We went to the shops – 21 January 2021

It’s so rarely we go in to shops these days that it’s worth a mention.

It had been snowing during the night, but nothing like some folks in the east and the borders had experienced. We just had our usual dusting of white stuff. By the time we were getting up it was all but gone.

After a bit of indecision we chose to go for a walk before lunch. It was a bitterly cold wind blowing from the west that met us and made us glad to turn our backs on it when we had crossed the dam at Broadwood Loch. As we followed the steep path down towards the exercise machines I turned and saw today’s PoD, well not actually that one, but one very like it. A wee girl with fairy wings and a colourful tutu was flying along on a scooter on the path above us. I took a few shots and knew I had a decent one or two in the bag.

We walked on with Scamp braving the big deep puddles rather than the squidgy mud at the side of them. On and round the exercise machines took us up the hill to the shops. We needed fruit and I thought Scamp deserved a bunch of flowers for getting her boots wet. I’ve started wearing fingerless mitts again, the ones Hazy knitted for me a few years ago. They are ideal for wearing to use a camera, leaving my fingers free for the inevitable adjustments I have to make, while keeping most of my hands warm. Also they have FOTO and GRA4 stitched into them, just in case anyone thinks I’m just out for a walk. No, I’m a Photographer! They are also idea for wearing when you’re carrying a bag of messages, giving that bit extra dexterity that gloves deny you.

My second Bread Kit arrived just before we went out. It was for Honey Wheat Baguettes. They look simpler than the focaccia, but looks are deceiving. I’ll have a go with them soon.

After lunch I decided to bolster my collection of photos from earlier and went for a walk in St Mo’s. I think it was getting colder, although the wind was dying down. I could see a magical sunset building, but couldn’t get to a place where I could get a good shot of the sky and a reflection of it in the pond. I finally gave up and just took a shot of a pine tree with the sunset sky behind it. Best I could manage. My feet were wet and I was getting cold. It was time to head home.

When I was reviewing the photos on the computer I had decided on my PoD and had it processed and posted, but still wasn’t happy with it. It just didn’t tell the story. Then I found one I’d overlooked and saw its potential. It told a much better story, and that’s what you see here.

Dinner was one of Scamp’s brilliant stir-fries. They are usually good, but for some reason this one was exceptional. I think it’s because it was just ordinary veg and prawns that were in it. No fancy ingredients, just really good cooking skills. Lovely.

We had a bit of a dance practise tonight and went over the Mambo Marina and also the start of the Rumba routine with its strange start on beat two which I still say is just to be different. I’m getting there with both.

Tomorrow looks cold but bright. We may go out somewhere for a walk.

Hardly past the door – 20 January 2021

Well, actually I was out today. I took the bins out tonight, but that was it.

It was such a dull depressing day and then it started raining. Last night it snowed, just as we were going to bed, but you wouldn’t have known it this morning. The thinnest scraping of snow on the cars was all that remained of the fluffy flakes that were falling just before midnight last night. The rain today soon finished even that off.

We had a new Covid reporter today. Sharon arrived just after 11.30 and we did the needful with the swabs, then answered her questions. Thankfully it was only raining today. If she had come tomorrow there’s a good chance she’d have been covered in snow by the time we were finished.

Lunch was a rather tasteless Vegan Pizza from Pizza Express. Some things just don’t work as vegan. Vegetarian, yes, but vegan cheese is a step too far. Afterwards we did think of going for a walk, but it was that horrible clinging drizzle and neither of us could think of a good reason for going out, so we each made a cup of coffee and sat back down.

PoD was a shot from the kitchen window of a starling having its daily bath. Shot through the window using my old 300mm lens on an adapter on the Sony. Not the best prospect, but the photo was useable and it worked, just!

I was nominated to make dinner tonight which was a Chicken Cobbler. The chicken was fine, but the cobbler was a bit stodgy. Lots of work to make and lots of chopping in preparation. Might try it again with some suggestions Scamp made. I can see them working.

Today Joe Biden became President and Donald Trump left under a cloud. Fred sent me this photo. I think it sums up the day perfectly.

