Scotland Holiday - Day 5

The drive home began under more dark skies and the A702 proved a particularly effective way to get to get to the M74. At Gretna services I was shocked and saddened to open the Times and learn of the death on July 28th of Chris Dagley the drummer in the house trio at Ronnie Scott's. We saw him perform there only on May 9th; his motorcycle accident has cut short a talented life.

We drove on to Kendal and found a very attractive town with a testing one way system imposed on it I suppose by its age and bridge-rich infrastructure. Falling rain did not alter the fact that this was the Lake District in the first week of August and it was busy. We were there to visit the Loneliness of Lowry exhibition at Abbot Hall. I went specifically to see "The Derelict House" and also very much enjoyed "A Ship" (1965) and "Seascape" (1952). We both appreciated two Hepworths one inside and one out.

Oval Form 'Trezion' - Barabara Hepworth Abbot Hall, Kendal

Lunch at the cafe was excellent but I struggled a bit with the dullard boy at the till. He was English but did not appear to speak English at least not any of the words on the menu. I find that physical violence sometimes aids understanding but can also lead to arrest so I persevered. I am very pleased with my new high vis jacket - new in the sense that it came out of the packet which it has been in for 2-3 weeks since I bought it. It is meant to be a passport to wider transport photography opportunities. It did not work today at Stagecoach's Kendal garage.

Leaving Kendal via a joyous circuit of its elaborate roads we continued off motorway to Carnforth. I was there to see stored DRS locomotives and was not disappointed but there was so much more for me to see in a long visit. Once again I ended up with a set of photographs I am very pleased with.

We covered a lot of motorway today and saw a lot of people speeding. I reflected on the types of vehicle which do this. They fall broadly into two categories; one is the type of car people buy specifically to speed in, Subarus, Evos, certain BMWs and so on. Their drivers probably have DSD - dick size deficiency. More worrying are the cars in which speeding is entirely inappropriate as to do so clearly exceeds several design limits. At speeds in excess of 80mph a car with an engine of 1.4l ot even less must surely shake itself to pieces in the course of a long journey. Another mystery is that many of these are driven by women. It is not that women can't drive but I do wonder how anyone who can spend so long in one shop can get from Carlisle to Stafford in only 40 minutes.

At Cherwell Valley they have replaced (presumably temporarily) the buildings destroyed by fire earlier this year with a new facility which is essentially a giant portakabin. It is actually pretty impressive and if you ignore the eerily exposed HVAC and temporary stadium style steps, it is quite attractive.

Any sunshine today was sporadic and although it was generally brighter and drier as we moved south, dark cloud, rain and suicidal storm bugs pursued us for most of the journey. It has been a good break and yet there is still so much to look forward to. In Carnforth it will always be two o'clock.

Scotland Holiday - Day 4

My blog continues in spite of the deafening indifference of my target audience. It keeps me happy. Grey cloud was, I suppose, inevitable at the start of the day as was the rain which then fell for much of the morning. We went into Edinburgh primarily to reconnoitre where I would meet a friend later. With parking at a premium and the city's topography probably unique as roads pass under or over exactly where you want to be, preparedness was essential. Greg rested at the complicated and busy Waverley station while I ventured on to Princes Street to watch buses. This has to be one of the busiest places I have seen anywhere for buses and the Lothian fleet is distinguished by its apparently young average age and attractive colour schemes. There are two principle schemes with variations, usually route based.

Rain and time won the opening game of the day and we needed to be back at the hotel before my afternoon excursion. I noted the absolutely pathetic lack of progress with the tram system confined, it seems, to an isolated stretch of track along Edinburgh's most famous thoroughfare and for which little , I gather, inordinate disruption took place. Those responsible should be shot. Any who survive should be shot again. We got lost on the way back, recovered, and had a light lunch.

