Category: weather

The Dome in the rain – 11 November 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today Scamp and I went to Edinburgh on the train in the rain.

Scamp had asked for Afternoon Tea in The Dome in Edinburgh for her Christmas present last year. The year had been one of the most mixed up we’d ever had and the afternoon tea voucher had been put on the back burner. After we came home from the cruise in October, Scamp started looking for a suitable date to use the voucher, before we lost it! We finally decided to take a slot on the 11th of October and today we went to see how the other half lived.

Actually, they lived a lot like us. No fancy dresses, well, not very many, and no airs and graces. There were a few tables of “Ladies Wot Lunch” out enjoying themselves. We weren’t on the ground floor, but we did find one poor man who was – more about that later.

We were upstairs where the sparkles were quite restrained. We had a table for two and after we were settled, the cake stand arrived with sandwiches and sausage rolls (vegetarian for Scamp) on the bottom layer. The scones (orange and chocolate for me, plain for Scamp) with the jam and cream. The top layer was the cakes. Macarons, mini Victoria sponges and tiny choux buns too. I’ve probably missed out some of the delicacies, but you get the idea. I don’t suppose it would be any good to you Hazy, apart from the sandwiches there were eggs in everything!

We had tea (Peppermint for Scamp – Darjeeling for me) both served in the most awkward shiny teapots. Almost impossible to get a grip on and I nearly burned my fingers pouring them.

When we were done we walked down to see what the ground floor was like. Busy, was the answer. I don’t think there was an empty seat in the place. Upstairs the sparkles were restrained. Downstairs the were almost blinding. We wondered how much their heating and lighting would cost.

When we’d gone in and were being escorted to the afternoon tea room, there was a clatter from down on the marble floor. One of the waiters or assistants had fallen dropping something as he fell. He got up and quickly dusted himself down then promptly fell again. That’s what happens when you wear leather soled shoes on a wet, slippery floor. I hope he didn’t hurt anything more than his dignity.

It had been raining when we went in to the dome and it was still raining when we came out. We decided to go home. We walked to the station then ran to the gate, just managed to squeeze on the the train which was running late. Arrived at Croy and were told the taxi wait was 30 mins, It was still raining, so we waited in the waiting room. The problem was a three-way signalling system on the road for roadworks. We had another fifteen minute until we were on the road home. What is it with roadworks this year. They seem to be everywhere. However, we were just sitting in the car. I think I saw steam coming out of the driver’s ears. Who would be a taxi driver in the rain with three-way traffic signals?

Arrived to a warm house, and a cup of tea.

PoD was Paddington in St Andrews Park in Embra … in the rain.

I’ve an appointment with the doc tomorrow morning first thing.

Chasing the squirrels – 10 November 2025

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Annoying little “rats with furry tails”.

When I was making the breakfast I spied a grey squirrel walking vertically down the fence and investigating the pot that Scamp had planted some of her bulbs in. Usually I just open the kitchen window and that’s enough to scare them away. Not this one. It just looked up at me and I swear it grinned. Rattling the back door had no effect on it either. It wasn’t until I’d opened the back door and started to walk across the garden that it decided a few bulbs weren’t worth the bother and scampered away. I know it’ll be back, but before it does, I’ll lay down some hot pepper. My mum used to swear by it for chasing away cats and other creatures from her garden.

It was a fairly decent day, although my weather app on my phone was warning about heavy rain coming tomorrow, so I kept that in mind. However, nothing much came of it today.

Scamp went out to get some bread and something to put between the slices for lunch. Afterwards I drove over to the town centre. What a sad looking place it is now. All the upper shopping area is boarded up, the ‘going down’ escalator is boarded up too, although the ‘going up’ side is still struggling along. For how long, is hard to say. I was looking for a hard drive for my computer and did find one there that did the job, even if it cost about twice what my old, full one, did.

I drove back via the east end of Broadwood Loch. I was fairly sure there would be some gulls preening on the outfall of the loch and I wasn’t disappointed. Lighting could have been better, but “Beggars and Choosers …” I managed to get a few decent shots, enough to make it worthwhile. Enough to make one of them PoD..