We’re expecting heavy snow during the night and the quantity of that snowfall will determine what we do tomorrow.

 

Back in business – 14 January 2021

No more using the washboard in the sink and then pressing the water out of the clothes with the wringer.  If none of the foregoing made any sense to you, then don’t worry. You’re just too young to understand.

Snow, and lots of it was forecast for today. At least 10cm (4” in old money) would have fallen by 8am. I woke at about 630am and yes, there was a covering, but only that. Some footprints probably from Wullie, who lives at the corner, and Hamish the dog were visible, but it looked decidedly wet underneath. By 9am another scraping of snow had fallen, but already it was sleet that was falling. It looked like the weather fairies were crying Wolf! again. One day they’ll get it right and we’ll be caught out.

I got a text later in the morning to say that the washing machine would be delivered between 2.45 and 6.45pm. That gave me enough time for lunch and a quick walk round St Mo’s before they arrived. So after lunch I grabbed a couple of cameras and headed off to the snowy wastes of St Mo’s. Land of adventure and snow. Found a few worthwhile things to photograph. Dropped in at my old pal, the white spotted ladybird which was still dozing away dreaming of eating aphids. PoD was going to be either a slow shutter shot of some snowmelt running in a newly formed burn by the side of the path or a low viewpoint shot of some moss fruits poking their heads above the snow. After St Mo’s, I walked over to Condorrat to get bread and milk. On my way there I got the call from the Currys workies to say they’d be 20 – 25mins. Just enough time to do the shopping. They passed me on the way home. But the time I got to the house they had disconnected the old machine and were wheeling the new one in. It took them about 15mins total from start to finish.

One of the blokes had checked that it was taking water in and pumping it out and that the spin and wash were working. Then he set it up for an initial wash cycle of 30 mins to clean all the piping and the drum I expect. When they had left, Scamp read and reread the instruction book and so did I, but we were none the wiser. First attempt was a failure. Second one worked perfectly. I was surprised at how quiet it was on the wash cycle, but a bit noisier in the spin which admittedly was faster than the old machine. It did do a bit of a wobble dance at full speed. It’s early days yet, but it seems to do everything we need and none of the things that would only confuse us.

Dinner was to be Muttar Paneer (Peas and Indian Cheese) and since my writing was on the instruction book I got to make it. Many moons ago I went on a one day cookery course and they taught us about Mise En Place. It means “everything in its place”. Scamp always encourages me to do it and I did it today. It makes a great reduction to the stress levels when you have all your ingredients and utensils just there where you need them. I’d like to say everything went like clockwork, but it wasn’t quite as smooth as that. The curry was a bit hot, but very tasty. Scamp never even mentioned that the paneer was squeaky. One of her pet hates.

PoD turned out to be the moss picture. There just wasn’t enough water coming down that burn to give the impression I was trying to get and the 1/5second shutter speed meant there was a bit too much softness. Tripod next time and more water.

Tomorrow we have no plans. I got milk and bread today so there is no need for us to venture into crowded shops.

Washing Machine Blues – 13 January 2021

It was one of those days that didn’t entice you to go out. Then the rain came on.

A request had been made for a loaf and I’m the bread maker, if not winner, in the house, so I weighed the ingredients and put them in the mixer and turned it on for ten minutes. Covered the mixing bowl with cling and left the bread to prove.

It was round about then the washing machine suddenly went silent and the spin light started flashing again. I knew the procedure. Turn it off, wait until the door clicks its unlock signal and haul out the two towels that were sodden with water then drain the sump. Load in one towel and a litre of water, switch it on and let it spin. It didn’t spin this time. Ok, unload it again, drain the sump and then leave it for a while, ten minutes should be enough, and try again. This time it worked. A wet towel came out. Nowhere near dry enough really, but a lot better than the waterlogged one we put in. Repeat the procedure from “drain the sump …” and try again with towel two. That one worked, but by this time, Scamp was researching washing machines with Which and pricing them on AO.com. I knew the game was up. We couldn’t go through this charade every time we had washing to do. I settled down to check Currys. They price matched everything Scamp was looking at, but could deliver and fit tomorrow. Long story short. The new washing machine is booked to be delivered and fitted tomorrow afternoon. The old one which weighs a hefty 65kb will be taken away by them.

