swim – Page 4 – My Photo Blog

He swims with the fishes – 07 February 2017

Posted on February 7, 2017February 8, 2017 by Zogman

This morning, Jaime said that he’d prefer to drive to Pigeon Point rather than take the hotel minibus. We’d already agreed that hiring a car would be good, so this just meant that the hire would be a day early and it would give us more flexibility with travel arrangements, so off he went to arrange the hire. When he came back, he told us there was one problem, his driving license was out of date and needed to be renewed. It could be done on Tobago, but with the present backlog in licensing, it would probably take a whole day. Since my paper license is no longer acceptable for hiring a car, the easy way was for Madeleine to hire the car. With that settled, they both went back to the hire firm to seal the deal and soon arrived with the car. Our bags were packed and we then went to Pigeon Point and parked ourselves under an almond tree on the edge of the glorious beach with that beautiful blue sea beyond. Pigeon Point hadn’t changed much since we were last there. The beach huts had been painted and had new roofs and there was now a new reception room for weddings and big parties, but apart from that it was the same.

Once we were settled, Scamp and I went for a paddle, but I couldn’t resist the pull of that blue water and the prospect of little brightly coloured fish in the reef just a few metres offshore. After all, for once I’d remembered to bring my snorkel and mask, so it would be a much closer look this time.

The water was much colder for swimming in than I had anticipated, but like always, you quickly become accustomed to it and are able to concentrate on looking for interesting things on the seabed. Unfortunately, the sea was rougher than it had been three years ago and the sand was being lifted from the floor by the waves, so my vision, even with the mask was limited. Further round the corner there is another smaller reef and it proved more interesting. At least there were some fish there. I didn’t want to stay there too long as I was out of visual contact from the shore and I thought Scamp would be worried I’d be swept out to sea or eaten by a giant crab. Actually it was Madeleine who was worried, not Scamp, but no matter, I’d snorkelled and I’d seen some fish. The next time we come back to Tobago – oh, yes, there will be a next time – I’ll bring flippers too. Ungainly on land, but so much more efficient for swimming.

Lunch was Bake and Shark from one of the booths on the beach, but three of us agreed it wasn’t a patch on the offering from Maracas. That and a couple of drinks kept us fed and watered until it was time to go home to Sandy Point. I got one sketch done in the interim and that’s this little doodle here. Not very impressive, but it fits the bill.

When we got home, Scamp and I went for a walk along the beach past the airport runway and passed a big poisonous tree. The sign said BEWARE of touching bark, leaves, fruit or anything to do with the tree as it poisonous and corrosive and can kill. Then at the bottom of the sign there’s a not to say ‘Don’t Panic’! Watched the pelicans fishing for a while. When we got back from the walk, we sat with our feet in a VERY hot tub. Then Scamp went back to the room while I did a sketch that I would fake as yesterday’s for the 28 Drawings Later page on Facebook. Just a slip of the pen really. I meant to write 7-2-2017, honest officer Winking smile

Dinner was a marvellous Stewed Chicken with Plantain and Macaroni Pie. Sorry Sim, yours was good, and it was a close run thing, but your mum’s had the edge this time.

Two rum ‘n’ coke’s while listening to the entertaining Calypso singer in the bar rounded the day off.

Steamin’ – 24 January 2017

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Zogman

The dogs started their howling at 8.30 this morning and didn’t let up until 12 noon. Something will need to be done soon.

To get us out more than anything else, I think, Scamp suggested going for a swim. I thought it was a good idea and grabbed my bag. The pool wasn’t totally empty when we got there, so there was space for a couple of wee ones. I think Scamp just wanted to try out her new swimming costume. I just wanted a bit of peace and quiet. Then other folk seemed to think they had the right to come in to ‘Our Pool’. I don’t know what gets into these folk. They should know by now that when we are in the pool, they get out. Anyway, I let them have their swim because I was going in to the steam room.

It certainly was steamy. It was hot and steamy and smelly in a nice way. When we started going to the leisure centre the steam smelled like eucalyptus, then gradually it just smelled like, well, like steam I suppose. Now the eucalyptus is back as the flavour of the month and it makes a pleasant change. I managed to stay in there for about 10 minutes before the steam became unbearable and I had to go for a shower. Another couple of lengths then it was time to try out the sauna. Not as hot as the steam room, but still hot enough. Things are finally looking up at the pool after all the alterations and essential maintenance. One short swim and another dose of eucalyptus and that was my exercise for the day.

Back home, an roll ’n’ egg replaced the calories I’d lost with my exercise regime. Then it was time to cram stuff into a bag and see how much it weighed before dinner time.

