Category: Architecture

Land of the Custard Tarts. – 11 June 2016

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11 June3

My Uncle Bob, when he was returning to Larkhall would say “Back to the land of Sugartops.”  For those not born in Larky, a sugartop was a Saturday morning staple.  It was a bit like a flattened roll with sugar syrup on top.  The syrup acted like an adhesive to hold the lump sugar on top.  You spread butter on the flat bottom of the sugartop (unsalted butter was best) and ate it for breakfast on a Saturday.  As far as I know, they were only made in Larky and then only by one bakers, Eadie’s which closed a long time ago and took with it the sugartop.  If Larky was the land of the sugartops, Lisbon must be the land of the Portuguese Custard Tarts.  I know you can get them in Costa’s in the UK and I’ve seen recipes for them in books, but nothing comes close to the Lisbon Custard Tart.  With that in mind, our first stop once we alighted from the bus was the tart shop.  Scamp remembered how to get there and flew as straight as an arrow to the cafe.  Two custard tarts, one sprinkled with cinnamon (for me).  One sprinkled with icing sugar (for Scamp).  Two coffees, one white, one black.  Cost?  €4.50!  A bargain in anyone’s book.  You eat the tart and drink the coffee standing at a shelf in the cafe.  There are no seats.  It’s a eat an go thing.  Maybe Eadie’s in Larky should have adopted that strategy with sugartops.

After our second breakfast we wandered round the squares of Lisbon.  By the way, when we were at the breakfast table in the restaurant this morning, it caused great hilarity when I said we were off to find some tarts in Lisbon.  I can’t see why.  We walked up and up and up the hill to see the view from the top.  On the way I listened to a girl singing and playing a spanish guitar.  A dangerous thing to play in Portugal I’d have thought.  The don’t have much truck with their bigger neighbour.  A bit like Scotland and England, so I can understand their mindset.  Anyway, I listened to this girl playing and singing and I quite liked what I’d heard, so I bought her CD for €5. Then it was time to start on the upward trek again.  The view from the top when we reached it was great.  I remember it from the last time.  The easy way to get up to the viewpoint is to take the funicular tram.  We chose to use this tram to get us down to the level of the three central squares.  It only takes about five minutes to complete the downward journey and halfway down you meet the other tram coming up.  Very neat and orderly.  I don’t know if they use the downward tram as a counterbalance for the other one coming up to safe energy or not, but it’s a gentle way to spend five minutes on these veteran trams.

I like Lisbon, we both do, and not just because of the custard tarts either.  The city seems as if it’s stuck in a timewarp.  Some of it looks quite Victorian, some of it harks back to the ‘50s, but not a lot of central Lisbon is modern.  The train station which also houses Starbucks has a lovely Art Nouveau frontage.  Possibly the poshest Starbucks I’ve ever seen.  Just along from Posh Starbucks is a tiny wee shop that is always seriously locked up with steel shutters on the door and behind the windows.  In the window is a wide selection of wicked looking knives.  Best of all though is the advert on the side for pistols, carbines, rifles and ammunition.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they could furnish you with an AK47.  They used to also sell fake, but very convincing police ID in a variety of nationalities.  They no longer have them in the window, but that doesn’t mean they don’t sell them inside.

Back at the ship we found a small pool at the stern and settled into sunbeds there, only to find that we had left the oversize towel pegs at home.  Scamp thought I’d packed them and I thought she had.  Oh dear.  Maybe we’ll find a Lakeland at Gibraltar tomorrow and get a new set.  They’re so useful for attaching your pool towel to your sunbed.

We stayed there until we sailed away from Lisbon for this year.  Hopefully we’ll be back.  As we sailed under the combined road and train bridge on our way out of Lisbon, I thought back to 6am this morning standing on the deck in my shirt sleeves freezing in the chill wind photographing us going under it on the way in.  It’s still impressive and it gives you a sense of scale of the ship seeing the minimal clearance between the top of the mast and the underside of the rail bridge part.

Show tonight was “Blame it on the boogie”.  Least said the better.  Not so much Boogie as Boggin!

Much later arrival in Gibraltar tomorrow, 11.30am.

