insects – Page 28 – My Photo Blog

Damsel Day – 6 May 2017

Posted on May 6, 2017May 7, 2017 by Zogman

After yesterday’s peregrinations across the breadth of Scotland, we had decided to have a day at home.

While Scamp went out to search for provisions, I made myself a cup of coffee and sat on the front step in the sun. While I was sitting, I spotted this week’s potential sketch. It’s just the house across the road. Nothing special about it, just a corner house with some trees in front and some scrubby bushes. Sometimes you miss what’s right in front of your face.

After lunch we went our separate ways. Scamp to cut the grass and plant out some alpines and me to cycle, hoping for a few damselflies to photograph. It seemed such a lovely day, it was a shame to waste it sitting around on the step or even worse still, moping around the house.

With a couple of squirts of WD 40 on the bike we were ready for the off. The outward leg was so very easy, I knew it was a bad sign. It was a tailwind. The wind was from the east and also stronger than it was in the morning. That meant it would be a headwind on the way home. However, after wandering around for a while without any signs of insect life, I caught a few shots of a hoverfly sitting on my bike jacket. A nice little one, with bright yellow stripes. Maybe someone on Flickr will ID it for me. Then I saw a little red damsel. The first I’ve seen in Scotland this year. I saw some in Tobago in February, but that’s a different world. Here we don’t usually see damsels until the end of May or the beginning of June. Early May is very unusual. Got a few shots of it, then started to plan them a bit better, trying to get at 90º to its long body to keep as much as possible in sharp focus. Almost impossible with the extension tubes and the very narrow depth of field. Still, got a few ‘keepers’. Nice colour on the body and thorax.

As I predicted, the homeward leg was a struggle with a gusty eastern wind. Bag was heavy too with a couple of rocks to create perches for the smaller birds in the birdbath.

Dinner was the second attempt at Spanish Rice (just as good as the first.) While I was making it, Scamp was sunning herself with a Pimms for company in the back garden. Yes, she did have her sun cream on.

Watched the BFG on Amazon Prime tonight. Great escapist fun.

Tomorrow? Probably dancing in the afternoon, the rest is up for grabs.

A Closed Shop – 16 April 2017

Posted on April 16, 2017April 18, 2017 by Zogman

Not a union matter, just that every shop we tried today for a couple of tins of tomatoes was shut.

Earlier in the day, Scamp and I went out for a walk past the Mill and on out into this incredibly flat countryside under a wide blue sky. Saw and photographed a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly and a Common Blue butterfly. I wouldn’t mind being called Small if I was a butterfly, but I’d object to being described as Common. Why are we so dismissive of these pretty flying insects?

It was after we returned and JIC took us off to wander round a garden centre that the problem reared its ugly head. Sim had gone off to ride Valioso, so JIC was left to entertain us. He did try his best, but shop after shop after supermarket after garden centre was shut. Closed, padlocked, locked and shuttered. It was like the end of the world. The out of town retail parks looked so different without lights, with only a few abandoned cars and straggles of zombie looking folk. That’s what it looked like. It looked like the zombies were taking over. Where’s that devil dog when you need her?

There was nothing to it but to drive back to the village and go to the corner shop which is always open, isn’t it, and buy the tins of tomatoes there. At least we’d eat tonight. We ate JIC’s chicken tagine which was much tastier than the one I made, although I think my Lamb Tagine would give him a run for his money. After dinner we watched a confusing but very interesting episode of Black Mirror on Netflix. Definitely one to search for.

Tomorrow we’ll try the garden centre again. We may bring Vixen to dissuade the zombies.

Lunch at Crews Inn – 12 February 2017

Posted on February 12, 2017September 9, 2017 by Zogman

It’s Sunday and Scamp was going to church with Madeleine and Jaime and I thought I should get up and do something too. So, after they’d left leaving Ori and I in charge, well, really it was Ori who was in charge and I was just getting in the way of his morning nap. With Ori concentrating on his sleep pattern,I started a sketch of the house from a viewpoint at the front gate. I gave myself a time limit of one hour and managed to get it completed in just over that time. I’m quite happy with it apart from one little mistake. By the time I was finished, I just had enough time for a shower before the others came home. Ori was still sleeping.

