Category: Driving

Dancin’ again! – 21 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were going to a tea dance in Glenburn.

It was a lovely bright morning, but cold. Well, I felt it cold anyway. I should have gone for a walk, despite the temperature and shot some photos, but I didn’t, preferring to stay in the warm living room and complete Wordle and Spelling Bee. That meant I’d need to squeeze in a shooting session when we came back from Paisley. Never ideal, but I’ve only myself to blame.

I hadn’t realised just how windy it was until we were on the motorway heading west, and meeting that westerly wind head on. Despite the wind and the intermittent rain we made good time reaching Glenburn before the dance started … for once.

First dance, was a sequence to ‘warm us up’ apparently. I’d expected a waltz, but it was not to be. The waltz was next and I got lost again. Before we left the house I got Scamp to list all the figures we did and I wrote them all out in order. They went clean out of my head. I always think of a waltz as being a slow dance, and it is, but there are a lot of steps in the Waltz Nioli and that means your feet and brain need to be nimble and mine simply aren’t nimble enough. That compounded with a lot of folk on the floor made it difficult for learners like us … or me. We sat with a good crowd at our table and the banter was good. We attempted everything that was flung at us apart from a ballroom Tango and a Tango Serida. We struggled through a Cha-Cha and by the end of that particular one, almost remembered how to do it.

As usual we left early at 3pm to avoid the school rush and almost made it. As usual the Kingston Bridge was a congested car park, but we were on the M74/M73 route and avoided the stop – start – change lanes – change back of the M8. It takes a bit longer in miles on the M74, but at least you are moving at the legal limit most of the time.

Back home I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which is a Common Carding Bee on a Scabious flower. We couldn’t decide what to have for dinner and finally chose Fish Fingers, Egg and Fried Potato. Perfect for what was turning out to be a cold day.

Tomorrow we may go looking for a small heather plant to replace one that died during the drought in the early summer.

Testing, Testing – 19 September 2023

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Testing yesterday’s purchase and the other acquisition.

I drove over to Alex’s to borrow his K mount adapter so I could test the ‘new’ lens. New, is a bit of a misnomer as it’s at least second hand and maybe has passed through a great many more hands since it was really New. Last night I’d found a tiny bit of mould in one of the internal elements. Nothing that would have a detrimental effect on any of the shots I was hoping to take with this piece of ‘Old Glass’. I also found a few fine scratches on the rear element, but again, they wouldn’t make any difference to the photos. Sat and talked about family and stuff with Alex and Carol and I’m sure the two cats were listening too. Pretty wee things that reminded me of Tibby.

After an hour or so I drove home and took a detour in the direction of Lenzie to a wee draw in by the side of the road to get some test photos taken of a bit of farm land that looked like a promising photo opportunity. As it happened, the light wasn’t quite as good as I thought, but it did give me a chance to test out the Pentax 50mm f2 lens I’d splashed out some money on yesterday. I was surprised at the quality of what is really a kit lens, and not really all that well rated. Last night I was having ‘buyers remorse’, but today I was delighted. It’s circa 1995 vintage, so it’s manual focus, but I knew that and it’s also very compact, especially when it’s bolted onto the Sony A7. One of the Pentax’s shots became PoD. The storm clouds you can see from the PoD followed me home and didn’t drop any rain until I was safely in the house. Sitting in the living room I took a few shots of the raindrops on the leaves of Alec’s Red and they looked good too.

Scamp had roasted a chicken for dinner with roast potatoes and cabbage to go with it. It truly was the best chicken I’ve eaten for a long time. The pudding was rhubarb and apple crumble using our own rhubarb and apples. It too was delicious. Then it was time for the test. It was time to pack the dishwasher, slide in the washer tablet, choose the program and press the start button. Like new parents we watched the counter light up and listened to the water trickling into the reservoir, then it was off and running. We could leave it to do what it was bought for. An hour and a bit later it had washed all the dishes and they were drying. A sigh or relief all round!

We had a longer practise session than I’d intended tonight, but there were rough corners to rub off the new waltz and it’s dance night tomorrow, so Kirsty will be looking for mistakes, I’m sure. Finally I got a grip on things and worked out where I was and what came next. I think most of it was muscle memory, but internal clues helped too. Not least in the help category were Scamp’s whispered prompts. We might need a reminder tomorrow, but I think we’re good to go.

