Category: Glasgow

What a grey day – 7 April 2019

Posted on by Zogman

One of those days that stared out grey and got even more grey as the day progressed.

Out fairly early to deliver a birthday card and prezzy to Shona. Stayed for a while to talk and be entertained by Ben.

After that we came home we made the curry for dinner, well actually we chopped up the veg, skinned the chicken leg, put them into the slow cooker with the curry paste and a tin of tomatoes and switched it on. Then we had lunch. To be honest, there was more work in cooking the lunch than in making the curry. Both as it happened turned out perfectly.

I installed Lightroom 5 which I legally own in Scamp’s computer to replace the despicable app that Mickysoft expect you to use to manage your photos. Now I don’t like Adobe’s pricing policy, but they do know how to make an excellent photo management app.

Before we knew it, it was 5pm and we were going out at 6pm to dance the night away (or part of the night away anyway) at The Record Factory in Byres Road. Got there and the place was jumping. Loads of people we hadn’t seen in years. I danced with a few girls apart from Scamp, but she danced with half of Academia de Salsa, I think, or maybe that was a slight exaggeration. Got a chance to practise one or two of the more recent moves as well as a few old ones and one completely made up one that we both liked, but which I cannot now remember!

Came home and ate a lovely curry. The changes we’d made since Friday worked.

Today’s PoD was a last minute shot of a Gerbera in Scamp’s cut flowers.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go out for lunch to the Battlefield Rest.

A day in the toon … in the rain – 6 April 2019

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Today dawned cool and grey. A perfect day to go in to the toon on the bus.

We just missed the ten past ten bus which meant we had another half hour to wait for the next X3. We decided it would be quicker to walk over to Condorrat and get a faster one, a real express bus. Unfortunately, we got there at about 11.15 and the next bus wasn’t until 11.38. Actually, I’ll rephrase that, the next three buses weren’t due until 11.38. Yup, you wait for 20 minutes and three buses come at the same time. That’s good scheduling for you. Thankfully, the fastest one came first, well that’s usually the case isn’t it? 😉

When we get the bus in to Glasgow we usually just walk through JL as an quick way into the Buchanan Galleries (After a trip to the second floor ‘toy shop’). Not so today. There was a sign on the shutters saying the doors were ‘being maintained’ in other words, ‘broke’. We traipsed with a whole load of others from the bus round and through the side entrance where a gaggle of women just stood there, one of them shouting that she’d “I’ve completely lost my bearings”. Not only your bearings Mrs, I think your big end’s gone as well. I went to have a look at the toys, but JL weren’t giving anything away cheap. They never do, but it’s always a good idea to look anyway, just in case. Walked through the Gallery and decided it was nearly lunch time and we’d dine Italian at Sarti’s today. Food was good, wine even better, then we went for a walk down the town. Bumped into one of our ‘expert girls’ from Jive class in the Argyle Arcade. Apparently she works there.

While I went to Millers looking for some replacement pens, Scamp disappeared on an undisclosed expedition to find some secret thing. I found the pens in Millers which is just a shadow of its former glory as THE art shop in Glasgow. You used to be able to get everything from a needle to an anchor, art-wise in the original shop in Queen Street. Now it’s owned by an Embra mob and recently has lost its upper floor due to the expiry of the lease. Today there was a queue. The two men who were serving were discussing with one customer the best place to go for paintings and prints of Glasgow while more and more people joined the queue. Eventually I got fed up and put the pens back and left. No wonder it’s going downhill. The secret, guys, is to be friendly, but also to sell things. That’s what shops do.

Met up with Scamp fresh from her expedition into the hinterland of Argyle Street. I listened to a couple of folk busking, then the rain came on and after a quick confab, they changed their song to “Raindrops keep falling on my head”. I liked their quick thinking, got a photo and dropped some money in their tin. The photo got PoD.

Walked back up the hill and got the bus home. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long for this one.

Tomorrow we’re out early to drop a prezzy off at Shona’s then we’ve a curry to make and later we’re hoping to do a bit of dancing.

