Category: Folk

Computers, Drumpellier and Drives – 28 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

The computer was still acting up today, but walking in Drumpellier woods was refreshing.

It was the blue sky this morning that made us want to get up and go out somewhere. The somewhere Scamp suggested was Drumpellier and I agreed.

We walked round the pond in a clockwise direction which was the opposite to our usual mode of travel. Again, it was like walking on a travelator, everyone walking in the same direction at almost the same speed. We accelerated and walked past a lot of folk. Overtaking on bends too because we were accomplished walkers and could do that sort of thing. Scamp suggested we walk away from the travelator and head up towards the cricket pitch and that’s what we did. The walk took us out into the woods and then we followed our noses until we found a likely side path to travel on. There are literally hundreds of side paths in Drumpellier and today’s one was a path we’d walked before. It was really mucky and I don’t think Scamp was all that impressed with it, but the light was good and there was a fair bit of gentle climbing then a sharp descent on the far side. All in all it was a good walk and most enjoyable. The only down side was the lack of an ice cream van, not surprising really since it is nearly the end of December.

We drove into Coatbridge proper and I went to Currys to get yet another external SSD drive. The computer is still playing up and one possible way to fix it is to remove almost a year’s worth of photos from the internal HDD and put them on to an SSD, so creating over 300GB of extra space. Long story short, the move worked, but the problem is still there. I’ve a couple of possible fixes still in my head, but both of them are more severe and I’m loath to apply them.

Tomato soup for dinner tonight with toasted croutons. Slow cooked roasted tomatoes and peppers, the ones Scamp had bought for less than a pound yesterday. It was a bit thinner than the last batch, but it still worked. Some left for tomorrow’s lunch.

PoD went to a trio of walkers ahead of us just cresting the rise before the descent. I really liked the light on the bushes and trees.

No plans for tomorrow, but it looks wet, so maybe more computer antics.

The world’s gone mad – 23 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

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.

A walk in Glasgow and a short day, the shortest – 21 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

We decided we’d go into Glasgow for a walk to see the lights.

There weren’t nearly as many folk wandering the streets of Glasgow as there were a couple of weeks ago when Alex and I were there. We walked down Bucky Street and thought the crowds were sparse. Only half the stalls were in St Enoch’s Christmas market and Argyle street just had normal weekday shoppers. When we walked up Queen Street the streets were almost deserted. I think we were both shocked by the lack of footfall at what should have been the busiest week of the year. Only Covid seems to be doing good business!

Back home, another parcel was ready to be posted and although I had taken a few shots in Glasgow, I wasn’t sure I had a worthwhile PoD, so I took a camera when I went out to post it. For some reason, and for the second time I’d been at Condorrat post office recently, it was surprisingly empty. Maybe everybody is ahead of the game this year and already have all their cards and parcels posted. It’s either that or, as the lack of crowds in Glasgow would seem to indicate, nobody’s buying presents or spending cards. Anyway, parcel posted and cards too, I went for a walk in St Mo’s woods. Couldn’t find much sign of life animal or vegetable, but I did see the wee pond reflecting a leafless tree and took some shots of that. It was one of them that made PoD. A photo of Bucky Street from the Concert Hall joined it on Flickr.

That was about the end of the excitement and the exercise for today, but I did achieve my 10,000 steps which I haven’t done for a long time.

Today was the shortest day and it felt like it too. From now on the days will get longer, the sun will shine bright and longer and that will cause the temperature to increase. Oh look! Another flying pig!!

Tomorrow I’m out for coffee with Val. A chance for some ‘tech talk’. Then in the afternoon we are hoping to visit Margie. Getting out and about for a change.

Back at the Fort – 16 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Feeling a bit flat today.

No, it wasn’t the tyres. We were going in Scamp’s car today except I was driving, but when I turned the key, nothing! The battery was flat. Possibly there is an earth leak somewhere or perhaps that cold snap dragged the battery down because it had only been run once in the last month and that was a fairly short run. Whatever, it was my car that I drove to the Fort.

Scamp was going to Next, M&S and Boots. But she had to score Boots off the list because they were counting them in and counting them out today. That’s not supposed to happen until Saturday, so maybe the staff were getting some practise in before the big day, or maybe they were just doing it to screw up the punters day. It didn’t seem to bother the folk who were queueing all the way along the frontage of Boots shop and that’s a really long front.

