Glasgow – Page 40 – My Photo Blog

The Weather Fairies Lied – 16 October 2016

Posted on October 16, 2016 by Zogman

They promised us sunshine. I think they must have had their fingers crossed behind their backs.

It started off dull, but we were expecting that. We knew it would brighten up around midday. However, when the wee hand was at 12 and the big hand was also at 12, the weather was much the same. It stayed that way with the occasional bright spell through the afternoon. I risked a half hour walk later in the afternoon and got a fairly decent portrait of a swan and a shot of a ‘Black Panther’ salute from a bush before the rain put an end to play.

Drove in to Glasgow in bright sunshine, but the sun was low and distracting. One of those days where you wish it was dull like in the morning. It might be boring, but at least there’s nothing to blind you. Salsa was very energetic and very, very enjoyable. I think Scamp was wondering what was coming next a few times when I started to string two or even three half moves together in a sequence. It must be really hard being a follower at times.

Tonight’s Inktober sketch is of some Lisianthus flowers in a vase on the table. I keep wanting to call them Lissajous which are a totally different kettle of fish. As far as I can remember, they were produced on an oscilloscope when we were studying AC current at college, back last century some time. Google it, that’s the best idea. Anyway ‘flooers’ as I call them are sometimes a picture of last resort, but these ones were quite a challenge. Pen was a blue Linc Saffron from the Pound Shop. Quite high quality rollerball pen, made in India. It has a tendency to smudge when wet, but dries to a water resisting finish, at least the black does. I’ve been using them for years now. If you see them on sale, buy a pack. A pound well spent. Paper was my favourite Pink Pig sketching book.

Not sure what to expect from the weather tomorrow, but hopefully it will be better than today.

Sketching in Town – 14 October 2016

Posted on October 14, 2016 by Zogman

We took the bus in to the town today and then went our different ways for an hour and a half. Me to do my sketch of the day and Scamp to wander round the shops. Yesterday I had a bit of a hiding place, ensconced beside a wall in the church yard of the old church, you could even say I was hiding, but today was drawing in the middle of Glasgow. No walls, no church yards to hide behind, just me, a sketch book and about half a dozen pens. I got some strange looks, but nobody stopped to ask what I was doing, which was a great relief. I suppose I did have one hiding place, one wall, the wall and hiding place of Inktober which I guess I could use as an explanation for sketching in the open air in Glasgow. Either that or a daft auld bastard with too much time on his hands. Yes, that would work too. Sketch wasn’t as good as I had hoped it would be, but I’ll keep trying. Another sketching day beckons tomorrow.

Today’s photo is of a wee lane just off Queen Street. I think it unlikely that Nicola had ever seen this lane, let alone stayed in it. Such is the hyperbole in Glasgow at the moment. I’ve taken this shot before, but this is a different crop to remove the two windows above this one and exaggerate the squalor of Queen Nicola’s Lane.

Lunch, when we met up again, was at Paesano Pizza in Miller Street again. Excellent pizzas. When we left there, the rain was on. Up until then it had been dry and fairly bright. Like I said at the start, we’d travelled on the bus today and on the road home I was pleased that we had. Traffic was backed up and hardly moving as we crossed the bridge where I would have been exiting the M80. I’d have been caught up in at least three miles of standing traffic. Not a good way to end the day. In addition, I had the opportunity to have a glass of wine with my pizza. You can’t risk that if you’re driving these days.

Altogether a worthwhile day.

A day in “The Toon” – 30 September 2016

Posted on September 30, 2016September 30, 2016 by Zogman

It’s been a while since we just went for a wander round Glasgow, a flânerie, just stravaigin, so today we remedied that.

Up (fairly) early and out into the rain to get the bus to Glasgow. Planned the day in Cafe Nero and then headed down Bucky Street. Did a wee detour into the recently reconditioned Apple shop to see what this new OS Sierra looked like. Decide it was alright, but nothing much to write home about. Maybe you need to get down to the nitti-gritti of it to appreciate just what wonders it offers, but there’s not much chance of that any time soon, so we left.