After dinner, I finished off Avarice a book by Pete Brassett. If you want to read my review, it should be on Amazon and Goodreads. It got one star, because it was funny. I don’t think it was really meant to be a comedy, but it was simply ridiculous. Tartan Twee I called it, and it was. Rebus meets Brigadoon and sticks the nut in him.

It’s been another of those dull, not quite rainy days, but I did manage to get a few shots of Mr Squirrel stealing the birds peanuts. Tomorrow the weather is meant to be brighter. We’ll see.

Ice and a Fiery Temper – 5 December 2016

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Zogman

Woke this morning to sub-zero temperatures, ok it was -0.7º, but it was below zero and that counts.

By the time I got up and showered, the temp had risen to just above zero and it was brightening up nicely, so I wrapped up warm and grabbed the Nikon to go get some photos of the urban deer. It was a good plan, the only thing missing was the aforementioned deer. They weren’t to be seen. Imagine that, they were up and out before me! Amazing. Got some photos of some backlit weeds – backlighting is always good in the low winter sun. When we were in Glasgow yesterday, I was sort of admiring some photos by a photog who was using 00 gauge figures in a variety of situations. ‘Sort of’ because I wasn’t impressed with the actual photos which were unremarkable, but I’d forgotten about my own attempts with these tiny figures. I kept seeing situations this morning where I could pose my mini-men. I’m intending digging them out tonight and having a go at some mini-men scenarios tomorrow when I have the house to myself.

Photos turned out better than I’d hoped. I think my favourite was the skating Coot. It reminded me of the painting “Revd Dr Robert Walker (1755 – 1808) Skating on Duddingston Loch” by Sir Henry Raeburn (Google it). It doesn’t really look like it, it just reminds me of it. That was my favourite, but PoD goes to the frozen feather.

This afternoon when Gems were doing their singing practise I went to the gym and the pool for an hour or so. It was a very pleasant hour or so too. Sauna wasn’t all that hot, but the steam room was. Even managed a few lengths.

Kizomba tonight was the end of the road for me. I’ve taken as much as I can take of assistant teacher, Levis’s Mr Cool antics. Yes, he’s quite stylish, but when the class has just managed to achieve even numbers because Kaye, the teacher, is dancing, that is not the time for Mr Cool to cut in and push a paying customer, me, out to be a wallflower. I don’t like being the wallflower and I don’t do it quietly now. That’s why I made a fuss tonight and complained to his boss about his attitude. I also told her that was the reason I wasn’t coming back. It did seem to cause a bit of a kerfuffle and an extended discussion with Shannon under whose auspices the class runs. It also forced Levis to come and apologise to me although he didn’t seem to understand why. It made no difference to me. That was my last Kizomba class with them. Maybe I’m just a silly old man to him. He’ll find out I’m a vociferous and angry old man too. I feel sorry for Scamp, because she was enjoying the class. I wasn’t and I’d already told her I would give it until Christmas and then evaluate the situation.

The foregoing left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, but it had to be resolved. There’s no point in complaining to Scamp and shouting the odds. Better to get these things out in the open then, maybe they will learn from their mistakes. Salsa took the bad taste away and with three new moves to remember and Jamie Gal’s inevitable tall stories , it didn’t take long to put a smile back on my face.

Tomorrow is another day and it’s going to be a painting day, I think. Well, that and a trip into Glasgow to retrieve Scamp’s boots that she left at the STUC tonight!

Cold and Frosty – 21 November 2016

Posted on November 21, 2016November 21, 2016 by Zogman

21-nov2

Yes, in the morning it was cold and frosty and it stayed that way for most of the day too. Poor wee violas in the hanging basket at the back door. They rarely see the sun in these winter days and today they looked wilted. When they finally thawed out about 4pm, the sprung back to life as if it had never happened.

Today being Scamp’s ‘Gems’ group’s singing practise, I packed my bags and headed for the leisure centre where I intended to have a swim and a nice 30 mins or so in the sauna and the steam room. That’s 30 minutes total, not 30 in each! However, it was their turn for ‘essential maintenance’. So far we’ve had the air-con in the changing room refurbished and the gym equipment replaced. Last week it was the jacuzzi that was essentially being maintained and today it was the hot rooms time for an overhaul. Next week the pool? Who knows. It always worries me when an establishment like this gets a complete facelift. Usually it presages a change of ownership. I hope I’m wrong, but I just have that feeling …

After the curtailed swim, I left and headed for Fannyside Moor, just on the outskirts of Cumbersheugh to get a PoD. Actually I had one in the bag from earlier in the day when the bluetits found the bird feeder had been refilled, but another one or two wouldn’t go amiss. I was armed with the old Sony F707 and the Furry Monkey. Hoping his magic paws would do the needful with the IR filter again. Well, he worked his magic, but there just wasn’t enough direct sunlight to give the necessary IR, so I resorted to a couple of landscapes taken with normal light instead, the best of which is above.

