Evening walk at Drumpelier Loch

 On saturday evening we headed to Drumpellier for a bit of fresh air and a walk round the loch.

WASP still rocking out after all these years

Recently went to see WASP at the O2 Academy in Glasgow.

This was the celebration of the debut album, so the played the first album in it's entirely before doing the usual "best of" for the rest of the set.

As usual, the band put on a great show, with Blackie in fine form.

The one thing that was a bit weird, was for the Glasgow show, there was no support band, doors opened at 7pm, band took to the stage at 8pm, and with a 10pm curfew (no idea why as the usual for this venue is 11pm) they were done and dusted by 9.30pm.

The band were on fine form, and I for one have no complaints about an earlier start and earlier finish, as some gigs can go on to the point where getting home means forking out for a taxi, or missing the end of the gig to get the last train/bus home.  So that was a plus in my book.

Been ages, and Chantel McGregor at G2 in Glasgow

 So, I haven't posted anything here in what seems like forever, and checking the links on my sidebar, it looks like most of the folk I followed have given up blogging.

C'est la vie.

Recently I went to see Chantelle McGegor playing at G2 in Glasgow.  What a gig.  Shame there wasn't more people there to see her.  I can't understand why someone this talented isn't bigger.  Folk are missing out.

Anyway, here's a couple of pics from the night.

This is not a love song

 Last night I FINALLY saw Public Image Ltd.  For some bizzare reason I'd never been to see them before, but that's been finally put to right.

The last time I saw John Lydon was a Pistols gig, so I was looking forward to this.

He certainly didn't disappoint.  He's definitely not a fan of the Pistol tv show, dedicating Shoom to Danny Boyle and the Disney minions :-)

Anyway, great night, and I'll be back next time.  After all, as the man himself said last night "I'm only 66 you fuckers"

Geoff Tate - Oran Mor, Glasgow, 15/04/22

 

Tokens of love

 

Another for the collection

 Early Valentine's pressie from my wife.

A bottle of Smokehead single malt (I love Islay malts) and a couple of branded glasses.

Another stunning sunset.

 

Ayrshire sunset

 

Getting creative

 Back as far as school, I've always thought I can't do art.  Every time I've tried something it's been bad to the point of putting me off sticking with it to see if it improves.
What I see in my mind doesn't translate to what my hands can create.

Over the last few years I've thought I'd give things a go again.  Drawing?  Not so good.
Painting?  Nope, even worse than the drawing.

For some reason I thought I'd try lino printing.  Why, I've no idea.  Never tried it at school, so had no preconceived notions of how bad I would be.
Turns out I'm not utterly shite at it.  I enjoyed the whole process of getting the image onto the lino and cutting it out, and finally the print itself.

So far I've done two different prints - a Chinese lucky waving cat, and a Hanged Man from the Tarot - and have been pleasantly happy with the results.  I kind of like how little imperfections add a bit of character to the prints.

Anyway here's my first two attempts at lino printing.

Waving Chinese cat

Tarot Hanged Man

We Are Obscure (and so it begins........ again)

Over lockdown pt1, I started carrying my camera out with me more, and taking pictures of things I noticed that I usually would just walk past and not see.  This has mainly been (but not restricted to) street art/graffiti.

I submitted one of my non-graffiti pictures to Claire - @so_she_smokes - and she picked it to appear in the first issue of her new quarterly zine Obscure Quarterly.  It's a superb collection of photography, poetry and short stories, and I'm proud to have one of my pictures included in it.

It will be out at the end of the month, but I strongly recommend keeping an eye on her Instagram account, and picking up a copy, when it comes out.  A great read, and it's been put together with a lot of care and thought.  It just looks great too.

 

Aaaaaaand you're back in the room.....

Damn.  Not posted on here (or read blogs on here) in a long time.....

I've mainly been using Wordpress for blogging. (here's the link if you're interested https://dalg1966.wordpress.com/ )

I'll try and get some stuff up here and kick some life into this wee corner of the internet, but I'll try to keep them separate, in the off-chance that someone might read this on, and then actually read the other one, and find some different stuff on there.

So, until I actually post something of substance again....Ciao peeps.

Couple of photos

Been carrying the camera about in the mornings.  Here's a couple of early morning shots in Glasgow.

Gordon Street

Rogano Oyster bar

I took these with my bridge camera, which is compact enough to throw in the rucksack if I don't have much space, and want to carry a camera "just in case".  I'm going to go back with the DSLR and see what I can get when I'm not rushing to get somewhere.

