Category: Folk

Today we went to Glasgow – 12 July 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Off to the Toon

We drove in to Buchanan Galleries this morning and got parked on level 3. Until Covid-19 made home working the norm and commuting a thing of the past, parking anywhere below level 5 would have been impossible. Today it’s become just a normal occurrence.

We walked up a busy Sausage Roll Street (real name Sauchiehall Street). I went left to get my hair cut and Scamp continued on to look for a dress shop. While I was waiting for the sole barber to finish the bloke in the chair, I noticed Scamp outside. I wondered what could be wrong, but it turned out that the shop no longer existed. Like so many it had become a victim of the same change in ways of working that allowed parking on level three of the car park. It is down to insufficient footfall. The barber, when he was cutting my hair said the same thing. He finished cutting my hair around 12.30 and I had been the second customer that day.

I met Scamp and we went for a walk through the town. Nobody in the Central Belt talks about the City of Glasgow. Glasgow is The Town or The Toon if you’re my age. Edinburgh is A City, Glasgow is The Town.

I wanted to have a look in a charity shop that used to specialise in cameras and lenses, but I think they are just starting to get back on their feet after the stramash of the last year and a half. They didn’t seem to have anything to interest me. We walked down to Argyle Street and for coffee and a bite to eat in Cafe Nero. Then it was on to Queen Street where Scamp wanted to visit Next and I didn’t. I did wander into and out of Cass Art. Nothing much to interest me there. However I noticed a shoe style that Scamp likes in Shuropody next door. Managed to catch her as she was walking past and she got a new pair of shoes that she wears about the house like slippers! We went home.

The day had improved greatly since we left the house and when we returned, Scamp set to, to rake up the leaves from next door’s tree. It might be in Angela’s garden, but it will always be referred to as Betty’s tree, Betty being the previous tenant. I got my, now manky, shorts on (retrieved from the washing basket!) and took my Sony with the Sigma lens for a walk in St Mo’s. I took lots of photos, but really wasn’t all that impressed with the results. The PoD went to a picture of another battered and bruised butterfly. This one was a Ringlet. Second favourite was this one, taken outside the GOMA on Queen Street.

Dinner tonight was Pasta with Pesto. Too much garlic in the pesto and maybe a mixture of leaves is better than just basil. I’ll try to remember that next time.

We watched the first University Challenge of the new series and saw Glasgow Uni soundly beaten by some London mob. Really, they both were thick! I think I answered almost as many questions as either team. I don’t think the London mob will go far.

Not a bad day. Scamp came home from The Town with a new dress and a new pair of shoes. I came home with a new haircut. Number 3 on the side and back, Number 4 on top. Apparently that’s called Two Guards!

Tomorrow we’re probably going shopping … or so I’m told.

A dull day – 26 June 2021

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A white sky is never a good start to a day.

The white sky didn’t disappear as we hoped it would. It just hung there all day. Eventually we agreed we’d had enough. We needed carrots for tonight’s dinner and there was but a teaspoon of gin left in the Hortus bottle. The obvious solution to this dilemma was to go to Lidl in Kilsyth for necessary supplies.

We got both the necessities as well as many other things like bread and maybe tomorrow’s dinner for me. What we really needed was a walk, somewhere nice, as I’d predicted yesterday. To fulfil the prophecy we drove to Colzium and did the energy sapping walk up the avenue of trees and rhododendrons to the Big House and that’s where I found today’s PoD which is of a single rhododendron flower with a ring of pistils around it. Almost a macro, but taken with the now superb Samyang 18mm lens that’s really an ultra-wide angle, but does a good impersonation of a macro lens.

We walked on round the old driveway almost to the Tak Ma Doon road. Scamp decided we should take the path through the woods after that because “It’s not too steep”. I knew better, but I said nothing, because I know better. Less than five minutes later she realised her mistake. This is a really steep track, but it was a good day and we here having a bit of exercise on the walk. Crossed the burn at the bridge at the top of the climb and it was all downhill after that.

