Category: Driving

Shopping – 10 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today we went shopping in Stirling, just for a change.

Drove to Stirling and parked at Waitrose, then went for a walk through the town. Coffee and a wee bite to eat, plus we bought a couple of dresses for our friends’ one year old grandchild. After that we walked back to Waitrose and spent lots of money on some things we may never use, but a lot of the things we will definitely use and even more on things we’ll drink. I don’t need to go into details about what we bought, do we? If you really want to know, tough!

We drove home, and as the wee Blue car had been struggling in the heat of the sun, I turned the air-con into ‘Cool Mode’ and after a couple of misfires it kicked in and we weren’t melting in the sunshine anymore. So nice to have air-con when you really need it.

A cup of coffee and a piece ’n’ cheese and beetroot – possibly an acquired taste, but it works for me. Scamp had a piece ’n’ jam instead (and no beetroot!). Then the chairs came out and we sat and read for an hour in the front garden. I’m on page 58 in the book, Hazy. I can see what you meant when you said it was strange! The good weather isn’t meant to last past the weekend, unfortunately, but it we’ll make the best of it while it lasts.

I took myself off to St Mo’s later in the afternoon and walk round the back of St Mo’s School and on to the shops. We needed mushrooms for tonight’s dinner, which was Bacon & Borlotti Beans. It’s become a staple now, Jamie and Simonne! Scamp substituted Spinach for the recommended Kale, and it was fine.

Watched the semi-final of The Apprentice with its usual array of gormless would-be millionaires. It has become so formulaic now it’s lost a lot of its fun element. I’ll say it again “We may not watch it next year”, but we will, all things being equal.

PoD was a close-up of some Larch needles. The Larch being one of the few conifers that loses its needles in the winter.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps in the morning and I have some correspondence I may need to catch up with.

Rail cards and Butterflies – 9 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was trying unsuccessful to solve a rail card problem on a dull Wednesday morning. Dull? Is this the end of the good weather?

She had purchased mine, and thought she’d cleared the hurdles put in place by Railcard.co.uk, but they didn’t like the way she’d done it. Allegedly she could fix the problem at any rail station, but that would only get her a one year, paper card (is that an oxymoron?), not the two year one she’s always had. The person in the ticket office suggested she phone Customer Services. So not the easy fix she was promised. We drove over to Tesco and got bread and milk and some odds and ends.

Back home Scamp phoned Customer Services and had to answer all the questions she’d answered yesterday. Name, Date of Birth, Address, Size of big toe (LEFT FOOT). You know what it’s like, we’ve all been there. Then the person she was speaking to, possibly in a different country, had to go and check with “Her Team” (she didn’t say if they wore Green shirts or Blue ones). Five minutes later she returned to say she had to complete the questionnaire again to pass on to the “Team” and someone would contact her within the usual ‘Ten Working Days’. It was all a bit of a faff. Why is life never easy?

With all that done, it was lunch time and that meant half a Ginsters for me and a piece ’n’ egg for Scamp, and the sun had returned to a blue sky. Later Scamp decided the sun was warm enough in the corner of the garden to sit outside and read. I put on my boots and went over to St Mo’s looking for Flora, Fauna, Animal or Insect life. I found no fauna, a very few flowers, but there were animal tracks and there was a Peacock butterfly, sunning itself on a log. So that was one insect in the bag (digitally). I took that as a sign to head for home.

Quick and easy dinner was Giovanni Rana pasta with olive oil and grated Parmesan.

The following description is for my reference, but feel free to read it if you’re interested.

I needed to transfer some of my photo files from the iMac to hard disk (NTFS). My iMac won’t read or write NTFS drives now – don’t know why. The MBP can read and write to NTFS. Here’s how I managed to ‘easily’ copy the files from iMac to the NTFS drive.

  1. Power up the iMac the NTFS drive and the MBP
  2. Ensure that the MBP can ’see’ the iMac
  3. Connect the NTFS drive to the MBP.
  4. Search the iMac for the NTFS drive on the MBP.
  5. Drag the files that I’m looking for from the MBP to the NTFS drive

If all is well, the MBP becomes the conduit between the iMac and the NTFS drive. Today it worked perfectly. About 15GB of data copied in just over 9 minutes. Happy Bunny!

PoD was the Peacock butterfly.

Tomorrow, I’m informed that we may need some ‘Messages’!

 

 

Dancin’ – 5 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Dance class was in full swing this morning in Brookfield.