We had a light breakfast because we were booked for lunch at the Crews Inn at the place that begins with a C and I can never remember its name. I’m going to look it up now. Ok, it was Chaguaramas. Bing had the answer. I hate Bing – It’s like most things Microsoft. It’s crap. I did say ‘most’ things. Excel is brilliantly powerful and Live Writer is the best blogging prog I’ve used, but Bing is just painful to use. Why is it called Bing? Apparently because it was short and memorable(?), but we all know it’s Because It’s Not Google, and in my opinion, it never will be. Anyway, we were going to Chaguaramas for lunch at the Crews Inn. In the mean time I managed to capture a couple of shots of the Monarch butterfly that’s been annoying me all holiday. It thought it was out of reach, high in a tree, but it reckoned without the power of the 200mm lens on the Oly 10. It was snapped! As was the wee bit of bright pink blossom.

The Crews Inn is a lovely place, especially if you are a sailor. I’m not, but it’s still a great location, right on the seafront with a vista that takes in fishing boats, skiffs, real yachts and big mega pretend yachts owned, no doubt, by millionaires. We weren’t coming to see the boats, we were coming for lunch and I was going to have a glass of their very alcoholic Sangria. It turned out to be not as good as the last one the others had, but it was still very rich and tasty. I think we were all a bit disappointed when we were told that it was a buffet on a Sunday, but hey ho, it’s still food. Indeed it was food and food a plenty. We started with a salad and then went for the meat and fish option. Then there was the dessert menu to investigate. Really, I think Jaime and I did overdo it a little bit, well, a lot really. It’s hard not to when there is this much food on offer. That’s what I love and hate about buffets. I love the selection, I hate the fact that I just pig out. One day I’ll learn, maybe!

When we got home, I had to go for a snooze. The food and the heat just got to me. It was lights out for a while.

Later, we started the inevitable packing. I’m about half packed just now. I’ve now got to decide exactly what to wear on the plane and the train as we move from 25^o to 5^o.

Listened to some ‘pan’ from the semifinals at Savannah. It’s nothing like the real thing. Jaime is still listening to it on TV now. Despite my wee snooze this afternoon, I’m beat and beddy byes is calling. Good NIght.

A Jump, Skip and a Hop – 10 February 2017

Posted on February 10, 2017February 11, 2017 by Zogman

Today we said goodbye to Tobago and caught the plane to Trinidad. Madeleine and Scamp weren’t very impressed with the pilot’s driving skills and I have to say it was a bit of a bumpy ride at times. What I did wonder about was the fact that before it landed in Tobago, it hadn’t appeared on Flight 24 on my phone and there was no airline insignia on the fuselage. A pirate of the skies perhaps? Anyway it got us to Piarco airport on Trinidad and from there Madeleine drove us home, stopping on the way to pick up some Roti which are Indian flatbread wraps holding the main course which for three of us was chicken and for Scamp was veg. Possibly my best favourite of these lunch wraps so far.

When we were at the airport on Tobago, Madeleine showed us the bright yellow fruit she’d picked from the hedgerow along with its delicate wee yellow flower. I think it was a Carailie Vine, but I may be misspelling that. I’ll check tomorrow. It tasted good. Just another of the fruits available on these islands. Even better, this one is free as it grows wild in the hedgerows.

Ori was pleased to see us and after being fed, fussed over and having a run round the garden at top speed a couple of times, lay exhausted in the livingroom. Such a relaxed dog.