I was lucky, I was going for two sheets of thin neoprene and a roll of sticky backed velcro. Found both and waited about five minutes to pay. Heaven knows how long the punters outside Boots would have waited for their goods.

Drove home and after peering at the sky, decided I’d go for a walk first to grab some of the available light before it all disappeared. A walk in the woods at St Mo’s got me the PoD. It was an oak leaf with raindrops on it. The detail in the leaf really impressed me as did the colours that were there. No fancy filters or presets were used in it, just an adjustment to the levels (tones) and a bit of judicious cropping. Otherwise it was SOOC or Straight Out Of Camera. Walked down to the shops and felt a bit nervous about being in a crowd of people. I’d felt the same in Glasgow earlier and I did the same thing again, I put my mask on, at least until I was out of the crowds. How the media hype things up makes you think and act defensively at times.

Back home we hadn’t long to wait for the man from Virgin. This one was on the ball. No delving into the innards of the modem, he just tried twice then deemed that the modem was at fault. He put a new one in and it worked right away. All the websites we couldn’t reach without a VPN were now right there. Poor bloke had been working from 7am and didn’t finish today until 8pm. That’s a long shift. He gets 10/10 for everything in the evaluation email that’s coming soon.

Scamp’s been labouring all evening trying to fit a quart into a pint pot. I swear when one of the recipients of a Christmas parcel cuts the tape the contents will expand to fill the room. You have been warned!!

I think that’s the day covered. Scamp has a booking with the Witches for a Christmas lunch tomorrow. I have things to do and a Tesco delivery to find places for until someone tells me where they should all go.

Another dull, wet day – 15 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

It rained all day today, but Scamp went out for a walk in the rain.

It was a busy day, though. While Scamp was out posting Christmas cards the engineer arrived to service the boiler. While he was working away Hazy phoned. I just knew she was more interested in getting more information from her mum than talking to me, so I asked her to phone back which she did. Scamp arrived back just in time to save me pulling a cupboard apart to find the maintenance log for the engineer to sign. He gave us a lot of useful information in the time he was here. He showed us a much better way to use the central heating and keep the house warmer too. It’s always good to get information from someone who knows what they’re talking about. In half an hour he passed on more useful knowledge than the bloke from Scottish Gas had given us when he was fitting the boiler. So, the boiler was fine, as you’d expect considering it’s just over a year old, and the house is now a lot warmer without getting too hot.

Once he was on his way, we settled down to hear what was going on in Hazy’s house, while one of her cats was screaming to be fed. Poor wee soul hadn’t been fed for years apparently. Worse still, that bad girl was too busy talking on the phone to do anything about it. Scamp related her tale of woe about NHS waiting lists and the difference if you’re willing to pay. I hardly got a word in edgewise, but that was probably for the best ”It’s always good to get information from someone who knows what they’re talking about”.

After lunch Jackie phoned and I took the opportunity to boot up and go out for a walk in the rain. If it was good enough for Scamp, it was good enough for me. PoD came from that walk and is one of those little weeds I delight in photographing with raindrops clinging to the bracts that used to hold flowers. There is a saying “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” My thoughts today were “If life gives you rain, photograph it.” That’s what I did. Of course the photo is slightly fake edited. I used the new masking tools in Lightroom to blur the background while keeping the subject sharp. It’s not perfect, but it’s a pretty clever tool.

I walked down to the shops and got some frozen sweet corn to make Celeriac and Sweetcorn soup. It sounds awful, but it actually tastes very good. We were both agreed on that.

Years ago I made an adjustable lens hood for one of my Oly lenses. I found the drawing for it tonight and managed to export it from the PC to the Mac and print it out from there. Transferred it to a sheet of neoprene and lo and behold, it fits the new macro lens that didn’t come with a lens hood. I need to get some black velcro tomorrow to finish it.

That’s about it for today. Like I said, it was a busy day. I think we may be going to the Fort tomorrow.

Going to see the Eye Man – 14 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Another dull morning, but for once weather wasn’t on our minds.

