Category: Driving

Sun Catchers – 15 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I think it was the angle I used that made it look like the wild geranium flowers were all pointed at the same spot.

We drove out to Larky today because Scamp needed to have a checkup at the optician. It also gave me the opportunity to get a new pair of glasses to replace the one’s that had disappeared when we came back from Skye. Different glasses from the last ones, just for fun. And because I was replacing a pair I’d lost recently, I got the new ones for half price.

Once all of that was organised and Scamp was having her eyes checked I drove up through Larky and found a petrol station that I’d forgotten was there. Put some fuel into the tank before the beepy noise told me I was running low. I drove further up the road and remembered that there was a Lidl at the top of the hill and Lidl sell a lovely, cheap bottle of gin. Two birds, one stone!

As I was driving out of Lidl with my bottle, I got a message from Scamp to tell me she was sorted and ready to be driven to Brookside cafe and garden centre. It’s an old fashioned cafe that’s been there for years, but one that sells Rolls ’n’ Flat Sausage and also Rolls ’n’ Scrambled Eggs with cups of real coffee. None of your fancy ground beans, but real coffee, out of a jar I think. While we were there Scamp found a perfect present for one of her friends, so we bought it on the spot and then drove home before she could find anything else to purchase.

Back home I changed into Shorts and Tee Shirt and while Scamp sunbathed with lots of sun cream in the garden, I walked over to St Mo’s to get some photos. There wasn’t much to shoot today. The swans were hiding in the bushes from the sun and there was only one dragonfly in the whole of the pond that I could see. The PoD I chose was a bunch of wild geraniums, they looked like scanners pointed in the sky searching for signs of rain that didn’t come.

Annette came for dinner. I was chef for the day and Scamp had chosen Fish Risotto. Easy to make and the oven does most of the work. Good conversation with a good friend.

Later in the evening, Scamp found the ‘lost’ glasses. Oh well, another pair of driving glasses won’t go amiss!

Hoping to dine with Shona tomorrow.

Off to feed the Vampires – 14 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I decided I’d better go and feed the vampires before they came for me.

It was almost a full house in the health centre this morning and I thought I’d be waiting for ages to get my bloods taken, but then remembered they are a multi-functional health centre now catering for all sorts of injuries and problems. Mine was fairly simple and took almost no time at all. Back home the weather was beginning to improve from the dull heavy clouds we get used to in Scotland. There was still a cool east wind blowing until the sun made an appearance.

Scamp and I drove to Tesco and filled a trolley full with essentials for a weekly shop. Nothing new, just the basics with little to add. By the time we got back home the sun was shining fully and the whole place felt warm again. Just a comfortable warmth.

The breakdown cover on the blue car was about to run out, so I spent an hour or so in the afternoon working out who was the best choice for the cheapest price. It’s always a conundrum finding who you can trust for the least amount. At the last gasp, I finally settled on the one I had last year for a decent price. Now I just hope I never have to use it. Isn’t it strange that we pay good money for something you hope you will never use? That’s what keeps us going I suppose.

Dinner tonight was home made Paella. As usual I made far too much, but Scamp suggested we freeze, or at least chill the remainder to use, perhaps tomorrow.

We watched University Challenge in the evening. It’s usually an autumn program, but this year all three, University Challenge, Mastermind and Only Connect have started already. I think it makes the year appear to shrink. They are the only game shows we watch.

Today’s PoD turned out to be a photo of a Blue Eryngium from the garden. It’s quite a startling flower. I took it with a lens that I don’t use very often. It gets terrible reviews, but does produce some great images. Best of all, it’s cheap … if you can find a good one! I did and I’m sticking to it. See if you can spot the spider!

Tomorrow we’re hoping to drive to Larky for Scamp to get her eyes checked. The last time the went the optician thought her eye pressure was a bit high. Hope it’s settled now.

Annette is intending to come over tomorrow for dinner. It will give Scamp someone other than me to talk to. I’m hoping to go out for a walk with the camera and leave the ladies to their chat.

