CORONAVIRUS WEEK 19: LIFE ROLLS ON WITH A FEW TYPOS ALONG THE WAY

We are still being encouraged to wear masks in shops and public transport, continue with hand washing, social distancing of 2 metres.  Shops are all open now and appear to be scrupulous in their hygiene and public health practices e.g. use santizer at the door, follow the arrows, use a credit card contactless payment etc.  No opening of theatres, concert halls, building for religious observance.

John and Mairi and the children are on  holiday;

Having spent a lot of time looking at text when producing printed matter I cannot help notice typos! This week I came across three. 

I was talking to Bill Donaldson about this and he pointed out that this is because text is dictated or spoken, I suppose, into the iPhone or whatever.  That may be the case in the following:

This is the front cover of a magazine I noticed when I was browsing in the supermarket.  The error is in some lines by Ralph Waldo Emerson, jumped out at me... No thumbing through the magazine during Lockdown, of course, but who would want to after looking at the cover!

The next 2 are plain ol' typos.  Does no one ever check copy any more?!

Above:   Times Literary Supplement this week No. 6121m July 24th page 14.

Above: Publishers blurb of a book by Judith Flanders A Place for Everything 

published by Pan MacMillan.

WEEK 18 CORONAVIRUS: LIFE CARRIES ON

Life goes on much the same... We are still social distancing (2 metres) but in restaurants it is OK to be 1 metre apart for eating.

Most shops are open and transport running but things are very quiet.  It would appear that people don't want to go out (or haven't the money to spend).  

In Scotland one must wear a mask when in the shops.  I would say compliance is very good. The supermarket I go to (Waitrose) doesn't have queues any more because they are letting 80 people be in the store at one time as everyone is wearing a mask.  That certainly helps.

I was at the Apple Store in Braehead and they were taking your temperature before entering.  All other public health measures were in place: hand sanitiser, social distancing, face masks worn.  (This was the case in the open mall as well.)

And on a more universal theme: 

Comet Neowise is visible in the night sky these days.  I haven't been able to see it yet but John told me where to look in the night sky.

CORONAVIRUS WEEK 17 OF LOCKDOWN: PHOTOS OF MILNGAVIE'S EMPTY STREETS

Lockdown is still on-going but easing.  Shops are opening with all the necessary hand sanitisers in place, direction signs, distance markers as the 2 metre social distance is still in force.  

Hair dressers open on Wednesday and are taking appointments now.  I have got one for 3 weeks' hence!  Help!!!  The good news is, however, I get a very good cut (which was in February!) and even though it is long(er) it is still 'a good cut', i.e. doesn't irk me.

One major change has been that, in Scotland only, masks have to be worn in shops.  I have very mixed feelings about this: fabric masks do not keep out viruses.  I leave it at that. I am not visiting shops unless I really have to (food shopping is my limit) as I find it hard to breathe.  I comply but I don't like it!

I read where magazines, newspapers, organisations are asking people to put together photos, write an essay or a poem about being on lockdown.  Well here are some Milngavie photos showing the flowers out but the streets empty.

There are lovely paths and walkways surroundings the town centre.  Here is a local figure with his twa dugs.

Gavin's Mill has  opened up for selling their Fair Trade goods (not the cafe). The good news, however, is that the mill is now owned by the Gavin's Mill people who have been campaigning to buy it for the last couple of years.  There was no fan-fare but it is certainly going to give Milngavie a boost!  Like so many other towns and villages there is a strong move to 'buy locally'. 

CORONAVIRUS WEEK 16: LOCAL ENVIRONS DURING LOCKDOWN

Lockdown continues to ease but we are not free of restrictions and probably won't be for some time.  England has allowed bars and restaurants to open; Scotland has not but expects to in about a fortnight's time.  Hairdressers will open in a fortnight's time... thank goodness.

In the meantime I have been taking photos of the countryside to use in publications locally should they be needed [see bottom of blog].

This item caught my eye in a recent Financial Times article.  

During the Second World War artists were hired by the Air Ministry to paint some structures that were considered vulnerable (to being bombed) in daytime.  The department was called The Camouflage Directorate and the people doing the work of concealment were called 'camoufleurs'.

Recruited solely from the foremost artists of their generation, the aim of the camoufleurs was the concealment of civilian installations, confusing “a pilot at a minimum of five miles distant and 5,000 feet up throughout daylight” using techniques such as dazzle.

One of these was a man called Colin Moss.  He designed a number of camouflage schemes for installations such as Stonebridge Park Power Station, London.

The camoufleurs created designs that featured disruptive patterns, in a range of colours, painted onto buildings.

Their aim too was to break up forms and outlines, so objects were difficult to locate and detect even against a shifting background (ie when looking down from a plane). The patterns consisted of a mixture of dark and light colours being painted next to each other.

[Source: World War II Archives ⋆ Colin Moss]

After the war ended he was given time to make paintings of the work he had done.  This is an example.

A water tower camouflaged with a painting of houses and a street and surrounded by barbed wire fencing.

Camouflaged Cooling-Towers, 1943

[location is Stonebridge Park near Wembly]

* * * * * * *  LOCAL MUGDOCK PHOTOS including POWER LINES * * * * * * *

On the edge of the city of Glasgow is lovely countryside.  It is summer and the flowers are out. During Lockdown we are allowed to travel up to 5 miles from home and so many Glaswegians have access to this countryside until restrictions are lifted and normal travel is allowed.

While standing taking this shot a helicopter came into view.

I looked up to see if it was The Man with the Milk Tray coming with a box of chocolates for me ... but No!  I related this old and rather silly observation to a man who was jogging past me at this precise moment.  He said while it wasn't the Milk Tray (at least he knew the reference!) he rather hoped it was a pint of beer during Lockdown!

'Beauty and the Beast'? 

Lastly, here is the final view without the power lines (thanks to Photoshop)