After lunch we got ready and headed off to Ross Hall Hospital. It was a murky looking day and immediately we left the estate, the automatic headlights came on. Once we were booked in, Scamp went off to be measured for the new lenses, then they put drops in her eyes to dilate them and the optician checked her eyes and did the same tests that Scamp had at Hairmyres. I got to sit in on those tests too. Next we went to speak to the surgeon who talked her through the operation, and answered the few questions she had. Then he booked her for the procedure on the 17th of February which is a great deal better than the 12 months she was offered at Hairmyres. It would have been sooner, but the specialised lenses she’ll need will take longer to make than normal lenses. I do believe she is relieved!! Ok, it’s private and quite expensive, but it will be done a lot quicker that on the NHS. Also NHS wanted her to wait three months from getting the first eye done to getting the second. Ross Hall said one week! The date of the first procedure is our wedding anniversary too!

The drive back was horrendous. Some poor bloke had broken down in the overtaking lane of the Kingston Bridge and the traffic was backed up for five miles. Took us an hour and a half to get back. For once we weren’t all that bothered. We’d put a big tick in a big box today. Best of all, she can now put her contact lenses in again and put the glasses in their box. She looked like Scamp again!

Dinner tonight was a curry ready-meal from M&S. Butter Chicken for Scamp and Chicken Jalfrezi for me. We even had a wee drink tonight to celebrate the occasion.

Maybe if that poor bloke hadn’t broken down on the Kingston Bridge, I might have had a chance of a photo over in St Mo’s, or maybe not. PoD today was a traditional shot of Fairy Nuff on the Christmas tree.

We’ve got an engineer booked to service the boiler tomorrow morning and I’m hoping against hope that the sun will shine after that and I’ll get a chance to put the new lens through its paces.

A long lie-in – 12 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

At last a lazy lie-in. I did enjoy that.

We had booked an engineer’s call today and he arrived just as the final F1 GP of the year was starting. Poor guy, Simon was his name and we think he was Polish. He looked a bit out of his depth. He did all the things that I’d already done. He reset the modem to factory settings and he tried connecting using what we thought was his phone and he got through to all the sites we couldn’t reach. However, neither Scamp nor I could. We were still getting the error message. After a few phone calls back to base he tried using what was his personal phone and hit our problem. His previous connection had been done with his Virgin PDA which he admitted had a lot more software on it that allowed it to shortcut the normal wireless routes.

In the midst of all this I asked him about all the corruption we were getting on the TV and asked if it was just cables needing cleaned. He agreed that it was the usual cause. However once he’d checked the connections, he said that wasn’t the case here, it was the hard drive in the TiVo box that was giving the problem. He went to his van and returned with what looked like a new modem, but it was a new set top box, not a TiVo this time. He fitted the new box, and set it up while still struggling with the modem problem. Eventually he gave up, gave me his phone number and told me he’s go and discuss it with his manager and get back to me.

We sat there in amazement. We’d been trying for years to get Virgin to admit that the corruption was due to a dodgy hard drive, but they insisted it was just the cables that needed cleaned. All we needed to do was book a service engineer and Bingo, a new set top box appears. It’s about a quarter the size of the old one and much, much faster. All this time I’ve been blaming the TV for taking so long to connect to iPlayer and it was the TiVo box all the time.

He did phone back and said that it looks as if some of the sites have blocked our IP address. We need to phone Customer Services and ask to be put through to the Faults Team who should be able to change the default IP address. I realise this is just gobbledegook to you Jamie, but maybe your sister will understand it a bit better.

The story doesn’t end there. The window cleaner came to get his money tonight and he said “I think you’ve left a brief case out in the rain” pointing at a very wet black shape that did in fact look like a brief case sitting on one of our bins. As I reached for it, I realised it was our old TiVo box. Poor Simon, he was so bamboozled by our problem that he left the box sitting there while he went looking for the external connection box to make sure the problem wasn’t there. It’s lying in the kitchen now drying out gradually, but I don’t think it will ever dance with the Bolshoi again!

Watched a confusing F1 GP on and off while the repair was going happening. It was more ‘Off’ than ‘On’ as the new box was taking ages to boot up. Great to see Verstappen win, but to be honest, neither of them covered themselves in glory. It was also good to see that smug smile wiped from Toto Wolf’s face when he realised what was happening. So much hype, so much macho posturing from the team principals, so much bad feeling. Then the the drivers themselves fist bumped and behaved like sportsmen on screen despite what they said off screen. A strange day. It might be worth watching the highlights just to see how stupid it all was.

