Category: Driving

Driving Miss Daisy – 20 May 2017

Posted on by Zogman

Well, it should have been Scamp we were driving, but Driving Miss Scamp didn’t have the same ring. Then to be perjink about it, we’d have to say Driving Mrs Scamp and by that time the title doesn’t scan and we lose the whole joy of it. Soooo, Driving Miss Daisy it is. By the way, isn’t perjink a lovely word? It means neat or fastidious.

We drove to Stirling today to get a new jacket for Scamp. She had a 20% discount voucher burning a hole in her pocket, or her purse to be more perjink. Enough? Yes, enough.
We were driving just ahead of the bad weather, you could see it in the rear view mirror. As we walked in to Stirling town centre, the rain came on, but we managed to shelter in M&S. Unfortunately, they didn’t have Scamp’s jacket in the right size. I suggested we should go to Glasgow because there are two big M&S shops there.

As we were driving down the M80 the rain got heavier and heavier and then CITRAC lit up with a warning of congestion just a mile or so before the M8/M80 junction and from experience, this means that the motorway will choke up and driving in that is no fun at all. I’m guessing that those 22 men from Wednesday were having another kick about. Time for a change of plans. Glasgow Fort has a big M&S store and we had time to change lanes to get there and avoid the congestion on the M80. That is what we did and also as a bonus, we drove out of the torrential rain.

At the Fort, Scamp got her jacket in the colour and size she wanted. Sorted. Lunch was in Wagamama across the road. While we were there, the next rain shower descended on us and it was nice to be sitting looking out at folk getting wet. After lunch we went our separate ways for a while. Me to Waterstones and Scamp window shopping. We met up at Hobbycraft as we had planned. I’ve an idea to make a fold up stand for my Linx 10 tablet. It makes it so much easier to type into with the Bluetooth keyboard, so I got a piece of 3mm plywood to make it. Fairly strong and light, plywood should be ideal. Today’s PoD came from The Fort and is one of a group of bronze deer statues around the site.

Back home, I managed to convince Adobe to allow me to download Lightroom 6 for half price because I had a serial number for my original LR 1. It’s not an amazing upgrade from V5, but at least I can get the Teazer’s RAW files processed more easily. Yes, the Teazer is a keeper. It produced today’s PoD.

Tomorrow? Maybe going for plants for the raised bed to keep the peas company and also the beetroot which just appeared today. Maybe dancing too in Paisley. We’ll see.

Sunny Skies – 16 May 2017

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Although there were torrential rain showers today, for the most part the sun shone.

Drove to Falkirk to speak to our FA, and the news was good. To celebrate, we went to Vecchia Bologna for lunch, but that’s when things started to slide. Starter of Caprese Salad was great with the addition of Parma ham just to make it special, but the mains were nothing to write home about. Scamp’s Spaghetti dello Chef was overloaded with pasta and my Pasta del Contadia was heavy and overcooked. For once we left without having coffee and, after conferring, decided we won’t be back for a while. Driving home was when the torrential rain appeared and even with the wipers on double speed the windscreen wasn’t clearing very well.

Got home to find that the cabin we’d booked for the cruise was on the promenade deck. Not exactly a clear view, but better than having a lifeboat hanging outside your window, I suppose. Not all that impressed with Ramsay Travel’s handling of the booking, but it’ll have to do, I suppose 😉

Went out for a drive to get some tablet ice cream later because the sun was shining and it looked like a beautiful evening. It was, but the cafe was closed so we had to make do with Tesco ice cream when we got home. The silver lining was that I got the landscape photo from the backroad from Moodiesburn to Cumbersheugh. More garden photos on Flickr.

Weather is supposed to be better tomorrow. Just as long as the rain isn’t torrential.

Twa Dugs – 13 May 2017

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Today we took the slow lane to Hamilton.

The slow lane is on the M74.  There are three lanes.  Slow, slower and stopped.  We were in ‘Stopped’ for a while, but then we moved on to ‘Slower’ and finally found second gear which you can only achieve in the Slow lane.

We parked in the retail park in Hamilton wondering if three hours would be enough to visit the two shops I wanted to go to, M&S for Scamp and Costa for a brown water – Hamilton hasn’t got a Nero yet.  As it happened, it only took us a little over an hour to complete our walk around this failing town.  It used to be a vibrant, busy town.  Mobbed on a Saturday.  Today there were more folk in the retail park than in the town centre and there were To Let signs on a load of shuttered shops in the retail park.  Such a shame.  However it provided today’s PoD one of the Twa Dugs that decorate the seating in the town square.

