Category: Shopping

Struggling with Wordle© – 2 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

I suppose that’s what Jamie would call a ‘Middle Class Problem’.

Before we started the day proper, we both did a Lateral Flow test and photographed the result ( Negative ). It must be one of the few times when a ‘negative’ is positive result! We didn’t need to do it, but we’d both agreed we’d do one within the two day time frame. Now it’s done and recorded, we feel better. When that was done the rest of the day could begin.

Hazy phoned and we discussed holidays and meds and the latest Becky Chambers book I’d just finished this morning. I even encouraged Scamp to read the last four pages of the book where the author was discussing gardening in an arid planet under transparent domes. The concept may have been alien, but the process was very familiar to Scamp. Like us, Hazy and Neil had watched the first part of The Control Centre and decided it wasn’t for them. What she did next was interesting. She didn’t want to watch any more of this drama set in Glasgow, but she wanted to find out how it ended, and she did. But then, that’s what Hazy is good at, researching! We heard about how the rest of the family is getting on and how Canute and Delia are being forced to close up their clothing shop as are the rest of the tenants are on that street because the landlord had plans for the area. It’s a shame, but also it will take a lot of pressure of them both. Generally this morning was a really good catch-up.

I wanted to go in to Glasgow for some photo stuff today and Scamp came for the walk. Not anything essential, just like Sunday, a reason to get out of the house. Just like Sunday too, we drove in to Cowcaddens, parked there and walked up Sausage Roll Street which really is a shadow of its former self. All the weird traffic lanes and boarded up shop windows drag this once vibrant shopping street literally into the gutter. Crossed the road and found that WEX was indeed open today. I’d checked after we did the Covid test and it was as we’d suspected a lack of staff to open the shop on Sunday. Got what I was looking for and we walked back down the virtually dead Sauchiehall Street and had lunch in a Nero. Then it was back in the car and home via Tiso for some Smidge.

It had turned out to be a lovely warm day with blue skies and just the slightest threat of rain. The rain had been heavy all night last night as was testified to by the amount of water in the buckets in the garden. I took a camera for a walk in St Mo’s later in the afternoon, mainly to find a subject for the Flickr Friday competition ‘Fire’. My fire was a burned out bonfire some of the local idiots had made in the woods. Scary to think that folk would do that just for somewhere to sit and have a clandestine drink on a Friday night. Have a bonfire in a wood! That’s sensible, isn’t it?

We had a dance practise tonight. Nothing fancy, just two waltz routines. The ‘Baby Waltz’ sounds easy, and it is for Scamp, but for me it’s a bit of a minefield, especially trying to remember what an ‘outside change’ is!

I’m off now to write the second part of an epistle to Alex with photos.

Tomorrow I think I need to do some rearranging of my storage options, and get an early night.

An afternoon with the beasties – 1 August 2022

Posted on by Zogman

The beasties in question were dragonflies and damselflies.

It was a lovely morning and we’d nowhere in particular to go. Scamp went off to get some messages at Tesco and to see what mess the roadworks at the roundabout were creating. Apparently it was a bit of a mess, but that’s not a surprise. I imagine it was even worse by 5pm when the factory traffic heads that way. There has been warning notices out for a week or so and we’d worked out alternative routes to take the avoid the congestion. Scamp had taken one of them and bypassed most of the stramash.

After lunch I had a look round my indoor garden of basil plants and chilli plants. The basil was drying out and took a fair amount of water to pump up its leaves again. One of the good surprises of the day was the old chilli plant from last year had made the effort and produced a fruit. I wasn’t sure the seed had set properly, but there it was a little 25mm fruit. The new chilli plant I got in Skye, of all places, is just covered in flowers and is fruiting away quite happily. I tried one of the branches of basil and the taste was really delightful. It had that spicy basil taste, but with a bit of aniseed to it too. Must be a different strain from the one downstairs. Scamp’s tomato plant is covered with fruit too. We had the first tomato yesterday and there are more ripening in the sunshine.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and captured my first dragonfly of the year. It seemed quite content sitting on the boardwalk sunning itself. Not very skittish, either, sitting perfectly still for a few photos. A couple of blue damselflies crowded in to get their photos taken too. Then I found a big fly clinging to the shadow area of the upstand at the side of the boardwalk. It was a really big monster of a thing, about 30mm long head to tail. It too allowed me to take quite a few shots before I got fed up. Lastly there was a grasshopper, but I couldn’t quite get into a position to capture it. Pity, because they look almost alien. The dragonfly got PoD.

