Category: photography

A toy off the rack – 15 November 2023

Posted on by Zogman

It was a dull morning, but it brightened up for a while.

Hazy phoned in the morning and that brightened up the day for a while. We talked about places to go in Yorkshire and Cumbria and how both she and Simonne were deep in consultation about it, but no decisions had been made at this time. We also discussed hats and Christmas prezzies, and of course the wedding that’s just come on to our destinations list for next year with the obvious necessity for Scamp to get a new hat and/or a dress and/or shoes. I might wear my kilt.
I’m glad to hear that Neil is starting to reduce his workload. It’s so easy to agree to taking on everything you get asked to do. Sometimes NO is the correct answer. Taking charge of that right answer is the difficult part of the discussion.

When we were all talked out, we said “Cheerio” to Hazy and drove in to Glasgow. I was going to look for a new ‘standard’ lens for the A6500. The standard lens that came with its predecessor is good, up to a point, but I felt the newer camera deserve better glass. I’d discussed it with Scamp and we’d come to an agreement. So today I was going in to Glasgow to get my hands on a Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 DC DN. I found it in WEX, took two shots with it and bought it on the spot.

While I was off getting a new “Toy off the rack”, Scamp was wandering round the shops in Buchanan Galleries. We met up back at Nero and had a quick lunch of a toasted panini and a coffee. The day hadn’t brightened up again, so we drove home.

I took the new lens out to see St Mo’s and it seemed to like the leaves and a spider in the woods. The spider got PoD. The lens behaved well except that to zoom in to subjects you have to turn the ring the “wrong” way, ie. the opposite way from most other lenses. Also the manual focus ring is a bit awkward to find, especially if you’re wearing gloves. I’m sure I’ll get used to these things. It just takes a little time.

Dancing tonight with Kirsty was mainly the Quickstep and a more gentle run through the middle and end of the dance. I think Scamp was getting annoyed with my continuous mistakes, just as I was getting ratty with her not wanting to turn at the corners. However, I’d have been stuck without her instructions on what foot to move next and what foot had no weight (technical term!). We finished up with a few runs through the Tango and we were done for tonight. I feel a lot more confident about the Quickstep now. Whether we’ll dance it at tomorrow’s tea dance is not a foregone conclusion yet.

So, tomorrow we’re hoping to go dancing at Glenburn community centre and in the evening Simonne may come over from Motherwell for dinner, since she’s up in Scotland for business. Looking forward to that too.

Heading home – 12 November 2023

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But before we were released, we had one more hour of dancing.

We went for a walk again in the morning after breakfast and watched the pipers leading the armed forces and junior sections to church for the Armistice ceremony. At the rear were a group of men, I think it was all men, no women, but I could be wrong. All were dressed in black and wearing top hats, carrying ceremonial batons. They had insignia on their right lapel and some displayed medals on the other. I grabbed three photos, two of which were blurred but the sharp shot showed I’d been spotted and given a steely stare from one man. Later, after a bit of research I discovered they were all members of the Society of High Constables. That one sharp photo became PoD.

Another walk round the town that seemed to be a lot busier than it had been on the previous days, then it was time to go back and face the music, so to speak.

More sequence dances and with a much quieter dance floor, a chance to attempt a foxtrot plus a final Ria Bachata before it gets put back in its box. We had already put most of the heavy bags into the boot of the car, so it was the shoe bags and my camera that we carried back after saying a thank you to Stewart and Jane, because they did a lot of work in arranging the weekend and keeping it running smoothly throughout the mornings, afternoon sessions and evenings.

We drove back home via M&S in Dunblane where we picked up food for tonight, because neither of us really wanted to cook. So tonight’s dinner was King Prawn Curry and rice x 2 followed by Eve’s Pudding. It looked like the fog we’d left on the road to Stirling had stayed in Cumbersheugh all weekend. I’m glad it did, because we had some glorious weather.

We watched Strictly and were disappointed that this week’s loser wouldn’t make it to Blackpool next week (or whenever it’s filmed). We’re in agreement that there are too many actors and singers in Strictly. It seem unfair because they have almost all had some dance training, meaning they have less to learn that those who are meeting this for the first time.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard how the new roof is progressing and also about some of the more challenging tasks he’ll have on his plate this coming week at work.

One last word of thanks to Scamp for the help she’s given me this weekend and continues to give, translating the sometime archaic dance terminology into understandable english and also into the movements I need to make. This dance stuff is great when it works, but can be a nightmare to understand at times. I really do appreciate it, even although it might not seem like it sometimes.