By then it was time for the bread to go to second prove and nearly time for our weekly visit from Barbara. She arrived just as the rain got a bit more aggressive. We picked up our sample kit at the door and agreed we’d do the rest of the survey stuff over the phone. With that done and the samples picked up we could tick off another thing done.

I was having Blackpudding and Mince Meatballs with Marinara Sauce for dinner. Scamp was having Veg Sausage, Mushrooms and some Marinara Sauce. Both served with a baked potato. Bread was in the oven and came out looking a bit flat, but turned out to be perfectly fine.

After dinner I just couldn’t resist the temptation to drill out the drain plug in the washing machine to see what was causing the problem. I found it. The remains of an old school pencil smashed into tiny little bits and one big bit. Big enough to jam the pump. So I’d imagine the pump will have been damaged and we already suspected that the motor was ageing, so maybe that pencil did us a favour and forced our hand.

Neither of us was interested in going out today because it was really grim out there. Today’s PoD was an abstract. Two forks interlinked and lit by an LED torch. Various filters and presets added in Lightroom. Just a bit of nonsense to fill a space in the 365.

Heavy snow is predicted for tomorrow morning. It was predicted for this morning too and never materialised. Perhaps it just got the day wrong. Hopefully we’ll know tomorrow.

Walking the Canal – 12 January 2021

It was a cold start this morning, but it was worth it.

We both agreed we should go out today in the bright sunshine and under a blue sky. I defrosted the car again, but this time we both bundled into it and drove down to Auchinstarry and had a walk along the footpath almost as far as Twechar. A few other folk were also out taking advantage of the cold dry morning. The canal didn’t look as if it had thawed out this year. Lots of boulders and tree branches sitting on the ice were testament to that. I know the branches could have been floating down the canal, but I doubt they would have been that high out of the water. The boulders and stones? That’s a different story. That ice hadn’t melted for ages, maybe since the last ice age, or at least since about December last year. The path too was icy and we had to tread carefully. It’s a rough tarmac path and usually it gives good grip, but it felt like the ice had melted there and just as it was beginning to flow, the temperature had dropped again and it was frozen in place. Possibly it was black ice which is always more difficult to see than the usual frost.

We turned just before Twechar because the path narrows at that stretch and there isn’t so much to see. Scamp wasn’t impressed. I think she wanted to carry on to Kirkintilloch, but I suspected a roadblock or a path block with fifty Kirky polis waiting for us as we passed Twechar and attempted to enter East Dunbartonshire without reasonable cause. The polis would all start arguing about who would get to write the On The Spot fine and who would pocket the money. We’d have to be quiet as we sneaked away while the argument grew more and more heated. The Twechar polis would then be brought in and they in turn would challenge the Kirkintilloch polis with forming an unruly mob and breaking Covid-19 rules. That’s why we turned back. Nothing to do with the lack of photo opportunities or that I was getting cold.

The walk back was just as scenic as the walk there and I was pretty sure I’d one, if not two candidates for PoD in the bag. Passed more folk out walking in the sunshine, everyone making sure they were keeping a decent social distance. It was Scamp who noticed that the stretches of the canal that were in the sun were still frozen solid while the ice in the areas in the shade looked a lot thinner. We didn’t come to any sensible reason why. Answers on a postcard please if you have knowledge of this anomaly.

I did think of going back out again after lunch (poached egg on toast), to try out an idea for a photo, but decided I’d keep my idea until tomorrow, when more ice and possibly snow is forecast to descend.

With some time on my hands I finished off the Toilet Calendar which is finished and hanging in the little room. Both of us are pleased with it. It’s got twelve photos, six from each of us of sunny climes.

Dinner tonight was Fish and Cabbage Risotto. Sounds mingin’, I know but it’s quite delicious.

Tomorrow we have our second visit from Barbara ready to administer another test and ask more searching questions. This time we will be ready with answers without looking blankly at each other, saying “Um? … Ah? … I’m not sure.” Possibly a walk in the morning again, but this time closer to home.

