Category: Family

Tea dance without tea … or dance – 16 October 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today we we had booked and paid for a tea dance. We left at half time.

Still messing around with the new toy, the Samsung phone. It’s got more bells and whistles that a hundred steam trains. Controlling them, ah! That’s a different matter.

I found an app in the Galaxy App Store that led me down a rabbit hole and stole away hours of my attention. It’s called Good Lock. It opens out to two lists of apps. Some are good and useful, all are clever in their own way. All of them needed investigating and that’s what stole away the morning Your Honour. I did find a couple that more substance and less flash. Tomorrow’s task is to find out how to use them sensibly.

I’d half intended going for a walk in the morning, but that would have to wait until later. We were going to a tea dance with a live band in the Lanternhouse cinema cum dance studio in the new Cumbernauld Academy. We arrived fairly early, we thought, but already the room was packed, and I mean PACKED. Far too many tables for comfort and far too many of them were already occupied. We’d paid over the odds, I thought, for the tickets, but that was for a tea dance. I could see no tea and the dance floor was smaller than the one we practised on in the British Legion on Wednesday.

The music was from a Swing Band and they looked the part. Probably about 12 musicians with two singers. We did get up for for the second dance, which was the tempo for a social foxtrot, but the dance floor, oh the dance floor. It was as if it was made from suede leather or felt. There was no way to do an Immelman Turn (actually a Telemark Turn) on that floor if you’d tried you would have ripped the sole from your dance shoe. All the tunes had roughly the same tempo. One waltz, no rumba, no cha-cha, no tango. Just social foxtrot after social foxtrot. There were two Swing dancers who definitely could dance, but the more I think about it, the more I think they were stooges. There to show off their skills to the music that was playing.

The floor was small and made even smaller because the band were taking up about half of the available space. To me, it looked like they’d sold as many seats as they could and hadn’t considered that people might like to dance at a tea dance. We left at half time, disappointed. The amount of people that were crammed into that space would be a fire hazard. The floor was no in any way a dance floor, and one of the ‘singers’ couldn’t sing. Honestly, I could have done a better job … well, maybe! Did you get the impression that we didn’t enjoy it? We didn’t.

Back home I got dressed for a walk and went over to St Mo’s. Got a few photos, but the light was all but gone by the time I got there. PoD went to a photo of a Cow Parsley seedhead.

Dinner was Celeriac Soup, Fish Pie (from M&S) and Apple and Bramble Crumble. All were good and there’s soup and crumble at least for tomorrow.

Spoke to Jamie and told him our story about selling the red car. Also our sorry tale about a tea dance with no tea and no room to dance.

Prompt for today was “Fowl”. The fowl I chose was a cockerel, a photo from Google and I thought it looked fairly good. It had a lovely red comb and I was tempted to add a bit of watercolour red to it, but I resisted the temptation and just washed in some ink. It’s done and in.

I’ve an appointment with the dentist tomorrow. First visit in three years! Apprehensive? Just a bit

 

 

Out for a walk – 12 October 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Out walking round Dalzell Estate with my brother.

The weather fairies were convinced that the weather today would start our wet in the morning, but would clear for the afternoon. I wasn’t so sure, but that’s exactly the way it turned out.

I sat and talked to Carol and Fiona and Ollie. Ollie didn’t say much, at least not much that I could understand, probably because he is only about 7months old, but he smiled a lot and made noises which is the best kind of talking.

Alex and I said goodbye to everyone and we headed off to Dalzell Estate and went for a walk in the woods. Some folk were having a picnic in a clearing. I don’t know what that was all about, but they didn’t invite us to join them so we walked on. From one of the bird hides we watched a flight of geese, some swans and a host of lapwings. I haven’t seen any lapwings (or ‘peeweeps’ as we call them on account of their call) for years. One of the serious bird photographers arrived and I think we were crowding his hide so we left to find a temple Alex wanted to show me. It was a fairly long walk, but one I remember going with him a year ago. Eventually we found the temple, but it wasn’t the one I was thinking about. After looking at a map tonight, I think I might have confused it with a mausoleum which is in the estate.

Anyway, we walked back to the car from there after admiring the “Big House”. It’s an impressive building with centuries of additions to the old part of it, but the land in front of the building has been turned into a car park which spoils the look completely. We stopped once more at the Japanese Garden where I got some decent shots of the maples. I also got a bruise on my bum when I slipped on the slimy steps up to the garden.

