Category: Cars

Service Charge – 4 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We were both out early this morning.

Scamp had to catch the bus to get to FitSteps and I was driving to Glasgow at the same time to drop the blue car off for its annual service.

I left the car at the garage almost exactly at 10am and was told that it would be ready by 5pm. That’s seven hours for a three hour service! This appears to be normal practise for Macklin Motors, but not anywhere else I’ve ever used. When I asked the service technician why it would take that long, he said I should have been told that it was an “Open Booking” and would be worked on as soon as was possible, but there were two people off ill today. That sounded a bit familiar, because when I booked the same car in at the same garage a month ago for its MOT it did in fact take seven hours before I got to take it home and the reason was … there was only one MOT tester available that day. Sounds suspicious! I agreed and signed away my afternoon then went for a walk round the city. First port of call was Nero for a coffee and a chance to plan the rest of the day. Foolishly I took the option of their new blend Honduras and it was pretty awful. So a bad start to the day.

When I texted Scamp to tell her the news, she asked if I wanted her to come in to town, but I told her not to bother and that I’d phone the garage about two to see what progress had been made.

I walked down to St Enoch Square and got a couple of photos there, one of which became the PoD, but there was very little directional light and the milky white sky didn’t help. I know he looks as if he’s talking to his hand, but he’s posing with his new phone, I think. I took some more photos of new graffiti being sprayed on the wall of the Clyde Walkway and admired the vision of these guys being able to visualise their finished artwork. Haven’t seen any girl graffiti artists, but I’m sure there are some.

I got another message from Scamp saying she was now free to come in to Glasgow for lunch. That sounded a good idea. I met her in the bus station about an hour later and we went to an Italian place we’d looked at last Friday. Just as we were heading there I got the call from the garage to say the car was ready. The time was almost exactly 2pm. For once they were right on time. I said I’d be along to pick up the car as soon as possible.

The food in the restaurant was good, but my Spaghetti a la Polpette wasn’t very hot and the meatballs had the feel of ‘Ping’ (microwaved) about them. Scamp said her Risotto was fine. So we decided to give them another chance. A bit like Macklin Motors!

On the way back to the garage I got a new book by Chris Brookmyre. I’d heard about it in the Great Scottish Book Club and it sounded interesting. The book is The Cracked Mirror. It should have been £18, but I had a tenner in my Waterstones card, so I got it for £8! I’m almost finished a Peter May book Lockdown which started so well, but has descended into farce in the final 150 pages.

I got another surprise when I went to pick up the car. There were two advisories. Thankfully nothing needing done immediately, but just another expense that will need to be looked at early in the new year. I’m talking about New Year already and it’s not even Halloween yet!


Prompt for today was Exotic and my sketch was of a Bird of Paradise flower which fitted the bill perfectly.

Tomorrow we are expecting to be dancing Paso la Paz, It’s all about stamping our little feet and wiping the blood from our shoes. If you don’t understand, re-read the blog from 28th September.

A morning in Town – 28 May 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Just a morning wander around Glasgow while the car got a checkup.

The blue car was booked in at Macklin Motors for a safety check on the seat rails and Scamp and June were going to a funeral celebration of the life of an old choir member. I didn’t know him, so I just dropped her off at Ian’s/June’s house, then I drove in to Glasgow.

I was early getting there, so I dropped off the keys and went for a walk in the town. I had only three places I planned to go and the weather looked good, although the weather fairies were predicting heavy rain later in the morning.

First thing to do that wasn’t on the list, was coffee in Caffè Nero. Note the spelling. I’ve been spelling it wrong for years! Caffè Nero it is from now on, at least until I forget and resort to MY spelling again. Anyway, coffee first, then plan out the rest of the morning.

