Category: Dancing

The other day – 10 December 2019

Posted on by Zogman

Yesterday was a beautiful winter day. This was the other day.

Today was wet with gale force winds. There was nothing good to say about it.

What I did do was tidy up loose ends. Wrote to Alex. Ordered some stuff from Amazon. Nothing all that interesting, just a book and a caddy to hopefully find out what’s on three old disk drives I found in a cupboard. They’re probably empty or unreadable, at least after I get the gizmo I’ll find out. Either way they go in the skip once I’ve disabled them.

Went to Tesco to get essentials like Milk, Bread and Chicken Stock. Put some stuff in the food bank because I felt guilty about constantly forgetting last year’s pledge to do that at least once every week. I didn’t even take a camera with me, that’s how bad it was.

In the evening it calmed down a bit. The wind died down and the rain became less intense. Now at almost 11.30 it’s starting up again. Phase two of Storm Something or Other. More wind and rain with some snow mixed in forecast for tomorrow. At least we won’t be driving in to Michael’s class tomorrow. He sent Scamp a message saying that ballroom classes are cancelled tomorrow. Little does he know that “School’s out for summer.” Well, his school is anyway. Still not sure about salsa, although it will probably be going that way anyway because the STUC is being sold to create even more student flats, and where will the salsa go then poor things? Probably either Revolution or Record Factory, that’s my guess. Neither of them are really ideal. I’m wondering if we should see it out to it’s natural end or just cut and run at Christmas. Neither way is very appealing, but in the end, it’s going to happen no matter what we think, so maybe better now than later.

Didn’t get out to grab some photons today, so it’s flooers again for a PoD. I like this little Christmas cactus. Scamp repotted it earlier in the year and it seems to appreciate the extra food and drainage it’s now getting. There are a few buds on it and this is the biggest. Maybe we should give mummy cactus a bit of a refresh too. She’s been going for a long time now and is beginning to show her age. Maybe that would be a nice Christmas present for her.

Tomorrow Scamp has a review at the docs and I’ve got coffee booked with Colin and Fred. On a Wednesday too! Shock Horror!!

Solar Power – 9 December 2019

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Sometimes I think I am solar powered.

Woke to sunshine this morning. Beautiful sunshine. Got up and dressed, no time to waste on a shower, I’d go dirty! Grabbed two cameras in the big black camera bag and waltzed off to St Mo’s (actually I walked, no dancing was involved) while Scamp was defrosting her car. Nearly fell on my backside when I stepped on a thin slice of ice I hadn’t noticed, but regained my balance and nobody was there to laugh at me.

No time for camera testing today. I’d (partly) mastered the buttons and dials on the LBJ and today was too good to waste on test shots. Got a few shots of interesting fungi in the woods and some backlit leaves, but nothing too special. Nothing that was a contender for PoD. It’s remarkable how quiet the shutter is. Much quieter than any of the Olys. Yes, of course I was still testing and comparing. It’s the way I am!

By the time I got back, Scamp had returned from her shopping trip and she’d put the coffee maker on. Thank you Scamp. She’d been busy because she’d made a pot of soup too and it smelled lovely. She’d also done the hoovering which has been my Monday job for the past few weeks. She just can’t sit still some days.

After lunch and after Gems had gathered I had my Monday talk about all things Art with Margie, I put my boots on again and drove down to Auchinstarry to walk along the canal, across at the plantation then back along the railway. Got a few more shots with both cameras, two of which I knew would be on Flickr and one of which I was sure was destined to be PoD. Saw a poor luckless quad bike rider getting his/her front wheels stuck in a bog, right up to the axles. Don’t know how they were going to get out of that one, but I wasn’t going to help pull it out.

On the way back I paused to just take in the colours and shapes around me. You don’t realise just how beautiful the countryside is until you’ve had a week of rain and leaden skies. Sometimes I think I’m solar powered. I need sunlight to recharge my batteries. Without that dose of vitamin D I just get deeper and deeper down and it’s the sun on my face that lifts me, well that and Scamp’s smile. It can lift me any time. “One smile relieves a heart that grieves” Robert Graves.

Back home it was good news. Jamie Gal was in the driving seat tonight. We went in to see if the beginners class needed any helpers, but two weeks of Shannon had taken its toll and it was a vastly reduced class in the hall. An even class of leaders and followers, so we weren’t needed after all. Our own class was well attended, but the skills of the class were a fair bit below what an Advanced class should be able to demonstrate. Jamie took quite a lot of criticism for his absences and I did feel sorry for him with nobody to stand with him against the class. However it had to be said and now he knows the feelings of the class.