We got a cone each from an ice cream van on the way to the car. The bloke in the van regaled with the cost of to small businesses of our present no-cash society. I hadn’t realised just how much it costs to use these touch machines. Maybe it’s time we started going to the bank and getting some real money rather than taking the easy way out. The ice cream was good.

Back home I made carrot and lentil curry for dinner and it was just as good as it usually is, not quite as good as Scamp’s, of course, but it’s hard to improve on perfection.

Another practise of the Foxtrot again tonight and after that a sampling of the new bottle of gin.

Tomorrow we have nothing planned, but a walk is always an option.

Shopping at The Fort – 23 June 2021

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Today Scamp wanted to visit The Fort in Glasgow. I went along to have a browse in Waterstones.

I also wanted to have a look for a new pair of trainers. My old, much maligned Merrills are beginning to fall apart. That seems a common occurrence for me and Merrills. The boots are heading the same way, in fact they are leading the race to the tip. I didn’t see anything that inspired me to pull out my wallet and commit some of my hard earned cash to JD Sport or any other footwear purveyors. Not a total surprise to Scamp or I.

I did have a browse around Waterstones and noted a few book titles that I might add to my reading list. However, I’ll probably wait a month or so until the prices come down to something more like reality. The price of books these days!!

Met us with Scamp again and went food shopping in M&S. The till was run by someone who looked disdainfully at all these shoppers waiting for her to scan their miserable food items. Eventually, when the time came to pay she attempted a smile, but I think she needs more time in front of the mirror, practising it.

When I was wandering around this fortress earlier I noticed that almost an entire row of premises were closed and boarded up. Or, as the sign said, just ready to become “New stores you’re sure to adore”. It’s the effect of the pandemic on shops. Topshop, TopMan, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans and Burton all closed for good. Only one left in this block.
Who’s NEXT?
This retail disaster became my PoD. After a bit of manipulation in Photoshop, the three frame panorama looked pretty much how I’d seen it.

Back home and after lunch I started to cut down a rogue tree that has appeared between us and our next door neighbour. I asked her last week if she was really attached to it and she said no, so today I took the loppers and with help from Scamp we got about half of it cut down, chopped up and dumped in the Garden Waste bin. Thankfully it should get uplifted tomorrow, because it’s nearly full now. Scamp went off to visit her sister and while she was away I potted up a sickly looking chilli plant and half a dozen aquilegia seedlings. I had just finished and left her a note to say I was off to St Mo’s when the lady herself returned. There was nothing of note in St Mo’s. I’d seen a Fire Bug yesterday and was hoping to be able to grab a shot of it, but it was nowhere to be seen. Maybe tomorrow.

For dinner tonight Scamp made Pulled Chicken and Chipotle Black Beans. The last time she made it, there was very little chilli heat. There was tonight! Hope the remainder doesn’t get hotter for lunch tomorrow.

A quick dance practise tonight and I think we may have ironed out one of the sticky bits in the Slow Foxtrot. It’s all to do with a little twist before the second Whisk. That probably means nothing to you, although JIC may know what I’m talking about. It’s really just a little reminder to us that might explain how we’ve solved the problem.

No real plans for tomorrow. We had some rain tonight and we’re expecting more tomorrow. The gardens need it.

Exploring – 16 June 2021

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Today we were off exploring the East Neuk of Fife.

We drove south from St Andrews on the coast road, like real tourists. We were just passing through Kingsbarns which is really a posh hotel and a golf course with some houses attached, when I noticed a sign for Cambo House. We’d been there many years ago to see the snowdrops that it’s famous for, great swathes of them as I remember it. No snowdrops today, but at least there was a decent amount of parking.

We walked from the carpark to what I thought must be the House and paid our entrance fee that was really the entrance to the walled garden. If I’d been more observant, I might have decided not to shell out a few quid just to see a walled garden. There’s one in Colzium that’s really well laid out and free. But, Scamp likes gardens of all descriptions and also we’d paid our money so we went to see the gardens.