As with many big cities the only way to park is legally, without a limited term unless you are sure of your movements and pay what it costs. I chose the Waverley car park which at least afforded me a view of the station's comings and goings. My friend proved to be a remarkably good guide. This is slightly bizarre as he is Singaporean but knows Edinburgh much better than I do. He has the advantage of me having studied there. The culmination of our walk up Calton Hill for its wonderful views of the Forth and the city was that I became, at last, a fan of Edinburgh. I have never much liked the place, preferring Glasgow and I still wonder why its buildings can not be much cleaner. But today I could only be impressed by the vistas even as persistent cloud dulled my photographs and I left wanting to return.

For my image today, I have chosen an entirely unoriginal but classic view of Princes Street. You have to see it.......

Scotland Holiday - Day 3

There was indeed sunshine on Leith but it did not survive our visit to The Royal Yacht Britannia. The rain when it came was torrential and the worst we have had on this holiday. It was too late to spoil an excellent day which made me tired and happy in equal measure. I ended up with a huge number of photographs and, consequently, a huge task to name them and, where relevant, to upload them.

The Heart of Scotland services on the M8 leaves a lot to be desired in many ways but its Wild Bean Cafe served adequate food and I noted the availability of free Wi-Fi which we did not use. It was there too that I once again received a favourable impression of Scottish service and could not help feeling in the back of my mind that it would not be so warm in many places down south. The Wild Bean girl was very helpful in pointing out a beakfast special offer which reduced my bill. On my first night the ticket office man at Glasgow Central photocopied the Roundabout map for me - I don't think information services extend that far where I live. Only this morning, our concierge was extremely helpful (pivotal as it turned out in the success of my day) in providing directions to a subway station. Later, in our Edinburgh hotel a coach driver offered to move his vehicle to get me a better photograph. All these actions I have recorded were sincere and their warmth leaves a lasting impression.


Armed only with a small illustrated article in the August edition of Buses magazine, I set out to find two murals (of buses). Instinct and the limited information in the article told me that they would be near Kelvinbridge subway station but to cover my bets I went first to another West End location on the River Kelvin. It proved almost to be a convincing red herring being outside the now closed Transport Museum but consultation with some local walkers pointed me at the Kelvinbridge location of my original surmise. I entered Kelvingrove Park uncertain of where exactly to look but was soon overwhelmed by the scale of what I found. Far beyond the two bus images were a vast series of beautifully executed murals covering a wide array of modes of transport. The quality of the art by street artist Sam Bates is stunning and appears in full at my Flickr photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnoram/. In some images motorcycles appear to leap from the local greenery; others recall bygone eras in a highly evocative fashion. I just kept on clicking - thank goodness for digital and no need to change films.
I left Glasgow very happy indeed and the subdued weather yielded to some decent sunshine. This enhanced to the fullest effect Water of Leith which is one of the most beautiful stretches of water I have seen. We saw it first in the environs of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art where we had parked to begin our pursuit of the six figures in Antony Gormley's '6 Times'. Figure one, partially buried, is easy to find and the second in a setting of impossible beauty below and behind the gallery. The venue held us for a while longer for an outstanding lunch and the Gilbert & George in Room 20. The hunger and thirst satisfied in the Gallery Cafe were very different from those in the works of the artists. I had the vegetarian dish which was just excellent and Greg enjoyed his soup of fennel and sweet potato.


It was evidently going to be physically demanding to pursue the figures in Gormley's work but number three did not elude us. It was a different story though at the ostensible site of figure 4 besides St Mark's Park. Our puzzlement at its apparent absence was dispelled by a local who revealed that the figure was submerged due in part to a design fault in its base. We returned to its location and could barely discern its form but no meaningful photograph could be taken. We learned that figure 5 is similarly submerged and decided to proceed directly to Leith Docks.

Our timing allowed us to photograph the melancholic figure 6 and visit the Royal Yacht Britannia. The sunshine was now struggling and furious skies formed the background to my pictures at the visitor centre. The historic ship is extremely interesting and beautifully presented but during our tea break in the elegant Royal Deck Tea Room the rain set in so heavily as to cause us to discontinue our visit in favour of a return at a later date.











