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)

CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN WEEK 15: STARTING TO COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE

Another week has gone by and little by little there are signs of shops and businesses slowly returning to a modified form of business, i.e. open but with social distancing.  The dentist is now open but for emergencies only.  I have a broken tooth; it is not an emergency therefore I am put on the list for the day when it can be fixed. Now ... I await patiently fo David, at the hairdressers, to open and start taking appointments!

Meanwhile I am trying to cultivate or should that be, celebrate, "the little things". 

For example: I decided to touch up the paint on the garage door.  (We are having some rooms in the house painted this week so it put in mind to smarten up this up-and-over door which I painted in Farrow and Ball colours nearly 10 years ago!)  It is under cover and so doesn't get much weathering.

If one thing old age has taught me it is to keep up the maintenance of things.  Put that job off and then you are faced with a really big piece of work later.  As someone who is a great believer in Soap and Water I started by giving it a wash down with Fairy Liquid (dish detergent).  

To my astonishment that was all it needed.  Not a big event in my life but it gave me an enormous amount of satisfaction ... happiness is a gleaming garage door!

Another small moment of delight ... bread flour from Gavins Mill called Seeded White from Shipton Mill, Yorkshire.  Gavin's Mill has been open for business on a restricted scale (orders to be collected). I bought some stuff and topped up the order with this unfamiliar flour.  It is just so flavoursome!  It's an ill wind, as they say.  [Just for the record, the GM purchase has now gone through.]

* * * * * * * * * * NEW WORDS * * * * * * * * * * * 

Another delight for me is to come across new words or new origins of words.  Here are two from this week:

* * * * * * * FOR THE ARCHIVES:  BLOG AS AT POSITION   * * * * * * 

The format of 'Blogger' (this blog's template) has been redesigned recently.... maybe June 1, 2020 or thereabouts.

February 10, 2021  I have found 50 posts are 'Draft' comprising most of 2020 and early 2021.  Some text corrupted but otherwise most OK.

CORONA VIRUS END OF WEEK 11 - LOCKDOWN RESTRICTIONS START TO LIFT

Things are beginning to ease: garden centres are to open, some outdoor activities can resume, e.g. golf, sailing, tennis, fishing.  You can socialise in small groups of friends and family but keep social distance and bring your own food and utensils.  No going into the house to use the bathroom.

So it was an evening meal on the deck for John's birthday today (Sunday). 

Iain, Mairi and John, Ishbel (13.5 yrs), Alastair (12 yrs), Harriet (she will be 7 next week) and Ellie (5 yrs).  Everyone is in good health despite (or maybe because of?) these 2 1/2 months of 'hibernation'.

CORONAVIRUS START OF WEEK 10 - OVERLOCKER/SERGER ALERT

Another week gone by... not much change.  Weather has been lovely so lots of time outside in the garden. We are both well. Iain is busy trying to establish a blog site with the help of Our Man in Los Angeles; I have been sewing a lot.

Iain played for the neighbours as we all clapped for the NHS on Thursday night.

Mairi took this photo of Harriet, coming up for 7 years old, this week.  Another 'keeper' for Grandma's Brag Book.

Harriet and Ellie in the garden.  Schools are still not open nor show any sign of doing so.  The R factor is still too high.

John or Mairi's photo of one owlet still in the nest with parent, Kilmardinny Loch.


Very wet all day Sunday so Iain and I put the fire on in the afternoon and sat and watched 'Paint Your Wagon' on the TV.

We enjoyed every minute of it!  If there is a song that we both share a fondness for it has to be 'I Was Born Under a Wand'ring Star' and sung by Lee Marvin in his gravelly voice.

Yes ... the best view is looking back!

Heading out on holiday from Bowling Basin all those years ago...

* * * * * * NHS SCRUBS * * * * * * * 

My scrub sewing project is moving along albeit rather slowly.  Two reasons: I keep tweaking the pattern and ... see below...

I bought myself an overlocker (serger in N America). It is a Janome 9300DX and I absolutely love it. It came all threaded so I was able to have a go on the above set of scrubs (a downie cover which I cut down). 

I am aware that they are known to be a bit 'challenging' and it is in relation to having to replace a cone of thread. I used up one of the manufacturer's original spools of thread so I had to take myself in hand and learn to thread it from scratch... not easy!

I could write a book on how I eventually succeeded. I will do this in a separate blog with the title along the lines of 'What They Don't Tell You About Threading an Overlocker/Serger'.  Or how about 'Overlocking in Lockdown'? (It's hellish having no one to talk to, i.e. store open where I can go and get help!)

I am putting this image in here so that I can have it as a back-up for when I forget the run scheme. I am leaving it here with 2 very, very, very important points:

[1] An excellent video on YouTube:  Simple Sewing 101 Threading Fundamentals   

https://youtu.be/wfiHuDLCcKY

[2] The above image is the key to the one big hurdle that seems to cause the most grief! [More in a future video but the long and short of it is: look at the bottom looper (green arrow) and top looper (red arrow). When positioned in a cross like above (well, it is a squinty 'cross', not a Saltire!) the bottom looper thread goes OVER the upper looper behind it... with the 2 tails simply gently pulled and laid out towards the back like you would do on an ordinary sewing machine having threaded the needle(s).]