Category: Driving

Today I went shopping – 22 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp wasn’t feeling very bright and cheery, so I offered to do the Monday shop.

She very kindly made a list of everything we needed and even recited the list in the places I’d find them in Tesco. That meant I didn’t have to wander all round the shop looking for butter when I was in the aisle for orange juice. I appreciated that Scamp.

That didn’t take too long because I was out early … well, earlyish! But there were very few folk browsing the shelves, so I was done and dusted in half an hour at the most. Not so lucky when I was looking for petrol for the wee blue car, because the pumps were either displaying the yellow NO PETROL signs or there was a long queue waiting for fuel. I decided I wasn’t that desperate, and drove home to have lunch.

After lunch, and assured that Scamp wasn’t feeling that bad, I was encouraged to go for a walk. I chose to go up to Fannyside Moor to see if there was anything interesting to snap. I almost bumped into a dragonfly, a black one – can’t remember its name and then watched a field of bullocks running about in one of the fields. Finally got the photo I wanted of a group of cows watching me and making sure I wasn’t doing anything that needed to be referred to the farmer. PoD captured.

Drove home, remembering that I didn’t need to hurry, because Kirsty had cancelled today’s dance class because she was too busy working in her house. Instead, I took my time back home and made Oozy Tuna and Apple Pasta Bake From the Mowgli book. It was a bit complicated, because it told me to par-cook the spaghetti then cut it up into bit sized pieces before completing the cooking for 15 minutes. It looked a bit strange and sweet, but other than that it was fine.

Scamp is intending to get a Covid test kit tomorrow, just to be sure, because she’s meeting two groups of friends in the next few days and then we have friends coming for lunch on Friday. She say’s she’s fine and she does sound a lot better tonight, but she’s just making sure …

Other than that, no plans for tomorrow.

Dancin’ – 20 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

A much smaller class than we are used to.

Only three couples plus one solo dancer without a partner. She danced with Stewart.

I was a bit apprehensive about today. I’d heard all sorts of warnings about half-hour waits and queues of traffic due to extensive roadwork on the M8. As usual they were magnified out of all proportion. Yes there were roadworks, but only for a few miles. Nothing we hadn’t seen before.
Yes, there were road restrictions, but nobody had to wait in a queue. Just the powers that be trying to terrify us.

As a result of the poor attendance, the lesson was reduced from 90 minutes to 60 minutes. The class started with Tina Tango to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shivers’. Then we went in to a quickstep, the Cameron Quickstep which we’d learned months, if not, years ago. With the help of Scamp and Muscle Memory, I managed to get round the hall fairly easily, if not elegantly. I do hope they repeat the lesson next week, because, with a bit more help from Scamp I’m sure I could master this one.

Stewart asked for suggestions of sequence dances that we’d like to go over in the second half hour. Queen of Hearts rumba was favourite for a reprise and after that the New Vogue Waltz finished of the main lessons. However, Stewart wanted to finish with House of Bamboo which I stumble through, but am beginning to remember bits of, just not in the correct order.

With that we were free to go. Again I expected more carnage on the drive home, but it was actually quite clear with everyone behaving themselves. I wish all the dance classes were as enjoyable as today’s.

Back home I should have been going out for a walk, but instead I got stuck in the puzzles again. They are quite addictive. Later in the afternoon I did manage a walk round St Mo’s and today’s PoD came from that walk. Just a bunch of Hawthorn berries hanging from a branch after a rain shower. I really must get out of the rut and walk further afield in these shortening days. Maybe tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was Fish & Chips x 2. Nice and easy and nobody needs to cook.

Tomorrow, maybe that walk.

Dancin’ – 18 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Out to Glenburn for a Tea Dance, the first in ages.

I struggled with the Sony A7c’s internal workings, attempting to make sense of the new system for allocating the twelve items I use most often. I finally got what I wanted and it does work quite logically so I’ll stick to it for a while until I’ve filled in all twelve boxes. That and the inevitable Wordle took up most of my morning. I think it took up almost all of Scamp’s time too. After a quick shower it was time to get ready for today’s dance, and I was looking forward to it for a change.

