Category: Driving

Parking – 8 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

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

Posted on by Zogman

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

Posted on by Zogman

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

Posted on by Zogman

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.

The first day of the month – 1 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

This day is always busy.

However, I thought I’d be able to clear my feet today, because Scamp was going out to lunch with one of her friends … until the friend phoned to say that she’d been for a Chinese buffet a day or two ago and wasn’t feeling too well, so could she cancel. Bang goes the afternoon computer session clearing out the rubbish, putting stuff into the right folders and backing everything up. Instead we went shopping.

We drove to Waitrose and loaded a trolley with an amazing assortment of stuff, and not all of it was alcoholic either. Although I did see one man with a trolley full, and I do mean full on bottles of wine. That was going to be one interesting party!
It wasn’t a day for doing much else and as we really needed most of the stuff we bought, it wasn’t time, or money, wasted. We drove back under a leaden sky we thought we’d left behind at Cumbersheugh. I think it must have followed us to Stirling.

Back home Scamp started to defrost the freezer. It’s always a task we tend to avoid. It’s quite an old freezer now and difficult to get into the nooks and crannies that clog up with ice. I think we hit on what could be a possible solution today. Scamp filled up big stainless steel dishes with hot water, put them on a couple of shelves and with a basin and a towel to capture at least some of the water we closed the freezer door and let heat do its job. Of course there was still a bit of chipping away to do with an old screwdriver and a spatula, but it was easier this way, especially with both of us taking turns at the ice face.

<Technospeak>
Meanwhile I was doing the backups of July’s photos to external hard drive, then deleting all the rejected photos and finally moving the ‘keepers’ onto a new part of the SSD. It sounds complicated, only because it is, but it works for me and lets the iMac run a lot smoother for a while.
</Technospeak>

With that successfully completed I took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD of Yellow Toadflax (where do they get these names from?) in St Mo’s, then walked down to the shops to get mushrooms for tonight’s Mushroom Risotto. After working away at the risotto for about 45 mins, it was an unappetising grey lumpy thing that came out of the pot. But looks aren’t everything. I must say it did taste good. Maybe a bit dry, but creamy and buttery! Crunchie ice lolly for dessert.

We’re waiting to see what the weather is going to bring tomorrow before we make any rash decisions about were to go, or indeed, if we go anywhere.

Blackpool Tower Ballroom – 29 July 2023

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We drove to Hamilton. Went on a bus. We danced. We went for a walk. We came home. It rained.

That’s the synopsis, here’s the detail:

The alarm woke us at 6.45am. After a quick breakfast and a cup of tea we drove to Strathclyde Park in Hamilton and parked as we’d been told, on the park road near the Holiday Inn. The bus arrived and we were driven down to Blackpool, listening to music played from a phone into a microphone. I hadn’t realised this was the ‘system’ that was being used until we were coming back. We are in the 21st century, aren’t we? The bus was a bit cold, but after a while the sun warmed it up. We shouldn’t complain, it was a comfortable enough journey.

We were dropped off at the Tower Ballroom and were shown to our seats in the ballroom itself. Lots of small round tables with seating arranged to let everyone have a view of the ballroom floor. Our Afternoon Tea was served on them. Posh little finger sandwiches on the bottom layer, macarons and brownies on the middle layer and scones with pots of clotted cream and jam on the top, and of course, tea or coffee.

It must have been a magnificent building in its heyday. Now it’s a bit tired and in need of some TLC. The ballroom floor, however is lovely to dance on. No slippy patches and no uneven floorboards. You can feel the 12,000 square feet suspended floor move gently when there are a lot of dancers on it. It’s almost nine times the size of the ‘Strictly’ studio dance floor and is made from 30,602 separate blocks of mahogany, oak and walnut. We danced quite a few of the sequence dances and also attempted a waltz and a foxtrot, the latter being much more successful than the waltz. Practise is required for sure!
Great fun watching the two organists on the stage and seeing the big white Wurlitzer organ and its pianist rising and falling while being played.

After our almost four hours of dancing and eating, we changed shoes back to normal walking ones and went down to a windy beach for a wander. The tide was miles out, so no chance of a paddle today. We walked along the sand to the Central Pier and took a few photos, then walked back to have fish ’n’ chips at Harry Ramsden’s along with half the bus party!

Fed and watered Scamp suggested a walk along to the North Pier and we fought our way through the crowds to get there. Just like Glasgow on a Thursday night. Drunk youngsters everywhere. We were both sober, I was driving later. We walked along the pier then Scamp noticed that our bus was just stopping in front of the Tower Ballroom, so we headed back at a much less leisurely pace. We needn’t have worried, we had plenty of time to catch our breath before everyone was on board.

Stewart organised a singsong on the way home, still using his home made LoFi. Just as we were almost passing Larkhall he played Donald Where’s Yer Troosers! I was not amused and told them that I absolutely hated that song and always have.

It had been raining on and off all of the journey home although it had stayed dry for most of the day. By the time we got back to Hamilton the rain was lashing down. Drove home and we had a wee drink to celebrate the day. Would we do it again? Probably, but maybe not next year.

