Category: Glasgow

Glasgow Green – 25 November 2021

Posted on by Zogman

A bright day, but a cold one. You can’t have everything.

We drove down to Glasgow Green today, Scamp’s suggestion. It had been quite a while since we’d been there. These days you have to be very calculating or very lucky to get to walk an unmolested Glasgow Green. It seems that every weekend there is preparation for, or demolition of an ‘Event’. We must just have been lucky, because we didn’t do any research for today’s walk, and the ’green’ part of Glasgow Green was just as it should be, empty of scaffolding or wire fences. Wonderful. The old boathouse was being renovated, but that’s ok, because it’s on the edge of the green and didn’t inconvenience anyone.

We walked a fair bit of the periphery of the park as did quite a few others, but the feeling of space today was cheering. It was a shot from The Green that I got today’s PoD which was the reflection of the chimney and the smoke from the Strathclyde Distillery reflected in the Clyde. Another day with that strange yellowy sky. I’m guessing it’s because the sun isn’t rising very high in the sky and is therefore shining through a thicker layer of dust and smoke than in the summer.

We walked almost as far as the bridge over the Clyde to Richmond Park, but we were both feeling the cold by then and decided a warm car would be a better choice and left Richmond Park for another day. We stopped on the way home to have a coffee in Costa at Robroyston and then stocked up of essentials (which didn’t include a bottle of gin, this time) at Lidl before driving home.

After we’d unloaded the car I changed keys and drove Scamp’s Wee Red Car to Boots at Craigmarloch to get Scamp’s prescription and also to give the wee car a run. I made sure the heat was flowing before I made my way back and got home before the St Mo’s weans came out of school.

I was half way through making Fish Curry for dinner when a strange message appeared on the TV. Something about the program being suspended, then Scamp noticed that the modem was off. I checked the electricity hadn’t tripped, but it hadn’t. Then the modem’s lights came on, but stayed at a flashing green. That’s not a good sign. I couldn’t get through to Virgin on my phone and I feared the worst. Eventually, after an hour, I got the message that there was a problem in our area, both Broadband and TV. Nothing to do but wait. Now I know what cold turkey feels like, even if I was eating hot fish curry. Then everything started up again. The electricity had gone off yesterday, for the whole street. Today it looked like the broadband had been the victim. Now, there is a group of council workies digging holes and doing some ‘repair’ work in the next street. Now call me suspicious, but … !

Tomorrow looks stormy. We look as if we’re on the edge of the ‘amber warning’, but that’s by no means certain. We’ll hang onto our hats and hope for the best.

 

A day in the Toon – 11 November 2021

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The first for a long while.

We got parked on level 4 of Buchanan Galleries, which a couple of years ago would have been impossible. Today there were lots of spaces on level 4, and I even missed a few on level 3.

First stop was Paesano for a lunchtime pizza. Even Paesano was quiet today. Maybe something to do with COP26 or maybe something to do with the ongoing pandemic. Whatever it is, it’s not a good sign. Pizzas were lovely. My number 3 (anchovy and olive) had a few more slices of garlic than normal and I liked that. Scamp had her new normal number 1 (tomato sugo, no cheese, extra rocket and mushrooms) was perfect for her. Her usual complaint was that the base was too thin.

While I went for a walk in the sunshine down to a charity shop in the merchant city to look for an old manual lenses and then on to Cass Art to see what was going cheap, Scamp was going clothes shopping. We agreed to meet later in Buchanan Galleries.

Only one lens in the charity shop and it was an M42 thread teleconverter. Something that goes between the camera and the lens to increase the focal length. Makes the lens into a telephoto, in other words. Not what I was looking for. Maybe next time.

Cass Art had a sale on with 20% off across the board. Not an ‘up to’ 20% reduction, just an honest 20% off everything. I bought two ‘concertina’ A5 sketch books and a bright red bag to carry then in.

Walking back to meet Scamp, I found today’s PoD, a queue of punters waiting at a bus stop outside Queen Street station with a sign above that read “Now is the time to come”. We’ve all stood at a bus stop willing the bus to come! Scamp hadn’t found any clothes that she was happy to spend money on, but she did find some pretty coloured and smelling shower gel.

