Hard Travelling – 15 December 2015

combo bOut to the doc’s just after 9.00 this morning, then off to Larky to get my glasses fixed after they broke last week. It was no fun driving through about 10 miles of motorway roadworks. I’d hate to have to drive this twice a day, five days a week. It’s never ending too. I think it’s been going on for about a year now and it looks like it will go on for at least another year.

Larky hadn’t changed much, but I did see a strange sight. There was a flock of birds circling round the railway station. At first I thought they were rooks or crows, but then I noticed gulls, starlings and pigeons in the flock too. So strange to see such a mixture of different raucous birds.

Drove back through the same roadworks (there’s almost no way to avoid them) on the way home. I did take one diversion to pick up some icecream from Souave’s in Muirhead, and Edinburgh Rock too, of course.

There was just enough light left when I got home to get out with my new boots and get them dirty, or at least wet – and maybe get some photos. I walked along the railway walk and got what I thought were some good shots of an old twisted tree. When I got back, I realised that it just didn’t work. That’s how it goes sometimes. The boots survived the trip. I managed to get them wet and dirty, but my feet stayed dry. Success!

The Bonny (x2) Banks – 25 November 2015

DSC_4429-Edit- blog--329On paper, this looked like the best day of the week. I thought it would be good to go to Lomond Shores which, although it’s really just a collection of expensive tacky touristy shops, does have Loch Lomond as a backdrop. Today it also had, what must have been the slowest workforce in creation apparently laying down a new pedestrian walkway. This must be a new definition of ‘work‘ and ‘force‘. There was very little work being done and with the minimum of force. The shops seemed to be overloaded with Christlefridge tat. I really can’t stand this nonsense. Buy in cheap crap, stack it high, sell it dear and then sell off what’s left as ‘bargain’ items after the celebrations are over. Bah Humbug.

The upside of the visit was the scenery around the loch itself. With clouds scudding across the sky, the constantly changing light on the hills was fascinating. It was also good to see the seaplane landing on the loch. It must have been a beautiful flight today. One lucky day with the light just right.

The evening was spent trying once again to fix the Finder problem on the Mac. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before. If I have, you won’t want to hear about the lack of progress and if I haven’t, I won’t bore you with it. Suffice to say that the search continues.

A day of two halves – 8 September 2015

comboA very different day from yesterday. This morning it is much cooler,cloudier and breezier. I’m standing by the pond at St Mo’s and there’s no sign of yesterday’s mist. Managed to startle two deer about 200 yards (metres) from home. Camera was still switched off in the bag. One day I’ll learn. Dull morning walk with nothing to recommend it. Stood watching a dragonfly checking me out, doing flypasts. It never landed once in the time I watched it. Got one shot of a snail and a spider on a dry cow parsley stem, but had to reduce it to mono as the ISO was 25600! An incredible number, unthinkable a few years ago. I liked the colours combinations (red/green) in a shot of rowan berries and leaves. The colour contrasts seemed to brighten the scene.

In the afternoon I got another chance to cycle a known route and was impressed that I was using much higher gears than normal into a headwind on the way home. Maybe the gym is increasing my cycling stamina. It will take a few more tests before I’m sure if I’m becoming fitter or not. It can’t be doing me any harm. Couldn’t see anything that inspired me to get the camera out of the bag. The light just wasn’t good and it’s all about the light of course. I did want to capture the corn bales before they were carted off to the farm. They look so much better before they are wrapped up in black poly, no matter how useful it is to the farmers.