Category: Coffee

Back to Glasgow – 13 August 2023

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Back to Glasgow for the final race of this year’s championship. So much more interesting in my opinion, than watching 22 overpaid blokes kicking a ball around a park for 90 minutes.

Today was the Women’s Elite Road Race and I didn’t envy them the climb up the Crow Road, although the ride down the other side might have been quite enjoyable! We stayed within a square section of Glasgow, bounded by George Square to the North and Ingram Street to the north. We didn’t wander far from South Frederick Street to the east and Queen Street to the west. We’d travelled in by train for a change. Much more comfortable and certainly faster than the X3 bus. We had arrived with time to spare and had a coffee in the Costa in Queen Street. That used to be our place to confer on what we’d learned (or not) in Michael’s dance class on a Wednesday.

Suitably refreshed we walked along through the barricades to find a suitable place to watch the race. It took longer than we’d anticipated for the riders to arrive in the city centre, but immediately there was a breakaway followed by the pursuing peloton. Scamp was satisfied with her spot, but I moved around finding more interesting perspectives all around the square we’d nominated as ‘Ours.’

From Scamp’s lookout position she could see the progress of the riders who were riding along one side of Cathedral Street, eastbound then after returning along George Street and up the awkward climb up Montrose Street, returned along Cathedral Street and down to George Square. On second thoughts, maybe the Crow Road was easier because they only had to do the climb once. Montrose Street they had to do six times. This was a devious and demanding circuit. Allegedly there were 50 corners in the city centre circuit!

I think for once we saw the whole race and today my shot count was about 330 of which around 95 were rejected. Not bad for the A6500.

We managed to get the fast train back to Cumbersheugh and then drove home.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about his pizza making skills. We were most impressed, Jamie. When you next visit you must make one for us! His tomatoes are also looking good. Glad your garden is growing well.

PoD was a breakaway group on Ingram Street in Glasgow

Tomorrow we have no cycling dates although I may need to go and get a new rear wiper for the blue car or I fear it won’t pass MoT. A good hoovering would help too!

 

Bike Porn – 6 August 2023

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Scamp suggested we take the train in to Glasgow to watch the Elite Men’s Road Race circuit of Glasgow City Centre. I agreed to drive us to the station, but no further.

After all the driving yesterday, a leisurely trip into Glasgow would be most welcome. I hadn’t realised just how busy Glasgow would be. The first indication was how few seats there were on an eight carriage train. We both managed to get a seat, but there were very few left.

We waited in Queen Street station because we had a fairly good view out of the tinted window looking down on the circuit. Then, being Glasgow, it started raining, so best to keep dry for a while and watch the cyclists go past the window. I took a few trial shots but really wanted to get down and see the race proper, from street level once the rain had stopped. I’d two places kind of earmarked for useful shots. The first, looking back from the station entrance down George Street wasn’t very good, because there were lots of folk thinking the same thing and the sight line wasn’t the best, but I shot off a few frames there. My next destination was in front of the Tron Church where hopefully I’d get a straight view down George Street, but soon realised that was where one of the BBC camera men was, so instead I chose to stand at the tight bend where I guessed the cyclists would be clinging to the apex as they say in F1! I changed lenses to an ultra wide angle and rattled off a few more frames. Better, but thank goodness for motordrive. Hold the shutter button down and hope for the best. During a lull in the race when no team cars or motorcycles or cyclist were passing the volunteers who were in charge of the passing places kept us amused. Some were more entertaining than others. One in particular, a woman, seemed to be enjoying directing people to Buchanan Galleries and the train station and generally making folk smile.

After an hour or so Scamp thought she’d like a coffee and to be honest, I needed a walk, plus a coffee would be good. We walked up Sauchiehall Street and bumped into Fred Brown and Anne Muir who I used to work beside. Fred was keen to tell me he’d volunteered to go down to a four day week. I’m sure he’ll enjoy that little bit of ‘me time’. Anne has to wait a few years yet to get her freedom. They were off to see Oppenheimer in the GFT. We had coffee in the Black Sheep coffee shop and Scamp declared it very good.