A lady visitor – 7 January 2021

We woke to more snow today. Not a lot of the white stuff, but enough to send us back to bed to read to the end of the next chapter.

Actually we got a nice morning phone call from a bloke from Microsoft to say he could help me with a problem on my computer. He sounded quite plausible, but I wondered why these people always have an Indian accent yet have British sounding names. Anyway I told him to “Bugger Off” because I couldn’t be bothered playing games with him today. Scamp said I should have asked him if it was snowing where he was. She’s so much more friendly than me.

Our snow looked fairly soft and not very thick. So, with no real reason to go out and of course nowhere to go, we took it easy for the morning. I got another phone call, this time from Barbara to say that she was running a bit late and how were the roads where we were. I told her I hadn’t been out to check, but traffic seemed to be flowing freely. She didn’t tell me she was from Microsoft and could fix my computer, so I guessed she was genuine.

When she arrived, she gave us both a form to fill in and a bag with a thing to stuff up our nose and down our throat. Up the nose is fine, but a bit painful. Down the throat really does produce the gag response. Apparently if you don’t get the gag response you’re not doing it right. We were both doing it right, believe me. Next we dropped the cotton bud thing into a test tube, sealed the test tube, dropped it into a bag and sealed the bag then left it on the mat for her to pick up.
Yes, we were doing a Covid test on the doorstep. The person administering the test isn’t allowed into the house and she isn’t allowed to hand you anything. She leaves it on the doormat and steps back. Then you are allowed to pick it up, and vice versa. We both felt really sorry for her standing there in the cold asking us questions and logging the answers on her phone. It’s part of a Covid survey for HM Gov and Oxford Uni. We get one test a week for a month. If we decide to extend the survey we get an additional test every month for a year. For taking part in the first month’s tests we get vouchers for £50. Then more vouchers for a reduced sum if we continue. That’s the first one done. We’ll see how we feel after that if we want to continue.

After she left I put my wellies on and went over to Condorrat to post the calendars. I quite enjoyed making them although the photos are all from the UK this year. In fact when I came home Scamp was saying that she was looking for a small calendar to go into the downstairs toilet. It brightens up that wee space and gives you something to look at when … well you know what I mean. That was tonight’s work. We’re going to fill it with photos from recent holidays. Something to brighten our day.

While I was out anyway, I went for a walk in St Mo’s. Like yesterday, a bank of freezing fog was descending, blanketing everything. Actually it made the park look quite different and quite scenic in a strange way. It seemed to smooth out all the rough edges. I got some photos and the PoD was the one I liked the best.

Tomorrow we may go out if the weather improves. I know we both need the exercise and the mental stimulation of looking at something other than our four walls.

Bird Watching and Lockdown – 4 January 2021

Well, let’s face it, the wasn’t much else to watch.

At first it looked like the ice had all but gone this morning, then we realised that wasn’t the black asphalt of the path we were seeing, it was the path with a clear layer of ice. No point in rushing out then, better to go back to bed and finish a chapter of our books. However, not everyone is as luck as us retired folk. Scott, the taxi driver, needed to get to and from his car safely and often during the day, so he started clearing the ice and shovelling salt and grit onto the path. It seemed to do the trick where it fell, but because there wasn’t a very active footfall on the paths, the grit and salt was not being spread by pedestrians, and wasn’t doing its job as efficiently as it should.

The reason for the layer of ice was explained in the midday weather forecast. It was all down to freezing rain, caused when rain hits an already frozen ground. A ground so cold that the rain instantly freezes. I remember this being talked about ten years or so ago in the winter of 2010/11. It looks as if it’s back again.

We had spent most of the morning and early afternoon taking down the decorations and packing them away. It never ceases to amaze me the number of things Scamp can pack into those big plastic storage boxes. Most of them are now in the loft, with only a few left to go. The room looks quite bare now and quite dull, although I must say it was a dull day.

