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Got the bus into Glasgow AGAIN today because the Department of Work & Pensions needed a copy of our marriage license.  Why?  Don’t they have a copy in one of their multitude of departments, or don’t they speak to each other?  Probably not.  Anyway, we had to go to Glasgow to get a copy and had to pay £10 for the privilege.  Interesting to see that the assistant registrar simply printed off a copy of the original then signed it in ink using a fountain pen.  We are in the 21st century aren’t we?

On our way home I bumped into an ex-colleague from school who is also retired and now lives in France.  Haven’t seen her for about twenty years!  I was complaining about the above DWP requirements until she told me that she has to write a letter every year to tell them she is still alive.  That made me feel a lot better.

I really like listening to this guy whose pitch is at the top of Buchanan Street in Glasgow.  It’s difficult to get a clean shot of him without too many punters photobombing you.  Only one today and he was just trying to work out how to text with his new phone.

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It was the need for coffee that brought me to Perth today.  We drove there and despite heavy rain on the way, it was fine when we got there.  Went to Cafe Tabou as usual and lunch was simply superb.  It’s been a week of great lunches.

Tonight, I found a way of forcing Firefox and OSX to let me use a British dictionary rather than the deplorable US version.  Isn’t it nice to be able to do things your way rather than the boilerplate foreign version?

When did you last see a Curio and Antique Repository?

Which is your choice?

Toy giraffe outside a toy shop in Perth.  Its owners take great care in preparing it for the vagaries of the Scottish weather.

This is part of a panorama from the same place as the ploughed field.  It looks across the strath.

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On the road home from Perth I saw this recently ploughed field.  I tried photographing it from the other end, but finally decided it looked better from this side.  I liked the lead-in from the fence posts and the colour of the newly ploughed earth.

After the excesses of yesterday, it was back to normal today.  Car booked in for MOT next week an a short walk along the Luggie.  Dancing at night. Happy.

I saw this glove stuck on a branch.  From this side it seemed to be waving bye bye.  From the other side it seemed to be making a rude sign!

I watched a buzzard today being mobbed by a couple of magpies. It seemed to toy with them for a while then said “watch this boys” and off he went, giving them a demonstration of what flying is really about 😉

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Today is our wedding anniversary, and Scamp had booked lunch at the exclusive Rogano, so we took ourselves into Glasgow to enjoy ourselves, and that is what we did.  Great lunch with a bottle of wine, then another wee drink in the Counting House.  As Scamp said, it was like both ends of the scale of food and drink in Glasgow, but both have their place and both were enjoyed.  Needless to say, we were travelling by public transport to avoid the depredations of the Scottish government Don’t Drink and Drive policy!

SNP, we take the fun out of everything.

I travelled light today with only my ancient TZ3 in my pocket.  I’d forgotten just how much use I make of RAW files.  The old TZ3, despite being a great camera with a sharp lens, doesn’t shoot in RAW and that fat was brought out in no mean terms when I post-processed today’s shots. Loads of grain after dragging detail from the shadow areas and that is with an ISO 100 setting.  Partly this is due to the small sensor and partly it is due to the lack of RAW storage.  Still a good camera, but with limitations.

Bucky Street in Glasgow (Not its real name, so don’t go looking for it) on a cold, dreich day.  Not as dull as it looks here, but still nowhere as good as yesterday.

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I had decided to go for a walk along the Forth & Clyde canal in Glasgow today, just for a change.  It really is an interesting place.  Watched kayakers doing a white water course.  Photographed some swans and saw Glasgow’s architecture from a different viewpoint.  An interesting Monday.

I liked the colour of the sky and also that the cross at the top of the building was mirrored in the cross shape of the street lights.

I watched a few of these blokes in kayaks completing the white water course in Glasgow. It wasn’t until I saw one from behind I noticed the POLICE stencil on his life vest! Oops, sorry guys. I’ll delete the other shots 😉

A swan preening. Seen on the Forth & Clyde canal at Maryhill in Glasgow.