Back home it was time to get ready to go to Kirsty’s class. A disappointing class tonight. Only two couples and one girl without a partner. Scamp and I were agreed that Kirsty just wasn’t prepared for tonight’s class and was trying to ‘wing it’. I’ve tried that myself in the past and it rarely works out well. So it was tonight. Maybe she just had a bad night. We’ll give her another chance next week. It must be soul destroying teaching to five people.

Back home we had a slice of Focaccia which was ok, just ok. I think I could have made better, but at least the one we had was just ready to heat in the oven. A real focaccia takes ages to make. We watched the trilogy of Monday game shows we usually watch. Very informative and we even got some right!

Tomorrow we might head east,

 

 

Walking in the woods – 9 November 2025

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The day started with heavy rain showers, then the sun shone.

I didn’t believe the weather forecast, but after lunch the sun shone.
I didn’t think it would last, but it did. That’s me. Always the glass half empty.

I laced up my boots and went for a walk, deep into the woods. I hadn’t been in the deep woods for ages, but with the leaves falling continuously these days, there was more light than normal through the trees. I walked for a while, longer than I’d anticipated and by the time I was thinking it would be a good idea to head for home, the good light was gone. Then I found today’s PoD. I’ve no idea what variety of fungi this one belongs to, but I liked the shape and colour so I snapped a few shots of it. If I get a chance in the next few days I’ll go back in and try for some better shots.

I also found a dead drone in the middle of the woods. I meant to photograph its details. Such a simple thing to do with a phone. If I get back to photograph the fungi, hopefully I’ll find the drone at the same time.

Other than that, it was a fairly usual Sunday. Late to rise and wasted most of the day. I really need to get up and out earlier. People post such wonderful photos taken out walking the dog in the morning, or just after sunset. Mayne I should get a dog! (Only kidding, Scamp!)

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard about his and Simonne’s week. It seemed like their week had been much like ours, with nothing much to report.

I bought a new pair of boots a month or so ago and haven’t worn them yet.  Yesterday’s walk gave me reason to question if one of my old  boots is leaking. Today’s walk confirmed it. It looks like I’m going to need to get the new boots out of their box and break them in gently.

So far, we have an unbooked day tomorrow. We may go out somewhere.

Another lovely Sunny Sunday – 2 November 2025

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The clocks went back an hour and for an hour after we got up, all the digital clocks and watches were frantically trying to keep up with what was happening. The analog clocks on the other hand were just taking things in their stride. After all, who cares if you’re an hour too early or an hour too late. Live life like and Italian and go with the flow. It may take me a few days to find all the clocks that need changing. I’ve just realised there’s another one that I’ve forgotten!

More autumnal weather. St Mo’s is just a small pond lined with rushes and some trees, but when the sun is fairly low in the late afternoon, those rushes and trees really shine for an hour or so, but not much longer than that. If you add in some dark clouds blowing past, you get a good tonal contrast That’s the story behind today’s PoD.

Scamp had been baking while I was out taking photos and there were two sultana cakes just out of the oven, smelling delicious when I came home. Our dinner tonight was a Greggs Chicken Bake with potatoes and veg, followed by a slice of Sultana Cake and Custard. What’s not to like!

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and he retold his mum about Ori’s resettlement in Canada and where Simonne was going this week.

Tomorrow we’re hoping for another day of reflections in St Mo’s pond.

Another wild day – 30 October 2025

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We drove to Glenburn for a tea dance and a party. The tea dance had more than its usual plate of cakes and biscuits. The party was to celebrate Stewart’s Big Birthday. I hope he enjoys it and has many more.

Just the usual tea dance folk dancing to the same tunes, but nobody was complaining, we certainly weren’t. Lots of opportunities to sit and talk, especially at tea time and nobody was bothered if you made the occasional slip up on your chassé or lead with the incorrect foot. It was a get together, plain and simple.

We left early as usual to avoid the schools coming out and the beginning of the homeward journey of the office workers. Heavy rain made the journey longer than we’d expected, but arrived home in a reasonable time.