With some of the day left, we drove to Chatelherault in the outskirts of Hamilton and had a coffee in the cafe there, then went a walk down the broad avenue of trees that stretches for a mile or so to Hamilton itself. Walked further down to the Avon Water which was still in spate after last week’s rain. Back at the Chatelherault House itself I got PoD which is a view down the narrow avenue.

Drove home and dropped Alex at the house, then drove home for dinner before I changed from my waking gear into my dancing trousers and drove to the British Legion in Cumbersheugh for an hour long dance class. I wasn’t impressed with the first half which was Tango Serida. Not my favourite sequence dance. The second half was more interesting, but there were too many clowns in the class, every one a comic.  Let’s hope they calm down next week.

Today’s prompt was one of the vague ones, ‘Forget’. After a fair bit of soul searching, I decide on the one you see here: a note pinned to a wall.  I am a master of forgetful. My mum used to say “You’d lose yer heid if it wasn’t sewn on!” She was probably right. I haven’t lost my heid yet, but I’ve forgotten much more than I’ve remembered. Now what was I saying???

That was about it for a busy day. Tomorrow Scamp is hoping to get to Inverness for lunch with her sister. An early rise to get the train that will take her in to Glasgow and then a walk to the bus station to get the bus. Rather her than me.

On the Green – 9 October 2022

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The morning was dry, but not all that bright, but we’ll take ‘dry’ and get out.

We drove down to Glasgow Green where there were big spaces in the car park. It soon became clear that the reason for the spaces was the ‘pond’ that had appeared after the days of continuous rain we’ve had. Nobody wanted to park in the ‘pond’ , and neither did we, but we were there early and found a dry parking space.

We walked down to the McLennan arch near the High Court and then turned back along the path beside the Clyde. We took some time on the suspension bridge to watch some of the rowers in their twos, fours and eights and even one or two sculls. From there we walked on to the new bridge over the Clyde that would take us to Richmond Park. Not nearly as well kept as its English cousin, it’s in a bit of a state, and has been for some time now. Half of the original park was chopped up and sold to developers who now seem to have stalled, leaving it as an ugly, half finished building site. The pond is clogging up with litter and other kinds of detritus. Still, it doesn’t stop the model boat builders who were there today showing off their boats. That was the good part of the pond. We walked round the less well maintained section where there is a jungle, honestly that’s the only way to describe it, a jungle on an island in the middle of the pond. Ignored by the council, because it would cost too much to maintain. False economy, because it will just get worse with every year that passes.

We crossed back over the Clyde and walked past more building work on a piece of spare ground. This one looked more organized with proximity detectors to prevent intrusion. I photographed one that looked like a robot. Maybe it photographed me too! After a while we were recrossing our steps back to the car park where that big puddle was still guarding a few parking places.

Back home I decided it was time I cut my hair. It took longer than I thought, even with two clippers and Scamp to help me. It’s great to have a shower and have dry hair after a few minutes.

Dinner tonight was Seabass with roast veg and roast potatoes. Eaten while we watched a very strong Japanese GP which Verstappen won. Also, after a few a few scratched heads by the officials, he was also crowned World Champion because of an infringement by Le Clerc that dropped the Ferrari driver down to third place. Verstappen never seems to win a clear victory, but he did deserve today’s award.

Spoke to Jamie tonight and heard how he may have moved to his new company at the right time. Good luck to Simonne on her half marathon on Saturday.

Today’s Inktober prompt is “Nest”.  My sketch is of some wee hatchlings, what we in Larky used to call ‘Scuds” in their nest.  Not the best sketch in the world, but done and posted. PoD went to a “Meeting of Mushrooms”.  With all the UK parties having their conferences just now, maybe the mushrooms are thinking about having their own political party.  They couldn’t do much worse!

Tomorrow we’re going to see a man about a car.

The Elephant on the path – 2 October 2022

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We went for a walk and saw an elephant.

We did Wordle (Me 5, Scamp 3). We did Spelling Bee (Me 2 words, Scamp 1). I messed about with settings on the phone again and finally found a way of deleting all the annoying nonsense jokes and funny stories one of my pals dumps on me every day. Basically we just sat there wasting time while it was beautiful sunshine outside. Eventually one of Scamp’s “I’m fed up” sighs prompted me to ask “Should we go out for a walk?” Of course that was what the big sigh was for, so Scamp promptly agreed.

