Category: insects

Šibenik – 9 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We’ve been pronouncing it ‘Sibenik’, but the folk who live there pronounce it ‘Shibenik’. I’d assume they’ve got it right.

Looking out from our balcony at just after 9am, we were looking out over a bay to wooded hills echoing with the constant scratchy sound of a million cicadas. A couple of hours later we were walking along the seafront of Šibenik town, after being ferried from the ship’s anchorage over to the a little township in a tender and then on to one of a host of local buses out along country roads and dropped in a car park near the ferry terminal for Šibenik. We just followed our noses, admiring the expensive looking seagoing yachts, until we reached the old town and found a road taking us up and away from the sea. There was a castle right at the top of the hill, but we’d no intention of climbing up to it. A walk through the narrow streets that opened out into open squares with roads leading in different directions would do for today. Maybe a spot of lunch too.

It was very hot and we found a wee outdoor cafe where we had a beer and then decided we could manage some lunch too. I had a beef burger and Scamp had a chicken wrap, both with chips. Then I had another beer. Service was pretty slow, but we weren’t in a rush to go anywhere.

From there we walked back to the car park to get the bus that took us to the jetty and the tender back to the ship. On the way we passed a municipal building with a walkway over another path. Under the walkway a cat was snoozing in the shade. I grabbed a couple of shots, then thought I’d get a better angle from the other side. I thought I might have spooked it, but it just lazily opened one eye and then dismissively went back to sleep.

Big queue for the bus, but then four buses came at the same time. Same big queue for the tender, but there were cups of cold water ready for us on the jetty, so time passed quite quickly.

Dinner in The Glasshouse tonight and although the steak I had was lovely, the menu was limited for vegetarians and also for those with shellfish allergies. I think, too that we’d eaten more than we should have at lunch and didn’t really do the meal justice.

Tomorrow is going to be packing day. It’s a sea day and our last full day on the ship.

 

Koper – 8 August 2022

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Looked for a flea market but found a hummingbird. Read on!

We got off the ship early because there are lots of things to see in Koper.

We opted for the sit-down breakfast restaurant where you’re not tempted to go back again and again for more from the buffet, especially after last night’s Indian feast. After breakfast and after checking out of the ship, we walked out of the port and headed for the lift to take us up to the viewing gallery and the town. I was impressed by the artwork advertising what I think was a ballet company’s “In a Dark Rabbit Hole”. Weird black and white photos overlayed with splashes of black ink hinting at scary things. Very arty and very clever. I photographed each of the billboards.

We didn’t actually go up in the lift, instead I suggested we climb the stairs to the viewing gallery where we took the mandatory photos of the ship and also photographed our reflection in the mirror panels that enclose the lift that the lazy folk use to avoid all those stairs.

Once we’d taken our photos and got our breath back, we walked in to the town and admired the cathedral and its bell tower. Scamp likes churches and she wandered into this one after covering her head and shoulders as is required. I’m not really all that interested in churches, but this one really shone inside with sunlight coming in through the high windows. We walked round and I took some photos, listening to what I thought was piped organ music, but it wasn’t piped. Someone was playing this massive church organ with an assistant turning the pages for him. That made it even more impressive.

After we left we walked in through the narrow streets of the town. I found some graffiti that I thought Alex would like because he’s into that sort of thing. In one shop they had a handbag shaped like a full size acoustic guitar. A snip at just over €80 and another about 60cm diameter shaped like an old style alarm clock with a working movement, a bit more expensive at €250. We walked on!

It’s an old town with cobbled streets and narrow alleyways that are just asking to be photographed, so that’s what I did, while Scamp found a dress shop with a reasonably priced dress that she bought. We found a real old fashioned cobbler’s shop where you could get a pair of hand made shoes made to measure. Luckily we didn’t have the time to wait, but the shoes looked lovely. There was a beautiful Yamaha Midnight Star motorbike just on a prop stand I took its photo, also for Alex.

I was looking for a flea market we’d wandered round the last time we were here and eventually had to agree that it was no longer there. There were some stalls in a park, but it looked as if it wasn’t going to be open today. Such a shame. We had a beer in an outside cafe and then headed back towards the ship.