Almost no chance for photos today. The furthest I was away from the house was to bring the car down to our parking space from where I’d parked it last night. PoD was a shot of some starlings sitting in the bare trees trying to find some berries for their dinner. Ours was beef burger for me, veggie sausages for Scamp, both served with roasted veg. Scamp’s Christmas Sponge for pudding, served with custard.

Tomorrow we’re going for the messages and to get Scamp’s meds. I also need to call the faults team.

A day in the Toon with Alex – 10 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Just a wee saunter round the toon.

We had intended travelling on the subway to Kelvinbridge for today’s photo safari, but instead Alex decided a walk round Glasgow to photograph the lights would be a better use of the day. It was his choice today and I agreed with him. Probably a lot more to see in the city centre than in the West End.

We walked down Bucky street from the Concert Hall were we’d agreed to meet, and went for a coffee in Nero. The market in St Enoch’s Square was just warming up and we managed a few photos before it got too busy. From there we walked along Argyle Street in the general direction of Glasgow Cross then turned on to Parnie Street where we took the opportunity to ogle the toys in Quiggs, now rebranded Merchant City Cameras, but for people of our generation it will forever be ‘Quiggs’. Not wishing to purchase anything today we walked on to take some photos of the McLennan Arch and the Collins Fountain at the entrance to Glasgow Green. Then it was on to the Clyde Walkway to see the graffiti and photograph the better pieces. It’s a bit of a shame that some of the new stuff covers up the old ‘Tiger’ that had been there for years. It’s probably still there, under a couple of coats of paint. I suppose you could argue that it’s had its day in the sun and should really make room for the new works. Still …

By this time we were feeling the need for some food, so we headed for the St Enoch Centre to see what we could find. We ended up in Aulds. Me with a sausage roll (a bit greasy but ok for lunch) and Alex with a cold ham sandwich. Cup of coffee each washed the food down. Back outside Alex wanted another look at the street food market and I wandered round taking street photos. By this time the temperature was dropping and we were heading for home.

One more stop for Alex was the posh House of Frazer. He knew exactly where he was going. Up to the first floor to get a view looking straight down the elegantly draped walls of the clothes shop. I thought we’d have attracted security, but nobody paid any notice, so I took a few shots too. One of them made PoD.

Outside we walked up Bucky Street and I glanced at a street magician trying to attract a crowd. He waved back at me and I turned away. As I did that I realised that his face was familiar. He was a former pupil. I can’t remember his name, but I did teach him. In class he was a quiet individual who seemed to lack confidence. Then at the annual end of term show he appeared on stage and did magic tricks. Everybody, and I mean Everybody was shocked to see this quiet wee boy exuding confidence. And here he was today giving it his best shot. He even said to his crowd “That’s my old teacher.” I stopped, turned, gave him the scary teacher look and said “Less of the OLD, you!” He laughs, I laughed and the crowd joined in. The next time I’m in Glasgow I must look for him. Still can’t remember his name though. It’ll come to me.

I walked Alex to his bus and then headed back to Buchanan Galleries to drive home. Stopped at Condorrat on the way to get a Special Fish Supper and a tub of ice cream. The fish supper was consumed with gusto and the ice cream is in the freezer for tomorrow.

Helped Scamp later to form and coat some rum truffles. That should be RUM truffles, because there was a fair amount of the spirit in them. They did taste good.

Scamp has booked an appointment for Ross Hall Hospital for a second opinion on the cataract situation. Let’s hope they can do the job quicker than Hairmyres.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go to dance class. Lateral Flow test first just in case.

Encouraged – 6 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Woke to rain, heavy rain, thumping down.

This wasn’t going to be a good photographing day by the looks of things. Sat down and got started on yesterday’s unfinished sudoku. There are six sudoku puzzles a week in the Times daily block. Five weekday puzzles were Monday is the easiest and Friday is really hard. You get two days to solve one weekend puzzle which is at times diabolical. On Saturday I started what looked like a remarkably easy one, but I wasn’t fooled. Last night I was still struggling with it. As sometimes happens, when I look at it afresh, like today, it just falls into place. Easy! With that done and after a false start, I got today’s done. That took me to coffee time. By the time I’d finished my coffee the sun had come out properly and the rain had stopped. That’s when I was ’encouraged’ by Scamp to go for a walk while the sun was out.