While Madeleine was watering the garden earlier on, Jaime picked a Guava from one of the trees in the garden and we all had a piece. Beautiful green colour with soft pink flesh inside. They really do have an amazing selection of fruits here. Unfortunately, one he was trying to harvest looks like it’s been invaded by ants. It’s a Sour Sop. It is a big dark green fruit covered in spikes and is supposed to have a sweet white flesh, but I doubt if we will taste it because the ants have been there first.

Today’s sketch is of a wee sea urchin shell that Scamp found yesterday on the beach at Pigeon Point. It’s a bit rough, but at least it’s done and on time. Maybe I’ll find something more interesting to draw tomorrow. It won’t be the little beastie that Madeleine showed me today, asking what I thought it was. I took a photo and it looked for all the world like a caddis fly larva, but it was much, much smaller. I searched on Google for it giving as much info as I could and it turned out to be a Household Casebearer and it turns into a moth after pupating. Nasty looking little thing. Now gone along with it compatriots under a spray of bug killer. Oh, yes, one more thing. Out of the corner of my eye tonight I thought I saw a bright green light flying around the room, turning on and off. Couldn’t quite catch it though, then I did and it was a Firefly! First time I’ve seen one. It looked like a wee moth with an LED on its bum! And with that thought, I’ll say goodnight.

Pigeon Point again – Still no pigeons.

Posted on February 9, 2017August 24, 2017 by Zogman

Out early again and got to Pigeon Point before the resort was fully open! The benefit of getting there early is that you get your pick of the beach huts. With our one selected and with sun screen slathered on, Scamp and I went for a walk in the shallows. The water was cold, but then it was just after 9am. The sea was much calmer today, so it was time to grab the mask and snorkel and head out to the reef.

Despite the lack of wind and only a slight swell, there was still a fair bit of silt in the water and visibility wasn’t that great. However, it was good to swim in the sea without getting hypothermia. After a while I swam back to the shore and met Scamp who wanted to have a deeper paddle and test the improved buoyancy you get from sea water. We just messed around in the fairly shallow water for a while and she did try a few strokes before we got out again. Sat watching the colours in the sea and sky for a while then had an early lunch of biscuits and cheese, washed down with some fruit juice. After that Scamp and I went for a walk along the beach and watched the pelicans diving for fish. Scamp found a wee bit of coral to take back and then she found a sea urchin shell. Walked back to the beach hut and did a quick sketch of the lifesaver’s hut.

Back at the beach hut, a hoard of americans arrived (lower case shows my respect for them).

The older ones were about our age and were quiet and quite biddable. The younger ones were noisy and american. What more can I say. Each one seemed to want to project their inherent stupidity louder than the last. Big Chief Stupid had his hair shaved at the sides and left long on top. Such a good look. I may grow my hair long this year and emulate him. I won’t, however, plaster my arms and legs with ‘artistic’ tattoos. To quote from Lou Reed “Stick a fork up their ass and turn them over, they’re done!” Actually Lou was quoting from his friend, Donald, so maybe that’s a cyclic quote!? We stayed a bit longer, I had another snorkelling mission then I went looking for a Sarong for Scamp, it being Thursday. Bought one from an old guy sitting on the beach with the sarongs hung up and drying in the breeze. He even demonstrated the different ways to tie it.

Back at the apartment, I wanted to go out and get some pics of the pelicans fishing from the beach that had disappeared yesterday. Today was better, but the waves were now attempting to cover it. Walked along to where the pelicans were, and found a white bull in the field behind me – no fence! I said bye-bye to the bull and made a hasty retreat. On the way back, I found a dragonfly, right next to me on a bush. Dragonflies in February, now there’s a thing! Got lots of photos.

Out to Karawak again for dinner. Two waiters instead of waitresses tonight and it was Cajun Chicken for me and Mahi Mahi fish for the others. I didn’t enjoy it as much as last night, but I was in the minority.

Back at the apartment, Jaime, Scamp and I went to watch the limbo dancer. I think now we saw him the last time we were here, but he was entertaining with his fire eating and his clowning around.