Dancing Day – 3 April 2019

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This is what happens after two weeks off.

Out after a quick lunch and drove into Glasgow for today’s dance class. Jive was a disaster. We could remember the seven spins, but everything else had been deleted from our brains and then the bin had been emptied. Spent an embarrassing half an hour trying desperately to remember at least one move we’d learned two weeks ago. Finally got half the Time Step correct, but then got lost in the second half. Practise is definitely required. Waltz wasn’t too bad, but it was the finer points I was missing and I knew Michael was right when he started pulling me up on them. Quickstep was no better, although I think I can see now what’s going wrong with the ‘fish tails’. Again, more practise is required. All the foregoing are my mistakes, Scamp was almost faultless throughout the class.

Walked back and drove home. No coffee today, I didn’t deserve it. Got a couple of shots in the Toon, but nothing that so far merits a PoD. May try St Mo’s before the light goes completely. Aching a bit with all the twisting and turning in the ballroom class. That’s the strange thing about dancing. The leader (man) in salsa doesn’t really move much. All his work is done with arms and hands. Ballroom, which looks fairly smooth, has a lot of twisting and turning and moving the core. It’s like a swan, it looks effortless, but beneath the surface the legs are flailing around!

Finally decided to go out in the cold wind and spitting rain in the garden to get some record shots of the Forsythia bush before the flowers all fall. Then I took some shots of the tiny wee daffodils Scamp brought back from Skye and finally I got a few shots of raindrops on some normal sized daffodil leaves. The daffodils won PoD.

Drove in to Glasgow again tonight and danced with the 6.30 class and then with the new beginners class who had suffered at the hands of Shannon last week, but were now into the mad maelstrom of Jamie’s class. Most of them seemed to have a good time and hopefully they will be back next week.

That about wraps it up for this Wednesday when there was snow down south and snow up north, but thankfully none in the middle where we live. Long may that continue.

Tomorrow Scamp has a Gems gig in Abronhill, but no roadie or taxi driver is required, so I may go out tomorrow if I can borrow a coat to wear. Lyrics from an old song.

Off Home – 27 March 2019

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Bags packed, ready for the off.

After an uncomfortable nightwith a swollen finger and a pain in the side after yesterday’s gymnastics, it was time for the last breakfast.

Since we didn’t need to leave the room until midday, we went for a walk along the front to soak up a last couple of hours of sunshine.  Sat on the same seat as yesterday with the same toy mouse, still unclaimed and gazed at the same sea.  Finally had to drag ourselves away.  Said goodbye to the wee toy mouse and told it we were sure someone would come back to claim it, then turned to face the journey home.

One final check of the bags before heading for reception. Sat and read for a while before we booked the taxi which arrived about two minutes later and we were off to the airport.

Whizzed through check-in and security and settled down to wait. Called to the gate earlier than we’d expected and were off home to a cold Glasgow, then drove home.

There’s not a lot more you can say about the long day at the end of a holiday, certainly not anything interesting.  It wasn’t the best holiday ever, and definitely not the best hotel we’d stayed in, but it was  a week in  the sun and it doesn’t matter what the hotel is like or the food is like, the sun’s the same for everyone, and the sun is free.

PoD was the queue at a gate in Fuerteventura airport.

Tomorrow reality will kick in!

29 Degrees – 20 March 2019

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Set the alarm for 6am. Up and out after a tea and toast breakfast. Drove through fairly heavy traffic along the M80 and the M8 with CITRAC still predicting 42 mins to the airport. Didn’t take near that time, of course. Checked in without any delay and then we reached security where the traffic was heavy and two of the gates were down. Forgot that I’d put my insect repellant spray in the carry-on bag and had to wait while they searched the bag. Flight was on time and we arrived in Fuerteventura to 29 degrees heat ( I wish Windoze 10 would make it simpler to create a degree symbol). For some reason my phone phoned Fred Parker while we were waiting in a long queue for the taxi to the hotel. He wasn’t pleased when I told him about the 29 degrees!