It’s Called Tomorrow–10 June 2016

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10 June2

Today was the first port of call on this year’s cruise, Vigo.  We’d been there before, we’ve been to all the ports on this cruise before, some more than once.  We had breakfast in the sit down restaurant as opposed to the buffet (where you also sit down to eat, but one of the ladies at our table this morning called it the ‘smash & grab’ restaurant, I understand that).  After that, we made our way off the ship on to dry land.  I remembered most of the layout of the town.  It’s a straggly layout, spread over the side of a hill which rises up to a citadel at the top.  We weren’t going there.  We weren’t going to the park we visited last time either.  It was a bit overgrown and untidy looking.  Scamp grumped most of the way there, but agreed there was a great view from the top.  I liked it.  I like Vigo too.  It reminds me more of an Italian town than a Spanish one.  It’s very laid back, taking things easy, the Italian way.  Anyway, we walked up the hill a bit, but avoided the park.  I was looking for a cafe with free WiFi to send my previous two blogs.  We had passed a couple of them on the way up.  On the way down again, we took a few turnings to bring us down near the harbour.  Finally we found a cafe with the free WiFi sign and got two coffees and the password.  It didn’t work.  No combination of the numbers, space or dashes made the slightest difference.  It wasn’t a big deal.  I was happy to pay for the coffee and continue our walk, but Scamp was determined to find a place for me to upload the blog.  Finally we got back to where we had started our circumnavigation of the centre of the town, and she was off.  She knew where there was a free WiFi cafe.  It turned out to be a lovely cafe called Cosmos Cafe.  I had a beer, Scamp had a red wine.  I got the password and it worked.  I uploaded the blog, then we decided to have tapas for lunch (Cooked ham with paprika and sea salt, Chicken Fajita and Tortilla [tortilla was also the password for the WiFi!]).  Scamp had another red wine and I had one too.  Sitting in the sun eating tapas and drinking wine under a blue sky in Spanish Spain.  That’s the life.

We walked back to the ship and found some more streets we’d passed down in our previous visit a few years ago.  When we got back, we went to the Smash & Grab (that name is catching) for a coffee, then went looking for a couple of sunbeds from which to watch the sailaway party.  We weren’t long sitting when this fat, overexcited camp ‘entertainer’ got up on stage and started shouting and screaming his excitement into the mike.  Obviously nobody had told him that with a mike, you didn’t need to shout, that’s what the mike is for, duh!  From then it was mayhem.  One side of the ship versus the other to see who could do the best Macarena and who could shout the loudest.  Oh, spare me!  We left. I had forgotten to pack my earplugs.

Dinner in the sit down dining room.  I found myself next to a woman who had been in the art class and we spent most of the time discussing what paints we used and what we painted.  A woman across from us with a wig made from steel wool, well, that’s what it looked like to us and her granddaughter(?) were from Ayr and they had flown down from Prestwick.  As Dylan said “A question in my nerves was lit …”.  Were these two the couple who held us up in Glasgow on Wednesday morning?  The two who had decided to fly down and not tell the bus company?  I hope not, because contrary to what you’d think, steel wool is very flammable!!

After dinner we went to see the Piano Brothers.  Not the comedy act I’d expected, but a pair of very talented pianists.  Scamp was entranced.

We decided to go see if we could get some salsa played to dance to in the Atrium.  Yes, the lady said, they could organise some SOLSA.  I didn’t want to correct her, and we did dance, very badly.  Scamp’s heart, for some reason, was not in it.  I was too cautious of causing more damage to her weakened right shoulder and basically we were crap.  After that, the night was a dead loss.

While we were finishing off our tapas in the afternoon, I noticed a bloke with a paper carrier bag.  This was on the side of it:

“Life always offers you a second chance.  It’s called Tomorrow.”

I hope that’s true.

Lisbon tomorrow.  Portuguese Custard Tarts here we come!

London – 19 May 2016

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London bTook the train in to London and wandered round the Southbank as usual. Had lunch from the Indian and Mexican stalls we usually go to. After that we walked down the river, or was it up? Can’t remember.

We went for a coffee in a Nero in the OXO building and Scamp noticed there was a photographic exhibition in the building at the rear and it was free! I quite enjoyed looking at other people’s photos, especially Emily Allchurch’s Sic Transit Gloria Mundi and Babel, but £11,000 was a bit steep. After that we crossed the river looking for a pub to have a drink. I thought I knew the whereabouts of such a place, but after walking away from the river for a while, had to give up and go to a Wetherspoons instead. Had a nice pint of Ghost Ship and Scamp had an expensive G&T. I had a taste and it did taste that wee bit different from our usual. Walked back down the road to head back for the station, and there was the pub I was looking for. For future reference it was the Black Friar!

Dinner was at Jimmy Spice’s and the food, especially the Indian food was great.

