Glasgow

 Up before dawn today and out just before 7 as the moon was setting

A chilly wait for the connection at Ayr bus station . I thought that I'd just missed the previous bus but heard someone phoning to say that he was running late as the previous bus had been cancelled.

Arrived in a damp Glasgow...and I couldn't work out which bus stop I needed...so I walked down Sauchiehall Street and up to Park Circus where Alliance Française and the Goethe Institute share a pair of Georgisn buildings.

The course went ok...It is covering my weak points...translation ( I've always tried to think in the language that I'm learning, which makes translation difficult dometimes) grammar and spealing to people!! I think I'm at the right level, but it will be a lot of work...but worth it

I liked this diagram...

Then a walk back in the dampness...

The new building and the old church tower are one property

window tax

the Glasgow school of art..still not rebuilt after the two fires. it isn't the one right on the street, but the "wrapped" one just behind.

another construction site further near the centre along Sauchiehall street...I think that they are retaining an amount of the facade.

I had lunch in Waterstones' café..it is the biggest branch that I have seen...on five floors!!!!!

and at the end of the street...

and just before the bus station...

True dat!!!!

No waiting on buses on the way home...and I'm shattered!!.....as the Oily One remarked as we messaged...."brainwork" !!!

loose ends

 A day taken easily! 

I eventually went to town in the car (it needs a weekly run and I have plans for Sunday)

What did I get...

A couple of paint test pots

fresh food shopping..but not a massive amount

topped up the fuel tank in the car

checked with the Nationwide...as I have travel insurance with them and couldn't get through on the phone this morning to the insurance company they use...AND the chatbot was too busy...no I don't have to inform them of my upcoming trip...but it would be good if I can.

checked with the travel agent....all boxes ticked and I have to get an Eurail pass online.

All those bits do add up!!

and I saw the sky from a carpark....

Then home...and didn't get a Eurail card as it looks like the savings are just on weekends....

What did look a better deal on the SNCF  French railways website was a "Carte +".50% reductions...cost €29 for a year.

That was my first purchase on a website in French!!

The alarm is set for tomorrow morning...time for the shorter evening leçon before "lights out"

Teeth! and Autocorrect

 I made a mistake yesterday.....I remembered the dental appointment time as 14.00...it eas 4pm!!

As it was Baltic outside I decided not to go for a walk around town!!

Cue some magazine reading...and the dentist saw me as soon as my top plate returned (later than usual...they were getting worried!) from the lab...

and a very efficient root extraction...and it did have a small spot of infection starting...so a fortunate call to remove it.

Back home on the bus...soup for supper.

 I've been taking arnica tablets , plus a little arnica cream on my face to reduce swelling/any bruising...so I've only needed one dose of paracetamol.

A good night's sleep....and from a fairly bright dawn today has turned pale grey.

The radar forecast on the Met office site is showing light rain/snow...cold and damp.

Not a day for early rising!!!

I've turned off autocorrect and autosuggestions on my tablet and phone.

So far so good. Even correcting mistakes from tapping on a small screen and getting the letter next to the one required is quicker! 

Now if there is a mistake...it is all mine!!!

Pirate's Bear (for Fresca) and other things

 Unfortunately the promosed mending of the house didn't happen...so the jackdaws have a reprieve...for now!!

Off on the bus to Ayr..going around the secondhand books as I had time. Found one Joanne Harris...I don't think that I already have a copy...but £1.50 is not a big loss if I do!!

Impression at the dentists...and they will be taking the root out tomorrow...bother! but it does make sense. I dont want to be in France...or New Zealand...if it decides to misbehave and grow an abcess....

Pirate's bear. I think his sister knitted the jumper. She brought him up after his mother died when he was 7...a brave girl to take that on  , and housekeeping for her father when she was just 17.

The mermaid from Dunbar...I bartered one of my pots at a Scottish Potters AGM weekend for her....and Pirate chose which one. She sits on a wee jar from NZ...

He is now on the bookcase by my bed. I think that he can stay there now!

This afternoon a friend came to visit...the first person for 26 days!! I do go out and see other people. Some can't travel, others are busy working. But people used to pop by...

I sold her one of my chainrings...and I'll take some chainrings and sprockets to a womens' track training session on Sunday if the weather is ok.  Hopefully I can sell some more.

Wind!!!!

 Wind with added rain... enough to warrant a yellow weather warning...for the past twelve hours....and a couple more if the forecast carries on correctly.

So.... indoors all day...cleaning bits here and there..rearranging a few things...

Still a trifle cluttered but better...and I was told that the Jade plant should be by the front door...which I had my back to to take this shot. 

Making a loaf in the breadmaker has helped to warm the kitchen a little more..and it smells good!

Otherwise it has been a batten down the hatches and read things on the computer day.

At least I wasn't the only one...had a few good online message chats.

A good day for a hair wash too.

Mostly still brown. Never been dyed or curled.

Isn't it funny how people with straight hair want curls....and vice versa...and you see plenty of "bottle blondes"...and "bottle goths " too!!  All wanting something they don't have....

Progress and disappointment

 Things are looking better in the sewing/bike/guest room....

But there is the rest which still needs action.. although it is less than it was!

Cue a coffee before half an hour on the turbo trainer there

Today was the day of the 15 minute phone interview with Alliance Française to confirm which course I should be on.

The line was awful and crackly, despite him moving to near a window to improve it...it did, briefly....and he was switching back-and-forth between languages...

My ND brain prefers to prepare what I want to say..I don't like phone calls at the best of times...and I made a mess of it. Forgetting things I knew well how to say ...in person....or understand written or heard....

Apparently the Saturday course is more grammatical...which wasn't obvious...and there is another more conversational one on Monday evenings...but he said just go to the first one...and I can swap....

So that would mean I won't be able to get there and back by public transport...and would have to use my car, going in to Glasgow during early evening rush hour.

Apparently there is free parking after 6pm there and enough of it....and my car is thankfully ok in a LEZ zone (the Oily One checked for me)

Today's bright spot...a letter from Debby!! Who has lovely legible writing....I must tame my drunken spider....which has deteriorated of late, despite diary writing. 

I felt I just had to get OUT! After the disappointment...so by bus to post two letters..one to a friend in England....her husband was a flatmate of my ex!! But we have always kept in touch. 

The other to a retired Architect and tree planter now living in Kansas City. Originally from Wrecsam, we met on a geology field course at Preston Montford field study centre on an A level geology field course. We must have been 17....and have never met again...but kept on writing.

Outside it is getting colder and colder with a fierce Easterly gale...yet another storm tonight and tomorrow. The wind is roaring around the house and at least not so sharply through the kitchen and bathroom vents....they catch the westerlies!!

Slow weekend

 

Yesterday was mostly sewing the lining...today was mostly not much.

It is cold and damp...if not wet... and breezy.

Politics in many places are disturbing, not just the obvious ones.

Landlord got someone to look at the jackdaw damage this morning...it should be done on Wednesday, weather permitting.

He'll check both corners...and he looked at the vent there and further along. 

It looks like the mend will be done properly this time!

I've been "chatting" quite a bit today with friends on messenger and WhatsApp (sometimes both at the same time 😳!!)

And I've written two letters. 

Tomorrow will be busy...tell the travel insurance about the trip (I have annual insurance with my bank account), research buses and trains, get a senior passes for both in France/ Europe....and then I can book to stay somewhere.

Posting letters, researching cotton batting for the quilt.... clear the bench space in the kitchen (again?!!) ...and if it isn't too cold out there, clean off my wheel in the workshop.

If it is too cold, think about designs for prints ...