I thought we’d investigate the new M8 on our trip back to Cumbersheugh, but the road builders thought otherwise.  Halfway up the Bellshill bypass, the signs for Glasgow petered out to be replaced with signs for Embra.  It looked as if the road to Glasgow wasn’t quite ready for us yet, so we did as we were told and took the road to Embra.  We took it as far as Shotts before we could turn and head back to Glasgow again.  The road is a great improvement on the old one and when all the links are working properly it will speed up the east/west trip for all those commuters who face this moving carpark every day.

While we were taking our enforced diversion, we met with some really heavy showers.  It was good to see rain again after almost a month without.  However, I hope it remembers to turn the tap off some time soon.  I’m perfectly ok with with it raining all day, just as long as it stays dry for most of the day.

Dinner tonight was courtesy of Golden Bowl, the best and most consistent Chinese take-anywhere.  Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice for Scamp and Special Chow Mein for me was a pleasant change from our fish diet this week.  That said, today’s lunch of reheated Simple FIsh Stew was excellent.

Tomorrow?  I think it’s going to rain again, so I’m starting the boxer shorts Hazy.  The pieces were cut out tonight so tomorrow may be the big day.

I’ve got a bike – 3 May 2017

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This morning we took Scamp’s car down to the garage for its MOT.  Then back for breakfast.

That’s how the day started.  Since we were up and about early, we decided to make the best of what was shaping up to be a beautiful day.  We drove to Torwood Garden Centre to get some plants and ended up with nine plants and a bird bath.  We’ve been looking for a bird bath since Trinidad, back in February, but couldn’t find one we liked or didn’t grudge the exorbitant price for.  This one was exactly what we wanted.  Made from concrete, fairly small and fairly priced.  We’d originally intended continuing on to Stirling, but changed our plans and just went home so that the plants could find their way into their new homes, assisted by gardener Scamp of course.

Back home we had just had lunch when the garage phoned to say the car had passed and was ready to collect.  We brought it home and as the gardening needed expert hands, Scamp decided to carry on with that while I dragged the bike out for a run.  For the first time this year, I took it on the bike rack to Auchinstarry and cycled along the canal almost to Kirkintilloch and then back again along the railway.  Going out was fine with the sun on my face and the wind at my back.  The run back wasn’t so idyllic, but it was still enjoyable.  I think everybody who had a bike was out on it today, or at least that’s what it seemed.  Not surprising on such a lovely warm, if windy day.  Tracked it on my new FitBit and was surprised at the amount of data it generated.

Salsa tonight was good although the drive in was a not much fun with traffic jams because of a breakdown in the middle lane just at the busiest spot near the Royal Infirmary.  Poor woman who had to escort her kids on to the fencing at the edge (there isn’t a hard shoulder at that part), then get them back again into the breakdown truck, with their cases!

Looks like tomorrow is going to be much the same as today.  Maybe going to Stirling.

People in glasshouses shouldn’t …! – 19 April 2017

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One of the ideas we brought back from JIC’s was his little plastic covered greenhouse.  Something else we couldn’t bring back from Astwick on the plane, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to find one up here in our own myriad of garden centres and DIY stores, would it?

We started out looking in B&Q, but the Cumbersheugh branch is only a small warehouse and they didn’t have plastic greenhouses, or any greenhouses actually. Dobbies in Stirling was next, not the *most popular* centre at Milngavie, because we might be looking for lunch and that’s not an option in Milngavie.  There were a host of different sized and shaped mini greenhouses, but none of them were exactly what we were looking for.  Lunch was very good.  Roast turkey, roast potatoes and veg.  Scamp went for her usual baked potato.

Back along the M80 to Robroyston to see what Homebase had to offer which wasn’t much.  Far less than Dobbies, but still not what we were looking for.  Eventually we agreed to come home and check what Amazon had to offer and that’s where we finally found our ideal mini greenhouse.  Well, we hope it is, because we don’t get it until Thursday at the earliest.

Went over to St Mo’s later to see what had changed.  The answer was very little actually, but I got a couple of photos.  I wanted the white of the blossom to stand out against the dark background, so I used spot metering on the Nikon to meter off the white of the petals and that gave me exactly what I was looking for.  I liked the isolation of the coot on its nest among the mare’s tails.  This is one of the occasions where my mosaic maker isn’t quite producing the best quality.  Much better to click on the image and see it on Flickr.

Intending to build the decking prototype tomorrow, once the gas man’s been to do the maintenance on the boiler.