We went to bed early because we’ll be up early tomorrow for the plane back to Trinidad.

A Grand Day Out – 08 February 2017

Posted on February 8, 2017February 9, 2017 by Zogman

This will be a rushed post. It’s been a long day and we’ve crammed a lot into it, although it might not seem so with this compressed or condensed description.

The day started well and we left the apartment with the intention of visiting Scarborough and then heading to a beach, but that’s not how it turned out. Firstly we made a stop at the Magdalena Grand Hotel to see how the other half live. The hotel, which is quite grand and quite magnificent is surrounded by a golf course which has the usual water hazards. However, the water hazards on most golf courses don’t have warning signs saying ‘This lake contains caimans’. Thankfully we didn’t stop near the water. We did continue on to see the hotel and to walk the grounds as if we were staying there. It’s a technique I must learn some time. We were both impressed with the size and look of the building, but there weren’t very may folk staying there, so we did wonder how profitable it was. While we were there I got my first decent shots of Frigatebirds.

As we were leaving the weather seemed to take a turn for the worse with squally rain appearing. It had been threatening while we were trespassing on the hotel grounds, but now it was doing more than threatening. We carried on to Scarborough, and it did remind me of the English seaside town with the steep hills around it. Madeleine drove us to Fort King George and old stronghold, now open as a museum. Loads of interesting stuff to be seen and most of it was open to the public. That’s where we saw the cockerels and the hens. They seemed to have the run of the place. Jaime bought us some Tamarind Balls which are made from Tamarind paste with added pepper made into balls then covered in sugar. A strange sweet/sour/salty taste. Hard to define. Great place to visit. It was there too we found all these lovely butterflies. Butterflies in January? Who would have thought it? Aha, but this isn’t Scotland.

By the time we were leaving here the rain had started for real. No longer squally, but a proper downpour. After an attempt to outrun it, we gave up and headed with our sandwiches and juice back to the apartment where we had a picnic on the balcony. Not quite what we’d intended, but at least we were dry for a time. Then the rain started again and we took shelter inside. These showers continued all afternoon. I got fed up after a while and went out to walk along the beach. Unfortunately, the beach had disappeared under the heavy breakers of high tide, so I sat down and sketched a concrete seat as a possible subject. It rained again and I had to give up. At that point Jaime appeared wondering where I’d got to. We walked back and he showed me the fruits on one of the trees in the hotel grounds. I must remember to ask him what it was called. Before we got ready to go out to the restaurant Scamp wanted to dip her feet in one of the hot tubs. We sat in it for about half an hour while the rain made little soldiers on the surface of the water around us. What a strange feeling that was. When we finally gave up the hot tub, we went for a swim in the pool. The water was remarkably warm.

After our swim we went back to the room and Scamp went to shower and wash her hair. I grabbed my sketchbook and drew the view from the balcony. It’s not technically perfect, but it’s a better, and more interesting, drawing than the concrete seat. IMO.

Dinner was in Karawak restaurant and it was fabulous. Callaloo soup followed by Tomato, Basil and Olive salad then a main of steak or shrimp with rice, pumpkin and a sort of ratatouille served in a hollowed out half aubergine. Dessert was coconut cream cake with ice cream, sorbet or ice cream. It’s hard not to compare that with what we had on our first night here at the steak and lobster grill and it’s hard to see now how the S&L Grill survives against competition like this. The waitress worked the table with a great sense of humour that you couldn’t help but appreciate. The only fly in the ointment was the owner or manager, it wasn’t clear which, who only seemed to be interested in her regular customers and only gave us a cursory glance. She needs to take a lesson from our waitress. Nobody it that high and mighty that they don’t need to cultivate new custom.

Well, that was meant to be a condensed description of the day. I missed out the Karaoke because it was so bad, it wasn’t even funny, and no we didn’t take part.