Anyway, I walked down to the Apple shop to find out how much I’d have to shell out on a new iMac. The answer was that it would take all my savings, tripled to get what I would like. I found a couple of ‘advisers’ who talked to me in a language I understood. Not ‘Topsy & Tim’, but not too technical either. Interesting to look at the back of the model that would probably replace, my present one. No USB-A (the big rectangular plug we all know). Everything was USB-C the tiny little oval plug that goes in either way round). Much smoother and allegedly a much quicker transfer of files. Sorry, Jamie, just a little bit of ‘Technospeak’ there.

I came out knowing a bit more about the new models and gratified when the first ‘assistant’ said that a seven year old iMac wasn’t ‘old’. At five years old it was described as Archived by Apple!

Next stop was Tiso just 100m down Bucky Street. I’m looking for a new waterproof jacket. My old blue Spray Way has so many tears in it, it looks like the patches are there to hold it together, which is probably what they are doing. I did actually find a Berghaus at a reasonable price and joy of joys, it had a zipper inside pocket. It also had a net lining which means the Goretex lining doesn’t stick to you. It’s on the list to be approved by the Boss!

I just stepped out of the shop and the rain came on. I looked at my watch. It was 11:20. The weather fairies were right! Next stop was Cass Art, for a 0.5mm pump action pencil, for light sketching. I also got a putty rubber to clean up my smudges and some charcoal ‘paint’ to make more smudges. Then my phone pinged to send me the video of the visual check on the car and to say that it was ready. Walked back to the dealership, signed the form picked up my keys and drove home. After lunch Scamp phoned to say she was ready to be picked up from Costa Drive-In.

Scamp made dinner tonight and it was a beautiful Prawn & Pea Risotto. Traditionally cooked, not my bake-in-the-oven one. Lots of prawns and peas and lots of fresh lemon juice to season it. Dessert was an Italian Cream Bun I’d picked up on my walk to the dealership.

Every day it seems we’re finding more things we can do with OneDrive. There are strange restrictions too, like being told I’m using Illegal language is data I’m trying to back up. It turned out that there are symbols that can’t be backed up with OneDrive! Perhaps my new Windows Monkey can explain the next time we’re speaking to him!!

PoD was a photo I took in Exchange Square in Glasgow of a bloke passing a poster in a shop window with a message that read: “Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day?”. I thought is was comical given the weather.

Today’s prompt asked for A Butterfly. We haven’t had many butterflies visiting the garden this year. It may have been the wet spring we’ve had or the cold, long winter. I had hoped for some Orange Tips or Peacocks, but even they have been in short supply. Hopefully with summer just around the corner, we might get some butterflies fluttering by. We can but hope.

Again, this is a catch-up.  I’ll be glad when  EDiM is over.  The painting/sketch is quite enjoyable. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes, sometimes an hour.  Then the hard work starts.  It has to be scanned, cropped and exported. Then the blurb has to be written and both the artwork and the text have to pasted into Flickr and then Facebook. The whole procedure takes on average an hour to an hour and a half. That’s on top of the normal photo for PoD. That’s why I’m seriously considering making this the last of these sketch challenges.

Maybe some light shopping tomorrow, but nothing else planned.

Carwash and Orchids – 27 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out with the Witches this afternoon. I was out for the messages.

Lazy morning, not doing much other than Wordle and failing to do Spelling Bee. I’m not so anal about it anymore. If I get bumped in Wordle, like yesterday, it’s no big deal any more. Similarly with Spelling Bee, I give it about ten minutes max. If I don’t get the pangram in that time I give up. I’m either getting lazy or growing up. Probably the former.

When Scamp was out in the afternoon I drove to Tesco with my shopping list and came back with the things that were on it and, as usual, a lot more. Then I did this amazing thing. I took the blue car through the carwash. I don’t know when I last washed the car, I’m not even sure I’ve done it this year!!! I certainly can’t remember taking it through a carwash. Heavens, I don’t think I took. Its predecessor through a carwash either! Anyway, I paid my money and sat in the car while the giant machine foam washed and then rinsed then dried the car. When I left it was shining like a new pin. Well, almost. I thing there is some ingrained dirt on its roof. It might take sandpaper to get it off and that would be a step too far. Still, it was nice to drive a clean car for a change!