No plans for tomorrow. The weather fairies are warning of heavy rain and strong winds tonight and tomorrow morning.

Up Early – 18 September 2023

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The new dishwasher was being delivered today.

We got a message yesterday to confirm that the dishwasher would be delivered between 06:35 and 09:05 today. At 06:49 I got a phone call from the delivery guys to say that they’d be arriving in about 10 minutes. The removal of the old dishwasher and the connection of the new one took less than 15 minutes, and that included a short demo and a test of the water feed and the drainage. We were the first delivery for these guys and they’d another 27 to get through today, and today was fairly light day apparently.

With the new machine working we could settle down to breakfast. Then a quick wash of a few cups, plates and cutlery. The big bonus of this washer was the countdown timer. No more having to guess how long it had been on and how long we’d need to wait before the red light went out. The down side ( there’s always a down side, isn’t there) was that the baskets that hold the plates are quite flimsy. Swings and Roundabouts.

Fed, watered and with Wordle and Spelling Bee done, we were looking at a miserable day and no idea what we were going to fill it with. Scamp said we needed Messages and I suggested Stirling, rather than Tesco. That’s where we went.

The further north-east we went the better the weather looked. In fact the woman on the checkout in Waitrose was voicing lyrical about the sun shining and wished us a good day in the sun. We’d parked at Waitrose and walked in to Stirling town. Scamp was looking for a birthday present and I was just looking for lunch. She found what she was looking for and in the same shop I found an Aladdin’s Cave. Three big display shelves filled with old cameras, lenses and projectors, all for sale. Talk about “a wean in a sweetie shop!” I didn’t know where to look first. I did see one standout piece of old glass. It was a Pentax 50mm f2 K mount lens. I didn’t have a K mount adapter to allow it to fit on a Sony camera, but when I was crowing to Alex about this find, he casually mentioned that he had what I was looking for, so I’m hoping to drive over to Motherwell tomorrow to borrow it. It seems that the whole photographic collection belonged to one man. I don’t know what the back story is, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

We filled a trolley in Waitrose and packed all the bags into the boot of the wee Blue car, then drove back through the wild weather to Cumbersheugh. I hadn’t found a PoD today in Stirling, but I thought I’d manage to get some shots down by the Luggie Water and that’s where today’s PoD came from. It’s the old railway bridge over the Luggie. Still carrying the Glasgow bound railway.

Scamp picked the rest of the apples from the James Grieve tree and we now have a fair supply of them in the fridge and in a big stainless steel bowl. I’m not sure what her plans are for them, but I’m sure she will have something organised.

We had a quick dance practise tonight and managed to get through the entire waltz from Kirsty’s class. Hope it stays in my head until Wednesday.

Tomorrow I may drive over to see Alex, but it depends on the weather.

What a glorious day! – 17 September 2023

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Yes, that was meant to be sarcastic. The rain started this morning, an extension of yesterday’s deluge and forgot to stop, it seemed.

The furthest I went was a drive to the shops, not even a walk. There wouldn’t have been any joy in a walk and no point from a photographic point of view.

Toast and beans for lunch and dinner was an oven baked fish risotto, the drive to the shops was to get the fish. The good thing is that the oven does all the work, as I’ve said before.

We watched what turned out to be a quite exciting Singapore GP and that was NOT meant to be sarcastic. The race kept us in suspense right up to the end, a tension only released when George Russell crashed out on the last lap. Oh dear, what a shame (back to sarcasm!)

Jamie phoned just as the race finished and we talked about their holiday in Wales. Hope they have some decent weather for that.

I did manage to get a PoD. It was taken in the rain and is a Fuchsia, a purple and white one tucked away in a corner of the garden.

Hopefully our dishwasher will be delivered tomorrow. But the message from Currys is that it will be delivered and fitted between 6.35 and 9.05AM tomorrow. I can’t remember when we last had to be up at 6.35am. Probably the last time we went on a cruise, many months ago!

Other than overseeing the installation, we have no plans for tomorrow, although the weather looks better than today.

An hour on the moor – 14 September 2023

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Scamp was off to meet Mags today for lunch and I chose to go to Fannyside to check for swallows.

As I’m sure I’ve said before on the blog, it’s easy to tell when the first swallows arrive in my neck of the woods, but it’s far more difficult to remember when the last swallow left for warmer climes. Fannyside is a great place for birdwatching and I did see one swallow or maybe a swift, it was quite far away and travelling fast. Anyway it was one of those two, I’m sure. Just one swallow. It doesn’t make a summer.

