Category: Driving

Dancin’ again – 19 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

We were off to Brookfield again today for a dance class.

Unbelievably, less than a month after the months long roadworks on the M8, today they were back again. This time slightly further down the road. Can these numpties not get their ducks in a row and just do all the roadworks at the same time, instead of this Forth Bridge comparison (once it’s finished, start again). Harrumph!

The first of two tracks in the warm-up today was Shivers by Ed Sheeran, much to the delight of Scamp. Two tracks as normal, but the second one was immaterial, it was Ed Sheeran’s that counted. Then it was in to the main event of the day which was a Cha-Cha which started out as a fairly easy amalgamation of moves we already knew, but is gradually building and being refined by the teachers, but really just Jane I think, into a mammoth dancing extravaganza. Today’s addition was a Cross Basic. It was definitely cross (at least Scamp was) but it was never Basic. I think we might need some living room practise for this one.

Next up was Joy’s Waltz which is starting to gel in my head. It’s only taken since May, on and off, for it to stick, but I think I’m getting there at last. I only hope they keep it as it is and don’t go adding any more steps to a dance that is quite doable as it is.

Actually the drive home via the Clyde Tunnel was quite relaxing compared with the drive out, but the warning signs were out predicting another month’s driving misery.

After lunch we went for a walk down to the Broadwood Boardwalk and back via M&S for tonight’s dinner. The PoD came from the boardwalk and it’s Bittersweet Nightshade. Perhaps not as deadly as its better known relative, but I wasn’t risking it and neither were the birds, it seemed.

There had been some rain overnight and more is predicted for tomorrow, although the winds might have calmed down a bit. If we get a dry spell, we may get out for a walk.

Country Roads – 18 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out in the morning, going to the dentist to see if the new crown would pass muster with the dentist.

Thankfully it passed with flying colours and although it won’t be seen in her pearly shine because it’s a back tooth, it will make eating much more pleasurable, I’m sure. We had to wait a while for the anaesthetic to wear off before we made plans for the day.

It was quite windy and there was the threat of heavy rain overnight and Scamp was desperate to get the back garden grass cut. I was going shopping instead. Grass cutting doesn’t enthral me, but eating does and I was making dinner tonight. Another traybake, this time a Chicken, Red Onion and Tomato one. We needed a lot of stuff for it and as I wanted to visit the phone shop in the town centre Tesco, I thought I could combine both expeditions in the one place. The food shopping was not a problem, but the tiny wee booth they have for the phone shop was busy when I went, so I dumped the dinner ingredients in the car and went back where, thankfully it was quiet. Got myself a trial 30 days sim to test the ability of the Samsung to work with the O2 masts that Tesco runs on.

Instead of going straight home I drove up to Fannyside and found my usual space. Luckily I’d brought an old rainproof jacket with me because it was blowing a hoolie up there on the moor. The wind was from the east and there was nothing to stop in for miles. I took a couple of photos of buttercups blowing at the side of the single track road, but they didn’t appeal to me, besides, with the sun behind me I was casting a shadow over my subjects. I tried the other side and found that was where the bright yellow Hawkbit grew. A much more interesting shot and my shadow was slightly left of centre, so if I moved further left to wouldn’t be in the shot at all! Success!

Further on I took a few shots of the old ruined farm about half a mile away across the fields. It looked good with the lens at 35mm, but the dramatic sky above just looked ordinary. But if I set the lens to its ultra wide setting of 16mm the sky looked great, but the farm was a tiny wee dot in the distance. Then I decided to take two photos, one of the farm and one of the sky and blend them together on the computer.

That wind was really strengthening now and drawing all the heat out of the sun, so I turned around and headed for the car. Another car, a nice shiny one, was heading up the road towards me and I stepped to the side to let him pass, me being used to single track roads, but he wasn’t. He drove past me and on for a few metres and met a farmer coming the other way in what an old friend of mine in Australia called a ‘Ute’. A four wheel drive utility vehicle. Two won’t go into one on this road, so Mr Shiny Car had to reverse right back to where I was parked and the farmer passed glaring at both of us. Mr Shiny Car decided he’d had enough of Country Roads and did a 7 point turn and headed back the way he’d come. So did I.