Came home feeling a bit deflated with the loss of two dance classes and nothing to fill the vacuum until the new year. Hopefully a new year will bring new opportunities or am I starting to sound like an astrology page from the Daily Record?

PoD today went to a dried stem of cow parsley with an out of focus background. I liked it. There’s more on Flickr.

Tomorrow we’re expecting rain and Windy Willy. That won’t be fun!

A relaxing day – 7 December 2019

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After yesterday’s energetic day and late night, today was a day of recovery.

The daylight just sidled in past the curtains this morning. I took longer than usual to drag myself from dreamland. Finally emerged from the shower just about 10.30. Scamp, of course had been up and dressed and sitting with her cup of coffee by the time I appeared downstairs. A drop too much whisky last night was the problem.

Finally got ourselves going just after midday and drove through torrential rain to Stirling. I’d woken with a stuffed up nose and with cotton wool or something like it in my head. One good cure for it, I’ve found, is a good hot curry. That’s what we were going to Stirling for. One of the chefs must have looked out of the kitchen and said, “He needs a good hot curry” and that’s what I had. My usual curry in the Indian Cottage is a Chicken Tikka Chilli Bhuna with a little bit of chopped up raw green chilli on top. Today the chefs decided I needed half a green chilli. Dutifully I ate it. It was hot and delicious. Scamp had her usual Vegetable Dhansak which she said was “Spicy”. I tried some of hers and couldn’t taste anything through the fire in my mouth from my green chillies. Just what the doctor ordered.

Went back home via Waitrose and drove through another deluge. On one occasion the wash from a car in the outside lane completely swamped our windscreen wipers. Lots of standing water.

The day had stared off dull and became gradually worse as the sun gave up the struggle of forcing some light through the clouds. Absolutely no chance of any photos outside today, so it’s flooers again. Just messing about with the new camera and some old lenses. PoD was one of the best shots.

Scamp’s been in touch with a ballroom teacher in Cumbersheugh and we may have found a solution of sorts to two problems. The classes are on a Monday evening which would conflict with Jamie G’s Salsa class, but if he continues to avoid his teaching duties, we may be losing that anyway. Also, we are now agreed that Michael is history, so another ballroom teacher will be a fresh start.

Tomorrow we’re hoping for some scattered showers and some broken cloud. We’ve had enough of the rain now thank you.

I saw the sun today – 6 December 2019

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Not for long and it was late in the day, but it was definitely there.

My little grey cells must have been doing overtime while I slept last night. This morning I’d puzzled out what went wrong with the bow tie yesterday. I think the problem may lie with the pattern. I don’t think it’s symmetrical and I remember the very first time I made a bow tie, I carefully numbered the pieces so I wouldn’t get lost. If I’m right, the pieces have to be assembled in a specific order. It’s one of those things that is easy to demonstrate, but almost impossible to write down. Suffice to say I had a plan. Unfortunately I didn’t have any more of the lovely red print I was using yesterday, but I did have a nice white based one and that might just do.

Did as I had the first time and after cutting out all the pieces, I numbered them all so I would know better what I was doing. Also, I cut the interfacing slightly smaller than the fabric. Long story short, it worked. After a final hand sewing, I now have a festive bow tie to wear tonight to Stuart & Jane’s Christmas ball. I have other clothes to wear too, but the bow tie will be the star.

With that done, lunch was calling to us and Scamp suggested we go back to Frankie & Benny’s again which is precisely what we did. Note to self: Cheese Burgers are good too, but tell them to hold the mayo. Way too much.

Having nothing else to go for, we drove home and I grabbed the chance of some decent light for a quick shot. Well, it would have been a quick shot except I must have pressed a button somewhere, a button that shouldn’t have been pressed, because it switched off the viewfinder and the rear screen. Shooting blind, I got the shot and swore much more than is good for anyone’s blood pressure. Back home I finally managed to get the viewfinder and then the rear screen working again and went for a grumpy walk to St Mo’s. The best of the light had gone by this time, but I did get a few moody sky shots. The best made PoD.