The weather was not very summer like either. Strong west wind buffeting the clouds around and drawing the occasion rain shower from them too. I parked in my usual place and took a walk up to East Fannyside farm where today’s PoD came from. As usual, it’s a combination of two images. One for the sky and one for the landscape, merged in Photoshop. Not too difficult. Levels and toning done in Lightroom afterwards.

On that subject there is a new version of Photoshop just being advertised in the last few days with built in Generative Fill which is Adobe’s attempt at AI. It allows you not only to edit images, but to ‘paste in’ images from an Adobe database. You can even write a script explaining what you want to add and where. I can’t see me using this AI tool, but I’ve said that before about other innovations and had to eat my words later and adopt them. I’ll wait and see.

We did have a short practise tonight. Mainly the last section of the dance that we finished last night. The videos we took are a boon to working your way through the dance language and finding out what exactly is going on. Watching Kirsty’s demonstrations makes the dance look really strange, but once we partner up it all makes much more sense. It is such a pity that Kirsty doesn’t have a permanent dance partner like Stewart & Jane do.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps. I may practise some drawing.

Lucky 13th – 13 September 2023

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Not very lucky, though!

The Dishwasher Man arrived right on time and started by asking when we last cleaned the dishwasher. I told him we’d run the cleaner just the other day, but then he cut me off and showed us the muck that had gathered round the seals, especially at the bottom. This he said was the probable cause of our problem. And, give him his due, he got down to it with a scrubbing brush and a bucket of water and by the time he was finished the inside of the dishwasher was shining. He pressed the start button and after about five seconds the “Check Water” light came on. An hour and a half later he admitted defeat and told us the problem was most likely in the PCB at the head of the machine and that meant it was time to replace rather than repair. We paid him his call-out fee and I knew Scamp was aware of the path this conversation was taking and had been teaching for prices for a new dishwasher.

Also, while the work was going on, Hazel had phoned and was waiting for a call back to say we were free again. We spoke for a while and heard about the decision Neil and her had taken about the Deaconship. Probably now what either of them had wanted, but they were being realistic about the situation and giving up the plans for the deaconship was the sensible solution. We also talked about weddings and the need for a new dress and shoes. I say ‘We’, but I mean Scamp and Hazel, of course.

After we’d put the kitchen back together again, we drove over to Coatbridge to see what Currys had on offer. Not a lot was the answer. They had three slimline dishwashers that would fit into our tight little kitchen, with prices ranging from around £250 to over £500. We’d hoped for a better selection, so drove over to Bishopbriggs. After driving through the stupidest signage ever at roadworks we found that we had four choices with roughly the same price range. After a coffee and a bite to eat in Costa that served as lunch we came to the final decision that was a Hotpoint. Not the cheapest, but certainly not the dearest! Hopefully it will arrive some time on Monday. Until then it’s basins and soapy hands!

Tonight was the new dancing night and I was actually looking forward to it. The practise sessions at home over the last week had helped greatly. Before we got started a girl came over and said “It is you!” She had worked at the office in the school and for some reason, her name jumped into my head. We talked about folk we had known, some good ones, some not so good.
The dancing tonight was the final part of the four week set of Waltz Nioli and with at least one tricky bit, may need more ‘home schooling’ to get it polished up for next week.

I didn’t have very much chance to take photos today, so today’s offering of PoD was a sunflower growing in a pot in the back garden and living up to its name!

Tomorrow Scamp is meeting Mags for lunch and I’m hoping it stays dry enough for me to get some decent photos.

Mrs Robinson goes to a dance – 7 September 2023

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Today we were taking Isobel to a tea dance in deepest Paisley.

It was a muggy morning with heavy skies and no sign of the sun, but it did clear up in time for us to drive to the Village to pick up Isobel. We were the first folk to arrive in the hall at Glenburn and had the pick of the tables!

The room filled up quickly and we were joined by a couple who we meet on Saturday mornings. It was a waltz to start with and I made a fair hash of it, but at least we were on the floor. The usual order of two ballroom tracks followed by two sequence tracks continued up until tea time then we had time to sit and blether. I think my favourite dance today was the social foxtrot. It’s a nice easy tempo to dance to and nothing strenuous or difficult to remember and no need to work about getting in folk’s way, plenty of time to take avoiding action.