Lots of folk desperate to get their fix of dancing, all eager to learn, even including me. There would be no dance class for at least two weeks because the teachers were off on holiday ( or as they described it, “teaching on a cruise” ). So a holiday by another name.

A gentle intro to start with. A couple of easy sequence dances before we charged into today’s topic: Tango and all that it entailed. Bent knees, staccato movements, spin turns, half turns, reverse turns. My head was spinning and we were only halfway through the routine.

A break for a lecture then on again, this time the target was a quickstep nobody really remembered from before Covid. Isn’t it strange that so much is now described as pre-Covid and past-Covid, but nobody wants to discuss the years that were stolen by Covid itself. This dance, though was done during Covid and we were just learners then and hadn’t reached the heady heights of Quickstep. We learned a lot of it today. Even they mysterious ‘Fishtails’ that used to baffle me, but which are quite familiar territory now. Most of it I enjoyed.

We finished with another couple of sequence tracks before being sent on our way back home.

It was a beautiful day. At least, to look at, it was a beautiful day, but it was the cold wind that stole away the warmth of the sun. When we got home it was great to sit and soak up the heat coming through the windows, knowing it was really cold outside. The weather fairies say it’s going to get warmer during the coming week. I certainly hope so.

We decided to have dinner from the chip shop. Scamp settled for a Black Pudding Supper and I had the first Chicken Breast Supper I’ve had for years and years. Both were very filling but Scamp said her’s was a bit spicy.

We watched an old BBC programme about who wrote what songs back from the ‘70s until the present day or at least into the 2020s. It was a bit tedious after a while, but there was nothing else worth watching on a Saturday night. To be honest, there never is at the weekend.

PoD went to some flowering cherries or Gean as they are known in Scotland.

Tomorrow, hopefully we’ll go out for a run somewhere. Prezzies are needed for some folk.

 

Dentist and Wonky iPhones – 4 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out early to go to FitSteps and I was left to my own devices for an hour or so, but with a reminder to phone the dentist and the optician.

I tried to phone the dentist first, but could hardly hear the assistant in the surgery. Tried three times with no success. I phoned Hazy to check that it wasn’t a problem associated with Cumbersheugh, but the same thing happened. I was about to restart the phone when Hazy phoned back to check that everything was ok. I told her about the phone problem and she made a few suggestions and said she’d look into it. This time I did restart the phone and just as it restarted I thought the problem might be something to do with my headphones. Sure enough, the headphones were on and sitting on the table at the other end of the room. Once I switched them off, everything went back to normal. That’s when Hazy messaged me to tell me to restart the iPhone with instructions for doing it. I phoned her back feeling a bit sheepish and explained about the headphones. See Technology? See Me?!

Next I’d to phone the dentist and apologise for the three silent calls, but Amy was very good, didn’t shout at me and got me an appointment for a dislodged filling for just after midday!

The next thing on my list was the optician. Got an appointment for the end of the month, just when my annual checkup was due. After a disastrous start, everything was beginning to fit into place.

I’m sure a card and a parcel arrived today, but strangely they both disappeared when I turned my back on them! Must be something to do with the weather.

The tooth filling only took about 15 minutes and it seems to be more solid and less intrusive than the one that it was replacing.

After Scamp returned, I drove to the shops to get lunch and came home with nine wee cupcakes, thin and thick sliced chicken, chocolate mini eggs a loaf and a bake in the oven curry for dinner. That’s what happens when you send me for the messages. I usually forget something, but then buy more than we really need. Anyway we didn’t starve!!

In the afternoon, I waited in for a delivery of coffee. 1 kilo of Blow Your Socks Off beans(strong coffee), 2 x 250g Cat’s Pyjamas coffee beans and 1 x Bag of Drinking Chocolate. You see what I mean about buying too much? I’m surprised Scamp allows me to go out myself!

The coffee was delivered early so I went for a walk in St Mo’s. I took my Rab jacket which was sensible, but I forgot my woolly bunnet. Not so clever. It was a bright day, but with a cutting cold east wind that reduced the temperature to just above zero.

The curry was delicious if a bit creamy and with very little spicy heat. It was meant to be Butter Chicken, but could have used more spice. Other than that it was fine. Pudding was yesterday’s rhubarb and pear pie with ice cream. The rhubarb was almost all from our garden with a smidgen from some Waitrose rhubarb. It was very well received!

