Category: Folk

It’s surely not that time already – 4 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Unfortunately it was. My phone chimed it’s ‘get up’ message at 3am, followed immediately by Scamp’s. The day had begun.

We loaded the car and drove to the airport, arriving with plenty of time to spare. Parked, dumped the cases and were through into security in no time at all. As usual my carry-on bag was searched for explosive substances in my Kindle. I’d walked through the scanner wearing my watch and didn’t get caught, but my Kindle was searched for explosives! Go figure.

Breakfast at Frankie & Bennie’s was a roll ’n’ sausage for me and two slices of toast for Scamp. Paid their usual exorbitant price and waited to find our gate. It came up right on time, and we joined the queue to board. Again no problem, we got seated and waited for the other passengers to board. Two really noisy and badly behaved Aberdonian weans were somewhere behind us. One called Skye and the other called Harris. Harris? What sort of name is that? Has he/she got a cousin called ‘Millport’? Dad and Granddad were deep in conversation, speaking fluent Seagull, “Gauk, Gauk, Gauk”. If you’ve listened to Aberdonians speaking, that’s what it sounds like. Granddad knew everything about everything and had been everywhere and was telling everyone all about it, but as Scamp says, “That’s what Granddads do.”

For the last week I’ve been really tense, going through all the possible things that could go wrong that I hadn’t planned for. Would some eejit block me at home by parking in front of me overnight? There were roadworks on the way to the airport during the night and warnings of lane closures. Would that mean we’d have to follow diversions to avoid them? I’d never used this new parking company, would something go wrong at the last minute and my parking would be cancelled then I’d need to … One of the few things I hadn’t accounted for was a casualty on board. The plane pulled on to the runway and trundled down past the ‘hold short’ line then continued off the slip and back to the stand. A woman passenger had felt ill and needed medical help. First Aid trained Firefighters came on board, assessed the situation and decided to play it safe and call for an ambulance. Then they had to wait until the passenger’s cases were removed from the hold, then, with the casualty in the ambulance they left, presumably to go to Glasgow Royal Infirmary. We needed to wait a while more before we were allowed by Flight Controllers to be cleared for taxiing and take off. All in all it was an hour’s delay, but the poor woman and her companion had just lost a holiday.

Arrived at Malta airport and entered the P&O machine. It must be the most efficiently organised system of passenger transport in the world, run in part by cheerful pensioners. Brilliant work.

We were allocated our cabin a week or so ago and today we got to enter it for the first time. It’s just a normal cruise cabin with a big wide and deep balcony. The folk above us can see into part of our cabin, but we can overlook the folk below us, so that’s fair. 😉

Food first. We went to what we’ve always called “Smash and Grab”. The Self Service restaurant. Feeling better we wandered round the deck, got lost, found ourselves, met our cabin steward and wandered round again. IT WAS HOT! 🥵. Found a splash pool near the sharp end of the ship and managed a few strokes crossing and recrossing the tiny little pool. Had our first ‘Holiday Beer’. Went to dinner in the Oriental Restaurant. Met a couple from Newcastle at our table. Discussed Bakeoff the Professionals and posh watches with them.

We wanted to see the sail away, but it was getting later and later and there were still folk wandering in from transfer buses from the airport. Eventually about an two hours late we watched from our balcony as the ship moved silently from its moorings and headed into the Mediterranean and onward to Dubrovnik.

PoD is a picture taken from our plane crossing the Alps at 37,000 ft with Mont Blanc below us.

Tomorrow is a Sea Day. There’s rarely anything to see on a sea day and nothing to do. That’s what folk will tell you. It’s not true. A sea day is what you make it.

Every light a red light – 31 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We drove to Bishopbriggs retail park, more to get out of the house than any great desire to participate in any retail therapy.