We passed busts of what I think would translate as “National Heroes” all with a red star on them somewhere, so probably dating back to Soviet times. Further on, there were planters with great pillars of red flowers and … a Hummingbird Hawk Moth feeding on the flowers. I can’t remember who saw it first, Scamp or me, but the cameras were out in seconds and we were hammering away trying to capture an image of this fast flying insect. I remember seeing one, easily twenty years ago in France and maybe one since then. You just don’t get them in Scotland, even with climate change. There may be some in England, but I doubt it. Eventually after I’d shot over 50 images, I gave up.

As we were walking away from the flowers and the insect Scamp noticed a man on a wee electric ‘Monkey Bike’ with his dog sitting quite happily on a rack underneath him. Maybe that’s normal in Koper. We bought some things to take home at the supermarket in town and got them through security without any problem.

Back at the ship, Scamp went to the pool again for a swim. I grabbed my sketch book and pens and went back through security to draw the cathedral and bell tower. I’d sketched it the last time we were here, but for some reason I’d painted the clock face black – it’s white. This time at the third attempt I got what I wanted.

Normal sit-down dinner tonight with the couple we’ve been sitting with. Alan is a Senior chef and his wife is a Tax Consultant. Both from Newcastle area. Good company. We went to an awful show after dinner. That’s the last show I’ll go to on this ship. I’ve seen school shows that demonstrated more acting and singing talent.

Tomorrow it’s our last port, Šibenik, and we get to go in the wee boat, the tender to shore, then a free bus to the town itself.

One Hot Day – 18 July 2022

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We were well warned about today. It was going to be hot. They were right.

Last night we slept under a sheet. No duvet, not even our summer 1 TOG. It was going to be one hot day.

Scamp wanted to drive to Tesco to get veg and fruit because we were making a salad for dinner. That was the furthest we went. There was an enormous queue for the petrol station. I wondered what it was all about, then I remembered Scamp saying the other Tesco store in the town was closed for ‘essential maintenance’ and everyone was flocking to our local one. When we got back we put the lounger and the chair out in the back garden where we sat and read for a while. Even I found it too hot to sit for long and wandered in and out of the house trying to find the coolest spot. I didn’t find it. As usually happens with this house in summer, the inside was cooler than the outside.

After an al fresco lunch we went for a walk round St Mo’s for something to do. I took a camera, but find anything worth photographing. However, when we got back to the house we saw lots of Soldier beetles on the Sea Holly (Eryngium planum) in the garden. That was to be PoD. I have no idea what the beetles below are doing! Probably something to do with their alternative name!

Later in the day we walked down to the shops to buy some ice lollies, Mivvies! Just the thing for a hot summer’s day. When we got back it was beers in the garden. Just relaxing in the sun this time with a gentle breeze to cool us slightly.

Dinner was a salad feast. Tuna pasta, Potato salad, Little Gem lettuce, Prawns, Carrots matchsticks in orange juice (try it!), Beetroot, Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Dessert was jelly and fruit with ice cream.

More reading and relaxing after dinner and eventually we had to call it a day at about 9pm. It’s almost 10.30 now and the temperature is still 22ºc. It was 28.5ºc in the afternoon. Tomorrow the weather fairies predict it will get even hotter. Oh, to live in Shetland where it was 16ºc!

Hopefully more of the same tomorrow. I had hoped to go for a walk with Alex this week, but the whole family are down with Covid … except Alex. He was negative!

The warm-up begins – 17 July 2022

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Today was the start of a heatwave. We were warned that temperatures would rise significantly in the next few days.

Nobody informed the weather. It was raining when we woke and it kept on raining for about half an hour. But they were right about the temperature rising. The temperature was around 23ºc in the afternoon which although not earth shattering, was more than we’d had for the last few weeks. Probably that was due in part to the lack of wind which always cools the place down. It has been an extremely windy year so far. Is that to do with global warming too? I don’t know. All I know is that it’s been the windiest year I can remember.

In the morning, we took the tomato plant and the two chilli plants out to get the benefit of the rain, then we just left them outside to talk to the rest of the plants. While I was inspecting the flowers in the front garden (and getting some steps recorded) I noticed a little wee Marmalade hoverfly on one of Scamp’s dahlia flowers. It was kind enough to sit there for me and get its photo taken with not one, but three different cameras from three different dynasties. Ranging from the half frame Oly E-PL5 up to the mighty Sony A7iii with the Sony A6000 wedged in between. All of them produced great images, but the best of the lot was a shot from the A7iii. That photo became PoD.