Met Scamp and remembered that I needed a black belt for the weekend. Not the most exciting thing, but I found what I was looking for in JL. We went home. The clouds were gathering by then and I think we had had the best of the day.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk to the shops and it started raining. It’s definitely raining now. Just what the weather fairies predicted.

Tomorrow morning I’m off for my ‘annual’ checkup with the nurse. The first in almost two years.

Yet another wet one – 8 November 2021

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Out fairly early to take Isobel for coffee. I got styrofoam coffee.

Isobel demanded that she pay and there was no swaying her. I don’t know what the girl did to the skinny cappuccino, but the milk went quite gluey. I’ve never seen that before and I hope I don’t see it again. I suppose I should have taken it back and told her it wasn’t a skinny cap, but it was more fun listening to Isobel’s stories. Always interesting and always irreverent. After she’d found out all Scamp’s news and we were up to date on her Hazel’s escapades, we went our separate ways and Scamp and I headed in to Glasgow in torrential rain, hopefully to get a new pair of winter walking trousers for me with just the outside chance of a new jacket for Scamp.

We both came out of Tiso empty handed. The bloke I asked about the trousers couldn’t be bothered because they were cheap and he wouldn’t get any brownie points for selling a pair. At least, that was the impression I got. He told me they didn’t have them and they wouldn’t have any online. Which is strange because I’ve just had an email to say I can pick up my order at the shop in a few days. Scamp was also unburdened by a new jacket. £350 for a new jacket wasn’t quite in the price range she was considering.

After a bit of indecision we chose to go home for lunch, via Currys at Bishopbriggs to buy the tablet I should have bought yesterday and a replacement coffee grinder too. Except, they had the tablet, but only a Sage coffee grinder for £165. Just a little bit more than I wanted to pay and the thing was so big I don’t think we could have found a space for it on the kitchen worktop. Ordered it from Amazon when we got home.

The rain hadn’t abated any since we drove in to Glasgow earlier in the day, in fact it was getting worse as we headed towards Cumbersheugh. The prospect of no photograph of the day was looming large. About 5pm the rain stopped for a while. There was no light then, so it was going to be an inside shot today.

Clever Scamp suggested a ‘Weemen’ picture because it had been ages since I’d done one. I wasn’t won over right away, then an idea formed and that’s what you see here as PoD. A wee bit of Glasgow humour.

Tomorrow it still looks like a decent day, so I’m hoping Alex and I get out for some photo opportunities and a bit of techy conversation. Scamp may visit Shona.

 

 

Out West – 20 October 2021

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Today I was meeting Alex at the Art Galleries in Glasgow’s West End.

Scamp gave me a run up to the station and I trained it in to Glasgow. The light was beautiful when I came out of Queen Street station, so I grabbed a few shots of the buildings and one sneaky wee shot of a bloke leaning in a doorway where they were ripping out the inside of a shop to make it into another shop that would last a year or so before going to the wall and needing another makeover. “It all makes work for the working man to do” as Flanders and Swan sang many years ago. I walked through a lane to Buchanan Street and got the subway from there to Kelvin Hall and walked from there to the Art Galleries, or Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum to give it its proper title. On the way I passed what used to be one of our favourite restaurants, Usha’s. A vegetarian Indian restaurant. Now it’s a German Doner Kebab place. Possibly the exact opposite of an Indian vegetarian restaurant!

I took some photos outside Kelvingrove while I waited for Alex. A bus was parked outside the galleries and a group of drivers were being photographed. I don’t know what it was all about, but presume it was some new service that Glasgow Council have dreamed up. We walked round the museum part of the building and I took a few photos of the main hall with its pipe organ. Sadly no organ recitals today, probably something to do with Covid. Alex took some shots of the stuffed animals with his new acquisition, a Sony A6000 with a Zeiss standard zoom. Very nice! He’d kept quiet about that! After we’d had our fill of the stuffed animals and the beautiful Spitfire that hangs from the roof we went for lunch in the restaurant.