Scamp was looking for a chance to refill the medicine cabinet. I was looking for a replacement Giotto Rocket air blower. I use it to blow dust off the camera sensor and I fear my 2007 model is blowing more dust on than its taking off. I didn’t find one in Currys. I didn’t really think I’d get one there, it’s a bit of niche tool. Scamp did, however, stock up on over the counter antiseptics, plasters, mouthwash and all sorts of fun stuff. While I was off the leash I bumped into a former colleague who was shocked to learn that it was 8 years since I’d retired. Her gaze went a bit distant when she said that she had maybe another 8 years to go before she would be able to retire. I smiled and told her she’d enjoy it when the time came. She was kind enough to smile back.

When we were heading back to the car I suggested that we drive in to Cowcaddens and walk to WEX to get the aforementioned Giotto Rocket. Scamp was in agreement as we had nothing else to do. I’d forgotten about the swathe of roadworks and closures that are going on in Glasgow at present. We managed with the help of the sat nav to avoid most of them and got parked, but only after we’d stopped at just about every red light on the road in. We walked over to Bath Street and climbed up the big hill then went down the other side, then found the shop shuttered and with a notice to the effect that due to unforeseen circumstances it would be closed today the 31st of July. Bummer!

We walked back to the car and drove home, but not until I’d taken a few photos in the uninspiring chasm of Cowcaddens car park. You can see what I did with the photos in Flickr. The other photo I took that I liked was a shot looking up Hill Street in town, with St Aloysius Church at the top.

Back home we both worked in different rooms taking things out of cupboards and putting them together, rearranging them and putting some back and more rearranging. Oh what fun it was. Well, not really, but it has to be done.

Dinner was trout fillets with potatoes and cauliflower. Dessert was an M&S apple pie. Then we sat down to hopefully enjoy a Hungarian GP with George Russell ending in the gravel trap in the first lap. That didn’t happen, but at least Verstappen showed him a clean pair of heels to finish first after starting in 10th place. Hamilton too beat Russell leaving him in 3rd place. If you didn’t want to know the final score you should have looked away just after “… M&S apple pie.”

Spoke to Jamie and heard about his win at a Shortbread Baking competition at work and his preparations for his last week with his present company then a week long summer holiday before starting his new job. Good luck with all of that, Jamie.

Tomorrow I may phone WEX to make sure they are open for business before I commit myself to driving in to Glasgow again. Hoping to avoid most of the red lights!

Bussing it around Glasgow – 16 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We got the bus in to Glasgow and went all cultural.

Like I said, we got the bus in to Glasgow and then another bus out to the West End. We had a walk round the paintings in Kelvingrove Art Galleries. Found some of the Glasgow Boys paintings. Neither of us had realised that there were around twenty Glasgow Boys. Hornel, Peploe and Fergusson were the one’s that I’d heard of, but few others of the twenty were familiar names. Scamp wasn’t all that interested in hearing the organ recital today, so instead we went for lunch in the restaurant at Kelvingrove which was Beer Battered Haddock and Chips with a glass of wine each since neither of us was driving. It was really good, and even better, it was in the conservatory.

After lunch, we walked through the park and up to Kelvinbridge where a toy car became PoD. Over the bridge we walked on to the Botanic Gardens which were really busy. On the way we bumped into Dr Barbara who initially diagnosed Scamp’s malignant mole. Long time since we’ve seen her. I’m not sure she knew exactly who we were, but she knew that she knew us. Ships in the night.

We usually go round the Kibble palace at the Botanic Gardens, but today we walked through the bigger glass houses instead. Each area inside was set out for a different region, from temperate to steamy jungle with desert heat in between. Lots to photograph.

From there we walked down Gt Western Road and caught a bus that took us to the bus station. We waited there in vain for a fast bus to take us to Condorrat. It never came. Instead we got the X3 slow bus that takes 50 minutes to go fifteen or so miles. Worse than that, instead of using my bus pass, I plonked my credit card on the pad and had to pay a fiver or thereabouts for the privilege. I won’t do that again!