With the weather and the nights getting dark earlier, I had no real chance to get any photos today, so my little Caganer, a small ceramic figurine of a person in a pooping position, which is considered a symbol of good luck in Barcelona agreed to take its place. It reminded me of my “… I think he’s doing the toilet …” joke. A story for another day.

Hoping for some better weather tomorrow.

A change in the weather – 28 October 2025

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A much stormier looking day.

Another walk around St Mo’s. Making the most of the late afternoon light. I used the 10-18mm ultra-wide lens. The combination of the ultra-wide on the Sony A7c gives really wild looking sky and ground. Of course I did a bit of toning and also some colour changes just to make it look a bit wilder than it really was.

The weather started out well, but soon it deteriorated and then the rain came. That put an end to today’s walk.

Meeting Alex for a photo walk tomorrow. Hopefully be able to show off some photos from our travels.

Flying through the air in a metal tube – 7 October 2025

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I can’t remember where I read that comment, but it springs into my head every time I’m in a plane.

Everything went like clockwork. The plane was on time we were seated staring out at a dark, wet and grim looking Glasgow Airport but soon we were beginning to taxi and then we were flying. The longest flight we’d been on in quite a few years. Still, the worries were there. Did I lock the back door? Were all the back windows closed? Oh what the hell, we were going to a few new countries and a lot of places we’d not been to in a long while. Just a case of lying back and enjoying it.

Sooner than I thought, I felt the plane begin to decelerate as it started its approach into Palma airport. Everything was going to be fine.

After the traditional first Holiday Beer at about 10:30am we went on a wander around the ship, our ship. Lots of places looked familiar and some didn’t . It was a slightly smaller ship than our previous Tui Discovery 2, but that would turn out to be an advantage. I needn’t have worried about the temperature. This was ‘shorts and tea shirts’ weather.

We went for a walk around the shore area and I caught sight of an aircraft carrier. The first I’d seen in a long number of years. I asked a Police man if it was an old ship, but he said “No. It’s real. It’s for the War”. That sort of took me back down to earth. You forget that although there are hundreds, if not thousands of folk arriving or leaving these cruise ships, there is a real and definite undertone of threat there too. We made an unspoken decision to put I to the back of our heads and not speak about it again this cruise.

On the way back from our walk, we found a ‘Cherry Picker’ being used to wash the windows of the top deck of the ship. I wondered if the bloke at the top had his “Working At Height” licence.  It must be a wonderful view from there.

The day was a bit of a blur. We did go for a walk outside the ship and also around the inside. We had lunch in one of the restaurants and had a few drinks too. There was the usual ‘Sail Away’ party on deck after the final late arriving folk were checked in and we spent a fair amount of time watching the goings on.

Eventually we agreed we’d had enough and went to bed. We’d been up since about 6am and it was now about midnight. Time for a bit is shut-eye … after one more glass of wine perhaps.

Tomorrow is a sea day with the chance of a dance class.

Much calmer at last – 5 October 2025

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Today I think Storm Amy has left the building.

It was much quieter this morning and we only had Wordle and Strands to worry about. If that doesn’t make sense to you, I’d suggest you look for puzzles in New York Times, online of course. Once we had solved the puzzles it was almost lunchtime and Laura Kuenssberg’s morning battle with politicians. Today it was Kemi Badenoch and she was a much feistier opponent for Ms K. It was a close fought battle, but I do believe this round went to Laura.

After lunch I started changing things around and putting stuff away. It only happens once or twice a year and it usually doesn’t last long before I get fed up or get side tracked after finding something new to play with Today it lasted for almost a half hour before I got fed up, put my boots on and went out for a walk.

It was just damp today, never really amounting to rain. That dampness created a host of different fungi growing in the grass. My favourite was the Star Pinkgills you see here. Described in First-Nature as “Definitely not one for the pot!” I took their word for it and photographed the pair, but didn’t touch … just in case!