By the time I got home, Scamp was home too and I just sat doodling for a while, then took some photos of the Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis) I got yesterday. It’s quite small with just a few flowers so far, but plenty of buds. Hopefully it will provide a few more photos. One of the photos got PoD.

We had Giovani Rana Tortrlloni for dinner, then got ready for Kirsty’s dance class. Tonight it was a reprise of the full Foxtrot. It’s beginning to fall into place now. It’s taken us a while, but that’s because the entire dance is split into two. I can do the first part and the second part, but marrying them together is where it all falls down. Still, the encouragement I get from Kirsty and Scamp make the whole thing work a lot smoother.

Tomorrow we have no commitments so far.

 

Out to Lunch – 27 October 2023

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It was a dull day and it really needed a decent pub lunch to brighten it up.

The house still feels a bit empty after the mountaineers have gone back down south to the flat lands. I hope they are pining for the heathery hills now.

Scamp was out at FitSteps in the morning and I was trying to get my new white mouse to do what I want it to do, but that requires an app to be installed first. Heavens it’s just a three button bluetooth mouse, not a washing machine. Why do they, the invisible ‘THEY’ need to make things so complicated. I eventually gave up and decided I’d just have to get used to it.

When Scamp returned, we couldn’t be bothered going far, so instead we went to Broadwood Farm. By that time I was hungry, so a Large Carvery portion would hit the spot. Scamp, on the other hand wanted a Fried Chicken Burger. What came for her wasn’t what she wanted. I’m not to blame. She called the girl back and told her what she had expected to find between the two halves of the bun. The girl apologised and brought something that looked almost the same, minus a gallon of spicy sauce. Happy customer, if slightly embarrassed for giving the chef more work she didn’t need. It’s not my fault this time. I asked for exactly what she said and my Large Carvery was lovely. I think the Broadwood is feeling the pinch now from McD’s next door. Fewer staff on the floor and fewer punters sitting at tables.

On the way home I went for a walk round St Mo’s and brought home a photo of two dandelions.That made PoD.

Prompt for today was “Beast”. The beast in question is a Weevil. Scamp spotted one at the top of the stairs the other day and came running with the message “There’s a beast at the top of the stairs.” I guessed it was an earwig or something similar and I was right it was a weevil. I scooped it up on a bit of paper and deposited it in the garden, apologising to it that I was sorry it was raining. It didn’t seem to mind and walked away. Any creature, large or small is a “Beast” in this house and I am called to fight it. Thankfully most of them are insects and I can handle them. Don’t know how I’d fare with a charging hippo, though!

I finally got confirmation today, after phoning Nissan, that we are now owners of our car, not leasers. It only took them a month to finally email us a document confirming our ownership.

Tomorrow we are hoping to get to Brookfield for a short, hour long dance class. Hopefully something interesting and short.

Happy Birthday Jamie – 16 August 2023

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Hope you had a good day.

We didn’t do very much this morning. Yesterday was a bit of a buzz. Scamp was out in the morning and in the afternoon. I was out in the morning then spread my 10,000 odd steps all over the west end before I brought the street legal blue car back. Today was different. We weren’t sure what the weather was going to do, and neither was the weather. Eventually we settled on lunch in a new restaurant that seemed as if it was in the middle of a building site.

We got a seat next to the loudest woman in the place. She had finished her main course by the time we arrived and was just starting into what looked like a 15cm x 15cm x 15cm brick of Sticky Toffee Pudding with custard. All she seemed to do was stuff her face with the chocolate coated pudding while she FaceTimed with someone on her phone. Eventually she decided she had to leave NOW and got up and left, leaving most of the dark brown brick untouched Suddenly the restaurant was a much quieter place.

The food was good, but not exceptional. I had a double gammon steak with egg, pineapple and chips. Steaks were small, so they ended up being the same size as a normal one. Scamp had fish ’n’ chips one of her standard tests for a new restaurant. The food was fine for a cheap lunch. We agreed we’d probably go back, but maybe to the carvery next time.

