This is a self-portrait — logically I will be on it somewhere, and you may discern me under the red umbrella nearest to this shiny ball thing. I’m in the garden early — but then again I started work early (7:45) and sat upstairs marking for several hours. Semester 2 is now officially done, though, as far as I am concerned.
Actually, now I make this full-size I see the sticket is very difficult to read, but hey, this one was always more about the art than the aspiration. It says “Challenge Accepted”, by the way. The challenge we have at the moment is persuading the students (who as postgraduates are supposed to still be cranking it out) to stick around on campus, though at least these two have made it.
I have been lookig at this object for a couple of days now and remain mystified as to its exact function, or just why the present owner feels that others may be thinking, “ah yes, that’s just the kind of big blue contraption, with a wheel, that I need in my front room” and thereby be willing to buy it, for an undisclosed price. While he declares his possible frustration at this, a shadowy figure looks on and may or may not have busted the photographer at this point. So goes the latest tableau.
The automatic waving cats in the window of the local Asian food store all seemed to be raising the fist in unison this afternoon. At some point in the far future, archaeologists (if such a profession remains by then) may well dig some of these up and ponder on their use in idolatry or some other kind of religious context. But, no, they are just pointless tat, although endearing enough. Maybe the same is true of those similar cat statues dug up from Egypt or wherever. Only the original owners know…
This being the first Saturday since 7th February (when I was working in Dubai) that I did not have a football match to go to, I needed other entertainments. Not that I joined in with whatever these two were up to. My lifetime’s participation in the sport of angling (if sport it is) lasted about two hours, when I was about fourteen years old. I’ve spent more time potholing, in fact (about three hours in 1991): which also involved wading around in undesirably cold water for most of the time.
In effect, this was the last leg of my journey home from Scotland — I had to take the hire car back then came home on the train. There’ll be plenty of shots of the local area in the next three weeks, I’m not going anywhere. You find all of this stuff fascinating, I know.
The drive home — with a walk on the way, to the summit of Broad Law, the highest point in the Scottish Borders at 2,760 feet. There was not a great deal to see on the way up, but the top is graced by this construction, a VOR beacon (that is, Very high frequency Omnidirectional Range — so now you know). Should every mountain have one? Well, probably not, but this one does.
I am days behind with my posts — and Tuesday 26th May was not an exciting one, I spent most of it in the flat in Dundee, trying to work but (as is the case most of the time these days) not exhibiting a great deal of mojo. The picture is one of those ‘what can I see out of the window’ moments. Let’s at least speculate as to why this specific chimney pot proved such an attractive home for the foliage. It’s something to do.
Today was a public holiday, although whether this was actually being observed in Scotland was a matter of opinion (Joe had a class at uni today for instance). Either way, on a sunny day, work didn’t seem like a priority, and I was certainly not the only one taking some form of outdoor exercise this morning. If you find this place on a map (the glen in question being Campsie Glen) you will be able to work out where I and this gentleman took it. But not at this specific point in time. I was just setting out, but he could be at any point in his day.
Being 42 