This was a two camera day. I thought I might get some decent light and with the kit lens on the big camera and the macro on the other one, I was ready for most things. I saw my first opportunity when I was walking up the path to the ’venchie. That was the abbreviated version of Adventure Playground. It’s a bit more upmarket than the one that two of my readers would remember, but is just as well used. By kids in the daylight hours and neds in the evenings. You don’t want to know what goes on in there after dark. You might think you know, but it will always be worse. Anyway, it was just a photo of a leaf and it was just to get the ball rolling so to speak. Next I found an old scarf tied to a tree branch. It has been there for years and is now growing all sorts of fungi and a nicely sprouting hummock of moss on top. Quite photogenic to a photog.

Walked over to St Mo’s where everyone but me had a dog. Dog walkers look at you kind of strange if you’re walking alone and without a dog on a string. Why? Dog-walkers, on the end of that bit of string is a creature that is one stage away from a carnivorous wild animal. And you think I’m strange? Some of them even have two or three of the things. Each of them capable of communicating with each other and planning your demise in a language no translator will be able to understand. I walked on.

I took photos of Cladonia lichen which I love and besides it looks as if I’m photographing a rock. Sometime I talk to myself while I’m doing it. That really spooks the dog-walkers. You can see them pulling their pooches away from the obviously deranged man in the old dirty jacket. You see how photogs get a bad name now? PoD ended up being a monochrome shot of a park bench in St Mo’s. The scarf came a close second and in third place was a rather limp nettle. All can be seen on Flickr.

After lunch I spent the rest of the afternoon trying and failing to avoid writing Christmas cards until dinner time. Spaghetti Carbonara followed by panna cotta.

A strange thing happend last night, just as I was locking up before going to bed.  There was what looked like an envelope lying in the garden.  I went out to have a look and it was indeed an envelope.  No address on the front, just a message Merry Christmas.  Inside was a Christmas card with a message “To you Stranger.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.  A random act of kindness perhaps?  Scamp suggested we put it in the window in the kitchen.  Hopefully someone will see that it was delivered and read.  There are good people out there.

Tomorrow Scamp has an appointment with the dentist and I’m taxi driver.

 

 

Dancin’ Class – 4 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

“Hooray!” Said Scamp.

This morning we drove through sleet and rain all the way over to Brookfield for the Saturday morning dance class. We got a rousing reception from Stewart and Jane. Maybe that was partly because there were only a few of us dancers there, five couples in total, not counting the teachers. We started with a couple of sequence dance tracks to get us warmed up, then it was into the Christmas Pudding Rock. I was glad of yesterday’s teaching session from Scamp and even with that it took me a few dances to get into the swing of it.

Next was the Rumba. What we’d started calling the Lockdown Rumba, but this was a more polished version of that dance and it had also been lengthened too with some tricky steps, mainly aimed at the ladies, thankfully. We made not a bad fist of it all in all, but with lots of phone videos to fall back on, I’m sure an hour of so’s practise at home will help us put it all together for next week. We finished off with another sequence dance and we were done for today. It’s not often I say this about dance class, but I did enjoy today.

Drove home through traffic that was just a little worse than our usual return journey. Weather was poor again, but I think the Christmas ‘run to the shops at the weekend’ has begun in earnest now. However with a bit of judicious lane changing we managed to get back in about an hour.

After lunch, the light was disappearing fast, if it had appeared at all. I gave up any hope of getting an outside photo today, then Scamp commented that there was a lovely break in the clouds, over to the west. I knew I didn’t have time to kit up and go looking for that light, so I had a look out the back bedroom window and that’s where today’s PoD came from. It’s a four frame panorama of the Campsie Fells bathed in the light from the ‘golden hour’. It only lasted about fifteen minutes and it was gone, but the photos recorded it.

Dinner was Sweet Potato, Chilli Flakes and Lime soup. It was a bit thin, but tasted fine, if a little spicy. More in the pot for tomorrow. Scamp had made Sultana Cake yesterday and pudding was that cake with custard. Just a Saturday night dinner.

Watched an interesting Dubai GP. Lots of thrills and spills. Driving like it should be without too much politics.

I think the iMac has just finished backing up to an external SSD drive. I’ll be interested to see how fast it boots from that.

We have no plans for tomorrow but I hope it’s a bit warmer than today when the temperature rose to a magnificent 5ºc.