Drove in to Renfrew for Stuart & Jane’s Christmas Ball and had a ball ourselves. Sitting at a table with three other couples about the same age as us. Not at all like the crowd at Michael’s dance. I’m not just saying that because we’re in the process of cutting links with him, this was a great night’s entertainment, thankfully without a drag show in the middle this time. S&J were low key all the way through the night, but they still gave us a great welcome and also kept the ball rolling. We even got a salsa spot, albeit with another six dancers, but they were really the support act! I think we may go to the next social in February, if we’re spared.

Arrived home at just after midnight. Sitting now with a (not-so) little whisky nightcap. Scamp took the sensible option and had Ovaltine.

That was a good night, so goodnight.

The end of a beautiful friendship – 4 December 2019

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Almost made the 11am cut-off.

Just after 11am I took a the new little brown job out for a walk in St Mo’s along with a few of my little bayonet fitting pieces of expensive glass. It was a dull day, but I wanted to see how it coped with dull Scottish weather. The answer was, not all that well. The kit lens was fine, but when I put on the macro, it just didn’t want to focus. Couldn’t work out how to set it to manual focus (Don’t worry JIC, almost done with the technospeak) and it has started raining. Didn’t want to get the little brown job wet, because it was going back to JL in the afternoon, so it went back in the bag.

I wanted to see how NLC and their helpers were getting on with the upgrade to the footpath. Work is progressing well on the new boardwalk, but less than half the footpath has been tarmacked so far. Hopefully it’s a temporary setback.

Home just in time to stuff a piece ’n’ bacon in my face before getting ready to drive in to Glasgow.

Michael was in charge today and no sign of Anne Marie. We started off by dancing Over the Rainbow with the ‘expert girls’, then Michael began correcting some of the individual elements. The bane of my life since last week, Spin 4, was amongst them, but his teaching was clear and not all that repetitive. It was going to be ok. Messed up a few of the moves in the new routine, but that was to be expected. Then it was time for waltz.

We made a small mistake at one corner and he started tearing our routine apart. Told us we were doing it all wrong. Told us we’d missed out two steps. Now Scamp is brilliant at getting the counts right and she argued with him that although she’d made a mistake at the corner, the rest was fine. So he took her through some steps we’d never seen before and tried to baffle us with maths. It didn’t work. We both told him that we’d never seen those steps before. He seemed to lose it at that point, shouting “Check your phone. Check your phone.” I told him I didn’t need to check my phone, I knew we were right. (I did check tonight and we WERE right.). Then he switched to Quickstep, but not before he had danced the proper routine, the one we recorded about a year ago, the one I checked tonight, and said that’s how it should be done. He wouldn’t listen to us when we told him that was a different set of steps from the one he’d done, not ten minutes before, but he’d switched on his Rubber Ear by then and was hiding behind it. I don’t know if he realised it was all over by then, but we had.

We walked up through the Christmas Market on George Square and bought two Coconut Buns. Delicious cold, but heavenly when warm.

Back home I got instruction from Scamp on how to make a stir fry and I showed her how to thread the needle on my sewing machine and how to do the basic stuff (all I can do, to be honest).

Sitting watching The Apprentice I started fiddling with the Little Brown Job (it’s got tan coloured leatherette trimming) and found lots of interesting and useful things. Lots more than just manual focusing. It’s a keeper.

PoD was some stacked architecture from Glasgow.

Tomorrow we’re booked for coffee with Crawford & Nancy.

A good talking to – 28 November 2019

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A better day … eventually.

Woke under a cloud, not a literal cloud because the sky was clear, but a rather black cloud that followed me about all morning. Helped Scamp tidy up the back garden. Well, I carried some of the cuttings round to the council compost bin. Cut back the two buddleia bushes and Scamp did all the rest. She didn’t seem to mind that it was cold. She had a big jacket on and I hadn’t, but that wasn’t the point, she never seems to mind the cold, especially when she’s working in the garden. Me? I always feel the cold, except when I’m taking photos of course. It used to be when I was fishing in the winter I wouldn’t feel the cold until my fingers stopped working and I had to go through that pins and needles stage, getting the blood to flow again. I made the excuse that I was going to heat up the soup for lunch and went inside.

After lunch I got her to go through yesterday’s move with me and … damnation, I’d been doing it wrong all that time. I should have been spinning on the ball of my foot. Instead I was walking round. It had the same effect, but my walking method wasn’t right. Should have known that the teacher was right. Teachers are always right, aren’t they. Unless they’re also pupils, then the water get muddied. I think that started the puncturing of the black cloud, that and a good talking to by Scamp. I felt a bit better after that. She then encouraged me (read ‘told me’) to go our for a walk.