Drove home via Lidl where I wanted a cob loaf and between us added more to the basket than we really wanted, or needed, but Lidl’s like that. You see things in there you haven’t seen for ages.

About a month ago I scraped the rear wing of the car when I was parking. Today I wondered if the old trick of using Brasso to spread the top coat over the scratch would still work. The answer is it works a treat. Brasso is a very fine abrasive and if you rub it on to the affected area it heats up and the paint skin melts into the scrape. Allegedly toothpaste does the same thing.

I took the A7 out for a walk in the afternoon while Scamp was reading. For the first time in ages I got lots of photos. I’d actually taken some in the morning. The Shooting Stars that had flowered so well in May were now spreading their tiny seeds anywhere they could find some damp earth and the seed pods were almost empty, but very photogenic. St Mo’s however produced some insect life. Dragonflies, peacock butterflies and mating damselflies especially were in great supply, but the PoD went to a teasel in the garden that’s beginning to show its needles. This is the first time I’ve grown them and I’m looking to see them flowering.

No plans yet for tomorrow. As usual it all depends on the weather.

MoT day and a dauner round Glasgow – 15 August 2023

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The big day was here.

Up and out just after 9am. Dropped Scamp off at the town centre for her to go and get her shiny nails removed for a couple of weeks before she gets new ones again. I can see how this is a very profitable idea for the nail salons. I think they did miss a trick there though. They could be called “Salons for Talons”! I’ve copyrighted that name, but if anyone out there wants to use it, just drop me a line and we can come to an agreement.

Drove in to Glasgow, parked at the dealer’s and handed over my keys and log book, then walked over to Cowcaddens and got the subway to Kelvinbridge. Just behind the subway there is a bridge where the River Kelvin splits and both parts flow diagonally through a couple of rapids either side of one of the bridge supports to join up again on the far side. Once, Alex and I photographed a kayaker doing the most amazing manoeuvres when the river was in spate. It was much calmer today and the water was tea coloured, a fisherman’s delight. But there were no fishers today, so I grabbed a few shots and walked along South Woodlands Road which is really just a narrow cobbled street with delusions of grandeur and got some shots looking back at the bridge. The bridge, by the way, carries Great Western Road over the river and S. Woodlands Road. One of the views looking over the river and beneath the bridge got PoD.

I walked up the steep steps with cast iron hand rails that lead up from the subway station to Great Western Road and headed west. Almost bumped into another retired teacher, but she nipped into a shop and I walked on up to Byres Road. I’d have stopped for a pint in Òran Mór, but I was driving later and didn’t fancy a zero alcohol beer, a contradiction in terms, if you ask me. Instead I went in to Waterstones and had a coffee and cake in the sun. I also used up more than half of my last book token and bought myself a paperback. It felt very continental sitting outside with a coffee in Glasgow in the sun. Very unusual.

I walked back down Gt Western Road to the subway and took the outside loop back to Glasgow City Centre. Walking up Sausageroll Street my phone bleeped to tell me that the car was ready and all I had to do was hand over a large wodge of money to get my key back. The car had passed the MoT, of course, but there were recommendations for new front tyres. I knew there would be. Not official ones on the MoT certificate, just word of mouth.

Drove home and developed the film I had in the camera. I know you don’t develop photos now, you just download them, but it sounds very photographer-like to say that.

Scamp arrived later and dinner was going to be a salmon and broccoli quiche. Scamp had bought some broccoli and a frozen slab of shortcrust pastry, so under her tutelage I made a passable quiche that needed no extra veg or potatoes.

Tomorrow we may be going out for lunch. It depends on the weather.

Tidying up – 14 August 2023

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Not my room this time, but the car.