On top of the weather problems, in the afternoon Nic the Chick explained in great detail why she had taken the decision to put all of mainland Scotland into full lockdown again. It seems like exactly the same rules as in March ’20 with no unnecessary travel no leaving the house unless for exercise or to buy food and all non-essential shops to remain closed. No meeting more than one person from another household outside. Schools to remain closed until the end of January at the earliest. It’s not a great deal different from what we, at least, have been living with for the past month or so. Oh yes, and we’ve to expect more snow by the end of the week.

So, to the birds. I wasn’t going to risk a walk today. It was really dull anyway and Scamp didn’t want to go far. We’d been watching and feeding the birds in the garden over the cold spell and today it was their turn to pay us back by posing for some photos. We’ve had a thrush who visits every day and also our resident robin who seems to think he/she owns the garden and patrols it vigorously. Blue tits, great tits and, of course, the ever present starlings. Today’s PoD is of a thoughtful looking Starling. Taken through the kitchen window.

The diet has started. We are doing our best to eat and drink healthily. No alcohol until Friday and smaller portions at mealtimes. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Tomorrow we may go out for that ‘exercise walk’ if the paths are safe to walk.

On the pan – 23 December 2020

My new pan gets its first real test.

In the morning Scamp set to and iced the Christmas cake. It was much smaller than our usual one, but Christmas cakes are a bit like turkeys, in that you feel obliged to keep eating them days and days after they were cut on Christmas Day. We each got a chance to put some items onto, well really Into the finished icing. My choice was the Santa and reindeer and also the little corner house. Scamp chose the children on the sledge and the snowman who now looms over the little house! A tradition returns to the table.

I’d bought an interesting pan for roasting and also for other stuff. It looked like a bargain, but I hadn’t really had a chance to test it out properly, until today. Lunch was black pudding and haggis fried in a ‘normal’ pan and an omelette made in the new pan. The eggs were unused leftovers from this morning’s icing, and it seemed a good way to use them up.. I wasn’t sure if the omelette would work in a griddle, but I’d seen a video online and it looked easy. Surprisingly it was almost that easy and the omelette folded over perfectly, sliced up easily and went down satisfactorily. We have success.

After lunch, Scamp went over to Condorrat to post a card and I fitted the dash cam back on her clean, new windscreen.  I didn’t linger in the car too long because it was pretty cold. When scamp returned I got dressed for the cold and went to St Mo’s to get some photos. The PoD was of the wee pond with ice crusting on its surface. I thought I’d allowed myself more time that I had and the light was fading fast, but the photo looked ok, if a little dark. Lightroom soon made it look a lot better. While I was out walking my two circuits of the big pond, I stopped a while to talk to a bloke I bump into there. He does lots more circuits than I do. I do two and occasionally three, he does up to ten at different speeds. Everyone has their own way of easing the stress of these lockdowns.

Dinner tonight was chicken breasts, red peppers, mushrooms and courgettes, all done in the new pan. They worked fine and there was just enough room for them all. Carbohydrate intake was a baked potato each.

The pan is a Whatever Pan by Jean Patrique ( or John Patrick as he’s know down the Barras). That’s me used it three times and I’ve not broken it yet, so it must be sturdy. It’s cast aluminium and let me tell you that it gets bloody hot!

Tomorrow looks good. Clear skies predicted. We may go for a walk, somewhere quiet. If there is such a place on Christmas Eve!

Coffee with the family – 18 December 2020

Today we were out early (10.30am) is early, to have coffee with Shona, but more of the clan were already there.

I wasn’t going to go, then I felt bad about it and changed my mind at the last moment. Scamp said she was going to take the blue car anyway, because her red micra has a crack in the windscreen. Not a bit crack, but enough to put her off driving it, just in case. When I agreed to come, I told her she was driving. We weren’t going far, just up to the town centre. Got there almost on time (my fault for my procrastination) and found that not only was Shona there, but Isobel was too. I wondered if Scamp had got her days mixed up, but no, it was Isobel who had her time mixed up. She got there for 10am to meet one of her friends and it turned out she should have been there for 11am. She didn’t mind, she said, she’d just wait. And she did. Because of the Covid rules in Scotland, she wasn’t allowed to join Shona, Scamp and I as that would have made an outlawed 3 families at a table. It gets so complicated with all these rules, not to mention the fact that all four nations in the UK have their own rules and none of the four seem to have a common ground. That’s what happens when you have headless chickens and Bumbling Boris in charge. Chaos!

