Category: Food

Homeward Bound – 20 July 2016

Posted on by Zogman

20 JulyI’m going to keep this short and sweet.  The WiFi in this Travel Lodge is awful.  You would think in this day and age that they could afford broadband for their paying guests rather than dial up.  Unless it’s BT based, because they seem to be having problems today.  They were not the only ones.

We expected, and got delays on the M25, but then we went on to the M40 and there were delays there too caused by … well, nothing really.  I’d love to see the motorway system from the air to see these phantom problems that seem to hold up traffic for hours.  On to the M6 and that is where the big problems started.  Queue after queue.  Some caused by roadworks, some caused by breakdowns and some inevitably caused by rubber-neckers wanting a good view of accidents on the south-bound carriageway.  By the time we got to the Travel Lodge I was exhausted.  Booked in and had a shower and felt a lot better.  Went for dinner in the services.  Oh dearie me, what a depressing place.  When we drove down, we stopped at Birmingham services and had fish & chips and it was excellent.  Today we had cold chips and something that might have seen the sea quite a few years ago wrapped up in yellow plaster of paris, at least that is what it tasted like.  Before you ask, “yes” I have eaten plaster of paris.  The yellow dye didn’t improve the taste at all.  We decide not to risk the coffee and went down stairs to have Costa coffee.  Here is what I wrote in the Costa on-line complaint form:

“I’m sitting in an excuse for a Costa coffee shop drinking an excuse for an Americano from a cardboard cup because the dishwasher is broken.  Although there were lots of ceramic cups visible on the coffee makers we were not offered them, we HAD to have our coffee in a cardboard cup.  I assume this makes clearing up easier for the staff and to Hell with what the customer wants. I asked for hot milk on the side. That wasn’t available either. Probably for the same excuse that cups weren’t, but the girl operating the coffee maker offered to pour some milk into my already watery Americano from a plastic carton.  No thanks Costa.  I’ll stick to Cafe Nero in future.”

I expect I’ll get a standard reply from Costa with a standard Costa gift card which I will cut up and put in the bin.

So, it wasn’t just the plaster of paris fish and the cold chips, it was also “couldn’t care less” Costa too.  What do foreigners, French folk, German geezers, Spanish senoritas think when they visit one of these service stations?  Everything is overpriced and the food is inedible.  I remember the first time I travelled through France.  We stopped at a service station.  Everything was shiny and clean.  I had a jambon sandwich that had half a pig in it and tasted magnificent.  No plaster of paris there, even in France!  France, paris.  Well, I thought it was funny.

Today’s photos were of a pied wagtail taken earlier in the day.  The imposing but falling apart Grade 2 listed tower at the Lancaster services and sunset through the hotel window.  Not much of a view, but just look at those clouds!

This was meant to be short and sweet, but I rambled and ranted on again.

Heading to the cold country tomorrow!

The Hottest Day of the Year – 19 July 2016

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19 JulyYesterday was hot, but today, oh today was even hotter.  Over 33ºc in some places.  Heavens, even Scotland had over 25ºc.  What is the world coming to?

Scamp had decided that she was going to sit in the garden all day.  A sensible decision given that the sun was going mad.  We sat in the garden for a while watching movement in the pond.  We couldn’t decide whether it was frogs or newts.  We settled on ‘Frewts’ as the most likely suspects.

After lunch we went for a walk along past the golf course and had a couple of drinks at the clubhouse.  It doesn’t seem as if you have to be a member, just as long as you’ve got money.  We had money and I sampled another of these English IPAs which are very nice.

After we got back, Scamp went for more sunbathing in the garden while I went back to the wild woods to try to photograph some butterflies.  I managed to get a Small Heath and a Comma.  We don’t get Commas in Scotland, but apparently they are moving further north as a result of global warming.  I saw a deer, but it was too fast for me and was away into the tall grass before I could get the camera ready.  Also saw the pale blue dragonfly that I saw earlier in the week, but again, it wasn’t landing, just cruising, looking for a mate.

Canute and Delia came over for dinner which was an Indian take-away.  Very entertaining evening.  Just hope I can get to sleep in this really hot night.

Back North tomorrow.  Heavy rain forecast!

Open Heart Surgery – 17 July 2016

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17 JulyThe open-heart-surgery wasn’t on me, it was on my blog.  Or to be more exact, it was on my website architecture, but more of that later.

