Just Visiting – Page 16

Just for a change – 28 November 2016

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Zogman

Just for a change today, I got the bus to Perth. Now this may be a spoiler alert for Hazy, but I’m sure you expected I’d have to take the trip to Perth, didn’t you!

These CityLink buses are really comfortable. Did you know they have heaters that work! Isn’t that a simply wonderful innovation? Typically one X3 bus in 100 has working heaters, and that’s the one you get every day in the summer and the heating is on full blast and the windows won’t open. In the winter, it’s the one with the sign that says “SORRY NOT IN SERVICE” or more often in Scotland “A’HM NO WORKIN’”. So, a comfortable journey north to the fair city of Perf. It’s a bit like Embra which is also known by some of its inhabitants as Edinburgh. Embra is its more usual and useable name. Perf is much better than Perth IMO and MO is the only one that counts in this blog. By the way, I once got an irate comment from an Edinburger on Flickr to the effect that: “It’s actually Edinburgh, not Embra, I know, I live there.”
My reply was: “That’s a shame, but I suppose somebody has to live in Embra, and it is Embra, hen. It’s Embra, it’s always been Embra and it always will be Embra. I know, because I’ve been there … once. But it’s alright, I’ve had my jags.” She didn’t reply to that – too many big words in it, I think.
Perf’s a nice place, I like it. It’s pretty and has nice buildings, but the folk are not so stuck up as Embra folk. It’s got a good coffee shop, an independent camera shop and a great second-hand bookshop too.

Anyway, purchases purchased I got the equally comfortable bus back down the road to less than scenic Cumbersheugh where they are painting the lovely butter coloured bricks of the town centre with a coat of ‘nearly black’. Cooncil must have got a job lot of the paint going cheap. I think it probably was originally black masonry paint, but they didn’t have enough to finish the job, so they got some equally cheap out-of-date emulsion for B&Q and just mixed it in to make the masonry paint go further. That would explain the slightly purple tinge to the finished product. If it looks boggin’ paint it black, that’ll fix it and make it look stylish into the bargain. Aye Right.

Kizomba was a bit of a shambles tonight. Class was a bit smaller with a lot of new faces. Mainly black faces, so maybe friends of one of the teachers. Also faces that were looking bemused most of the time because it appears this is the first time they had met this dance. Methinks it might have been Rentamob, there to pad out the numbers. ‘Left’ and ‘right’ seemed to be new concepts for some. One girl had to be dragged away from her phone and on to the dance floor to help balance the numbers. She was irate, because she didn’t know how to do the dance and didn’t want to learn. Hmm, not impressed.

It also looked like our salsa teacher wasn’t present and no announcement was made about who would be taking his class. This gave us a bit of concern and made us wonder if it would be one of the, how should I put this, less able and teachers of AdS. We needn’t have worried, Will took it and introduced us to a trio of twisty, turny moves that were a lot of fun. The next class was not so lucky, but we were out the door by the time the music started.

Maybe going to do a painting tomorrow. If I can remember how!

What a grey day – 19 November 2016

Posted on November 19, 2016November 20, 2016 by Zogman

After such a lovely bright, cheerful day yesterday, today dawned dull and uninspiring. After we dropped JIC and Sim off to meet their old friends, we headed into Glasgow. J&S were heading there too, but by train, luckily. When we got on to the M80 the CITRAC lit up with the joyful news that there was congestion after Junction 4. At 1.30 on a Saturday afternoon, congestion on the M80 can only mean football traffic. We never did find out what had caused the holdup because we cut our journey short and left at the Robroyston turnoff just after the queue had started. After a wander around the limited variety of shops and a coffee, we headed back. By this time the football fanatics were all safely ensconced in their seats in the rain watching 22 men chasing a ball while one man, dressed in black, tries to control them. What fun.

When I opened the Macbook Pro this morning it just sat there. As far as I could remember, when I’d closed the lid last night there was about 40% in the tank. Where had it gone, or had it gone and was it just joshing me? When it finally loaded, it proudly displayed 0%. So where had it gone? I looked all round the table where the MBP sits and I couldn’t find any juice lying around. Then I checked Coconut Battery 3, my go-to app for the truth about the battery. First thing to notice that the design capacity bar was red, not good. It read 25.6%. Not good at all. I tried charging it up to 100% and completely discharging it, before charging it up to 100% again and discharging it again. Nope, it sticks resolutely to 25.6% capacity. I’ll overcharge it now and see what it’s like after that. If it doesn’t work, then it’s time to call in the Weemen (Should that be WeeXY now? Naw, it’s Weemen) Repair Team to fit a new battery. That’s why I gave them the opportunity to hone their skill before I need to call them in for the big job.

