Category: Driving

An early shout – 20 January 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Out just after 9am (early for me!) to go see the bloodsuckers. Those darling ladies who take away some of my high quality blood for their own nefarious purposes. I think they use it to make black pudding!

After the blood letting, I was free to enjoy the rest of the day. It was a gloomy prospect. Poor light in an overcast sky and nothing to look forward to. Even lost my 36 day run on Wordle. First one I’d tried on the new phone. I hope that’s not an indication of what’s coming next.

After a reviving cup of coffee, Scamp set out her plans for the remainder of the day which involve driving to Falkirk to look for a bedside lamp, a coffee table, maybe a new fridge and just the chance of a new rug for the lighting room.

  • None of the many bedside lamps ticked her boxes.
  • Of coffee tables there were no signs.
  • Fridges were also thin on the ground. There were cheap ones and there were expensive ones, but virtually nothing in between.
  • We did find a rug which was almost the same size as our present one and we took a chance on it.

At least we did get the rug and then we went shopping in Morrisons for … well, shopping mainly; – also known as ‘Messages’. We were almost as unlucky there too. It being Monday, a lot of the shelves were empty. I’m beginning to wonder about Morrisons. Over Christmas they were in dire straits when they couldn’t produce the Christmas goodies folk had been saving up for. It wasn’t a good sign. No doubt we’ll hear about it sooner rather than later if the shops begin to close.

Drove home and I took a chance on being able to get some decent landscape shots. Luckily for me I did find a likely sky scape that reflected on the water of the pond at St Mo’s. I took that as a basis for a PoD.

Drove up to Kirsty’s new dance class. The class had started last week, but neither Scamp nor I was really ready for it, but today we were. The hall she had found was a decent size an brightly lit. Much, much better than the dingy pocket handkerchief we’d been working I for the past year. This was a whole new possibility. Tonight’s dance was the first two parts of a waltz routine and it worked well. We had a new couple just joined us last week too. I hope Kirsty’s enthusiasm starts to bring in more ballroom and latin dancers.

Tomorrow, I think we may be practising some food ideas for two friends on Wednesday, all being well.

Dance Class – 18 January 2025

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First one this year and first one for about a month too.

Drove to Brookfield to find that the room was almost full. Neither of us had seen such a busy dance class in a long time, if not ever!

Just as we were driving over to Brookfield, my phone buzzed. By the time I got there the message was long gone and anyway it was just a message to say that NHS Hairmyres Hospital had called and it wasn’t possible to reply to this message. What sort of way is that to run a railroad, or a hospital, for that matter. I phoned the hospital and spoke to a human who told the message was about an appointment I had. By the sound of her, I wasn’t the first to have one of these calls. In fact I’d had one last week and knew what was coming.

Back at dance class, we recognised a few faces from years ago, in for a refresher course. Stewart asked us how many of us could remember the October Waltz. Most of us couldn’t remember how to tie our shoe laces, far less how to dance! That didn’t sway Stewart and Jane and we were soon remembering ‘Back Cortés’ and ‘Spin Turns’. It also gave me a chance to do take some video footage on my new phone. The October Waltz took up most of our time and we may still be perfecting next October if we’re spared.

A wee bit of sequence dancing gave our knotted leg muscles a chance to recover after the waltz, and we were in to the Tango. A new version of the X-Line Tango that we started with a few years ago, but which has been altered an improved in the last year or so. Actually, it feels like a completely new dance now. With Scamp and Jane’s help I did put the steps in the correct place and my feet followed suit. In the end, the tango wasn’t as daunting as I’d feared.

A Midnight Jive or two brought proceedings to a suitable finale and we were still able to walk back to the car. One of the dancers had brought eggs, laid by a neighbour’s hens and was giving them away. Scamp collected half a dozen in a box filled with straw and they survived the journey home. I took a risk and went the Kingston Bridge way home, it being quicker, especially if you claim a space in the outside lane quickly enough. I did.

Back home despondency hung over me because of the complications of the iPhone 15 again. However, a severe talking to by Scamp and the promise of a Golden Bowl supper made me forget.

A walk over to Condorrat to collect the supper gave me my first serious shot with the phone of cars on the motorway. I was quite impressed. Not camera quality, but not bad. That was the PoD in the bag.

