Category: East coast

A bit of history – 17 July 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Off to see a castle.

Mondays seem to be becoming our day to go out for a spin. Today we were off to Blackness near the Forth Bridges. We were going to visit Blackness Castle what a fellow teacher once called “The Ship Shaped Castle”. That’s a really accurate description of this building. From the air it looks just like a ship. In fact the tower at the front of the castle is called the Stem tower, like the stem of a ship.

It’s a narrow road that takes you out through the village of Blackness to the castle and we were lucky that when we got through the gate there was one space left in the carpark. It wasn’t really a cold day, but the wind was taking all the sun’s good heat away. Not for us the roasting 40+ degree temperatures Italy and Spain are enduring. We don’t mind a bit of a cool breeze, although it was more than a fresh breeze blowing along the Firth of Forth today.

We were allowed an hour and a half’s parking time and we thought that was fair. If everyone took their 90mins then more folk would get to see the castle. It really is an impressive building, but we’d been before, a couple of times, and just wanted to refresh our memory of it, as well as give me a chance for some photos.

I suggested we drive the 12 miles to Cramond once we’d left. Cramond wasn’t as busy as I thought it might be. We’d brought a flask with us so we had a cup of coffee after we got parked in the gigantic carpark. After coffee we walked along the esplanade for about a mile and a half. I was wearing my Famous Blue Raincoat, but Scamp was risking the weather in her hoodie. The clouds seemed to be gathering and the sunshine we’d had at Blackness had all but disappeared. That wind was still there and it was getting cool now, but that didn’t stop us finding an ice cream van and getting a cone each. We sat near the ‘Toblerones’, the WW2 submarine defences, and ate our cones while being given a running commentary from a rather loud spoken woman who was telling all and sundry about a wonderful garden party she’d been to where they had a ‘three piece band’ who played wonderful music from her era.

Drove home along the M8. Always a dreary road just like being in a conveyor belt running at two speeds and with trains of articulated lorries in the nearside lanes exchanging places in the outside lane just for something to do, it seemed. It must be a boring job being a long distance lorry driver. I expect you need something to keep yourself interested.

That was about it for the day. An interesting day. A bit of history and a bracing walk. PoD was the view of the Central Tower from the North Tower.

No plans as yet for tomorrow.

Dancing, Dancing, Dancing – 20 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Dancing lesson in the morning, practice session if you’re up to it in the afternoon and the gala ball in the evening.

Breakfast first and, of course, we had too much of a good thing. The breakfasts are very good in this place. Self service and a bit like a works canteen, but the actual food is good, especially the fruit. After that a short rest and we were in to the practise session with a surprise in store.

Jane announced a change to the joyless Joy’s Waltz. She had rejigged it and replaced the Overturned Spin Turn with a Half Natural and an Open Impetus which probably means the same to you as it does to me. The main thing is the replacement is much more doable than the previous overcomplicated manoeuvre. I won’t say I was overjoyed, but I was relieved because:

a) She had been listening and watching us all dancing and saw the problem.
And
b) She had found something that looked similar but was danceable by all.

Later she (Jane) may try to fit in the OST again, but if not, we have a substitute.

There were a group who’d come down from Aberdeen to join us in Perth and they demonstrated their Strictly Fun Dance. It did look like so many of the sequence dances we do, but it did look much more fun than most. We might learn it.

Lesson over we had the rest of the day to ourselves. First things first, Scamp wanted to return the dress she’d bought yesterday. Next we were looking for lunch. We looked at the menu of a posh(ish) French café, called Briezh. We looked, but decided it was a bit expensive for what we were looking for. Instead we went round the corner to a Wetherspoons and had Fish ’n’ Chips with a Gin ’n’ Tonic for Scamp and an American burger with a pint of Broadside for the price of a main course in Briezh.
Next was a visit to an art exhibition we’d seen yesterday. Some lovely paintings, in fact, I was tempted to buy one but chose not to. Some pretentious dire efforts too. Beautiful building which doubled as a church and a community hub. In the exhibition we bumped into a couple of the dancers who seemed to have invaded Perth. It turned out they came from Airdrie and gave us a fair bit of information about tea dances and such around Lanarkshire and beyond.

I bought some coffee and tea from the Bean Shop and we walked around a much more prestigious and even more pretentious gallery outside Perth museum before we dumped the coffee in the boot of the car and then walked along the railway bridge that crosses the Tay then walked down the opposite side of the river and back to the hotel.

Dinner tonight was at our table in the ballroom and was much better fare than yesterday’s. Two of the couples at our table were from East Lothian and I recognised the East Coast accents. It turned out that they were from Pencaitland which was just a mile from Ormiston where my Aunt Sarah and Uncle Bob lived and also where we went for our summer holidays every year when I was wee. The other couple were Barry and Cath who we know well from Salsa and tea dances. Lots of good natured banter with them.

The usual professional dancers were giving two demonstrations tonight and then mixed with the rest of us answering questions and just mixing with people. No airs and graces from them.

We danced with the Aberdonians and learned a bit of the Strictly Fun Dance. We might manage to get the finer points of it later, but it’s unlikely we’ll get to dance it with Stewart & Jane. The teachers seem to have an unwritten law about ‘poaching’ each other’s dances.

