Category: weather

Wild and Windy – 9 December 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today began with a trip to Tesco.

Just a shopping expedition for the basics, fruit, veg, cereals. All the usual stuff that we need to stock up on, and one of the reasons we need a car. Imagine having to carry, drag, haul a trolley full of shopping the couple of miles to the house without a car, any car. Life would be impossible without one, but for my mum it was just a way of life. Granted, we didn’t live far from our local Co-op, but we didn’t have a car, so carrying stuff was the norm.

Anyway, we do have a car and it was loaded with all the aforementioned ‘stuff’ then between us, Scamp and I carried it from the car to the house. We had just closed the front door when there was an almighty downpour. I had been going out for a walk, but decided it would be better to give it a chance to calm down a bit first.

After lunch I did get to go for that walk over to St Mo’s because according to the weather reports it was going to be windy later. Not a particularly cold day, but a breezy one. I was glad I did go, because I spooked at least three deer. One adult and two juveniles. These were the first deer I’d seen in St Mo’s for months. I was beginning to think they had fallen foul the local nutters, but, although I didn’t manage to get a photo of the deer, I did see them so they are doing well.

PoD turned out to be a slightly edited version of a shot looking along the boardwalk in St Mo’s that shows just how high the water from last night’s rain had been. Further round the pond the water was pouring through the outfall, but the path was still flooded too deep even for my trusty boots, so I did what I usually do and walked back around the pond and then home. By about 4pm Storm Bram was ramping up and even now at just about 9.30pm it’s still rambling around us, but maybe not just as fiercely.

Scamp and I managed to put the new curtains up this afternoon and they do look very good. I think we’re both pleased with them. They should keep the living room much cosier in these windy days. I say Scamp and I, but she was determined to climb up on the tv table and do all the fancy hooking and I was left to hold her hand when she wanted down.

We’re hoping to get out somewhere tomorrow if the wind calms down a bit more.

Out on the Town – 8 December 2025

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Nothing exciting, no parties and no drinking. Just shopping for stuff to go to Santa.

Scamp had the whole thing organised. Bus in to Glasgow on a wet, drizzly day. Through Buchanan Galleries passing JL on the way into a shop in Buchanan Street then across the street to yet another shop. Across the street to one more shop, then along Argyle Street to Next to get a shiny top for Scamp and M&S where I couldn’t find what I was looking for.

Bumped into Lorna and Andrew from Kirsty’s class. Then we managed to find an empty couple of seats in Nero and had a short respite from the walking, taking time out for a cake and a coffee.

Fed and watered, we walked up to Tiso to get proofer for my Rab jacket, but discovered we didn’t need it, because it’s lined with Goretex. We walked back up to JL to get new curtains (Strawberry Thief by William Morris – very posh) for our bedroom then we got the bus home.

Except … the bus broke down on the slip road of the motorway and we had to wait for a mechanic to come and fix it, which only took about ten minutes, either that or the driver had forgotten his dinner time piece box, then we were on our merry way back to Cumbersheugh.

I lost count of the shops we visited today, but none of them were selling cameras or lenses, so they were no fun at all.

We just got in to the house when Scamp’s phone beeped. It was Kirsty to say that since it would only be us at the evening’s class, she was thinking of cancelling. We agreed and could relax.

Next thing to do was to convert our Virgin V6 box to a Virgin TV 360. The remote and the instructions had dropped through our letterbox in the morning before we left on our whistlestop tour of the shops in Glasgow. After a false start, everything just worked. Now we have a whizzo box that does everything except make the tea. Scamp had it sussed in no time at all. I just sat there and watched, making the occasional sarky comment.

PoD was a girl playing bagpipes in Buchanan Street in Glasgow. I felt sorry for her. What she played was lovely, but she looked cold.

Tomorrow I believe we may be going shopping. Just local shopping for necessities.

Dancin’ – 4 December 2025

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Today we were heading to Glenburn for a Tea Dance.

Before that Scamp offered to drive to Tesco in the morning to get a loaf and some veg for dinner and encouraged me to go for a walk in St Mo’s because the sun was shining. Yes, the sun was shining until I got to the park, then the sun disappeared and it started raining. However, I have to thank her for getting me moving and I did get some photos of Cladonia lichen to make a PoD.

For once, the hall was a bit more empty than we’re used to. Not that it bothered us much. We still managed to do the usual circuits of the floor, but to Christmassy music to emphasise the coming of Christmas with all that entails.

We started with a Waltz as usual and stumbled through two tracks. Then a few sequence dances just to get more folk on the floor, I think. That was followed by a Cha-Cha and a Rumba One ( which is always followed by a Rumba Two – Just a little bit faster than a Rumba One ). Another sequence dance and time for a blether with David and Carol, before the tea trolley came round.