Out looking for plants – 13 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp had a few spaces in her front garden that ‘really’ needed some colour to brighten the day, so we headed off to Klondyke to see what they had to sell us.

It was a lovely day. In the morning the sun was having a late lie in, but by the time we were on the road, it had dragged itself out of bed and started to shine. Klondyke was busy. Lots of plants, but we had to be careful as a lot of the offerings were a bit long in the tooth and we wanted flowers with a fairly long life ahead of them. We did find some. Most with unpronounceable names. Some even sticking to their latin names, probably to make them sound more glamorous.

We settled on

A Berberis bush
A Monardo (don’t know what that is)
A Cosmos Plant
6 Antirrhinums (Map-Maps was what my mum called them)
A Doormat (not me!)
A Bag of Perlite.
A Bag of seed potatoes to grow for Christmas (all being well)

We bundled all of that into the wee blue car and then went back into Klondyke for a coffee and a scone. Then we headed back home, where we unloaded all the above into the back garden. Then, for the rest of the day, Scamp was silent. Just too busy planting all the new plants, apart from the seed potatoes.

I took a camera out for a walk in St Mo’s later in the afternoon when the light was better, and got today’s PoD which is a bunch of Wild Geraniums. I really like them, they just seem to keep flowering with no maintenance at all.

The bloodthirsty vampires liked my blood so much last week, they have asked me to give them some more. I couldn’t really refuse them, so tomorrow I may go to the health centre and donate some more blood so they can test it again. At least that’s the story they tell me. I’m not sure I believe them.

Dancin’ – 11 July 2026

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The first ‘real’ dancing day this morning.

Lots of folk out today hoping to improve their dancing technique. I wasn’t one of them. I was just happy to not make a mess when I was treading water!

The dance class started with the Electric Smooth. I’d never danced it before and a few folk were in the same boat. It was similar to The House of Bamboo which I started off hating, but ended up accepting it as just another set of dance steps. The E.S. is similar and will have the same effect on me I think.

The first ‘actual dance’ was the American Smooth Waltz which we’d done before in one of the Perth classes. Bits of it fitted together like a badly made jigsaw puzzle, but by the end of the class it was filtering in to my head.

Rumba was next and we started off just copying an old rumba we kind of knew, but then decided we’d better stick to the teachers’ plan and dance it properly. There were similarities between ‘our’ version and the teacher’s version.

Tango Serida was and it took me a while to work out what was happening and when it was happening, but we managed to struggle round the floor. With a bit of help from Jane, I managed to sort out the routine.

Balmoral Blues was the last real sequence dance. I didn’t like it and struggled to make sense of it, but Scamp had it sorted right away. She has this innate ability to walk through a dance once or twice and immediately afterwards, know how to dance it. Me? I struggle and let’s leave it at that.

Just for a bit of fun and to get back to simple stuff, we finished with the Midnight Jive. A sequence dance designed to get your heart pounding.

We drove home through a very quiet Glasgow and made it home only slightly longer that the drive to Brookfield in the morning.

Scamp was busy in the afternoon digging out plants, sieving out the lumps of soil and splitting larger plants to make at least two smaller ones. I went for a walk over to St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was a Saw Fly. Scary looking beast, but apparently harmless.

No plans for tomorrow so far, but that may change.

 

Two go dancing – 9 July 2026

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Today we drove to Glenburn for an hour or two’s dancing.

This was our first Tea Dance in about six weeks and we were rusty. Thankfully most other people were too or we may not have survived the comments. As it happened, we acquitted ourselves quite well. Not amazingly well, just enough.

I think we talked more than danced today, but most people were talking more than dancing. That’s what happens when you miss out on your dancing and struggle to remember what comes next in the sequence. At least, I felt that today. Of course, Scamp hardly put a foot wrong all afternoon.

We danced a few sequence dances and a few ballroom dances. No waltzes and certainly no quicksteps. We stayed for the entire class because the schools are on holiday for a month and the traffic is a lot lighter than usual, as a result. If nothing else, today was a good way of catching up with faces we knew.