Salsa tonight was the usual mayhem with Jamie Gal forgetting his moves which “… worked perfectly earlier in the day in my office!” Then trying to make up a name for them, before attempting to translate the name into Spanish. Great fun!

Kizomba? Hmm, not a lot of fun and I sense a rant starting.
This was the last lesson of the block and I would have thought that Kay, the teacher, would have been pushing hard to keep us interested. Instead she just tread water for almost all the class time. Because her teaching assistant was absent, she had one of the class members run the guys through a ‘warm-up’ reprise of the last seven weeks’ moves while she did the same with the girls. The ‘warm-up’ lasted for twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of an hour long class. Then she introduced a new ‘helper’ who either didn’t speak English or didn’t want to be there, because he hardly uttered a word all night. You could tell the class weren’t too happy when she applauded us all after our first dance and nobody in the class responded. I nearly left there and then when she attempted to introduce ‘Musicology’ as a topic. I wasted two hours of my life with the dreadful Samira attempting to make this into a science instead of something that everyone can do naturally. If you can’t understand the beat of the music, this time wasting exercise wasn’t going to help you IMO.
Scamp wants to go back for a second block of Kizomba, but I’m not so sure. This is the second week we’ve been without a teacher for the guys. I like the dance, but if there is no teacher for us, then I’m not getting value for my money and that’s not a good thing. I’m suggesting we pay the class on a week by week basis to see what transpires and if it doesn’t improve, I’m not going to continue with it.

Temperature is rising and even as I write this at 11pm it’s warmer than it’s been all day.

Dentist tomorrow 🙁

Super Moon, Ordinary Day – 14 November 2016

Posted on November 14, 2016November 14, 2016 by Zogman

Not such a bad day today compared to yesterday. Thankfully, Scamp is feeling a lot better and I think a phone call this morning from Hazy helped too, that and looking forward to a visit from JIC and Sim has lifted her spirits. Still a bit cloudy with the occasional rain shower, but we had that in Lanzarote last week too. Having said that, the temperature differential is significant, nearly 20ºc .

Last night’s attempt to resurrect the damaged partition on the external hard disk ended in failure, as I expected it would. However PhotoRec which comes as part of the free TestDisk partition recovery suite managed to find all the photos in the damaged partition and, using it I also managed to download some of the photos to check that they were intact. It looks like most if not all of the photos are recoverable. The problem now is where to put them while I sort them back into their proper folders. Sorting them into the folders won’t be a big problem as the Hazel app on the Mac and File Juggler on the PC will manage that task with relative ease. The problem is that I now need (yet) another external hard drive to use as temporary storage while I do the filing. I might just bite the bullet and buy another external HDD and be done with it. Then I’ll format the old one and use both as a photo repository. It does make you think though, that a free program downloaded from the ‘net can search your hard disk and recover deleted photos even from a formatted drive. If a free prog can do that, what can dedicated forensic software used by police and other agencies do?

For the rest of the day, I went to the gym and then for a swim. Really quite enjoyed it. Salsa and Kizomba tonight was demanding, but also enjoyable.

Today’s photo is of the ‘Supermoon’. Did look slightly bigger than normal, but nothing to get excited about.

Looking for sunshine tomorrow. Always looking!

Write and Post the same day – 20 October 2016

Posted on October 20, 2016October 20, 2016 by Zogman

That is today’s target.

Yesterday, or to be more exact, early this morning I was still writing the blog just before 1am. That’s what happens when you try to cram in 1 hour’s driving 2 hours of Salsa, a pen sketch, photo processing, posting to the now despicable Flickr and blog writing into six hours. It just doesn’t work. I must try to clean up my workflow on Mondays and Wednesdays. Thursdays? They’re not so bad. Still bad, just not so bad as Mon and Wed.

Today we went to the leisure centre in the early afternoon. Me to gym and swim, Scamp to swim. It was very pleasant. Gym wasn’t busy and neither was the pool. That’s because we are in the middle of half-term week, so loads of families are off grabbing some last minute foreign sun. I’m not complaining, just explaining. After a late lunch I went to find some photos and if possible find something to sketch. “Nights are fair drawing in now” as Billy Connolly said and it’s true. The sun is setting sooner these evenings, so although it provided me with some lovely sunset shots, it also cancelled out any opportunity for sketching in the wild.