Meanwhile I’m filling up the new external HDD. It looks like it’ll take more time than I expected, but hopefully it will mean the photos will be more secure for a while longer.

Rough looking weather forecast for our visitors to fly into tomorrow, but it looks like the worst will be past long before they land.

Scraping the car – 18 November 2016

Posted on November 18, 2016November 19, 2016 by Zogman

Yes, it’s that time of year again when you need to scrape the car in the morning. No heated screen or heated seats luxury here JIC!

Scamp was going to the dentist this morning, so I helped her defrost her car while I ran the engine on mine and turned the heater up full speed, full heat and air-con on. Mine was soon defrosting nicely while we scraped away at Scamp’s. That’s where the pic of the frozen leaf came from that. When Scamp left to get her filling done, I headed back in to have porridge for breakfast. First time for ages, and it worked its warm magic again.

With Scamp’s tooth fixed, we all headed off to Loch Leven to have a walk in the cold, fresh air under a clear blue sky. Perfect conditions to test the F707’s infra-red capabilities. Well, the F707 and a furry monkey. The furry monkey which usually sticks to our fridge has magnets in his/her hands and feet. The magnets are fairly strong and are the only ones that have been able to overpower the spring in the solenoid. For that reason, the furry monkey came with us today to Loch Leven. He/she … Let’s fix this ridiculous he/she thing now.

In a book I’m reading (and eking out the pages to make it last) his/her references are solved by making it ‘XYr’. The ‘XY‘ stands for the unknown chromosome balance so ‘XYr’ can be male, female or indeterminate gender. That seems an elegant solution, especially these days with LGBTIQ. Life used to be simpler with just LGBT and it made sense. I think the ‘I’ is for ‘Isnae Sure’. I have no idea what ‘Q’ stands for. It could be ‘Questioning the Magic Donkey’ for all I know. Anyway, thank you Becky Chambers for solving that problem. I hope I got that right Hazy!

Soooo, getting back to the monkey, remember the monkey? XY seemed to enjoy the trip and is now happily back in place in XYr place on the fridge.

The selection at the top came from the 70 odd photos from the day, plus the one from the frozen car. The IR images took a fair bit of post-processing to get the effect I was looking for and although the quality isn’t great, the effect is. I’m not sure if I prefer the false colour version or the monochrome. Mono looks cleaner, but the false colour is more interesting and alien. Further experimentation is required if the furry monkey is up for it.

Lunch was excellent as usual in Loch Leven’s Larder although the shop seems to get posher and more twee every time we go there, which is a pity, but I suppose is inevitable. After that we drove back home via the Forth Road Bridge to get an updated view of the new cable-stay bridge. Dinner was a carry-out from Bombay Dreams.

A good day, most enjoyable. Cold tonight. Temperature just touching zero. Hoping for another sunny day tomorrow.

A Full House – 17 November 2016

Posted on November 17, 2016November 18, 2016 by Zogman

Tonight we would have a busier house as JIC and Sim were coming up for a flying visit.

Scamp was out this morning meeting one of her in-laws for coffee and I was charged with clearing up the painting room ready for JIC and Sim. Of course, I didn’t do that, there were more interesting things to do like format one of the borked drives and test copy files to it to make sure it was working properly. It was. I also worked out how to get my Sony F707 camera working in IR mode again, more of which later. Eventually I did get round to clearing up the room at least so that it looked like a room again.

When Scamp came back I drove in to Glasgow to see if Staples had a decent price for the 3TB backup drive I’d picked on the net. They didn’t, but it looked like Argos in Cumbernauld of all places did have it, so it was back in the car then back to Cumbersheugh in the driving rain, only to find that the drive I’d earmarked had been sold. Blast – well, I did actually say a different word which also started with ‘B’ but finished with a ‘D’ and had the letters ‘A,S,T,A,R’ and ‘D’ in the middle. You’ve probably heard it, and maybe even used it before. Not you Scamp, not you. Anyway, I settled for the slightly cheaper 2TB version and payment made, new toy collected, headed back to the car through the rain. That’s when I saw today’s PoD. Cumbersheugh isn’t a pretty town, but it does a really good gloomy. I instantly liked the shot with the little silhouette of an out of focus ‘wee wummin’ (remember ‘wee wummin’ from a couple of weeks ago?) in the middle distance. It looked good in colour, but I guessed it would look even better in mono.