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It was decided that we go for a walk this Sunday morning and it was further decided that we go to Mugdock park.  Fine, it had been a long time since we’d been there and although it as a bit of a boring walk, there were certainly some photo opportunities, so off we went.  Got there to find there was an ‘event’ on.  Nothing surprising as there is usually an ‘event’ on almost every Sunday.  Of course the carparks were full.  Why don’t they make more carparks?  It’s not as if they don’t have the room.  The place is ginormous!  Anyway, we drove past the visitor centre and found a new, almost empty carpark on the far side of the park.  Had an interesting walk along to the castle.  On the way we passed what turned out to be the remains of WW2 anti-aircraft gun emplacements.  It’s amazing what you find out when you go for a walk.

On the way back, we found that the ‘event’ people were leaving the main carpark and a host of others were arriving, but as the carpark had overflowed on to the verge of the road, we now had potential two way traffic on a single track road.  It would seem that the idiots (not) coming and (not) going along this stretch had never been to Skye and therefore did not understand the queuing system or the concept of ‘passing places’, so resorted to getting out of their cars and shouting at each other, which was productive.  Hmm townies!  What can you do with them?  A good walk almost wasted.  It did give me an opportunity to use my extensive expletive collection and have a good laugh at the welly wearing idiots, though, so not entirely wasted.

Mugdock park.  Snow on the ground.  That is to say, a ‘snow’ brush was used on the ground to make pretend snow.  Then I used a tinted graduated filter on the sky to give it that creamy snow laden look.  I was quite impressed with the overall effect.

Looking over Glasgow from Mugdock Country Park.  A bracing walk on a Sunday morning.  Some of the sheepy mehs were surgically removed with SnapHeal Pro (what Lightroom’s spot removal should have been) and the foreground lightened and Clarified with a custom brush in Lightroom.  I liked the layers of the city in the background.  It reminded me of an early attempt at digital painting Jim Cochrane the art teacher showed me ages ago, in another lifetime.

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Dull, dull, dull.  It did look as if it wanted to brighten up for a short while, then it changed its mind and returned to dull.  Drizzly rain for a while too.  Went to Falkirk and had lunch (Stovies) in Tea Jenny’s.  Must take you there the next time you’re up Hazy.  You’d love the tea cozies!  Tea is weird good too.

The lichen, Cladonia fimbriata. Looks like little trumpets.

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We had agreed that if it was a decent day (No Snow, No High winds, No Driving rain) we would get the bus to Ayr. The morning ticked all the above boxes, so we set off for sun, sea and sandcastles on the beach at Ayr. By the time we got to Prestwick the sky had clouded over and it was looking decidedly rainy, which was a bit of a pity as we had left Glasgow basking under a blue sky. We woz robbed!

However, we made the best of it with lunch at Wotherspoons, and since I wasn’t driving I even had a beer with my lunch. Oh joy of joys! Then we went for the walk along the beach, but by then the rain was starting, so we did fore go the sandcastles. I did manage to get a nice wee shot of the pier. Is it a pier if it’s made of concrete? It is now.

Pier at Ayr on a cold, wet, windy day. Bracing. Yes, that’s the word. Bracing!

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It was a really dull day, but we took ourselves off to the Forth & Clyde for a walk and then lunch at The Stables.  I was photographing a big buzzard in a tree across the canal when from the corner of my eye I saw a crow in a steep dive straight towards it.  Foolishly I didn’t hammer off a half dozen frames hoping to capture the attack, but for once, I didn’t.  I just watched the episode play out.  The clever crow caught the buzzard completely napping and whacked the bigger bird on the head with its claws.  Amazingly, it got away with it.  Really funny.  I imagine the sight will stay with me for a long time, because I saw it and didn’t photograph it.

As far as I am concerned, these are the stupidest birds in the world.  If they were as bright as their colours, they would be a force to be reckoned with.  Seen and shot across the Forth & Clyde canal

Unfortunately Ms Goosander was slightly out of focus which is a great pity as she is a much prettier colour than Mr Goosander, shown here, in my opinion.  Seen on the Forth & Clyde canal.  A bit thank you to the bloke who stopped and told us where you can see them in a park in Glasgow.  Must add that to my must-see places.

As any handyman will tell you, you just can’t beat a big nail whacked with an even bigger hammer to fix any gate.

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