Mojitos & Earwigging – 9 November 2016

Posted on November 9, 2016November 11, 2016 by Zogman

This being our last full day in Lanzarote 2016, we took our time and made the most of it, but took it easy too.

We sat by the pool for a while after breakfast because it was very warm, possibly the warmest of the days, but a cooling breeze kept the temperature within a reasonable range. We stayed there until after lunch when we walked along in the direction of the airport, with the task of finding a coloured strap for Scamp’s case to make it easier to find on the carousel at Glasgow … when the moving belt eventually squeaks into life. After selecting a suitable strap we settled in a bar with two mojitos. Real ones, not the pre-made, out-of-a-bottle ones they ply the unwary with at the hotel, topped up with a teaspoon of their watered down ‘local’ rum. These weren’t the strongest mojitos we’ve had, but they were very tasty and went down a treat.

While we were there we were earwigging a scam being played out by an old white haired bloke with a beard and his wife behind us. Scamp was shocked at the length of the claws his wife had, you couldn’t call them nails, these were full-on talons. Anyway the old beardy had got wind of the fact that a bloke who owned a bar in Arrecife had a backup battery for his own bar that he didn’t need and wanted rid of. According to his electrician friend, the bloke in Arrecife didn’t know what it was worth and would be happy to sell it on for a fraction of what it was worth. OK? The scene has been set.
So, old beardy bloke and Eagle Claw are plotting their pitch to Mr Arrecife. They decide that they’ll tell the bloke they are interested in his backup battery to use to keep their two fishtanks running when there is a power outage. The electrician has already told them that this battery will run all the electrical requirements for a bar; fridge, freezer, air-con, pumps, lighting, the lot for 10 hours, and they’re going to tell the bloke that they want it to power their fish tanks. It made we wonder just how bit these fish tanks were, or how ingenuous they thought Mr Arrecife was. Beardy thought they could get the battery for under €400. The phone call was duly made and either the electrician was playing both sides against one another, or Mr Arrecife wasn’t as stupid as Beardy thought, because a figure of €1500 was being bandied about. The call ended with Beardy telling Eagle Claw that he could probably beat him down to around the €400. I hope he’s got a good baseball bat to beat him with, either that or he’ll have to threaten Mr A with Eagle Claw. We’ll never know the outcome.

We walked back to the hotel and while Scamp went for to grab some more rays, I went for a last walk over the lava rocks. Now, not all of the wilderness is rocky, there are dried up riverbeds, Arroyos that occasionally carry enough water to allow plants to survive and it was one of those areas that gave me the little green leaves. Like I found in Fuerteventura there are lots of shells here, embedded in the soft dry clay and the lowering light brought out their textures. At last, I found myself a dragonfly. Apart from the unlucky pair laying eggs in a swimming pool, this was the first dragon I’d seen. It was very delicate and thin, not like the big bruisers we get in Scotland. However, the light was getting poor and I grabbed a couple of shots and then headed back to the hotel.

It was a Rock Show in the theater and it wasn’t quite dire, but it wasn’t all that good either. There was a lot of shouting, enthusiastic applause and whistling coming from about four folk at the back of the audience, quite near us. It was totally unwarranted and I have to admit, I think they were ‘Rent-a-mob’, bought in to encourage some interest in the miming and aping on stage.

That was it, apart from a G&T on the balcony to finish the bottle and the initial packing. Another holiday draws to a close.

Lazy day / Dancing night – 7 November 2016

Posted on November 7, 2016November 11, 2016 by Zogman

After the long walks these last two days, we both settled down to a sunbathing day today. The furthest we were going to go was the pool, or should I say the pools. The pool with the bar in it, yes in it, not just next to it, but in the pool itself, which means that you can swim up to the pool, have a drink and swim away again. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it all went ‘swimmingly’ today Winking smile Both Scamp and I had a swim in the pool and when we both tired of this aquatic activity, we baked in the sun for a while more. It was while Scamp was swimming she shouted to me that there was a dragonfly dipping into the pool. It was actually a mating pair that was laying eggs in the swimming pool. I don’t think there is much chance of those eggs hatching any time soon. If the chlorine doesn’t kill them, the filters will grind them to a pulp. Such a waste of time. I got a fairly decent ink sketch done while we were sitting by the pool

We had booked for the Asian restaurant tonight and so we settled for a light lunch to protect our appetite. After lunch it was back to the hard work of sunbathing again.

