Category: Driving

An early rise and a Munky – 22 January 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Up and out to go dancing again.

Drove through one of those mornings of strange light, with bright clear skies on one side and dark, heavy clouds on the other. Two Worlds we called it and that’s what it felt like driving out to Brookfield.

We were first to arrive, so we sat in the car and wondered what Stewart and Jane had in store for us today. The answer came soon enough when they pulled up and we all filed into the hall. First one was an easy Mambo Marina. Just a little bit of fluff to get us on our feet, then it was back into the Rumba which Jane had changed again, much to Scamp’s chagrin, she’d changed the part that she, Scamp, had struggled with and finally solved. Jane thought her new version was easier for most people, but quietly Scamp muttered that she didn’t think so. It didn’t matter to me. I couldn’t quite remember the first version and I certainly couldn’t do the new version. I thought I was doing well to remember the Mambo Marina!

We struggled our way through the Rumba and then finished off the class with a couple of fairly simple sequence dances. ‘Simple’ as in most of the class could do them, but not all at the right time. It was good to try the Vogue Waltz again. We’d first learned it at the Perth dance last year and it had been a bit of a favourite for both of us. Scamp because she thought it was elegant and me because I didn’t make too many mistakes.

We headed home through a bit brighter landscape with most of the black clouds gone, but as we neared Cumbersheugh it just grew darker and darker and I realised I wouldn’t be taking many outside photos today, if any.

I had initiated one of those awkward ‘chat’ sessions yesterday with someone called Martin at WEX, the company I’d bought the Sony A7iii from. Sometimes when I switched off the camera, I could feel the shutter closing then re-opening. I’d never had this happed on any other cameras I’ve had (and I’ve had a few). He said he’d look into the problem for me, but I thought it was just a brush off. However I got an email from him before we went out this morning, explaining that he’d consulted with Sony and it was actually a sensor cleaning procedure that happens occasionally. I’d mulled this over during the day and couldn’t quite understand why the shutter in the camera would have anything to do with sensor cleaning. So today I went to see if anyone on the InterWeb could verify his findings. It was only after I’d rephrased the question a couple of times that I got what might be the answer. It’s not sensor cleaning, it’s a procedure called sensor mapping or pixel mapping. I won’t annoy Jamie by going into the details, but apparently it’s an automatic procedure in a few Sony cameras, mine included. So it looks like ‘Martin’ might have been on the right track, but got diverted onto a different path!

I spent what was left of the afternoon playing catch-up with yesterday’s blog because the lighting was just so poor as to make outside photography a pointless exercise, then I remembered the Munky The munky had featured in a few tabletop shots in the past, then the big guy sort of lost his head, literally. The other day when I was dusting a bookcase (yes, Scamp has trained me to do simple housework), I found a box with lots of minifig accessories. Amongst which was the lost Munky head. I thought a little tabletop jungle shot might be appropriate to celebrate. So, here I present today’s PoD which is Munky restored to his previous glory, along with Mini Munky.

Tomorrow we have no plans and the weather doesn’t look much better than today.

Out for the messages – 14 January 2022

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Rather than just go up the road to Tesco, we drove to Waitrose in Stirling, just for fun.

As we here heading north east to Stirling, the sky got progressively lighter and we hoped that signalled a better day ahead. We wandered round Waitrose and bought half the shop. We could have bought more, but there is only so much we can cram into the blue car’s boot.

With the Waitrose staff wondering why the shelves looked so empty, we went for a walk through Stirling. The Thistle centre looked very unloved with lots of shops still boarded up. We split up Scamp was looking for clothes and I was looking for books and tech. I found neither, but did have a happy half hour looking at things in those two categories. We drove home and unloaded the car. I’m sure I heard the shock absorbers breathing a sigh of relief.

After lunch I parcelled up the calendars and then walked over to Condorrat to send them on their way, and yes, it does have the Where Was It Took page, Hazy. I stopped in at St Mo’s on the way back and grabbed some photos. Didn’t think any of them were good enough, but then I remembered The Alien. It’s a bouncy climbing thing in the Adventure Playground. I’d photographed it just over a year ago, but I though it deserved a go with the new whizzo camera. There result of that though is today’s PoD.

