Category: weather

Dancin’ – 12 September 2024

Posted on by Zogman

This was the first tea dance in ages, at least, it felt like ages!

A very small group today, spread thinly around the hall. About ten couples in total which is most unusual for a tea dance. But we danced. That was what we came for and we were going to get our money’s worth. We were sitting with Leslie and Gordon who don’t usually get to the tea dances because of Grandparent Duties. But other that them, it was ’Weel Kent Faces’ at the rest of the tables. The usual suspects, you could say.

The dance started with a waltz as usual and to my surprise I could remember most of the steps. We danced to two tracks with occasional ‘brain fade’, but nobody seemed to notice. Then it was in to the usual routine with the Ballroom Jive, then sequence dances. The afternoon really did seem to fly in and we took part in most of the dances.

As usual we left just a little bit early to avoid the school rush an this time we seemed to get it just right. A few spots of rain on the windscreen occasionally on the drive home, but otherwise a bright day as long as you were in the car. Outside it was cold, a measure of what is to come tonight, apparently. Temperatures around 1ºc predicted widely. It’s definitely autumn now.

PoD was a Tiarella flower from the garden with a distorted background courtesy of the LensBaby again.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps. Afterwards we might visit Isobel who isn’t feeling well just now.

Wandering round Glasgow – 11 September 2024

Posted on by Zogman

I drove in to Glasgow today to meet my brother.

We had planned to visit the Transport Museum, or the Riverside Museum as it’s known these days, but it was a beautiful day and it did seem a shame when we could be wandering round the streets taking photos. Anyway, I never was a fan of the Riverside Museum. The old Transport Museum had character which the new one lacked and why stack loads of cars in a vast space where petrolheads can’t get near them to look inside and remember driving that classic car? Totally pointless. The outside of the new museum is much more interesting than the inside, and the only reason I’d go there.

So, instead we walked down Buchanan Street to take some photos and so that Alex could wander round a guitar shop, looking for a new amp for his guitar. I had an ulterior motive too. I was still looking for that jacket. The waterproof one I’ve been searching for all week. I’m beginning to think it doesn’t exist, but I’ll continue looking Dug wi’ a Burst Ba’ again. I didn’t find it today, but we’d both scratched our individual itches and come away with nothing, but we’d both looked and seen.

I suggested we adjourn to Paesano to see if a pizza each would give us time to think. After lunch we went for a walk round St Enoch’s square to take some photos. For once we both went separate ways and met up again after taking a few shots of different subjects. Then it was a walk down the Clyde Walkway to admire the graffiti, and there was an entire wall that had been covered with artwork since the last time we’d been down there.

Next we took some photos of St Andrews Cathedral and its reflections on the glass walled building next door. By that time the temperature was dropping and I was aware that it was getting towards late afternoon and I was going to dance class later.

We walked back up Buchanan Street before splitting up with Alex heading for the bus and me going for my car. Some good shots today and some good nonsense talked by both of us.

I got back in time to get ready for Kirsty’s dance class. Today it was a reprise of the Rumba she’d turned into a Cha-Cha. I admit, I was lost to begin with, but after a quick run through by Kirsty and Scamp, it began to fall into place again.

PoD went to a photo of the ‘Balloon Man’. He stands in Buchanan Street in Glasgow twisting balloons into the most intricate shapes to the delight of hundreds of children every week. I was lucky, the light was just right today.

Tomorrow Scamp would like to take me to a Tea Dance in Paisley. How could I say no?

 

A busy day – 10 September 2024

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I was meeting Val and John for coffee and a blether today.

Val was the first to arrive and once we’d rearranged the furniture and got the coffees sorted we had a blether, just the two of us. Then John joined us and I went to get his coffee while he and Val had a chin way. They worked in the same school for a few years and knew a lot more folk than I did. After that it was a free for all. I’d forgotten that Val used to work in Jersey and actually had lived just round the corner from the hotel we were staying in. I wish I’d spoken to him before we went away, because he could have told me what other interesting places were available to us.

After a couple of hours Val’s wife joined us and of course the conversation turned to doctors and the lack of them in the surgeries we all attend. It’s a constant complaint that you can’t get to see a doctor these days. Their get-out clause is to get you to photograph that part of your body you want to talk to them about. That’s not the way to run a practice.

When we split up to go our separate ways, I went with John through the Antonine centre and Val and his wife went the other way. John went on to drive home and I got some fruit in Tesco and then drove up to GO Outdoors with a new list of criteria to apply to the jackets there. So far it’s come down to three possible jackets. No real front runners yet.