Later in the afternoon the sun had moved round and our sunbeds were in shadow so we went back to the room and sat on the balcony for a while. I got itchy feet and headed over to the lava rocks to see if I could capture any photos of butterflies. I managed a couple and that was my lot.

The Asian meal was delicious although it was a buffet and Scamp’s not keen on food that’s not piping hot, so she was a bit disappointed. I thought it was all lovely. My favourite was deep fried Dim Sum. Scamp’s fave was the Tuna – no surprise there. We had intended going for a walk and possibly a drink after the meal, but when we left the restaurant we could hear a violin playing. At first we thought it was piped music, but it turned out to be a live musician playing an electronic violin. Very clever stuff and of course that put paid to any chances of a walk, so it was ‘cooncil cocktails’ tonight. Like I said, the bloke was really good, playing classical, pop and jazz. We listened for his full set.

After the violinist had left, we went to hear the duo singing. Different duo tonight, different songs, slightly better mumbled English lyrics, but best of all, we got to dance! We did one Bachata and one Salsa. Not our finest, but better than nothing. There was a German (?) couple a bit older than us sitting in front of us and they seemed to think we had done alright. They seemed to dance Ceroc rather than salsa.

We actually watched the full show tonight – Best of Shows it was called. More like Least Worst in my opinion. Blokes with balloons up their jumpers seem to get a great laugh here. Possibly a Teutonic sense of humour. I think it was the show that put the tin lid on things. We went back to the room and off to sleep. No nightcap on the balcony tonight because we were both tired out after such a lazy day!

First Full Day – 4 November 2016

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

A more relaxed morning than yesterday! Unfortunately it was still raining. Just a shower we told ourselves but the sky gave a lie to that. Breakfast was the usual holiday hotel fare and of course we had too much of everything. Notables were the big slab of butter you could cut for yourself to spread on the bread you also cut for yourself. Butter was white and unsalted and also quite delicious.

After breakfast the rain was going off so we waited a while and then headed off in the direction of Puerto del Carmen. It’s a fairly long walk and the weather was improving so we took our time. Our objective today was to find the cheapest bottles of Gin and Tonic. Although we are all inclusive, it doesn’t go wrong to have the makings of a G&T for sitting on the balcony watching the world go by. The hotel provides us with as much drinking water as we want, free of charge, which is an improvement on some places we’ve been to. WiFi is also free, but only in the reception and only for two devices at any one time. Not a real drawback. To get back to the walk, we wandered down the road checking prices as we went. Stopped for a beer in a wee roadside bar. Checked that a really good Asian restaurant we’d been to was still there. Usual holiday stuff. Then we walked back, and it was getting real holiday hot now. Forgot to get the gin and were appalled at the price they wanted for it in Hyperdino (usually the cheapest, so we hadn’t checked it). I volunteered to walk back to the cheapest shop to get some and also some tonic. Finally arrived back, just in time for lunch. We were a bit more modest in our lunch selection, really just a salad.

After lunch, Scamp went to sunbathe and I went for a walk over the rough lava rocks to get some photos.

Booked dinner in the Asian restaurant in the hotel for Monday as Saturday and Sunday were fully booked. At night we waited for a while for the Flamenco show to start, but gave up on it after a while. Had a drink in the lounge and then went back to try again. The show is supposed to start at 21.30. At 21.45 they started the presentation of the awards of the day for the Kiddies Club. That was supposed to happen at 20.30, so it looked like they were running at least an hour behind. We, or to be more exact, I couldn’t be bothered waiting that long, so we headed for bed. Scamp was keen to demonstrate that she, as Genghis Pathfinder had discovered a faster way to get from the main building to the room and, for once, she was right. Full marks for Pathfinding, Scamp.