Tomorrow, some blood-letting is required.

Heading North – 10 November 2023

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Packing bags, repacking bags and suspicions.

We were off to Perth today for a dance weekend if the fog that was blanketing Cumbersheugh would lift. Scamp had decided to forego her FitSteps class because she had lots to do, choices to make, dresses to pack. Then, what and how many pairs of dance shoes would she need? I, on the other hand, had a couple of shirts, a couple of pairs of trousers and a jersey sorted out and waiting to go in the bag. The important stuff, like what camera and what lenses I’d need took a lot longer to sort out.

With most of my packing done, I sat down to read my emails and noticed a strange WhatsApp message. I’d had one a week ago on Facebook and was suspicious. You’ve probably been warned about the plague of “Hi mum. I’ve lost my phone and this is a temporary replacement. Please phone me back on 07654321123 etc.”. I’d guessed the FB message was one of those and ignored it. Both seemed to come from my niece who I hadn’t spoken to in years. I thought I should phone my brother and ask him to give me the last three digits of his daughter’s phone. He did and it checked out. He also told me she was probably going to invite us to her wedding next August. After a couple of WhatsApp exchanges, she emailed us the RSVP form and we duly accepted . So now we have a wedding to look forward to in Jersey next year! From suspicions to delight on a foggy, busy morning!

I wasn’t looking forward to the dance weekend. It’s something in my psyche, I don’t like being out of my routine. The older I get, the worse it becomes, but I knew I’d enjoy the drive up and I knew the fog would lift as soon as we were out of Cumbersheugh. As it turned out I was right. The fog lifted as we climbed up the M80 heading for Stirling and soon we were parked in the Canal Street carpark after a drive through the hills in glorious sunshine.

Our room at The Salutation Hotel was better than the poky hole we were in last time. We even had a shower with water! We went for a walk around Perth and noticed right away that ‘The Ship’, the cantilevered viewing gallery, out over the River Tay was blocked by the massive flood gates. It appears that Perth council were taking no chances after their disastrous decision not to close the flood gates a month ago! A walk through the park and then back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

PoD was a sculpture called “Eagle of Perth III”, but it looks like a fat seagull to me and is one of Shona Kinloch’s humorous sculptures at the entrance to the park.

Dinner was a carvery and I chose roast pork. Once I’d tasted it I wished I’d asked for two slices. Then I could have resoled both my boots! I’m not saying it was tough, but my knife was blunt by the time I’d cut through this ‘delicious’ meat. Scamp had the much nicer vegetarian option of Sweet and Sour Vegetables. I might remember for next time, if we go back.

The dance was the usual format. A ‘getting to know you’ changing partners dance to start with then the first waltz saw 80 folk trying desperately to find a space to dance in … mostly unsuccessfully. We danced for about three hours, attempting most of the dances we knew.

Exhausted, and with burning feet, we climbed the stairs in the labyrinth that is The Salutation for a well earned rest.

Tomorrow we get to do it all again, plus we’re hoping to get out for a drive to Scone Palace.

A day in the Toon – 9 November 2023

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A spot of lunch turned into a photowalk. What a surprise!

In the morning I had my annual retinopathy check at the health centre and thankfully the girl doing the technical stuff didn’t think I needed drops and I breathed a sigh of relief. I hate being blind for an hour afterwards and having to wear sunglasses in November. I nearly needed them Today anyway, because the sun was shining from a cloudless sky. I got the bus back home because Scamp was using the car. A quick cup of coffee and a challenging Wordle, then Scamp returned to pick me up and drop me at the station to get the train in to Glasgow to meet Alex.

I found him waiting for me at the bus station after I’d walked up from the train station. We took a few shots of the Pavilion Theatre and then went for coffee in an absolutely stowed Nero and made rough plans for the day. It was also a chance to pick Alex’s brains about a standard zoom lens for the A6500. As I thought, he picked my favoured lens as the one with the best results in his opinion and confirmed my thoughts on the cheaper one with the widest range as not worth considering. So, it looks like I’ll be asking Santa for a Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN lens. He used to have that lens and only parted with it to concentrate of prime lenses, ie. not zooms.