What a garden this was, not the manicured garden like Colzium. No neat borders with carefully labeled plants. This was a real garden with plants of all descriptions everywhere. Herbs, roses, herbaceous, veg patches, fruit trees, in fact everything that we’ve got in our garden, including a knowledgeable gardener which we also have in Scamp! We wandered round and I took loads of photos. Glad I’d brought the macro lens today. We found a strange plant with pink fluffy flowers and aquilegia-like leaves. We asked the gardener what it was and I showed her a photo of it, but she dismissed it as “not a very good photo”! Cheek! However, she laughed, so I didn’t take too much offence. She knew what the plant was, but couldn’t quite remember the name of it. She was a volunteer gardener and said the head gardener would know. We stood talking to her for a while comparing this garden with its dry, light soil with our builders rubble that’s covered by a thin layer of topsoil that turns into a swamp every time it rains. After that we left to see what else we could find.

We walked out of the garden and down the path to the beach. That’s when we saw Cambo House. It’s an impressive Big House set in acres of lawns. Private, of course, but if you’ve got a house like that, you want to keep it good and not let the proles in. It was Scamp who saw the robot lawnmower trundling around the garden in what seemed like random directions. We stood watching it for a while before we continued our walk down beside a wee burn on a path that reminded me for the second time of Colzium with the winding path beside the Colzium Burn. I saw a beautiful spread of bright red poppies as we neared the beach and managed to make a panorama of it back at the caravan. The poppies reminded me of summer holidays in East Lothian where they seemed to grow in all the barley fields around Ormiston.

The beach itself was a bit like any other with a path between it and the Kingsbarns golf course. There seems to be a never-ending succession of golf courses along this part of the Fife coast. After a walk along the beach, we turned and walked back on the path, then found an easier path back past the Big House to what must have been farm buildings that housed the shop and the cafe. We had intended having a coffee and a bite to eat, but there were no free tables, all the ones that were there were socially distanced around the courtyard. We decided we’d continue our exploration and see if Crail or Anstruther had anything better to offer. At least we’d be able to get something to eat there.

Crail was a disaster for parking. We did find a place down by the harbour, but all the narrow streets were clogged with cars parked on both sides of the road so we headed off to Anstruther. It turned out to be even more disappointing. No places in the carparks and a similar congestion. Why don’t we go back to Cambo and see if there are any tables free now. We did and there were. We had a slice of excellent Tortilla each and a cup of coffee to go with it, plus a Portuguese custard tart to share. Even better, we wandered round the shop and found the pink fluffy plant we’d seen, so we bought it. It’s a Thalictrum Aquilegiifolium. Feeling much happier than the last time we exited Cambo a couple of hours before, we drove back to the caravan.

Tonight we thought we’d walk in to town and have dinner in Little Italy which came recommended. Yesterday we had thought to have lunch there. The sign said open 12.30 until Late and it was about 4pm, so it should be fine. Unfortunately when we asked for a table we were told they were closed. There were people still sitting at tables, but they were closed. Maybe 4pm is late in St Andrews. Today we were refused entry again. This time, allegedly, the restaurant was fully booked. Have you ever had the feeling that your face doesn’t fit? Instead we found ourselves standing outside a pizza restaurant when a Canadian drawl behind us said “You won’t be disappointed”. As I turned round I honestly thought it was Shannon from salsa. It wasn’t, but she was right, we weren’t disappointed. The restaurant looked very like Paesano. The menu was in a similar style and even the pizzas were familiar looking. I’m glad we didn’t get in to LI. This was much better all round. It was called Mozza. If your ever in St Andrews, try it out. You won’t be disappointed.

Walked back to the caravan via the harbour. Walked along the harbour wall and watched some teenagers jumping into the water. Posh english teenagers probably from one of the private schools.