Not such a lazy start to the day, by which I mean that I was up and having breakfast just after 9am.  That’s early enough for me – on my holidays.  After that, Scamp and I went for a walk through the woodland path near the house.  Much better paths than back in Cumbersheugh.  The managed woodland is wedged between two halves of a golf course and is wild enough to feel as if you are miles from anywhere, but with the knowledge that you are only a mile at most from civilization.  I got a few photos, but on the way back, the battery on my ’10 packed in, so I swapped it out with the one in the ‘5 which is much more frugal with its energy.  When I got back to the house I found I’d lost the battery cover for the ‘5.  It’s the weakest part of the design of this camera and pivots on a flimsy plastic hinge, or doesn’t in this case.  I reckoned it was lying on the path somewhere and as it was black and the path was hard packed black dirt among trees, there was little chance of recovering it.  It was lost for good.  Duct tape would make a reasonable substitute when I got home, until then I need to be careful.

For ages, Hazy has been promising she’d help me organise my website to make it more simple to navigate.  Today we sat down and after backing everything up, we set about the open heart operation.  Actually, the backing up was the hardest part.  Once that was complete, the reorganising was pretty straight forward.  Straight forward, that is if you have someone who knows what they are doing sitting right next to you, not on the other end of a phone line, or worse still, someone who had been sitting in their room in California six months ago writing a blog post telling a numpty like me how to do it.  So, once again, thank you Hazy for not making a drama out of a crisis.  You are a gem, and you know it.

After that scary thing, Scamp and I drove out to Tolworth to get dinner.  This was another scary thing.  Here I was driving in London, well, in the outskirts of London, but driving with the rest of the lunatics.  My God, I thought I was impatient – I am impatient – but I have nothing on these folk that need to be everywhere, like, yesterday!  The only thing to do is to join them and be as mental as them.  Turn a rubber ear to all horns and turn your blind eye to the gesticulations.  Fire a few well chosen Scottish sweary words back at them.  They won’t understand the words, but they’ll get the gist.  I’d hate to drive through this every day going to and coming back from work.  I dare say you get used to it.

So, we reached M&S and got parked too.  Almost as soon as the engine had stopped a bloke came over and offered to wash my car for a fiver.  If I thought he could have removed the dried seagull crap from the back wing without steel wool, I’d have got him to do it!  I saved him the trouble by saying “Thanks, but it’s ok as it is.”  Had coffee after M&S to fire me up for the drive back, which incidentally was much more pleasant than the drive there.  Maybe I have joined the lunatic fringe.

Scamp had already stated her intention to go and sit in the sun in the garden for the remains of the afternoon, but that battery flap was still bugging me, so I set off to see what I could see.  I’d hardly walked for five minutes along the path when there it was!  By luck it had fallen with the chrome inside facing up and glinting in the sun, completely confounding the Centre of Gravity theory that states that bread always falls butter side down.  Too difficult to explain after a stressful day – Google it.  Happy now, my step was a lot lighter as I retraced my steps of this morning and walked the wild woodland again.  Saw a beautiful pale blue dragonfly, but it was too busy looking for another pale blue dragonfly to bother with the likes of me.

Dinner was Sea Bass en Papillote with new potatoes and broccoli.  Followed by Apple Crumble with cream.  Tonight’s film was the mystifying Now You See Me.  Third success from Hazy.

Tomorrow we may be going to Hampton Court … on the bus.  Enough driving excitement for me today.

London – 16 July 2016

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16 JulyTook the train into Waterloo and found ourselves on the South Bank soon after that.  We walked along and crossed over Waterloo bridge then walked through Somerset House, but unfortunately the fountains were switched off to make way for an open air concert.  Bummer.  Scamp swithered whether our not to have a drink on the balcony of Somerset House, but finally decided that it was just a little too posh.  I have to agree with her, but it was getting very hot and I would have welcomed a drink, posh or not.  We walked along what turned out to be The Strand (Red on the Monopoly board) and finally settled on a little Italian restaurant with the strangest painted (?) leather seats.  Service was slow, but the food was really good.  It was very busy when we went in with lots of theatre-goers, but they soon vamoosed when it got near the time for the matinee.

When we left there, we walked through Covent Garden and the associated galleries selling all sorts of tat.  We tried to get a seat in a few pubs, but they were all full, so we went to a Cafe Nero instead.  We sat and watched blokes on scooters doing ‘The Knowledge’ with their maps and notepads clipped to their windshields.  Walked on down The Strand and eventually Scamp chose the Golden Jubilee bridge as our crossing point back to the South Bank and from there we walked back to Waterloo Station (also on the Monopoly board) and home.

Not the best London visit.  It feels like we need a target or a theme.  After The Strand and Waterloo Station, maybe we should aim to visit a colour set next time.  That might be a challenge.

Scamp made dinner tonight (stir fry) and we watched another excellent Hazy movie pick – The Martian.  Both Hazy and I had read the book and the movie stuck quite accurately to the book until nearly the end.  Impressed.  That’s three good movie pics on three consecutive days.  That’s good work.