On our way back to the station it started raining and we saw a Just Eat cyclist take a tumble on the slippery wet pedestrian precinct. I don’t think he’d survive long in the road race.

Just managed to catch the fast train home and again an almost full train.

Two fish suppers were our dinner tonight supplied by the Condorrat chip shop.

A shot of a few cyclists taking the straightest line through the chicane at the Tron got PoD. One of the best of the 419 shots taken!

No plans as yet for tomorrow.

A day in Japan – 17 May 2023

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Scamp was out early this morning to get her hair cut.

When she came back I was just finishing hanging out the washing. It was a lovely morning again and we discussing where to go when Scamp said she fancied going to the Japanese Garden near Dollar. I tidied up the things I was messing about with on the computer and off we went.

Scamp had bought the tickets online before we left, so we knew we’d get in, but we had to squeeze into one of the last three spaces in the overflow carpark. Then it was just a case of picking up a map and walking round the pond. We’d been before back in October last year and had seen the place in its autumn colours. We were hoping to see it in its spring regalia, but we were disappointed. A few of the azaleas were flowering in bright yellows and one or two rhododendrons were also flowering but everything else was green. It seems like it’s not just us who are running about a month late this year.

On the map we’d been given there was a mysterious number that would apparently unlock a gate. We looked where we thought the gate should be, but it wasn’t there. Finally we found it at the other end of the garden. There was a keypad on the gatepost and when we punched in the mysterious number the gate opened to allow us into the woodland walk. For the most part the walk was through woods, as you’d expect, but we could see a children’s adventure playground at the top of a hill, but ignored it and walked on. That’s where we found the ‘village’.

The noticeboard explained that last year’s storm ‘Arwen’ had felled or damaged a lot of the trees in the garden but that even the damage led to new beginnings. It was scamp who say the first tree stump with a heavy rope wrapped around the top and a variety of mosses and little trees growing in it. Then she saw the houses. Taller stumps topped off with roofs and with windows and doors added. Loads of these tree houses making something new from Arwen’s destruction a nice bit of creative thinking.

We wanted to have a coffee and a bite to eat, but the cafe was understaffed and there was a half hour wait before they’d be taking orders, so we left.

Scamp suggested we go to The Bothy for lunch instead. It was a great idea, but everyone of the townships we drove through had 20mph signs on entry. Why? There was no-one on the streets? We reached the cafe and after a bit of a wait we did get lunch with a cafetière of good coffee for me and peppermint tea for Scamp. Happy, we drove home.

Neither of us fancied dinner tonight and just to finish off the day I washed the car. I know it will be covered in seagull crap tomorrow, but I washed it today.

PoD was a view through one bridge to another in the Japanese Garden.

The prompt for today was A Pencil Case. This is my go-everywhere pencil case. Unfortunately, today it has no pencil in it, but the prompt only asked for the case! So I fulfilled the brief. The case does contain a pencil sharpener just in the unlikely event that a pencil jumps into the case and needs sharpening. This is the slimmed down version of the real pencil case which holds so many odds and ends that I have difficulty zipping it up.

No plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Relaxing – 16 April 2023

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Woke with a cough and a sore throat again.

Since Thursday I’ve been plagued with a cough and a sore throat. Today I was just feeling yuk for most of the day. I’m guessing I picked up somebody’s Lurgy on the train coming up from down south. The carriage we were in from Peterborough to Edinburgh was stowed, so it’s a fair bet that’s where it came from. I’d felt better last night and hoped that today would bring even more improvement, but it didn’t. It looks like I’ll just have to ride it out Thankfully Scamp seems to be free of the effects of whatever it was.