In the afternoon we emptied out another ‘tattie’ bag. Not as many tatties in this one, but they were bigger. Some were pretty scabby too. Must ask Colin about that the next time I see him. There wasn’t much more to the day. Scamp watered some of the plants in the back garden with a watering can, then set up her lounger and read. In the meantime, I put my boots on and sprayed myself with insect repellant and went photographing insects (?) in St Mo’s where I almost got bitten by a cleg. Not a very clever one, because I felt it land on my leg and smacked it off. Clegs 0 – Photogs 1. I took a fair few photos, but nothing to beat the Marmalade.

Came home made a Pimms for Scamp and opened a bottle of Estrella for me. Sat in the warm garden. Note, warm but not sunny. The milky white sky from the morning hadn’t opened up to reveal blue skies and sunshine. A bit disappointing.

Dinner was Trout fillets with our potatoes and a salad. The potatoes might have been scabby, but once that was removed they tasted fine.

Spoke to Jamie and heard all about Hedgehog Houses and surveillance cameras to photograph the poor things. Must be a bit like being in Colditz! I think they’re resigned to the high temperatures predicted for the next few days. Thankfully the thick walls of their house will keep the temperature from rising too much inside.

Tomorrow we may go for a walk somewhere. Hope the sun shines.

Driving Miss Robinson – 11 July 2022

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Well, actually Mrs Robinson, but that’s just splitting hairs.

As a birthday treat, we were taking Isobel out for lunch. We drove down to Gouldings in Rosebank on Clydeside. It wasn’t quite as sunny today as it was yesterday and Saturday, but it was plenty warm enough.

Before the outing I took Scamp to the chemist to speak to the pharmacist because a cleg (horsefly) bite yesterday had caused her elbow to swell overnight and she needed something a bit stronger than Piriton tablets and Anthisan cream. The pharmacist gave her a course of penicillin tablets with a recommendation to go and see her doctor if it wasn’t improving in three or four days. We drove back home to let her take one of the tablets then we were off to pick up Isobel.

We drove down the M73 and the M74 to Larkhall where we took a detour through Larky, partly to avoid roadworks at Garrion Bridge and partly to let Isobel see where we used to live. We continued on to Netherburn and down to Clydeside then along to Gouldings which was quite quiet for a change. It was still morning, so the crowds hadn’t arrived yet, but they would. Got parked easily and waltzed in to find a table. Since Isobel is coeliac, her choice from the menu was a bit limited. She settled for Sweet Potato Soup while Scamp and I had Fish ’n’ Chips. We had a dessert too. I had a slice of Rhubarb pie and the other two shared a gigantic meringue with cream and strawberries. Then it was a walk around the plants, because as well as being a restaurant, originally Gouldings was a plant nursery. The ladies eventually bought five dahlia flowers between them. Scamp got a radiator brush she’s been looking for since January and Isobel got a hose connector to replace her broken one. Then we were off again.

We left Gouldings and drove along the Lanark Road to Lanark itself. Drove through the town to Lanark Loch and sat there for a while before we headed for home by the ‘Top Road’ through Carluke, Newmains and Airdrie before dropping the birthday girl off at her house. It’s not really her birthday for a few days yet, but that, again, is splitting hairs! I think she enjoyed her day out ‘in the country.’

We drove home and I changed into shorts and took a walk in St Mo’s while Scamp pondered where to put her new flowers. I saw a strange looking insect on a hogweed flower head. It had long dark brown wings folded over its body, a yellow abdomen and a black head with an orange spot just behind the head. After asking Mr Google, it turned out to be a Red Necked Footman moth. I think it’s more orange than red, but maybe it’s just a bit bleached in the hot summer sun! Anyway, it was an obvious PoD. In all I took 132 photos of that moth and a couple of other insects. Those 132 images have now been reduced to a more manageable 44.

When I got home both the dahlias were sitting in a large pot, still in their original pots because Scamp isn’t sure yet where they will go. We may find out tomorrow. Just the outside chance of some cooling rain tomorrow while the south of England swelters.