Last night our next door neighbour knocked at the door and said his wife had made too much chicken soup and would we like some. Yes please was the answer. We had it today as a starter for dinner. We both agreed it was lovely. Scamp had made pan fried trout for our main with broccoli. Dessert was Bramley apple pie. Not home made, M&S. The next best thing.

We watched what could have been a really exciting F1 GP from Singapore. It was spoiled by the childish complaints of Oscar Piastri who basically said he wanted to win. Tough son, that’s the way the cookie crumbles I’m afraid.

We spoke to Jamie and I did feel sorry for him. Back from a weak hill walking in Wales and now having to drive all those miles in the darkening gloom of autumn. At least he wasn’t moaning like Piastri who my spell checker thinks should be Pastry!!

Pod was the Star Pinkgills, although I just missed a clump of Ink Cap fungi that had just gone over into a black slimy mess.

Tomorrow, it’s more organising, I’m afraid. The blogger’s work is never done!

Still fighting Amy – 4 October 2025

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Storm Amy, the first named storm of the season was still clinging on to Scotland today. I don’t know who named her, but she wasn’t behaving in a ladylike manner. Gale force winds and heavy rain battered the west of the country. Although there were some respites, it wasn’t a great day to go out anywhere.

Scamp and I had a couple of exchanges to make in M&S, so we drove there. There were a few trees blown down on our route to The Fort in the east of Glasgow, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We debated whether to have lunch in Glasgow or to just head for home. A splashy rain shower settled that discussion and we drove home.

Lunch was tea and sandwiches as we watched the weather systems come and go across the Campsie Fells from the comfort of the house. No sense in going out in the squalls that were coming in the western winds. Later in the afternoon I did give in and took the A7c out for a walk to St Mo’s with the intention of getting a fish supper for two at the local chip shop. I wasn’t long out when I wished I’d taken a warmer jacket. The wind was icy cold.

I did manage to get a couple of decent photos of reflections in a pool that had been a path a couple of days ago. The water in the big pond was a lot deeper too. The swans and cygnets were drinking clean water for the first time in a long while. The flooded path became PoD.

I walked over to the chip shop and was heading home with two fish suppers in a bag when I turned a corner and found the path blocked by a couple of big trees. At first I thought I could walk round them, bus soon realise that wasn’t going to work so I headed back the way I’d come and found a path that would take me by a slightly longer road to miss the trees. It only took a few minutes, but saved me a long walk round the park. The fish and chips were still hot when I got home.

We got some sad news this morning. Anju, a long time salsa dancer from our classes in Glasgow when they were run by Jamie Gallagher had died last night. Anju was a lovely Indian lady with a wicked sense of humour, and great fun to dance with. We’ll both miss her, even although we haven’t seen her for a while. We’re hoping we’ll be able to say goodbye to her properly this month.

Tomorrow we intend to tie up loose ends and check everything twice.

 

Wild Windy Weather – 3 October 2025

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It all started out so calmly too!

It was a lovely morning. Cool and a bit damp, but nothing to worry us. I dropped Scamp off at the town centre to go for coffee with Shona. I had intended driving to The Fort to exchange a belt that was far too small for me, but by the look of the weather and the warnings on the radio, it looked like a stay at home day, so I drove home and parked.

Scamp arrived back home around 2pm wet, despite her Berghaus jacket, after a short walk from the shops. Then the rain came on more seriously and it brought wind to the party too. For most of the afternoon, the wind got stronger and stronger. It felt like the front windows were going to blow in. About 6pm things started to calm down. Now at just about 11pm it’s becoming calmer still. Hopefully by morning we’ll be able to go out and retrieve the bins that are lying around the garden.

I wasn’t going to risk life and limb going over to St Mo’s today to get blown all over the place just to get a PoD, so the one you see here is a tabletop setup. It’s a selection of the ‘Coral’ we picked up at Coral Beach in Skye, many, many moons ago.
Despite its appearance, its Maerl is a type of algae, not true coral, which are animals. The meal extracts calcium carbonate from seawater to build a hard, white outer skeleton. So says Google and Google is never wrong.

Tomorrow if the weather is in a better mood we may go shopping.