Checked in at the hotel and dumped the cases then went for a first ‘Holiday Beer’ or two. Dinner at night was underwhelming and there were a lot of empty tables. Whether that was because of the quality of the food or the lack of guests is hard to tell on a first night.

Delighted to find that ‘Tina’ was the vocalist and sax player tonight. We’d heard her play last year at Elba Sara and we had danced to her music. Scamp asked her to play some salsa and we danced to Carnival which seems to be the only salsa song she knows. For once we made a mess of things. It might have been because the floor was slippery or it might have been a case of too many ‘Holiday Beers, Mojitos and G&Ts. The jury is still out. Gave up and went to bed. It had been a long day.

Today’s PoD is a quick snap of a serviette in Frankie & Benny’s at Glasgow Airport. Someone must have seen us!

Tomorrow we will be relaxing by the pool, hopefully.

Getting the horses cut – 14 March 2019

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Today was a tidying up sort of day. A day for sorting out loose ends.

It started off with a visit to the school to pay the deposit for a retiral dinner. Met the lady in question and spent an hour chewing the fat about people we knew in the past and the less savoury ones who were in management in the present. Dropped in at my ex-department, but cautiously didn’t visit ‘my’ room. I prefer to remember it in my mind’s eye. From there I drove in to Glasgow to get the horses cut. It was an old joke when I was at school. The French for ‘hair’ is cheveux and the French for horses is chevaux. When you’re 12 it’s so, so funny to say you’re going to get your ‘Horses’ cut! Not so funny now, unfortunately.

Got a Number Four all over with eyebrows trimmed too and all for £7. A bargain at the price with a political diatribe on the failure of a Conservative government to finalise the Brexit details from the bearded one who was cutting hair (or horses) at the next chair, while my Polish barber was bemoaning the dishonesty of fellow barbers who had left with her ‘neck brush’, meaning she had to share the shop ‘hair brush’. I couldn’t say who had the more forceful opinion.

With a much reduced head of hair (or horses – Enough? Yes, probably) I went for a walk down the town for a coffee in Nero. Wandered through the Argyle Arcade and grabbed a few shots to create a PoD and then back up to the car park to retrieve the Juke for a decent enough price of a fiver.

Back home I had to get stuck in and clear a living space in the back bedroom for Jackie who was coming to stay the night before going back up to Skye tomorrow. After I found the sofa bed under an assortment of books, tablets, clothes and sketch pads, I started to make some pakora for the starter for tonight’s dinner. It’s such a faff to make, but once the prep is done, you can use it for a couple of days.

Visitor arrived and the pakora was deemed good enough for her to want the recipe. I tried to explain that it was a recipe handed down from mother to son or father to daughter, but I know she didn’t believe me after I said I’d send her the link to it from YouTube. Scamp made Chicken & Mushrooms with Rice and then June arrived and a coven was in session, so I cleared up the kitchen, made amoretti coffee coffee for everyone and then settled down with a glass of Grants Sherry Casked to write some emails.

Decided I just had enough time to process the PoD and post the blog before the witching hour. Hopefully I’ll make it.

Tomorrow we may go to lunch somewhere because Saturday looks snowy!

How are the mighty fallen – 13 March 2019

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Unlucky 13th?  It didn’t affect me, for once, well it did, but only marginally.

We drove in to Glasgow after lunch to show off our new-found confidence in Quickstep. They do say that pride comes before a fall or as the Bible has it: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Either way, that’s what happened. Michael, as usual picked us up on a few little things we were doing wrong in Jive, then proceeded to tell us we weren’t doing one of the moves correctly. That might have because you hadn’t taught us it yet, Michael! It’s no use arguing with him, because he uses his deafness as a shield and just ignores complaints. I’m not convinced he is as deaf as he makes out. I’m going to get him one of those ear shaped erasers from CassArt and give it to him as a present. Rubber Ear indeed.