PoD was grabbed at the back door of the house. Just some Bizzie Lizzies in a hanging basket in the rain. Seemed a good title for a busy day.

The Morning After – 1 September 2024

Posted on by Zogman

 

  • Woke not quite with a hangover, but feeling a bit sick
  • Life returned to a bit more like ‘normal’ after a shower and breakfast of Weetabix and milk and a slice or two of toast with ‘fishy jam’.
  • Scamp was fine with mixed fruit and a couple of slices of toast with jam.
  • It had been raining during the night.
  • Couldn’t decide where to go today so after some discussion, said we’d walk down to the bus station and get the first bus available. Except, no services were available. It seems buses almost shut down on Sundays.
  • However, on  the way I got a photo of an ancient camera and a stoneware bottle that held ink … once upon a time, in an old dusty shop window.
  • Walked through Liberty wharf instead to get photos I’d missed last Wednesday.
  • Walked to La Frégate Cafe which is like an upturned boat.
  • Leave it well alone. Food is poor but highly priced. Building looks good.
  • Watched the Amphibious Duckws driving along the path to Elizabeth Castle.
  • Only accessible for walking at low tide.
  • We walked along the breakwater instead and had a look at the posh boats.
  • Walked back into town and had a beer (me) and a G ’n’ T (Scamp) at a pub playing old style music
  • Went to El Gato Gordo (The Fat Cat) for an early dinner. Good food.
  • Bought some tonic and walked back to hotel.
  • Thunder storms forecast tonight.

The Wedding Day – 31 August 2024

Posted on by Zogman

As has become traditional when we’re away from home, the write-up is more of a place marker than anything else. With bullet points to keep the memories fresh without taking up too much writing time.

  • A walk through a different part of the town on a dull morning
  • Found a monument to Jersey Cows!
  • One calf had found a toad
  • Wandered round the indoor market
  • But soon it was time to get dressed to impress
  • Got a taxi to La Mare Vineyard
  • The weather had improved
  • It was time for Pimms on the lawn
  • More butterflies in the garden
  • Alex and family arrived later
  • Just in time to see the happy couple’s entrance
  • Saw some folk we hadn’t seen in years
  • The meal was delicious
  • The dancing was hilarious
  • I took over 300 photos here are some:

 

 

More good news – 26 August 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Off to see the nurse this morning.

We drove up to the health centre where Scamp left to walk to the town centre to get some English notes at the bank, only to find that the bank was closed. Today was an English bank holiday, but not in Scotland according to NLC, but what do they know, they are only the council.

While Scamp was at the closed bank, I was getting some good news from the Nurse/Sister. I’ve been taken off another of my meds. The nurse took my BP both sitting and standing and was happy to take me off another pill I didn’t need. I’m still being monitored and have another appointment to attend in a month or so, but it’s another step in the right direction.

I drove up to the town centre to meet Scamp who had sent me a message about the bank and I had sent her a message to say I was on my way to meet her. Neither message reached its target. Maybe one of the masts was down or maybe it’s just Cumbersheugh. Anyway, when we got home the messages appeared and we had lunch.

Later in the afternoon, plans were made to lighten the loads I carry on my shoulder. Two cameras is just too much to carry with associated lenses. Just for a test I took only the A6500 with two light lenses and it was comfortable for a walk in St Mo’s. That’s actually lighter than one A7iii camera without a lens. I’m beginning to think I may have to reduce the load I’m carrying on my shoulder, although the quality of the final image will suffer. At present it’s just an idea, whether I can carry it through is another thing entirely

Today’s walk to St Mo’s got me a PoD I was happy with. It was a drone fly or maybe a large hover fly on a Scabious flower head. I quite liked it, I think because of the out of focus background. The weather wasn’t exactly warm, but it certainly wasn’t cold and thankfully it was dry. More rain forecast for tomorrow.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending getting her nails done and I’m still clearing up more stuff to go to the skips.

 

 

Rain – 25 August 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It rained today from early morning until late at night.

Actually it did stop around 6pm when, for an hour, the rain stopped, the sun shone and I managed to get a handful of photos of flowers in the garden. After that the rain returned as heavy as ever and I think it’s still raining. Usually I say that the gardens need it, but the gardens are fed up with it too and just want some late season warmth and sunshine. An Indian summer we used to call it.

In a way, the rain was a blessing. It forced us to start tidying things up. Making bundles and packing those bundles away for better days to come, but first there were some messages to get.