Tomorrow I believe we may be going to dance class. The last one for three weeks. Oh dear, what a shame!

Dancin’ – 3 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Or as my brother said “Enjoy the Jiggin’”

We drove over to Glenburn wondering if there would be big holdups on the way after a warning message on BBC about a car on fire on the M8 near Charing Cross. However we needn’t have worried because the traffic was fairly light all the way there.

The ballroom was quite quiet when we arrived, but then people started to arrive. Maybe it was our presence that gave them the courage to come. Along the lines of “Well, if they’re coming, we won’t be the worst dancers on the floor!”

We started with a waltz. Actually we started in the living room with a waltz before we set off. Just the basics of Kirsty’s waltz to make sure we knew all the moves and had most of them in the right places. The actual waltz went well and we managed a couple of tracks. Then it was the usual story of a Latin dance followed by a Sequence dance followed by another Ballroom dance. We danced a fair bit, but also spent a good bit of time just talking to folk we hadn’t met for more than a month.

We left, as usual, just after 3pm to avoid the school rush. It was the next part of the return journey where I made my mistake. I decided that as the last couple of times we’d chanced the Kingston Bridge and the traffic was light both times. It was worth another chance today. Not so. We were only just in the line when it was red tail lights everywhere and everyone ground to a halt with easily a mile and a half of stop-go traffic for the rest of the journey up over the bridge. I won’t make that mistake again … until the next time!

Went for a walk down to the shops to get fruit and nuts because we had no tangerines left in the fruit bowl. It was a cold wind that was blowing all the way to the shops. You forget how chilly it can be in April, especially with a wind blowing.

Scamp was making dinner tonight and it was a Spiced Coconut Chicken Traybake. Really quite spicy, but certainly worth another try, although it required a fair amount of preparation. The rhubarb tart and apple tart that followed it was a delight!!!

No plans for tomorrow but I’m hoping some coffee will be delivered.

Dancin’ and Flowers – 29 March 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today we drove over to Brookfield for the first dance class in ages.

The road was busier than normal but we made good time despite that drawback. Busy carpark at Brookfield too. Something to do with a committee meeting … on a Saturday morning? Have these people no other plans on a Saturday?

We started with a couple of sequence dances both Melody Foxtrots to ease us into the routine. I was quite pleased that I managed to tie my shoes, far less dance! Then it was in to the lesson proper with a new-to-us Cha-Cha. Most of it we’d seen before, but some of the steps were new, also the teachers were adding some very technical bits and pieces we definitely hadn’t seen before. I’ll admit it, I was lost for a while.
I don’t know who had been in the hall before us, but the floor was treacherous. Even the teachers were slipping and sliding at times. However, we survived it.

Next up was a Tango. Again, we knew some of it, but not all. Hopefully the short videos I’d taken will make things clearer, as will the short one-to-one lessons we both got from Jane.

We finished with a couple of Tina Tangos the first one being to Shivers by Ed Sheeran, of course.

We left the dance class and faced a gathering storm with driving rain that followed us all the way home. Again the roads were busy although most of the traffic seemed to he heading for Braehead.

A surprise parcel was waiting for us on the steps of the house. It was a bouquet of flowers from John & Marion. Then another parcel arrived about an hour later. A posy of flowers in a glass jar. That made PoD.

I walked down to the shops to get a take-away dinner. The rain had paused and it looked safe to go. Wrong again. When I came out of M&S the wind and rain had redoubled. A day of bad choices, all in

The rain and wind is still with us at almost 11pm. Hoping for a better day tomorrow. Hoping to meet Shona for coffee in the town centre.

 

Keeping Fit – 28 March 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out early this morning to go to her Friday morning FitSteps class. That left me with the opportunity to read a bit more of my book. I’d done my bit this morning by driving up to Tesco to ensure that that wee Blue car had enough fuel to take Scamp to her class.

As I said, I had done my bit by making sure the car had enough fuel to get Scamp to her class. The next thing I had to do was make a decent cup of coffee and find my place in my book. A quick review of the photos in Flickr and a solution to Wordle and I was done until Scamp returned.

I’d received a text from JL to say that my new bedside lamp had arrived in Glasgow and was ready to pick up. Once Scamp returned, we drove through heavy rain, then hail to get to Glasgow. Wild weather these last few days. Lots of thundery rain and high winds too, but we got to Glasgow without too much bother and collected the lamp and the bulb which was almost as expensive as the lamp at just over £7. Seven quid for a bulb? What is the world coming to?

