Category: Home

Connections Connecting – 24 April 2024

Posted on by Zogman

There wasn’t much to say about today other than it all went smoothly … for once.

Breakfast in the hotel and then with our bags already packed we signed out and walked down the hill to catch a bus. And that’s where I saw The Beast. It’s a Ryker Trike with either a 600cc or 900cc engine and the meanest looking accessories you’re likely to see anywhere. I saw it first on Monday when we were climbing the hill to the hotel, but I wanted a few more shots of it today when I knew we had time in hand. Time in hand, yes. Money in hand for a 900cc trike? I think not. With prices starting at £10,000 plus delivery, it’s a bit out of my league, but it is a smart looking piece of kit. We walked on.

Found the place the Ember buses call home and waited for our bus to arrive. It didn’t take long and after the driver had done his visual check to make sure there were no fivers stuck in the seats, he allowed us on. Now we knew the routine. Scamp went first and scanned her phone then her card. I just needed to scan my card and a few minutes later we were on our way. Another comfortable journey and were dropped at Cumbersheugh bus stance where an X3 filled the space the Ember 3 had just vacated. That got us home and the sun was still shining.

Scamp walked down to the shops to get dinner which was a strange concoction of Hasselback Potatoes with rosemary, Masala spiced chicken breast and Peas, Courgettes and Leeks. All cooked in the oven except the greens which were done in the microwave. I don’t think I liked the veg, but I can’t say why. Scamp said it was ‘alright’ but her chicken was tough. Maybe we’ll get back to auld claes and purrich tomorrow and we’ll feel better for it.

We did go dancing tonight in Kirsty’s class, but it was all a bit of a shambles. Too many folk who hadn’t practised since last week’s class (and I include myself in that group), trying to dance on a floor that was far too small. It was a disaster waiting to happen that turned, instead, into a shambles. I must try to put this Tango together before next week and that will mean practising.

PoD was The Beast. Just a dream for me, but for some lucky individual, a bike to turn heads!

That was it for the end of the belated birthday present. A really good three days away in a place we haven’t been to in a long while.

Tomorrow I’m out in the morning to go to Larky to get my eyes tested.

Stuck in the toilet – 28 April 2023

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Scamp was out in the morning to her FitSteps class and out again in the afternoon for coffee with Isobel. I was stuck in the toilet.

Actually it’s not as bad as it seems. Yes, I was in the toilet, but I was replacing the carpet tiles in there. There are only six tiles to lay, but every one has to have cut-outs to accommodate pipes or the curved base of the toilet bowl or door frames.

This was probably the third or fourth time I’ve had to relay the tiles. The good thing about it is that the outgoing tiles act as templates for marking out the new ones. It’s the cutting that’s the most difficult stage. It’s been quite a while since I last had to do this job, but after a couple of tiles, it all came flooding back. The secret is to mark the back of each tile out using the old tile as a template and a white wax sewing pencil. Then with a sharp Stanley knife you cut halfway through the stiff backing. That should allow you to crack the new tile along that line. The most awkward part is hacking through the carpet fabric. It’s not easy working in such a confined space, but once you get into a rhythm it all goes fairly smoothly, but I don’t fancy having to do it for a living! By the time Scamp got back from FitSteps I was working on the last tile. Six new tiles laid in just over an hour.

After a spot of lunch I drove Scamp up to Costa in the town centre to meet Isobel, June and Ian. I didn’t wait, I had other fish to fry or in this case sausages to fry. Stopped at the butcher’s in Condorrat for mince, stew rolls and flat sausages. Some call them Lorne sausages, some call them square sliced (pronounced Skwer Sliced). To me they have always been flat sausages. That was my section of the freezer filled again with mince and stew. One of the sausages was for lunch, as was one of the rolls.

When Scamp got home I took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s later to get some photos. I couldn’t really see anything that appealed to me, but the two trees with the upwardly mobile branch made me smile. It became PoD.

When I got back, Scamp was working in the garden. That reminded me that I hadn’t planted my anniversary present, a packet of Sunflower seeds, so I set to and planted almost all 20 of the seeds. I had some left and offered them to Scamp to plant. Not that it’s a competition or anything like that. Just a friendly neighbourly gesture. We’ll see who’s pops out of the soil first – of course it’s a competition.

There is just an outside chance that we may go to Edinburgh on the train tomorrow. Weather permitting, of course.

Homeward Bound – 11 April 2023

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This is the day I always dread, and yet I look forward to being home again. It’s just the bit in between I hate the most.