Flying Home, Going Home – 9 April 2017

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We were going home, but unlike Yes in “Ritual: Nous Sommes Du Soleil”, we weren’t flying home, just driving, driving for just over six hours.  That said, I thought it would be good to finish this little break like it started, with a song quote.
It’s always a drag, the journey home.  It’s like flying, sailing, driving home from any holiday, you just want to be there.  When teleportation becomes viable it will immediately become the most used form of transport for coming home from holiday.

We only stopped twice.  Once at a wee cafe in Spean Bridge.  I don’t know what it’s called but it wouldn’t be hard to spot, it’s the only cafe in the town as far as I can see.  It used to be a Little Chef, but re-opened as, what looks looks like a family run cafe.  It’s a great place to stop coming back from Skye because it’s roughly half distance.
The other stop was at Balachullish to stretch my legs and check the tyres when I accidentally bumped the kerb.  Legs were stretched, tyres were deemed ok and the above photo was taken.  On with the journey.

Once back on the road it was a straight run home with very light traffic.  Weather was dry for the most part with just a couple of light showers, not the downpours that were predicted.  Jackie did send a text to say that it was pouring in Skye.  So for once, we brought the dry weather to Skye and took it away with us!  Murd will not admit that.

So, after 761.3 miles and 17.8 gallons of petrol, we were back where we started.  Thank you Jackie and Murd for the hospitality (and the mince ‘n’ tatties and the ‘wee’ drams).  Thanks Mairi for the entertaining stories and for being a foodie in the making.  Nice to see Jaki again, even if it was just for a few minutes.  We’ll be back DV.

 

Happy Birthday to Me – 8 April 2017

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Another year older.

After I opened my birthday prezzies this morning (thank you all!) and had my breakfast, it was time to head out.  My choice of destination.  I chose Broadford and that’s where we went today.  It’s ages since I’ve been to Broadford.  Obviously, we’ve passed through it ever time we come to Skye, but we rarely stop and get out of the car there.  Hazy phoned me just as we stopped and parked.  Had a pleasant talk with her, even if the temperature she was talking about down there was almost twice what we were enduring.  That said, they have the weather, we have the scenery and we were staring out  the windscreen at that sort of scenery.  Out across the water was the pier  and the youth hostel.   But, as Scamp said, no dolphins.  You can’t have everything.

We went for a walk along the shore walk, then down the road before Scamp found a coffee shop where we stopped for a coffee and a scone.  Unfortunately, it was a cheese scone and I ordered it with butter AND JAM.  Apparently, you don’t have jam on a cheese scone.  Coffee was the best I’ve had on the island with the exception of Jackie’s of course.  It was just after I started it, I discovered that I didn’t have my phone.  Oh dear, did I drop it on the walk or did I leave it in the car?  Only one way to find out.  I had to curtail my coffee and go find out.  It was in the car.  Thank you, the birthday fairies who look after lost phones.

Drove back up the road and parked ourselves by the slip to watch the waves and listen to the birds.  Went looking for photos and found that there were even more wee men parked around the boathouse.  I don’t know who is planting them there, but whoever they are, they have a great supply of araldite to weld them to the stone.

Drove Scamp back to the house and dumped the day’s photos on the Mac before venturing out for the last sortie of the week, up again to Loch Gangaig.  On the way there I caught sight of a couple of walkers up on a ridge heading for the Quiraing.  I was cold a couple of thousand feet below them and with the comfort of the car beside me, I’d imagine they were much colder and less comfortable where they were.  Got a few photos of the loch and one or two of the wee lochan I’d visited yesterday.  After that, there was nothing for it but to head back to Burnside for a dram and a plate of Mince ’n’ Tatties.  Superb.  Thank you Jackie.

Tomorrow, we drive south.

Drive to the end of the road and turn right – 7 April 2017

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Looked out the window this morning and saw a bird that looked like a thrush, but with a white stripe above its eye and a rusty brown patch under its wing.  Google thinks it’s a Redwing.  I think it’s right.

Today we drove through Portree, although we did stop to wander round the shops in the town to see if there was anything new.  There wasn’t.  Dropped in at the Skye Batiks shop, but there weren’t any shirts to tease £35 out of my wallet, so we got back in the car and Scamp suggested Dunvegan as a destination and I agreed as long as we could take the scenic route through Sligachan.  Pronounced SLIG achan, not Slig A chan as some folk think.  The emphasis is on the first syllable.