Back home, I started the prep for the dinner. I think it was seven different spices, herbs and liquids went into a big resealable bag and then the chicken legs went in. The bag was sealed and it went into the fridge to marinade. I had a look at today’s photos and only rejected one out of the dozen or so I’d taken, and despite the time I took to get the clouds and the landscape just right, it was the five minute job on the Hawkbit ( a bit like a thin dandelion) that got PoD.

After the chicken had been soaking in it’s manky brown but interestingly smelling marinade for about an hour, everything went into baking tray and that slid into a pre-heated oven @ gas 6 for 15mins which seemed an awfully short time. As it happened, it was indeed far too short. In all, the roasting took just over half an hour, and it was fine. The chicken was fine, but the onions, oh the red onions!! They were the stars of the show. Deliciously crunchy and soaking up most of the flavour from the marinade. We’ll make it again, but give it twice the time the recipe says.

It appears that Storm Betty will be visiting us overnight. Heavy rain and high winds with the chance of thunder too. Oh what fun. I think we may be going to a dance class too.

Driving and Cooking – 17 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today we’d thought about travelling over to Edinburgh, but the clouds simply wouldn’t lift and the weather was going to be worse in the east.

Instead, we spent most of the morning deciding what we were going to have for dinner.  We were going through an old recipe book “Home by Seven Dinner by Eight” that we used to use all the time.  We found a few recipes that would work for today and finally settled on “Salmon, Asparagus, Pancetta, Tomatoes and Potatoes Traybake” as today’s dinner.  So we needed Salmon, Asparagus and Pancetta, the rest we had.  Off we went to get the fish at a new stall that had opened up recently in the grounds of the garden centre.  Two big slabs of salmon, some smoked haddock, some unsmoked haddock and an Arbroath Smokie.  A bit more expensive than Tesco, but the fish looked good.

On the way home we did drop in at Tesco for some odds and ends, but forgot to get the asparagus and the pancetta.  That didn’t matter, because I was intending going out again after lunch and I would get the remaining ingredients then.

Back home and after lunch and after I’d been to Tesco for the second time today, we settled in the garden. Me to take photos initally and Scamp to read. I got a PoD in the garden. It was one of Scamp’s plants grown from seeds we got down south in April.  It’s called Cerinthe and has blue/green leaves and purple flowers almost hidden from view by the leaves.  Almost hidden, but the bees find them no problem. A beer and a book afterwards to relax in a cloudy, but just warm enough temperature before dinner.

Because the dinner was a traybake, it was dead easy to make.  It only took about 20mins in the oven and it tasted as good as it looked in the book.

Despite the driving here and there, it was a fairly relaxing day. Tomorrow Scamp is hoping that her crown will be ready and that it will fit this time!

Happy Birthday Jamie – 16 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Hope you had a good day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MoT day and a dauner round Glasgow – 15 August 2023

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The big day was here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dancin’ – 10 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

We were off today to Glenburn to do some dancin’.

I’d been doing a bit of studying this morning. It was mainly centred on the latest iteration of Joy’s Waltz. We had a half hour or so of practise last night that went over the waltz and a bit of cha-cha. Today I knew that Scamp would want to put that practise to good use. Even after a bit of last minute revision, I wasn’t sure that practise would make perfect. Getting round the floor without doing too much damage and without crashing into anyone would be a win for me.

I don’t know what the Paisley council have been doing with their spending plans, but they must have found some extra money in a biscuit tin in a cupboard because that’s the only way they could manage finance the roadworks around Glenburn where we were going for dancing. I lost count of the number of diversion signs and roads being dug up as we drove out there. Worst of all, the road we usually drive home was closed off with a lorry and a few dozen traffic cones. How were we going to navigate round that? The only way I could think of was driving through Paisley itself and that’s a nightmare journey I didn’t want to make. The best thing to do was to put it behind us for now and enjoy the dancing.

The weather today was humid, very humid. I think we got up to 25ºc on the car thermometer and the temperature in the hall must have been similar. Again, we were lucky in whose table we sat at. Chatted away with David & Carol, John & Madge until we had enough folk to make the floor look busy. Waltz, of course, was first and for the first dance I was quite pleased that I managed to achieve my two goals. After that, it was two sequence dances followed with two ballroom or latin dances. We managed to navigate the sequence dances, but my skill level at ballroom and latin dances went gradually downhill. Even muscle memory wasn’t working towards the end. Plus, as Ella Fitzgerald sang, It was “Too Darn Hot!”