By the time we got down to St Enoch’s square the sun was coming out and lighting up the new entrances to the underground. Needless to say I managed to get some shots there. After that, it was a bit of shopping for both of us separately for once. All the shopping was making us hungry and I’d just the place. We went to a fairly new pizza place, Paseano Pizza. It was judged a success by both of us. The pizzas were good, if a little soft underneath, and the alleged 175ml of wine was generously poured. That in itself helped us say “We’ll be back.”

Wandered up to Sausage Roll Street and I visited Waterstones while Scamp risked the tortuous labyrinth that is Watt Bros. We’d considered having another wee drink to seal the day, but then decided that we should just head for home.

Overall, a very satisfying and relaxing day in “The Toon.” Ye cannie beat it, honest, ye jist cannie. It was a lovely day. Heavy showers but lots of sunshine to make you forget the wet bits. Good company as always.

As always, the photos look much better and larger on Flickr. Click on the mosaic or here to be transported there.

Oh yes, I’ve removed the August gallery and replaced it with the much more interesting Skye September gallery. Do go and have a wee look.

Tomorrow we may do the same in another town, and then again we might not. That’s us, rebels without a clue!

It’s a small world – 15 September 2016

Posted on September 15, 2016September 15, 2016 by Zogman

Went in to Glasgow on the bus this morning to get my locks shorn. It was really well overdue. There are only two barbers in the shop I go to, both of whom have different topics of conversation. The young one is the radical who follows the Russian news channel on the Internet and says they tell fewer lies than the BBC. Not that they are more honest, just that they tell fewer lies. There’s a subtle difference in the semantics I think. The older man is more careworn and sarcastic. He’s on his third marriage I think, which probably explains my description of him. He was in charge of remodelling my coiffure today. Topics ranged from the usual Scottish start: The Weather to remembering Strathclyde Loch being created. It was after we talked about how the loch used to be just a fishing pond at the south end of Motherwell that he made the startling announcement “‘course I’m not from Motherwell, I’m from Larkhall.” “You’re kidding!” I said. We exchanged information about areas of Larky, then streets and realised that we lived about half a mile from each other. His father had been Mr Smart the headmaster at my primary school. Well, not exactly mine, more like my brother’s. I had Mr Crombie as my headmaster. We never called them ‘heidies’ then, we were much better brought up in Larky. It was only when I went into teaching that ‘heidies’ became synonymous with authority. We talked about places we both knew and inevitably pubs. A normal topic of discussion in a town with the greatest number of public houses per head of population in Scotland. I’ve been going to this barbers’ shop for more years than I care to recall and had my hair cut by this man for most of them, only to find out today the he too came from ‘The Town Behind the Wall.’ Maybe I’ll explain that sometime. A small world indeed.

Walked out into the sunshine and went down Bucky Street and out into Exchange Square or Royal Exchange Square to give it its full title, although the royal part of the name ceased to have any meaning when Glasgow Council acquired the Royal Bank of Scotland building which dominates it in the late ‘40s. See, you learn stuff on this blog. Now the grand building houses the Gallery of Modern Art (the GoMA) and is home to all human life … and a few indeterminate other forms of almost sentient beings. “Though I never perfected the simian stroll.” could have been written for this area. Good hunting ground for photos too. The central photo in the above mosaic, with judicious cropping gave the photos at the bottom and the middle left. The other two were just a couple of quick grab shots. They took about 5 minutes total to compose and shoot. Given half an hour here on a reasonably sunny day you could fill an SD card easily.

That was it for the photography for the day. Wandered round the centre of town, but didn’t see anything else to tempt me into digging the camera out of my pocket. Got the bus home and found Scamp happily digging plants out, planting others and generally tidying up the garden. To each his and her own.

Looks like the warm weather is gone for the time being and it’s back to more seasonal temperatures for the next day or so. I blame getting the air-con fixed!

Sunny Sunday – 11 September 2016

Posted on September 11, 2016September 11, 2016 by Zogman

We went to Glasgow today. Since the buses run to their own timetable on Sundays, we drove in. It was a lovely morning and Scamp thought we might manage to have a coffee outside, but by the time we’d finished shopping, the wind was becoming a bit gusty and we settled for a coffee inside.