In a break from tradition, this is not the PoD. I just thought you’d like to see inside the Tower Ballroom.

Tomorrow we’ll have a rest day, hopefully.

 

 

A busy day – 27 July 2023

Posted on by Zogman

A day that started fairly slowly, then accelerated.

After Wordle and Spelling Bee and a cup of coffee in the morning, I finally posted some of my recent photos to Alex. I’d meant to send them on Monday, but didn’t have the time. Told him yesterday that I’d post them that night but left it too late, but today they flew into the ether in two batches. Found the box for the A6000 and checked that all (most) of the bits and pieces were there. Did some last minute shopping later in the morning. Stew in the Instant Pot was set to Low and allowed to cook in slow cooker mode. Scamp made the Coffee and Brandy Trifles and then it was lunch. After lunch Scamp made the starters Portobello Mushrooms with Parma Ham then started hoovering downstairs while I dusted shelves and window sills then carted all my accoutrements (rubbish) upstairs to where I hoped I’d be able to find them again when I needed them!

Simonne texted to say that she was finished a bit earlier than she’d expected and arrived in mid afternoon. That left lots of time for Scamp to interrogate here about what was happening down south and also to break the news that Crawford and Nancy would be joining us. That didn’t faze her at all, I never thought it would. We talked for quite a while before the other two arrived.

Lots more to catch up on with Crawford’s eye injury. Who knew a floater in your eye could tear away the retina or that it could be laser ‘stitched’ back in place! My part in the dinner was the stew that would have potatoes and cabbage as an accompaniment while Scamp had a lentil stew instead. Lots more stories to tell after dinner but Simonne had to leave to drive back to her hotel in Edinburgh for a couple of hours sleep before her early flight the next day. We said our goodbyes and she drove away with the agreement that she’d come and stay the next time business brought her up north.

Crawford and I had a whisky later because Nancy was driving today. They also left a bit earlier than usual because Nancy was driving down to Wales in the morning and Crawford was following later in the day.

The dishwasher did the heavy lifting later and the rest was left until morning.

PoD was one of Scamp’s alliums with the seed buds just opening.

Tomorrow, a more relaxing day would be good.

 

 

The Auld Guys – 25 July 2023

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Coffee, Sarcasm and Laughs. That’s what the Auld Guys are best at.

In the morning I drove Scamp up to the town centre to get her nails redone for Saturday. Back home I had time for a shower and browse through my photos on Flickr before Scamp returned with shiny pink nails and a smile on her face. These were non-sparkly nails this time Hazy.

Now I was driving over to Abronhill to pick up Val and we were meeting Fred for coffee in Costa. This was a Return of the Auld Guys. We’ve not met up for probably more than a year, and to be honest, probably not since Covid put an end to meetings entirely for two years! I think we all enjoyed the banter and the blether. Val’s in a wheel chair and I can see that he’s not happy about it, but at least he can get around with it, if slowly. The chair folds up quite neatly and fits in the back of the car quite comfortably. Fred was his usual charming self, and yes, that was sarcasm. After a couple of hours we were talked out and I drove Val back home where Jeanette was waiting for him.

I went home via Tesco where I’d been given a shopping list to bring back because Scamp was baking shortbread today. This was the first switching on of the new food processor. It was certainly efficient at mixing the butter flour and sugar and beating it into submission. With the shortbread in the oven, Scamp washed and dried the bowls of the machine and then demonstrated the fine slicing of a courgette. We didn’t really need sliced courgette today, but we’ve got in a little Tupperware box, just in case we find a use for it, yes, more sarcasm!

We were going to need some meat for Thursday, so we drove over to Muirhead to stock up on more meat and fish than we really needed, but the meat, especially in that shop is so enticing, I always buy too much. Drove there on the motorway and came back the scenic route, on the wee narrow country roads that Scamp hates but the views of the Campsies took her mind off that.

Back home again, I took the A6500 out for a walk in St Mo’s and found a strange wee yellow insect. It turned out to be the nymph of a Bronze Sheildbug. I’d never seen one before, but Google Images found it right away and confirmed its existence.

Yesterday I’d quite fancied the Mushroom and Bacon Carbonara at The Bothy and today, for dinner, I made my take on what I thought it would look like.

That was about it for a fairly well filled day. The shortbread, by the way, was probably the lighted Scamp has made in a long time.

I’m probably meeting Alex for coffee and serious camera talk and Scamp is booked for coffee with one of her ex-workmates.

 

Lunch at the Bothy – 24 July 2023

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After Wordle and Spelling Bee were done, the day was our own.

But first, even before Wordle, there was a big cardboard box to open, and inside as … another big cardboard box. Inside that was the usual amount of bumf you get when you buy something fairly expensive. “READ ME FIRST” was on the first page, so that was put to the side to read later. Next the inevitable expanded polystyrene to unpack and crumble into the carpet, then more bumf to read at a later date and finally the food processor was revealed in all its shiny plastic glory. Oh yes, and we got a recipe book, not an app to download and install on our phone, but an honest to goodness recipe book and a hard back one to boot! We might read that later, mainly because it didn’t scream at us “READ ME FIRST”!