We walked out along the path to Broadwood and over the rickety bridge. Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to make a boardwalk out over part of Broadwood Loch, but make it out of plastic, presumably because it was cheaper and the plastic wouldn’t rot. It wouldn’t rot, but its not strong enough to hold lots of people either. NLC. Numpty Labour Council. Anyway we survived the Wibbly, Wobbly Way and walked on, over the dam down behind it and along past the exercise machines. Back up the hill and into then out of M&S with a bag full of messages.

It was when we were walking up the path to the house, I saw what I thought was a big fat slug on the kerb. On closer inspection, its skin was dry and not at all like a slugs slime. I tried to take some photos with my camera, but it wouldn’t focus close enough. My phone did, though. Back home I did a bit of research and found that it was in fact an Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar. Like the ugly duckling, it turns into a beautifully colourful moth. You didn’t think it was a real Elephant, did you. Come on, it’s Cumbersheugh. Somebody would have taken it home and hidden it in their bedroom. Ah, but that’s a different story that I might tell you some time. The photo of the Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar is on Flickr if you’re interested.

I started my dinner early. It was Stew and it needed a long time to cook, so I fried off the meat and dumped it with a chopped up onion, a couple of rubbery carrots and half a can of Guinness in the slow cooker and left it to slow cook for a couple of hours. Then I went for a walk in St Mo’s. It was still a lovely day but I found very little to photograph. I eventually settled for a single dandelion gone to seed. That became PoD.

The stew wasn’t great, because it wasn’t cooked for long enough. Scamp’s salmon was overcooked and the skin wouldn’t come off. Somewhere between those two extremes was the perfect dinner. Maybe tomorrow. Homemade Apple Sponge for dessert was perfect! Our apples too!

The prompt was ‘Scurry’? Well, it just had to be a mouse and cartoon mice are easier to draw than real live furry ones, so that was it settled. A cartoon mouse it was.

Spoke to Jamie later and we discussed phones and the difficulties of working with the Samsung website. Also on the discussion table was vegetable gardening. Glad he’s getting some decent tomatoes after a bit of a problem earlier in the year.

Hoping for a good day tomorrow. The weather fairies say don’t bother.

 

A much better day – 29 September 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Decided to have one more try at the Samsung website.

The expression “A Dug wi’ a Burst Ba’.” springs to mind. I just couldn’t let it lie. I just tried to buy the phone this time, but it still kicked me out. Then I thought it might be the extra £100 from Jamie’s generous offer that was causing problems. With a heavy heart I removed it and tried again. Lo and Behold, it worked! DPD sent me a message this afternoon to say they would be delivering my parcel tomorrow. Let’s hope it’s the phone and not the box to return the old Huawei!

So, with a skip in my step and after a lift from Scamp, I got a train in to Glasgow to meet Alex. We got the bus out to Kelvingrove and the picture above is what we saw when we got off, PoD captured. Beautiful light on Glasgow Uni with dark glowering skies above. It only lasted for a few minutes then the light was gone, heading north to brighten somebody else’s day. We listened to the organist playing the gigantic pipe organ in the main hall of Kelvingrove Art Galleries, then we had lunch. After that Alex wanted to photograph the ceiling of the main hall, so I loaned him my wide angle lens while I wandered round the galleries. For the first time in my life I plucked up courage and asked a total stranger if I could take their photo. Thankfully, she said Yes. I never asked her name and she didn’t ask mine, but she was sketching a plaster bust in one of the galleries. Thank you, whoever you are.

After we’d covered everything in the building, we walked up to Glasgow Uni. All that good light was well gone by then, but Alex was heading for the famous Cloisters to get some slow shutter photos of folk walking around them. I did the same, but neither of us was all that successful and we left the excited ‘Freshers’ to their conducted tours and walked back down the hill to get the bus into Glasgow.

There was a bloke came on to the bus in a fancy motorised wheelchair. We were impressed at the way he could manoeuvre it into a busy bus and then reverse it into the wheelchair space. I told him as we left how impressed I was with his driving skills and he just laughed and said “Thanks for noticing!”

Another coffee in Nero and we walked down to the bus station. Alex was getting the bus home and I was heading to the station hoping that Scamp would give me a lift home from there, which she did.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Cacciatore. Delightful with a glass of red. A great end to a really good day.