Dinner for me was a repeat of yesterday’s, Lamb, Chorizo and Puy Lentil Casserole, but this time made at home. It turned out as good as the Loch Leven Larder’s, if not better. Who am I kidding? Of course it was better! Slow cooked for six hours, it was great. Plenty left over for tomorrow’s dinner and maybe some for lunch later in the week.

I went for a walk to St Mo’s in the late afternoon and got a few shots, but the light was poor by that time and that resulted in a lot of digital noise which you can remove quite easily with Lightroom, but the price you pay is a loss of definition, so it’s a double edged sword. I did see a strange pink blossom at completely the wrong time of year. There were thorns on the stems and on the back of the leaves which look like bramble leaves. The plant seemed to be behaving like a bramble by climbing round other tree branches. Couldn’t believe this was flowering in September in Scotland!

No plans for tomorrow, because like most Mondays it’s eaten up with Gems in the afternoon and salsa at night. Might get some painting done. If not on canvas, then at least on the outside window ledges.

Bike Porn – 4 September 2016

Posted on September 4, 2016September 5, 2016 by Zogman

Today, for the first time ever, or at least for a number of years, the Tour of Britain cycle race started from Glasgow.

We drove in early to be sure of getting a good place and spent an hour or so wandering around the pits, with me marvelling at the equipment on display. All of it shiny and clean. Something you can’t say about my own bike. There were bikes everywhere. On the team cars there were wheels, frames, complete bikes. Enough to cover every eventuality. As well as equipment, there were also the mobile homes for the teams. Scamp was wondering why someone called Wiggins needed two mobile homes, and if he was actually in one of them. The enormous crowd round them seemed to think he was. I did actually grab a shot of him later in one of the race pics. Unfortunately, I wasn’t actually focusing on him, but rather on the rider behind him as he was wearing a white top that helped the camera achieve focus better than on the superstar in front.

After our *’pit walk’* we walked over to the corner of George Street and Montrose street to get a good view of them coming along the straight. After the usual preliminaries of motorcycles, polis and team cars, the juniors came through, followed a few minutes later by the professionals. That’s when I noticed the error on the card – not writing! Flicked the card out and wrote to the other card. One big benefit of the D7000 is its two card slots. I got a few shots there, but they were only cruising at this time, just the warm-up for the real race. After the warm-up we had a few minutes to choose a different viewpoint and I moved round the corner a bit to get some shots of the riders coming round that tight bend before climbing up the fairly steep hill towards Cathedral Street. Scamp stayed almost where she was to act as a spotter! We had a bit of entertainment when a guy on the First Aid bike bravely pedaled up Montrose Street to a massive cheer from the crowds.

Scamp tipped me the wink that the peloton was coming and I got ready. Hammered off about ten shots as they rounded the bend and hoped for the best, then the camera jammed. Don’t know yet what it was. Yes, the buffer was full and emptying itself, but the lens wouldn’t focus. Swore for a bit, but I’d got most of the photos I wanted. Then as mysteriously the problem went away and I got some shots of the cavalcade of team cars driving up Montrose Street.

I thought they had another lap to do round the city centre circuit, so we wandered down to Ingram Street, but they had gone past on Clyde Street and over the bridge heading for Castle Douglas and we were heading home. Before we went I got a photo of a bloke standing across the road. We’re both sure it’s Scamp’s cousin, an ex-polis who took early-early-retirement and went to live in Spain. Home on holiday or another Brexit Exit? We’ll never know because she wasn’t absolutely certain it was him.

Had lunch and watched another *’exciting’* F1 GP, at least that’s what the over-enthusiastic Ben Edwards told us. I think he must have been watching a different race, or maybe you just had to be there.

Sunday Social in the early evening was good, except there seemed to be two salsa tracks to one bachata which became boring after a while. One or two bachata dances a night are good enough for me. Tonight was overkill. We think someone wanted extra practise time. Spoke to Carol and Ailsa whom we haven’t seen for ages. Sti.

Rain forecast for tomorrow, but it had been a lovely sunny day today. Just right for a nice bike ride.