Back home, the day that had started cloudy and overcast but had promised a bit of blue skies and sunshine when we were walking round the West End, had returned to the dull clouds we had started out with. A bit of a disappointing end to a good day.

Tonight we watched The Duke. An entertaining film with Jim Broadbent as a socialist trying to get free TV licenses for OAPs. Based on a true story, it was so much better than the rest of the rubbish the BBC were offering. It cost us about a fiver, probably the same as my bus ticket from Glasgow, and probably lasted almost as long as that journey!

No plans for tomorrow. It depends on the weather, as usual.

 

Painting – 9 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

No artistry involved, just a tin of paint a brush and disposable gloves. That kind of painting!

After sitting around doing nothing this beautiful morning, waiting to see if Scamp wanted to go anywhere in particular, but knowing in my heart of hearts that she didn’t want to be stuck in a traffic jam, going to and/or coming back from the seaside, I doubted it. I was right. She decided this was the day to cut the grass in the back garden. Really sensible decision because it had been dry for a few days and therefore the grass would be easier (not easy, easier the difference is important) to cut.

I felt bad that she was doing work in the garden while I was playing Angry Birds on my phone. I’d already sanded down the door to the bin shed, so today I sanded off the remainder of the scabby paint and changed my long trousers for a pair of shorts. Then took my tin of exterior gloss, a brush and a pair of disposable gloves and went out to paint the door, or at least to give it its first coat. As it happened, with a Florence and the Machine in my headphones, I quite enjoyed the morning slapping paint onto the door. It’s the same colour of paint that was on before. It’s good stuff, but the sun had crazed the old paint and the rain was getting in to the wood. It really needed don and it really needed two coats. The first coat took half a double album and I was thinking as I was cleaning up, what a boon disposable gloves are! The few spots of paint I had on my hands were easily removed with Swarfega.

By the time I was finished, Scamp was finished too and it was lunch time. After that and after some discussion about dinner tonight, we settled on a quiche. We’d some smoked salmon that needed using up. A broccoli and smoked salmon quiche sounded good. That meant we needed some broccoli, cream and probably some frozen shortcrust pastry. That meant a walk to the shops, which suited us both. It really was a beautiful day with just enough breeze to cool us down without blowing us away as it almost did earlier in the week. As it happened, we had to go to three different shops to get all the ingredients (and some beer). On the way back a cheery wee man offered us ice lollies out of the box he’d just bought. Scamp eventually gave in to his offers and took an ice cream ice lolly we used to call a “Mivvi”. I felt it was unfair for us to take the poor bloke’s lollies and thanked him, but said no thanks. Just a nice wee man. Afterwards as Scamp was eating her lolly I wished I HAD taken him up on his offer!

With our work done and the frozen shortcrust pastry defrosting in the kitchen, we sat in the garden and enjoyed the sun. I got tired of reading after a while and went for a walk around the garden taking photos. I’d got one or two of a ladybird this morning before I started the painting, but I wanted more. Then I remembered I’d wanted to take some photos with an old Zenit 58mm lens which apparently gave excellent ‘Bokeh’ (out of focus blobs which delight photogs.). I soon had the lens cleaned and working and sure enough, it did create some strange effects. A photo of a little lupin flower with a strong bokeh background got PoD.

It didn’t look as if the shortcrust pastry was going to be ready today, or even this century at the rate it was defrosting, so we revised our plans and instead we had Fish Fingers, Egg and Spaghetti with some fried Potatoes. It’s a store cupboard stand by when nobody can think of anything else to have. A family staple. It was perfect for today. Maybe quiche tomorrow. More reading and sunbathing later, but eventually it got a bit cool and we had go adjourn to the house.

Tomorrow looks much like today according to the weather fairies, so I may give the door a quick sand down and then put on another coat of that paint, or we may go for a walk somewhere. We’ll see how we feel in the morning.