I grabbed a few shots in the afternoon, mainly from the Schoolgirl rose in the front garden. It’s really past its best now, but it is still flowering. That made PoD. Scamp made a mixed salad for dinner with tuna chopped into it for some body. I was tested to see if I could spot the ingredients and I got them all with the exception of Oregano which was Scamp’s mystery addition. Of course, after she told me, all I could taste was the Oregano!

I have promised one of our neighbours that I’d keep her plants watered. The first couple of days were easy, because the constant rain did the job for me. Yesterday and today are different. The poor wee plants need all the liquid they can take, and that’s where I’m heading now, with a full watering can.

I need to see the vampires tomorrow to get bloods taken for my annual checkup. Oh what fun!

A bit of an argument – 29 June 2026

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The computer and I had been having a bit of an argument in the past few days. I thought I was controlling things, but it (the computer) thought it knew best. We agreed to disagree late last night and eventually we came to an agreement of sorts.

Today I was heading to Glasgow to get my hair cut. Scamp had just dropped me off at the station when two of the guards appeared and told me none of the trains were running today. Something to do with checking the rail network to Edinburgh. I phoned her, then realised a text would be better and ten minutes later she picked me up. Nice of the Scot Rail to keep us up to date!

We were meeting Crawford and Nancy today for lunch at Gouldings. It was a great way to spend an afternoon. Lots of discussions and plenty of jokes too. I felt really relaxed after it and I’m sure Scamp did too. Mac ’n’ Cheese for Scamp. Fish ’n’ Chips or Crawford and Nancy and Chilli Con Carne for me. Then a selection from the cafe for us all. Just a good day out for us all. I could see that Crawford was in a lot of pain after wrenching his back muscles, but it didn’t stop him having a laugh at everyone. Good friends.

We drove home, but not until Scamp had picked up her Raspberry Sauce (great for adding to ice cream!). Just a gentle run home and a bit more work in the garden for Scamp.

Later in the afternoon, Scamp and I went for a walk in St Mo’s and I got some decent photos of some pink, Wild Orchids. They are fairly common, but still look pretty among the long grass. They made PoD. There were occasional sprinkles of rain, but nothing serious. I really enjoyed the walk, Scamp.

Hopefully Scot Rail will have everything fixed for tomorrow and I’ll get my hair cut. It really needs it.

 

Dancin’ – 27 June 2026

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For the first time in ages, we drove through some busy traffic to go to the dance class in Brookfield.

There were only four couples taking part and the topics were mainly quite easy, easy enough for me to manage them. We started with House of Bamboo then the Feta Foxtrot, The Britannia Waltz, The Salsa Gibraltar (which was new to us and not a real salsa), the Electric Slide (which I ‘Elected’ not to take part in) and we finished up with the Bossa Nova. Quite a full dance card.

The heat in the hall was quite stifling for a while, even with the front door and back door open. The floor was a mess. It looked as if some folk had been dragging chairs and tables across it and leaving a bit of a mess. I’m sure the teachers will be putting in a complaint.

It as raining when we came out of the dance class. I was glad to have brought my rain jacket and Scamp had her umbrella. More busy traffic heading back to the city. It must be something to do with the school holidays starting. However, by taking a few shortcuts we managed to avoid a lot of the traffic.

The weather at home was quite clammy and generally uncomfortable. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a cooler breeze. Scamp was doing a bit of weeding in the afternoon and I took the opportunity to ask her how I needed to go about changing my old credit card for the new regime. The way she explained it, made it look simple. I expect it is in reality. I just need to put it into practice now.

I went for a walk in the afternoon and got a fair amount of photos. My favourite was a combination of three shots of wild geraniums, merged together in Photoshop. After a struggle, I got it working and it looks pretty good.

We have no plans for tomorrow as far as I know.

A Sunny Day – 24 June 2026

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Another day of blue skies that belied the heat that would come later.

Scamp was out at midday, meeting the witches. I don’’t know why we men can’t do the same thing. Cup of coffee and a blether just to set the world to rights. It shouldn’t be difficult, but apparently it is.