Anyway, we survived Jive and also the ridiculousness of Rumba and Cha-Cha which start on beat 2. Whoever decided that was lacking in the numerical department. We waited impatiently for the Quickstep music to start because we knew we’d ace it after two hours of practise between Friday and Saturday. It was a disaster. For once it wasn’t me making the biggest mistakes, Scamp just couldn’t put a foot right. Now I know how she feels when I screw things up. A cup of coffee in Nero made things better. Drove home and Scamp made the dinner, but managed to drop her fried egg on the floor. Maybe she should have had a Large coffee in Nero!

Drove in to Glasgow for the 6.30 class. CITRAC claimed the time from Cumbersheugh to Glasgow Airport was 42mins (on a good night it’s less than 20). It looked like the motorway was going to be a carpark again. Fifteen minutes later we were in the STUC building. Why have a display system like CITRAC if it’s totally inaccurate? Anyway, the 6.30 class was great fun as was the 7.30 class, but as it is closing soon, the numbers were low, although the spirits were not! Maybe it was that, or a footbath to ease her feet, or maybe it was a stiff G ’n’ T that put the smile back on her face, but whatever it was, she’s gone off to her bed looking a lot more like herself.

Today’s PoD was taken outside the GOMA this afternoon. I think this one is much better.  It was taken near Duntulm on Skye last Saturday.

Tomorrow is a tying up loose ends day, I hope.

A better dancing day – 6 March 2019

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At least for me.

The day started with Scamp visiting Tesco and me attempting an apple portrait in pastel. That didn’t work, so I tried again in watercolour. That wasn’t much better, so I left it, hoping to complete it after we came back from Blackfriars.

Drove in to Glasgow through torrential rain and then when we walked out of the multi-storey carpark, the sun came out. In the jive class, for most of the time I was doing well. Certainly a good deal better than last week, but that wouldn’t be difficult. Today it was Scamp who was making a few mistakes. A most unusual situation for her. In quickstep we both made bloomers, but I think I made the most. As usual, our first dance was great. We even managed to complete the fishtails without tripping over one another and then it all went to pieces. Waltz was just one disaster after another. Yes, in retrospect Jive was the highlight of the ballroom day.

Came home and planted the chestnuts that I’d gathered up in the autumn. Planted them in some papier mache egg boxes and put them in the little greenhouse. Hopefully they’ll sprout and I’ll be able to plant them out in their little biodegradable pots in St Mo’s. Back where most of them came from. While I was in the garden I grabbed today’s PoD. It’s one of a host of crocuses that have taken over one of Scamps containers. Yes, I’ve changed my mind. Croci sounds too arty farty. I think Crocuses is more down to earth.

I attempted to repair this morning’s apple portrait, but it just wasn’t working so I left it and went to tend to my beef olives which were to be my dinner with some potatoes. Scamp was having ‘Rats’ with potatoes instead. My olives were really tasty, but Scamp complained that her Rats were too salty. That’s when I remembered that I’d completely forgotten to salt my beef olives. Still, it didn’t seem to spoil the taste at all.

Salsa at night was fun and furious in the first class and dull in the second. I think this was mainly because the second class was so small and the participants were not all that bright, apart from Scamp and myself of course! Anyway, the class is closing soon and I think most of them are going to merge into the 6.30 class.

While we were watching ‘Shetland’ tonight I picked up an apple and started to eat it. Scamp asked me if I had sketched it first and when I said I’d started a drawing upstairs in the morning she looked very disapproving, so I grabbed a sketch book and drew the offending article. Tried painting it too, but the warm room lighting made colour evaluation too difficult, so I gave that up. The sketch got Scamp’s approval and I got to eat the remainder of the apple.

Tomorrow up early for a change.

Going our separate ways – 4 March 2019

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I took the chance to slip the leash today, for a little while.

Scamp had the second gig of the year at Stepps and, as she didn’t need a roadie so I set off early to visit a new camera shop in Glasgow. The satnav lady knew where it was and got me there without a problem. They didn’t have the tripod I was looking for, but I didn’t really think they would have. It’s rather a niche model and I’ve read conflicting reports about it. I just wanted to have a look at it first hand before I parted with a hundred smackeroonies. The bloke in the shop couldn’t have been less interested:

“Do you have a Benbo Trekker tripod?”
”No. You have to order them from the website.”
“It’s just that I’d rather see it to make sure it will do what I want before I commit myself to buying it.”
”Yeah.”