From there we made our way up to Glasgow Uni which was where Alex wanted to go today. Amazingly, I’d never been through it and was surprised that proles like me were actually allowed in. Light was fantastic today. My favourite place was the east quadrangle with a beautiful beech tree place, not in the middle, but towards one corner of the lawn. Alex wanted to visit the chapel and I did like the stained glass windows at each end and the lovely warmth of the wooden pews. I must go back again some day and have a second look at the Uni.

After a bit of shilly shallying I worked out how we should go to the Botanic Gardens, but by the time we got there, the good light had gone, so we headed back down Great Western Road to Kelvinbridge and the subway back to town, but before that there were street art paintings for Alex to photograph while I was amazed to see a bloke in a kayak shooting the rapids of the fast flowing River Kelvin. He seemed to be struggling against a fearsome current, but enjoying every minute of it. One of those shots made PoD.  Today’s prompt was ‘Sprout’ and I made up a bit of a fairytale about a boy who sold a cow for some seeds …  You’ve maybe heard it before.

Subway back to Glasgow and a cup of coffee before we split up to go our separate ways, vowing to do it all again in a couple of weeks. By that time he will have mastered his new camera and amassed a bag of lenses, no doubt. I got the bus home, just managing to get it before it left the stance.

Dinner tonight was beef olives for me and mixed veg and potatoes for Scamp.

Tomorrow we may go dancing in Paisley.

Lights on – 14 October 2021

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Today we were driving in to Gorbals for a tea dance.

If I’d said that thirty or forty years ago you’d have thought I was mad. Gorbals, then had a really bad reputation. Now it’s all high flats, bright colours and roads that seem to take you where you want to go, but don’t. Today Glasgow is a different city.

When we started the car, the headlights came on. It was about 12.20pm. That will give you an indication of how bright it was today! The sat nav took us into Gorbals by M74. Then by a series of zig zags we almost reached the destination. But for some reason it took us round in a circle before dropping us outside the Glasgow Club and we recognised the inelegant building immediately, but had arrived from a completely different direction from the last time we visited.

The Glasgow Club is a giant gym, pool, dance studio sort of place. We’d been there before, just before the first Lockdown, 12th March 2020 to be exact. There were a lot fewer couples this time. Only five of us in total including the couple who were running the dance and an Indian lady who was recovering from a knee operation and wanted to see if there was anything that would give her some gentle exercise. Scamp talked to her while we were waiting for the music to start. I don’t think she realised it was more of less couples only. She didn’t stay long, but I don’t think it was anything Scamp said 😉

As time went on another couple joined our ranks and a really thin lady we recognised from our previous visit in 2020 appeared too. We both remembered that she danced the followers steps, alone. I wouldn’t say the people were the most friendly group I’ve ever met and strangely enough that’s what I said eighteen months ago too! An older couple did speak to us after a while and the bloke who was running the show did too, in fact he was quite encouraging. Maybe he was hoping we’d return and eventually become regulars to help boost their numbers.

We danced the waltz part we already knew and added some walking steps. Scamp would whisper “Four Forward Steps” when she felt we needed the extra distance and to break up the repetition of the few waltz steps we knew. We tried quickstep, but it was beyond me, just a hint of the moves in my memory weren’t strong enough to build a dance on. Foxtrot was good, though, after a while. By the end of the two hours I was beginning to get the hang of it. Sequence dances interspersed the ballroom and latin and we even learned a new sequence routine Catherine Waltz which we learned on Zoom in the living room during Lockdown. I even danced a Cha-Cha line dance. I’m sure you’ve heard me say on many occasions that my least favourite dance is cha-cha and I don’t do line dances. Today I did. I drew the line at Saturday Night Fever, but of course, Scamp joined in.

The sat nav took us home by a completely different route. As far as we could remember, it was the same one the Juke took us back in 2020. Why does this sat nav have two different routes for the same start and destination? Only Smarties have the answer. And yes, the automatic headlights were on again.

Stopped at the shops for a bottle of wine and two pots of sticky toffee pudding, because we deserved them. Another tea dance (without any tea break) under our belt.

