I'm Out

No. I've not been behind bars. In fact I've not even been in bars. I've been in hospital for my routine kidney stent change. Mind you that was only a small part of my two weeks away. During those two weeks I stayed with a dear friend (with whom I usually stay when in the Glasgow and whom I originally met in New Zealand in 2006 because our two families were friends). As always we did lots of things including seeing Mozart's Requiem at The City Halls, a cinema simultaneous live performance of Mozart's opera Don Giovani from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and we also went to a Scottish Opera  Mozart and The Bard (Burns) workshop.

Glasgow is a wonderful city and very reminiscent of the city of my birth, Liverpool. Both were built on shipbuilding and trade and were, 'in their day', cities of great wealth and centres of culture and homes to a large and varied immigrant population largely used in its building and construction industries. Both have had a renaissance.

One day we went to the West End for coffee in Byers Road. Byers Road is in the centre of 'studentland' being near the University and a large student population. It's always been a great place to explore and eat and I've been very familiar with it since the late 80's when our elder child started University there. I go there often. We had coffee in Café Françoise

It was NOT a day for sitting outside

We'd missed the breakfast rush

Studentland encourages a slightly more 'alternative' approach

A Canal Walk

What could be better on a cold, dreich Scottish morning than a coffee? Well Anna likes cappuccino so had the decorative skills of the barista. I am boring and just had an Americano. It was a good reward for our brisk walk along the canal bank from Bishopbriggs to Kirkintilloch.

On the way back and despite the weather I managed some decent autumnal photos:

Yesterday's This and That

I haven't been out today....yet. If the weather doesn't deteriorate I'll go out early evening to play bowls. I have played very infrequently this summer. A neighbour popped in for coffee this morning and I prepared and primed the kitchen window surround this afternoon. It's been a sunny day but the wind is cold and very strong.  So I've been reading and catching up with blogs (but not doing much commenting). 

I find it very odd that when I'm busy (which, thankfully, is most of the time) I get a lot more done than on those days when I've got all the time in the world to do things. By that I mean that when I have the time I seem to ignore my extensive 'to do' list instead of tackling it.

All sorts of blog ideas have passed through my mind over the last week but I've just not made the time to write a post. So now that I'm making that time all the ideas have deserted me.

I was reading of an insurance company which had turned down a claim after a burglary because the person had been posting on social media when they were on holiday with the obvious conclusion that they were not at home. It is a condition in many policies that the cover for burglary and the like will not apply if there has been such a post. That can be a major problem in the case of a claim, given that many people post where they are on Facebook  when they are on holiday (and Facebook can be set to track you anyway). I rarely post on Facebook but occasionally comment and it can be obvious from that that I'm not at home.

It did make me think about the fact that I often blog to explain where I am or even blog about places where I am: many of us do. Living in a place where burglaries are virtually unknown I'm not too worried however if I lived elsewhere I would certainly curtain my activities.

Someone mentioned the use of car horns recently and the fact that they signified aggression and thus caused upset.  I have been looking for a car horn which says 'thank you' - eg a two tone sound but I can't find one. Of course it's use would be illegal but it would be better than trying to give two sharp beep-beeps (which is also technically illegal). When I was young I undertook a police driving course for civilians and was, of course, guided by Roadcraft: the Police Driver's Handbook. That advised a press to warn of danger and a light tap accompanied by a raised hand as a polite warning. On the whole I find that this still works although the horn on my present car requires a lot of force to activate it.

PS The weather was windy and cold but I was able to play bowls under floodlights for the last day of the season. I played well enough to be quite pleased given that it's months since I last delivered a bowl.