With that in mind I decided to have a lazy day, not doing much at all. More or less the story of my life if I can get away with it! However, while Scamp walked down to the shops to get some fish for tonight’s Cabbage and Smoked Haddock Risotto, I did some swift reorganisation of the living room with boxes piled on the coffee table and the Sarracenia pitcher plant balanced on top to give me the image that became PoD. Beautiful colours and patterns on the pitcher plant, but it does look like a triffid. Then I managed to put everything back in its rightful place before Scamp returned … just!

Later we did some gentle gardening. Scamp looked a bit disappointed to find a single stem of Astilbe growing where a forest had been last year. Me? I was quite happy to see one strand had survived the shock and awe attack. You just can’t keep Astilbe down. We replanted the astilbe and transplanted what we think are Candelabra Primula from where a single plant grew in the wilderness last year to a more easily seen spot beside the steps. I chopped up the remaining kale plants, collecting a few leaves from them to freeze for use later in the year. I think if we remove the top planks from the failing raised bed we can grow some kale and maybe some leeks in it for another year. After that we can make a decision on its long term viability, all being well.

Spoke to Jamie after dinner to hear how things were now that we are out of their hair. It seemed like they were doing today what we’d been doing yesterday. Told him the coffee tub for storing coffee was a clever design that works well. Forgot to tell him that I liked the coffee that came with it. So: Thank you Jamie for the coffee it tastes good now that I’ve got the grind right again!

Sent Hazy a movie I’d made demonstrating the brilliant design of the herb stripper she gave me for my birthday. I’d never seen anything like this before. Three different sized holes in a ceramic dish strip the leaves from the stem of herbs like Thyme much quicker and more efficiently than doing it by hand. Such a clever girl for finding these things.

Such clever folk we have as family. We should be and are grateful to all of you.

No plans for tomorrow. I’m going to dope myself up with a wee hot toddy tonight then go to bed to read a (relatively) new Carl Hiaasen book, Squeeze Me, hoping the cough will have abated by morning. Backlog from my blog gone when I post this!

Out for a walk – 3 April 2023

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We said it it was a good day, we’d go for a walk and we did.

I’d like to say that we were up early and out walking, but in reality it was nearer 11am before we got on the road. We drove to Chatelherault just outside Hamilton and left for a walk to the Green Bridge. It’s still a bridge, but as I’ve mentioned before in these pages, it’s not been green for a long time. We started off looking over the Duke’s Bridge to Cadzow Castle where some of the trees have been chopped down and the view of the castle is improved, even if there is only part of one wall remaining intact. There were actually people working on the site which was good to see, but I’ve no idea what they were doing. “Making it safe” was Scamp’s guess and that could be the case. We walked over the Duke’s Bridge that crosses the Avon water and then the climb started.

We took the easier route round the south side of the castle but the workmen had disappeared for their lunch. We headed left after the initial climb and walked past the ancient Cadzow Oaks which probably date from the 1400s. They are absolutely huge chunks of wood and could have been where Tolkien got the idea for Ents if he’d ever been to Scotland.

Further on, with blue sky above us, birds singing in the trees and the occasional fluffy cloud passing overhead it was an ideal day for a walk in the countryside. Newborn baby lambs in the field beside the path added to the picture, but oh, we’re not as fit as we used to be and after an hour and a bit of following the wandering path we were beginning to tire of the up hill and down dale route of the path. After we checked our progress on the phone and found that we weren’t even near the half way point, we decided to cut our losses and head back the way we had come. There wasn’t another path anyway! Next time we’ll walk the route in a clockwise direction, with options for alternative shortcuts back. Next time! There will be a next time.

But this time we still had to navigate the up hill and down dale switchback path. Although we had the benefit of being almost at the path’s highest point when we turned back, so we were heading downhill all the way to the Visitor Centre.