The swelling on Scamp’s cleg bite is much reduced tonight which is a relief. No plans for tomorrow yet. I hope it won’t involve driving, because that was a long run today, but very enjoyable.

Painting – 9 July 2022

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No artistry involved, just a tin of paint a brush and disposable gloves. That kind of painting!

After sitting around doing nothing this beautiful morning, waiting to see if Scamp wanted to go anywhere in particular, but knowing in my heart of hearts that she didn’t want to be stuck in a traffic jam, going to and/or coming back from the seaside, I doubted it. I was right. She decided this was the day to cut the grass in the back garden. Really sensible decision because it had been dry for a few days and therefore the grass would be easier (not easy, easier the difference is important) to cut.

I felt bad that she was doing work in the garden while I was playing Angry Birds on my phone. I’d already sanded down the door to the bin shed, so today I sanded off the remainder of the scabby paint and changed my long trousers for a pair of shorts. Then took my tin of exterior gloss, a brush and a pair of disposable gloves and went out to paint the door, or at least to give it its first coat. As it happened, with a Florence and the Machine in my headphones, I quite enjoyed the morning slapping paint onto the door. It’s the same colour of paint that was on before. It’s good stuff, but the sun had crazed the old paint and the rain was getting in to the wood. It really needed don and it really needed two coats. The first coat took half a double album and I was thinking as I was cleaning up, what a boon disposable gloves are! The few spots of paint I had on my hands were easily removed with Swarfega.

By the time I was finished, Scamp was finished too and it was lunch time. After that and after some discussion about dinner tonight, we settled on a quiche. We’d some smoked salmon that needed using up. A broccoli and smoked salmon quiche sounded good. That meant we needed some broccoli, cream and probably some frozen shortcrust pastry. That meant a walk to the shops, which suited us both. It really was a beautiful day with just enough breeze to cool us down without blowing us away as it almost did earlier in the week. As it happened, we had to go to three different shops to get all the ingredients (and some beer). On the way back a cheery wee man offered us ice lollies out of the box he’d just bought. Scamp eventually gave in to his offers and took an ice cream ice lolly we used to call a “Mivvi”. I felt it was unfair for us to take the poor bloke’s lollies and thanked him, but said no thanks. Just a nice wee man. Afterwards as Scamp was eating her lolly I wished I HAD taken him up on his offer!

With our work done and the frozen shortcrust pastry defrosting in the kitchen, we sat in the garden and enjoyed the sun. I got tired of reading after a while and went for a walk around the garden taking photos. I’d got one or two of a ladybird this morning before I started the painting, but I wanted more. Then I remembered I’d wanted to take some photos with an old Zenit 58mm lens which apparently gave excellent ‘Bokeh’ (out of focus blobs which delight photogs.). I soon had the lens cleaned and working and sure enough, it did create some strange effects. A photo of a little lupin flower with a strong bokeh background got PoD.

It didn’t look as if the shortcrust pastry was going to be ready today, or even this century at the rate it was defrosting, so we revised our plans and instead we had Fish Fingers, Egg and Spaghetti with some fried Potatoes. It’s a store cupboard stand by when nobody can think of anything else to have. A family staple. It was perfect for today. Maybe quiche tomorrow. More reading and sunbathing later, but eventually it got a bit cool and we had go adjourn to the house.

Tomorrow looks much like today according to the weather fairies, so I may give the door a quick sand down and then put on another coat of that paint, or we may go for a walk somewhere. We’ll see how we feel in the morning.

Out for a curry – 8 July 2022

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Not a good one though.

We drove to Hamilton today to see if the car still worked. It doesn’t do much driving these days with the price of petrol. The other reason we went to Hamilton was to have a curry for lunch. Bad move.

We went to Bombay Cottage just after midday for lunch and it was awful! I had my usual Chicken Rogan Josh. It was tasteless, the sauce was watery and the chicken had been sliced up, usually it’s in chunks. Scamp had Cauliflower Shimla Bhaji and it too was tasteless, but hers was oily. The naan bread was smothered in oil, not ghee and left a smell like paraffin on my hands! Scamp thought it was maybe from firelighters they used to fire up the tandoor. That seemed likely because we were there just after the place opened and maybe they had just started the tandoor. The waiter apologised, but it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t make the curry. We’ve been going to this restaurant for years and have always had good food, but not today. I realise that the hospitality sector, and restaurants in particular have had a hard time in the past two years, but these days, you’re only as good as your last meal. We will give them another chance, we will go back, but not for a while and only because their past record has been so good.