Tonight’s dinner was a Charlie Bigham Veg Lasagne. Really full of flavour and one of our favourite ‘ready meals’.

As far as tomorrow goes, no dancing class yet, but the signs are looking better, so we keep our fingers crossed. Maybe a walk somewhere scenic.

 

Back in the saddle – 11 January 2022

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After yesterday’s little hissy fit, I’ve returned to the 365 proper.

It does get difficult sometimes to keep finding interesting subjects to photograph, but it’s important to remember the associated benefits. It gets me out in the fresh air, although it also ensures that I spend more time than I should in post processing. It keeps the little grey cells working and when I do get a good photo, or find something I thought I’d lost, like today, it does feel good.

The day didn’t start well. We went to a funeral for a girl I don’t remember meeting. She was the daughter-in-law of one of Scamp’s oldest friends. Funerals are never pleasant occasions, but when it’s for someone with her whole life still to live, it’s worse than normal. That’s all I’m going to say, except I have never seen the chapel at Daldowie as full as it was this morning.

Drove home in blinding sunshine and got on with the day. The sunshine mellowed a bit as the day progressed, but there was still blue sky up there and there was directional light. I took a camera for a walk, while Scamp stayed home and read. I was framing a shot through some trees when I thought I saw a ladybird on a tree beyond my framed shot. It was indeed an orange ladybird with white spots. Possibly the one I’ve been looking for since about November. It was still tucked up neatly in a knot in the trunk. This time I know which tree to look for. It’s the one two trees east of the one with the stick. You’ll know it when you see it, well, you won’t but I will.

That ladybird changed the complexion of the day completely. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took did it justice, so it didn’t get PoD. That award went to an orange coloured leaf, beautifully textured and almost translucent when seen against the light. There is another photo on Flickr that I worked on a tiny little bit tonight. It dates from September 2005, over sixteen years ago! It’s worth a look.

Scamp made Carrot and Lentil Curry tonight. It’s not he hottest curry in the world, but what it lacks in heat, it makes up for in taste. An old favourite.

I don’t think it’s going to be as good a day weatherwise tomorrow, but we may go out again for a spin. Need to get a wall calendar some time soon!

Almost cut my hair – 10 January 2022

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I didn’t actually. It’s much deeper.

“Almost cut my hair” is a song by Stephen Stills on the “Déja Vu” album, away back in 1970. It seems to be about almost making a bad decision, one you will regret for a long time and once that decision is made, you can’t go back to how it was before. Today started as a dull day and just got more gloomy as the morning changed to afternoon and by about 3pm there was no point in going out to grab a photo. I almost decided to call a halt to the 365. I’m finding it harder to get fresh ideas for photos. The lack of decent directional light, day after day is part of it and I think the other part is needing to get out and look for new photographic opportunities. So, almost cut my hair, but not quite, not yet anyway.

What I did do was to dig through the archives to find some old stuff, old digital negatives from Skye and places like that. Places we haven’t been for a long time, years even, and try processing them again. Today’s one is on Flickr if you wish to have a look.

Today’s PoD turned out to be two little cat salt and pepper pots. Scamp bought them some years ago in a warm place. When they sit on the table they make us smile and remember past holidays. The are awkward to use because rather than having one hole in the top for salt or lots of smaller ones for pepper, both of them have three holes. It makes it a game of chance, a lucky dip whether you get salt or pepper.

We did go for a spin today over to Coatbridge to buy a WiFi extender. Two boxes, one you plug into the mains and connect to the modem. The other you put somewhere with a poor wireless signal. Plug it in to the mains and search for it with whatever device you are using. Once you find it you type in the password from the box and like magic it connects through the first box to the modem and you have an excellent signal. That sounds a bit complicated, but it is much simpler to do than to describe. Best of all, it just works!

I also got some more photo paper and made us a calendar for the toilet. I know it sounds sort of weird, having a calendar in the toilet, but every month in it has a different holiday picture. Like the wee cats it brings back memories of warmer places. The ‘real’ calendars are printed and bound and ready to fly to deserving people in the next few days. I’ve even done a “Where Was It Took” page especially for you Hazy. I’m struggling at the moment to remember how to mail merge it from Excel to Word.

