Glasgow – Page 43 – My Photo Blog

Singing in the Rain – 5 November 2015

Posted on November 5, 2015November 6, 2015 by Zogman

I had intended to get the bus in to Glasgow today. Not for anything in particular, just for a walk and a bit of window shopping. I then noticed that I’d just missed the bus and the next one wasn’t for 30 mins. I decided on the spot to drive in instead. 30 mins until the bus then a 40 min bus ride into the city = 1 hour 10 minutes. Drive in and be there in 15 minutes. No Contest. Ok, the bus is free and the parking will cost about a fiver, but still No Contest.

I had a walk down Queen Street to visit the two art shops there – Ok, I wasn’t really window shopping, I was looking for a portable watercolour paint box. Wasn’t sure if I wanted to pay the price tag for the paintboxes in those shops, so I walked on to Millers or whatever its name is now it’s been taken over by an Edinburgh operation. On the way I passed the wee jazz band busking in Argyle Street and playing their heart out. As I walked past them they started into “Singin’ in the Rain” and the heavens opened … and forgot to close. Wish I hadn’t dropped a couple of quid in his hat.

Millers didn’t have the paint box anyway, so I went back to Queen Street and paid the price. On the way there, I waited a while to see if I could get any interesting shots against the giant animal posters. Managed to get a few, then on to Queen Street. After I came out of the Art Store I crossed to the GOMA. As I was walking past the GOMA, this punter puts down what looks like a bodybag and proceeds to get into it and zip it up (Zips inside a bodybag??). On closer inspection it was a suit bag. I thought “ok, one photo” because this guy is a pri**. The last two letters are ‘k’ and ‘c’, but not in that order.

Soaked, I got to the car and drove home. It had cost me £6.00 for the parking, but at least I could drive home in 15 minutes and get dry, rather than wait for a bus and then have to sit in damp clothes for a further 40 minutes. That’s why I use public transport occasionally and drive the rest of the time.

Hole in my Shoe – 28 October 2015

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Zogman

Today we went to Glasgow on the bus, in the rain. Scamp had booked lunch at the Ashoka in Ashton Lane. We were going to go by train, in the rain, but then I’d have to drive to the station and back again and that meant I couldn’t even have a beer with my lunch. Thank you Scottish Government. The nanny state on steroids.

Lunch was really, really excellent. First time we’d been there. I had chicken pakora and chicken bhuna. Scamp had veg pakora and saag paneer. Both were very good, but the star attraction was the naan bread. Usually these days the nan comes as chopped up pieces of a naan in a basket. I may be paranoid, but I think that leaves the door open to all sorts of possible mischief by unscrupulous restaurants. Using leftovers from a previous client springs to mind! None of that nonsense here. One big fat well fired naan, hanging on a stand dripping with ghee. Superb!! We’ll be back, all being well.

By the time we got back to Glasgow it was raining even harder. Bus back home. Thank goodness by accident they’ve changed the times of the busses in Glasgow so not all the Cumbernauld buses come at the same time. Now if you miss one, you only have to wait 15 minutes not the half an hour it used to be.

When we were walking home from the bus the rain seemed to get heavier. It was then I noticed the squeak from my left shoe an not long after that, I also noticed the wet soaking through. Good summer shoes, but not fit for walking in the rain. Such a shame.

Did I mention it rained today?

A walk in the park – 25 October 2015

Posted on October 25, 2015October 25, 2015 by Zogman

Thank goodness we had an extra hour’s sleep last night, we both needed it. Two late nights in a row does take it out of you. Scamp wanted to go for a walk and we both agreed on Glasgow Green. It’s ages since we’d been there. It hadn’t changed much, although there was a gigantic big ‘circus’ tent in the middle of the green. It turned out it was really a gigantic big ‘beer tent’, part of Oktoberfest Glasgow 2015.

We walked around the ‘Barras’ too, and that had changed quite a bit. Bill’s Tool Store was still there with everything from a needle to an anchor and everything else in between. However, only a very small percentage of the original outside stalls were still there. Yes, the “tabacca” (sic) sellers were still there and yes, the DVD sellers were there too, but where were the hawkers who sold the curtains, the carpets and the car cleaner? We went inside and it too was only half full. Some of the stallholders I remembered from the days Val and I cruised around the stalls looking for Public Domain copies of Atari and Amiga software, but very few. Loads of old faces, people who had worked the Barras every weekend. It wasn’t the same, not nearly the same. Quite a sad place now dying, but fighting all the way. There are still bargains to be had. I got the ‘gilet’ I’d been looking for with lots of pockets – you must have lots of pockets when you’ve got lots of phones. I got it for a very good price too and it was new and possibly not ‘knocked off’.