We drove away from Glenburn and decided to go back the way we always would and see what happened. Worst comes to the worst, we’d follow the diversion signs until we got lost and then rely on the sat nav. However as we were coming down the hill to the Hurlet roundabout where the road had been closed, it had magically been opened again and we simply drove home by our usual M77, M8, M74, M73 route.

Scamp decided that the sun was going to shine when we got back and took her folding chair out to soak up some of its rays. I took the A6500 out for a walk in St Mo’s and got a PoD of a lazy dragonfly sitting on the stones that provide grip on the boardwalk. Being cold blooded, I imagine they get a fair bit of heat from the stones which warm up in the sun. I extended my walk down to the shops and came home with some fruit and some flowers, because, well, it was Thursday. When I came back I joined Scamp in the garden with a can of Brewdog stout (Try it Jamie, it works) and a Pimms for Scamp.

Dinner tonight was sausage, egg, beans and chips which was a bit unusual, but worked quite well.

Tomorrow we’ve no real plans, but a change may be afoot. Heavy rain predicted to mark the end of the hot clammy weather.

Parking – 8 August 2023

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Parking was my problem today.

I’d intended to drive to the station, park there and get the train in to Glasgow to book my car in for service and MOT and then go and photograph the teams as they completed the time trial.

There was no room at all in the big carpark beside the station. Usually there are one or two places where you can find a space, but today it was wall to wall cars in the spaces, on the grass, in the flower beds even. There were two spaces with a SUV taking up more than its fair share of one space and that left none for anyone else. I gave up and tried the station itself, but that is always full, even on weekends when nobody is parking to travel to work. It was full, of course.

I decided I’d just have to drive in to Glasgow and park at the garage, book my slot and drive home. I got in an argument with a big black Mercedes taxi who wanted into my lane, and had to manoeuvre around him. Gave him a blast with the horn, but I don’t think he was all that bothered. I was getting hot and bothered. Finally got off the motorway, found the garage and parked. Big fancy reception are as they all are now. Booked a slot for next week and was back on the road again in ten minutes. I just drove home. At least one thing was done.

After tea and toast Scamp suggested the carpark might be less congested now and I might get a space, get the train in to Glasgow and still get to see the time trial. That sounded like a good idea, but my heart sank when I drove into the carpark. Still full. SUV still taking up two spaces. Gave up and drove on down to Auchinstarry when I got my first lucky break. Just as I was coming in to this carpark, someone else was leaving and I got her space!

I walked along the canal and got some photos including the photo of the old steel seat half way along the path to Twechar that became PoD. It was a beautiful afternoon and I managed one more shot of a Marmalade hoverfly on a knapweed flower.

Back at the car I drove down to Lidl in Kilsyth and got some messages and one of their low GI loaves. Then I drove home and sat in the garden with Scamp who had cut the grass while I was out. She with a sparkling water and lime juice and me with a bottle of Joke IPA. Listened to Winter’s Gifts by Ben Arronovitch and relaxed

Dinner was Egg and Lentil Curry which we sometimes change into Fish and Lentil, but today Scamp made it the traditional way with hard boiled eggs. Hard to believe we bought the cookbook from Woolworths so many years ago.

Tomorrow I’m meeting Alex in Glasgow for a walk and a blether.

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.

Driving and dancing – 5 August 2023

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That’s all we seemed to do today.

Drove to Brookfield in the morning. It was a small group of only four couples, quite normal on a day with a dance in the evening. The floor in the room is still not quite right after a kids party with a bouncy castle inside about a month ago. My guess is that the bouncy castle scraped the floor and someone decide that polish or oil would repair the damage. It really won’t be properly fixed until footfall wears that skin off. So we had a shortened room again and also a shortened class time because the bowling club who use the hall were having an afternoon and needed time to set up. So a small class, a shortened floor space and fifteen minutes less time to dance.

We started with a sequence dance then went into the class proper with the new unnamed cha-cha routine which Scamp suggests should be the “Slippy Cha-Cha”! She should suggest it to the teachers. That was ok, but not wonderful, but much better than my attempt at Joy’s Waltz. Given that we hadn’t practised it since May, that wasn’t really surprising, and also, Jane did her usual and added in an extra feature, a Curved Feather. Were do they get these names from? Although they are much better than Michael’s dancing by numbers. At least Curved Feather give you a clue what shape you’re (supposed to be) making on the floor. I could hardly remember the start steps of the original waltz and had to rely on Scamp’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the dances. Even she was struggling with this one for a while. One more track of sequence and we handed the floor over to the eagerly waiting bowlers. They were like a well drilled army. Pulling out the tables and assembling them under the eagle eye of Mrs Sergeant Major who was in charge of the operation. We left them to it.