A fairly busy drive over to Glenburn and we were almost late comers. Thankfully there were a few stragglers arriving later than us, so we didn’t get a telling off or even worse Stewart’s well worn comment “You can’t just Waltz in here at any time, you know.” It really should have a “Boom Boom!” at the end.

The afternoon started with a waltz, as usual. Also, as usual, I made a bit of a mess of the first track. However, by the time we’d completed the second track, Waltz Nioli was again firmly in my repertoire. The next track was a Cha-Cha I think. It’s hard to keep a record of what we did in what order, but if it wasn’t the Cha-Cha, it was a Quickstep. All the right dances, but not necessarily in the correct order. Again, as usual, Stewart inserted a few sequence dances to encourage some folk on to the floor. We didn’t really need the encouragement, we were there to dance and would dance almost anything.

Tea time came quite quickly and Scamp was annoyed that the two other blokes at our table didn’t include me in their conversation. I wasn’t really bothered, they were just arseholes anyway. See, Hazy I can swear in the blog too!

The formula for the second half of the dance hasn’t changed in the past year or so, it’s always a very few Ballroom and Latin dances linked with a collection of Sequence dances. I used to call Sequence “Dancing for the Dead”, but now I realise the repetition in these dances actually keeps them fresh in your memory, especially the complicated sequences. It’s quite a clever way to memorise them.

I was keeping a watchful eye on the clock because we like to get away early most weeks, to avoid the school kids. We were a bit later today and the road was almost clear all the way to Cumbersheugh by the M8/M74/M73.

Back home I walked over to St Mo’s to try to get some low camera shots with the new toy, but the light was beginning to fade as the big black clouds rolled in. I did manage a few and the best of a bad lot was the low viewpoint shot of some fallen leaves on The Path. It’s always good for fallen leaves later in the autumn. It just filled a space today.

Dinner was a baked potato and prawns with Marie Rose Sauce (ie tomato ketchup mixed with mayonnaise).

For the first time in ages I thoroughly enjoyed the dancin’ today. We must do it again some time. Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps tomorrow and I’m sure I’ll find something to fill my time.

A Toy off the rack – 17 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It’s a long time since I had a toy of the rack. I think I deserved it!

We went out in the morning and drove up to meet Shona at her brother’s house, then we went to Costa in the town centre for coffee and a blether. It’s a while since I’d seen her, although Scamp meets up with her every couple of weeks at least, sometimes more than that. She was looking well and seemed calmer than she had been the last time I’d seen her.

I left her and Scamp talking and went for a walk through the town centre, at least, the Antonine centre which is the most ‘modern’ part of the town. It’s still a dump, but a dump with more shops than the entire Phase Four on the other side of the road. I had a quick browse of what’s selling in the town this weather. The answer was nothing much. Out of date iPhones, iPads and ancient video games. It really is a depressing mall, and cold too. No heating to speak of and with a cold breeze blowing into Costa every time one of the automatic doors opens, I can see why there isn’t a problem getting a seat. When the two ladies were finished their blether and their coffee, Shona went shopping while Scamp and I went home for lunch … and a heat.

Yesterday I had almost made my decision to buy a new camera, not brand new, I hasten to add. It’s a bit long in the tooth an ‘used’, but it looked as if it had hardly been used and has some interesting features that make it worth the money. I tried phoning WEX to book it, but the phone went to voicemail or more likely, they’d locked it in a cupboard to avoid having to answer it. So I drove in to Glasgow and parked at Cowcaddens carpark which had a notice at the entrance to say that the gates had been locked open until “… a new operator has been appointed” So, no need to pay today.

I walked up to WEX and after a cursory glance at the camera, paid my money and drove home again. Camera didn’t look as if it had been used and a quick check once I was sitting at the computer confirmed the shutter had only been actuated about 700 times. That’s nothing for a camera. Their usual operating range is just under one million actuations.