We went back over to ‘The Green’ and watched the students rowing on the Clyde. The river was full today. Single sculls, pairs, fours and eights. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many on the river.

Lunch for me was a roll ‘n’ sausage (medium rare) and for Scamp was a round of toast in The People’s Palace. Then I went for a wander round the flowers and plants in the Wintergarden. There are always photos to be had in this place, and I wasn’t disappointed today.

Used my new phone card at Tesco to put a tenner on my phone and Tesco kindly boosted that with another £20. Impressed with Tesco so far.

Click on the mosaic as usual to be transported by the magic of the internet to my Flickr page.

Just call me Mr Phones – 24 October 2015

Posted on October 24, 2015October 24, 2015 by Zogman

IMG_2797- blog--297-1 Late getting to bed last night and up fairly early this morning. Fred P was picking me up to go to a colour mixing class at Cass Art in Glasgow. It didn’t turn out to be the most interesting class ever, probably the least inspiring I’ve been to in fact. However, it did make me smile when one woman managed to get the sleeve of her pink sweater in the deep blue ultramarine oil paint and then spread it across the front of the sweater too. It’s the sort of thing I would do, but I was circumspect this morning and dressed in my oldest rugby shirt – and I didn’t get a mark on it! All we did really was make a colour wheel, something I’ve been teaching weans to do for donkey’s ages. The example above is about the best photo I’ve taken today!

Poor Fred is stuck in the Talk Talk debacle and needed to get home pronto to go to the bank, so we didn’t have the usual casual wander around town, setting the world to rights. Shame.

When I came home it turned out Scamp had been in to town and back again today too, so there wasn’t any point in going there for lunch. We finally went to Milano’s, after finding out that we couldn’t get a table at Cotton House.

Last night I’d received an email from the Vodies saying that my old iPhone had been unlocked and to complete the procedure I had to fit a new sim to it and connect it to iTunes. This seemed a strange procedure, but I was willing to give it a go, so we headed off to Tesco to get a 99p sim. Came home and after two resets and a carrier settings upgrade, it sprung into life and announced that it was connected to Tesco with three bars of signal strength. At last, the Vodies do something right.

That was about it for the day. Scamp is singing with Gems at Abronhill tonight and I am alone writing stuff and sketching. I’ll go to Tesco and put a tenner on the phone tomorrow and I’ll be in business as Mr Phone with two iPhones and a Samsung.

Don’t call me – I’d just get confused which one was ringing – I’ll phone you!

A lesson in sketching – 1 October 2015

Posted on October 1, 2015October 1, 2015 by Zogman

I started a self portrait, not a selfie. I don’t take selfies. I sometimes take SPs, that’s self portraits to you. Totally different from the ubiquitous selfie. Thankfully the selfie-sticks are dropping in price now which might mean that if you are lucky enough to be in Venice or Rome, there is less chance of you being poked in the eye with a extensible metal wand with a camera stuck on the front. I wonder how many cameras have been nicked from ingenuous tourists holding these miniature fishing rods. Anyway, I started a SP this morning, a painting. Tonight it is painted over. Tomorrow is another day. I met FP for a coffee and a chat today. I told him about the SP and he promptly entered into a detailed lesson on drawing a portrait. That’s why tonight, my SP is covered in blue paint. Tomorrow, as I said, is another day. Hopefully a better one now that I have a roadmap as guidance. Thanks FP.

After the lesson and fizzing with caffein, I got the train into Glasgow. I was another stunning day. I’d never have believed that we could have weather like this in October. Apparently it will last out the weekend and then we’ll be back to “Scottish Weather” next week. I tried a multiple exposure of my building in Queen Street, but it didn’t work. I’m going to try it again once I’ve worked out how to handle the multiple exposure setting on the Oly.

Early bed tonight to be at my best for my SP tomorrow morning. Yes, I’ve lots more blue paint ready just in case.

This photo below is for the Inktober challenge. 31 sketches in 31 days.