Sat and watched the sun go down with a couple of G&Ts out on the decking of the caravan.

Off to Fife – 15 June 2021

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St Andrews to be more precise, where we were hoping that yesterdays keys (Remember them?) would open a door to a new experience.

After a tedious drive through a thousand little villages, each with their own 30mph signs, behind one of the slowest Sainsbury’s artics in the western world, we found a motorway. We were only on it for about 10 miles, if that, but that was enough to leave the Sainsbury’s leviathan in our dust. Then it was back to the grind of another thousand even smaller villages and roadworks before the sat nav took us away at 90º to our expected trajectory, only to bring us back almost to that same road we’d left. Later I worked out that it was indeed a smart little piece of technology that had avoided making us drive through the tortuous streets and alleys of St Andrews itself and dropped us at the front door of the caravan park. Sometimes you just have to follow the sat nav blindly and hope it know where it’s going. Other times it helps to swear at it for a while. Today I did the latter, but agreed that the former would have been better.

We found the caravan and after a bit of a panic, worked out how to open the gate that led to the fenced off decking area and from there to the door. We were just discussing caravans this morning, before we left home and agreed that the last time we’d been to a caravan was probably back in the summer of 1984 when Scamp had organised a holiday in a caravan at Saltcoats. I’d just graduated as a teacher from Jordanhill and we all needed a holiday. I can’t remember much about the caravan, but I do recall it being a bit rudimentary. That’s not a criticism you could honestly level at this caravan. This is really quite luxurious. We’re not buying it, just borrowing it for a few day from one of Scamp’s friends.

The caravan site is perched on a hill above one of the beaches and right next to one of the lesser golf courses. Oh, how Charlie would have loved it! After we had settled down, found everything and made the bed, we walked in to town. Scamp had been here last summer and knew how to get into town. I just remembered driving here many years ago and trying to find a parking place and then, later, trying to remember where that parking place was! It’s so much easier on foot when you know where you’ve left the car. After wandering round the streets for a while we eventually went to a BrewDog bar for a late lunch. Scamp had a rather spicy Cajun chicken burger and I had a beef burger with bacon and cheese. Both were delicious and washed down with a Schooner of Elvis Juice each. The bar had been almost empty when we arrived, but by the time we left, two different Hen Parties had arrived and the quiet bar became a noisy, good natured rabble.

We walked back past the harbour and along the edge of the beach. We sat watching folk learning to paddle kayaks in the sea. Further along we found a group of ladies and one man going wild swimming in the sea. Back at the caravan we sat for a while in the sun on the decking a gin and tonic … or two!

PoD was a wee line of flowers on the wall of St Andrews harbour.

Yes, it was very kind of Annette lending us this caravan for a few days. Tomorrow we may go exploring.

What a difference a day makes – 3 June 2021

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Today dawned dull, cloudy and wet.

It wasn’t actually raining when we woke, but it had been. The streets were wet and those clouds showed no sign of breaking up any time soon.

After we finally got out of bed and dressed we noticed a visitor on the kitchen window. I don’t know what kind of fly it is, but I’m sure I’ve seen one before somewhere, probably on a window. I got a few shots with the Oly then for good measure, I took some more with the Sony. Sony won hands down. That was six shots in the bag, and one of them became PoD, but only after a fair bit of work. The great thing about the Sigma 105mm macro on the Sony is the detail it finds in things. The bad thing about it is the detail if finds in things. I’d washed that window on Monday or Tuesday. Today was Thursday and the window was covered in pollen which the camera and lens captured just as perfectly as it captured the detail in the fly’s wings and body. It took about an hour’s work to retain the fly’s details while blurring out the dust and pollen from the window glass. Photoshop is a cracking tool once you have time to work out how to use it!