I didn’t get much time to play with the new toy, because Hazy phoned just after I got in for a wee chat. I managed to tell her what I’d done to the Gmail problem and that it seemed to be working fine again (touch wood). She told me about the new book she’d been reading and gave it a less than wonderful rating. I told her about mine, “Gunner” and I think mine was better than her’s, but not by much. While we were discussing things a parcel arrived for Scamp – from Hazy. It was a cleverly designed pair of spoons that look like they will be very helpful for Scamp’s problem. She has already discovered a solution to her problem of measuring out coffee with the new Red spoon. The Black spoon may need more work, but even that Red spoon is a boon in itself (no pun intended)

After we’d said “Cheerio” I went out into the garden and took some photos of the Rudbeckia flowers in the garden. One of them made PoD.

Tomorrow we may go dancing if the weather lets us. It’s getting a bit windy outside the windae just now (Pun intended!)

Now that’s a better day – 15 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Not brilliant, but with enough sunshine to make it worthwhile going out with a camera.

We were up and out fairly early today, early for us anyway. Scamp wanted a lift to Tesco and after dropping her off, I drove over to Condorrat to the dentist. Half an hour later I walked out of the surgery with my broken tooth fixed. It still doesn’t feel like my own tooth, but I’m getting used to it. Just as I got to the car, I got the message from Scamp to say she was waiting for me in the Tesco cafe. I found an empty ‘Drop Off’ slot, where we loaded the car and drove back home. An efficient way to get ‘The Messages’.

Later in the day, while Scamp was deadheading some of the flowers, I went for a walk in St Mo’s, a shorter version of my usual walk, mainly because we were expecting to go to Kirsty’s dance class, but as it turned out, the class had dwindled. One of the men had pulled a muscle in his back, one couple were on an extended weekend holiday and another part time teacher was sunning herself in foreign climes. We decided that only four of us didn’t really make a quorum, so Kirsty agreed to cancel tonight.

That gave me enough time to process the photos I’d taken in St Mo’s. Not a bad haul and the PoD went to a bunch of Antirrhinums poking their bright pink heads out of a break in a fence, like a trio of runaways. It made me smile and it’s now on Flickr.

We may go on a trip to Glasgow, tomorrow. Looking for the elusive trainers. Maybe a walk up to WEX to see what they have to offer too.

Shopping – 10 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Not Tesco shopping, but looking for books, trainers and prezzies!

We drove to The Fort in the outskirts of Glasgow. A vast array of shops selling almost everything imaginable, but mainly clothes, shoes and jewellery. I was looking for a specific book, ‘Wild Houses’, but didn’t end up buying it. I applied three rules I got from the English teacher I had at college more than forty years ago. She told us to:

  • Read the entire first page, because it provides the ‘Hook’ that keeps you wanting to read more. If the book fails that test, reject it.
  • If it passes the first test, select a page from around the middle of the book and read about half of that page. If you’re still interested, the book is worth buying.
  • If it fails the second test, don’t reject it out of hand. Take a note of the title and author and test it again in six months or so.

My book fell at the first fence. It just wasn’t for me.

Scamp and I were both looking for a comfortable pair of trainers. My old ones are worn right down and no longer waterproof. I tried in three different shops and didn’t find anything I was willing to pay good money for. Scamp had the same problem.

That meant Books and Trainers were a waste of time and money. Thankfully she did find the prezzies she was looking for, so we didn’t go home empty handed. When we arrived at The Fort around 11am, there were spaces on every row in the carpark. When we left, just after midday, there seemed to be none. People were prowling around actively searching for parking spaces. This was on a Wednesday, usually a quiet shopping day. I dread to think what it’s like on a Saturday afternoon!

We drove home and I admit I was being a grump. Maybe because I’d a near miss with a less than interesting book or a pair of too expensive trainers, or maybe it was just the mood I was in, but the drive home was in silence.

I went for a walk in the afternoon. I got halfway round one of my usual walks when the rain started. I didn’t mind, really. I had my Famous Blue Raincoat on and despite its tears and patches, it kept me dry. Dry enough to get a few shots of a little wee hoverfly that sat patiently for me. That became the PoD.

Dinner tonight was the best fish ’n’ chips I’ve had for ages. Scamp made it and it was way better than any food from a chip shop. Thanks, Scamp.

We’ve no plans yet for tomorrow, but it looks like it will be wet.