Remember the phone call that you cannot reply to? We got another one tonight when we were watching last year’s prom on iPlayer. The same message I got last week, so I knew what to expect. Automatic recorded voice which, thankfully wasn’t american, talked me through the procedure an I was booked in.

Scamp was enthralled by Barber’s Adagio and I was similarly fascinated by Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Absolutely fascinating. How can these folk remember all those piano pieces.

In a much better frame of mind tonight. I’m more settled with the phone and with the next appointment at the hospital. It looks like it’s going to be a busy week. Only one free day for a walk with Alex.

Hoping for a bit better day tomorrow, even just a bit of light, even if it’s raining will do.

Dull, Dull, Dull – 17 January 2025

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Where did those lovely blue skies go.

They were there yesterday, complete with Lenticular Clouds. Today it’s just heavy grey skies 🙁

Scamp was away early in the morning to go to FitSteps and I had the run of the house for a good couple of hours or more, because she was meeting Isobel for coffee after the class. I stayed at home and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

I read for a while, considered going out for a walk, but the dull grey sky didn’t do much to encourage me, so I stumbled through more tweaks to the amazingly complicated iPhone 15. Many moons ago when I got my first MacBook Pro, you could take it in to the Apple shop in Glasgow and they would talk you through alll the things you could do with it and answer your questions as you went. I think things have changed a lot since then, judging from my last foray into Apple Glasgow.

After Scamp returned, and we had lunch, I drove up to Kenilworth to speak to a doctor. It was a routine appointment to get myself a PSA test to make sure my ‘waterworks’ were behaving properly. Before Covid, I’d had six monthly checkups, but Covid changed so many things. I just thought I should be getting back into that routine again. The doc gave me a once over and declared that there were no major problems, but suggested I should cut down on my caffein intake which meant less tea and coffee. That would be a hardship for me, as you can imagine, but I’d been gradually reducing my coffee intake recently, so I guess it was no great surprise. Blood test is set for Monday, so coffee and tea might not be the only things I’ll be reducing.

As I was driving home I saw a break in the clouds appearing and thought I might catch a shot or five with my new camera, but as I got closer to home, I realised I couldn’t outrun that golden disk and it would have dipped below the horizon before I could get to a suitable vantage point. Instead, I drove home and picked up a tiny wee stick with two green leaves sprouting from it. It was a cutting of a Honeysuckle from the garden, but it didn’t seem to ‘take’ and eventually appeared to be dead. We were going to dump it in the compost bin when I noticed what looked like white rootlets at the base. Scamp re-potted it and sure enough, two little green leaves appeared. To give you a sense of scale, the leaf on the left is just a tiny bit less than 5mm long. The twig will eventually be cut back if the leaves continue to grow. PoD in the bag!

Scamp had Bubble ’n’ Squeak for dinner and I had Mince ’n’ Tatties. Delicious, because Scamp made them, not me!

Tomorrow I think we might be going to dance class. First time this year and first time in about a month!

Sunny and cold today – 15 January 2025

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A lazy morning for Scamp, and for me a successful hour or so of working out how to put my Gmail accounts into the iPhone. These may be famous last words, but I think I’m getting the hang of the iPhone at last. It’s far more complicated and security conscious than the old SE model I had a hundred years ago!

In the afternoon I took a break from technology and drove Scamp up to the fairly new Westway retail park, in what used to be Wardpark, for lunch with the Witches. A few shops, a Home Bargains, a Halfords and a B&Q. Fantastic.

I wasn’t invited nor did I want to be. Instead I drove up to Fannyside on a beautiful cold day with wall to wall blue sky. I only came, as I said, for a break from fighting with an iPhone that wanted my password every few seconds. I parked at a corner by the side of a field full of sheep (The Girls) and went for a walk, heading north-east for about a mile along the single track road and got a few photos, then retraced my steps, back to the car.

I had two cameras and three lenses with me, so I changed cameras and lenses and walked south-east for another three-quarters of a mile before heading back to the car again with very few shots in the bag. Then I noticed that a few of The Girls were wondering what was going on and coming over for a better look. That’s when I got the PoD. I could drive home quite happily now there was something decent in the bag.

Back home I was just making a cup of tea (herbal tea) when Scamp arrived home from lunch with tales of cakes and coffee bought for just a few quid. Who would have thought you’d get decent coffee and a cake at Home Bargains for less than a fiver?