That was about it for the day I almost cut my hair. We had pasta and tomato sauce for dinner. Scamp had bought M&S Plant Kitchen veggie balls. We tried them in with the pasta and tomato sauce. They were boggin. If you’re ever in Marks and you see them, just walk on by. That’s our recommendation.

Tomorrow we’re out in the morning but the afternoon doesn’t have anything planned for it. You’ll find out if we do anything interesting. No hair will be cut!

Another day of swearing – 6 January 2022

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Swearing at the printer and the coffee maker, making a loaf, taking a few photos and making the dinner. My day in a nutshell.

The printer was being bad. It was as simple as that. It would print perfectly, then stop, chuck out the next two pages and then put on its red light to show it wasn’t happy. After trying lots of different things that you aren’t interested in hearing, I did what I should have done ages ago and removed it in its entirety from the iMac. Then I reinstalled all the stuff I’d taken off, and it worked perfectly for the rest of the day!

The coffee maker was being bad. I cleaned the portafilter, checked the filter itself and made sure it was clean. I checked the little hole in the filter cup wasn’t clogged. Filled it with coffee and set it to work, except it didn’t. It just held its breath and grumped, not releasing any life-giving coffee. So in true John Cleese fashion I gave it a damn good thrashing. I took the filter cup upstairs and used a nail and a cross pein hammer to enlarge that tiny little hole. No coffee ground is going to get stuck in there now. Maybe a coffee bean might manage to get lodged, but no coffee grounds. It would probably have been better to use a 1mm drill, but I didn’t have any. It worked perfectly after the thrashing.

The loaf knew better than to mess me about. It just worked, perfectly. I let the mixer do the hard kneading work and at the end of the process, a perfectly baked and slightly odd shaped loaf graced the cooling rack. Nice to know that some things just do what they’re told.

Scamp had taken the Wee Red Car out for a spin in the morning, just to make sure its battery was well charged, and also to get some messages. Fruit, veg a half price Christmas Pudding and a packet of tooth brushes were here prizes today. Oh yes, and I can report that the wee red car is looking very pumped up after its run. Pumped up and sparkling, actually, as you can see!.

It had been a very dull, wet and cold day with not a hint of sunshine until about 3pm when the sun broke loose from the clouds and shone on Cumbersheugh! On with the boots, camera in the bag and out looking for photos. I managed to grab a few shots of a couple of Coots before the swans came, demanding to be fed. Tomorrow I’ll take them some of the bread I made on Sunday. They won’t come asking again. They might not even get to the other side of the pond before they have that sinking feeling. It was a heavy loaf.

Dinner was Chicken Curry made with real chicken dated August 2021. Last year’s chicken that had been hiding at the back of the freezer. That poor cooker. It had all its four rings burning brightly. It’s a wonder it didn’t melt! One ring for the curry, one for the rice, one for the flat bread and one for the leftover chicken that couldn’t be re-frozen or put into the fridge while raw, but could go in after it had been cooked. Maybe it was because I couldn’t stand the heat, but I was finding it hard to keep my cool in the kitchen. More swearing ensued. Finish the day as you started it, that’s my motto!

Tomorrow there is snow forecast. In fact as I look out the window, it’s arriving early. We might manage a walk tomorrow, it depends if we get snowed in or not!

Bright and Cold – 5 January 2022

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Another day to stay at home if you’ve any sense.

I went out, of course. First I decided to wait in for the DPD man to come and pick up the Oly M1 Mk2. He arrived right on time. I handed over the parcel and he handed me the red receipt tag. With that done and dusted, had a look at the recipe I’d settled on making for dinner. It was Wednesday and Wednesday is Fish Day. I’d chosen to make Cod and Paprika Chowder. A lovely warm thick soup with chunks of fish in it. It used to be one of my favourite meals, but it has been a loooong time since I’ve made it. A quick read and it all came back.

I had stayed in all morning, but in the afternoon I was getting cabin fever, so I wrapped up warm, got in the car and drove over to Currys at Coatbridge to buy some photo paper. I did need the paper, but it was also a bit of an excuse to go out somewhere that wasn’t Cumbersheugh.