Today’s PoD is a wilting carnation, taken on the kitchen window sill. I do believe, for once, it was brighter when we got back to Cumbersheugh than it had been all day! Today’s prompt is “Tick”. I was determined not to draw any little black arachnids, so I chose the Nike ’Tick’ ( ✔︎ ). I sketched my old battered and much maligned Merrell Moab trainers and stuck an orange Nike ‘Tick’ on the side, rather than just draw the tick itself. I hate the ‘swoosh’ word. It’s not even a real word! I’m quite pleased with the result.

Tomorrow we may go looking for an Indian Restaurant we’ve visited in the past in Hamilton.

Somewhere we hadn’t been for a while – 29 September 2021

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That was what I said yesterday and that’s where we went today.

We left early and drove by M80, M8, M77 then off the motorway on to Nitshill Road to Rouken Glen.

We parked and went for a walk, but half the park seemed to be cordoned off with great barriers either being put up or taken down, it wasn’t clear until we read a notice that Boy George, Nile Rodgers and some other has-been pop stars had been performing at the park at the weekend. It even gave a timescale for the removal of the stages and the barriers. Now we understood why there was a covid rapid testing bus just outside the car park. Oh well, at least we didn’t come on Saturday and have to endure that noise!

We found or way around to the Meadows which is really just a big park with rough cut grass and some craggy boulders. Wild but in a ‘contained’ way. It’s always good to find a path you haven’t been on before and that’s what we found. The path took us around the perimeter of the park on the border between park and golf course. I found a few chessies that I’ll plant in a pot full of dry compost and leave them to overwinter in the greenhouse. By the spring they should hopefully be ready to plant out properly and hopefully some of Glasgow will grow in Cumbersheugh.

The path didn’t look as if it was taking us anywhere interesting, so we took a side path, there are lots of side paths to explore. Our path took us beside a burn and eventually brought us out at the waterfall. The water from the falls drops about five or six meters and flows out through a bridge under the path. The bridge had been plagued by padlocks for years, but was now clear with signs warning that padlocks would be removed and destroyed. However, the thoughtful council had built a “Padlock Wall” for people to put the locks on and still display their everlasting love for all to see. There must have been hundreds, if not thousands of padlocks of all shapes, sizes and colours. That photo made PoD.

Further on we found the boating pond with the Boathouse Cafe on the far side. That was our lunch venue. Two Fish Finger Sandwiches, one each. And there was that strange warning that they had no machine coffee, only filter! Why are coffee machines breaking down everywhere? I think the real reason is that you put a fair few spoonfuls of coffee into a filter machine fill it up with water and set it going. You can get a three or four times more cups of dodgy filter coffee from the the same amount of coffee beans that would produce one cup of barista produced espresso. It’s a fiddle and I blame Brexit.

After lunch with tea to wash the sandwiches down, we headed back to the car via the “Garden Centre” which was already “Beginning to look a lot like Christmas”. Heavens, we’ve not even had Halloween yet. In fact it’s only September!

Back home I took the bull by the horns and phoned EE. Was offered 2GB data for £9. Told them I could do better with Tesco. I got the usual spiel about Tesco being a supermarket and so on. He asked me what the Tesco deal was and when I told him he said he could better that. Long story short, I got a 12month contract for 11GB for £10, plus unlimited text and calls. Thought about it for a while then phoned back and sealed the deal. I could probably have held out for more, but why? I’ve not really had much bother with EE and I don’t need the faff of moving my number. Happy Bunny.

Scamp had closed one of our dormant bank accounts yesterday and in doing so lost her breakdown cover. Tonight she booked and 18 month cover with RAC. Cheaper than AA and not the same strings attached as with some of the cheaper companies. Happy Bunny.

Tomorrow we’re both intending to go out for coffee at Costa. Scamp with Isobel and me with Val. Parcel due for me from DPD tomorrow too. Hope it doesn’t clash, with the coffee and hope they actually have coffee!

Family Photography – 24 September 2021

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Today I was going to Glasgow on the train, to meet my brother. Unfortunately the Wee Red car wouldn’t take us to the station.