The information page on Chatelherault says the Oaks Café has “healthy snacks and tasty treats on the menu suit all culinary requirements.” I don’t think the person who wrote that had been in the Oaks Café. I asked for Peppermint tea for Scamp, but after having a look at the packets the server’s reply was a Larky “Nane!” So it was a latte then. My Americano was perfect, I have no complaints there, but I looked in vain for the “tasty treats” Instead there were anaemic sponge cakes with white icing, and various dull looking slabs of pastry. Maybe the “tasty treats” had all been sold or maybe there were “Nane”. At least the coffee was good.

We drove back home and Scamp went out to work in the garden in the sunshine. I dumped the photos on the computer and found that half of them were out of focus. Of the ones that were left, I chose a view of Cadzow Castle to be PoD.

It was a good day. We both really need to get up and go out earlier and more often to get back into shape, especially if dancing is going to be limited for the next month.

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for lunch with Mags and I’m at a loose end. I’ll find something to do, I’m sure

A day in the Toon – 30 March 2023

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Meeting my brother for a walk, some photos, a spot of lunch and a blether.

His choice was Glasgow and my choice was Glasgow too today. However, his idea was a walk round what we could call the City Centre, while I wanted to head out to the west in search of interesting architecture. We combined the two with a walk round the city centre photographing interesting architecture. First though we had the traditional coffee in Nero and caught up on what was happening in both families.

With the updates done we headed off down Buchanan Street to get some photos of the subway entrance on Buchanan Street itself. It has a lovely green glass cover over the entrance, although you don’t really see the green tinge unless the sun is shining like it was today. From there we ignored all the retail opportunities on either side and Alex took some shots of the other, completely different, entrance to St Enoch’s subway station. It’s a futuristic domed glass cover, not at all like Buchanan Street’s green glass box.

Two in the bag for Alex. Next we walked east along Argyle Street which used to be a fashionable street for clothes, but is now a bit down at heel with more and more shops with closed signs on the windows and doors. A sign of the times perhaps. We were looking for cranes. Big, gigantic tower cranes. They were right at the end of Argyle Street. I could see what I wanted to photograph, but if I stood on one side, signs and traffic lights were obstructing my view and if I stood on the other side it was the old sandstone buildings that were in my way. The only way to solve it was to wait until the green man appeared and stand halfway across the road. Bingo, three shots taken before the lights changed! Of course, we both took a lot more than that, but they were only fillers. The ones from the middle of the road were the money shots.

We walked round and had a cursory glance at Merchant City Cameras which will forever be Quiggs. It’s not been the same since Mr Quigg’s son sold the shop. I think the present owners are struggling to keep it afloat. Not surprising as it’s only enthusiasts who are buying cameras when mobile phones do such a good job of capturing the moment.

We walked back to Miller Street to Paesano. The real reason Alex wanted to come to Glasgow. Best pizzas in town. Only bettered occasionally by the West End shop of the same name. We must try that one the next time we’re out west.

Next target was the GOMA in Queen Street. That’s where today’s PoD came from. I just liked the relaxed way that bloke was sitting there.

Our final jaunt was down the Clyde Walkway to admire the graffiti. I also grabbed some shots of the mirror glass frontage of the Archdiocese of Glasgow building which stands next to the much older St Andrew’s Cathedral.

From there it was the long plod up to Buchanan Street bus station, a quick hug and then off home on our respective buses.

Back home Scamp had retained the last of the Just Soup and that became dinner. We had a first run through of the new Quickstep routine and, as Scamp had told me, it wasn’t nearly as fearsome as I’d imagined. Another practise tomorrow if all goes well and we should be fit for Saturday.

No great plans for tomorrow, although Scamp fancies going to her FitSteps class. Having just completed over 16,500 steps today, I’ll pass on that class.

Coffee with John – 28 March 2023

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Scamp was out for coffee with Isobel. I went over to John’s for coffee too.