Scamp made dinner tonight and it was Prawn & Pea Risotto. A lovely combination she makes so well. Washed down with a half a bottle of red. Well, it is ‘Hump’ day. Midweek!

Later we watched The Great Scottish Book Club. Always worth a watch, just to make sure you’re not missing anything worthwhile putting on your ‘watch list’.

Tomorrow the plan is to take the bus to Dunfermline over in Fife for a walk in the park and possibly some lunch.

Off to Hairmyres – 12 January 2025

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I’d an appointment with a consultant at Hairmyres hospital.

It was supposed to be at 3pm, but I got a phone call just after 9am to ask if I could come in a little earlier, like 11:15? I readily agreed because I was likely to get drops in my eyes as part of the test and they might blur my vision for an hour or more. Scamp had agreed to drive me home, but I knew she didn’t like driving at night. If I’d been called at 3pm, it was likely that it would be 5pm and dark by the time we were heading home. As it was, we were done and finished by about 12:30 and it was light outside.

I was taken quite quickly and went through the usual tests of scans of both eyes, vision tests with a fixed panel showing letters in decreasing sizes and my real ‘favourite’, the terrible machine with the constantly changing little white spots. The Visual Field Test. A terrifying machine that everyone except children, detest.

We had to wait through a televised football game while some old guy (older than me, that is!) droned on and on arguing with his wife, while we waited to go in to speak to the consultant.

Scamp reckons he wasn’t happy at having the Sunday morning shift, but I just thought he was always Mr Grumpy. He grunted his instructions and didn’t really want to speak to us, but did agree that my right eye was swollen before giving me two bottles one to be dripped twice a day into my eye and one to be dripped once a day. He told me he wanted to see me again after one or two weeks. That was the entire conversation, then we were ushered out and someone else took our place. I dripped both bottles when we got back to the car, just to make Mr Grumpy happy. Then Scamp drove us home with me doing navigator duty. It was good being driven for a change.

Back home and after lunch I went for a quick walk round St Mo’s and found a large plastic Santa sitting beside a waste bin. He made a good PoD.

Dinner was a pizza from M&S and it was so much better than the dodgy one we’d had during the week.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard that Simonne’s plane had been delayed going to Florida by two hours. I told him the story of my eye. I had already written to Hazy, telling her about it, so everyone now knew my tale of woe.

Finally managed to get some apps into the iPhone 15. It will be a long process, I think, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel now.

No plans for tomorrow … for now!

Decision made – 11 January 2025

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I’ve hummed and hawed for weeks now, but today I made my decision and, of course, immediately regretted it.

We drove to the station and just missed the Glasgow train. Worse still, the next one was cancelled, so we sat in the barely heated waiting room and did what it was intended for, we waited. I expected the train to be mobbed. Folk rammed into the vestibule and the remainder standing on each other’s toes along the carriage, but no. There were plenty seats, we had our pick of them. Scotland knows how to run a railroad!

Once we arrived in Glasgow we headed to the Apple shop in Buchanan Street, but not before I took one three photos of the crowds coming and going on that wide retail avenue, just to make sure the 365 didn’t die off completely. One of the three made PoD. In the shop I buttonholed the bloke I’d been talking to last week. I know he probably wouldn’t remember me, but just in case he was on commission, I gave him a description of the phone I wanted and paid for it there and then. An iPhone 15 with 256GB of space on it was mine. A blue one, but a very weak, watered down blue.

We went to Cafe Nero for coffee and a pastry each to celebrate and in the process, missed the next train home. Another half hour late, because the next one was cancelled too! It was so cold that I encouraged Scamp to walk along with me into Buchanan Galleries to at least be warm while we waited for the train. Queen Street station was freezing.

The train arrived, we jumped on and were swiftly taken to Croy. Then and drove home via M&S. Dinner tonight was the remainder of the soup from earlier in the week.

After dinner, I started into charging the new iPhone and that’s where things got a bit tricky. I managed to get the phone charged, and I even went as far as to get it looking like a phone, but the problems started when I tried to install the data from my android phone. The iPhone refused to see it and it wasn’t until later in the evening I discovered that it can only be done on a completely empty phone, in other words, I had to return the iPhone to Factory Settings, losing all the work I’d done. I decided to do the reset and leave it there until tomorrow, In fact I left the blog until tomorrow as you’ve probably realised by now.