Tomorrow looks like rain from start to finish!

Hardly past the door – 25 September 2022

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It was a dull day. Rain that couldn’t make up its mind what to do at first, but settled for that misty, not-quite-rain we call Smirr in Scotland. Just plain miserable.

I made another start on clearing up the back bedroom and managed to find the sofa under old jeans and tee shirts that really need to be repaired or consigned to the bin. One pair of jeans have already left the room to go into a charity bag. Another pair is teetering on the edge of that same abyss. A load of old electronic junk is ready to meet the ‘small electrical’ skip in the near future. Heavens, if I keep going like this, I might even find the carpet soon.

After lunch I stretched a sketch of a house with the intention of splashing paint on it, but it didn’t quite dry out until much later in the day, but I’m sure it will be there tomorrow ready to be painted on. Watercolour, I think. Maybe a practise piece for a bigger painting on real watercolour paper.

Dinner was last night’s curry reheated. It tasted fine, but in retrospect, maybe it needed a little bit of liquid to help it soak into the rice.

Watched last night’s Strictly, but it was the same old stuff with the same old comments. Only the faces had changed’, and even then, only some of them. Same ‘judges’ same awful presenters. We discussed who would be first to go, but we both thought it would be the same person. We’ll see if we’re right next week.

Spoke to Jamie later and we discussed Assisted Steering or whatever it’s called on his car. He loves it and I hate it. Maybe I’ll come to make friends with it, but that will take some time. He sent us a newsletter from his new company which welcomes him into the team. It makes impressive reading. Seventeen years experience in the field? Where did all that time go?

The photo for today’s PoD was a tabletop shot. No way was I going out to wander around in the rain getting wet just to click a shutter at the right time. It covers two bases. It’s today’s PoD and it covers the brief for this week’s Flickr Friday which was ‘Drop’. This week it will be in on time.

No plans for tomorrow. The weather looks better than today, according to the weather fairies predictions.

 

Out to lunch – 23 September 2022

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June and Iain were taking us out to lunch today.

The day started with a morning call from Hazy. She sounded good and she agreed that she was feeling a lot better on her new meds. We caught up with all that was going on down south and we relayed what news we had. A good start to the day!

Scamp was out to FitSteps and while she was out I’d intended doing some painting, or slapping some paint on a piece of paper with pencil scratches on it, if you prefer. It never got done. Instead I took a series of selfie pictures, distorted ones for a FlickrFriday challenge. Unfortunately, I think I left it too late to post them because they’ve not appeared on the website. Still, they made an interesting, or funny, PoD.

Just as I was finishing, Scamp arrived home, had a quick shower and got changed. I’d already shaved off the stubble from the photograph session so a quick shower for me too and a change of clothes and we were both ready to go. No phone call from the garage to say when the car would be ready, so I was going to miss out on my lunchtime drink. There was no point in both of us missing out, so I said I’d drive us back home after lunch. That would allow Scamp to have a cheeky wee red with her meal.

June and Iain were waiting for us at the restaurant which wasn’t busy, so we got to choose where we sat. Scamp and Iain had Fish ’n’ Chips and June had Beef Bourguignon. I had my all time Dead Deer favourite, Gammon Steak with two eggs. The food didn’t take long to appear after our drinks, and it seemed to go down well. I must say that my gammon steak was the best I’ve ever had in the Dead Deer. Almost perfect. The only thing missing was the grilled pineapple rings that I used to get. The others went on to have dessert. Scamp had Banoffee Pie and Iain had White Chocolate and Raspberry Tart, but June was the star with a Black Forest Flower Pot with Dark Mousse, Cherries in Kirsch, Brownie Pieces and Whipped Cream! If you had seen it on the plate, you would have believed it was a real flower pot that had fallen spilling out its soil. It looked too good to eat, but it was scoffed! I had coffee. By the way, Hazy, there was no great revelation.

We sat and talked for a while, a long while and set the world to rights again. If they had only asked us, we could have fixed thing properly without the need for a Tory leadership contest, but they never listen, do they.

We thanked our kind benefactors and while they waited for a taxi, I drove Scamp and me home. Still no message from the garage to say what was going on with the car.