Scamp was intending to meet Isobel for coffee at their usual haunt that is the Costa near TJ Hughes. Isobel caused confusion by phoning me to ask where Scamp was. When I told her, she should be at Costa by then. That’s when I got worried. Was the car giving trouble? Had she broken down somewhere? I phoned her and she replied that she was in Costa as agreed, but couldn’t see Isobel. Another call to Isobel cleared things up. She was at the other Costa (we’ve got two Costas in the Antonine Centre! Lucky us) at the other end of the centre. Long story short, they met up at the Costa near Tesco. Phew!

When she returned I had a quick cup of coffee and a cold meat sandwich then headed off to see John and hand over two parcels for Marion. We had a coffee and discussed the way the world was going wrong and how we’d have put it right if they’d only asked. It had been raining when I left the house and the clouds were getting lower. In Hamilton the skies were noticeable lighter and the clouds higher, plus it wasn’t raining. You see, that’s what happens when you live in South Lanarkshire. You pay a bit more council tax, but you get better weather. As if to prove this hypothesis, when I was driving home later, the rain started again just as I was leaving the boundaries of Hamilton. It continued to rain for the rest of the day and may be raining now. I rest my case Your Honour!

My camera hadn’t been out of the bag all day, but I still needed a photo for PoD. I turned to flowers, as I usually do in such times, and today’s PoD is a bunch of yellow Alstroemeria with some Sweet William and a bunch of Stocks as supporting actors. All shot on the tabletop with the A7iii + LensBaby Sweet 50 lens to blur out the edges.

Scamp’s turn to make dinner and it was a chicken stir-fry and although it was a bit dry it’s taste made up for that.

No plans for tomorrow. We’ll see what happens, but it might involve a Quickstep practise.

 

Up in the sky – 20 March 2023

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We didn’t quite make it up above the clouds where there is always a blue sky, but we were close.

Today we were going for lunch in Glasgow. We walked to Condorrat to get the bus, because drink would be taken.

It was good to get someone else to do the driving, even if it was a ramshackle bus we were on. Every few stops it would give itself a shrug and I was wondering if it would get going again, but it did and it got us in to town a lot quicker than the sluggish X3 would.

It was a dismal day and we were heading out to alongside the River Clyde on an X19. Another case of the “X” not meaning eXpress, but it was an interesting journey, especially when the bus changed lanes going over the “Squinty Bridge”. Oh, it was strange to be driving on the right hand lane and then crossing back to the left lane when we were across. It was also a pain, because we’d missed our stop and had to walk back of the Squinty Bridge in the rain to find our destination. Thankfully we didn’t have to change lanes.

We walked straight in to the Red elevator of the Radisson Red boutique hotel and took it up to the 9th floor and got a table. It wasn’t right at the window, but we still had a decent view. Scamp had booked it a few weeks ago and we were both impressed with the food and drink, although I only had a beer. Scamp had Strawberry Fields Forever which was a take on a Strawberry Daiquiri. Maybe just a bit too sweet. For food we shared Salmon Teriyaki, Spicy Chicken Bao Buns and Cauliflower Pakora which had the strangest sour coriander dip. Strange but absolutely lovely. I didn’t like the salmon, but that’s just me. Scamp said the spicy chicken was too strong for her taste, but we both agreed the cauliflower pakora was excellent. The view was great, but it would have been so much better if the drizzle hadn’t dulled everything down. There was no attempt to rush us through our lunch and we both had coffee afterwards. It was a lovely lunch and I think we’ll be back, but only if it’s another “buy one, get one free” offer.

We walked back to the bus stop and got an X19 back into town. Scamp and I both had things we were looking for. I was looking for water soluble graphite pencils to try on watercolour paper. Scamp was buying prezzies.

We got the X3 back home because although it’s slow, we don’t have to walk too far to get home.

PoD was a two frame panorama created in Lightroom and tweaked in Photoshop.

We had a really good day. Good food, interesting food too and great company. It will be better in the summer I’m sure.

We have no plans as yet for tomorrow.

Officially Spring – 1 March 2023

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We drove up to Costa at the town centre this morning for coffee with Isobel on the first day of metrological spring.