 

 

Out and about – 8 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

An early rise this morning to see Jamie and Simonne safely on their way back home.

It was a flying visit, but it was great to see them for a couple of days. Good to hear that the boys (and the girls) were all well and grown up now. I don’t think we would recognise them after all this time.

We wandered around the house feeling like lost threads. Scamp put the fold-down bed away and I put all the glasses away. Still there was a whole day ahead and no real plans for it. I suggested we go to the Kelpies and use them to recharge our energy. Scamp agreed. Also, we could take a look in at Klondyke Garden Centre when we were there anyway. That sealed it. We were going to Helix Park where the Kelpies live.

Drove over almost to Grangemouth and paid our £4.50 to park, then as we were walking on to the beasts themselves, I saw a new view of these mighty magical horses. Two heads were rising above a grassy bank that made the statues look even bigger than they usually do. I took a couple of shots anyway and we walked over to see the Kelpies.

The park was mobbed, quite the busiest we’ve seen it in years. We did the usual walk round and between these metal creatures. Unfortunately the wind was from the west today and the smell from the sewage works was almost overpowering. We didn’t tarry long and walked back to the wee restaurant for a cup of coffee and a chocolate biscuit each. We agreed there was just too big a crowd today and drove over to Klondyke to search out a bargain or two among the plants. Once Scamp had chosen her selection of bulbs from the vast selection, and I had picked up a fairly healthy looking Acer at a knock down price, they all went into the boot of the blue car and we went to search out some food.

I’m not usually impressed with garden centre food, but today’s Steak Burger was an eye opener. Best one I’ve had in ages. Scamp had a Mushroom Quiche and I had that brilliant burger.

We drove home and I planted the Acer while Scamp was going round dead-heading some of the fading flowers.

Kirsty’s class today was Cha-Cha. I wasn’t impressed. I used to say Cha-Cha was my most hated dance. I thought I was over it, but today, with the noise from the ghetto blaster and Kirsty shouting over the top of it, none of the instructions were going in to my head. She (Kirsty) wants to do another session next week. That gives me almost seven days to make up an excuse not to go.

When we got home there was a message from Jamie & Simonne to say they had arrived safely after a fairly easy drive. Glad they had an easy day for a change.

PoD went to the picture of the Kelpies looking over that grassy bank.

No plans for tomorrow … yet!

In all their finery – 6 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

The youngsters were up about 6am and busying themselves getting breakfast and choosing what to wear to the wedding.

We pretended we were still sleeping, but knew we were just kidding ourselves. We too got dressed and made sure they had had breakfast and had all the accoutrements you need for going to a wedding. Just to be sure, I went over the basics of the camera again and could see that she was confident with using it. It’s a fair step up from her old Nikon as I’m sure she realised.

Suddenly, the car was packed and they were dressed and ready for a final curtain call at the front door to show off their finery, then they were off to the wilds of North West Scotland where a church was waiting for them.

We didn’t go back to bed. Instead we had breakfast and sat and did what we usually to, ie Wordle, Spelling Bee and Strands … Then we made plans for the day. We’d intended going to Edinburgh, but somehow that got put on the back burner and the burner was turned off. We settled instead for a visit to Stirling. Both of us were still looking for a pair of trainers and possibly a new pair of trousers for me. I’ve been promising myself those trousers for months now, if not years. I didn’t get them, but I saw two pairs of trainers that would work for me and a couple of pairs of trousers that would do the job too. Scamp didn’t get anything either, but did express an interest in a dance skirt. We but all of the above into that same back burner and vowed to come back and look at them.

I did get a book I was interested in and got the bloke in Waterstones to tell me about another one that I’d forgotten the name of. I didn’t have the name, but I recognised the title from his desk display. Unfortunately it wasn’t in stock, but I’ll call back and order it soon. The name was Wild Houses by Colin Barrett.

Lunch was two toasties in Caffè Nero. Both the same, although one was supposed to be a Ham & Brie toast, but it was a Tuna Melt that arrived. Scamp’s order was a Tuna Melt. I suppose I could have had the Tuna Melt magically transformed into the H&B, but I was hungry and in this case the TM would do fine.