Later in the afternoon I did as I had told myself and drove up to Fannyside looking for some flying beasties, but there were none to be seen. There were, however, a herd of Highland Cattle in a field next to where I stopped. They really are scary beasts when you see them up close. Thankfully there was a strong fence and gate that separated them from me. I got a few photos of their shaggy faces and one of them made PoD.

As I was driving home, I got a message from Scamp, telling me that the Witches Coven had flown home on their broomsticks. That was perfect timing as I was just heading down the motorway and home.

By the time I got home, Scamp was already settled in the folding chairs in the garden, soaking up the rays. It was that time of day when the sun is sinking a bit, but the air is comfortable enough to wear Tee Shirt and Shorts. We sat in the garden discussing our day and making plans for what we should to the garden. As I’ve said before, we need to move some of the heat loving plants to the front garden and the ones who prefer shade, to the back. Scamp is an expert at this.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go to the Queen Elizabeth hospital to find out if they have any suggestions for a cure for Scamp’s problems.

 

Keeping up with business – 22 June 2026

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In the morning we drove to Falkirk to sign some pieces of paper.

In fact we had to sign six different pieces of paper each. In the end I was beginning to get writer’s cramp! Still it was worthwhile and we felt a lot better after it was done.

After all that writing we thought we deserved a coffee, so we drove to Morrison’s for a coffee each. Scamp suggested we also have a cake each to celebrate. Her’s was a teacake and mine was a jam doughnut. Then we simply loaded up a trolley and pushed it back to the car. But not before we stopped to have a look at a trio of ceramic garden pots. So, we added them to the car boot and headed home.

It was just beginning to drizzle with rain as we were leaving the car park. It had been threatening to rain all morning so we were prepared for it. A totally different day from yesterday.

By the time we got home we had driven out of the rain clouds, but the skies were still heavy with more rain. We had lunch and decided what our next job was. It was mainly planning. Deciding which plants needed to move and which ones would stay. Also we were beginning to see which ones preferred shaded areas and which wanted to be in the sunshine.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s. Not a long walk, just a chance to see if there were any interesting insects appearing now that the weather was improving. There were a few dragonflies scudding round the pond, but the most interesting one was a Scorpionfly. It looks like a Scorpion with wings. Vicious looking with what looked like a sting in its tail, but harmless to humans (or so say’s Mr Google).

Scamp was going out tonight to a dance demonstration. Not Ballroom Dancing, more modern dance. She and the rest of the witches were going to cheer the girls on.  Also, as promised, the rain disappeared and the sun came out!

PoD went to the Scorpionfly, by a long way. High on the checklist was a Heron. A rare visitor now to the pond!

Alas, Keir Starmer’s job has come to an end. He resigned today. I admit I wasn’t impressed by him, but I almost felt sorry for him today.

We have no plans for tomorrow … yet!

Rain again – 19 June 2026

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What a day. Rain started yesterday and seemed to continue all through the night.

Thankfully, it stopped about 5pm tonight. I was beginning to look for suggestions on how to build an arc. Not long after the 5pm turn off, the sun shone for the first time in about a week, the wind dropped and there was a lovely skyscape.

We drove up to Costa in the town centre to meet Shona. Scamp and her had a lengthy discussion around Ben. It seems that he is beginning to string sentences together now and is communicating for the first time. Long may it continue.

Isobel joined the group and got a chance to catch-up. Shona stayed for a while but had to go shopping. Isobel stayed to read for a while before it was time for her exercise class to start. We just went home to get lunch.

In the afternoon I put my rain jacket on and drove to The Shops and brought back some fruit and a bag that contained my new jeans from M&S. They fitted perfectly. Just the walk to the shops and back from the carpark and the walk to the house and I was soaked.

As I said at the start, the rain continued until 5pm before somebody turned the water off and it has remained that way until now. I hope I don’t mess things up now by saying that.

By the way, the PoD of two bees is actually yesterday’s photo. No way was I going out in the rain just to get a photo of two bees!

I believe there is football on tv tonight with Scotland playing Morocco. Please don’t let it get into double figures for the foreign team!

No real plans for tomorrow, but Edinburgh has been mentioned.