Dancin’ – 30 June 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Out dancing in Paisley

We drove over to Paisley just after midday for today’s tea dance. Got there late as usual. My fault again, as usual. Danced the afternoon away. We didn’t dance the Tango because we were too busy talking and we didn’t dance the Quickstep, because we can’t remember any of the steps Michael taught us and we never get a straight run at it with Stewart and Jane because we’re off visiting somewhere. One of these times we’ll get a chance for a private lesson and begin to dance the Quickstep. Everything else, Waltz, Social Foxtrot, Rumba and Cha-Cha plus innumerable sequence dances. It was a great way of adding to our step count and must have done us some good, because we were both exhausted when the ‘Last Waltz’ was called.

When the dancing was done, I gave Stewart the painting he’d asked me for back in February. It’s not the exact one he saw on Facebook, but a very good copy, and a larger copy too. I think it’s going to an 80 year old lady who simply loves ‘Green Door’ by Shakin Stevens and that’s what’s in the painting, my version of Green Door. I told him that I hoped it would exorcise that song which constantly runs through my head. I catch myself singing it at odd times through the day. It must be some kind of strange disease, because I hate that song!

As we were driving home I kept watching the great black clouds that were gathering in front of us and remembered the warning ‘Alexa’ gave this morning for thunderstorms. However, we got home without getting wet. The car took a bit of a soaking, but we were dry. Scamp’s washing that she’d left out also got an extra rinse from the rain, but the sun was warm and there was a gentle breeze, so most of them were drying. Despite that, she decided it was time to take them in and it was a good choice, because not long after that, the rain came.

I couldn’t be bothered going over to St Mo’s after the rain stopped. Instead I took some photos in and around the garden, but they weren’t that good. Despite my best efforts, I just couldn’t make a silk purse out of that sow’s ear. It was after our, Bacon and Borlotti Beans, dinner when I took a look outside and saw the light shining through the rain and the roses that grow round the back door. That’s where today’s PoD came from. Roses in the rain.

For once, I enjoyed the tea dance. I felt at home with most of the dances, even the social foxtrot which we’ve never managed, we did quite well today. It wasn’t full of fancy moves, it was just moving to the music, but that’s what dancing is, isn’t it?

Absolutely no plans for tomorrow, but there will be something, you can bet your boots on that.

Pride Glasgow 2022 – 25 June 2022

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Today we were off to watch the madness that takes over Glasgow for one day only a year and it is called Pride Glasgow.

But first there was unfinished business to attend to and a couple of surprises in store. One for Scamp, and one for me. Scamp’s came first.

The postman knocked the door and handed Scamp a parcel, a long parcel, square in shape. A parcel that could contain a really fat pencil or a straight banana if such a thing existed. But there were no bananas or pencils in the parcel. There was a plant in a pot, carefully packaged. It was a Heuchera of the variety ‘Paprika’. We had one years ago, but it died and we’d been searching for a replacement in every garden centre we’ve visited, without success. What we’d forgotten was the biggest garden centre of all, the Internet. I found Paprika the other night, bought it right away, and it arrived today. It was supposed to arrive yesterday, but because of the inefficiency of Royal Mail, it appeared today. At least it did appear. Scamp was delighted and treated it like an infant, being careful to put it out in the sunniest spot in the garden for a while. What was really strange was that I hadn’t checked where it was coming from, I suspected it was from somewhere in the south of England. In fact it came from a wholesale nursery in Kilsyth, about ten miles away!

My surprise was next. I was checking for ‘likes’ and comments on my photos posted on Flickr and discovered that the green photo from a few days ago of a spider’s nest had won ‘Explore’. That is equivalent of an Olympic Gold Medal in Flickr. Suddenly everyone want to congratulate you and your ‘likes’ soar to unrealistic numbers. On a good day I get maybe four or five ‘likes’ on Flickr. This morning I had 71! Now, just after midnight, I have 180! I was Star for a Day.