We went for a coffee in JL where there seemed to be a lack of cups in the cafe and we were handed our coffees in paper cups. No reason given, so it’s probably something else to blame Mr Trump for. Well, we can’t blame Boris this time and Starmer hasn’t a clue what’s going on, so DT is the easy fall guy.

We took a walk down Buchanan Street and on to St Enoch’s Square where I found a view of the old subway office and the new magic greenhouse that is the new entrance and those two buildings made the subject of PoD, along with a guy looking serious as he avoided stepping on the lines as he walked past. You can’t be too careful these days.

Lunch with Scamp was in Paesano. It’s usually Alex and I who eat there every couple of weeks, but this time Scamp seemed happy to be my guest. The pizza place was very quiet, as was the town in general. That is, except for a bunch of wahoos who were toting banners and singing songs. No polis to be seen, so they weren’t Rangers or Celtic fans, just wahoos!

The lamp seems to work well, and I’m off to bed now to see how easy it is to work with its touch technology in the dark!

Tomorrow there may be a return to ballroom dancing. Oh dear!!

It rained today – 27 March 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Unfortunately it forgot to stop.

After yesterday’s sunshine, today was a bit of a let down. The farthest we got was Tesco for a shopping expedition. Not much fun to be had in Tesco.

Then it was back home for lunch. I did take the chance of getting some photos in the garden in the afternoon, between showers. My target was a Snake’s head Fritillary. One of many Scamp had planted last autumn and were beginning to flower now. The light was pretty low by the time I got a chance to beat the rain, but hopefully I’ll get another chance tomorrow, or at the weekend.

Not a lot more to say about a typical wet Scottish day.

Hoping for better weather tomorrow.

Dunfermline – 26 March 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We couldn’t decide where to go, but eventually settled on Dunfermline.

We usually go there by bus, but instead we drove there today. Weather was warm and dry and we got a free parking space which was a bonus.

We went to Nero for a coffee, tried unsuccessfully to find a pair of trousers to suit Scamp and likewise tried unsuccessfully to find a book I was looking for in Waterstones, then went for lunch (fish ’n’ chips for two) in Wetherspoons. One of the few Wetherspoons that doesn’t have a sticky carpet on the floor. Then we wandered through the town. It’s really very run down, but we were heading for the park and that’s the interesting part of the town.

I found a lot of exotic flowers to photograph in the heated glasshouse before we went for a walk around the well manicured gardens. Not a lot to see yet, but it is only the first month of spring. PoD was from the glasshouse and is what I think is a Canna paniculata. A flower that’s native to Costa Rica and Mexico.

From there we headed homeward, but stopped at Fairley Garden Centre in Cairneyhill and Scamp was off, wandering around the plants looking for something new to brighten the garden. She came out of there with a smile on her face, and three new plants.

That was about it for the day. Just a walk in the park and a spot of lunch. Hopefully we’ll get out again tomorrow, but the weather fairies disagree. Rain predicted.

The day after – 21 March 2025

Posted on by Zogman

A slow start for today.

I had a heavy cold in the morning and took my time about rising. It had been hanging on me for a while and mixing with others yesterday may have passed it on to some while I probably picked up a variation from others. Whatever, it was a long lie in for me.

After breakfast we all drove over to Cafe Bothy – real name Coffee Bothy, but we’ve always know it as Cafe Bothy, I probably picked up the ‘wrong name’ from Isobel, yes, let’s blame her. Anyway, we were handed a buzzer as usual these days and we wandered round the ‘shop’ amazed at the prices they charged. We didn’t have to wait too long to get a seat and put in our order:

Fish ’n’ Chips for Jackie
Mac ’n’ Cheese for Scamp
Sri Lankan Lamb Curry for me

Service was a bit slow, but the food was good and we weren’t in a hurry.

I had managed to get a photo of the Wallace Monument when we arrived and with a bit of adjustment, that became the PoD. Drove home through gradually increasing density of traffic, but we managed to keep the wheels moving.

Lots of reminiscing tonight, listening to old music tracks I’d found of Scamp’s family singing in Conisborough Road. Ancient technology recorded on a tape recorder I think and transferred through a selection of technology to a memory stick. I wonder where these tracks will finish up and what technology will play them.

Jackie is intending heading back to Skye tomorrow. It’s been great having her. I think the place will feel empty tomorrow.