Drove to Cumbersheugh station, parked and went for a walk down by the Luggie Water. That’s where the longer and final ‘good talking to’ happened. The remains of my black cloud lifted and dissolved in the wintry sunshine. It’s also where I got today’s PoD which is a wee thistle/dandelion plant’s parachute seedbeds that may or may not manage to blow away and start a new plant where the wind takes them. Came home feeling much, much better.

On the way back, I drove past the school and my old department is now gone. Bulldozed, flattened ready to be crushed to make the hardcore for what will be the playing fields of the new school. I quite like the idea that it will stay there in the campus. Still fulfilling a purpose. Of the destroying tank, there was no sign.

Watched the Elton John documentary tonight and enjoyed every minute. Good to hear someone open up like that. Maybe it’s something we should all do if we can do it to someone we trust. There’s a moral there somewhere.

Tomorrow we have no plans, but it’s going to be cold tonight. Should have put the blanket on the rosemary bush. Probably being a taxi driver for Scamp tomorrow night.

Out before 11am – 27 November 2019

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Success!

It was a foggy morning, but by the time I was up and dressed, it was just misty. Scamp went out to go to the chemist and when she got back I took the initiative and went our for a walk to see the work being done on St Mo’s and also to get some photos, although the mist had gone by then. Work seems to be progressing quite well. The asphalt teams were still busy laying paths and probably one of them in particular was lying on the paths! (See Monday’s post if you don’t understand that last sentence.). I got a few shots and one or two were worth becoming PoD. But the time I was coming home, the sun was breaking through the clouds and spreading its light on the Campsie Fells. Best of all, I’d just got out before the 11am deadline. Feeling quite pleased with myself.

Drove to Glasgow and we thought we’d danced our new routine quite well. There were some mistakes, but not too many. Then Anne Marie wanted to go back reprise Over The Rainbow. Again, I made a couple of mistakes, but nothing too serious, I thought. AM then proceeded to make me repeat and repeat one of the moves until I said “Enough” and walked off. One way to make sure someone fails is to make them repeat and repeat a mistake they’ve made the first time. As a teacher you learn that three is the magic number. If a pupil repeats the same mistake three times, making them repeat it for another three is going to be counterproductive. Leave it. Move on. Come back to it later when, hopefully, the grey matter has managed to unfankle (brilliant word) itself. But she wouldn’t leave it, that’s why I said “Enough”. I felt bad afterwards because I know Scamp enjoys the Wednesday ballroom and jive class and my actions today denied her that enjoyment. I may go back next week, but right now I’m not so sure, and that makes me feel worse.

We walked back into town to get some Christmas prezzies for Scamp’s friends and while she was in the shop I managed to get the makings of today’s PoD. Like I’ve often said, taking the shot is done in a couple of seconds, the making of the photograph takes a lot longer. Workflow tonight was Lightroom to ON1 2019 to Lightroom, but I was happy with the result. The sky was taken from another photo, but was representative of what I saw in the finder. No, I didn’t use Luminar4 with its AI. I relied again on LOI. The finished thing got PoD.

“Tomorrow”, Scamp says “is another day.” Let’s hope it’s better than today’s disaster.

Up and out before 11am – 25 November 2019

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Well, that didn’t happen.

It was a great plan and would have worked too if it hadn’t been raining. To be honest, it had been raining all night and the morning was just the continuation of the deluge. Maybe I shouldn’t call it a deluge, it was mainly just rain in all its glorious variations, but whatever variation it was in, I wasn’t going out in it, at least not yet.

By lunchtime and with Gems looming, I decided I’d go “For the messages”. Scamp gave me a list. I put on my big Bergy jacket and drove off to get some food. Raided Tesco and got everything on the list and a few more things too, and still it rained. Came home, put away the messages, grabbed my camera and went for a walk in the rain.

They were actually laying tarmac on the paths round St Mo’s pond when I went over and I saw the strangest sight. My brother has a saying “The things you see when you haven’t got a gun.” The thing I saw today was a bloke in the full hi-vis rain suit lying stretched out on the freshly tarmacked path while the aforementioned rain fell continuously. I was just getting worried for his safety or mental state when he got up and stretched in a leisurely way. I imagine the warm tarmac was quite comfortable to lie on. I just hope there’s not a man shaped depression on the finished footpath. Maybe a ‘tarmac angel’. Of course I had a camera, but I’d only brought a short lens with me and wouldn’t have been able to get a good shot of it, but what a shot that would have been!