Beautiful day for a drive, just as long as you didn’t want to get out of the car. It was rather cold, even wrapped up as I was. I got the paper and chose a different route home. I’d gone by the straight road. I came home by the twisty minor roads. Much more fun to drive on, especially on a clear day like today. I stopped just above Condorrat by an avenue of beech tree and took a few shots. My favourites were one of the trees and another looking over the fields to the Campsie Fells. The trees got PoD, but the other is also on Flickr.

Back home and with some time until dinner needed to be ready, I started printing the photos for the calendars. That’s when things started to go wrong. The printer would only print one sheet at a time, then it spat out a blank page before shutting down. I tried everything I could think of. It’s a good printer that uses ink reservoirs that you fill up about once a year or sometimes once every two years! I checked the tanks and they were all 3/4 full, so not that. The printing format was right and the quality setting hadn’t been changed for ages. Eventually I downloaded an update. Epson updates take ages to install and really screw everything up. This one didn’t do anything other than remove all my custom printing settings. Eventually I did what it said on the FAQ and switched off a page setting. Lo and Behold, it worked. I’d printed two calendars by the the time to start dinner.

While I was swearing at the printer, Scamp was looking through old music books. She even found an old Watt Nicoll book of mine that I’d been looking for for months. Great memories in that collection of old books.

I made the dinner while Scamp played the piano. It started off with serious classical stuff, then segued into blues and jazz. Nice relaxing music to cook by. I really enjoy listening to her play. She makes it all seem so easy, but I know it’s not.

I found some old photos going back to 2003 in a folder. Tomorrow I intend putting them all on to the NAS. Not sure what would be the best way. I may have to do some bedtime reading!

Tomorrow we have no real plans. It looks like we may get some snow, but not until the evening (I hope).

 

The last one this year – 31 December 2021

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Sometimes you just have to drag yourself out to take the last photo of the year.

This was the last day of 2021. A day for thinking back to those warm sunny summer days, both of them. When the rain didn’t fall incessantly and you could ignore the weatherproofing of the camera and lens combination. When the wind doesn’t blow the flowers around just as you’re about to press the shutter button. Alas, the reality was another dull, dreary grey day. However I did go out dressed for the weather and took some photos, just like most of the other 364.

That was later in the day. Earlier a parcel had arrived that was bound for my old pal Fred who turned 70 on Christmas Day. I parcelled up the tee shirt and drove up to his house which, luckily, is only about ten minutes by car. It’s nearer an hour if you’re walking, but today wasn’t a day for walking. It was tipping it down. Torrential rain in the early morning had given way to just rain by midday. I caught Fred just as he was coming out of his car and handed over the parcel. I was going to head back via Tesco, but Fred told me there was a queue to get in to the carpark that started at the roundabout about 100m away from the actual carpark. I decided to drive home instead. There wasn’t anything on my list that was essential.

Even earlier, just as we were getting up and admiring the beautiful rain, we got a message from Jamie and then from DHL to say that a parcel would be delivered in about half an hour. We quickly dressed and unlocked the front door luckily just in time to collect the big box the man had left on the step. He looked soaked as he waved and got back in his van. The box contained a lovely hamper hand-made from willow and inside was a great selection of chocolates, biscuits jams and wine. Thank you both. That was a lovely surprise on the last day of the year.

I suggested pizza for dinner. Home made pizza. Scamp seemed happy with that. It used to be a tradition, pizza for dinner on Friday. I made the dough with plenty of time to spare for it to rise then cleaned the downstairs toilet, hoovered the downstairs rooms and then went to look at today’s photos. They were a mixed bunch. Some good, some not so good, but one stood out for me. A little dried out weed whose flowers and seeds had gone but the skeleton of the plant remained. It looked just like a Japanese pagoda to me, and that’s what I called it. The Pagoda Plant. It was PoD. The last PoD of 2021.

The pizza was exceptional. By far the best I’ve made for a long, long time. Scamp had Tuna and Sweetcorn I had Anchovies and Tuna. Both were finished with only crumbs left behind.