A rattle from the starter made me think it was a flat battery, except the battery was only a year old. Starter motor? I had a look under the bonnet, but there was nothing to see. Nothing loose, battery connections tight. Not sure if the RAC would come to the house, because we don’t have Home Start. The simple answer would be for Scamp to drive me there in the Blue Micra, but she’s only driven it once or twice a year ago. However, she stepped up to the plate, locked the red car and got into the driver’s seat of the Blue Micra. She drove me to the train station and I had plenty of time to get a ticket and get on the train. Meanwhile she texted me to say she had parked at Tesco.

I wandered round Bucky Street, because I was a bit early and it was a lovely clear morning, which was a change from the soaking Scottish drizzle at Croy station. I sat on the steps of the Concert Hall and took a few 18mm photos down Bucky Street to St Enoch at the bottom and on to the M74 in the distance with just the hint of Queens Park on the South Side. I was wearing a red carnation so he’d recognise me, but I spotted him first. Even from the back he was recognisably Alex. We met halfway up the stairs and after a quick hug we walked up Sausageroll Street.

Alex wanted to photograph some architecture and I suggested St Aloysius church on Rose Street. I really like this building and did a pen sketch of it some years ago. I can’t remember ever photographing it though. Maybe I did, but it’s so tall and there is no room to get distance to it, I don’t think any of my lenses could have coped with it. The 18mm managed it today. From there we walked down towards the motorway and more importantly the beautiful wedge shaped ex-bank on Shamrock Street. Glasgow’s version of the ‘Flat Iron’ building. While we were photographing it an older lady stopped to ask if we were interested in the building. She told us she lived in it and gave us a bit of its history. Built in 1909 and designed by architect Neil C. Duff. She said it was good that some people were interested enough in the building to photograph it. We thanked her and said our goodbyes.  Today’s PoD was a view of the front door of the ex-bank.

From there Alex wanted to photograph some modern day graffiti on the Chinese Supermarket across the street. Then we went for a coffee in Costa and compared notes. Next stop was Union Street for a bit of tech shopping, but the actual purchase didn’t happen because the queue was far too long. More graffiti on Mitchell Street (the lady picking people off the street), then a delightful tea and cake in the Willow Tea Rooms on Bucky Street. Never been in there before, but would go back again for the carrot cake!

All too soon it was time to go. We’d had a fairly comprehensive walk and photo shoot around central Glasgow. I got the bus home and Alex headed for the train. We’ve vowed to meet up again soon in two or three weeks, depending on the weather. I thoroughly enjoyed today. We will do it again.

Back home I brought tonight’s dinner. A small fish supper for Scamp and a single large fish for me. I needed that after a day of sugar overload. Found the battery in the car was completely flat. It’s been lying dormant for a long time, so maybe it needs to keep its wheels turning, or maybe there’s something more wrong. I’m suspecting a flat battery caused by a dodgy alternator, but we’ll get a charger tomorrow and try that first. One step at a time. That might be the theme for today.

No plans for tomorrow except charging a battery.

Dancing and cakes and more dancing – 28 August 2021

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The dancing on a Saturday is obvious, the cakes, maybe not so, nor the more dancing. Hopefully this will help

We drove through the usual Saturday morning traffic to the dance class in Bridge of Weir and on the way in, picked up a loaf and a chocolate muffin. These, and many other offerings are given away free every week. It’s still not clear, yet who provides them, but they are all nearing the end of their Best Before date and are free to a good home. Last week it was a cheese loaf – which tasted better than it sounds – and doughnuts. It’s a little sweetener (no pun intended) for the rigours of the dance class.

Today we started the class with a Saunter Together. At one time this was my most despised dance, now it’s just another sequence dance. Next up was Foxtrot which we thought we’d put to bed last night, but the teachers found various defects in the routine that we’ll try to remember how to fix in the coming days, all being well. Next, just to give our head a chance to assimilate that information, was the Bossa Nova danced to Iko Iko, a song we’ve been trying to remember since the last time we danced to it a fortnight ago. Then I was time for the Waltz and we are rank beginners at this. We only know the simplest form of Stewart and Jane’s version and even then we were making mistakes. The expression “Every day is a school day” was never truer then today! Finally we danced the Valentino Jive which we learned on a cruise ship in a different world, where masks were for Halloween and a vaccination was something you got when you were going on holiday to a far away country. That was a tough morning’s work, for us and probably for the teachers too.