I think I may have driven in to Glasgow with a smile on my face for once. We walked down to the GOMA and along Ingram Street. Almost at the end of the street we saw the first blue lights of the motorcycle outriders for the Pride March. Five or ten minutes later we saw the first open top bus with the grandees. The old guard of the Pride March. Then it was just the people. Possibly, probably most were running on fuel of some alcoholic description, but a lot of them were just there for the fun, and so were we. I think the first person who was handing out lollypops was surprised at the welcome they got, but lollypops have become a big part of Pride. There were young folk, old folk and middle aged folk too. Folk from every walk of life just out celebrating. Covid could have put an end to Pride, but we agreed that this year, while different from other years was almost as good as the best. Long may it continue.

It was lunchtime by the time we’d seen all the characters and rainbow banners and we went to Paesano for lunch. I was driving, but Scamp had a Prosecco with her pizza (No 1 with no garlic, plus extra rocket – yes, I know there’s no cheese. Mine was a No7 Fennel sausage, tomato sugo and mozzarella).

Drove home and processed the 200 odd photos I’d taken and posted PoD which I called The Look. No, they don’t have a fag in their mouth, it’s the phone from the person behind. (For the benefit of readers from across the pond, ‘Fag’ = ‘Cigarette’, not what you think.)

Next task was to get showered, shaved and changed to go out to a ballroom dance in Brookfield (Scamp passed on the shaving!). We had a brilliant time dancing to almost all of the tracks that Stewart played. I must admit I was almost dead on my feet by the time it finished and we drove home in a strange twilight arriving home just after 11pm. You will have gathered by now that this is a catch up.

Tomorrow we may have a long lie in to recover. After that the day will be our oyster. I’m sure some of those walkers and dancers from Gay Pride Glasgow 2022 will have sore feet and heads tomorrow too.

A more relaxed day – 18 June 2022

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After yesterday’s busy day, a more relaxed attitude was required.

Up fairly early and showered, then when I was getting dressed, Scamp said there was no rush. I said “I know” because I was well organised this morning, dressed and ready well before our 10am start for the drive to dance class. Then she said that not enough people were available and the class had been cancelled late last night but she hadn’t noticed the message coming in. That put a whole new complexion on things. Actually I was in two minds about it. Pleased, because I hate driving through the road works on the M8, but sad because, despite my protestations, we are beginning to move better on the dance floor and we’ve missed a lot of classes recently. It would not surprise me if the teachers called a halt to the Saturday morning class in the summer, simply because there are fewer and fewer people available at this time of the year. Oh well, it would be a more relaxing day than we had planned.

So after changing back into shorts and tee shirt, I sat around for a while and didn’t do anything useful, while Scamp read. I’m pleased that I chose the Fitbit after all. It’s got a ‘get up and move’ feature that buzzes you if you’ve been sitting too long and tells you to get up and get at least 250 steps completed within a time limit of 15 minutes. That seems a long time to complete the 250 steps, but believe me it is so easy to say “Oh I’ll just sit for five minutes and then complete the steps” then find 16 minutes later that you’ve not done it. So I did do it when I was told to. At least once today!

After a grand lunch of tea and toast with beans, because I for one had eaten far too much yesterday, we planned the rest of the day. I wanted to get a sketch book from Hobbycraft at The Fort and Scamp had vouchers to use in Boots.

Neither of us could believe the crowds at The Fort. There are three gigantic car parks and each one seemed full. We were lucky and got a space right away, but there was a constant stream of cars prowling around looking for an empty slot. I got my sketch book and Scamp got her perfume. Neither of us were all that keen to say, so we gave up our parking slot, which disappeared before we’d driven round the corner, and drove home.

When we got home the rain started. We could see it coming across the hills when we were nearly home and Scamp managed to get the clothes in off the whirly just in time before the rain appeared.  Thankfully the blustery wind today had dried them well.  I took a few shots of flowers in the garden in the drizzly rain and the PoD by a nose was the new Hydrangea panticulata whose flowers actually do change hue as the seasons change, but the Shooting Star seedpods were a close second.