As usual, tea time tended to last a little bit longer than was really necessary. The second half was a fair copy of the first half, with a couple of different sequence dances to fill the floor again. We had a chance to talk to Barry and Cath and interested to find that Barry has been told he has crystals in his ears. I’ve had that a few years ago. It seems that the solution hasn’t changed in that time:
1. Sit facing forward and move your eyes slowly from left to right and back again, without moving your head.
2. Sit with your head facing left and try to move your head as far as you can to the right without moving your eyes, then repeat in the other directions.
No crystals fell out of my mouth or ears in all these exercises and I felt no great benefit. Barry was in total agreement.

Spoke to Ronnie and Millie later. Ronnie was in hospital for a while earlier in the year with heart problems. He looks a lot better now than when we last saw him and he still bounces when he dances. He’ll never change!

We drove home through today’s rain and crawled over the Kingston Bridge. I’d hoped we would make better time that way than going the M8/M73 route, but I guessed wrong.

Hoping to meet Alex tomorrow for a day in Kelvingrove Art Galleries taking photos.

 

A haircut on a cold day – 3 December 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It wasn’t my turn to get my haircut, it was Scamp’s, but I think my turn is coming soon.

You know how it is when you’ve been reading a really good book and you are desperate to find out how it finishes, but don’t really want to rush through it? That was me today. I did finally give in and finish the book, and it was a satisfactory finish. I won’t spoil the final pages, but The Fathers is a great book. Well worth the time I spent on it. One of the top three books this year. I commend it to you.

Once I was recovering from the book, I dressed for the weather and walked down to the shops to get some bread and some fruit for Scamp who was almost ready to drive to the hairdresser’s. I took a camera with me, but didn’t bring it out of the bag. After lunch I walked round St Mo’s with the same camera and another lens or two hoping to get some shots of the geese on the pond, but there were none. Maybe I was too early or maybe too late, but the birds were otherwise occupied, so today’s PoD was a bunch of dried up brambles instead.

When I got them home they weren’t all that interesting, but after using an old preset, they began to look their moody best. I quite liked them. Not at all comfortably coloured, in fact they were the exact opposite and that was what I was aiming for today.

A knock at the door signalled the arrival of the man from Virgin who just switched on the V6 box and said it needed replaced, just as we’d suspected. It took him less than half an hour to replace the old one with a new one and tune it, then we were good to go and so was he. Poor bloke sounded like he was heading for a dose of the cold of flu.

At last we could sit and watch the programs on a real TV. No more crouching over a laptop, although the laptop had been a great idea of Scamp’s. It got us through what would otherwise have been a boring few days. Scamp has already loaded up our mainstay programs.

Tomorrow looks like a Tea Dance day. I don’t mind tea dances. There’s usually a lot of cheerful banter.

A cold day – 30 November 2025

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I don’t think the car turned a wheel today.

We were eating out of the freezer today. I found a couple of Lamb Neck Fillets in the freezer and a couple of sausages. Scamp dug deep and found some Trout fillets. Both needed defrosting, but the sausages were the important ones, because they would be needed first. Lunch for me was sausages, egg and half a Tattie Scone (potato scone for those of you who are not Scottish). Scamp had the other half of the tattie scone with an egg for her lunch. Sausage wasn’t the best I’ve had, but it filled a space. Meanwhile, Scamp was watching Laura Kuenssberg trampling roughshod over anyone who dared to cross verbal swords with her.

In the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and found some Common Haircap Moss (Polytrichum commune) deep in the woods. The seedpods look like little trumpets. That made PoD. By the time I was coming home just after 3pm it was getting dark, but I had at least one decent photo in the bag.

Dinner was the meat for me and the fish for Scamp then we made plans as we often do on a Sunday evening. Finding places we’d both like to visit either before Christmas or soon after. We have a list of possibles now. All we need is the weather to go with them.

We watched the second last F1 GP of the year and it was a disappointing affair. The sort of race that failed to bring any excitement to such a prestigious event.

Spoke to Jamie and Scamp gave him a fuller description of her problems with the new meds and Jamie for his part explained how these pills work. We all agreed that she had made the right decision. Jamie also complained about the cost of absolutely everything in London. I well remember thinking I might need an extra mortgage to pay for a pint of beer and a glass of red wine in London.

Tomorrow, Scamp is meeting a friend for lunch. I’ve got some tidying to do on the computer. End of the month stuff.

Dancin’ – 29 November 2025

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Out early as usual on a Saturday, heading for Brookfield and our weekly dance class.

The class started with House of Bamboo which is Stewart’s idea of a warmup. I suppose that’s what it is, but a very gentle one – sometimes a good thing, sometimes not.