We did a bit of shopping in Waitrose to pay them for allowing us to park in their store for a couple of hours and then we drove home. I went for a walk and came back with a couple of decent photos. PoD turned out to be a Bird’s-foot Trefoil flower, viewed through a chain-link fence. I thought it made a neat frame for the wild flower!

Tomorrow we’re expecting the Photographer and her assistant to return from the North West before going out again with friends later. That’s the plan for now.

Just tidying up – 3 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Or at least, my version of tidying up, which just means doing it on the computer, not in real life.

After we’d worked out the twisted games of Wordle, Spelling Bee and all the other assorted puzzles we play in the morning, Scamp was off to meet the rest of the witches and I was going to Tesco to get the messages. I’d a little list already made up under Scamp’s careful instructions. It was one of those days that looked as if it was just about to rain, but never did. At least, it didn’t do it until later. I’d some computer stuff to get my head round first.

<Technospeak>
Last week I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best when I removed one of my the old iMacs from the safety of the Adobe corral. Adobe allows you to have three Macs open at the same time. However, you can only use two of those three at the same time. The other one can not use Adobe software until you choose to remove one of the other two first. Confused? Yes, so was I, but them’s the rules apparently. I wanted to check to see if it was the old computer I’d removed and it was. That meant that the new iMac and my MacBook were now able to work together. I’ve more or less stopped using the old iMac now. It is getting slower than frozen treacle and crashes if you look at it the wrong way.
</Technospeak>

By the time I’d struggled through all that, Scamp was back from her meeting with the witches and just as I was heading into the garden to take some photos, the rain started. I managed to get four shots before I gave up. Out of those four shots, I kept two. The PoD was a couple of white Cosmos flowers. Not great, but done and posted.

I made dinner tonight which was Cod & Prawns with Fennel & White Wine. It’s an old recipe we’ve used a fair amount, but not for a long time. It still works, though.

I got an email from one of the Flickr managers asking if I was going to run Inktober again this year. I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to do it this year. I’d too many thing to do this October, so had to bow out. I may participate for some of the time, but not for the whole month. Pity.

Tomorrow I’m intending to meet Alex. We may go for a walk around Paisley.

Looking for a bin – 1 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

A bread bin, for the kitchen. More difficult to find than you’d imagine!

We drove to Falkirk in the morning because there is a large retail park. We knew we’d be able to pick up a decent bread bin there. Or would we? The first stopping point was The Range. They didn’t have a great selection of bread bins, but they did have a load of ghosts and ghouls and that horrible candy floss looking hanging stuff that every shop seems to drag out when it’s getting near Halloween. Yes, loads of that, but only two or three bread bins.

We tried another retailer further in to the retail park. They had a few wonky looking bins that just didn’t look right. I think they had been dropped a few times before they were put on the shelf and £40 for a bread bin is a bit extortionate. So, reluctantly we drove home and on the way, dropped in to Home Bargains, but there were hardly any there too. Maybe folk just don’t want bread bins these days.

Back home, Scamp started measuring the actual space we had and realised that one of the smaller bins would suit us much better than the large, overpriced ones. Of course Amazon had loads, but sometimes it’s hard to imagine the actual size of things on the Amazon pages, but I can see us biting the bullet and getting a bread bin from Mr Bezos.

I’d intended to go out for a walk, but instead, I found myself sitting at the dining table with a dozen or so cables connecting the new iMac to the laptop and the two of them connected to an SSD and an external Hard Drive. Just to extract two month’s worth of photos from the SD cards on the cameras. Thankfully the experiment worked!

We drove up to The Link to go to Kirsty’s dance class, only to find that we hadn’t brought our dance shoe bag with us. So I drove back to the house while Scamp sent Kirsty a message to say that we WERE coming, but would be a bit late. Eventually we had about a 45 minute class that was very useful for getting the right steps at the right time!

Back home we watched what has become our trilogy on a Monday. Mastermind, Only Connect and University Challenge. We’re brainboxes, us!!!!

Pod was a view of The New Town Hall with some ominous clouds above it . I liked it, Scamp didn’t. You can’t please all of the people, all of the time!

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere that doesn’t have bread bins.