Normally Monday is the shopping day, but we’d meant to do it yesterday, then yesterday slipped from our grasp and it turned into today. We couldn’t let it go any further or else there would be no food in the house, so we braced ourselves and drove to Tesco to buy some much needed supplies. Just the essentials today. Fruit, veg, milk and some sausages. No wine, no beer, just the bare necessities.

Then just as quickly as we finished our lunch, and read a few chapters in our books and played the occasional game of Angry Birds or finished a jigsaw for some, it was almost dinner time.

Just before dinner was when I got the PoD. It’s a bunch of Japanese Anemones with a bit of bokeh in the background courtesy of a hand made steel Allium that holds the raindrops beautifully. Thanks again for that Hazy.

Also around that time we found a PDF of the Holiday Recipes had arrived in the WhatsApp mailbox. Thank you for that Neil. Very well presented. It’s now downloaded and will be printed off tomorrow.

Spoke to Jamie later and agreed that stripping paint is not the most pleasant of ways to use your weekend, but sometimes it just has to be done. If we could string a few dry days together here, I’d like to give the window sills a fresh coat of paint, but if present weather systems are anything to go by, it would need to very quick drying paint!

I have an appointment with the nurse tomorrow to review a possible change in my meds. Hope it’s not as wet as today.

Today we went to Edinburgh – 23 August 2024

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See, sometimes I do give it its real name, not just Embra. We were going to get what my mum would have called “a wee minding” Just a wee something folk could hang on their wall if they liked it, or keep it in a drawer if they didn’t. Either way, it was a gift for a Special Occasion.

Today was deemed a non-driving day. We walked down to the bus stop at the shops and got the wee red bus down to Croy Station. From there we managed to get two separate seats in First Class because the guard said there were no seats anywhere else and anyway he wasn’t going to fight his way through the crowded carriages to check any tickets. It was almost the end of the Edinburgh Festival and that was the reason for the crowded train. Our carriage was full, but next door in the other half of the carriage a party was going on. Scamp said there were at least five ‘ladies’ eating their way through some vile smelling food and screaming their heads off. I was pleased that there was a sliding door between them and us that kept almost all of the noise in their section.

As is traditional, we got off at Haymarket and walked up the hill to cross over Ladyfield to Caffè Nero. It was at Ladywell I got my PoD. It’s a mono shot of a man walking across a bridge that runs over one of the really busy roads in the city.

Once we’d had our coffee we walked down to Princes Street to pay for and pick up the gift we’d come for from one of Mhairi’s daughters who was minding the stall. I didn’t embarrass the girl by asking her is she was the one who was in the office chair or the one who was pushing it.

They used to come with their mum to our weekly salsa class in the ground floor of what had been a big old fashioned school. It also doubled as a Trades Union office during the day, but on a Monday night the two girls would take it in turns to ride down the sloping entrance ramp on an office chair with dodgy castors. Usually one or other of them would crash the chair and come crying to mum who wasn’t at all sympathetic. “They bounce” was her reply when someone asked if the girls were injured!

So having achieved our main goal, we walked through Princes Street Gardens. Always well tended gardens and today was no exception. We were just in time to hear the One o’clock Gun. Which was a lot louder that I remembered.

I was still looking for a new waterproof, breathable rain jacket and I tried on a few on Rose Street, but couldn’t find the Goldilocks jacket. Some were too short, some had only two pockets and some were just plain uncomfortable. I’m still looking.

I suggested Whighams and Scamp said that was where she was heading! Lunch was a bowl of mussels for Scamp with a glass of French white wine while I had a Goan vegetable curry and a pint of Tennent’s. Both meals were lovely. We walked back to Princes Street and after getting a couple of books in Waterstones, we wandered along and got separate seats again on the train to Croy. Got the wee red bus again which dropped us at the Shops and we walked the rest.

All in all, that was a really good day. It would have been better without all the crowds who had come to see the festival, but you can’t have everything. Weather was good. Sunny but with a gusty wind again.

Tomorrow we’re intending to go to the dance class in Brookfield.

Dancin’ – 22 August 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Bright sunny day that developed the look of rain, which never appeared until evening.

We were going dancing today at Glenburn, but before that, Scamp went shopping for bread and milk, so that after lunch we could get changed into dancing clothes and go.

We didn’t dance as much as we’d thought we would because we were sitting with a couple from Largs. The lady struck up a conversation with Scamp while we men sat around and chipped in the occasional comment, as men do.