Next was the first real lesson and it was the Christmas Waltz. We managed quite well at it and by the end of the lesson we were almost there.

Next was the Feta Foxtrot. Most of it was ok, but there is a reverse turn at the end where the man dances round the lady and the lady dances round the man without either of us tramping on each other’s toes. We’ll get it done, but it will take some time.

To give us bit of a break from dancing, dancing, dancing the complicated stuff, we did a couple of well worked sequence dances beginning with Shivers by Ed Sheeran, then the Tina Tango to Annie Lennox. That gave us the chance to cool down.

Next was Samba, my nemesis. I hate this fast, shambles of a dance. In fact I wouldn’t even dignify it with the word ‘Dance’. I first saw it danced with Kirsty years and years ago and didn’t like it then and my attitude to it hasn’t changed. Jane, the teacher, didn’t even attempt to interest me in it. I think she knew it wasn’t going to work. I clock-watched all through the 25minutes I wasted on trying to learn these steps. Scamp did her best and to be honest, after the time was up, I was getting most of the steps right, but nowhere near the speed of the rest of the class. I will say no more.

We didn’t drive straight home, but we navigated our way through Glasgow’s streets and eventually found a way into Buchanan Galleries carpark, parked and walked down to The Briggate to go to a Pot Fest in one of the big galleries there. A Pot Fest is where potters come to sell their ceramic pots, bowls, mugs and other hard-fired glazed clay pieces. Scamp bought herself a lovely big fruit bowl, decorated with leaf imprints.

That was about all we did in Glasgow itself, but walking back past Paesano (my favourite pizza shop) the light was lovely just catching the light on the old sandstone buildings. I took a few photos. PoD was that street with the sun shining on it.

We parked at the house and unpacked the new bowl which looked just as good as it did at the show. Then I walked over to St Mo’s to get two small fish suppers – one each. That was lunch and dinner combined.

We’ve just finished watching the F1 GP pre-race.  Strange to watch on Scamp’s laptop, but it will have to do until we get our old V6 box fixed.

No plans for tomorrow.

Another cold windy day – 28 November 2025

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Not a day for going far.

However, Scamp was out early to meet Isobel and Shona for coffee. I was glad to sit at home and struggled with Virgin Media who must be one of the worst companies to get help from. I got so frustrated with their so-called Media Support. I eventually got so fed up with going round in circles, I gave up and went to make a pot of soup instead.

Needless to say when Scamp came home she just typed in the answers to the questions the bot asked and within minutes was speaking to a human, Asif, who, fifteen minutes later had checked our V6 box, diagnosed the fault and arranged a repair for next week. I was in a huff! Ok, ok, I admit I have no patience, especially with Bots, but Virgin are hopelessly bad at giving out help. Asif excepted, of course.

Later in the afternoon I took a parcel to the post office in Condorrat and posted it to an address just outside London. Hopefully it will arrive soon and be magicked away almost instantly.

I’d hoped to get a photo on my walk to Condorrat, but the lashing rain and the high winds made me glad to get back home instead of wandering around the paths or the ponds today. Back home warm and dry was a good enough result for me.

The soup I made, Butternut Squash, wasn’t the best. Both Scamp and I agreed that it wasn’t the best. I’ve made it loads of times and every time it’s been just like the last. The only thing I didn’t add today was chilli flakes and I don’t add very much, so I doubt if they could have made the difference.

A late PoD was a vase of Freesia I quite liked. A tabletop lifesaver at the end of a dreary day.

Hopefully tomorrow will be calmer both weather wise and also for my temper, and we may go to the dance class too.

A disturbed night for Scamp – 27 November 2025

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When Scamp woke this morning she told me about the wild night she had last night. It seemed to be caused by strange dreams, presumably brought on by the new meds the consultant gave her. Once she woke completely, she was fine, but it was a strange morning. But all was not lost, because I managed to sell some of the meds outside the ‘Masonic’ in Condorrat Main Street for a few quid each and we have just less than a hundred of the little pills! Just joking!!
Scamp phoned the consultant’s office to be told that she was on holiday this week, but the secretary she spoke to said she would pass the message on when the consultant returned next week.

We were up fairly early in the morning with quite a few things needing done:

  1. Drove to Boots for more (normal) meds.
  2. Tesco for milk, and wrapping paper I can’t divulge why we needed wrapping paper.
  3. Drove over to the Town Centre and wandered down the ramps that took us down into the bowels of what used to be Phase 4. It’s now just Argos and not much more. We were buying a replacement one-cup water boiler. The one we have has now developed Alzheimer’s, poor thing and can’t remember if it’s switched the hot water off or not and fills a second cup just in case.
  4. Drove from the Town Centre to M&S for lunch stuff and jam doughnuts for me.
  5. Finally we drove home and decanted all the stuff we’d bought.