Tomorrow?  Tomorrow is a new day and a new beginning.

Kingston Town – 15 July 2016

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15 JulyToday, after a late start, we walked along Chessington Road to the bus stop and got the 71 to Kingston.  It was a bit of a dull day, but warm.

Wandered around Kingston looking for the market.  I was beginning to think they’d moved it just to annoy me when we heard a commotion in the street.  It turned out to be an amateur dramatics group acting out, er, something.  A something without real words.  Bits and pieces of singing and screaming, but no real dialogue.  What it did have was some superb acting and mime, plus loads of humour and a bit of pathos.  Really entertaining, live and free.  Worth putting a couple of quid in their bucket.  After that, we found the market with a little help from Mr Google.  We are so spoilt in Glasgow with streets in a grid pattern, making it almost impossible to get lost.  Kingston is one of those old fashioned places where they built the houses, churches and schools, then made the roads round them.  With the market found, lunch was now possible and it turned out to be Japanese and from one of the kiosks in the market of course.  I had Chicken Yaki Soba and Scamp had Chicken Curry.  Enormous portions, far too big really, but very tasty, so we ate the lot.

After lunch we had a walk along the river admiring the variety of boats and spotting a cygnet with the swans on the stream that runs into the Thames.  Mrs Swan was sitting on the eggs the last time we were there in May.  It looks like only one egg hatched.  Such a pity.  After that, we got the bus back to Chessington.  There’s a bus every 10 mins on average.  What a difference from one every half hour from Glasgow to Cumbersheugh.  People will only use public transport if the public transport actually exists and is economical to use.  That’s a lesson Scotland could learn from London.

Frying pan pizza for dinner and it tasted ok, given that I was using a new to me oven.  Just remembered that I forgot to make the bread from the remainder of the dough.  Must do it in the morning.

Tomorrow is a mystery.  Not a clue what we are doing.  Let’s go with Scamp’s usual maxim.  It depends on the weather.

You don’t scare me M25 – 14 July 2016

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14 JulySet off today after a fairly decent breakfast at the services next to our overnight accommodation and slipped back on to the M6 heading south and trusting in the satnav to get us to Hazy & N D’Ag’s house.

All went swimmingly as we traversed the M6, the M42 and then the notorious M25. It wasn’t as bad as we expected … for us. On the other side, the clockwise carriageway, things weren’t quite as good with what looked like a 3 mile tailback due to an accident on the outside lane. A burned out car and a fire engine in attendance, but thankfully no ambulance.

The satnav on the iPhone got us almost to Chessington when the bloody thing switched off because it was overheating! Just when I needed it most. Things like that don’t happen in the temperate climate of Scotland, but apparently it does in tropical London. Unplugged it and let it cool for a few minutes while I overheated and drove on. It finally came back on just in time to tell me to take the next turnoff. After that I was on home ground and recognised some landmarks so I could self navigate.

Spent the afternoon with Hazy and N D’Ag before he left to go on his trip to Barcelona. Made paella for dinner, after walking to the Sainsburys at the railway station because it was soooo much quicker than taking the car. Anyway, the Megane was tired since it too had survived the scary M25.

Today’s pics come from the garden in Chessington. Lots to see here including a little mouse mopping up the fallen seeds from the birdfeeder and parakeets flying overhead when I was coming back from the shops. Did I just say Tropical London?

Don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow. I thought Kingston, but Scamp says maybe Hampton Court. We’ll see.

Did I say it was meant to rain today? – 10 July 2016

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10 JulyWell it did.  It rained and rained and rained.  Then it rained again, just to make sure.  We watched Lewis Hamilton win the British GP.  We watched Andy Murray win Wimbledon.  We didn’t watch Portugal win Euro 2016.  That would be too much excitement for one day.

I made some bread, I did some sketching, I did some moping around the house.  I was hardly past the door today.  I did manage to get a photo of one of the roses from the back garden and in doing that, I was trying out my new tripod.  It worked perfectly.  Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about Flickr now.  Another night of irritating problems with uploads.  I was attempting to upload two photos.  I managed to upload one, but not the other.  Checked the flickr (lack of ) help page and found I was not alone.  As someone says, these things used to happen at weekends and during the (US) night when nobody was at work on Flickr to fix things.  Now it happens all the time.  Weekends and weekdays, night and day.  You get the feeling that nobody cares any more.  Until I find an alternative, I’m using 500px.  Just click on the photo as usual and it should load for you.

After all the faffing around trying to get time lapse shots to work, I forgot to check that amazing camera, the on in the iPhone.  It’s got a time lapse setting built in.  I also found a couple of apps, one free and one cheap.  Results so far are impressive.  Must post them when I have time.  They definitely won’t be going on Flickr.