Right, this Sony F707 IR thing needs a bit of explanation. If you look here, you’ll understand what it’s all about, maybe. I’d forgotten all about it and the magnet trick, but today, again in the seridipity of the Internet, I chanced upon a more up to date post about exactly the same thing. That got me started again, sticking an Infra-red filter on the F707. A 720nm filter is virtually black to the naked eye, but allows a narrow band of Infra-red light through and virtually none of the visible spectrum. The Sony just pretended it wasn’t there, except for making everything have a red tint. I think I prefer the results from the crossed pola filters. There’s a bit better range of colour to them. I’m intending to try it out tomorrow with some hoped for sunshine.

Popped in to the airport to pick up the travellers and then back past CITRAC signs warning of ice tomorrow. Ice in Scotland in November? Surely not.

Hoping for sun tomorrow. Always!

Flying Home. Going Home – 10 November 2016

Posted on November 10, 2016November 11, 2016 by Zogman

Breakfast and final packing, Scamp couldn’t find the padlock for her case. I went out to see if I could buy one at the nearby shops, but got a text from her to say all was well, the padlock was found. Handed in the keys then a final shandy for me and a prosecco for Scamp to send us on our way. Even managed to get a sketch done while we were sitting. This sketching is addictive.

Taxi to the airport and first in the queue! Straight through to security and then into Duty Free. From there we had an early lunch of fish and chips washed down with Fanta. Prosecco to Fanta. Sublime to the ridiculous. Sitting in the airport waiting to be called to board and watched an old man who wasn’t at all well looking sitting with his wife. Two girls asked if they could help, but he refused with a grim smile. Eventually his wife went looking for help and they walked off together later. I still wonder if he was ok. It’s at times like that I wish I’d kept up my first aid certificate. Maybe I should.

Flight was slow boarding, but after we were settled, we stayed pretty much to schedule. As we were making our decent across the Irish Sea from Dublin, the Captain came on the intercom to give us an update on weather in Glasgow with “If you don’t wish to know the temperature, look away now … It’s two degrees!” Nicely done, I thought.

That was about it, just one final thought, and it’s about temperature too. One night in the restaurant, I heard this large English woman asking one of the waiters where the microwave was, because “This soup is Cold!” I couldn’t believe it. Maybe she’d never watched Red Dwarf.

Little Mices, Spies & Statues – 8 November 2016

Posted on November 8, 2016November 9, 2016 by Zogman

This morning after breakfast and while Scamp was off sunbathing, I wrote up yesterday’s blog in the cafe area just outside the Asian restaurant. The sacrifices I make for you, my readers! As I was finishing, the kids club had just started and the goofy member of the animacion team was trying to instil some discipline in his charges. He started by suggesting they get something to drink some of them wanted juice, some wanted wine and some wanted beer. Since all of them were under 12, and most were extremely precocious and noisy, this was a difficult task. At first he told them they had to be “as quiet as little mices (sic)”. This seemed to work for the younger ones, but it just made the older ones even noisier. He then changed tack and told them they were to be spies and to hide in the shadows as they were not to be seen by anyone. They were to make guns from their hands and creep down the corridor. That seemed to satisfy everyone. Once they’d gone, I packed up and went searching for Scamp. When I rounded the first corner, I heard the command “Quiet! Statues!” and all the little spies stood stock still in the shadow. As I passed them I heard the leader say “You see. He never even saw us! Now we are going through the jungle area.” The jungle area was an inside planted area open to the sky. Probably a great place for spies to hone their skills.

After I found Scamp we set off for Puerto del Carmen to get Scamp a new charm for her bracelet, only Scamp had forgotten to wear her bracelet, so while she went for it, I did some sketching, much to the consternation of the oldies in the coffee place who thought I was casing the joint. Maybe they thought I was one of the ‘spies’ especially because I was sitting very still, almost like a statue. Scamp returned wearing the bracelet, I finished the sketch and normal life in the coffee place resumed.

Walked in to PdC and Scamp got her charm. Got some photos of the scenic part of town and then headed back to the hotel. Scamp had more sunbathing to finish and I went for a walk before dinner.

After dinner we listened to an awful guitarist playing and ‘singing’. Even the barmen serving drinks seemed decidedly unimpressed with the noise coming from that area. Who knew that John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ could sound so bad. Thankfully we’d arrived more than halfway through his set and he packed up and left. Some of the hard of hearing shouted for an encore, but he wasn’t listening. Thankfully.

Went and watched Goofy whipping the kids club into a frenzy as he dispensed certificates and medals with a large dollop of sarcasm that went right over the kids heads. Reminded me of Robin Strong at school, many years ago.

The main entertainment for the night was a Magic Show. Scamp rates ‘magic’ with ‘humour’, ie, Does Not Compute, so we were heading to the room when I was sure I could hear drums. We followed our ears and found a Samba Band practising across the road from the hotel in a concreted display area. They were quite excellent and were a fitting end to the day.

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!

