually wanted and also the fact that our waitress seemed more interested in keeping up with her Facebook and email conversations than in actually making our coffee, coupled to the fact that I’d got the password wrong, meant we left under a cloud. Not a digital type cloud computing type cloud either. We found another coffee shop quite easily and got connected easily there. Also, Scamp was a bit more accurate in indicating exactly what pastry she wanted, so we all left happily.

Back at the ship, Scamp headed for some sun time, while I grabbed my drawing stuff and got the bus back into town. Before I went, I tried out the free Port WiFi and got connected immediately with no password. Just goes to show that we in the UK are lagging behind with the digital connections. Glasgow apparently now has free WiFi in the city centre although since I’ve discovered the speed of 4G, I’ve never felt the need. Wandered round the town again and got Hazy’s welcome text. Actually, I really was thinking about texting you H, to see what the outcome was. Really pleased for you. Got the sox by the way! After that I sat and sketched one of the buildings I liked in Livorno. I’d photographed it last year and tried to paint it from the photograph. This time I took my courage in both hands, sat down and drew it. Unfortunately, the painting teacher was wandering around waiting for the bus back to the ship. Also one of the African “Lookie Lookie Men” was hovering around trying to sell me a selfie stick. He tapped me on the shoulder and said “Bueno!” I think he thought if he praised me he’d get a sale. Sorry mate, it doesn’t work like that. Got the next bus back to the ship and found that Scamp was checking out the inside pool because the sun had gone in behind some clouds. Found her and found that the sun had reappeared and the roof had been retracted. Did a bit of gentle swimming and jacuzzi lounging before heading for the cabin to prepare for dinner.

Scamp has wanted to sign up for Freedom DIning for some time. What it means is that you don’t have a set time or a set table. You just turn up and say you are happy to share the table with whoever is there. Sometimes it works out fine, sometimes it’s a disaster. The good thing about it is it’s only a disaster for a couple of hours, not the rest of the holiday. Tonight was one of those disasters. The couple at the table were fine. Then two dobbers arrived. The guy was ex-police and he started explaining where the French police had gone wrong in dealing with trouble at the Euro football thing. He then went on to tell all and sundry what a clever guy he was. Oh dear. At school I had a friend called Arthur Cunningham although the name is irrelevant. He was the first one I ever hear talking about ‘Pigs’. I always thought of them as police or polis, never ‘pigs’. Now I see where he was coming from. This guy was a pig. So was his wife. She just wanted to inject herself into every conversation. ‘She had done this, She had done that. If she hadn’t done it, her grand daughter had done it. Strangely, her son and daughter hadn’t done all that much. I pitied the other couple at the table. They had done interesting things too and so had their sons and daughters and their grandsons and grand daughters, but the pigs didn’t allow them to talk about it. Maybe Arthur was right after all, all those years ago.

Well, it’s nearly midnight. Time for my beauty sleep and to face the port for Rome tomorrow. Hope we have Welsh folk, not pigs at breakfast.

Today’s upload comes courtesy of La Classica Pizzeria in Civitavecchia.