Dinner tonight was a reheated yesterday’s Chicken Cacciatore with some Jersey Royals added for good measure. Even better today, I thought, because the sauce had thickened even more.

Tomorrow we may go dancing at a Salsa picnic on Glasgow Green if the weather is kind to us.

Finally getting my hands dirty – 3 June 2022

Posted on by Zogman

About time too!

Went out this morning to get some bread from Tesco and hopefully post some photos to Hazy. The bread was no problem, but the post office was shut, as was the local one in Condorrat. Don’t blame me, blame Mrs McQueen and her Platignum Jubbly holiday. Ok, if I’d posted the parcel yesterday it wouldn’t have been a problem, but I didn’t. I still blame Mrs McQueen for it. If not her, then Boris. That’s the obvious fall back, Blame Boris.

Came home with the beautifully wrapped parcel and a loaf plus a couple of bars of chocolate for being a good boy. With that done, and not done, we started in the garden. I found a single pea had germinated from the five I’d planted in the raised bed, so I carefully dug it out and put it aside. Then I added some compost to the raised bed to replace all the stuff I’d dug out since the end of last years growing season. After that, this year’s planting could begin.

I planted four peas, plus the pea I’d recovered earlier in the back row of the raised bed. Next line was four curly kale plants. While I was planting them, I found what looked like another kale plant left over from last year. It turned out to be a piece of kale stem with a little green leaf sprouting from the middle of it. There was no sign of any root on what you might call a cutting, but the leaf looked healthy. Just for luck, I planted it with the rest of the kale. Next line was four leeks and that was the raised bed about full.

I’d five leeks left, so I emptied out last year’s plant pot that held about six leeks. Chucked half of the compost away and all the leek roots. Mixed what was left with some fresh composts and refilled the pot, then planted the remaining five leeks in the pot. Watered everything in as all the gardening programmes say you should and left then to sink or swim. Meanwhile, Scamp was potting up her new hydrangea and rearranging other plants to give them a better chance of catching some sunshine.

At that point, I felt I’d done more than enough gardening, so I grabbed a camera and a 105mm macro and went over to St Mo’s hoping to see a dragonfly I’d seen yesterday. I didn’t find it, but what I did find was a lazy Large Red damselfly which was compliant enough to sit there while I took a few photos of it. One of them made PoD.

Dinner tonight was a pizza we bought in Sainsbury’s yesterday and very nice it was too. Sainsbury’s always have produced good pizzas.

We may be dancing tomorrow or we may not. It seems there are only two couples definitely going to class. Hopefully we’ll find out in the morning. Mrs McQueen has a lot to answer for, I’ll tell you that, her and her Platignum Jubbly celebration.

Meeting a man from the money trade – 31 May 2022

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Our six monthly visit to Falkirk

We had an early morning appointment with a man who knows all the facts and figures and explains them with a large dose of humour. Always entertaining while he’s explaining how the world is turning.

With that done, the day was our own to play with and play in. First visit was to the Kelpies. I wasn’t sure exactly how to get there from deepest Falkirk. Unfortunately the sat nav wasn’t sure where we were. It was giving us the correct street names and the lady behind the map was giving the correct directions, but according to the map we were somewhere just south of Inverness. The electronics in this car are shot. However the lady with the posh voice knew where we were and where we wanted to go and she navigated us onto the road we recognised.

We parked and paid our £3. Three quid is pretty good value for a full day with the silver river horses. They alway radiate such a calm influence, it’s almost impossible to be down when you’re in their presence. We had a coffee and a coconut scone in the cafe and I took a few photos. We browsed the ‘gift’ shop but left without being tempted to buy any of the expensive merchandise. We walked round the ponds that the great beasts live in and that’s where I got PoD. It’s a bit spoilt by the pond scum. The council really should clean it up occasionally, just to make the photogs job easier.

