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Some of you may have flown the ‘Red-eye’. Today we travelled the ‘Grey-Hair’. We went on the bus down to Ayr from Glasgow. After just missing the 10.25 from the bus station in Glasgow, we placed ourselves at the front of the seating area at the stance to ensure that we would get on the next bus. The stance was empty when we arrived, but they soon filtered in. All the Grey-Hairs in Glasgow were heading to Ayr today, it seemed. By the time the bus drove in, they had whipped themselves into a fury. Like zombies smelling fresh brains they were ready to do anything to get the best seats. Until you’ve seen a group of Grey-Hairs fighting for a seat on a bus, you’ve no idea what crowd dynamics is all about (the spellchecker just changed dynamics to dynamo. That probably works even better!). Anyway, our elbows had been sharpened and we held back the surge of Grey-Hairs and got on first.

It was a pleasant journey down the M77 to Ayr, mainly because of Bluetooth headphones, an iPhone and Dark Side of the Moon! When they were getting off the bus every Grey-Hair asked what time the bus left for Glasgow. The driver, with commendable patience, answered each one in turn without even cracking a smile. He must be used to it. The weather was typical September Weekend, except it wasn’t raining. Ayr used to be such a lovely wee town filled with families on the last weekend in September. Today if was full of beggars, closed shops and that general air of depression that is so typical of Scottish towns these days. There was an Ayr Renaissance shop, but it was shut. Says it all really. Had a sit down lunch in the Blue Lagoon chip shop and after wandering around all the usual shops, stopped for a drink at a Wetherspoon’s. Not a very adventurous day, but then Ayr never was adventurous.

There was more crowd dynamics on the way home when there was nearly a crowd break-in. It happened when it didn’t look as if the bus was going to pull forward to the proper stop. However, all was well because the drivers were just changing over and one of the Grey-Hairs behind us in the queue gave a running commentary on the situation for those who couldn’t see the action. Yes, everything was good.

That’s Ayr out of our system for a few weeks (months?) until we feel the need to face the Grey-Hairs again.

It’s 7.45 at St Mo’s and I’ve just startled a deer. Didn’t expect to see one to be honest and certainly not this early into a walk. The lovely sunrise got me out early and I’m glad it did. Oh well, no photos of any import yet, but we’ll see what turns up.
Just caught another glimpse of the deer but camera wasn’t switched on because the battery is low. It’s switched on now!
I’m glad I’m recording this because I just saw a fox running ahead of me, despite my clumsy footsteps. On the way home I stopped to watch two coots playing Chase-Me across the pond. I don’t suppose they were really playing, it was probably a really serious business, but it did give me the chance to grab a few interesting frames. A busy early morning walk then, but few decent photos to show for it. (Top three on the mosaic)

That was earlier. In the afternoon, Scamp wanted to go somewhere for a walk, so we took ourselves off the Kincardine for a walk along the Forth. Walked as far as the new Clacks bridge. I always think of Terry Pratchett when I hear the Clacks bridge mentioned. Sounds like his version of mobile phone masts. Took a few photos along the way, quite a few actually, well, just over 90. Mind you, these have been swiftly pared down to 42 which Hitchhikers amongst you will recognise as the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything” in Douglas Adams’ book. Quite a literary blog post this is turning out to be. One more for the road then. This from Robin Sloan’s book Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore: “Neel buys a round of drinks. I sip something called the Blue Screen of Death, which is in fact neon-blue, with a bright LED winking inside one of the ice cubes.” A brilliant book for the computer nerd, like me. By the way, the group are staying at the North-bridge hotel! Getit? Hazy will, JIC may not 😉
Ok, that’s it for the literary section, back to the normal blog stuff of painting, photography and moans.

I tried the monopod this morning but it didn’t make much difference with the Nikon. I forgot that you can’t use a tripod (or a monopod I suppose) with the vibration control on the Tamron. It actually increases shake rather than reducing it. 🙁 I did try turning the VC off and using the camera with the monopod then, but I still wasn’t impressed. Actually, I’m becoming more and more impressed with the Oly and m4/3 (micro four thirds) in general, and less with the Nikon. I know I’ll change my mind about the two systems, I always do.

A day that had started out with a beautiful sunrise ended with heavy clouds and just the hint or rain. On our walk along the Forth the wind was really quite cold but the sun was warm. When we were near the Clacks bridge there was a wall on the riverside which protected us from the wind and that’s when we felt the warmth of the sun. For the rest of the walk the wind was very cooling.  (Bottom three on the mosaic)

I realise it’s a bit difficult to see the detail in the pics today, but either click on the mosaic or go here.  All rights reserved and all photos copyright of D. Campbell (that’s me).

When I woke up at about 6.50 it was dull wet and dark. I dozed for 15 minutes or so and then the sun was up and the streets were drying, so I got dressed and walked over to St Mo’s. The clouds rolled in, the rain returned and there wasn’t enough light to get decent shots without resorting to really high ISO settings like ISO 25600! I got the shots, but the grain/noise was intrusive. It was either that or lug a heavy tripod with me through the trees. That wasn’t going to happen. Maybe I’ll take my monopod/walking pole with me next time. It’s not as stable as a tripod, but it’s not as heavy either. It might be worth a try. I’ll let you know.