Found a few bits of wildlife around and about, mainly in and on the trees. Tiny wee snail about 4mm long, a fly that presumably had hatched in the relatively warm spell we’re having. Similarly a shield bug, bright green underneath and dull green and brown on top. Perfect camouflage when sitting on the bark of a tree. The fly won PoD.

After dinner we drove in to Glasgow to find that Shannon was taking the class. Big disappointment and big surprise to even the other young teachers. We vamoosed to the kitchen area and practised our jive, quickstep and waltz for a while. Scamp hadn’t been feeling too good today because she has waterworks problems and they were making theirselves felt towards the end of our enforced practise, so we left early after warning everyone coming in that Shannon was taking Jamie’s class. We’re guessing after some research by Scamp that he’d been caught out by a train blockage between Aberdeen and Edinburgh. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and let it be.

Scamp may be going to lunch with Mags tomorrow all being well and I might be having coffee with Val and Fred all being well. We’ll wait and see. It’s still raining!

Waking to reality – 20 November 2019

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Woke to temperatures at least 10º below what we’d been used to lately.

Thankfully the wind here was a lot calmer than in Fuerteventura, but the temperature was unbearably low. That didn’t stop Scamp encouraging us both to get up and go in to Glasgow to Jive, Quickstep and Waltz our blues away. Actually, I quite enjoyed it. The Jive was ok with another move added to our repertoire, The Arm Through. We’d actually done it as part of another set, but this time we were doing it properly. The first Quickstep we did was very smooth, I felt, but after that, every one was worse than the last. The Waltz went quite well, considering almost a fortnight without dancing ballroom.

Coffee and a discussion of our merits and demerits then home. I did get a couple of shots in Glasgow. My favourite was the stack of roundabout horses in George Square, but the most impressive was the one of the glass wall of 110 Queen Street. The horses won PoD.

Tomorrow we’re getting the messages for Friday’s dinner with Crawford and Nancy. A trip to Stirling or Falkirk.

The big city – 14 November 2019

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Travelling with the ordinary folk

This morning we got the bus to Puerto del Rosario. Paid the princely sum of €2.90 for both of us to travel to the big city. About a 20 minute journey, equivalent to a ‘fast’ bus to Glasgow, but at a fraction of the cost.

We didn’t have an agenda, although Scamp wanted to go to the beach which had looked interesting the last time we were on the island. We got off near the big shopping mall and Scamp immediately found a shoe shop. There she started a conversation with two Scottish women in the shop and discovered that they were from one of the cruise ships that was berthed in the harbour.

We found our way back to the “Church with the Bar”. The bar isn’t actually in the church, but it is in the church grounds. Can’t see that happening here! We got interviewed by two students who recognised us as tourists. I was shocked, I thought we fitted in perfectly with the locals! They were doing a survey for school and wanted to know if we’d been to Fuerteventura before, what we thought of it and why we came back. The boy especially spoke perfect English. I felt ashamed of my “Two beers and where’s the toilet” in Spanish.

Lunch was in the same café we went to last time we were there and after a bit of a panic, when I thought I was eating shellfish stuffed peppers, only to find it Hake, we had a great meal for a very, very reasonable price.

There were two Cruise ships in the port. One was the gigantic Aida Nova and the other was tiny by comparison, the Marella Explorer.
It was the Marella, the two ladies Scamp met were sailing on. We walked along the prom and were forced to listen to a street drummer playing to a seemingly endless set of midi files.

Lovely and warm in Puerto del Rosario, but cool when we got back to Caleta. It took us almost twice as long to get back. We must have boarded the island equivalent of the X3 by mistake.

Went to the Island when we got back and had a couple of Mojitos (one each!) sheltering from the wind.

PoD was one of a group of little shells. About 100 meters from the sea and not near any river. How they got there in the middle of what’s really a desert, I do not know.  Also saw a Spoonbill.  Never seen one before.  Such a strange looking bird which Scamp thinks looks like a pelican from the front.  Yes, it does, but from the side there is no likeness at all.  It was interesting, but  the little shell won PoD.

Danced to Tina at night. Even got a namecheck. “My two friends from Glasgow” she called us!

Tomorrow we’re hoping to walk into town to go to the market.