We drove to Falkirk in the late morning to pick up our wedding rings that had been faultlessly repaired by the lady at McMaster’s. Mine cost nothing to resize, presumably because she could reuse the gold dust she’d cut off and because it was only 9ct. Scamp’s on the other hand was quite expensive because it needed a relatively large piece of 18ct gold inserted. It doesn’t matter, we are both now wearing the rings we exchanged when we got married.

On the way back we stopped at Torwood to get a pot and some compost to plant Scamp’s new rhododendron. After lunch Scamp started the baking of a tray of ‘Brookies’ which I’m told are Brownie Cookies. I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and continued on to the shops to get milk and some marshmallows which I seem to have become addicted to recently. No photos were taken in St Mo’s because there were no insects of any description flying today. When I got back home the baking was in full swing and by dinner time there was a box of Brookies to share. They weren’t as sweet as the usual brownies I’ve tasted, but had a nice crunch to them. Lots more there for tomorrow.

The clouds finally parted and the sun shone for an hour at night and we had a walk in the garden, deciding what to put where now that there’s a new plant to fit in. We’re still not decided on the final position, but I’m sure we’ll find enough of a space to squeeze it in.

I’m adding another photo from yesterday into today’s blog. Walking round the gardens yesterday, I found what looked like a good composition looking past the Reg Butler sculpture ‘Girl’, through the gap in the hedge to the people in the distance. However these two folk wouldn’t budge. In frustration, I took the shot anyway, including them. Just as I was pressing the shutter I heard the girl say “It’s not a very good sculpture is it? It looks corroded or something”. To which her partner replied “Hmm.”
Those who Can, Do. Those who Can’t, become critics. Thank goodness for the almost silent shutter on the Oly!!

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Val for coffee and a catch up and Scamp is intending going walking with Veronica.

Towel Day and a Damsel – 25 May 2021

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Today was the 25th May which is Towel Day to the knowledgeable few!

Today we were going shopping, not to be confused with yesterday when I was doing some ‘shopping. The apostrophe is important because it shows the hidden word “Photo”. Let’s say that today we were going for the messages. Scamp wanted to go to Morrisons, so the options were The Fort or Falkirk. The Fort offered the chance to go for a walk in nearby Drumpellier Park, but the weather didn’t look like walking weather. Great heavy rain clouds were gathering all the time and so we decided to go to Falkirk instead.

I must admit, I wanted to go to Falkirk to get my wedding ring resized. A few years ago I had to have my ring cut off when I staved my ring finger and it swelled up. Ever since I got it welded or brazed (whatever it is the call the fusing of the ring) I’ve felt it was just too slack. It was my own fault. I asked the jeweller to make it slacker than she suggested, but she was right and I was wrong. I said this to Scamp and then she said she wanted to have her original wedding ring resized too because of the opposite problem, hers is too small. It was agreed, we’d go to Falkirk, speak to the jeweller and then go for the messages. We would also have lunch at Morrisons because they do great chips (Scamp) and a wonderful roll ’n’ sausage (me). Chips, Roll ’n’ Sausage plus two coffees for less than a tenner? That’s a bargain in anybody’s books.

We drove through a bit of rain to get there, but we drove back through much heavier rain on the way back home. I kept watching out the window, hoping for a break in the weather and maybe just a chance of some sun. The temperature was mid teens, but the rain seemed unrelenting. Then the sun shone, the birds were singing and I was lacing up my boots. I walked to St Mo’s and took a few shots that weren’t all that inspiring, but on my second circuit of the pond I thought I saw a Jenny Long Legs (Crane Fly) landing on the upstand of the boardwalk. It wasn’t a Jenny, it was a Large Red damselfly. The first one I’d seen this year. I was just about to get a photo when a bloke spoke to me. He was complaining about the weather. I could have ignored him and got the shot, but I’d have felt bad about it for the rest of the day. So we discussed the changing seasons and how cold it had been then we bid each other goodbye. Now where was the damselfly. Had if flown away. No, it was still in the same place. Oh Joy of Joys! I got two shots, then a third of an empty upstand. I think it was freshly hatched and now it was off looking for dinner on those new wings. Still, I’d got two shots of the first damsel of the year.