We had an hour in the garden when I got back. Just sitting listening to music on our headphones. It was a relaxing end to the afternoon.

Just before dinner, Scamp decided she’d better take the washing in as the clouds were gathering. I brought in the chairs too. Ten minutes later it was raining and it continued for a couple of hours. Not teeming rain, just gentle soaking rain. The best kind for the garden.

I had meant to go in to Glasgow today, but the notion left me. We may go tomorrow.

 

 

Messages – 23 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today was one of those dull days where the sun can’t be bothered getting up, so it doesn’t.

In an attempt at finding something to get us out of the house today, we discussed what we’d have for lunch, but that discussion didn’t get us far. More constructive was the next discussion about what we’d have for dinner. Scamp said we needed a few messages and the answer to today’s dinner would be found in what messages we bought. Fine, we were on a roll. Where to go for the messages? I suggested two birds with one stone. We go to Morrisons and get the messages then have lunch in their cafe. That was the plan there and then. We’d drive to Falkirk to Morrisons for messages and lunch.

Drove to the shop, got the messages and put them in the car. Then things started to a bit awry. The cafe at Morrisons is now staffed by a large computer screen where you select and pay for your food. I don’t know how this works if it’s busy, as they can only afford one screen. No humans were to be seen. There was a till, but nobody in charge of it. Ok, I could do this. One scrambled eggs on toast. One filled roll with sausage. One peppermint tea. One Americano coffee. It’s a pain in the backside because you have to confirm everything after you’ve selected it. Paid it and got my receipt. When I turned to go away, the screen flashed up a message “Cafe Closed”. The time was 2.10pm. According to the website the cafe is open until 6pm, and it advertises an “All Day Breakfast”. All day seems to end just after 2pm.

Went for the coffee and the tea. Coffee was easy. Press the button and the coffee is brewed into the cup. Tea is a bigger problem. Hot water is dispensed, but where’s the peppermint tea bags? Eventually found someone at a till and asked where the tea was. The answer was a backhanded “It’s in the pots.” Where’s the Specialist Tea then? After a bit of huffing and puffing she brought out a small wicker basket and pushed it towards me. I think she’d used up her vocabulary on our previous conversation. I picked one and thanked her. A grunt and the basket was gone as was its guardian.

Then we waited. And waited. And further waited. Not just us, either. Half of the cafe seemed to be waiting. Eventually, 40 minutes later a roll with two barely warm sliced sausages along with the toast and scrambled eggs arrived. No apology. No sorry for your wait. We were the lucky ones. The others started forming a queue for their money back. I know Morrisons is in trouble. Now I know why. The most disorganised, unsupervised and plainly rude staff I’ve ever met. They deserve to go down with the sinking ship.

We drove home and it rained. Not a lot, and not for long but it did rain. We’d decided to buy in a curry for dinner.

Scamp phoned Jackie who claimed she was just about to phone her. Everyone always says that, don’t they? I know I do it all the time. While they were on the phone, I went out to St Mo’s for some photos. Decided to take a waterproof from the car and was glad I’d taken it because the rain came tipping down. Walked twice round the pond and got some photos of black currant bushes that would put ours to shame, growing without any care or weeding, planted by volunteers years ago. I nearly pinched some, but didn’t. On the way home I found my PoD. The light was just right for a view down the path through the trees, then this bloke appeared and the shutter clicked!