A wet day in the Toon – 12 September 2015

Posted on September 12, 2015September 12, 2015 by Zogman

combo As with most Saturday mornings, this one started gently with a long lie in. This was partly because I’d been to a retiral dinner on Friday when much drink was taken.
The weather this morning was, as predicted, wet. I think it was partly Scamp’s fault and partly mine. She because she had watered the garden on Friday and Thursday because it was so dry. Me, because I had washed my bike on Friday. Both these acts were completed using the hose. That self same hose that we bought in April and hadn’t used since then, because it had rained almost every day. We had broken the dry spell by using the hose! Broken the ‘spell’ that is!

We had sort of planned to go to Perth today, but that was back in the middle of the week when the weather was much better. Today, we decided, we’d just go to Glasgow on the train for lunch. Seemed like the best way to deal with such a dull day.

Went to Zizzi’s in Exchange Square for lunch. Scamp found out just how hot red chillies can be and my pulled pork pizza was more like a teased piglet pizza. Really, I should have taken a shot of it and sent it to the Zizzi management to see if they could identify the actual pork without the aid of a microscope or DNA analysis. I think this may be the last time for a while we will be gracing their premises. I realise that times are tough in the restaurant sector, but if you advertise the pizza as pulled pork, then that meat should be its prime topping. That said, the Italian sausage was tasty, but, I’ve just checked the menu on Zizzi website and there is mention of crispy prosciutto and that wasn’t in evidence either. Maybe the pig ate it then ran away. I’ve written a complaint to Zizzi head office.

Bumped into Ruth from Salsa – she was going to a refugee rally in George Square. Hardly recognised her. She’s a shadow of her former self, but in a good way. She seemed a bit put out that we were walking away from the rally. It’s our choice, our life, our day.

On the train back, we were sitting beside two loud americans ex-teenagers. They drawled on and on in loud voices discussing the education system in Scotland and its failing. Why are american teenagers and ex-teenagers so annoying. Empty head and empty talk full of jargon and little else. I was tempted to put on the Ned voice and drawl back at them: “Hey mate. Ur youse americans? So ur ye jist here tae git a bit o’ ejicayshin? Cause you’re baith talking’ pure crap man. See me, ah’ve dun the ejicayshin thing an ah can tell when sumdi’s talking’ shite, an youse ur.” Scamp would not have been pleased and would have maintained a stony silence for the rest of the evening.

Top left picture is of my favourite building of the moment taken with the 9mm lens. Processed in Tonality Pro. The processing suited it in my opinion. Top right is a religious zealot who regularly preaches in Buchanan Street. I think he got more than he bargained for today when he took on the man on the right. Bottom right is the same building as the first one, but with a bit cleaner processing and a different viewpoint.

It was a no’ bad day in the Toon.

A full day – 18 August 2015

Posted on August 18, 2015August 18, 2015 by Zogman

It was up early as the weans were going to school and the teachers realised that the phony war was over and it was now the real start of term. I was determined to make the most of this auspicious day. 😉

After breakfast, the day started with the Gym & Swim thing. Gym was fine, but there were toddlers and their mums in the pool along with a really annoying teacher singing to the weans. Not the way I wanted my day to start, but I’ll know better for future. Avoid the baby swim time.

Went straight from there in to Glasgow. I did think that I should do a drive past of the school, but decided that was a step too far.
<Rant>Took a ticket at Cowcaddens and went to find a parking place. There were none. Why does the machine give out tickets when there are no spaces. Isn’t it simple to issue the number of tickets equal to the number of spaces? Is there a problem with this algorithm? It would appear that Glasgow Council just issue tickets to everyone who asks and if you can’t find a space, tough luck, that’s just the way it is.</Rant>
Anyway, sat ‘poaching’ and waiting for someone to leave and got a space 5 minutes later. Just went for a daunder round ‘the toon’. Got myself a mudguard for my bike and two posh cakes for pudding tonight from Patisserie Valerie. It was a good choice, judging by Scamp’s face when I got home. While I was there, I saw a healthy food stand in Buchanan Street, selling coconuts and advertising free WiFi. Healthy? Coconuts? FREE!!! WiFi? In Glasgow? What’s the world coming to? Where are the deep fried Mars Bars and the pints of heavy? I despair!

When I got home, the sun was still shining so after fitting the mudguard, I took the bike out for a run to try to find some puddles – not usually a problem in Scotland. I could not find one puddle to splash in because the magic weather fairies were still in charge. Apparently the magic weather pixies plane home had been delayed due to an air traffic controllers strike in Eastern Zogland. They are expected tomorrow.