We left as usual just after 3pm to avoid the schools coming out and managed the transition from M77 to M74 with ease. A bit longer road than going over the Kingston Bridge, but so much more relaxing than having to crawl along behind the car in front always looking for a space to appear in the lane that’s travelling faster than yours. It gave Isobel a chance to look around at different scenery too. She even explained what the massively tall fence round just outside the city boundary was. I thought it was a council tip and the fence was to keep the seagulls away, or the poly bags in, but it was a golf practise range. I’ve been driving that road every Saturday for weeks and never realised that’s what it was. You live and learn.

Dropped Isobel off at her house and drove home via Tesco for fruit and to replenish Scamp’s Pimms cupboard, but by then the clouds were thickening and it looked like it had been raining in Cumbersheugh village. Back home the streets were dry, but maybe that was a precursor for what is forecast for next week.

On the way to Glenburn there were notifications of Ayr Air Show beginning tomorrow and lasting until Sunday. I thought we might go, but in the air show page on the net, it didn’t look all that enticing. I think we’ve seen most of the aircraft before. The only good thing about it is that it’s free, the down side is you are standing, possibly for an hour waiting for something that might be cancelled due to weather conditions. We might not bother.

I took out my ancient Tamron SP 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di for a walk in the park when we got back. It’s a Nikon fit, but it works on the Sony A7iii on a Viltrox adapter in manual mode. It has a load of faults, but still produces the occasional good image. Today was a good image day.
A shot of Field Thistles beginning to fill the air with their fluff balls became PoD.

Tomorrow, no plans. I think I might sit with my feet up. Walking around Glasgow all afternoon yesterday, dancing class at night and a tea dance today takes it out of my poor wee legs and feet!

Dunfermline – 5 September 2023

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After a short discussion we headed for Dunfermline for a day in the sun.

Scamp had a dentist’s appointment this morning, but only for a checkup.  I had an appointment with a dishwasher.

I thought while Scamp was out I could have one more try at clearing out whatever was clogging up the outlet from the sump of the dishwasher, because I was sure it must be the exit pipe, not the inlet.  But before that I thought I’d try the machine on a different program, a short wash.  Maybe something was clogged in pipework connected to the program we’d been using.  It worked! It went right through the wash and rinse cycle without any mishaps.  When Scamp returned, it was just finishing the program.  She suggested we do no more to it and go out for the day.  That’s when the short discussion took place in the kitchen with the carpet rolled up and tool all over the worktop.  We were going to Dunfermline.

Drove over the Kincardine Bridge to Dunfermline and parked in a space in the park.  A place I haven’t been in for years, but it was a legal parking place and there were spaces in it while the main parking area was full.  We walked down to the Peacock cafe in the park. This cafe sells the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted.  I once watched the woman making a latte and a flat white. Both had exactly the same amount of milk and coffee in them! Either they were both lattes or both flat whites, but neither of them was a coffee.  It must be a change of staff today because Scamp said her latte was quite strong. I opted for tea and it tasted like tea.  Yes, it must be new staff, things are looking up!  We both had a scone with butter and jam and that’s when things went a bit skewiff. The scones were suffering from soggy bottoms.  Maybe the woman who used to make the coffees was now doing the baking!

We left the cafe and went for a walk round the glasshouse which isn’t always open. The heat in the glasshouse was quite oppressive after a short time inside.  I got some photos of the flowers, using the same lens and camera as yesterday, but being more careful to check the photos. Next we walked round the formal garden which seemed to be mainly roses and Echinops which Scamp thought were just past their best. I knew she was desperate to deadhead the roses and any other plants that needed the chop, but she was a visitor today, not a gardener.

We left the garden and walked into town for lunch in Wetherspoons. Fish ‘n’ Chips for Scamp and American Burger for me. Both were small portions but the cost was small too, so no complaints there. A quick scout round what used to be a bustling shopping arcade, but which is now a collection of second hand tech shops and pound shops.  Much like most of Scotland’s retail areas these days.

Drove home and managed a seat in the garden for a while Scamp with a G&T and me with a Guinness.  I’ve happily switched my allegiance from Guinness to Brewdog stout, and after drinking that Guinness, I know why.  Try it Jamie, you might like it.