Thunder showers 6 November 2016

Posted on November 6, 2016November 8, 2016 by Zogman

Today started with thundershowers, heavy rain. Thankfully it didn’t last long. I think I’ve got an infection in my eye, probably because of yesterday’s swim in the pool. Lots of dirty people here of all nationalities.

When the rain dried up we went for a short walk in the direction of Puerto del Carmen because we needed tonic for the G. The weather didn’t look all that good, but we walked on a bit further to see if we could find a chemist for some eye drops. It being Sunday, all the ones we passed were closed. There were a few spits of rain on the way, but we didn’t bother, we just ploughed on. We already had the T for the G and lunch time was nearing so we both agreed to go to the Asian restaurant we’d seen yesterday. Had lunch there, exactly the same meal as we’d had the last time – creatures of habit!

By the time we came out the sun was shining. Since Scamp’s feet weren’t hurting too badly, and we didn’t know where the chemist was, we headed back at a slower pace than normal, agreeing we’d get a taxi if we got too tired. It was a pleasant walk back. There was just time when we got back for Scamp to go sunbathing and for me to go for a walk over the lava rocks.

No dinner tonight as we were both pretty full from lunch. I had a coffee and Scamp had a cup of peppermint tea and then, just to be sociable, we had a swift bit to eat, but a fairly minimal bite.

After our frugal dinner we went to watch the kiddies show, a must for Scamp. After that the singers were on in the theatre. We sat through that then through the first three acts of the ‘Musical Express’ hilarious show. It wasn’t meant to be funny, it just was! Clumsy dancers, miming singers, and worst of all actual singers. I hasten to add the actual singers were part of the entertainment team, the singing duo who preceded them were much, much better by comparison. Still not good, just good by comparison.

Left the amateurs to their gyrations and wailing and went to watch the real stars from the balcony. Tried for some star shots, but I don’t think they’re all that good. Maybe tomorrow.

Thunderstorms, Blazing Sun and Airies – 5 November 2016

Posted on November 5, 2016November 6, 2016 by Zogman

This morning we had breakfast – a lighter breakfast than yesterday and retired to the pool.

There are two pools one for each main building. Both buildings have the same ground plan, but one has the restaurants and the reception in addition to apartments while the other is entirely apartments. Ours is the second one. This means that our building is a bit quieter than the other. Unfortunately, half of our pool is currently being renovated so we don’t have the ‘swim-in’ bar which is perhaps a blessing in disguise.

We grabbed a couple of sunbeds after breakfast and we sat and read for an hour, then got a sketch done, before I decided to find out just how cold the water was. It was quite cold, but I was prepared for that after last year’s cool pool in Tenerife. Once you’re in it’s not so cold, and once you come out again it’s lovely and warm. I read a bit more while I was drying off and then went up to the room to get yesterday’s blog finished and the photos processed. When Scamp came up she said it was starting to rain and as we watched the clouds roll in, we heard the first peal of thunder. Oh dear, there goes the day. We waited a while and then went for lunch which for me was a thin steak, a hamburger, spinach and potatoes. Lovely. By the time we came out the rain was off and the sun was out again.

After lunch we went for a walk in the direction of the airport. For those of a binary persuasion, this was Left along the front, not Right like yesterday. We walked on and on until we reached the airport. Not the actual airport building, but the very end of the runway which was almost within touching distance. The sound of the airies taking off is surprisingly loud this close up. It was actually worse further away because the buildings shielded us from the sound of the engines as the plane thundered along the runway and it was only when it rose above them that you heard the roar. Actually it was worse than that because for a couple of seconds the plane lifted in silence, then the roar began. Those of a mathematical and scientific frame of mind will tell you it’s all to do with the relative difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound. It does look strange.

While we were sitting a (French?) family decided to scramble down a steep ramp to the sand. First the mum and wee boy tentatively edged down. Next the dad, much braver, pushing the empty pushchair just ran down it. The front wheels of the pushchair caught in the soft sand at the bottom and stopped dead. Dad didn’t. He did a clumsy sort of cartwheel before landing on the sand. It was one of those things you see happening, but are helpless (with laughter?!) to stop. The only injury was to the poor bloke’s dignity.

We watched a few airies taking off and then headed back with more than a few stops to rest our weary legs. The promenade is mainly flat, but it is quite long and it takes its toll on the feet.

After dinner we went to see if the singing duet would perform any songs worth dancing to, but Scamp declared them unsuitable (both the singers and the songs, I think). Since the dance floor was littered with weans running about while their parents watched from the audience, it was probably a good decision on safety grounds. We retired to the waiting G&T in the room.

Sat on the balcony under the stars with a couple of G&Ts.

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.