Agreed on the destination and the pronunciation, we set off in search of the sun.  We sort of found it, there was a bit of rain to spoil  the party, but we shrugged it off. When we got to Dunvegan, Scamp wasn’t bothered whether we stopped or not.  Sometimes it’s travelling hopefully that counts more than what you do when you arrive.  What we did do was go on a new road.  One of the rules we set ourselves these days when we go to Skye.  We must travel on a new road.  Today’s was a short road down the hundred yards to Dunvegan slip.  Not too scenic when we arrived, but task accomplished.

From Dunvegan we drove to Glendale which used to have a cafe with spectacular seafood.  Last time we were there it was closed and in a sorry state.  This time it was open and offering a limited menu (no seafood in sight) but decent soup according to scamp and a very tasty local beef sandwich for me.  Followed by real coffee and tea and a slice of lemon drizzle cake for Scamp and a slice of carrot cake for me.  Looks like a fairly decent return from the doldrums for the cafe.  Busy too.  We gave up our seats at a five piece table to a group of Indian folk and settled in a two seater table that had just been vacated.  Made sense to both parties.

Sat in the car and sketched the Glendale Free Church building (closed for three weeks because of undisclosed structural problems).  It’s funny, but when I photograph a building and post it, I immediately see what’s wrong with the sketch.  That’s what happened here.  It’s all a learning curve.  Just as we were leaving a family of 12 arrived at the cafe and they didn’t come out again, so I presume they were seated.  Good to see it’s still attracting business.

Drove home the boring way through Edinbane and on through Portree.  Dropped Scamp off at the house after meeting Wee Jaki then took my cameras out to Loch Gangaig, just north of Digg.  Got a few photos from the tripod of the outfall from the loch and then drove a few hundreds yards down to the next wee lochan to get some more photos of a rock fall.

After that it was home to dinner which was boiled ham, potatoes and cabbage.  Scamp substituted egg for ham!  Quite lovely.

Tomorrow?  Well, we’ve gone left and right.  Straight ahead takes us to Angus’s house, so that won’t do.  TBH, I don’t know where we will end up.

Drive to the end of the road and turn left – 6 April 2017

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As usual, on the first day of our stay on Skye, we drove round the top end of the island.  Up to Uig and then round to Portree.

Stopped off at Duntulm to take what is an iconic photo of the telephone box there.  After that, I walked out to the ruin of Duntulm Castle.  It’s a ruin and there’s a warning at the padlocked gate to say “We advise you not to come any closer”.  It’s a bit like the warning on iPlayer that asks you “Do you have a TV licence?”  Easy to lie, easy to ignore.  Just do it.  I’d walked for 15-20 minutes in a bitterly cold wind to reach this ridiculous sign, so I just turned around and went back to the car.  AYE RIGHT!  It’s an interesting place, really remote on this finger of land that sticks out into the Minch.  Although the castle is a ruin now, the solid walls really protect you from the worst of the wind that blows in from the sea.  Took a few photos and then went back to the warmth of the car.

We drove in to Uig, but there was nothing interesting to see, so we headed on to Portree.  Lunch was in Jan’s Vans which is, for want of a better description, a gigantic hardware store.  Scamp browsed the ‘toys off the rack’ and eventually settled on a plant for the garden, but I’m pretty sure she has a list of things that we’ll be bringing back with us.

We tried to park in Portree itself, but all the carparks were full, so we drove back to Staffin and sat and watched the waves for a while.  After that I drove Scamp back to the house and I went to take some more photos.  Initially up to the wee lochan up at Floddigarry and then back down the slip again.  Saw the wee Captain model firmly glued to a boathouse there.  Went for a walk along the rocks and when I got back it was time for dinner, and a wee dram.  A fine way to end a fine day.

Tomorrow?  Probably more of the same!

Ten hours in a … car – 5 April 2017

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Driving to Skye always makes me think of the John Mayall track, Vacation.  Not quite ten hours, but more than seven hours pounding the asphalt, travelling north-west.  Average speed, just over 42mph, but that’s because we are driving on ‘A’ roads for the most part.  In the seven hours we travelled, we could have flown to Italy, Malta or Cyprus, but we drove to Skye.  Weather – worse, scenery- no contest!!

Arrived just after 5pm after starting on time at 10am.  Just missed seeing Harry Styles for One Direction getting out of a helicopter at the Old Man of Storr.  Such a pity, even if I don’t know who Harry Styles or One Direction is!

Went for a walk to Staffin shore to relieve the aches in my legs and succeeded in doing just that.  Got some photos from the shore to bolster the pics from Loch Mealt that I took earlier.  Wish I’d brought my full size Manfrotto tripod, but the mini version worked well.

Chicken Curry for dinner tonight with a strong whisky and  a beer to finish with.

Hoping for a lazy start tomorrow and not too much driving.