What a difference a day makes – 13 May 2016

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EPL30109- flickr--134Ooh!  The weather turned right cold overnight.  Cold wind and cloudy skies today.  We ventured in to “The Toon” for an hour or so in the afternoon.  While we were there, I spotted the six muses above the entrance of the Corinthian Club.  I’d never noticed them before.  Then, when I looked closer, I discovered that one of them was checking out her Facebook status on her iPhone.  Isn’t that amazing?

Skies cleared around 5pm, but there’s still a chill in the air compared with yesterday.

Scamp’s out tonight at the choir concert.  I’m sure I’ll hear a blow by blow critique of it when she gets home.

View from the other side – 8 May 2016

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combo2Well, today was supposed to be 18ºc and I think we met that temperature and probably exceeded it, but when we woke it didn’t look that likely. It was a slow burner.

Because the weather didn’t look as good as we had hoped, we waited before deciding that it really was going to improve. I’d intended going east, possibly to Cramond or if that was too busy, Portobello. However, our late start made a more local resort more practical. Scamp thought Glasgow Green fitted the bill, and I thought ok. Not what I’d choose, because how many other families would be thinking the exact same and there isn’t a lot of parking there. To add another factor to the mix, Celtic were playing some final or other at home at Parkhead which is on the route to The Green. After driving round the diversions to avoid the green and white crowds, I saw the last parking space at The Green disappear in front of me as the grey Astra in front of me nabbed it. Just managed to park on the roadside outside the West bar. Not perfect, but we were parked and I was beilin’. Whose idea was it to drive into Glasgow? I’ve been driving all weekend! Why do I have to do all the driving? Forgetting for the minute that Scamp had suggested The Green because I wouldn’t have to drive too far and after our walk I’d still have time to go cycling afterwards. No, the Red Mist obscures everything.

After I’d calmed down a bit, I had to admit I really enjoyed walking in the sunshine. We walked onto the suspension bridge and watched some rowers sculling with training wheels on the boat. Ok, really training floats, but that doesn’t sound so good. We had watched a white cabin cruiser heading up to the moveable weir at the Albert Bridge and when we walked down past the Western Boathouse the boat crossed the line of the weir and sailed merrily upstream. I was so taken back by this sight, my camera remained in the bag. I’ll remember it though because I’ve never seen any boat bigger than a eight man rowing scull on the river. To dispel the remainder of the red mist, I got us two Mr Whippy ice creams which were brilliant!

Just for a change, we walked across the Albert Bridge which is undergoing a fairly extensive refurbishment and not before time because this has been a rusting eyesore for a long time. That’s where the Glasgow coat of arms shot came from. I thought it was a good idea to get a photo of it before the graffiti artists got to work on it. Actually there’s more to this than meets the eye. Because I was shooting through the security barrier, I couldn’t get the whole thing in with the 20mm lens I had on, so I took two shots, one of the top and one of the bottom. Later I combined them in AutoPano. It’s not just for panoramas! After that we walked along the riverside walkway on the other side of the Clyde. Scamp and I have walked around Glasgow Green in all sorts of weather for years, probably about twenty years, we think. In all that time we have never walked along the path on the far side, the other side. It’s not as pretty a walk as the one on the green, but it gives a totally different view of the riverside. I’d never realised just how pretty the Western Boathouse was.

After the walk, it was time for lunch in the wintergarden of the People’s Palace. Roll ‘n’ Sausage for me, toast for Scamp. Then we drove back passing through the droves of ‘Sellic’ supporters.

When we got home I ‘dumped’ the photos I’d taken earlier at Glasgow Green and then got ready for cycling. Grabbed my cameras in their new sling bag and hadn’t realised that I’d left one of the SD cards on the table. Found out when I tried to take the mono shot. No card. Luckily I’d grabbed both cards, so I took the shot with the ‘5 which had the 9mm lens on and the shot from it was so much better than the one I missed with the ’10 and it’s 45mm lens. Just a short cycle today with a tail wind to start with – never a good scenario, fighting a headwind on the way back when you’re knackered. Got a photo of the ladybird in a group of aspen saplings. Actually there were two ladybirds, but when they saw one another, the both ran in opposite directions. Possibly two males or two females. The shot of the sprouting ‘baby corn’ was on the road home. I thought the perspective was interesting.

More sun forecast for tomorrow. Let’s see if it appears.