Total abstinence is an impossibility – 31 August 2016

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Zogman

Not a lot to say about today, other than the six Auld Guys met up in the Horseshoe Bar for a few drinks, a cheap lunch, a few more drinks and a lot of good natured banter. It was great fun and for once there were no arguments, even when conversation turned to politics. The title of the blog post is one of the quotes painted, properly painted by a skilled signwriter on the inside of the gantry of the Horseshoe Bar. It’s attributed to Queen Victoria, but there is no proof that she drank in this pub.

From visiting one of the oldest pubs in Glasgow I had a look in one of the newest places, the Apple Shop in Buchanan Street. It only opened on Saturday after an eight month refit. It’s now much more open inside, but unfortunately they removed the glass staircase. Such a shame. It also looks as if they have removed the upper floor which housed the ‘Genius Bar’. That’s not such a big deal as I never actually found any ‘Geniuses’ there.

Only one photo today, there were more serious things on my mind today like a few drinks, a cheap lunch, a few more drinks and a lot of good natured banter. The building is the Premier Inn which, like the Apple shop was recently renovated. In my opinion they turned an ordinary building into a really ugly one. Kind of suits this area of Glasgow.

Don’t know what’s on the cards for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Lighthouse and Lightroom – 23 August 2016

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Zogman

Now that normal service has been resumed to the train line into Glasgow, I accepted Scamp’s kind offer of a lift to the station today to travel into ‘The Toon’ to visit a photographic exhibition in the Lighthouse. The cunningly titled “Nobody’s Home’ by John Maher ex-Buzzcocks. The blurb says: “John’s photographs of decaying man-made objects set against a backdrop of stunning Hebridean landscapes have appeared in a wide variety of publications.” I’ll bet they have. These are beautiful photographs up to about 2m square, obviously taken on a large format camera and mostly with wide or ultra wide angle lenses. Some looked very staged with incongruous articles lying around the rooms. I find it hard to believe that the average Harris crofter would have time or inclination to read Good Housekeeping magazine. The lighting in some was confused to say the least with general illumination being achieved with ‘light painting’ using torches I expect. However, it’s the textures he achieves that really impressed me. That and the colours. While the photos are restrained, they aren’t dull. An hour well spent I think.

After wandering around the gallery, I went for a wee bit of climbing, taking the stairs up to the viewing gallery at the top of the Macintosh water tower in the building. Strangely, my iPhone didn’t manage to record any flights of stairs climbed! Possibly it was just a case of information overload. It just couldn’t believe I could climb that many steps so quickly. The weather wasn’t as good as it was down London way where the mercury was reaching over 30ºc and wall to wall sunshine. In Glasgow it was more like half that temperature and wall to wall grey. However, I still managed to get the shots I wanted of the backs of well known streets and interesting ‘looking down’ views. Then I got the train back home and got a lift from Scamp back home. Macaroni Cheese for dinner Hazy! Lovely. Then I dumped the photos into the Mac and that’s where Lightroom worked on the Lighthouse shots. A tenuous link, I know, but a link none the less. Here’s another link. This one will take you to John Maher’s website. Clicking on the mosaic at the top is another link, the usual one to my Flickr page!

Cushions – 20 August 2016

Posted on August 20, 2016 by Zogman

Some people will complain about anything. Today as we were getting off the bus in Glasgow, one wee woman was berating the driver because the seats were too hard on the bus. She told him in no uncertain terms that he should be supplying cushions for the seats. The poor man just agreed with her. It was certainly the path of least resistance today. The bus he was driving was definitely a bit rickety and seemed to be playing the complete percussion section of the First Bus Orchestra all by itself, but cushions? I think that might be a step too far.

We had been promised rain today and we got it in abundance. After walking down Buchanan Street in the rain, it simply got heavier as we waited to see the Gay Pride march go past. We felt really sorry for them plodding along in the rain trying to look suitably festive in their rainbow capes, rainbow flags and rainbow scarves, soaked to the skin. Scamp was looking for one of her friends who was supposed to be taking part, but she later confessed that said friend was probably still in the pub. I might have felt sorry for the marchers, but I felt even more sympathy for the poor drivers in town who had to sit and wait for about half an hour for the parade to pass through, with only two short breaks to allow the traffic jam to partly clear. Polis were nowhere to be seen at any of the road junctions. Total shambles.