Earlier in my driving around I spotted some strange looking clouds. I thought it was the end of the world, such strange shapes. It turned out to be Cumulonimbus incus. Google it. It’s a classic anvil shaped thundercloud. Luckily they sidled off westward before they could drop their thunderbolts and the inevitable rain. The sunset really was lovely. I don’t usually shoot sunsets because you get suckered in by the colour contrasts and just shoot wildly, but this time I planned the shot with the old tree and fencepost in the middle distance to hold the viewer’s eye while allowing them to appreciate the colours in the sunset.

I was stuck for an Inktober shot tonight and it defaulted to my glasses on the coffee table. That meant I couldn’t wear them and that’s my excuse for poor proportions. That coffee table is almost forty years old, an antique. It was my second year project at college and it’s still standing.

Well, that’s it. I’m hoping to get to bed the same day I woke up. It may happen.

Back in harness – 17 October 2016

Posted on October 17, 2016October 17, 2016 by Zogman

Today I returned to the gym for the first time in months. I took it easy, not wanting to undo all the good the physio had done. I did my 10 mins on the recumbent bike and 10 mins on the treadmill, although I did up the incline and the speed to get my heart rate up a bit. I also did one of the arm machines and one of the leg machines, so not too much yet. I even managed a swim as the pool was nearly empty. Unfortunately, Mondays are busy days and I had to get back home to get the dinner made. Then it was off to Kizomba and Salsa.

Kizomba was quite stressful for me as we had to work on foot moves and arm moves too on Saida and Cross Step. If I continue with the class, as seems likely just now, and if I look back at these posts (DV), the Saida and Cross Step will seem very tame, I’m sure, but tonight they were tough. Salsa was frantic as usual and also very enjoyable. Nice to see Catherine Mc back.

Today’s photo was of the peanut thief caught raiding the bird feeder again this morning. The Inktober sketch is of Scamp’s Venetian mask. It was a bit out of my comfort zone because of the amount of curves in it and the fact that there was light and shade to deal with on those curved surfaces. Still, it’s a fair representation of the article. What will tomorrow’s be?

Don’t know what the weather is going to do tomorrow. The majority of the votes are for some sunny periods but with the chance of rain and some strong winds. That about sums up any day in Scotland.

Frogs and Snails (no Puppy Dogs’ Tails) – 27 September 2016

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Zogman

This morning we did go for a swim and went through the ridiculous login procedure where you have to pay a £2 deposit for a locker key and also sign to say you’ve received said key. I’m not so bothered about having to bring my own towel, but the ‘key thing’ irks me. Ok, I get it that people are stealing the keys and something has to be done about it with the emphasis on something. Singular. Either make people leave a deposit OR make them sign for the key (I typoed ‘sing’ by mistake there. Perhaps that would be a better solution – make everyone sing for their key, in their chosen key of course). It makes no sense to force people to both sign and pay. I think people are becoming pissed off with this new regime.

The pool was busy again. Five swimmers and it’s busy. Six and it’s congested. We even had an interloper today, a frog no less. A tiny wee frog was hopping along the tiles. I put him out, he may have been another Zog, but he went out into the wide world. I wonder what would have happened if he’d got in the pool. Would the chlorine have killed him? Anyway, I’m sure he was happier outside.

Lunch was a bowl of lentil soup and a slice of bread. The soup was made from a ham hock we got in Fort Billy on Saturday and the soup, though thin was tasty.

I decided to face the storm force winds and go for a walk along the railway after lunch. Not a lot to see, except leaves from the trees being blown about. I’ve made a solemn promise to myself not to photograph leaves this autumn. I don’t know how long it will last once the reds and oranges appear on the leaves – it’s all to do with the sugar you know!

That was about it for today. More wind and rain tomorrow with the promise of even stronger winds on Thursday.