Bummer

One of those days – 12 August 2015

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Zogman

It may be the Glorious Twelfth to some, but for me the day started OK but gradually and inexorably slid into crap. That’s the way it is sometimes, but it doesn’t help me when it happens. Drove to Falkirk to have lunch in COW coffee bar. Coffee was OK, but Scamp’s was not hot and she does like hot coffee. Mine was fine. Lunch was a burger for me and macaroni cheese for S. Burger was a bit thin and cooked medium rare, which I don’t mind in a steak, but am not so sure about in a burger. Scamp’s Mac was not advertised as containing bacon and as a veggie, she was a bit put out by that. Worse still, the macaroni was overdone and textureless. So, some work needs to be done on the lunches COW. The folk that were in there were all having coffee and cake, so perhaps that’s a safer way to go. Other coffee shops abound in Falkirk, so we may be giving them a try rather than taking the COW route in future.

The rest of the day was vanilla. Just the usual Wednesday. Went dancing at night and again faced the nightmare that is the M8 westbound. It really is becoming a pain driving in to Glasgow at night. Personally I’m getting fed up with trying to find new and less congested routes every week. Maybe it’s just me today. Today’s pic was taken at the STUC in Glasgow and although the face and the background is good in this painting, the hands and the tartan, oh that tartan, are awful. How could someone do that?

Surely tomorrow will be a better day.

It’s all about timing – 31 July 2015

Posted on August 1, 2015August 1, 2015 by Zogman

On this last day of July, we had planned to go to Glasgow on the bus. Since the X3, the only bus that runs through our estate (you don’t call them schemes any more – that has totally the wrong connotations) takes about three days to drag its sorry wheels into town, we decided instead to get one of the other X buses, any one in fact. This meant we had to get the bus from the Town Centre also known as Castle Greyskull. This is where it gets complicated and all the timing starts. Scamp’s car needed petrol, so I opted to run her to work and get petrol on the way back. Then drive to the gym for my Gym ‘n’ Swim in my own car. Get back, hopefully have a cup of tea, then get the bus up the toonie, meet Scamp and travel in to Glasgow. For once, given our poor history of making these plans stick, it worked and we raced into town in about 20 minutes rather than the three days on the X3.

In town, we wandered around the almost deserted Merchant City Festival site, waiting for the Car Men comic opera singers. This ‘festival’ is not a patch on what was there last year. Fewer stalls and almost no attractions. Last year there were street performers mingling with the punters, this year it’s just minging. Scamp thinks it’s because last year was Commonwealth Games year in Glasgow and there was a bigger push and also more cash flung at it. She could be right. There is also the added factor of the winter weather this summer. That probably puts a lot of folk off. The Car Men were quite funny, although their set went on for a while. Scamp seemed to enjoy it which was surprising as it was comedy and she doesn’t usually do comedy.

Lunch in Charcoals Cafe was not up to their usual high standard. Chicken Bhuna lacked salt and taste. The sauce seemed to comprise entirely of liquidized carrots without peppers or onions. No wonder then that we were the only customers. Must do better. Later we had coffee and shared a cake in Patisserie Valerie and that was up to their usual high standard.

A day out with friends – 29 July 2015

Posted on July 29, 2015July 29, 2015 by Zogman

It’s not often we all get together, typically twice or three times a year, but when we do all get off the leash at the same time, drink is taken, jokes are told and you must leave your sensibilities at the door. That’s how it was today when we all arrived, well almost all of us at the Horseshoe Bar in Drury Street in Glasgow. It’s our usual pub and has the longest bar in Europe, 104 feet and 3 inches. For those readers who prefer measurements in metric, but a calculator. The Horseshoe Bar also has the cheapest lunch deals I’ve seen in Glasgow, £4.50 for three courses is hard to beat. After we had all caught up with each other’s lives, had lunch and a few beers, we went for a walk through the Merchant City to see what was going on in the festival. Not a lot going on when we started out, but on the way back we watched the hilarious Moustachioed Spies creating havoc and a great deal of hilarity with the children who were watching them. After that we split up and went our own way with the stated intention of having another meeting in a couple of months.

Next I met Scamp who had driven into town and we got the subway to Kelvinbridge to meet up with another old friend and then we went together to salsa class. Great fun again.

A good day with good folk. Oh yes, and the sun shone for a while. It did rain too, of course!

Reflection of the old sandstone buildings in my favourite glass fronted new building.