While Scamp went into the kitchen to wash all the bowls and the lethal looking cutters and slicers, I read through some of the paperwork and some of the recipes. It’s amazing the variety of breads, cakes and soups you can make in one of these clever devices. I may even attempt some of them sometime.

Satisfied that all the washable bits had been washed and dried and after reading the recipe book and completing Wordle and Spelling Bee, Scamp suggested we go out to lunch as we’d planned at The Bothy just outside Stirling. As usual these days we were handed a buzzer and told to browse round the shop. Not long afterwards our buzzer buzzed. I did quite fancy the Mushroom and Bacon Carbonara on the ‘specials’ board, but inevitably I ordered the Sri Lankan Lamb Curry and Scamp had Mac ’n’ Cheese as I suspected. Two coffees to wash it down and two ginormous Cream Donuts to take home in a box.

Scamp was looking for another rose, but not for us this time and she wanted a pot to replant “Harley” the Harlequin Berberis we thought we’d lost in the June heatwave. It’s not quite recovered its variegation yet, but maybe once it’s repotted it will regain its colour. We drove round the outskirts of Stirling to Dobbies, but they had none of the rose variety she was looking for. We did get a heather plant to replace one that had died in June, a pop-up bin for the garden and a packet of basil seeds for me to plant.

I thought there was just a chance that we’d find the rose in Calders in Cumbersheugh, so we went there on our way home. Scamp knows one of the gardeners and she asked him if he had any and thankfully he had. A bit of local knowledge goes a long way, and it’s a true saying “It’s now what you know, but who you know. A quick visit to Tesco on the way home and we were done, or nearly.

I hadn’t a photo of the day so far, so back home I got my boots out and took the A6500 out with the big clumsy 105mm macro lens and in about an hour I took 130 photos. Most were rubbish, but I did capture a male Common Darter dragonfly. I’ve been keeping a careful eye on the battery performance of the new camera and it’s actually almost within the parameters that are advertised for it, so not such a big problem as I initially thought.

That was a good day. Weather wasn’t all that good, but it stayed dry all day. Scamp’s off to get her nails done again. I’m hoping to do an Auld Guys coffee morning tomorrow with Val and Fred.

Shifting Sheep – 23 July 2023

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Well, not exactly shifting sheep, but they played their part later in the day.

After a fair bit of soul searching I eventually decided to take the new camera out to take photos. Not to do some testing this time, just go out somewhere and take photos. Fannyside was my destination. It’s quiet, has the potential for wonderful landscapes and I can walk and talk to myself without bothering anyone.  It did very well, even if it wasn’t a test!

Scamp was making a cherry pie today with the remainder of the cherries we’d been eating for past few days. Yesterday she removed the stones and today she was going to make the pie. The only thing in the recipe she didn’t have was cherry jam and as I would be passing Tesco on my way to Fannyside, I volunteered to buy a jar. Who knew there were so many flavours of jam but, it appeared, only one kind of cherry jam. With the purchase in the boot of the car, I set off to Fannyside.

It was a lovely bright breezy Fannyside today. Lots of blue sky and fluffy clouds. I walked up the road almost to the farm and got a collection of photos. Some with the ultra-wide angle lens, some with the standard lens and a few with the telephoto. Of the three, the ultra-wide is the best one and it has the widest range. I’ve hardly used the telephoto zoom and when I have, I’ve been disappointed with the results. Not so today. A panorama made with the tele was far and away the best shot, but it felt a bit empty.

Back home Scamp had made the short crust pastry for the pie, but was wondering how long her old Magimix food processor would last. The lid has been cracked for a while, and every time she clips it on to the body of the machine, that crack get bigger. She had started looking for replacement lids, then began thinking about maybe replacing it entirely. We searched the internet to get an idea of the variety of food processors available these days. We reckon the old one must be around 30 years old, and things have changed. I eventually convinced her to go to JL to see and touch the machines. That’s quite an important thing to us ‘oldies’. We like to actually see what we’re buying. Ok, sometime we look in a shop, see what the thing looks like then end up buying it off Amazon because it’s cheaper there. John Lewis had a fair amount of food processors on display and among them was one Scamp had her eye on. It wasn’t the one she’d initially set out to get, but it ticked all her boxes and was a fair bit smaller than the one we had. Having carried it up the two flights of stairs to the car, I can verify that it’s a heavy piece of kit too!

Back home she ignored it because the pie needed to go in to the oven. While she was engaged in this task, I processed today’s photos, all 92 of them! The landscape panorama was a potential PoD, but it looked so bare. I’d taken some photos of the wild looking sheep in a different field at Fannyside and back home I pasted the sheep into the panorama and that breathed a bit of life into what was an otherwise dull landscape! PoD sorted.

Dinner was Salmon with broccoli and potatoes, followed by that lovely cherry pie. Half of it was consumed tonight and that leaves another half for tomorrow.

Spoke to Jamie tonight and heard about his part in a marathon race. His leg was a five mile run while others were running a variety of distances. I liked the idea of a marathon relay!

Tomorrow we may go for a drive somewhere nice for lunch.