With the technical stuff discussed, we went for a walk along Ingram street following the good light, but never quite reaching it. It felt like when you see a rainbow and the nearer you get to it, the further away it goes! Eventually we tired of this game and went Paesano for a pizza lunch. That will be the third pizza lunch I’ve had this week. I was hoping I was hoping to continue my recent weigh loss success, but that looks unlikely now!

After lunch we continued to search for the good light eventually managed to track it down to Argyle Street. By then the light had lost a considerable amount of its former brightness and we started making our way back towards the bus station and home, but not before we had another coffee and then a walk around the Christmas market and entertainments that were being assembled in St Enoch’s square.

PoD was a photo opportunity I say on Sauchiehall Street (AKA Sausage Roll Street). A lovely bit of bright light on the girl and after swapping the bloke’s head for a better one, we had a conversation in progress. It’s now on Flickr as is my second choice of a view of a girl having alfresco lunch on the steps of the Royal Concert Hall looking down Buchanan Street (AKA Bucky Street).

I took the slow X3 bus home and was entertained by Kevin Bridges “We Need to Talk About . . . Kevin Bridges”. Absolutely brilliant! Thank you Jamie for the recommendation.

Tomorrow I’ve loads to do because I couldn’t be bothered to do it today. The story of my life.

A little visitor – 8 November 2023

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Just nibbling away at our recyclable food bags.

Scamp was off in the morning to meet Isobel for coffee. While she was out I was about to replace the food bin bag when I noticed the confetti of scraps of the bags in the cupboard. As I took the roll of bags out of the rack they almost fell apart in my hands. Aha! I think we have a little mouse trying to take the Mickey. Strangely, only the food bags had been chewed. What could have attracted them, I don’t know. I emptied the cupboard and couldn’t find a hole big enough for a mouse to squeeze through, but just in case I’ve set a trap tonight with some peanut butter as an attraction. I hope we don’t hear a clunk in the night. I feel so sorry for the wee rodents, but it’s a health problem that has to be dealt with.

The rest of the morning I spent reading when I should have been out enjoying the unexpected bright sunshine. But I did manage to warm up the remainder of yesterday’s pizza dough to make a lunchtime pizza, baked in the oven as all good pizzas should be. It wasn’t as good as yesterday’s prize winner, but was deemed good enough to satisfy our lunchtime appetites.

I did go out late in the afternoon, but by then the light had disappeared and it was a cold looking sky. There wasn’t much to see by then and I had to be satisfied with some shots of silhouetted Alder catkins agains the sky. Not very interesting and to be honest, not a very good photo. Must do better!

Wednesday is midweek dance night and tonight we were covering the technical second half of the quickstep routine and to start with I was a bit flummoxed. However after watching others making light of the steps, I managed to put most of the bits into the right place and finish were I was meant to be. How I actually got there was a question waiting to be answered. I think I cheated more than once. Still now I have twelve videos of the different parts and surely I’ll be able to work out which foot goes where after I’ve viewed them a few times. To finish up, Kirsty put us through our Tango paces and again there were a few missteps, but most of it worked. After three or four tracks I was back in the swing of it again.

Tomorrow I’m off to get my annual retinopathy check and I’m hoping against hope that I don’t need drops because I’m meeting Alex for lunch and we will probably be taking photos as well. Scamp is booked to get her hair cut at the same time.

Busy doing nothing – 7 November 2023

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That sort of sums up the day, at least for me.

I spent most of the morning poring over ‘standard’ lenses for the A6500. I like the camera, but don’t have a decent lens in the 18-70mm range. Of course it would be better to have one that was just a bit shorter at the short end and slightly longer at the long end, but with each added millimetre it seems the price goes up by around £100! When you think of it in those terms, it looks like the extravagance that it is. I thought I had two better priced lenses pinned down, but after reading reviews from people who have been ‘on the money’ before, I have to reluctantly agree that I’d be throwing good money after bad. So, although it wasn’t exactly a wasted morning, it wasn’t a very constructive one either, and the search goes on.

After lunch, Scamp suggested a walk to the shops just to get some tangerines, but really it was to get me out of the house. Her ruse worked too. We walked down to the shops, bought the tangerines and not much else, then walked home. On purpose I’d worn my trainers for the walk, so that I couldn’t really be comfortable walking round St Mo’s. That meant I had to come home to change into my boots and then go out again to get today’s PoD. I can play that game too!