Maybe, just maybe the sun will come out tomorrow.

Dull, dull, dull – 9 July 2016

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9 july bFrom start to almost finish today we’ve been labouring under grey skies. Occasional showers of drizzle made things even more miserable although it did brighten up in the evening for an hour or so before sunset.  We got the bus in to town in the morning and found some Spanish sun in Cafe Andaluz, always a bright spot on a dull day. Tapas and a glass of red made the day that little bit better.

Loads of activity in ‘The Toon’ with groups of Street Soccer players wandering around. George Square has been transformed for the event. I might drop in some time this week to see if there are any ‘photo opportunities’.

Got some paint in Cass Art. It’s times like this that you realise how much you miss the Art Store. Millers used to be an alternative too, but the half pan of paint I was buying was over 50% more expensive in Millers than in Cass Art. That’s just greed.

Maybe I’m a traditionalist, but the move to paperless transactions does annoy me at times. It’s nice to get a paper receipt that you can check while you are still in the shop. You can’t do that with an electronic emailed receipt. My e-receipt today was for £9.90 and that was what I was charged in the shop. The itemised bill was for:

Liquitex Ink 30ml Carbon Black £4.95
Liquitex Ink 30Ml Tit White £4.95
Total £9.90

What I actually bought was:

Liquitex Ink 30ml Tit White £4.95
W&N Mauve Half Pan £4.00
Total £8.95

That’s nearly a pound difference and I’m a pensioner (shades of Grandpa Charlie). Where the Carbon Black came from I’ll never know. Where the Mauve Half Pan went, I’ll also never know. What a White Tit is, well, that’s anyone’s guess.
The moral of the story is, be a bastard sometimes, insist on a paper receipt and check it before you leave the shop. If there is a difference between what you bought and what you paid for, kick up a stink. Unless, of course, you profited from the error. Charlie Christie rules OK!

More than halfway – 3 July 2016

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3 JulyI hadn’t noticed it, but on Friday we reached the halfway point on this year’s 366. So that means we are on the home stretch, doesn’t it? Should be easy from here on in. It never is though and just at present I’m going through the doldrums with no great interest in taking photos. Maybe it’s the feast of photos I took on holiday last month that’s to blame. 1115 photos in total for June, 936 of which were taken on our fortnight cruise in the Mediterranean. I need some more inspiration, but the weather has been poor for the last couple of weeks and that’s partly the cause, but it’s not the whole story. I just need to apply myself to the task and get on with it. I’ll start tomorrow. I should start today, but this is the weekend and I’m too lazy to do anything much now. That’s the problem. Procrastination. Tomorrow I must get off my backside and take some meaningful photos. Otherwise the 366 becomes a joke. Just a couple of grab shots of flowers to mark the PoD isn’t what I started 365s (or 366s) for. The shots have to be meaningful and be much better quality than I’ve been producing of late. Halfway through a 366 is a good place to start raising the standard.

Today we didn’t do much of note apart from go to the Sunday Social in the afternoon to see just how far we could push Scamp’s shoulder before it became painful. The answer was that we could actually get quite a lot of moves done. Much more than I thought we could. I don’t think she’s quite ready to go back to class yet, and as Jamie Gal is off in London this week, it’s probably best not to return to classes until next Monday. That’s not procrastination, that’s simple common sense. I’m not sure Scamp agrees totally with the logic, but I don’t think she’s quite ready for the speed of a class rueda yet.

I had one of the dinosaur bones from Chapmans in Baldock for dinner tonight, well, I had half a bone (actually a short rib) the other half will either be a large lunch tomorrow or dinner tomorrow night.  I’d forgotten just how good they are.  Forty-five minutes in the oven at gas 6 covered in tinfoil and it comes out a treat.  Thank you JIC for introducing me to this culinary delight.

Anyway, it’s flooers again tonight with a half hearted attempt at patterns with some strawberries. Not exactly award winning stuff.

Looking for that second chance called Tomorrow

A Lost Day – 2 July 2016

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2 July bI spent most of the day in bed. I don’t want to jinx anything, but I think it might have broken the back of this cold. Last night, I was dead on my feet by the time I went to bed, and this morning was a lost cause.

Scamp drove us in to Robroyston and a cup of coffee helped me on my way to fitness. Didn’t manage to get out for any photos, so todays shots were taken in a rush through the kitchen window, but they are Pictures of the Day and therefore count.

Tonight we went to friends in Hamilton and had some lovely food, including a Tiramisu which almost equalled Scamps. I never thought I’d say that. Maybe that will encourage her to up her game. Only kidding Scamp!

Looking like a better day weather-wise tomorrow. Hope it is because Scamp needs some good weather to brighten her day and wipe out her cold.