I came home almost empty handed. Some shots with the 9mm lens were good. Nothing really good from the Nikon. Almost everything I’ve shot with the 9mm lens has been good for one reason or another. I’m still really surprised with the sharpness of the lens. However one of its big failing points is flare. Because the angle it covers is so large (140º) it is difficult to exclude the sun. Also, as there is no way to add a lens hood, flare artefacts find their way into any picture shot into the sun, or even near the sun. I’ve yet to find a way to avoid this. The other bugbear is Chromatic Aberrations. CAs are bright coloured fringes that appear in areas of high contrast. They appear as purple or green areas at the edge of a dark subject. Green at one side and purple at the other. Most wide and super-wide angle lenses, especially the cheaper variety suffer from CAs to a greater or lesser extent. Lightroom controls them really well and I’ve got an input filter set up especially to deal with them. It’s not a big problem, but it is a nuisance. When I was making my breakfast I noticed a robin sitting on the back fence. The rain had turned its tap off and the sun was back giving low directional light that lit up the robin beautifully. Quickly grabbed the Nikon and got three frames before the bird flew off. Well, that’s at least one in the bag. Later in the day the sun had moved round to the front and was lighting up the last remaining gladiolus with rain drops glistening on its flower. Another grab shot and that’s two in the bag. After that the light died away and the show was over for today.

Went swimming at the leisure centre and sat in the steam room and steamed today. No gym today, just an hour in the pool. Ok then, half an hour in the pool and half an hour split between the sauna and the steam room. Was still good.

Later I spent about two hours trying with little success to install a decent keyboard into my Android ‘bike phone’. Eventually found a way to install apps onto the SD card rather than the phone memory. Such a faff. You’d think Microsoft had invented Android not Google, although it never once said ‘not responding’, so I guess they couldn’t have.

Note to self:- Try out the monopod tomorrow.

If you find it difficult to see the detail in the pics today, either click on the mosaic or go here.  All rights reserved and all photos copyright of D. Campbell (that’s me).

Well, this is a first. Here I am in the STUC in the middle of a salsa class where there are too many men, so I’m sitting out. To save me from doing nothing, I’m starting to write up my day!

Today was an Auld Guys day out. Venue was the Horseshoe Bar as usual. Just a bunch of auld guys who’ve slipped the leash for the afternoon. JB was missing, citing a docs appointment for achest infection. JD was there, so all was not lost. Scamp came in to meet me at the STUC, her first time driving in Glasgow at night for a while. Not many photos today, just Donald Dewar and my favourite building … again.

I had intended to visit the Escher exhibition in Edinburgh today, but after driving to the train station, I couldn’t get a parking space. There were cars abandoned everywhere. Some on the grass at the side, some with two wheels in the flower beds, some just sitting with their engine running their occupants waiting for a space to become available. At just gone 9.15 in the morning, that was going to be a long wait. There were also around five or six cars slowly cruising round the car park looking for a space, at least I hope they were looking for a space. They might have been practising their kerb crawling skills for all I know.  After having had my time on this boring roundabout, I made my apologies and left to grab my Nikon and exchange culture for some sun on my back.

I drove to Auchinstarry and walked the walk along the railway, delighted at my decision to walk in the sun rather than stand in admiration in a gallery. There was bit of dew on the grass and spider webs along the path which is a reminder that we are more than half way through September. Also, the Himalayan Balsam plants are setting their explosive seed pods but a lot of them are still flowering. Further indications that although the sun is out, summer is now gone and autumn is certainly on its way. If further proof was needed, the leaves on the trees are turning on their autumn colours. It’s all to do with the sugars, you know.

In the afternoon, I took the bull by the horns and reset my Nexus 7 from languishing in Lollypop (Android 5.2) to kicking it in Kit-Kat (Android 4.4.3). I used the instructions from here.
It worked perfectly, I’m glad to say. It just feels so much faster and smoother. Also, when I registered my Gmail address, the device immediately started downloading all my apps, so nothing was lost except data and as my worthwhile data was all stored on Dropbox, it will be easy to get that back if I wish.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could downgrade your Windows 8 PC back to Windows 7?
Wouldn’t it be great to remove Yosemite and replace it with Mountain Lion?
On the subject of Yosemite, It’s amazing that the App Store shows that 67 people voted the OS 5 stars and 57 voted it 1 star, and if you read the reviews, most of those 57 would have given it 0 stars or a negative rating if it was possible. Hard to believe that Apple see this disaster of an OS  as the way forward. Maybe they should listen to their customers. Now, that would be innovative, wouldn’t it.

If it’s a bit difficult seeing the detail in the pics today, either click on the mosaic or go here.  All rights reserved and all photos copyright of D. Campbell (that’s me).