Coffee and a walk in the Toon – 5 May 2016

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combo bCoffee at lunch time with Val and Fred P.  Quite enjoyed the cut and thrust of another “frank exchange of views”.  Never one to allow the grass to grow under his feet, Fred held court on a variety of political issues of the day while Val attempted in vain to pour oil on troubled waters.  Me?  I threw in the occasional match to see if the oil would burn.  Topics for discussion today were the cost of upgrading your central heating, In or Out of Europe and the poor selection of guests in Jools Holland’s programme.  Sketches and paintings were critiqued and the world was set to rights.  Thankfully the word ‘ANTISEMITISM’ was not used by any of the participants.

After the scintillating discussion, I headed in to Glasgow to get some masking fluid to try some different watercolour techniques.  While I was in Cass Art, I wandered round their botanical watercolours exhibition and was really, really impressed with the quality and detail in the pictures.  My favourite had to be the sweet peas.  Such delicacy I can only dream of.  Walking back to the car, I grabbed a shot of the elegant security grilles at the Buchanan Galleries carpark.

When I got home, after a great walk round Glasgow bathed in sunshine, Scamp reminded me that we hadn’t voted, so it was off again to do our constitutional duty.  On the way back, we walked over to Condorrat to get a fish suppers for our dinner to celebrate the end of this boring baby kissing round of canvassing.  On the way I spotted the little yellow ball shaped flower and took its photo, along with its resident fly.  I wonder how many flies there are in, say, a cubic meter of bushes.  Probably incalculable, but as we are talking about a finite volume, there must be a finite number.  Multiply that by the number of cubic metres of bushes in Cumbersheugh and you have a very large number.  Now, if all those flies voted for the Greens, would the SNP still get in?  Probably.  A little bit too much politics for this time of an evening.

Our plans for tomorrow were to go to Perth tomorrow (Friday), but they had to be changed at the last minute and we’ll probably go next week.

On Reflection … 22 April 2016

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combo bIt wasn’t a bad day. Up a bit earlier than normal today to take my niece and her mum to a hospital appointment. Rather than sit in a crowded carpark waiting for them, I thought I’d just drive in to Glasgow. Followed my nose and relied on guesswork to get to where I was going. On the way I passed a Chinese supermarket and went in to see if I could find Dried Fenugreek Leaves because I’m sure the Indian chef who took the cook school I went to had listed them as one of the main ingredients in pakora. They had loads of dried an fresh herbs and veg, but no fenugreek, dried or otherwise, so I left empty handed, but I’m going back there some time for some Chinese curry mix like Jackie made for us in Skye.

I got parked easily up on St Mungo Avenue in Glasgow and walked down past Queen Street station and looked across past the College of Building and Printing as-was, now Glasgow Metropolitan and liked the light on the old sandstone building (top middle). On through George Square where I caught the wee man looking bemusedly at his iPad and down Queen Street to peruse the bargains at Cass Art. There were none – bummer. Walked back up and admired the reflections on the new office block, not for the first time. Managed a few shots, but then a crowd of school weans arrived out of the GOMA (Gallery Of Modern Art) clutching sketch pads and pencils and proceeded to sketch everything in sight. I put my camera away, knowing I had my PoD in one of the reflection shots. I’d just sat down with a coffee in Pret when my phone rang and I knew the Outpatients were ready for their lift home, so back up the hill again and back home via the hospital.

After lunch which was fried bacon, potatoes and egg (not the healthiest perhaps, but very, very tasty) Scamp wanted to go shopping. I decided my calling was more cycle related and put the bike on the rack on the car and got going to Auchinstarry. I’d decided it was warm enough for shorts. It was, but only just.  Today was not as warm as yesterday or Wednesday with clouds massing over the hills. Colder, but ideal for another go at another time lapse (That technique is becoming a bit ‘old’ now that I can remember its name – time for something new). Cycled along to Dumbreck and set the camera up on the Gorillapod on a fencepost and fired off a 100 frame, 10 second interval movie.

Then changed lenses and did another 100 frame, but 5 second interval movie. That was enough for me. I was getting cold standing around so I packed up and headed for home.

I was just fitting the bike on to the rack when the first splashes of rain appeared on the roof of the car. There was that delicious earth smell you get when it rains after a long (for Scotland) dry spell. It rained all the way home, but when I drew into our street the road was dry. Got the bike in to the house and the raindrops appeared on the window. It must have followed me home.

So, on reflection, it wasn’t a bad day!