We finished the night with the Last Waltz finally waltzing off the floor just about five minutes to midnight while others finished the night with It’s Later Than You Think!

PoD today was a couple of wee models we saw today. They’re based on a poem by William Soutar the Scottish poet. I just think they brighten up the south bank of the River Tay.

Today’s Prompt asked for a Garden Tool. This is a garden trowel made with a mild steel blade and a rolled steel handle the two parts are riveted together. It’s used to teach pupils a variety of metalworking skills. These tools last for years if they are looked after, and even if they aren’t.

Tomorrow it’s usually a sad wee dance class in the morning. Only half the dancers are there, the sensible ones having left early.

What a difference a week makes – 27 January 2023

Posted on by Zogman

A week ago Alex and I stood on the pier at Culross in ‘the golden hour’ and shot off over 100 frames between us. Today I took about 20.

Last week the sun during that hour was glorious, as were the colours it produced. Today there were light patches in the clouds, but no actual sunlight and no shadows either. What a difference a week makes.

Scamp suggested a drive to Torwood Garden Centre to buy some seeds this morning. I added that after we visited Torwood, we should continue on to Culross, sorry Hazy. (Hazy absolutely hates Culross which we now call “The ‘C’ Place”) Alex and I had lunch in a wee cafe there last week and it’s not far from Torwood. After a lot of discussion we settled on lunch at Culross and leaving Torwood for another day. Scamp was adamant that would give us both some time to do what we wanted. Me to take photos and her to read in the car with a view to look at occasionally. That worked for both of us.

I walked to the end of the pier, just like last week, but the view, without the blue sky and the sun wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for. I took a few photos and then we went for lunch. Scamp had Mac ’n’ Cheese and I had Stovies. Much more like my mum’s stovies than anything I’ve tasted. Chopped up potatoes, onions and sausages with a heavy gravy, that’s typical stovies. I thoroughly enjoyed them while Scamp said the Mac ’n’ Cheese was quite good. Damned by faint praise I think. Fed, watered and photos taken, we made our way home. Into the deeper gloom of Cumbersheugh.

Scamp’s cough is definitely becoming less noticeable and that’s a good thing, but she didn’t want to go to dance class tomorrow just to be sure she wasn’t going to pass it on to anyone else. She had also cancelled today’s FitSteps class for the same reason. We’re still not sure if we’ll go to tomorrow evening’s Ballroom Social. I leave it up to her to decide.

So, the visit to “The ‘C’ Place” was the highlight of the day. The photos weren’t brilliant, but I didn’t find a PoD which is the view from the end of the old pier looking over the Forth estuary to Edinburgh.

Tomorrow we may go out again in the afternoon. It depend on the weather.

 

Go East Young Man – 19 January 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today my brother and I were heading over to Fife for some photo opportunities.

Picked up my brother at Greenfaulds Station and off we went to Kincardine. We wandered through the town down to the path along the Forth Estuary. The blue skies that we’d expected to greet us had gone somewhere else while we were driving and a cold wind was blowing from the east. West winds usually bring rain, but East winds are generally cold. This one was living up to that legend. We started walking towards the bridge and into that east wind. The light wasn’t great and I was beginning to think this was a bad move today, but we took some photos and made the best of things. We turned and walked back the way we’d come. It wasn’t so cold with the wind at our backs and the skies were clearing.

We walked on until we reached the remains of the old power station, now just a concrete wasteland. We had been watching a high hill, white with snow, away to the west. I reckoned if we walked on until we reached the Clacks Bridge we might get a clear shot of it, but that was a long walk on a cold day, so we agreed to turn back and drive to Culross for a cup of coffee and something to eat. As we were walking we found a bottle of lime and lemon cordial sitting on steps, down beside the water. Around it were the remains of a lunch and some chopsticks! Someone had beat a hasty retreat because the bottle was still intact and the liquid inside was frozen, so probably not today. A mystery. We took some photos and walked to the car.

We parked at Culross and took some photos of the old buildings in the centre of the town, then I found the cafe and we had a well deserved Big Bacon Butty each and a cup of real coffee to wash it down. Alex decided it was his turn to pay and I didn’t argue. We were watching some birds that might or might not be Waxwings happily stripping some red berries from a tree in the garden of the cafe. However, before we could get a better look, they all flew off.

When we were back on the footpath the light had improved greatly and we both set to to photograph every house in the street, or so it seemed at the time. With Culross duly recorded we walked down to the pier and while Alex photographed the town lit by beautiful golden light, I worked at 180º to him and photographed the setting sun and its refections in the Forth. The sun went behind a cloud and the golden light was gone for another day.

We drove home and I dropped Alex at the station just in time for his train home. We both agreed it was a great day. Alex summed it up by calling it a “Wee Adventure”.

Scamp had made Lentil soup for dinner and it was just what was needed on such a cold day.

PoD went to the picture of the bottle on the step beside the Forth.

Tomorrow’s weather looks much like today’s. Hopefully Scamp and I will get out for a walk.