Such a busy day today. I think this is the first time I’ve manage to sit down for a few minutes.
Painting in the morning. I’d intended this to be an oil painting, laid on top of an acrylic ground on a canvas, but it turned out to be an acrylic on acrylic on canvas. Confused yet? I’ve taken the advice of one of the books I’ve been reading recently and assessed the basic colour scheme of my intended artwork. Then I paint the canvas with a ground which is the contrasting colour to the dominant one in the painting. Ha! You’re confused now aren’t you? It’s an interesting idea and I think it works. It’s so different from painting in watercolour where you have to plan the painting before you put brush to paper. You leave bare paper to produce the whites. In acrylic (and oils), you can add the whites later, in fact, some experts say the whites should be added last. Also, this is a small 200mm x 200mm square canvas and I don’t like squares – too static, you see. However, it’s working so far. Time will tell.

After the arty farty stuff, I made the chicken curry for tonight’s dinner and then some bread. Usually I just bung all the ingredients into the mixer and set it to go for 10 minutes. Today, for some reason, I kneaded the dough myself. It’s a good feeling kneading sticky dough until it turns out smooth. Very therapeutic.

After that it was off to the gym and swim while Scamp’s ladies were practising their singing. Came back too early and they were still at it, so I grabbed my bike and cycled off to one of my favourite bramble patches and got just about half a kilo of fruit. Most of the fruit isn’t ready yet, maybe another week or so.

Dancing at night, and thank goodness our usual teacher was back. Good teaching with a relaxed and pleasant manner. Not what we had last week. The guest teacher was good. A bit severe, but still good. JG though is head and shoulders above him – he is quite tall!

So, I’ve done the gym thing, a swim thing, cycling and dancing today. Surely that will take a few grams off when I next step on the scales. Of course the Old Speckled Hen I’m quenching my thirst with is low calorie and so was the chicken curry which was quite superb even if I say it myself.

I realise it’s a bit difficult to see the detail in the pics today, but either click on the mosaic or go here.  All rights reserved and all photos copyright of D. Campbell (that’s me).

Such a relaxing day a Sunday. I did a bit of gardening. Me? Gardening? In the same sentence? Well, it was just a little bit of trimming. First the roses round the back door and then chopping down the remains of an apple blossom bush that Scamp wanted rid of. The next thing was to get rid of the garden rubbish and that’s when the problem arose. I couldn’t get out of the estate because there was a 10K road race in progress, so it was back home and have lunch. Later, when the coast was clear I went out in the rain and dumped the rubbish then went for a drive to get some photos. Walked along a bit of the canal and took what I could get, which wasn’t much today under a milk white sky. No direct sunlight and no shadows, just grey. Still, I got some shots along the canal.

After dinner we watched a disappointing Singapore GP. Not disappointing because Lewis didn’t win, that was a little bonus. No, just disappointing because it was a boring race. It was a bit like today. No direct sunlight and no shadows, just grey.

It might sound dull, but dull’s sometimes all we have.

I realise it’s a bit difficult to see the detail in the pics today, but either click on the mosaic or go here.  All rights reserved and all photos copyright of D. Campbell (that’s me).

testing 1 – 2

I had been meaning to visit two exhibitions in Edinburgh (notice I gave it the Sunday name for a change!) and today I’d chosen to go see the David Bailey *Stardust *exhibition. We’ve become used to getting off the train at Haymarket rather than travelling in to Waverley and that’s what I did today. I also wanted to go and get tea at my favourite tea shop in Edinburgh. The guy in the shop doesn’t deal in these new fangled metric measurements, he still uses pounds and ounces. He’s also got an opinion on everything and a story to go with that opinion. It’s an experience visiting his shop and always a pleasant one. I can’t remember what today’s story was about, but it started with me commenting on his choice of shirt which was much like my own favourite. It ended with him telling me that although the shop sign said OPEN, he didn’t start serving until 11.00. I apologised but he told me that it didn’t matter as I had money in my pocket! After getting my tea and a bit of convivial conversation, I walked up and on to the Grassmarket and there was still no sign of grass being sold, but there were beautiful golden colours in the trees. From there, I walked to Greyfriars Church and had a walk round the churchyard. I was tempted to take some photos there as the light and colours from the trees were good but I’m always a bit uneasy taking photos in a graveyard, so I kept the camera in the bag. Then on to the Playfair Steps to take me down to the exhibition, remember the exhibition? The first room in Stardust was wonderful. All monochrome shots. Some small, some big, some gigantic. My favourites were Henri Cartier-Bresson and Man Ray. The HC-B was especially cleverly shot with the secretive man shielding half of his face with his camera. The luminosity of Man Ray’s eye was fascinating. I wasn’t so taken with the large colour shots, but the technical quality of the large fashion images was fantastic. About his paintings, the least said the better. Stick to the camera David. Speaking about cameras, in one of the display tables was DB’s Asahi Pentax SLR. Lovely piece of equipment but well used. Quick jaunt to John Lewis to see if there was anything going cheap – there wasn’t (no surprise there). Cup of coffee and a panini in Nero and it was time to get the train home. An enjoyable day getting a bit of culture – what else in Edinburgh? Next time I’m hoping to take in an M C Escher exhibition all being well. See me? See culture?