I eventually ordered a curry for both of us after a disgruntled half hour or so. Something was annoying me and I couldn’t decide what it was, so I went in the huff. So childish, I know. So me. Curry only took just over 45 minutes to arrive and it was really, really nice. Best one I’ve had from Bombay Dreams in a long while.

We watched an old episode of Death in Paradise while we ate. Neither of us could remember seeing it before. Strange, as I thought we’d seen them all.

It’s raining tonight, just as it was forecast to. It will do the garden good to get fresh rain water into the plants roots.

Tomorrow we have no plans.

A day window shopping in Glasgow – 12 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Well, I was window shopping, but I didn’t buy anything. Scamp was shopping for ‘things’.

After some discussion today, I drove in to Glasgow. Scamp offered to drive, but I knew she doesn’t like driving in to Glasgow, so I said I’d drive. It was fairly easy to get parked in Buchanan Galleries, probably because it’s holiday time, but Glasgow was busy, probably because it was holiday time! Lots of people coming out of Queen Street station and just standing there with their phones or a map in their hands. I always feel sorry for them. There really should be a kiosk near the exit to help visitors, even those from Embra!

We walked down Buchanan Street (note, I’m giving it its ‘proper’ name today). I was looking for a pair of trainers. I’ve been looking for a pair for a while now and I now know that the problem is, I just don’t know what I want. We went in to Tiso and I tried on a couple of pairs that looked like what I thought I wanted, but I didn’t like them, or they weren’t comfortable. The bloke who was serving me couldn’t have been more helpful. He didn’t push me in any way or for any make. He just explained the benefits of the different shoes they had and left me to make up my mind. I may go back before the weekend and seek his advice again.

Scamp in the meantime had visited the first shop on her list and had secured the purchases she wanted. She was now complaining that a second shower gel she really likes is being discontinued. Why do people do this? The same happened to me with Grass shower gel in Lush. They discontinued it, even after saying it was one of the most popular sellers. Hazy found the same with Lush a few years ago. I understand that there is a constant need to push new products, but think about the consumers please!

We walked along Argyle Street to have a bite to eat and a coffee in Nero. Scamp chose a window seat that gave us a panoramic view along this busy street. That allowed me to grab a photo or two of folk just walking. Nothing fancy, no ND filters, just ordinary folk going about their business. Something I’ve not considered before, but it was interesting, just people-watching.

When we left there, fed and watered, Scamp wanted to go to M&S and I didn’t, so while she walked round the store, I took more photos: Pigeons on the disgustingly dirty glass roof over the entrance to Argyle Street station, A bloke sitting reading a paper which became PoD. I’d have taken more, but Scamp reappeared and we walked back and I got quite a decent one looking along an alley off Buchanan Street.

Driving back home, Scamp noticed that the heavy clouds, that had been blocking the sun in the morning and most of the afternoon had broken and blue sky was appearing. Were we going to have a decent evening? I hoped so. And so it was. I transplanted my teasel seedlings into individual pots and also potted up the last few kale plants. Scamp did some potting on too, giving two cuttings she’d taken at Jamie and Sim’s garden a new pot and fresh compost because they were building strong roots. After dinner we sat in the garden and read. I finished my latest book and now I need to start on one that Fred gave me.  FInally we had to go in because the temperature was dropping.  It had been a good day.

We have no plans for tomorrow yet.

Painting – 9 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

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.

Crowned – 7 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

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.

 

The first of July – 1 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Hopefully a warmer and calmer month than ‘Flaming June’.

We faced the potential of more rain and drove up to Tesco for milk, bread and breakfast cereals and ended up coming home with what was a fairly substantial weekly shop.

Back home I had my usual end of month clean up of the last month’s photos. It’s amazing how many photos I take in a month, even once I’ve culled and deleted the obvious junk photos.