Tomorrow is MoT day for the wee blue car and there were some things that needed fixing before it went in for its first checkup. I watched a few YouTube videos about replacing the rear wiper. I never knew there were so many variations of rear wiper blades for one model of car. It took a while, but I eventually found our model, or near enough our model and it seemed really simple, except the old blade refused to come off until I coaxed some WD40 into the pivot and then everything went like clockwork. Drove up to Halfords and found the correct blade. It cost £5.95 for the blade and it would have cost another £5 to get them to fit it! Thank goodness for WD40. It saved the day again.

The car got a wash a couple of days ago but today it was the inside that needed cleaned. Crushed leaves and the sticky covering of buds from the trees, with the addition of the usual collection of parking receipts and sweetie papers all had to be hoovered up. I drained the battery of the portable Dyson and put it back on charge while I decanted the mats from the footwells and brought them in to the house to be hoovered with the big plug in Dyson. The boot too was emptied, everything hoovered and put back in place.

Dusters were flying around the dashboard too to make everything look sparkling, or as sparkling as it can be if I’m doing it. Filled up the washer bottle and cleaned more detritus from the wiper sockets and we were ready to go.

Time for a relaxing walk in St Mo’s. There wasn’t much to see and the rain clouds were rolling in, so it was just once round the pond. PoD turned out to be a stem of Purple Loosestrife which has rings of purple flower at intervals up its height. Allegedly it is an invasive species, but so are humans, they say, and we’re still here!! I had a fallback photo that I took in the morning, a Peacock butterfly on our Buddleia bush in the garden.  I now have proof that our buddleia does indeed attract butterflies!

I lost track of time when I was out and that meant the dinner was about an hour late, but it was penne pasta in a vegetarian sauce with “what’s left in the fridge” contributing to its richness, plus some of our home grown herbs bolstering basil from the pot on the window ledge. That was Scamp’s idea and it’s a good one.

She is intending to go to meet one of her friends from work tomorrow after she gets her nail polish professionally removed. I’m driving the blue car in to Glasgow to get its first MoT done, hopefully, successfully!

At the Carwash – 11 August 2023

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I actually took it to the carwash earlier in the week, but it was closed for maintenance.

Scamp was out in the morning to FitSteps and when she came home she looked exhausted, but happy. A sign of a good workout, or so I’m told, never having driven myself that close to the edge for a looooong while.

We also got a text from Hazy to say they were on their way home from their holiday in Wales. A change is as good as a rest, they say. I’m not so sure there was much of a rest for them with three children running round their feet!

I’d volunteered to make Chicken Ramen for dinner tonight. Basically a stir fry with soup added. For that we needed Chicken, of course and maybe some veg. That meant a trip to Tesco, because I already knew that M&S didn’t have Pak Choi. Unfortunately, although Tesco had pak choi, the only spring onions they had (another essential ingredient) were absolutely manky and Scamp rejected them out of hand. A few other things went in the trolley and a box of beer for me too. Cheap ‘holiday beer’ as Scamp calls it. Beer for drinking, sitting in the sun in the garden. The weather wasn’t really settled into sitting in the sun weather yet, but we always live in the hope that it might just change its mind.

We drove home and after a spot of lunch, I decided I’d wash the car, a sort of cheapo home carwash. We’d just got fed up with the car feeling like sandpaper. Sap from the trees we park under drips on the car and becomes semi solid just making everything, metal and glass feel rough. It also attracts wasps that love the sweet sap. It took me longer than I’d anticipated to get the car cleaned of all the sticky stuff and I even cleaned the inside of the boot and decanted some of the detritus that lives in there. It will find its way back in, I’m sure, after MOT on Tuesday.

Before I knew it, it was dinner time. The chicken ramen didn’t generate too many negative comments from Scamp which was surprising because I know she doesn’t really like noodles and there were loads of them in this recipe. Maybe a decent bottle of red to help wash it down helped.

The clouds began gathering in the late afternoon and then the first raindrops hit the window. No, I don’t think we were going to be sitting outside with a beer or a Pimms today. The PoD was taken just as the rain started in earnest. It’s a hanging basket of pink and white fuchsias from the garden. I thought that since Barbie is everywhere this summer, a little pink and white border would be appropriate!