On the second walk of the afternoon, the real walk, I had my A7 with me and thought I’d got a PoD as I crossed the path through the avenue of trees beside the road, because in the distance I could see two folk at the end of the path. A long way away, but not for the 85mm lens I had on the A7. Three shots taken and in the bag. The walk round St Mo’s pond delivered nothing, but gave me a chance to hang up a coconut shell filled with fat and raisins to feed the birds. I’ll check it in a few days to find out if they’ve found it.

On the way home I had a seat on a bench and reviewed what I had taken. It turned out the shots down the avenue weren’t that good, because the folk I’d been ‘shooting’ had disappeared into the grass at the edge of the path, presumably picking up the crap their wee dog had deposited. That wouldn’t make a decent photo, but at that point a woman passed me heading down that same path. I gave her a chance to get halfway down before I took the photos and this time I checked them on the spot and felt sure these ones would work.

Dinner tonight was a joint project. Scamp was making soup in the afternoon and she suggested I make a pizza which we could share. So that’s what we did. Carefully measured amounts of flour, yeast, salt, oil and water. Then let the mixer do the hard work of kneading the dough. I think my yeast must be going off, because in a warm living room it should have risen quickly and it didn’t. However it did rise enough to bake in time for dinner and was one of the better ones recently.

Heavy rain predicted overnight tonight, but a better day with a bit of sunshine tomorrow afternoon. At least that’s what the weather fairies say.

Remember, Remember – 5 November 2023

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Remember, remember, the fifth of November, but was the day memorable? No, not really. Here’s what I remember about it.

In the late morning we drove up to Tesco at the town centre rather than the one at Craigmarloch. For some reason, Craigmarloch don’t sell Tesco Bran Flakes any more. Yes, they sell Fruit and Fibre Bran Flakes and also Kellogg Bran Flakes, but not their own brand. I wondered if the main Tesco in the town was hogging all the BFs, and so it was that we drove up to the heady heights of the Town Centre with the sole purpose of sourcing those cardboard look-alike breakfast cereals.

After wandering round putting loads of stuff in the trolley, we entered the cereal aisle and there they were! Three boxes of Tesco Bran Flakes, so we bought them all. Now we didn’t! Of course we only bought one, just on the off chance that they wouldn’t be as good as Scamp remembered them. Maybe they would have some secret additives, or be made from a different type of cardboard. Anyway, we guarded them with our lives until we got them home safely. I’m sure a taste test will be conducted tomorrow.

Back home and after lunch I chopped up a couple of lamb neck fillets and fried them with onions, dates, orange juice, five different spices (but not five spice) and tipped the lot into the slow cooker and set it to cook slowly for three hours. That would be my dinner tonight, Lamb Tagine. Scamp was having salmon and we’d share rice.

I took the A7 out for a walk later in the afternoon and, although there was very little of note to photograph, I did get some landscape shots of the Campsie Fells and some late afternoon sun shots around St Mo’s. One group of the Campsie shots went into the Lightroom mincer and came out as a reasonable panorama which made PoD.

The meat in the tagine cooked perfectly, but the dates were overpoweringly sweet, so note to self – use half the quantity in future. Other than that, it was lovely. It was a bit oily, but you must expect that with the cheaper cuts of lamb. Scamp’s salmon fillet was a bit smaller than she expected, but still made a decent meal with her fancy rice cooked with peas, peppers and mushrooms. I had the boring white rice this time, but I’ll maybe make the fancy stuff next time.
Dessert was Apple and Blackcurrant crumble topped with ice cream and it was our own apples and blackcurrants, too so that made it taste extra special.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard that while the roof repairs are going well, there are new problems that have been revealed. More consultations and more form filling, no doubt. But at least he seems to be enjoying the new job, even if he missed a day because they were marooned on their own little island after the torrential rain flooded all the roads!

Tomorrow morning I have a visit to the dentist to look forward to. We may go out later if the weather is kind to us.

 

 

 

 

Dancin’ again – 4 November 2023

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Out at our usual Saturday morning time for our usual Saturday morning class in our usual Saturday morning destination.

Sometimes our lives are so predictable.

We drove over to Brookfield to find the hall still full of tiny dancers, although at least one of them was riding a three wheeled scooter across the floor, instead of dancing. They were 15 minutes late in leaving the dance floor and there were hundreds of the small creatures. I don’t think Jane was impressed with the lack of consideration of the parents or the dance teachers, the weans were just being posh weans. I think words will be said at the next committee meeting.