Less food tomorrow and hopefully some sunbathing with the possibility of a swim too.

Nursing – 25 October 2016

Posted on October 25, 2016October 25, 2016 by Zogman

It could have been my chosen career, but I chose a different path. That, by itself saved the populace from a bad case of genocide. Scamp has the cold and I’ve been doing my best be head cook and bottle washer.

As part of the nursing program, I was also the driver who took us to Costa Robroyston for a cup of brown water and a spot of Costa lunch. Can’t say I was any more impressed with the coffee, but served as a skinny cappuccino, it’s almost palatable. Hark at me, “Skinny Cappuccino” no less! Quite the man about town.

After we came back I went out to get some photos and maybe, just maybe, a sketch. The sketch didn’t happen, what I did do was get some photos of underpasses, of which we have quite a few here, to sketch from the computer later. It’s a bit of a cop out, but it sounded feasible. I took the shots and they looked ok. I took some spiders’ pictures too in St Mo’s. They seemed quite pleased that I was showing an interest in their web building and posed happily while I snapped away. Mr Grey was sulking in the cold water of St Mo’s pond. Do birds have nerve endings in their feet, I wonder. I also wonder if there should have been a question mark at the end of the previous sentence. That’s the sort of thing that I would know if I had been paying attention in English back in Larkhall Academy, but I didn’t and I don’t, know that is. Strangely, my English teacher was a Mr Grey too! I took this Mr Grey’s photo because of the reflection in the murky waters of the pond.

While I was taking my research photos of underpasses for the proposed sketch (it didn’t happen either), I turned a corner and almost bumped into a guy lurking in the darkness of the underpass. At first I was a bit concerned, then I realised he was just a schoolboy, presumably from St Mo’s, also presumably ‘dogging it’. In other words he was ‘bunking off’ school. What we, in the trade, called a ‘school refuser’ and what the pupils called a ‘dogger’. That has nothing at all to do with dogs and also nothing to do with secluded carparks after dark. Or so I’ve been told!! Ahem, I’ve also been told that when one is in a hole one should stop digging, so I’m laying the spade down now. Anyway, I marched through the underpass and got the shot from the opposite side once the boy had scuttled away in the general direction of the school. He obviously hadn’t, to quote Guy Garvey, “perfected that simian stroll”. What he should have done was amble on in the general direction of the school with that look that said “It’s alright mate, I’m just on my way back from an appointment with my dentist / my doctor / my social worker” (delete as appropriate). Instead he just looked like he was a rabbit caught in the headlights. Maybe it was the first time he’d done it. Maybe he had a good reason. Maybe he’s on the path to become a repeat offender. That made me think of another musical reference: “Razzle in my Pocket” – Ian Dury. Listen and you’ll see what I mean.

Anyway, photos took and still no sketch for the day, because the underpasses hadn’t fired my imagination. Also, I don’t like sketching from photos now. They seem to lack the vitality of sketching from life. After washing up, I took a cup of good coffee upstairs to read while Scamp was watching her Tuesday soap, and there it was, today’s sketch. It’s a bit cheeky to title it as the First Coffee. It was hardly the first coffee of the day as I’d had my Sudoku Cup at about 11am and you can’t count Costa brown water. It was the last cup of the day though and, like the spiders, it posed very patiently for me. It wasn’t even cold when I’d finished. Success. Just in case you’re interested the paper is 110gsm Fabriano Sketch and pen is a Micron 0.3 with a bit of shading from a pale grey brush pen.

Tomorrow? It depends on how Scamp is feeling. Maybe the gym for me, but we’ll wait and see how the invalid is.