Because I’d cleared out some space on the computer, that gave me the chance to fill that space with more photos. That’s why I went out for a walk in the afternoon to get some photos. It was definitely going to be an insect of some description that was going to be PoD and it turned out to be a Ringlet butterfly that filled that first space in Flickr. I’m trying to actively reduce the number of photos I post in Flickr to increase the quality of my submissions.

While I was over in St Mo’s taking photos, Scamp was pruning and clearing space in the garden, digging things out and moving things around. Just keeping things in good order.

We did manage half an hour or so in the garden when I was back from my walk and Scamp had taken her gardening gloves off. Time to read a bit and have a glass of wine. Then the sun disappeared and it was time to head inside again.

Tomorrow hoping to get one more dance lesson at Brookfield before the teachers go off on their three week holiday work on a cruise ship.

Recovery – 26 June 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We got to bed too late last night and suffered the consequences today.

With that in mind, we decided to have a more relaxed day today and possibly get to bed at a more reasonable hour. Hopefully on the same day we got up. So here I am writing this blog at 22:50. That means I have just about an hour to get all the ducks in a row and in the right order. Here goes!

A late start to the day, but that was inevitable. We filled the washing machine and set it to work. The poor thing must have been almost totally full, but it struggled manfully with the load. Then Scamp phoned June to see if she was at home and entertaining visitors. She answered “Yes” to both questions, so Scamp gathered together all the things belonging to either June or Ian that she (Scamp) had brought back from Skye and hadn’t got round to returning to their rightful owner(s). Then she drove up to June’s house and deposited them and basically had a good blether with June for the rest of the morning. Me? I just messed around as I usually do on a Sunday morning. Doing nothing, but filling my time with it!

After Scamp had returned and we’d had lunch the washing was done, but it looked like it was raining, so we waited before committing to hanging out the washing. When the rain came on in a more serious way, Scamp gave up on the idea of hanging out the washing and just hung most of it on airers of various types around the house.

In between the showers, the sun nearly came out and the sky got a bit brighter, lighting up some alliums in a bunch of cut flowers on the table. I took some photos of the flowers and one of them eventually became PoD. I used the LensBaby Sweet 35, but didn’t actually label the photo with that as there is a bit of snobbery in photographic circles about using LensBaby lenses. I can’t see why. It’s a distorting lens, yes, but all lenses distort reality to some degree. To ostracise cheap(ish) lenses purely because they are not made by Nikon, Canon or Sony is simple snobbery, and it has no place in my photography.

We discussed dinner and set plans for Chicken Goujons with potatoes and broccoli. All was fine and well, until Scamp took the chicken out of the fridge and asked me to smell it. It was definitely off and went in the bin. I volunteered to walk down to the shops to get more. It wasn’t really raining by then, just a smirr in the wind but the wind was gusty and cold.

We were fated not to have those chicken goujons today, because the chicken fillets I’d bought turned out to be a bit tough. However they weren’t so tough that we couldn’t eat them.

We got a message from Jamie to say that they’d been working in the garden all day and time had just disappeared, they’d phone tomorrow. At least they had some sun by the sound of things. We’d just had wind and rain.

I did get a chance to write to Alex. Hope he’s feeling better and we can do a catch-up this week.

Tomorrow, we have to take my good suit (ie the one that fits me) to the cleaners to get some stains removed. Other than that nothing much to do. Weather looks better than today, but Tuesday? You don’t want to know what the weather forecast is for Tuesday.

Well, that was a long day – 22 June 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today was the longest day. I used to argue with my dad about which was the longest day. You were right dad, the 22nd June

After a cup of coffee each, Scamp announced that she was going to the shops to get something for lunch, but before that she suggested Kedgeree for dinner. That suited me and I got a slab of smoked haddock out of the freezer. It was just warm enough to walk to the shops wearing shorts. I thought I’d made the wrong decision at first, but when you’re walking you don’t notice the cool breeze so much.