We walked over the bridge that crosses the Forth & Clyde canal and walked along the towpath to the second bridge, recrossed the canal and drove over to Torwood, aided and abetted by that same posh lady who had in the interim fixed the display to show we were in Falkirk. Multi-talented she is.

I wanted some leeks and some curly kale at the garden centre, but there were no leeks to be had, so I had to be satisfied with the kale. Scamp collected some Violas and an orange Osteospermum. After a bit more browsing and deciding we couldn’t quite squeeze another plant pot into either front or back garden, we drove home.

Later in the afternoon Scamp planted out her new acquisitions while I made sure I did have a PoD. Actually I had quite a few contenders for that accolade, but the big wide shot of the Kelpies in their mucky bath won.

Dinner was Potatoes with Bubble & Squeak plus Haddock for Scamp and a Burger for me.

We watched another episode of Silent Witness, but maybe we’re being too critical, but it seems a bit of a fairytale these days. Too many unlikely scenarios. I suppose we must remember, It’s Not Real!

Tomorrow I’m booked to see the nurse at 4pm, but the rest of my time is my own. Scamp might have the whole day to herself!

Boots – 23 May 2022

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Today we climbed Quiraing. Not mountain climbed it, in the car, of course! Are you mad!

We drove up to see then fantastic new car park and it really was a totally different place from the one we used to know. No big boulders poking out of the hard packed earth. No mad foreigners (that includes english) parking anywhere they felt like it, which sometimes meant actually on the road. No, there is now a purpose built car park with plenty of room for everyone from normal folk to those who drive camper vans. There is a down side, of course. It’s no longer free. That didn’t seem to bother the folk who were filling up all those spaces. We didn’t stop. I’ve photographed the view from the top of Quiraing more times than I care to remember and it in all sorts of weather. No, today we were just being nosey!

We drove on to Uig and stopped at a viewpoint at the top. Just hard packed earth, but free. The whole of Uig bay was laid out below us. I took a few shots that I’d later merge into a panorama or two, then we faced the drop down into Uig proper and the tortuous hairpin in the middle of the drive. Came through unscathed and continued on to Portree. There’s nothing much to see in Uig apart from the ferry terminal to Lewis, or is it Harris? I can never remember.

We were heading to Elgol and its strange eroded rock face at the north end of what is laughingly called a beach. It’s really just a jumble of boulders from ones the size of your fist to massive ones the size of a small car. On a good day there are great views of the Cuillins. But not today. The weather was fine, in fact it was nearly perfect with white clouds in a blue sky, but unfortunately, just before we reached Sligachan, I discovered I’d not brought my walking boots. The thought of climbing over those boulders in my shoes didn’t inspire me, so we stopped and I took a few shots of the Cuillins from the almost diametrically opposite direction. Mountins continuously being covered and uncovered with cloud and with rain showers washing across them. It wasn’t Elgol, but it would do. We turned and drove back to Portree, bought some expensive petrol (£1.71 per litre) and went to Jans Vans for lunch, a hard brush for Scamp and a chilli plant for me.

From there we drove up to Staffin and went down to the beach with its grey/black sand. That’s where today’s PoD came from. It’s a time exposure looking towards Flodigarry, using a 10 stop ND filter. I just knew you wanted to know that Jamie. Scamp hung around for a while, but then went back to sit in the car.

With a few shots in the bag and one I was sure would be PoD, I drove back to the house and we got ready for tonight’s family meal in Columba. There were eight of us being fed on Chicken or Pork or Veggie Haggis with potatoes and broccoli as side dishes. Lots of talk at the table and Scamp was interrogating Allan about the correct way to cook Jackfruit. I was impressed how much information he passed on, explaining the good and bad points of this strange vegetable that we’ve only recently discovered. A good night, even if Mairi wasn’t feeling like joining us.

We drove back to the house because June and Ian had some more preparations before they leave for home tomorrow.

It was a well filled day. Tomorrow we’re hoping to get to Elgol with boots!