Back home, Dinner was Butter Tofu Curry. Like Butter Chicken Curry, but vegan. You were supposed to use vegan butter too, but that wasn’t going to happen. The tofu was supposed to be coated in cornflour and deep fried, but either the temperature was wrong of I used too much oil, but it was rock hard and chewy to boot. However, on the up side, the curry sauce was very tasty. Spicy flavours without the heat. I’ll try it again with chicken next time. Vegan chicken, because the hens all ate good vegan seeds!

Today’s prompt asked for A Towel. This is 25th May which, to those in the know, is “Towel Day”. It commemorates the work of Douglas Adams who wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
If the foregoing means nothing to you, search out the book and read it. In it you will find that Arthur Dent is told to carry a towel with him at all times, just before the Earth is destroyed, hence “Towel Day”
The book was published 42 years ago this year. Also, to those in the know, that is a magical fact and a magical number. I’ve painted a towel before for a previous EDiM, but this time I wanted to use pastel. I only had three different blue pastel chalks plus a black and a white, and had to be careful where I used them to get the impression of a hung up towel. I was happy with the result although I was absolutely manky with the pastel dust.

Watched the first of the Bakeoff – The Professionals on C4 tonight. Amazing lengths these people go to to make cakes, 32 of them, all identical. They must be mad.

Tomorrow Scamp is bolstering Calders funds again by taking Annette to lunch. I’m staying home hoping to have a ‘piece’ with Brie, sliced Apple and Honey. Totally, totally recommended. Best on brown bread.

Walking the canal – 3 April 2021

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It was too good a day to spend inside reading.

Indeed it was a day, for getting your boots on and going for a walk along the canal bank. Drove to Auchinstarry and rejected the first car park without looking. Not nearly enough space there. Luckily, at about 10am we found a space in the car park at the quarry. Boots on, new boots for me, and off along the canal tow path. There were crowds of people out there making the best use of the warm weather and the sun. Some were walking in groups, some were in twos, like us and some were going solo. It didn’t matter, as long as they were out, taking advantage of the Easter holiday and the sun. A little note here: As far as I’m concerned, this is the Easter holiday. For as long as I can remember it’s been the Easter holiday because it falls at Easter. I realise there are some who will say it should be called the Spring holiday because Easter may cause offence to those who are not Christian. I don’t consider myself a Christian, but I still say it’s the Easter holiday, because that’s what I was brought up to call it. If you don’t like that, then call it what you think it should be, just don’t expect me to change my opinion.

It wasn’t just walkers out in the fresh air, there were cyclists and joggers too. It seemed that everyone wanted a slice of this warm weather and the feeling that the world was changing for the better. Yes, I know there is forecast to be an Arctic Blast tomorrow, but we’ll deal with that when/if it comes.

We walked along as far as Twechar, then crossed the road and took a different path back, along the old mineral railway line. It was supposed to be upgraded by January past, but they’re still working on it. However, I must say it looks a lot more accessible than it used to. There’s even a tarmac path along part of it, which might be going a bit far for a rural pathway. A good solid hardcore base with some gravel on top would have sufficed as long as it was done properly. Let’s see if it survives the first hard frost.

When we got back to the car, the car park that had been only half full was now chockablock. Cars everywhere and at least two cars cruising up and down hoping for a space. One of them would manage to get into the space we left, but which one would be quick enough, I couldn’t say. We were heading to Kilsyth and Lidl. We went looking for bread and a bottle of gin. We put a whole lot more than that into the trolley. Why are we the ones who trundle forward in the queue only to find that the computer till goes down just as we’re about to put our purchases on the conveyer belt? It mainly seems to happen in Lidl. Last time it was an idiot woman who tried to use a cancelled credit card to pay for her goods. That caused the computer to have a hissy fit and the woman to say she couldn’t see what she’d done wrong. Maybe it’s Kilsyth people who don’t understand how these things work. Today it was the receipt dispenser that went on strike. The manager did his best. He pushed a pen into it, but that didn’t seem to work. I can’t see why. Then, I think he went for his tea because he went into his office and didn’t come back, leaving the till operator to punch button after button on the till to no avail. I’d imaging Ctrl Alt Del key combination, pressed twice would fix things. Either that or pull the plug and push it back in, then wait twenty minutes. Tills are probably running on Windows Vista. (In joke!) When we finally sneaked into another queue and got served, we drove home for lunch.