Tomorrow is another day and we’re both off to Hairmyres to get my eye examined by a consultant. It seems there is a bit of swelling that needs looked at.

No iPhones will be fiddled with until we get back.

More frost and more ice. – 10 January 2025

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Out in the morning, then a lazy day.

I went out in the morning to book a face to face meeting with a doc at the health centre. It’s nothing serious, I’m just booking a PSA test. I had a biannual test in the years before Covid put an end to those things and I kept forgetting to get back in the loop. Alex nudged me about it yesterday, so now I have to see a doc next week to get my annual or biannual check-up authorised.

It was very sparkly and frosty when I was out and I was really glad to get back to the warmth of the house. We’d considered going out somewhere for lunch, but eventually talked ourselves out of it. Lunch was more of Scamp’s soup. It tasted better today. Better blended now the veg had softened and mixed together.

Inevitably my thoughts turned to what Hazy and I had been discussing yesterday, a new phone. I did have a look at an iPhone 16, but decided that ‘Apple Intelligence’ wasn’t for me. It all sounded a bit pie in the sky and none of the reviewers I read seemed to have a clear idea where the benefits were. There is advice that says “Never buy version 1 of anything. Wait until version 2 comes out. By then most of the bugs will be ironed out.” That Is how I think Apple Intelligence will pan out.

I did take a camera out for a walk today and took a few of my Dangerous Dan photos. It’s the dangerous practise of placing an expensive camera on the ice of a frozen pond, pressing the shutter button and quickly lifting said camera once the shutter goes click. So far I haven’t sunk any cameras, expensive or otherwise, but there’s still time! That didn’t get PoD. A swan looking as if it was skating across the frozen pond got that.

After I’d photographed the swan and the ice crystals on the pond I walked round the back of St Mo’s school and down to the shops. I was hoping to see some deer, but none were coming out to see me today. Got some veg in M&S to make a stir fry for dinner. It was pronounced good enough to eat by Scamp.

We watched a rather half hearted Grantchester episode and I came away not really knowing what had happened in it. Maybe just the manoeuvrings of the first episode of a new series, putting things in their place and maybe changing some things. Or else it might just have been a crap episode!

No plans for tomorrow. Dance teachers are back in the UK, I think, but not feeling well. There’s a lot of that about, I believe.

 

 

A day for a blether – 9 January 2025

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I drove in to Glasgow in the late morning to meet Alex. It looked cold, and it was with the temperature down below zero.

The first space I could get into was up on the seventh floor of the Buchanan Galleries, nosebleed zone. There was a lovely view across Glasgow, but blocked with heavy wire netting, just in case someone would attempt a swan dive into the concrete below. I took the lift down, not wanting to knacker my knees walking down twenty odd flights of stairs.

I found Alex with a nice new crewcut waiting for me in the bus station. We waked around the corner because he wanted to take some photos of the Pavilion Theatre with the low sunlight just glancing off it. I’d tried and failed to photograph this old building in the past, so instead I watched him try.

Next stop was Caffè Nero for our morning coffee which I admit we lingered over for a while, not wanting to face the cold breeze outside ad also discussing computers and monitors. Next stop was Guitar Guitar in Argyle Street, away at the far end of Argyle Street. There seemed to be two guitars on his list, but both were electric and although I did get a chance to test my G, F and C chords, it still felt clumsy and heavy. Do you know, I’ve just realised that was the first time I ever played (slight exaggeration “played” an electric guitar! I’ve had a few acoustic guitars, but never an electric. He settled for a Les Paul copy, although I’d have chosen the Sunburst, even if the balance felt all wrong.

We walked back along Argyle Street, because now it was almost lunch time and we were heading to Paesano for a pizza. Another opportunity for a blether and to stay in the warm. We both agreed they were both lovely pizzas.

Alex wanted to photograph the sparkly lights around the GOMA and I was in agreement. I got a couple of decent shots, of the buildings with the warm light from the setting sun providing the warm colour of the surrounding buildings.

Another coffee before we were done, then we went our separate ways, me to get a cabbage for Scamp to add to her Minestrone soup and Alex to get the bus home.

The soup was lovely, warming and filling with added pasta. I didn’t think I was hungry, but of course a plate of soup is difficult to refuse!