Back home, I took an old friend out for a walk along with my Sony A7iii. The old friend was an Olympus E-PL5, a compact little half frame camera with a Panasonic 30mm macro lens fitted. It worked hard today and produced about 70 photos, all of the inside of my camera bag! My fault. I forgot to turn it off and also forgot just how sensitive the shutter button is. It also captured a few macro shots of hover flies and a series of shots of a grasshopper. Not quite good enough for PoD which went to a wide angle shot of what I thought was a children’s toy, but which turned out to be a dog toy in the form of a gnome. The Laughing Gnome wasn’t laughing any more!

After my walk, Scamp and I sat in the garden. Her with a Pimms and me with a bottle of Estrella. The last bottle. Note To Self: Must go to Morrisons soon to get another box!

Unfortuantely the sun was getting mugged by too many clouds and we had to call a halt to the seat in the sun. However, by that time the the Pimms had been drunk and the Estrella was well gone.

Hazy, I meant to say yesterday that the risotto spatula worked its magic again, and was responsible for that very nice Prawn and Pea Risotto.

The other thing I meant to mention was that the solar light looked really nice casting their glow across the garden. All at different heights and angles. Truly ‘fairy’ lights.

Tomorrow we might go out somewhere if the weather is as good as the weather fairies say. The problem is, they sometimes promise things they cannot provide!

 

Crowned – 7 July 2022

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Queen for a day perhaps.

Scamp was out to the dentist today, not in the morning as I’d mistakenly reported yesterday, but in the afternoon. That left the morning free to speak to Hazy for half an hour or so. Things seem to be plodding along down south, but slower than they’d like. Dozy deacons were part of the problem and over lengthy exam answers were another. But one of the was the diet that Tilly (one cats) was on seems to be a success and she has reached her target weight. It was when we were talking to Hazy that I realised Scamp’s dentist appointment wasn’t for another four hours! Oops.

After we said our goodbyes, Scamp and I walked down to the shops to get some messages. Just something for lunch and a loaf to put it on because there was no bread in the house, at least, no bread that was eatable. On the way back we got some solar lights for the back garden. They don’t provide much useable light, but they do look pretty at night.

After lunch, Scamp steeled herself and walked over to the dentist to get her new crown fitted. It’s been a protracted issue this tooth. It all started back in December when she needed a filling, but because of Covid it wasn’t done then the dentist retired and she had to wait until another one was appointed. Oh, I could go on and on, but so did the wait and the bill got bigger and bigger, as did the cavity, until the new dentist said the only way to fix it was with a crown and that was the crown that was fitted today. Thankfully it worked and to look at it you’d never guess it wasn’t a real one.

While she was being crowned, I was out walking in St Mo’s better armed today to capture some insect photos. It was a lovely warm summer’s day.  Not at all like yesterday with its gale force winds. I took the big heavy macro lens and got a few ‘keepers’, but a lot more ‘chuckers’. My favourite was a little fly feeding on some pink blossom. It was the contrast between the dark flower and the pale pink of the flowers that swung it for me. That was PoD.

Back home it was warm enough to sit in the garden and make plans for alterations to the planting that might go ahead next year, all being well. Sitting making plans with a bottle Birra Moretti for me and a glass of Yellow Tail Merlot for Scamp is as good a way as any to spend an afternoon. Dinner was a very nice Prawn and Pea Risotto.

We watered the garden after dinner. It really needed it and I think the plants will look a lot better tomorrow.

The Boris Saga continues. Today he resigned as leader of the Tory party, but intends to stay on as a caretaker PM. Why doesn’t he just go? Nobody wants or trusts him anymore. It’s quite sad really.

We might go out for lunch tomorrow, but that’s as far as plans go.

 

Windy Willie – 6 July 2022

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Windy Willie was out and about today, gusting around the houses and making the trees sway. Thankfully he’s now away to annoy some other people, but he was a nuisance for a while for photographers trying to capture images of insects on flowers.