After lunch we sat on the front step reading. Totally different from sitting inside reading. Scamp had a Pimms and I had a can of Guinness to cool us down, it really was that hot. All the while the iMac was doing a complete backup now I was sure Mojave was working. I knew it would take hours, so I just let it get on with it. I got fed up with just sitting there reading and the Guinness was finished anyway, so I slunk away with the camera to walk a circuit of St Mo’s. Yes, the Fairy Garden is still there, looking pristine. After a couple of photos and one circuit of the pond I wandered over to Condorrat and got a bag of chips to share with Scamp and also a box of Cannoli. This was greeted with great smiles when I returned home. We sat on the front steps in the sun eating chips. What could be more natural.

The bloke next door appears to have discovered fire. He had built a log fire in a big metal bowl in the garden yesterday and again tonight he did the same. It stinks the whole street. I don’t expect it will last long, I hope it doesn’t. When the rain arrives, possibly tomorrow, it will put the fire out and by the time the wood dries out he’ll have forgotten how to make fire again, I’m sure.

PoD was taken as we started our walk along the canal at Auchinstarry.

Weather is forecast to take a turn to the worse tomorrow with high winds blowing from the Arctic and threats of snow even down to low levels. I don’t think it will reach us, but you never know. May do some baking!

Some days you just can’t be bothered going out – 27 March 2021

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Not a day for going out

I knew there were things I should do, but it was cold outside, in fact it hardly rose above 7º all day. In the morning I gave in to the lethargy and made the excuse that I was catching up on things I had to do in the house, but I knew that was a lie. Eventually I dragged myself and the potting table out into the garden to plant two pots of chillies. One pot of Birds Eye and one pot of Jalapeños. Then there was the basil.

I’d bought the basil from M&S or Tesco, I can’t remember which, but that doesn’t really matter, does it? They’re all probably grown in the same nursery, or more likely these days, the same factory. Anyway, it’s been producing a lot of greenery for pasta and pizzas since I bought it and is having to be watered every second day instead of once a week as it was at the start. That means it’s probably ‘pot bound’ which means its roots have used up all the food in the meagre soil it was planted in and it’s starting to strangle itself in its small pot. I released it from its prison and planted it in a bigger pot with more room for expansion. I was using peat-less compost. If you really look at this stuff, you’ll wonder what exactly is in it. It seem to be mostly stuff that comes out of the hoover bag when it gets tipped in the bin. It’s about 50% grit and sand with a few bits of chopped up organic material and some coconut fibre added for good luck. I hope the basil likes it, because we’re doing our best to preserve the peat bogs and that’s why we’re paying good money for what looks like the stuff that comes out of Dyson once the carpets have had a good going over.

After a lunch of a piece ’n’ sausage for me and a piece ’n’ egg for Scamp, we went for a walk round St Mo’s. You could actually feel that the 7º was before the subtraction for windchill. It was freezing. Of course Scamp didn’t feel it. Only one tribe was out today. Some of the braves were standing around on a mucky path drinking firewater (Buckfast). The oldest was about 16. The youngest about 11. These are the people we’re going to rely on in the a few years to be paying their way to provide for our pension. I’m not feeling confident about that. Further down the path we met three squaws (I just checked the spelling there and Google says the word ‘Squaw’ is offensive! Sorry Google, but the Squaws were offensive too.)