We walked back and made some lunch. Mine was roast ham, lettuce, baby tomatoes and sweet peppers in a wrap. Scamp had a tomato sandwich. After lunch, Scamp went out to work in the garden. I’d done some gardening yesterday, so that was my work done for the week. Instead, I took the Sony with a short macro lens and a Lensbaby for a walk in St Mo’s. Saw a sneaky spider on a grass flower waiting to ambush any unsuspecting insects and used the Lensbaby to photograph some wild Geraniums bobbing around on the breeze. The geraniums got PoD.

Back home I did a bit of painting, well it was more a case of just slapping some paint on a sketch I did last week. The paint improved the sketch, but then again, covering it in a coat of Crown gloss would have improved it too, in my opinion. I wasn’t impressed.

Tonight’s dinner was Kedgeree which is one of Scamp’s specialities. Spicy but not too hot and lots of lovely smoked haddock in it to give that salty taste to the rice. All topped off with an egg that was just runny and no more. Lovely meal.

Watched another Sewing Bee tonight, but I think it was last week’s episode. I won’t say who left tonight just in case any of my readers haven’t watched it yet. I’d intended watching the first episode of Slough House tonight on Apple TV+ after I signed up to Apple for at least a month. I’d just finished Mick Herron’s latest book, Bad Actors. In the epilogue he explains all the shenanigans that went into making the film for Apple.

Tomorrow we’re booked for coffee with Isobel and after that a visit to Calders is on the cards to find a circular metal support to carry the weight of the flowers on Scamp’s latest rose – Lady of Shalott.

A more relaxed day – 18 June 2022

Posted on by Zogman

After yesterday’s busy day, a more relaxed attitude was required.

Up fairly early and showered, then when I was getting dressed, Scamp said there was no rush. I said “I know” because I was well organised this morning, dressed and ready well before our 10am start for the drive to dance class. Then she said that not enough people were available and the class had been cancelled late last night but she hadn’t noticed the message coming in. That put a whole new complexion on things. Actually I was in two minds about it. Pleased, because I hate driving through the road works on the M8, but sad because, despite my protestations, we are beginning to move better on the dance floor and we’ve missed a lot of classes recently. It would not surprise me if the teachers called a halt to the Saturday morning class in the summer, simply because there are fewer and fewer people available at this time of the year. Oh well, it would be a more relaxing day than we had planned.

So after changing back into shorts and tee shirt, I sat around for a while and didn’t do anything useful, while Scamp read. I’m pleased that I chose the Fitbit after all. It’s got a ‘get up and move’ feature that buzzes you if you’ve been sitting too long and tells you to get up and get at least 250 steps completed within a time limit of 15 minutes. That seems a long time to complete the 250 steps, but believe me it is so easy to say “Oh I’ll just sit for five minutes and then complete the steps” then find 16 minutes later that you’ve not done it. So I did do it when I was told to. At least once today!

After a grand lunch of tea and toast with beans, because I for one had eaten far too much yesterday, we planned the rest of the day. I wanted to get a sketch book from Hobbycraft at The Fort and Scamp had vouchers to use in Boots.

Neither of us could believe the crowds at The Fort. There are three gigantic car parks and each one seemed full. We were lucky and got a space right away, but there was a constant stream of cars prowling around looking for an empty slot. I got my sketch book and Scamp got her perfume. Neither of us were all that keen to say, so we gave up our parking slot, which disappeared before we’d driven round the corner, and drove home.

When we got home the rain started. We could see it coming across the hills when we were nearly home and Scamp managed to get the clothes in off the whirly just in time before the rain appeared.  Thankfully the blustery wind today had dried them well.  I took a few shots of flowers in the garden in the drizzly rain and the PoD by a nose was the new Hydrangea panticulata whose flowers actually do change hue as the seasons change, but the Shooting Star seedpods were a close second.

Dinner tonight was a reheated yesterday’s Chicken Cacciatore with some Jersey Royals added for good measure. Even better today, I thought, because the sauce had thickened even more.

Tomorrow we may go dancing at a Salsa picnic on Glasgow Green if the weather is kind to us.