Another day in the sun – 10 March 2016

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combo bToday started like yesterday with a search for a couple of sun beds together. We found them by the pool just outside the flat and that is where we stayed most of the day. The day began earlier with a sensible preparation for the sun. Rather than be caught out like yesterday we got thoroughly covered in sun cream. Then it was off to breakfast before we faced the sun.  The sun was not so constant today which was a blessing really because it was too hot yesterday.

WARNING!  MAY CONTAIN TECHNOSPEAK
After lunch we rested for a while beside the pool and then Scamp decided it was time for a walk. I’d said I wanted to do some painting on the dunes, so we headed up the road to the mini Sahara again. I didn’t get any painting done, but I did confirm my suspicions that this end of the dunes is a nudist beach. Couldn’t settle on a suitable spot for a painting and was getting exasperated with the camera occasionally overexposing. So started off back when I hit on the idea of doing a complete factory reset. I’d just done it when I realised that the over exposure only happened with the old kit lens. I checked it and sure enough, no matter what aperture setting I set on the camera, the lens aperture was stuck wide open. That would explain the overexposure. At least the overexposure in the camera. The overexposure of the blokes in the bushes was another matter entirely. Anyway, the reset seems to have made the E-M10 useable again.

Dinner tonight was in the Spanish restaurant where we had tapas to start with and then I had shoulder of lamb that simply fell of the bone – delicious and Scamp had salmon which apparently was quite good too. Pudding was banana flambé which was good, but with little evidence of any flames. Not like mine at all!

Tonight’s show was billed as Radio Gaga, but announce as We Will Rock You. Actually, it was better than the full length show we went to see in The King’s in Glasgow. The cast were all miming, but that didn’t affect our enjoyment. Sometimes enthusiasm is better than ability.

More pictures of the architect’s house, a desert shot and a cat for Hazy!

Hoodie – 7 March 2016

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combo bToday I gave in and bought a hoodie. It was another cold grey day. We did have an hour of sunshine around midday but that was it. In the morning we walked to the start of the dunes saw a strange (artist’s?) house with lots of icons on the walls. Just begging to be photographed.  Next door was what we think is a nudist hotel. High industrial looking metal walls and a name that hinted at naturism. We must go back and investigate.

Once I’d decided to bite the bullet and go for comfort over fashion, we walked half way into town and had a look in lots of shops, even venturing into Zara!!  Couldn’t find what what I wanted at a sensible price (€85 for a hoodie? I think not). With that in mind we walked back to our local shopping centre and got one there. Not in the shop where the Indian woman asked “You like it. You not going to buy?”  “Eh, naw”. Finally got one. A bit dearer than the Indian one, but from a much more pleasant seller. The squeaky wheel doesn’t always get the grease.  Just been to the Rambutan restaurant for dinner and it was great. Not the best hotel in the world, but the food is exceptional.

Forty Three Years Ago – 17 February 2016

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combo bForty three years ago today the weather was much the same. There was snow on the ground and it was cold. Two young folk, one 22 and one just 18 repeated their vows and became man and wife. How their lives have changed.

Today we took it easy. We had intended going to Edinburgh, but it being the middle of the week and with the prospect of more snow on the way, we decided to cut our losses and go to Glasgow instead. Rather than suffer the long bus journey through the wilds of Moodiesburn and Muirhead, I offered to drive. We eventually got parked in the third carpark we tried, despite the electronic signs telling us that there were spaces in the other two (they lied). Walked down through town me looking at a couple of cameras on the way, but still undecided which or even if I’d buy if it came down to it. Just like a girl can never have enough shoes, a photog can never have enough cameras. Decided on Browns for lunch and were mightily disappointed in the lack of flavour from both our meals. It’s feels like they have a reputation now, so they don’t have to try so hard. I think we’ll try somewhere else next time, but it’s a shame when it was a celebration meal and we rejected a few good restaurants before opting for Browns. Maybe it’s something to do with the name “Browns”: ordinary, nondescript, boring. Sort of sums it up really.

Went from there to the Art Store and picked up a couple of small Pink Pig sketch books and a wonderful bargain of a watercolour box reduced from £79 to £25!! Unfortunately, as I guessed, the Art Store is closing for good at the end of the month. According to one of the assistants, “the company is kaput”. Short term bargains for artists, but long term loss for art in Glasgow. They will be sadly missed.

After we came home, the weather brightened up and I managed an hour in St Mo’s just walking in the snow taking shots mainly with the 9mm. Some of the results are above. No plans for tomorrow, it all depends on the weather.