We sat around after breakfast. Jamie would already be at work by now, because his working week had begun. Simonne’s would start after she dropped us off at Stowmarket station. We took one last longing look at that expanse of garden. One last photo from ’The Library’. Then we got in the car and Simonne drove us to the station. We said our goodbyes and then we waited for the first train in the chain we’d ride today.

The train, when it arrived was quite busy. Folk just like us eager to get back home after the Easter break. It wasn’t overcrowded, though, just busier than normal. There were no holdups this time, just an easy ride to Peterborough. Only a half hour wait going home. Much more doable than the hour long wait, travelling south.

This train was full, folk everywhere, including in our seats, but a gentle word from Scamp and they apologised and rose to give us our booked seats. This WAS a busy train, the busiest I’ve seen the Kings Cross to Edinburgh train. Now I understand why standard class is called “Cattle Class”. Folk were crammed in everywhere and it didn’t help that two old ladies were having a discussion in the corridor about where they could put their suitcases, while folk were trying to get to their seat. We survived, and as the guard predicted, everything quietened down by the time we got to Newcastle.

We hadn’t long to wait for our final train to Croy and then only about ten minutes until a ramshackle taxi took us home. The sun was still shining when we got home.

A cup of tea and a comfortable seat were all that was needed to dispel the memories of wafer thin cushioning in the LNER seats. It was a long journey, but a good pair of headphones and another Stella Rimmington spy story made the hours pass.

PoD went to the photo of the Old Newton garden.

Early bed tonight because I’m up and out tomorrow to Larky to get my eyes tested.

 

Flying home – 11 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

There isn’t much you can say about going home, other than that it’s usually very carefully orchestrated by P&O and Jet2. Usually

We left our bags outside the cabin last night and knew they’d be picked up and taken away by midnight. The next time we’d see them would be when we took them off the carousel at Glasgow Airport. We were ushered into one of the restaurants after breakfast and waited there until our buses were ready to take us to the airport. Then the rain came. Torrential rain. The staff wouldn’t allow us to go to the coaches because it was raining! Why couldn’t they just bring the buses to the bottom of the gangway and allow us to leave? No, they couldn’t do that. Were they frightened someone might slip and be injured and they’d be sued? Possibly. Eventually they had to let us go.

We passed through security quickly this time because I’d organised all my camera gear and electronic gadgets plus my laptop into easily manageable chunks and it all passed muster. Then we were through and almost immediately we were given the gate number.

Fairly pleasant flight home until one baby at the front of the plane started screaming its head off. I don’t know if the mother was deaf or just didn’t care, but I kept thinking about the scene in Airplane where all the passenger queue up to slap the hysterical woman. It wasn’t the wean that we’d be queueing up to slap, but the mother.

Finally we landed in Glasgow and the next calamity occurred. The person who drives the ‘airbridge’ couldn’t get it aligned correctly with the door and was attempting a second run at it, but then the airbridge broke down and wouldn’t reverse. Eventually they solved the problem by bringing in a set of steps manually. I think everyone was happy to get off that plane. It must be the first time we’ve arrived in Glasgow and our cases were in the reclaim carousel before us!

Driving home the traffic was terrible on both the M8 and the M74. I opted for the M8 which was the wrong decision. It took us an hour to get over the Kingston Bridge because some poor soul had broken down just past the bridge on the part of the motorway that has two lanes now instead of four. That meant only one lane in four was in use. We did get home, but it felt that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

As soon as we got the bags and cases in, we did our tests. I was negative, but Scamp was positive as she’d expected. At least we were home.

PoD was two street cleaners sweeping up Valletta’s streets this morning.

Tomorrow will be another day.

The long way home – 25 May 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Just like the drive up, there’s not a lot you can say about driving about 250 miles, less than 20 of those miles being on motorway.

It was a fairly decent run down, although we did have to stop for fuel at Kyle of Lochalsh and pay the exorbitant £1.93 per litre. We could have filled up at Broadford for the £1.64, but the queue to get to the pumps looked as if it would take the best part of an hour!!

Still smarting from those highland bandits, we stopped at Fort William for essentials and lunch, then it was onward and downward until we parked outside the house and then the electronics of the car did a reset again. We’ve a few things to do in the next day or two, so I’ll keep an eye on it for further problems, then book it in to get this sorted out. Also, a letter to Nissan wouldn’t go amiss.

The garden needs a bit of a tidy up, but hopefully we’ll get that done in the next few days too. Scamp’s rhododendrons look really spectacular.

Maybe a wee dram before bedtime tonight, just to settle me down.

PoD was one last look out of the front window of our holiday home onto a gloomy looking sea.

Tomorrow? Probably emptying the cases and filling the washing machine. Scamp also wants a visit to Tesco.