Not the best day – 8 September 2016

Posted on September 8, 2016September 8, 2016 by Zogman

We woke to torrential rain. It’s a great feeling to be able to lie in bed reading in the morning, knowing that lesser mortals are struggling through the deluge on their way to work. Sorry 😉

Around lunchtime we went for a swim at Stalag Luft III also know as Westerwood Leisure Centre. The new rules state that you will check in with your membership card. You must pay £2 (refundable) for a locker key. You must also sign in for the aforementioned key and must sign it out again when you leave. You must bring your own towel. For heaven’s sake, you’ll have to bring your own water soon. It seems as if these rule changes have been designed by committee. You know what I mean, someone has an idea, someone else has a different idea, then a third person also has a further idea. Rather than choose one of the ideas, the committee decide to implement them all, even if they contradict each other. As you might have guessed, a new centre manager is in place and it looks like she’s more of an idiot than the last one. Once we got in to the pool, we found that water aerobics was in full flow. No room in the pool, so we sat in the steam room while the steam was coming out of my ears. Couldn’t get in the jacuzzi because it was covered up, no doubt waiting to be fixed. Thankfully they had finally sourced a piece of wood and a joiner skilled enough to replace the missing slat in the seat of the sauna. Once the aquarobic group had left the pool, the spa girls took over the middle of the pool to have a giggle and shout contest. I’m going to suggest to the new centre manager that it might be a good idea to make the middle of the pool 2m deep, then the ignorant bastards would drown as they giggled and shouted. You might have worked out by now that I’m not a happy bunny. I don’t see why I should be paying for a facility that isn’t really meeting my requirements. Looking back a year in this blog I’m reading that at least twice and sometimes three times a week I was getting to the gym in the morning. That’s not happening now. It would appear that the new centre manager has taken the pleasure out of leisure. I’ll give it until Christmas and if things haven’t improved, I’ll cancel my membership, which would be a shame as Scamp appears to be satisfied with the changes. By the way, we returned our keys but didn’t sign them out. Oh, oh. That will mean a visit to the headmistress’s room or lines for us next time. “I must always remember to sign out my keys”. “I must always remember to sign out my keys”. “I must always remember to ….”.

Outside it was still raining and we went on a pilgrimage to find a new cable for Scamp’s old style Samsung tablet. According to the Internet, Maplin had the cable, but when we got there all five of the assistants were more interested in getting a group selfie than in actually selling anything. It never ceases to surprise me that this store is still in business. They never seem to have anything useful in stock, their assistants have less knowledge than an Apple Genius and I rarely see anyone actually buying anything.
Tried Currys – Nope
Tried Tesco – None
Tried B&M – Nada
Drove to Glasgow to Staples and, you’ve guessed it, no Samsung cables. Even tried Poundworld with the same result. When we were driving home the rain stopped and the sun came out for a while.
Finally solved the problem when I went to the bloke in Cumbersheugh town centre who sells phone covers. He also sells old style Samsung cables. Got one, and now the tablet charges, but the rain is back on.

Today’s photo is of a selection of our James Grieve apples from our miniature apple tree. The rest were made into a lovely apple pie.

More rain tomorrow. Oh what fun.

I didn’t know you could do that – 19 August 2016

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Zogman

I’ve had the Nikon D7000 for over three years now. In that time I’ve settled on it as my ‘good’ camera. The one to use when quality is paramount. I use it in manual mode most of the time and allow the camera to decide the best ISO setting to use within the limits I set. I also use it in AF-S mode. Single servo focus because I mainly photograph still objects, landscapes don’t move much and flowers, although they do move, don’t wander far from their stems. Maybe too it’s that I’m a control freak and like to know exactly what my camera is doing and can predict how it will react in any given situation. Today I started using AF-C for probably the first time since the early days just after I acquired the camera. AF-C is Continuous servo focus. The camera continually focuses and if the manual is to be believed, “if subject moves, camera will engage predictive focus tracking to predict final distance to subject and adjust focus as necessary.” I am so glad that was cleared up, I thought it was going to be complicated! What I do know is that it works and it keeps things in focus while they are moving, and even if I am moving. That’s what I found today. It never ceases to surprise me what this camera is capable of and I’m sure there are even more surprises hidden deep in the manual waiting to be discovered.

I went to the physio this morning and felt a lot better once he had stretched, manipulated and massaged my shoulder and neck once again. Maybe it’s just that feeling when you stop hitting your head against a wall. It’s so nice when you stop. Went swimming in the afternoon.

I’m becoming absolutely pig-sick of the Olympics on TV. Events over-running and programme schedules being changed with no notice. News when it arrives an hour late crammed with results and interviews with athletes before we get to the nitty gritty of what’s happening in the rest of the world. Only two more days to go and it’s finished, because it doesn’t look as if the Paralympics will be covered in the same way as the able bodied version. Don’t you feel so sorry for the athletes in the Paralympics who have trained for years, only to find that in the eyes of those running these games, they are second best.

Weather today at home, as predicted, was wet from about 12midday and it stayed that way until early evening when it dried up.