Once the posh brats had left the building … with their weans in tow, we got down to dancing. Real dancing. We started with a nearly forgotten Mambo Marina. I thought it was only me, but I was wrong. There were quite a few puzzled faces. Once that was ironed out, we danced a gradually improving version of it for two tracks. Then it was into the Cha-Cha we’ve been learning for a month or so and it was working quite well. Both Stewart and Jane gave pointers throughout the dance, but of course I ignored them and concentrated on getting round the floor without tramping on Scamp’s toes while trying to fit the correct module into the correct space. Not always easy, especially when the teacher says you can do them in any order, but queries your choice of order!

Next was Ria Bachata, the bachata that was never a bachata with music that was never bachata music. Other than that, it was fine and we managed the ‘tricky steps’. Step tap, step tap, 1,2,3 together. Then 1,2,3 together on the other foot. Simples. Done to a bachata beat with bachata timing it works, but with a fast track with no audible bachata beat it’s just a recipe for disaster. Since this is a bit of fun that nobody is expected to remember, that’s probably the desired result.

Next was a Mayfair Quickstep to allow our brains to cool down followed by a Catherine Waltz, parts of which I remembered and parts of which returned to my consciousness as we danced it. Eventually, it worked and we managed a fairly decent flow of waltz steps. Usually by this time I’ve reached the “My brain is full” stage, but today I was ready for the next one which was a fairly easy Midnight Jive. So much crammed into an hour and a half or an hour and a quarter if you take into account the ‘brat time’ at the start. Still, I enjoyed it. A strange thing for me to say on a Saturday night.

We drove home, had a cup of coffee and headed back out again to have lunch at Mango in Longcroft. It does Italian and Indian, but we both had Indian today. Food was good, but the chopped up naan bread was a disappointment. I much prefer the big slab of scorched dough we get in Hamilton. This was daintily set out in a bowl, but was almost warm and dry. We’re used to naan dripping with ghee. This wasn’t at all like that. Curry was good, and so was the pakora starter, but next time no naan.

I needed a photo and drove down to the canal at Haggs. Unfortunately the sun had disappeared by the time we got to the canal and I inadvertently set the ISO to 40,000 which is a tad higher than the 1,600 I’d meant to set. Some of the photos looked like I’d dusted them with sand when I took them! Still, a slow shutter shot of water breaking over the Forth & Canal lock gates saved the day and got PoD.

When we got home I found that Jamie and Sim had sent videos of the transformation of their house into a gigantic Christmas parcel, complete with Halloween scary mummy!  Fascinating to see the 16th century method of hand crafting a roof, but I’m sure they will feel so much warmer and more secure with the 21st century  tech replacing it.

Later  we watched another contestant reaching his limit on Strictly. He might have a nice smile, but I feel he has, as we used to say at school, “plateaued”. I may be wrong, but the two armchair judges here say his time is up.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I’m hoping for a lazy day.

 

Walking in Fife – 22 October 2023

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Today we walked round Preston Island which isn’t an island any more.

We drove over the Forth to Culross (sorry Hazy) today and nabbed a parking space just as its previous occupant was leaving. Then dressed for the cold breeze that was coming from the west, we headed east, along the coastal path and took some photos of the ‘new’ pier while Jamie and Simonne walked out onto the rocks at the end of the jetty. Actually, that’s where today’s PoD came from with Jamie looking like a professional model on the boardwalk.

After that we continued past the school and over the old railway, then turned right onto Preston Island. Long ago it was a man-made island, but more recently it joined up with the rest of Fife by using ash, from the now demolished Longannet Power Station. Now it’s a cordoned off area with ‘dangerous’ lagoons, although the exact nature of the danger has never been revealed. However it does give constantly changing views of the north and south coastline and the occasional ship sailing in to Grangemouth.

The path round Preston Island is a pleasant enough walk on a good day and today was an exceptionally good day, especially after all the rain and high winds we’ve had. And it was warm too. Certainly warm enough to unzip jackets and let the breeze give us some refreshing air about ourselves.

We walked past the old salt pans that originated when salt was an expensive commodity, the pans being heated with coal from a local mine until a mining disaster closed the pit. The buildings are still there, but obviously they too are dangerous because they are behind a 3m high chainlink fence with access denied through the gate by a heavy duty padlock. It makes you wonder what’s inside the buildings inside the fence, because it’s safe enough for the grass cutters to keep the grass looking trim, but it’s too dangerous to let the public in. As Simonne said, “You can’t even take a photo through the tight chain link fence!”  Since Jamie won PoD, it seemed a shame not to give Simonne a chance at the limelight, or to be more accurate, the ‘Rim Light’.  Lovely bit of accidental rimlighting round her head here.