Driving home – 23 July 2021

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It always comes to this day.

We had packed last night. Really all that had to be done was to load the car and tidy up the house. That work took about an hour and a half with all four of us doing our bit. Then the hugs and goodbyes with the promise that we’d do it again soon. I hope we do.

Drove in convoy with Hazy and Neil D until they branched off to go past Broughton in Furness and we headed for the northbound M6. A fair few holdups on the road, but once we were on the motorway it was plain sailing. Stopped at Gretna to stretch our legs and window shop, although I did buy a new kitchen knife. Then it was back on the road and home.

All the plants needed a drink, it looked like they had not had any real rain either

I’d taken some shots of the mist covered Duddon Valley with sheep coming across the field for their morning drink. That was easily the PoD.

Tomorrow we may go dancing … in a hall … with a wooden floor … wearing dance shoes … and … WITH OTHER PEOPLE IN THE ROOM!!!

Back to life, back to reality – 18 June 2021

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The car was packed and we were driving back south.

We’d started the packing last night, so it was really just a case of tidying up the caravan. Loading all the bags, rucksacks and more bags, plus the pink fluffy plant into various places in the car and pointing it south after we’d done some more shopping at Morrisons which happened to be on our way home. I must admit it was Scamp who did most of the work. I took a phone call from Fred. Not the easiest of calls to take. I’ll leave it at that.

We chose a slightly more picturesque route home, compared to the one the sat nav had chosen for the run up to St Andrews. Basically, after the initial avoidance of Crail and Anstruther, we just hugged the coast and followed it down to Rosyth where we crossed the Queensferry Crossing which is the Third Forth Bridge and from there we followed the M8 until the M73 and then we were on home ground.

After lunch we drove to reluctantly give Annette her caravan keys back, thank her for the opportunity and convince her that we hadn’t left too much of a mess in the ‘van.

Scamp and I went for a walk later in the afternoon and got a picture of some beasties which turned out to be immature Shield Bugs. They just looked like an unruly crowd of teenagers having fun. I couldn’t get that impression out of my head. They made PoD.  We continued our walk to Condorrat and got two fish suppers to celebrate the end of the short holiday.

Thank you Annette for the chance to share your holiday home. We really enjoyed it. I’m not entirely sure we could make a case for owning one ourselves, but it was still great fun.

Tomorrow I intend to relax and try to work out the knots that have appeared in my right calf. Something to do with yesterday’s up hill and down dale walk along the Fife Coastal path. Scamp is intent on starting a week’s worth of washing!

Spring Cleaning – 15 April 2021

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We had some things that either weren’t working or were surplus to requirements. We took them on a one way trip to the skips.

Scamp had been collecting bags of broken and tired looking things that were lying around the house or garden. Thankfully I was excluded from the collection although the description seemed to fit me quite well. We gathered them all up and took them to the skips. Drove back via the garden centre where we got a parsley plant, some violas and a couple of packets of seeds with compost to plant them in. Real compost this time with real soil in it, not just the dust and fibres that we dump from the hoover.

Back home and after lunch Scamp started to clear out the bin shed which, just to confuse things doesn’t have any bins in it now. Now we have wheely bins four of them that clog up the front door. Thanks for that NLC. Just what you want at your front door, four smelly bins. Anyway, I was called in to supervise the operation and ensure that all the stuff she had earmarked for the next skip deposit really was rubbish. We came to an agreement on almost all of the garden accessories. I held on to a bag or two of cement, but that was really just so she wouldn’t get things all her own way and so I could use them as bargaining chips in later discussions.

Next task for Scamp was to plant the violas and between us we completed an in depth investigation on the Gypsophila which then became a post mortem. Neither of us could find any life in the plant. However, on reading some trustworthy reports on the Interweb, it appear that the plant dies back in autumn and it is recommended that it is cut right back in spring. That’s exactly what we did today! It may live to flower again in the summer.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s in the late afternoon just to grab some photos. Instead of the Sony I took the little light Panasonic GX 80 and one lens. Today’s PoD shows that it’s perfectly capable of producing good photos from its small sensor.

We watched the first of the Sewing Bee tonight and I have to agree with Hazy that cats were never meant to wear coats. I think the same about dogs. Real ‘dugs’ have a thick coat that protects them from the cold. To some eyes they may seem ‘cute’ in their little knitted woollen jackets, but they don’t need them! The contestants were the usual mix of crazies, fanatics and chancers. Haven’t picked a likely winner yet, but if my choice of winner of the Landscape Artist of the Year (Canada) is anything to go by, it’s stick a (sewing machine) needle in a name and that is the likely winner, or that’s the one who will go out first.