I spoke to Hazy afterward as promised and she gave me loads of information that, like Alex’s knowledge of monitors left me with more questions than answers, but it did point me in the right direction. I think I’ve made my mind up Hazy. iPhone 15 with 128GB. That may change tomorrow, but it’s where I am tonight.

We have no plans for tomorrow at present, but looks like another cold night. Only -3.3ºc just now.

 

Window Shopping – 8 January 2025

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We drove in to Glasgow on a cold, bright winter’s day.

We were going window shopping, both of us. Scamp was looking for a new fridge, big enough to hold all the foodstuffs we usually keep in our fridge, but not so big that she wouldn’t be able to reach the very top shelf. There were very few in John Lewis that fitted the bill, but we did find one or two.

The other thing she had her eye on was a new freezer. She didn’t think my idea of a wooden box in the garden would work, even if it is plenty cold enough for it to work. Freezers were a bit easier to find. We saw quite a lot of ‘under counter’ ones. This was the first serious look for one. We’ll probably try one of the larger Curry’s stores next week.

My search was for an iPhone. Maybe an iPhone 15 or maybe a 16. I want one that’s a fair bit smaller than my present Samsung which I feel is too clumsy. To be honest, I’ve never liked it since I got it. I tried a couple out in John Lewis and they did feel very neat and the screens were clear. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to speak to an expert (Hazy) tomorrow.

Then I walked down to the Apple shop and spoke to one of the assistants there about a new iMac. My eight year old iMac is definitely not working to its optimum. I got a few ideas from him, but I’m still not sure whether to get a complete replacement, basically the same as the one I have, but with seven or eight years of upgrades in it, plus more memory. My other option is to get a tiny wee box, a Mac Mini and a separate monitor. I’ve read a few reviews of the monitors online and none of them were very complimentary. Either way, it’s a lot of money to spend.

We had a scone and a cup of coffee for lunch in a seat that Scamp had carefully chosen to get a view from the Royal Concert Hall all the way up to the shambles they have made of Sauchiehall Street. It really is an eyesore. I managed to get a few shots from there of folk sitting having lunch on the steps of the concert hall. They must have been freezing.

We drove home and watched the final of this year’s Christmas University Challenge. The wrong team won. The other lot were better.

Hopefully meeting Alex tomorrow for a wander round Glasgow. That would make it my second in two days! Hope it’s not too cold!

A bit lighter – 7 January 2025

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We actually went out for lunch today.

Not far, just down to Calders in the village and it was stowed! Every table seemed to be full of ladies of a certain age, to quote Greg Wallace. I felt quite out of place until I spotted a lone man on the edge of the restaurant. I didn’t feel so bad then. After that, more men joined the ranks and I treated easier. Lunch was quite good, just a panini for me and a toastie for Scamp. I had been well warned not to order coffee or I’d get something like a babychino. I ordered tea.

Drove home via the much larger Tesco in what is laughingly called the Town Centre. Looking for porridge oats and found none of the type I wanted, but we did get lots of other things. Scamp wanted a bottle of Kraken rum and I was joking that she’d be too small to reach it, when a bloke came along and offered to help us. He was fairly tall, over six feet he said, but I thanked him and I managed to capture the bottle. Friendly guy. Must be a visitor to Cumbersheugh.

Drove home and as the light was really good, I walked over to St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which looks very similar to many of my St Mo’s photos. Very few birds on the ice today. St Mo’s pond has remained frozen for almost a week now and I think the waterfowl are fed up with it. It was fun for them to take turns doing slides as they came in to land, but the joke isn’t funny any more. I think they have now gone on strike and left the pond to find somewhere warmer to overwinter. But the blue skies and the sheets of ice do make good photos!

We’re finally working our way through the University Challenge Christmas quiz. We’ve not got to the final with the two successful sets of finalists fairly closely matched.

Alex sent me a link to a half hour film about <Don’t Look Hazy!> Culross. I didn’t like the style of the bloke who was presenting it, but the filming and the history stuff was interesting. We must go back there in the spring. Get a few shots from the top of the hill. Strangely, I’ve never climbed up the steep path between the houses.

Feeling lighter today. Much less worried about the iMac. I know it’s not quite right yet, but I’ve been given a way out.

We may go in to Glasgow tomorrow.