After lunch I walked over to St Mo’s. It was dark and gloomy there by 3pm. It was wet and windy. Strong winds and heavy showers. A typical dreich Scottish day. I came home with a view across St Mo’s pond that ended up heavily processed, but reasonable looking PoD.

The final annoyance was discovering that the Virgin Media box wasn’t working. It’s not the modem it’s definitely the box. I’ve spent the last couple of hours ‘talking’ to the bots that are rapidly becoming the worst invention this century. You can’t even swear at them!

Tomorrow Scamp is intending meeting Isobel for coffee and a blether. I’m hoping to get this Virgin debacle sorted out and then make some soup.

Rain, Rain go away – 26 November 2025

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… come again another day.

It was a really wet daytime. To begin with it was just a drizzle, but then the clouds got heavier and so did the rain.

Scamp was out at midday for a lunch with the rest of the ‘Witches’ at Borden’s in Condorrat and then the rain was fairly light. I intended to walk over to Condorrat later to get some meat at the local butcher, but one look out the front door told me it would be more sensible to stay at home for a while because the rain was a lot heavier.

I retired to the back bedroom and investigated the possibility of retrieving the Day One data I lost when the old computer had a massive crash nearly a year ago. After a lengthy search I did find parts of the lost data. Hopefully, now I’ll be able to get about a quarter to a half of the data back, including text and images.

By the time I was finished the search, the sun had all but disappeared and I still had nothing for my dinner, so I dressed for the weather and walked over to Condorrat, (passing the restaurant that Scamp and the witches were in on the way!) I bought mince, sausages and beef olives in the butcher’s and plodded on home. Used the vacuum bags to seal most of the meat while keeping half the mince for tonight and possibly tomorrow’s lunch.

On the way back from the butcher’s I got today’s PoD which was the row of exercise machines on the path from Condorrat. It looked like the weather was preventing the fitness fanatics from using using them today.

Scamp trotted home about an hour later after getting a lift from Moira. I got the sign of approval from Scamp for managing to cook the mince properly. She suggested I use up two potatoes that had been cooked a couple of days ago by mashing them then heating them in the microwave before adding some diced butter and a splash of milk. All in all it was an almost perfect dinner. Sadly I forgot to add some sliced beetroot to the mix. I know you are such a fan of the red finger-staining vegetables that you too would be sad to hear that!!!

We watched another episode of Shetland and the plot thickens even more. Unfortunately it was marred by some really poor acting. Most unlike their usual standard.

Tomorrow we may go out to get a new One-Cup water boiler. The one we have is getting a bit forgetful and causing the cups to overflow if we don’t watch it.

Shopping – 25 November 2025

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Despite last week’s shopping bonanza, there were still some things we needed ( for Needed, read Wanted ).

We drove to Morrison’s at The Fort and bought a few bottles, mainly wine, but I admit I did collect a couple of beer bottles too, just to be up sides with Scamp. Morrison’s is so much more down to earth than Waitrose. Now, don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with Waitrose, it’s just that I tend to be more restrained in Morrison’s than in Waitrose with all its enticing and intriguing offers than you get in Morrison’s or Tesco. Still, we spent enough to take us from “just tap your card” to “your PIN number is required”. I think the problem was I couldn’t find a ‘normal’ sized trolly and settled for the big deep one. I should have thought it through and searched further afield for a ‘normal’ one. My fault.

Instead of driving straight home, Scamp suggested we stop at Drumpellier Park and go for a walk round the loch. It’s not a big loch, but it’s big enough to give us a chance to stretch our legs. Underfoot the paths were a bit icy and to get better purchase we could walk on the grass. It gave better traction, but then you risk crunching through the thin skin of ice and sinking into the mud beneath. A ‘no win’ situation. We took the hybrid route. Walk on the path if it doesn’t look icy and if it does, keep your fingers crossed and walk on the grass.

I’d brought my A7c with me and with frosty patterns on the ice and a beautiful sky that graduated from blue to creamy yellow over the pond, I did take a few photos. The “Whale’s Tail” made and interesting subject, but it wasn’t until I caught sight of two swans cruising past on the loch that I got PoD. One definite in the bag.

It had been a cold day with the temperature not rising much above 2º and I was glad to get parked and settled. Dinner was Fish Risotto. One of the easiest risottos you can make. The oven does all the hard work.

Scamp seems to be a lot more comfortable now that she’s had a couple of doses of her meds. Good to see that.

Neither of us were interested in going out again today, because you could feel the cold returning. As I write this, the outside temperature is – 0.7ºc and I’m off to bed.

Scamp is intending to meet the other witches for lunch at Borden’s in Condorrat tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll find something to do.