Some more bike stuff

Since I last posted I've done the Pedal for Scotland bike ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh.
It was a different route from last year, finishing at Ingleston Showground instead of Murrayfield, and coming in at 46 miles instead of 55, which made my total for the day 56, once I added on the ride to the start, and then home again once we'd been bused back there from Ingleston.

The weather was pretty much spot on for cycling.  Not too hot - last year the weather was stunning, which made it a bit hot for the ride.  Towards the end there was some gusty wind, which was a bit annoying.  On the other hand, there were some excellent downhills which were loads of fun.

So, will I make it three in a row next year?  You know what, I think I will.

Where has the time gone?

Didn't realise how long it's been since I posted here.

In the time since the last post I've cycled from the house to Loch Lomond, stopping at Balloch, where there was a spectactular breakfast in a local pub attached to one of the hotels.

Now that's what I call breakfast

The weather couldn't have been better, and the views of the loch were stunning.

Loch Lomond in all it's glory

If the weather is halfway decent this Saturday, I'll head up that way again, but this time I'm planning to go further and finish the ride at the village of Luss.  This is all preparation for the 11th of September, when I'm cycling to Edinburgh to raise funds for the Scottish Wildlife Trust.  If anyone would like to sponsor me, it would be greatly appreciated, and donations can be made at my JustGiving page here.

Training re-boot

So I got a new pair of running shoes, in an attempt to get my sorry arse running again.
This morning I took them out for their first run, and my first of the year.  Yeah, I've been slacking.

This morning's run - run 3/walk 2.  Repeat for 20 mins.

It's nowhere near where I was at last year, but, I've been seriously negligent in the running stakes, and have been relying on cycling and karate for fitness, so, I'm basically back to square one running wise.  But that's good, it means there's plenty of room to improve.

This aftermoon, I'll be off for a swim.  Target, is 30 lengths.

So I got the camera

Last weekend we hit the borders, staying in Melrose in the George and Abbotsford Hotel, which was really nice. It's a 2* hotel, with great food, decent rooms, and a superb selection of whisky in the bar.

Using the hotel as a base, we hit Melrose Abbey, before heading to Jedburgh Abbey via Main Street Trading in St Boswell's, which had been recommended to us by the woman working at Melrose Abbey.  She wasn't wrong, great coffee, superb cakes, and a fantastic bookshop, with a deli out the back.  What's not to like.

The next day we headed to Kelso and the Abbey (see pic below), before heading right down to the border for that shrine to consumerism, Gretna Gateway.

All in all a really nice weekend, and I got to play with the new camera.

Kelso Abbey

Camera news

A new camera is imminent courtesy of my better half.  Only, the bundle I want isn't in stock at the moment, so I'll pick it up next week.  The camera IS in stock, but there's a deal with a 2nd lens, and uv filters, and it's the filters that are out of stock.

Been a while

Just realised that I've not posted here in a while!

Since the last post was about starting a photography course, then this one is too.  I've finished the basic course and started the intermediate, and in between, had a wee break in Marrakesh.  So, that's us pretty much up to date.

Last week, at the course, the instructor asked where I'd gone on holiday.  The exchange went something like this....

"So where did you get to on your travels?"

"Marrakesh.  It's getting to be my favourite city"

"You'll have had some great photo ops there.  Hope you took your camera."

".............."

"You DID take your camera?"

"Well, I only had hand luggage, so not exactly.  I did take a wee compact camera, and I did get some cool photos though."

"Hmmmm.  I'll let you off I suppose."

One of the lions in George Square, from the first photography course

Photography course

So I’ve started on a basic photography course at the local collage.  It’s running for 8 weeks on a Tuesday night.  I think I need to do this as without it, I’ll probably never take the camera off the automatic setting, and that would (a) be a shame, and (b) a waste of money, as I could have opted for a cheaper point and shoot rather than the bridge camera I went for.

I used to use (and still own) a 35mm SLR, and my wife was wanting to get me a digital one for my birthday a couple of years ago.  On the advice of a friend who’s a photographer, I went for the bridge.  His reasoning was that it’s a fair bit cheaper, and while I can’t change the lenses, it has the features of an SLR, so I can find out if I want to use them or stick to auto.  If I use them, then I can upgrade to an SLR, and worst case is that the bridge is a really good camera to take on holiday and keep handy for snaps, when I’m not planning to take pics, and having to carry about a larger SLR. 
If I DON’T use the manual features, then it means money hasn’t been wasted on something that won’t be used, so it’s a win-win.

Since the auto feature is banned in the class, and we’ll be using manual all the time, I’ve already started looking as SLR’s in the camera shops and drooling a little, so I think I know how this is all going to pan out.