I phoned the garage when we got home, but nobody at the service desk wanted to answer. I left it a quarter of an hour and phoned again. This time I got to speak to the bloke who had arranged the car being signed in. He said they were still working on it and when I pressed him on a date for completion he said Monday or Tuesday next week. I asked him for a confirmation email that my insurance had been extended and he agreed to send it. I’m still waiting, but as it’s now almost 11pm, I don’t think it will arrive tonight. Yesterday I thought this garage had turned the corner, but now I think it’s in a one way street, going the wrong way. I’ll give them until Tuesday and then I’ll doorstep them to get an answer.

One final practise of the Jet Lag Waltz tonight and another of the Gershwin Foxtrot. I think we’re ready for the last dance class for almost a month while the teachers swan off to teach on a cruise ship. Somewhere warm, no doubt.

So, hopefully the White Duke will take us to Brookfield tomorrow and bring us back safely. Just as long as I remember to keep my left foot on the floor.

An early rise – 22 September 2022

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Up and out fairly early today to take the car to the garage for its service.

I thought it was going to be a nightmare run to Stirling. The rain was torrential when I woke, but by the time I was leaving it was tailing off and so was the traffic which usually turns the M80 into a carpark if you are travelling before 10am. A nice easy run to the garage.

Spoke to a lady assistant who asked if I’d had any problems with the car since the last service and when I handed her the typed up A4 sheet, she said “Oh! I see”, read it and promptly passed it on the service manager. Actually they couldn’t have been more helpful today. They seem to be under new management, so that might explain it. I signed all the paperwork, drew in a sharp intake of breath when the service assistant told me the cost of the Major Service and we walked out to my car for the day. It was a white Nissan Juke – automatic. His parting words to me were “Just remember not to lift your left foot.” Wise words. At the first roundabout I stamped on the brake, thinking it was the clutch. “Don’t lift your left foot” became my mantra for the drive home. My first thoughts were It’s BIG, It’s a bit noisier than the Micra and It’s got Sport Mode!!

After a bit of a kerfuffle I managed to reverse park The Beast and like all Nissans it complained about everything with warnings on the dashboard screen and beeps for every infringement.

I thought it would be good to go for a drive with Scamp. I knew she’d hate it. It’s too big and it goes too fast. I have to agree, but first I had to find how to put fuel into it. I could not find the switch to open the door that hides the fuel cap. The Micra has two tabs, one opens the bonnet and the other opens the fuel compartment. Eventually I gave in and read the instructions. To open the door, you press on the rear of the fuel compartment door, just like the Megane. Problem solved.

We drove out slowly and put in a few quids worth of petrol, then went for a run to The Kelpies. Just to annoy Scamp, I put on the heated seats when she wasn’t looking. That gave her a shock and a laugh (you taught me that, Jamie). I still don’t like them and Scamp hates them. I managed to drive all the way to Falkirk and only once did an ‘emergency stop’ by trying to use a clutch that wasn’t there. I also gave Scamp a laugh when I started trying to change gear in an automatic. My hand went to the gearstick quite a few times. When we parked at The Kelpies, I tried to pull on an invisible handbrake – the joys of ‘electronic handbrakes’.

The Kelpies were just as magical as they always are. We walked round them trying to see them from a different angle and being amazed at how lifelike they are. It was quite quiet today, no crowds. Well, it was quiet until a lorry load of visitors arrived and mobbed the place. There seemed to be hundreds of them. We went into the cafe and had lunch before they realised there was food nearby. Today’s PoD came from Helix Park, where The Kelpies live. It was a snap shot, not a snapshot. Saw it and took it before I realised that the bloke was with the woman in the background, wearing the yellow jacket and she was photographing him. Oops!

After we’d seen the great metal horses and walked round them, we headed home. Scamp bought birthday cards in Condorrat while I processed today’s photos. After that, we wrote the cards and I walked to Condorrat to post one. Hopefully the other will go to June for safe keeping tomorrow.

Oh yes, tomorrow. I got a phone call from the garage about 5pm to say Would it be ok to leave the Micra with them overnight until they finalise their investigations? I agreed that it would be fine by me. They confirmed that they would extend my insurance. So I get another day to find our more about the White Juke.

Tomorrow June and Iain are taking us out for lunch at the Red Deer (AKA the Dead Deer). Looking forward to it. Also looking forward to getting my Blue Micra back.

Just a lazy Sunday – 18 September 2022

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Didn’t even manage to get my Eight Active Hours or my 10,000 steps.