Lunch was a pizza each in Mediterranianeo in Ingram Street, then we went for a walk in the rain to get a couple of DVDs for tonight’s viewing and avoid another night of the dreadful Rio Olympics. Then it was home again on the bus, and who was sitting behind us? That’s right, that same wee woman. It was a different bus from the one we went in on and the seating on this one was far superior. I don’t know if she critiqued the cushioning as she left the bus, but I wouldn’t have put it past her. See JIC, it’s not just me.

Dry weather forecast for tomorrow. Not sunny, but dry. We’ll take that.

Fanatics, Festivals and Food, always Food – 30 July 2016

Posted on July 30, 2016 by Zogman

E7301117- flickr--212 Today was the start of the Merchant City Festival and we usually try to visit at least once during the week or the weekend, depending on how long it runs. This year it’s for a whole week. What we didn’t know, well I didn’t know, because Scamp with her ear to everything that’s going on everywhere had already heard that there was a YES2 rally in George Square. Oh dear, I fear I may offend some people here, so if you have nationalist tendencies, it’s probably better that you go in to the kitchen now. I’ll call you back when I’ve finished denouncing Nick the Chick and all her deluded followers.

I don’t know who was selling the big saltire flags (probably made in China), but they were doing a roaring trade. The world and his wife seemed to have one. If you weren’t waving your flag, you had to wear it, like a cheapo Superman cape. We even saw a couple of dogs wearing them, but they didn’t look as excited as their owners. Most of the participants had at least some blue paint on their faces too, trying to look like William Wallace, the famous Mel Gibson look-a-like. E7301119- flickr--212 There were even some English Scots. I do not know what that was all about. One incensed bloke was bawling into a microphone connected to a loudspeaker. I really should have told him that the purpose of the loudspeaker was to avoid him having a very sore throat the next day. The clue is in the first syllable of LOUDspeaker. He was saying “WE’RE NOT LIKE THE OTHER PARTY” Which other party was never made clear. “WE’RE HAPPY TO LET ANYONE SPEAK. ANYONE CAN COME HERE AND SPEAK” as he held on grimly to his microphone. Everyone else who had come to the rally, and there were hundreds of them, was pumped up with excitement and national fervour. You could easily tell the tourists. They were the ones wandering around, without flags, but with confused looks on their unpainted faces. As I walked through the throngs I was amazed by the amount of excitement and happiness. Give a boy and girl flags to wave on a sunny day and they’ll be happy. Give them their own country to run? Aye Right!

I enjoyed looking at the motorbikes, none of which were made in Scotland. Scamp just looked embarrassed.

Right you, you can come back out of the kitchen now. The bad bit’s finished.

Wandered down to the Merchant City to see what was happening. As usual there were crowds of people there. A few ‘maddies’ wandering around entertaining the punters, like the four blokes standing on one of the marble ‘pews’ in the pedestrian area. They were spray tanned, wearing plastic nappies and miming in harmony – think synchronised swimming on land … with nappies! Bands were playing their wee hearts out and food stalls were selling every kind of food imaginable. You could even challenge Andy Murray Live to return two of his serves. One man said “It’s no’ even the real wan! It’s jist a big TV screen.” Come on pal, what did you expect? The double winner of Wimbledon standing there trading shots and insults with the cream of Glasgow’s shell suit wearing tennis afficionados? I don’t think so.

E7301121- flickr--212 Maybe it was the smell of the street food, but we both agreed it was lunch time and headed off towards the Italian Kitchen. Lovely lunch. It’s far too long since we last darkened its doors. Hopefully it won’t be long before we are back. Scamp had Salmon with a pesto sauce fried potatoes and a side salad. I had salsiccia and chilli pizza

On the bus back, one wee boy recognised me as his ex-teacher (I nearly slipped up there and said ‘old’ teacher). Scamp said “You see, somebody remembers you!” That kind of made my day a bit brighter.

Joke:

A Scotsman, and Englishman and an Irishman go in to a bar, but they couldn’t stay. They had to come out, because the Englishman didn’t like it.