Obviously not going for salesman of the month then?

Drove back in the general direction of Home using the satnav again. Because of the one-way system return was not the reverse of going, in this case, but the satnav lady knew this too. Once I was on the M8 heading roughly east I switched the satnav lady off and let her go back to sleep. Drove past Home and onward to Stirling where I turned off and took the back road up and over the Tak Ma Doon road, stopping near Loch Coulter to grab some shots to make a panorama later and also a grab shot of the straight road that looks as if it goes all the way to the Ochil Hills. The panorama became PoD. From there it was a lovely run in the springlike sunshine all the way home. Piece ’n’ flat sausage for my lunch and then after I’d dumped the images on the computer, I started today’s apple picture. It looks reasonable and hopefully you’ll be able to check my progress (or regress) soon on the website when I post the first seven. It’s an enjoyable task the painting and drawing of the apples, or at least it has been so far. May even branch out into ink or acrylic later. For just now it’s basically pencil and watercolour.

When Scamp came home I made a delicious tuna pasta. I say ‘delicious’, because we both agreed it was. Don’t know what I did differently this time, but I think it may have been some posh tomato concentrate. Must look for more of it the next time we’re buying Tesco.

Energetic beginners class in STUC and an advanced class where I couldn’t put a foot right. Every move a disaster. Even worse, I knew most of the moves. Just couldn’t get the moves into my head right. I think I just need to think less and go with the flow some times. Must practise Agamemnon this week to get rid of the rough edges. Still lots of laughs.

Tomorrow we have a free day. I think we may be going plant hunting again, although the weather looks rough. We’ll wait and see.

Angry old man – 3 March 2019

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Scamp wanted some messages. Didn’t know it would turn into WW3.

The messages were bought and loaded into the Juke. Was reversing out of the space when I noticed in my parking camera display that somebody else across the road was doing the same. Braked and started to drive back into my space, only just not fast enough for the other driver and his bumper gave mine a little kiss. Drove in to the space properly and got out to have a look. That’s when the other driver shouted “Did you just reverse into me?” I just laughed and said, “No you reversed into me, I was trying to get out of your way.” I looked at the damage and it was almost invisible on the Juke and nothing at all on his. Then he went absolutely ballistic! Shouting and bawling that he had started reversing first and I was an <expletives deleted> idiot. All the while walking backwards to get back into his car. Mr Angry indeed. I was a bit worried that he’d turn green, burst out of his shirt and start throwing the cars about, but he didn’t. He just got back in and I allowed him to be first and to reverse out. I did give him a warning blast on the Juke Horn as he as getting near. He was very careful after that. I bet he would have fun parking at Cumbersheugh Theatre!

After that excitement, we had lunch. That curry last night had given me heartburn during the night and I was careful not to have too much fatty stuff today. No black pudding, no bacon. Just sausages and an egg. Very restrained. After that I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which is a couple of gorse flowers. Definite signs of spring are appearing although the weather fairies are predicting possible snow showers this week.

We decided we’d try out Shannon’s new Sunday Social venue which is the Record Factory at the bottom of Byres Road. I was a bit concerned about parking in the West End as it is usually expensive, even on a Sunday after 6pm whereas in the centre of town it is free. I needn’t have worried. All the parking spaces, and there were lots of them, were free on a Sunday. We actually got there early and found a seat no problem. It was a fairly large dance floor, but only half of it was wooden, the other half was tiled concrete. Once the music started the floor filled up quite quickly and time flew by. We left about 8pm because we still hadn’t had dinner. Quite impressed with the new venue. Let’s hope it becomes a regular twice monthly event. It felt like the old venues we’ve had for Sunday Socials and there were lots of folk we hadn’t seen in years.

Tomorrow Scamp has a Gems gig, but doesn’t need a roadie, so I may go for a run in to Glasgow to look at a tripod.