It’s been another strange year. Lockdowns, vaccinations, boosters and the constant threat of Covid, but it’s the holidays that will stick in my memory for a long time. Especially the first one in July when all three families came together in Cumbria. I’ll also remember climbing the Nine Standards with Jamie, Simonne, Sheila and Vixen. That was a tough one, but I did make it to the top and it was worth it. You were right, Jamie, it was a lot easier going down.

Tomorrow we have no plans. The weather looks like it might be better than today, so maybe a traditional New Year’s Day walk.

Tonight at 4pm Scamp noticed that it wasn’t quite dark outside. There was a little bit of light in the sky. The days ARE getting longer, we’re coming out of the dark.

The world’s gone mad – 23 December 2021

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Everyone in Cumbersheugh was going shopping this morning, including us.

We drove down to the shops, because we were going for a chicken and it was probably going to be heavy. It was drizzly raining and I didn’t relish the thought of humphing a heavy chicken up from the shops in the rain. Life is miserable enough without making it worse. Anyway, that’s what I bought a car for. It’s a great thing a car, especially if you can find a place to park it!  The carpark was chockablock!

There was a long queue outside M&S and Scamp was already in it when I had finished locking the car and footering about. The queue went down fairly quickly, but it’s depressing to think that this is the way it’s going to be for at least a month. Maybe it’s just M&S, though because none of the other shops had a guard stationed at the door, counting them out and counting them in. We did get in, eventually and found almost all we needed, then we drove home in comfort.

The next thing to do was to load up the chopped up cardboard box that has been languishing in the back bedroom and take it on a one-way trip to the crusher. It really does do a great job on cardboard. Minces it up and crushes it into neat blocks. Don’t know what it does with them, but I’ve heard rumours. As well as the cardboard I’d also brought the old Wii surfboard thing that we used stand on and it would say “Measuring”. It won’t say it anymore because the Wii went away a couple of weeks ago and the board went into the General Household skip today. I had to be more careful with the twirly long lasting lightbulb that apparently contains mercury and can kill you if you even look at it the wrong way. It went into shelf with all the other curly long lasting lightbulbs that didn’t last. The guys who work in the Recycling Centre probably lob them all into the skips once everyone’s gone.

I got PoD at the Recycling Center. Lots of jolly little toys were spaced around the place, there was even a life size Santa waving to all the girls and boys. The folk that work in the place really do put on a good show every year.

On the way back I dropped in at Fred’s and gave him his card, a bag of brandy truffles and a wee prezzy for his birthday which is on Saturday, Christmas Day. It must have been a bummer for him having Christmas and Birthday on the same day with nothing to look forward to all the rest of the year. He gave me a bottle of Monkey Shoulder, a mini bottle, bigger than a miniature and smaller than a half bottle. Very nice too.

Driving up to the Recycling Centre the traffic was awful. Queues everywhere. I imagine some were heading for the vaccination centre, the rest were invading the shops. It was madness. Thankfully there was hardly any queue at the skips. Wait until Monday there will be plenty of folk there then, ridding themselves of the packaging from their children’s toys.

Back home there was a lovely smell of soup as I opened the door. That was tonight’s dinner sorted.

The last thing to do was get my hair cut. It’s been on my mind and on my head for too long. Today I sheared myself and Scamp removed all the bits I missed. It felt a lot better to be rid of it, although I’ll curse myself the next cold day!

That was it for Christmas Eve eve, the day before Christmas Eve. Not a lot of plans for tomorrow. I think we’re hoping to take it easy. Weather looks cold and dull.

The first step to a brighter day – 22 December 2021

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Today the sun set ONE minute later than yesterday, but that minute was important.

I didn’t really notice much difference in the light, but Scamp was certain it was lighter this morning than it was yesterday. I’ll go with her answer.

There were presents to wrap this morning and after that, Scamp drove up to Tesco and I drove up to Costa for coffee and a panettone with Val. The panettone was his idea and with him being an Italian, I went along with it. Also he was paying today, but that’s by the way. We talked about many things, but all things tech really. Really enjoyed the conversation and actually enjoyed a toasted panettone dunked into coffee although Val says that the toasting of it isn’t very Italian. It was a cold day with rain turning to a hard sleet called Freezing Rain. It’s harder than sleet or hail and remains frozen when it lands on the ground. Dodgy stuff to walk on apparently. I offered Val a run home and for once he accepted. This wasn’t a day for going for a walk.