We sat for an hour listening to Shona telling all her news and there was lots of it too. You don’t realise how lucky you are until you hear someone explaining all the tangled web of their own life. After about an hour we were all up to date with what had happened recently and we had a few laughs too. Shona always finds something to laugh at. We said our goodbyes and Scamp drove us home. When we left the carpark at around midday, the automatic headlights came on. That will tell you how little daylight there is in Scotland in mid December.

After lunch two parcels arrived in quick succession. One from Hazy and, we think, one from Canute. The light, which had improved when we arrived home was failing at around 2pm, so I packed my camera bag and went for a walk in St Mo’s. I wanted a mono shot to continue my week of black & white photos. Then I got talking to one of the two guys who was running RC (Radio Control) cars on the BMX track and I took a few photos of the car running over the jumps. One of the photos made PoD.  The mono shot didn’t quite make the cut, but it’s on Flickr.

Back home I’d volunteered to make a veg curry from scratch and got started with the flat bread dough before I made the curry. It took longer than I thought (it usually does!) but by 7pm we were eating a fairly decent veg curry with potatoes, butternut squash, courgettes and chickpeas in it. Like I said, it was a bit hot, but not too hot … just! More left for tomorrow, but it will need some yoghurt to cool it down I think.

That was about it for today. Looks wet for tomorrow and we’ve nowhere to go. Scamp has booked a slot at M&S, so we may do some shopping.

 

Man in the red coat – 16 December 2020

But not the one you might think off at this time of year.

Spoke to Hazy in the morning. Covid seems to be on the rise in London, especially in the schools where both staff and pupils seem to be the badly affected. Thankfully, they will be on their Christmas break from Friday, so that might give things a chance to calm down. We exchanged updates on parcels and Hazy suggested we might like Chocolate Tortillas from M&S. I’m not sure it’s quite my sort of thing, but I’m willing to have a go because there is chocolate involved.

My first task was to get the Christmas cards organised with the “Our 2020” sheets. Scamp had agreed to post them for me. That left me free to start my email to my brother and select some photos to go with it. I’d been getting on quite happily with my task when Scamp returned from posting the cards, carrying a big cardboard box of chips. The chip shop had been open she said, as if that was reason enough. We shared them and they were lovely, and definitely not fattening, because they were our lunch.

Later I went back to my epistle and after finishing at a reasonable juncture, I grabbed the camera bag and took a walk in St Mo’s. There wasn’t much to photograph, but I liked the absurdity of a M&S shopping trolley (without Chocolate Tortillas) standing at the starting gate of the BMX track. Is this a new dangerous sport? Shopping trolley BMX? That might just do for a fun picture. Further on I walked along the outlet burn of the pond. I was looking to see if there was any prospect of a slow shutter speed shot of the moving water. There was, but it would need some careful descending to get there without sliding on my bum down the steep sides of the burn. Then I found a tiny wee toadstool, slightly the worse for wear poking through the leaf litter. That would make a challenging photo with only a kit lens. The burn is virtually on the edge of the school fence and as I was kneeling down trying to achieve focus on this wee toadstool I heard someone, definitely a child and probably a boy, cry “Hey!”. Then “Hey! Man in the red coat.” Then the sound of running feet before I could shout “Aye, but not the one you were thinking of.” Maybe he thought I’d been out warming up the sleigh and had fallen out into the muck beside the burn. He’ll probably go home tonight and say “Mum. Guess who I saw today …”

Well, I did get focus on the wee toadstool and it became PoD. Santa was never found and My brother’s email winged its way off to Motherwell soon after I got back.

Tonight we were disappointed with the judges choice of Portrait Artist of 2020. We were equally disappointed with his portrait of Carlos Acosta. I suppose it was fitting because 2020 has been such a disappointing year in so many ways.

Tomorrow we may go out for a spin, although we need to be back for a Tesco order that’s due to arrive around 5pm.