Once round was enough today. The weather and the gathering of the tribe was off-putting and earlier I’d snapped a photo of a flowering currant with the actual flowers open, so POD was sorted.

Dinner was Prawn & Pea Risotto followed by Apple Crumble. First made by me and second made by Scamp, with an apple pie for tomorrow!

Watched the last of the Drawers Off series tonight and really was happy to see the back of it. I know it was just a bit of Channel 4 fun, but the ‘teacher’, Diane Ali has as much artistic talent as a tin of black paint. Her helpful hints are vague and sometimes contradictory. I think I’ve seen three good painters in the series the rest were only there to be on the telly. Hope it doesn’t come back.

What is back is F1 and tonight was the first qualifying race with the full race tomorrow. Lots of new names and some hopeful new faces, a few hopeless new faces and then there was Sebastian Vettel bringing up the rear. Somebody should tell him his time has come and gone.

Saw some pictures of Hazy’s new kitchen tonight. Most impressed. I hope it doesn’t put Scamp in the mood for a kitchen renovation!

It’s raining again tonight and it’s forecast for more of the wet stuff tomorrow. I’d better close now because we’re going to lose an hour’s sleep tonight.

Deep breath and here we go – 22 March 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Today I left Sierra behind and found Mojave.

I’ve been running Sierra on the iMac since I bought it about four years ago. It’s been getting slower and slower all that time. Finally, today, after making another backup and filing away some important passwords, I ran the Mojave installer and went to have my lunch. I fidgeted and paced the floor like a dafty on and off for about half an hour after that. Actually, the time scale the installer gave was almost correct and after an hour I had a new, responsive operating system. I’m quite impressed with it and have learned a lot in the process. The main thing I’ve learned is to let the computer and the code I’m injecting get on with things and don’t poke about in it. I’ll try to remember that when things go wrong as they did about half an hour ago when my memory usage was red-lining and one app was taking up twice as much physical memory as I have installed. Don’t ask me how that’s possible, I don’t know, but it just is.

It was a dull day, so I suppose it was the perfect day to do this kind of messing around. It didn’t actually rain, but it looked like it wanted to. Scamp was busy doing housework while I was pacing the floor and swearing at anything that got in my way. Eventually, I closed the computer down, grabbed my camera and went for a walk in St Mo’s. For the last week the weather has been really like spring, but today it was as if we’d returned to winter. Cold wind, grey sky and not a lot of light. However I was out. I did two circuits of the pond and then came home with a few photos, two of which got red spots, which means they were good enough to post on Flickr. PoD went to the photo of the red flower with the zig-zag stem. I also took a few shots of desiccated weeds. The structure of weeds is really interesting. As someone who used to make a living drawing structural steelwork, these featherlight vertical structures are amazing. They can sway in the breeze and not break. They have evolved to cope with wind, rain, snow, sun and ice. If you study them, they are incredibly strong for their light weight. Anyway, as I photographed some weeds a line from a George Gerdes song popped into my head, “Seeds that I’ve sown were all a bunch of weeds”. When I got back home I searched for George Gerdes and found that he had died of a brain aneurysm on January 1st this year. He was 72. We heard him sing at a Loudon Wainwright concert in Glasgow away back around 1974. RIP George. I loved the humour of your songs.

We had a quick attempt at the figure we learned yesterday, The Five Step, but after Scamp trod on my toe and I trod on hers, both by accident, we decided to call it a day and try agin tomorrow.

There will be some worried faces in the SNP party tonight since Nicola Sturgeon was cleared of ‘breaching the ministerial code’, which is legalese for ”She didnae dae it!” That means all those who had their daggers drawn ready to take her down will be keeping a low profile for some time to come. I’m not saying she’s vindictive, oh no, I didn’t say that. I’ve always said she was the best leader we’ve ever had. Ahem, I think I got away with that.

Tomorrow looks reasonable weather wise, but we may get some of the wet stuff.