I made a bad decision on the way home and tried the route through the Clyde Tunnel, only to find, as many others did that there was NO THROUGH ROAD. Barriers and diversions everywhere. I eventually gave up and took the easy way out by driving back west along the M8 then the M77, took the first exit and joined the M77 again heading east this time. After that I just followed the car in front over the Kingston Bridge and home.

A roll ’n’ corned beef and another roll ’n’ fresh made bramble jam was lunch for us with Scamp substituting tomato for corned beef. While Scamp read, I took the A6500 out for a walk in St Mo’s and got PoD on the way home. It was a bunch of wild geranium flowers against the sky that caught my eye and my ultra-wide lens. Once the image had been dunked in Lightroom it looked quite the part!

Dinner was Chicken Milanese, then we sat and read for a short while before we got ready and headed off to the dance. Weather was the usual Scottish. Bright sunshine then immediately after that, torrential rain that changed back to sunshine again then the cycle repeated. I think the blue car now knows the way to Brookfield itself. Twice in one day is maybe too much, but there were extenuating circumstances today as there is no class next week because the hall will be being used for a village fete. Maybe the feet treading on the slippy floor will wear off the shine!

Sitting with Peter and Gillian, Naimat and Audrey and another couple whose names evade me as ours probably did to them. Good banter with Peter and Naimat, while Audrey, Gillian and Scamp did their best to add some decorum to the evening.
We danced all but one of the sequence dances and as many as we could, of the ballroom and latin dances. We really need to do more practise. We didn’t need to practise the salsa dances, they just came from muscle memory. We even got praise from Jane afterwards!

We stayed to the end and did a bit of cleaning up round our table then say our goodnights and drove home straight down the M8 to the M80 this time. No getting tangled up in Cycling World Championships that cause the earlier debacle. Even got parked right outside the house! A very good night.

Tomorrow we might go visit the cycling in Glasgow, but we’re hoping to get the train there. No road blocks on the railway we hope!

Uncrowned – 4 August 2023

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No crown for Scamp today. The dentist said it wasn’t good enough for such a beautiful mouth.

Much to Scamp’s annoyance, the dentist did indeed say that the crown she had been waiting all these weeks for wasn’t fit for purpose. It wasn’t the correct size or shape and just wouldn’t fit into the available cavity. So it’s another two weeks wait until the crowning ceremony once the new one arrives. Not a happy bunny!

She was back home for a cup of (white) tea and out again to go to FitSteps class with a mouth just beginning to feel like her own again after the anaesthetic. When she returned we discussed our options for lunch and settled on Bombay Cottage in Hamilton. Lunch was Veg pakora for Scamp and Chicken pakora for me. In a break from tradition, I had Chicken Shimla while Scamp had her usual Vegetable Shimla Bhaji. I enjoyed the chicken shimla and would have it again, but it was a bit oily.

There’s not a lot to see in Hamilton now, so we drove home. I went out to get petrol after I’d dropped Scamp off and brought the car home intending to go for a walk in St Mo’s. I’d taken the receipt as usual and was glancing at it before I put it in the bin when I noticed that apparently I’d been charged £75 for 51.41 litres of DIESEL. Surely not! I was sure I’d lifted the green petrol gun. I went out and sniffed the filler and it was definitely petrol. Then while Scamp checked with her bank app and I checked the last four digits of the credit card on the receipt, we realised what had happened. The paper had become jammed in the machine and were dispensing the previous person’s receipt. Mine was for petrol and for almost half of the price of the diesel drivers fuel. Another panic over.

I did go for a walk in St Mo’s after that and I did get a PoD which is a Common Darter dragonfly resting on the warm boardwalk over at St Mo’s. A very patient dragonfly, or maybe just a very tired one.  Either way I liked the shot.  There is another shot that almost won the PoD it’s little dandelion parachutes looking like ballet dancers with their tutus!

It seems like the dance class is on tomorrow, so we’re intending to go to the class in the morning and then the dance in the evening. We might have time for a seat at home between the two.