A lazy morning, completing our Wordle puzzles (I got 3 today, Scamp got a little more). Then we struggled to make the greatest number of words from the seven letters you’re allowed in Spelling Bee. Scamp beat me. These little puzzles have become a daily challenge and a matter of some competition.

I went for a walk in the afternoon after lunch. The sun didn’t come out to see me, though. It kept attempting to break through the clouds and I could see sunbeams over to the west, but they never came near us. It didn’t stop me taking photos. PoD went to a little yellow spider dangling on its web.

While I was out, Scamp was splitting up plants and repotting them, taking cuttings of others and pruning. She is so good at propagation. I’d guess that most, if not all of those cuttings ‘take’ by next year. Before I went out, I got the smelly job of turning over the compost in the bin. It’s now a lot less smelly, but I was for a while.

Dinner tonight was Just Soup then Trout Fillets with cabbage and potatoes. Apple and Rhubarb Crumble (our rhubarb and our apples) to end a Sunday dinner.

Spoke to Jamie later and got a fair bit of information about phones. Yes, the phone may be on the back burner, but it’s still there. Thanks for that Jamie. I did have a look on the Samsung website tonight.

There are no plans for tomorrow as yet.

Runnin’ – 11 September 2022

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Keeping up the theme of the last couple of days with the trailing apostrophe.

We weren’t actually doing any running ourselves, but today was the Cumbersheugh 10K and we were going to Broadwood Stadium to cheer on the runners.

It was a beautiful sunny morning and I didn’t mind foregoing my morning coffee for a walk down to Broadwood. We didn’t know when the 10K would start, but there were a lot of fit looking folk there already in a multitude of colours of lycra and all wearing running shoes that probably cost as much as one of my cameras. For the first time in my life I got to walk on the hallowed turf (well, astroturf actually ) of Broadwood Football Park. It was mobbed. We thought it was busy outside the stadium, but it was double or triple that inside, nearly all weans. But where there is a wean, there are usually at least two adults. Parents, Grannies, Granpas, Uncles etc. All cheering the weans on in the races. There were a variety of running styles being demonstrated, but thankfully none of under-teenagers was wearing tracksuits or lycra, that was reserved for the parents, grannies etc.

We watched the weans running races and getting their medals, but then there was almost an hour’s wait for the main event, the 10K. Thankfully, Scamp had brought a zip lock bag for us to fill with ripe brambles. The rain and the warm weather had meant that most of the brambles were just a bit too soft, but we managed to find enough to add to some of our apples to make a decent apple and bramble pie. Then we went for a walk round the exercise machines. We spoke to a woman who commended us on ‘foraging’, rather than just buying brambles in M&S. We agreed and finished our walk in time to find a good place for me to photograph the 10K.  The first man out the blocks was PoD.

What you never get to experience when you watch a group of runners on the TV is the breeze they create as they pass. I remember, years ago waiting for the peloton to pass in Ireland when the Tour de France started from there and being taken aback by the wind they generated as the body of riders displaced the air they were travelling through. It was the same today, although in a slightly smaller scale.

Once the pack had passed and the walkers tagged on behind, we walked over the dam and sat on a seat to watch for them returning, but they never did. Instead they came back by a totally different route. We couldn’t be bothered waiting and lunch was calling, so we walked back home. The closer we got to home, the heavier the clouds were looking. Scamp had washing hanging out, so we were on guard.

After lunch, Scamp made the Apple and Bramble Pie and just as she was finishing, she called through to me to take the washing in, because the rain was starting. It was a good call, because it wasn’t a passing shower, it just got heavier. The washing was safely gathered in by then and dessert was ready for the oven, as was the Fish Pie from M&S.

That fish pie was delicious, although I’m blaming it for a bit of heartburn tonight. The pie was also excellent with just enough sharpness and sugar in the apples and the lovely bramble juice too.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about the visit from Yves and Simonne’s cousin.  We heard about Tennents Super Lager and the lack of serviettes.

On the phone question, I’ve decided to put it on the back burner for now.  Not literally, although sometimes I think that might be a possible solution.  It’s working.  It does what I need.  It’s sometimes cantakerous and does things its way, but then, so am I. It may not stay on that virtual back burner for long, but it’s there for now.

Tomorrow we have no plans.   We need a few days without plans.