While I was out with Val I got a message to say that a parcel was going to arrive today in about fifteen minutes.  I phoned Scamp, but I needn’t have worried, she was at home by then and ready to receive the parcel.  Parcels have been whizzing around the country these last few days.  Thankfully I think most have now arrived at their recipients, although one more may still be on its way.

Back home I dumped the camera and we went to visit Margie. By then it was less cold than it had been, you couldn’t say it was warmer, that would give the wrong impression. We spent an interesting couple of hours talking to Margie and hearing her stories of the Larkhall folk who were in her ward at the hospital. She was shocked at the language they used, but said that they had hearts of gold. She was even more shocked when Scamp told her I was born and brought up in Larkhall. After coffee and Stollen (which she told us was meant to represent the baby Jesus lying in the manger) and with a few more stories told, we took our leave and drove home.

I didn’t have a photograph for today and couldn’t think what I would do for it. Eventually I settled on the Fairy at the top of the Christmas tree. Last week it was the turn of ’Fairy Nuff’ to shine. Tonight it was the fairy with the new white dress who shone, and she became PoD.

Later when we were watching Christmas University Challenge, a question was about a Christmas speciality which represents the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger and we laughed, knowing the answer was ‘Stollen’!!

Tomorrow Scamp would like to do some ‘light shopping’. I think that means we’re not going to buy the entire Tesco, just a selection from it.

Longing to get past the shortest day

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Another day with almost no daylight.

It becomes tedious. Day after day with no directional light. On Friday I drove to Fife and spent half an hour there in glorious sunshine. I might have to head east again to get another dose of vitamin D. Today was so dull, I swear the sun didn’t rise above the ground at all.

Scamp drove away to meet her big sister for a coffee. She told me she was going to take the long way round to the town centre, just to give the Wee Red Car a good chance to fully charge its battery and basically get everything moving again. It seemed to work, because when she came back she was smiling. It’s good to be independent and not rely on others. I’m just glad the battery held its charge, but I think it’s just the cold weather and Scamp not being able to drive for a month that allowed the battery to discharge. Or it could be that the wee car is getting fed up with all those dull cloudy days too.

While she was out, I started the tidying up of the back bedroom. It’s going to take more than a morning’s work to get it back in business, but today was a start. The sofa is almost cleared and the table too. I chopped up that enormous packing box from last week. We eventually found we could do without it. There are a couple of fairly large expanses of corrugated card that might hold a coat of gesso and fit on a drawing board, so I could paint on them. The rest of them will go into the paper shredder at the skips. If I get things sorted I can maybe get my sewing machine out and take up the second pair of lined walking trousers. Maybe!

When Scamp returned she brought me a bottle of gin, a present from June. A birthday present for my 70th last year! Typical June. When she says she’s going to do something, she does it. Maybe not right away, but it’s there in her head and she is a determined lady when she puts her mind to it. Scamp even sang Happy Birthday to me from June. What a lovely surprise.

We’d a lot going on today. Your parcel was picked up right when DPD said it would be and it’s now winging its way to you, pair, Hazy and Neil. The lady who does the Covid survey was coming in the afternoon to take samples and ask us questions. A mysterious parcel was dropped at the door by the Amazon man, but now it’s disappeared! With all that going on and with the lack of light, I’d no real opportunity to get out for a walk and some photos. Instead, I got the Benbo tripod out of the car and took some photos in the garden. That way I could use as slow a shutter speed as I wanted to get the low ISO number that would ensure I didn’t have ’grain the size of golf balls’ as we used to say back it the ‘wet film’ days. The best one, and PoD, was a low level shot of a Christmas rose, one of Scamp’s favourites called Christmas Carol. There are others too on Flickr.

I toasted June with a G ’n’ T tonight and Scamp had a glass of wine. Well, it may be dull, but it’s nearly Christmas.

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere for a walk or maybe a stroll round Glasgow.