We did manage a fairly lengthy quickstep without making it too obvious that we were repeating a lot. I attempted Fishtails, but need a lot more practise on the actual strategy of fishtails before I can confidently insert them into full dance. There are lots of little steps like that we know and just need the confidence to add them to our short routine. Practise, that’s what we need the most. Anyway, it passed an afternoon that otherwise we’d have used up sitting around the house.

Drove home and had an M&S curry for dinner. For the first time I was distinctly unimpressed with the Chicken Tikka which was just bland with nothing to commend it in my opinion.

We watched episode 1 of a series called Vienna Blood, set in 1906 Vienna. I drew comparison immediately with The Turkish Detective which even with occasional subtitles was a much better series. Scamp took issue with the close-ups of staring eyes. Maybe episode 1 was a good place to stop.

The PoD was a robin that stopped for a quick splash in the birdbath in the afternoon. Another swimmer I saw today was a snail, complete with shell in an old mushroom tub sunk in the raised bed, I’d originally poured some no alcohol beer into it to see if the smell would attract slugs to drown in it, but they appeared uninterested in pretend beer. This snail, however wasn’t drowning in the now rainwater tub, it was actually swimming. I’ve once seen a big black slug paddling in puddles with its ‘head’ above water, but this snail seemed to be floating in the water. Maybe the shell holds enough air to make it buoyant. I must investigate that.

Tomorrow we may be going east in search of some sun.

Out on the town – 21 August 2024

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I was meeting Alex today for a photowalk round Glasgow.

Actually bumped into him on Buchanan Street after I got off my train. Scamp had given me a lift to the station and ten minutes later I was on the train to Glasgow.

Alex was testing a new lens, let me rephrase that, “Alex was testing out another new lens” This one was a Chinese 35mm f1.4 manual lens. By manual I mean there were no electrical or electronic connections in the lens, nothing. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes it’s a hindrance. His lens was a nice size and weight. It balanced well on his S6600 body. I wished him well with it, but it wasn’t for me. I like to control the settings on my lens, but give them a bit of leeway to help me get the best out of the camera/lens combo. I’ve had manual lenses in the past and got on well with some of them, but now I like to know that they can think for themselves!

As usual, it was coffee first, then catch up on what we’ve been up to in the last few weeks. Next we made our plans for the day. Alex wanted to photograph some distorting mirrors in the GOMA and I wanted to visit a photographic exhibition on Argyle Street.

We walked to the GOMA and got our photos. I managed a picture of The Duke on his horse with a seagull perched on its tail.

Next stop was the art exhibition, except after walking as far as High Street, I discovered when I checked with my phone that it wasn’t in Argyle Street, but up at the top of High Street. Oh well, we were on High Street now, so we might as well continue and see what was on show. The exhibition was in a couple of old shops that had been knocked into one. Interesting prints roughly 10” x 8” mostly B&W but with a few colour too. Not at all busy, but it was worth the walk. Must keep an eye open for it next time we’re doing a photowalk.

We walked further on and found a gable end with a mural of St Mungo holding a robin. It was a pity that someone decided it would be a good idea to plonk what looked like a gas installation right next to it. I took some photos anyway, because a couple of trees framed the photo well.

We walked back to the city centre and from there to Paesano for lunch. Lots of interesting buildings and mural on the way there. Things you’d pass easily, not realising they were there.

After our usual Paesano pizza lunch (Alex’s turn to pay) we went back to the GOMA and got some more photos. I wasn’t impressed. Nothing much had changed since my last visit. From there we went down to Princes Square where Alex wanted to test out his new lens again, inside this time, in the dry. It had been raining all day. I watched fascinated as four ladies equally spaced went up on the escalator. I suggested to Alex that they looked exactly like the old shooting galleries in the fair. The ones where you had to shoot down the moving targets with an air rifle, back in the bad old days!

By that time we were getting thirsty, so we had a coffee in the cafe in Princes Square. Coffee was black and weak. Wouldn’t darken their door again.

At the bus station I managed to get on the X3 with literally minutes to spare.

47 Photos taken today and not one chucker among them! That must be a record.

I’d messaged Scamp to say I didn’t need any dinner, but she’d heated too much of last night’s tagine, so I did have a few fork fulls of it just to fill a wee space. We couldn’t decide whether to keep the remainder or put it in the bin. Since the main protein had been chicken, I felt it would be safer to put it in, and that’s what happened.

A good day, but a pity about the rain. Just over 11,000 steps which isn’t bad.

PoD was the escalators (without targets) in Princes Square.

Tomorrow we might be going dancing. High winds forecast.