Back home and with our heads clearing a bit after information overload, we had lunch. After that, I went for a walk in St Mo’s, in the sunshine while Scamp tidied up the kitchen and listened to some music. There was very little life about, certainly no animal life and very little insect activity … or so it seemed at first. Macro is such a strange land. I though I was taking a photo of a dandelion parachute which ended up out of focus or blurred because of the breeze but in the corner and reasonably sharp was a battle between a spider and what looked like a tick. I hope the spider won. PoD, however went to wild raspberry fruit. Just the one and a nicely translucent too.

After dinner, which was an instant curry from M&S, simply because we didn’t have very much time to cook today, we got ready to go to a 50th birthday party. We were surprised when Jacqui invited us to her birthday party in The Savings Bank in Glasgow. We’d planned it all out yesterday. Drive in to Concert Square car park, walk down to Buchanan Street subway and get a train to Bridge Street then walk to the venue. For once it worked like clockwork. The place wasn’t too busy when we got there and we snaffled two seats beside Jim Brown. In the time we were there we met loads of folk who used to go to Salsa. Sat and talked to a few of them and even got to dance … SALSA!! First time in ages we’ve danced salsa on a dance floor. Not a living room floor! I did manage to spill half a glass of non-alcoholic beer over Scamp’s lovely dress. I’m not sure I’ll be able to live that down, but apart from that we had a great time and left just after 10.30pm, in time to miss the subway train and had to wait the interminable 10 Minutes until the next one.  Even got a parking place back home.  Some special wee God was looking after us tonight.  Thank you.

Tomorrow we have no plans, except to have a long hot shower to ease those long forgotten muscles we’ve used tonight!

Only available in silver – 6 August 2021

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Not only that. Silver was twenty quid more than black.

We had a rather lazy morning with me reading Merlin Sheldrake’s book on fungi. I never knew they were so devious and also interesting. The section I was reading today was about lichen. Amazing things. I already knew about they really were a symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae, but I didn’t really understand what that meant. Now I do. I also found the word “mitochondria” and I wanted to shout out “Hey! My son knows about them!” This Merlin bloke treats this whole book like a thesis with all the references that entails. Heavy science for me, but absolutely absorbing in a literal sense. Who knew that lichen can absorb rocks!

Finally I had to leave the world of lichen, fungi and other things of that ilk and get up and face the day. We’d said we’d go in to Glasgow today and that’s what we did. As we were driving along the M80 in the general direction of Glasgow, we saw the CITRAC signs warning about surf water. Now the CITRAC is notorious for getting things wrong, so we ignored the warnings. Hmm, then we saw the spray on both carriageways ahead. A few seconds later the rain hit us, literally hit us. I did consider turning off and going back home, because the wipers weren’t really clearing the screen and cars on the outside lane were leaving wakes from the wheels. Then as quickly as it had come, it stopped.

Parked no problem in Buchanan Galleries and I walked into JL while Scamp went off to Boots. I was looking for a camera, but they only had it in silver. I wanted it in black, and I was going to take the black one when the bloke said that the silver one was twenty quid more expensive. Twenty quid just for a silver camera and lens? I think not. I ordered it and paid for it. It will be available for collection on Tuesday.

Met Scamp and we walked down to Paesano for a pizza lunch. She had Tomato sugo No garlic, oregano, Evoo (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) plus Spinach and Mushroom. I had a basic number 5 which is Prosciutto with mushrooms, tomato sugo, mozzarella and Evoo. Both were delivered double quick and mine had that lovely, slightly burnt crust. Delicious! The next time you are in Glasgow, you but go!

I walked round to Cass Art for a browse. Scamp found a dress shop to investigate. When I came out of the art shop it was bucketing down, absolutely hammering it. Scamp had texted me to say she was trying on a dress or two and I agreed to meet her there. That meant I’d to try to get into some shelter first before I got soaked. I found a lot of folk sheltering under an extended roof of an office building that gave me a good view of others sheltering under the portico of the GOMA. Instant photo that became PoD.