We walked on to find the bird hide looking over the estuary. Not marked or anything like that. No! If you don’t know it’s there, you obviously aren’t looking hard enough and we, the council, aren’t going to tell you. Brilliant idea, but hidden. Half a mile further on Simonne found another hide with the same laser cut shapes in the 10mm mild steel panels. Glad to see they had the common sense to allow the structure to rust naturally and fit in with the landscape.

From there the path followed the old railway line back where we crossed the railway line. I always find this the least interesting part of the walk. It needs a bit of creative landscaping to entice people to walk it. We crossed the railway and walked back to the car where we donated a free space to some other lucky walkers. We drove home.

After lunch everyone was happy enough to sit and watch an unispiring and utterly confusing Sprint Race as a precursor to the main American GP tomorrow. Yes, it should have been today, but given the time difference and the fact that C4 only get the edited highlights of the race, it won’t be shown until after midnight tonight. Really, who cares. Verstappen has won the GP, and the only folk racing are those in 2nd and 3rd places.

Dinner was stew which I started making on Friday, bagged and chilled in the fridge until today when it was served with potatoes and cabbage, while Scamp the non-meateater had ‘Rats’ (which is short for Ratatouille) instead of stew. Dinner finished with Crunchie Ice Lollies all round.

No sketch yet for today’s prompt of “Scratchy”. I’ll scratch around tomorrow for something.

Jamie and Simonne left to go to bed soon after dinner because they are intending to be up, breakfasted and out by 7am tomorrow to head for Glencoe. I’m hoping we’ll still be in the Land of Nod then.

Still Wet, Still Windy – 20 October 2023

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I could write, “For details of the day see yesterday”, but I won’t.

It started like yesterday, with wind and rain, but things needed to be done. Scamp was off to FitSteps until the phone rang and it was Kirsty hoping she’d catch Scamp, which she just managed to do. The message was that today’s class was cancelled because too many folk had called off. I must say it sounded like the most sensible answer, but I think Scamp was disappointed. Can’t blame her.

So where to start? First thing and easiest to set up was the tomato soup. Just a case of tipping the roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic and peppers into a pot adding a tin of tomatoes a cup of water and a litre of stock. Bring it to the boil and simmer for 30mins. Next was to thaw out the stew and dust it with flour, salt and pepper and leave it to dry out a bit and once the soup had had its 30mins, we drove to M&S for fripperies like fruit and bread, then Tesco for breakfast stuff and essentials like tonic and ice lollies. Got to get your priorities right.

Back home it was time to fry off the stew in the big wok and, once it was nicely browned, pitch it into the Instant Pot with carrots and onions and some stock, set it to slow cook for about 4 hours. Sit back and enjoy a Ginsters lunch. I know they’re not good for me and that they give me heartburn, but they do taste great. Scamp had a fried egg sandwich. Much healthier I’m sure. Simonne phoned to say they were on their way, so we were all running to schedule.

I kept thinking (hoping) it was getting lighter outside and that the rain was getting lighter, the way you do when you know you’re just lying to yourself. I eventually decided that an inside photo was the way to go today and took today’s PoD which is a bunch of carnations sitting at the kitchen window with the rain splattering on the glass.

The bed for the visitors was still to be made, so we got that done and the remaining obstacles were removed to the front room, leaving the room quite neat and tidy.

Next task was to blitz the soup and decant it to another pot. It was looking good, then Simonne phoned to say they were almost at Scotch Corner and were going to break the journey because the traffic was really bad and there had been a number of accidents. I think we both felt relieved to hear that. It’s a long journey in normal weather, but much more challenging with so many weather warnings across the whole country. We got a message later to say they’d arrive at Kendal and were going for dinner and a pint! Well deserved I’d say.

So we had some of the soup for starter with some Giovani Rana pasta to follow. Not the best we’d had from that range, but still better than Tesco.

Today’s prompt was ‘Frost’. I could not decide what to draw for Frost. Then, lateral thinking again, I found a picture of Robert Frost and tried another fifteen minute sketch. It worked.

We’re now expecting the visitors tomorrow, just as I predicted in Thursday’s blog! Some of us had these skills and some haven’t! Oh yes, and I did have heartburn thanks to the Ginsters, and I’ve taken my Gaviscon!