Unfortunately, half the weans in the town were also there roaring and shouting, crying and screaming and generally being obnoxious. For the second day this week, all the schools in Scotland were closed while their teachers were out protesting. The noise made this the most uncomfortable couple of hours I’ve had although the coffee was good for a change. I just feel sorry for the folk who have to work in that place with that noise all day.

Isobel gave Scamp a bunch of roses, and gave me a bottle of wine as anniversary presents. Then she explained the tortuous details of her side of the family tree while Scamp made notes to send to her cousin in Australia. I’ve never really been interested in genealogy, and seeing the complexity of this family’s family tree ensured that I won’t be delving into ours any time soon. We dropped Isobel off at her house afterwards and did some shopping in Tesco on our way home.

My daily walk in St Mo’s brought a hibernating or perhaps a just hatched sixteen spot orange ladybird as PoD. I now know where at least around ten of these insects can be found. All orange and all with sixteen spots. I did take a couple of photos of some clumps of Cladonia lichen too, but the ladybird was the winner.

Scamp made leek & potato soup for a starter and she had cauliflower, broccoli and potatoes for her main course. I had soup and then steak and kidney stew with potatoes and the left over cauliflower and broccoli. The Instant Pot heated the stew using the slow cooker function. Useful tool.

Watched Landscape Artist of the Year and we both disagreed with the judges decision. Of the three finalists, the winner would have been in last place if they’d asked me to judge.

Tomorrow Scamp would like to go out somewhere different. I’ll sleep with my thinking cap on tonight.

A new month, a new challenge, an old friend – 1 February 2023

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Today is the first day of February. White Rabbits (x3), but the first of February also brings the EDIF (Every Day in February) challenge. Let the torture begin.

This month’s prompts are all films. Not such a good topic for me, but that’s what a challenge is all about. Today’s prompt is The Red Shoes. Now I have actually watched this film, or so I’m told by Scamp, so no excuses, I just drew a pair of ballet shoes. But before we get to that, here’s how the day started:

For once, both Scamp and I were bamboozled by today’s Spelling Bee. Wordle was fine and we got the hidden word, but Spelling Bee with its “american” dictionary was a nightmare. Eventually we gave up. If you want to try, here are the letters for today:

N I E Z M T G

The challenge is to rearrange them into a word with at least 7 letters. I put them into an anagram solver and it couldn’t do it. Can you?

I was picking Val up to take him for coffee and a blether today. He’s not been too steady on his feet recently, so we tried out the new Costa which has a drive through. We got parked right next to the front door but although there is a disabled parking and a paved path to the shop entrance, the only lowered pavement for wheelchairs and such can only be accessed from the road! The heavy door couldn’t be opened by someone in a wheelchair. This is a new build. Only about six months old. Don’t they think about disabled access?

Anyway, we had our coffee and a cake each and then it was the old Val I was talking to. We started talking tech! Me talking about running my iMac from a collection of external SSDs and Val talking about having a Raspberry Pi that works better and faster than his Mac Book Air. Two hours flew by. The only down side was the half gallon of full fat milk they put into each of our Flat Whites. Slight exaggeration there, but not much. I drove him home and we agreed to do it again in a month’s time.

The sun was still shining when I dropped him off at his door and I thought I could grab a few shots from up on Fannyside. Of all the photos I took, my favourite was an old fence post with a green mound of moss and its fruiting bodies standing proud against the sky. That was easily the PoD!

Dinner tonight was Fish ’n’ Chips, home made. Lovely bit of fish, although Scamp thought it was slightly overdone. I disagreed.

Back home and just after dinner I got a sketch done of a pair of ballet shoes. Splashed on some red paint, added some ink and that’s the first one done. The challenge has begun.

Tomorrow’s prompt is “You’ve Got Mail” I’ll have to bend the rules a bit to get that one done. Also tomorrow we’ve an appointment with Andrew in Falkirk. We’ll be interested to hear what he has to say.