Jamie had asked me for a recipe for pizza dough. I hope it works or worked out well for you and that the pizzas rise to the occasion!

Tomorrow we may go to Glasgow to see the Under 23 Men’s Race. Rain is forecast, so let’s hope they all get through unscathed.

 

A day in the Toon – 5 July 2023

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We drove in to Glasgow today just for a wander and the chance of a spot of lunch.

We started before that, at home having a serious talk about money and cars and it looks as if the blue car will be staying for a couple of years.

In Glasgow we began in JL. There is so little in the ‘toyshop’ now for me, it was really only a cursory glance over what little they had to offer. One overpriced camera (second-hand, although JL don’t call it that). The shop now seems to have become a clearing house for goods bought and returned, unwanted gifts, but really, whisper it, second-hand. Maybe it’s a sign of the times, maybe it a warning sign of things to come! Scamp was luckier than me, she found a couple of things in the sales.

Walked down Buchanan Street and along Argyle Street, taking in the sights and sounds of Glasgow. Scamp went looking for a dress she’d seen in M&S a month or so ago, but we came out empty handed.

By this time lunch was on our minds, but we couldn’t settle on a place to go. There is a new restaurant in Exchange Square and we thought that might be good to investigate. It used to be Zizzi’s, but now it’s called Banca da Roma. The building used to house the Bank of Scotland back in the dim and distant past. Lovely big space with a high, high ceiling with glass panels that spread sunlight over everything today. I had Porchetta con Salsa Verde as a starter and Rigatoni Amatriciana for main. Scamp opted for Forcaccia con Rosmarino as a starter and Spigola e Spinaci which is Grilled Seabass with sautéed spinach. Service was a bit slow and the food when it came was, to my mind, quite expensive for what we got. As a lunch it just about managed to fit the bill, but the portions were small. There was a 12.5% service charge at the end of the meal which might be standard practise in London, but is not common in Glasgow. “Style over Substance” was how Scamp described it and I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Walking back to the car I noticed a wee man painting en plein air in St Vincent Street, using oils. He was doing a pretty good job of it too amid the tourists and the traffic. I took a few shots over his shoulder and one became PoD.

Drove home after a relaxing day and started the procedure to get some of the scrapes on our car repaired using Smart Cover which we’d paid for when we bought it and never thought we’d use. I think it might be a long process.

Hoping to go to Dunfermline tomorrow with Alex. Today was a lovely warm day. Hoping for something similar for tomorrow. Scamp will be hoping for the same as she’s intending to cut the grass again.

Fourth of July – 4 July 2023

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Another day of thundery showers followed by warm sunshine.

Scamp decided we should go shopping and I went along to make sure it was done properly! We arrived back home with a sight more than the milk, potatoes, fruit and veg. Stopped on the way to get the makings of tonight’s dinner which was stir-fry. We just got in the door as the rain started.

Yesterday Scamp decided the bed needed changing and the mattress turned. Today she decide the upstairs rooms should be hoovered so between us we hauled out the bed, dusted behind it then hoovered there too. Finally we put almost everything back in place. Some things though, including my ancient but totally shot leather slippers didn’t go back. They went into the bin instead. Poor things were almost worn through. I’ll never find another pair like them.

We were just relaxing with a coffee after our work when the rain came on again and it really did come down like stair rods. The weather fairies had warned of thundery showers and for once they were correct. I waited until I was sure the rain had stopped then booted up and walked over to St Mo’s with the A6000 in tow and took a few insect and flower photos. The flower photos won today. The ultimate winner was a photo of a branch with Snowberry flowers. Delicate little pink bell shaped flower that will produce bunches of white ball shaped fruit in the autumn. Managed to get back dry, apart from the drips coming from the trees after the heavy shower earlier.

Got an email from Nissan asking me to Pay Up or Put Back by September. Still considering what the final fate of the wee Blue car will be.

No plans for tomorrow as yet.