Found Scamp and we agreed the first dress was a possible but the second was a definite no-no. She wanted to leave it for a day or two to think about the ‘possible’ and I suggested she join me when I go to collect the camera on Tuesday, all being well. After that we found the quickest and shortest way from Queen Street to the Buchanan Galleries, but we were both still soaked by the time we got there.

By the time we were leaving the car park the rain was almost off, but traffic was jammed up everywhere. That’s when Scamp’s knowledge of Glasgow came to the rescue as she directed me back on to the motorway. I didn’t think we’d missed the rain. I was almost certain we were going to drive right into it again and I was right. A few miles out of Glasgow City we drove through it again, and again, by the time we arrived home it was almost dry. The rain did catch up with us again once we were in the house and we had some thunder too, but no lightning yet.

In what was left of the afternoon I found all the bits and pieces of the camera kit I’m going to sell to help pay for the new camera. We’d always agree that this was a ‘One in, One out’ deal and I’m happy to stick to that.

A short practise tonight, then a study of the video before another shorter but more useful practise almost prepared us for tomorrow. Hopefully we won’t look as if we’re totally lost this time.

Tomorrow’s weather looks much like today’s, so it will need to be another early rise to be there for 11am.

 

 

Down the Green – 1 August 2021

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We went for a walk this morning.

It’s been ages since we’ve been down Glasgow Green. It used to be a favourite place for a walk, but we’ve been staying closer to home recently. Maybe it’s time we stretched our boundaries and found some new places to walk and also remembered old ones. Today we remembered old ones.

The park had changed a lot since the last time we’d been down there. The boathouse that stands on the banks of the Clyde just before the weir is under renovation, as is the riverbank from there to the weir. Not sure what they are doing and there are no signs to say what work is being undertaken, so maybe it’s going to be a secret submarine base or something like that. Much more information about the restoration of the boathouse which is now going to be a community hub of sorts with other areas inside, not just storage and repair areas for boats. Might be a good thing to give a wider section of the public a chance to use this space, not just the rather elitist rowing community.

We walked on and watched a man feed the ducks and saw the frenzy of wings as the gulls tried to steal everything white in the water. Most went for the bread, but some fought for a piece of white plastic bag. Each gull sure that it was theirs until another flew in to steal it. We walked on to the suspension bridge but there was little to see there. The university boat club who own the upstream boathouse were going out in fours, but we got bored waiting for them to do their downstream run.

I wanted to go for some photos in The Barras so we headed over there next. It’s just a shadow of its former self, but there was certainly more activity today that the last time we walked there. Good to see the trade in knock-off DVDs and CDs is still good and folk are making a dishonest bob from it. Scamp was half looking for a new kitchen carpet, but there weren’t many worth buying today. I got a few decent street photos, but very few were in focus. The Sony A7ii is noted as being particularly poor in the focus department. Some day I’ll trade it in and maybe get an A7iii, but not this week!

Back home Scamp went for a walk to the shops while I tried to fix the fairy lights on the back fence. The solar panel seems to be charging and the battery is holding a charge, so I suspect a break in the cable. Not easy to find and not easy to fix either. Cheaper to buy a new one.

When Scamp came back, we emptied the Tattie Bag and got enough for two dinners from it. We might empty the second bag next week, all being well. We might need to water it too, because the one we emptied was bone dry.

Dinner was a burger for me and a salmon fillet for Scamp. Both served with fried onions and our own potatoes.

I went over to St Mo’s for a walk, but didn’t get anything worthwhile. PoD went to a photo from The Barras of a group sitting having breakfast in Gibson Street.

Watched the carnage at the start of the Hungarian GP, then saw Hamilton attempting and almost failing to pass Alonso to come third to Ocon who won an amazing victory. I think the unlucky Verstappen was tenth after being caught up in the stramash at the start. If it wasn’t for bad luck he wouldn’t have any luck at all.

All in all, not a bad day. Tomorrow we may ‘stretch our boundaries’ if the sun shines.