Tomorrow we are exercising our legal right to travel anywhere in the length and breadth of Scotland. We think we know where we’re going. Tune in tomorrow to see if we made it!

Planning is everything – 18 January 2021

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Making a plan is just the start. Sticking to it is everything.

Today I had a plan. Things to do. I didn’t make a big long list and attempt to tick them all off. I know I’d cherry pick, choosing the ones I wanted to do and getting them done, leaving the rest for tomorrow or the next day. Much easier to make a short list of a few things and get them done. Three is a good number to start with. Odd numbers are good. More interesting.
Today’s list:
1. Go for a walk.
2. Get a photo.
3. Write a letter.
If I can achieve a task while engaged in another, that’s a bonus, but doesn’t leave space for an additional task. No, it leaves space for free time e.g. To play Angry Birds!

It was dry in the morning and we couldn’t decide it it was going to stay dry for long enough to go for a walk, but we both wanted to get out in the open air for a while so we went. As soon as we left the house the rain came on, as usual. We were out now and we were already wet, so we might as well go for a short walk round St Mo’s, maybe twice round.

The rain just kept coming. Sometimes light and sometimes heavy, but always there. We both knew that if we couldn’t feel it on our faces and we put our hoods down, it would start again, but we played its game anyway. We went round the pond twice. Once anti-clockwise and once clockwise. Didn’t see anything that encouraged me to take a camera out of the bag. We came home and had soup for lunch, Scamp’s “Just Soup”, good and thick.

Following its usual pattern, the rain went off, the clouds parted and the sun shone. I put my boots back on to fool it and went out into the garden instead to get a photo. The rain came back on, but I got half a dozen photos of buds on the rhododendron in the back garden. I loaded them into the computer and while Scamp talked to her wee sister on the phone, I went upstairs to write that letter. Three tasks completed.

Tonight’s dinner was more Just Soup and then Pasta a la Carbonara and a really good one too, even if I say so myself.

Today’s PoD was one of those six photos of the rhododendron buds.

Tomorrow’s list is almost full, and it looks as if the best time for a walk will be in the morning. Possibility of some snow tomorrow or Wednesday night.

Bird Watching and Lockdown – 4 January 2021

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Well, let’s face it, the wasn’t much else to watch.

At first it looked like the ice had all but gone this morning, then we realised that wasn’t the black asphalt of the path we were seeing, it was the path with a clear layer of ice. No point in rushing out then, better to go back to bed and finish a chapter of our books. However, not everyone is as luck as us retired folk. Scott, the taxi driver, needed to get to and from his car safely and often during the day, so he started clearing the ice and shovelling salt and grit onto the path. It seemed to do the trick where it fell, but because there wasn’t a very active footfall on the paths, the grit and salt was not being spread by pedestrians, and wasn’t doing its job as efficiently as it should.

The reason for the layer of ice was explained in the midday weather forecast. It was all down to freezing rain, caused when rain hits an already frozen ground. A ground so cold that the rain instantly freezes. I remember this being talked about ten years or so ago in the winter of 2010/11. It looks as if it’s back again.

We had spent most of the morning and early afternoon taking down the decorations and packing them away. It never ceases to amaze me the number of things Scamp can pack into those big plastic storage boxes. Most of them are now in the loft, with only a few left to go. The room looks quite bare now and quite dull, although I must say it was a dull day.

On top of the weather problems, in the afternoon Nic the Chick explained in great detail why she had taken the decision to put all of mainland Scotland into full lockdown again. It seems like exactly the same rules as in March ’20 with no unnecessary travel no leaving the house unless for exercise or to buy food and all non-essential shops to remain closed. No meeting more than one person from another household outside. Schools to remain closed until the end of January at the earliest. It’s not a great deal different from what we, at least, have been living with for the past month or so. Oh yes, and we’ve to expect more snow by the end of the week.

So, to the birds. I wasn’t going to risk a walk today. It was really dull anyway and Scamp didn’t want to go far. We’d been watching and feeding the birds in the garden over the cold spell and today it was their turn to pay us back by posing for some photos. We’ve had a thrush who visits every day and also our resident robin who seems to think he/she owns the garden and patrols it vigorously. Blue tits, great tits and, of course, the ever present starlings. Today’s PoD is of a thoughtful looking Starling. Taken through the kitchen window.

The diet has started. We are doing our best to eat and drink healthily. No alcohol until Friday and smaller portions at mealtimes. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Tomorrow we may go out for that ‘exercise walk’ if the paths are safe to walk.