PoD turned out to be a mono conversion of a Hogweed seedhead in the park in Dunfermline.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Alex in Glasgow for a photo-walk and Scamp is off bargain hunting. Dance class at night in Cumbersheugh!

Last Dance Class – 2 September 2023

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… for two weeks!

Drove to Brookfield for the last dance class for two weeks, well, the last Ballroom Basics dance class because the teachers are off on holiday. However, Scamp has managed to inveigle us into another dance class in Cumbersheugh to make up our dancing time. It won’t be the same dances and Kirsty’s style will be slightly different, but the language will be the same and a change is as good as a rest. Best of all, it’s just up the road, literally. No miles and miles of roadworks to navigate through!

But today we did have to navigate the 50mph then the 40mph and back to the 50mph and then back to the 40mph before we were suddenly allowed to do a heady 70mph then 60 mph then back to 70mph again all on the same stretch of motorway. It’s confusing.

Dancing today began with Tina Tango danced to Shivers and then a never-ending extended version of Sweet Dreams (are made of this) by Eurythmics (10:23 mins), thankfully cut short by Stewart. After that we went straight into the new Cha-Cha with the Cross Basic which I think I have now conquered. I even managed to get the ‘drunken sailor’ right a few times! A couple of Blue Angel Rumbas finished off the first set.

Feeling quite pleased with myself I expected the next set would be Joy’s Waltz, which we had both practised and were happy with. But surprise, surprise, it wasn’t. It was the Quickstep which we hadn’t practised. However, after bit of one to one with Stewart, and encouragement from Scamp, it fell into place. Another section of this difficult dance done. Just to make sure we were all exhausted, we finished with one track of the Midnight Jive which is non-stop kicks, spins and cross steps.
It felt great to walk out into the sunshine after all those mind bending dances. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to practise them on Thursday at the tea dance.

Back home I re-read an email from Churchill insurance to make sure they really wanted THAT MUCH! for a year’s car insurance. No way was I paying that. That was before I logged in to Money Supermarket and found out that Churchill’s was actually a sort of middle ground insurance estimate. Scamp checked Saga and Esure just to be sure and they were coming up with close to the same numbers. Maybe Churchill aren’t so far away from the mark after all.

Scamp was desperate to get the grass cut, both front and back and I thought I might go out and take some photos later in the afternoon. So that’s what we did.The grass does look a lot better cut short and I did manage to get one photo I was pleased with, so we both achieved our stated goal. I phoned Scamp from St Mo’s to ask what she wanted for dinner. Fish ’n’ Chips from the chip shop in Condorrat was the answer. That suited me too, so I set off for that place. The phone call was also a test for the new connection. EE is now gone and has been replaced by Tesco Mobile. Double the data for less than I was paying for EE, plus the price is frozen for the 24 months of the contract. Best of all, the phone works better with the O2 masts that Tesco use than with EE’s. At least for now, anyway.

PoD was a male Common Darter dragonfly sitting on the boardwalk of St Mo’s. Lovely warm light from the late afternoon sun.

Tomorrow I think we’ll go out somewhere for a walk.

 

The first day of Autumn 2023 – 1 September 2023

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Not as nice a day as yesterday, but at least it was dry.

A lazy morning for me pottering about in the garden. I potted up yesterday’s mint, not basil as I wrote in the blog, well they’re both green! While I was out in the garden, Scamp was off jumping around with the rest of the FitSteps ladies.

Neither of us felt much like doing anything, but Scamp did drive us up to Tesco to get some messages. Later in the afternoon I walked over to St Mo’s and got a few photos of wildflowers and one of some purple Marsh Woundwort became PoD. After a week of cycling, hill walking and Kelpie, active photographing has to give way to a more relaxing (for ‘relaxing read ‘lazy’) time!

I did drop in at Tesco to say that my PAC code hadn’t come across with the goods and the person I spoke to said it might take another day. Came home and found that the EE sim of my two dual sims had died and I was a Tesco Mobile user.

I had to do a bit of maintenance on the dishwasher which is having a hard time flushing out the water from the sump. I think it might be needing a good clean out. So I took apart what I could and washed the mucky filter before I put everything back together again. We bought some dishwasher cleaner and de-gunker today which we will run through it in the next day or two.

No dance practise tonight, but it looks like we have a quorum for a class tomorrow, all being well. Other than that, no plans.