Unbelievably, despite the occasionally torrential rain we’ve had recently, the back garden was suffering a drought. Because of the wind, using the hose wasn’t practical, so Scamp and I were carting full watering cans around the garden to refresh the poor plants. I think the potatoes were the worst and that wasn’t obvious until we emptied on of the ‘tattie bags’ and found the soil was bone dry right down to the bottom. The bag produced enough potatoes for dinner tonight, but a lot of them were the size of buttons. That’s what gave us the idea to just water the whole garden.

After lunch I thought it was time I shifted my backside from the couch and went for a walk. Unusually, Scamp agreed to come with me. I know that she doesn’t really enjoy a walk round St Mo’s, so I suggested we walk down to Broadwood and walk over the dam and up past the exercise machines. That got her approval. Out of the wind, it was quite pleasant with temperature in the mid teens. In the wind it was a different story. On the final leg of the walk, Scamp suggested she would go home and I could do a circuit of St Mo’s. That sounded like a good idea. The best of both worlds.

My first circuit didn’t raise any interesting insects or, indeed anything. On the second round, there was more insect life on the hogweed and cow parsley. That’s where today’s PoD came from. It’s just a wee hover fly, but it was in focus and it was sharp, mainly because I was sheltered by a few trees which stopped the flower heads from bouncing around. Also, I was using the kit lens, not a dedicated macro lens, which meant I wasn’t going as close as I’d have liked and this helped the sharpness of the photo. It wasn’t the most productive day with 34 photos taken and 28 of those rejected for various reasons.

Dinner tonight for Scamp was Omelette with Cabbage and New Potatoes, for me it was Wild Boar Burger with Cabbage and New Potatoes. The potatoes were really very good. I only wish I’d earthed them up earlier and, of course, taken more care with the watering.

Boris still bumbles on despite having almost no support from his colleagues. He’s a bit like the visitor who doesn’t know when to leave the party and has to be ushered out the door. Maybe he needs the money!

Tomorrow Scamp is out in the morning to the dentist, hoping to get the long running saga of the broken tooth finally sorted.

A Pencil – 4 July 2022

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I found a pencil today. I’d searched everywhere I could think of yesterday to no avail, but today it was found.

I’d been roughing out a sketch of Jacki and Allan’s house and been using a giant A2 sheet of paper which meant I needed a nice big, thick pencil. I knew that Hazy had given me a lovely wee stubby clutch pencil many years ago and I thought it would be ideal for the purposes, but like I said in the intro, despite Scamp’s and my intensive search, we couldn’t find it. Even this morning, with the sketch half finished, I still couldn’t lay my hands on that pencil. Yesterday we had hauled out loads of boxes and chucked out lots of stuff in the process, but the pencil wasn’t to be found. This morning, after another hour’s fruitless search I remembered two places it could be. Both of them were leather shoulder bags and it was in a zipper pocket in the second bag that I found the pencil. I swear the lines I drew with that pencil were the best in the whole sketch.

What had started out as a rough, now has a splash of paint on it, but it’s still going to be a rough. I don’t think I like the photo I’m working from and need a better view. It was taken in a rush on the day before we left to come home. I don’t think I can use that as an excuse for a few days in Skye, but it’s a nice idea.

I took a walk over to St Mo’s this afternoon to clear my head and because Scamp wanted to walk over to the shops. I walked with her halfway there and then walked round St Mo’s a couple of times while she went round the shops. Lots of cow parsley flowerhead on show in St Mo’s, all bobbing around in the gusty wind, but that didn’t seem to deter the hover flies and beetles from landing on them and having lunch. It was a nightmare trying to get photos in that wind, even more challenging than yesterday along the canal. Then I found my PoD which is a plant called St John’s Wort whose main claim to fame is as a herbalist source of anti-depressant. Something to do with the flowers, it would have to be, because the seeds are deadly poison. I’ve seen those black berries in the winter and wondered why no animal or bird was eating them and now I know why. Look, but don’t touch.

I watched two more episodes of Slough House. Some of Lamb’s on-liners are pure gems, or maybe it’s just my sense of humour.

Tomorrow I’ve arranged to meet Alex in Glasgow to go to the Art Galleries. He wants to do some slow shutter arty photos, I want to go and look at a John Byrne exhibition. We’ll probably meet up later for lunch, all being well. Scamp intends to cut the front grass while I’m away.