In the evening a 40 minute wait at Toby seemed unreasonable so we walked a little further to the rather low-key St John's Curry Club at 100 St John's Road, Corstorphine, Edinburgh. The food was very good but served slowly and inaccurately. Poppadums did not arrive and Greg's main course was completely different to what he had ordered. The rain continued and I returned to my laptop.

Scotland Holiday - Day 2

If it's shiny, happy people you want, I suggest you listen to REM's 1991 album 'Out of Time'. You won't find them on the Saturday evening streets of Glasgow where you are more likely to encounter the star of the next Channel 4 documentary on being not very healthy. I know a large number of very nice Scottish people at work but they were not represented by the crowds cluttering shop and restaurant fronts in Scotland's premier city (sorry, Edinburgh)where 'last gasp' is a way of life as much as it is a way of death and smoking does not seem to have been reduced by being forced outside. This was an evening of harsh accents, murdered vowels, public tattoes and mutton dressed as mutton. It was not attractive but I imagine that London at the same time is no more attractive - I am seldom there to judge.

For much of the day rain affected our activities and I can only say I was disappointed as we are on holiday. We went to see Greg's aunts and I used my compact camera to capture moments which might not arise again. The compacts of today are remarkable and I used mine again in the evening to capture buses on my dinner trip when I would not carry anything larger.

For the picture I include here, I used my bridge camera. We drove past this inspiring, wonderful statue and turned around just to photograph it.


With Greg resting I used my 'Roundabout' ticket to move around a little but lacked motivation largely because of the persistent precipitation. I was impressed with Partick station which has very smart buildings. In a complete contradiction of normal memories, the Subway seemed larger than I recall. It is very well used and care has been taken to make the stations light and safe. The ticket is good value but I was taken aback to have to obtain a supplementary ticket (free) in order to access the Subway. Queen Street is, frankly, dull compared to the 70s and 80s when locomotives were common at that station. Rain made speed necessary for the short walk to Central. Buchanan Street and the station precinct were heaving with people and I lost the last of my motivation especially having taken photographs last night.

We went out in the evening hoping to try Taco Mazama which I had seen advertised on the Subway but it was unattractive in real life and we turned instead to Bombay Blues for Indian buffet. I have reviewed it in a previous blog but can not remember what I said. Tonight, however, in spite of a slightly odd selection oddly labelled, it was very tasty and good value too. I watched with interest mid-meal as a local harridan exhorted her inebriated husband to "move". They were, apparently, ready to leave, perhaps for their monthly sex. I was inwardly surprised when he made it down the steps but doubted that he would make it 'up'. I returned my attention to the Times and looked forward to tomorrow's journey to Edinburgh.

Scotland Holiday - Day 1

The day started with some disappointing cloud and I very nearly forgot some of the stuff I needed with me. We were under way early and ate well at Sutton Scotney. The services there are verging on the inadequate but the Little Chef seems consistently good with service fairly attentive and prompt. Our second stop at Norton Canes generated the money for the M6 toll and rather more as we both won on the machines. Next time we go there should be more £500 machines there. Much less satisfactory in most respects was our last motorway stop at Lancaster (formerly Forton). It is certainly very ugly and was not enhanced today by the onset of heavy rain. The toilets were overcrowded and overheated to a level which might have been welcome in January but was inappropriate for today. In fact the whole of the very dated service area seemed cramped as though designed for smaller people. The ladies toilet had a huge queue and that is something you rarely see today. The saving grace was the excellent food from M & S food.

Several sets of roadworks north of Preston became tedious. A combination of the usual thoughtlessness of the Highways Agency and the apparent lethargy of a sparse workforce seemed to involve the destruction of a lot of the verge – at sites just far enough apart for one to be able to speed up between them in an essentially futile manner. The work evidently involved a bonanza for shareholders in whatever firm makes that ubiquitous purple piping.

Carlisle Cameo

With the rain continuing, I was not sure about the wisdom of stopping in Carlisle but we did. It seemed that the station was difficult to access by road and we parked a little way away. I was beginning to tense up when I discovered that they no longer do platform tickets. With revenue protection staff having a day out at this station and the coffee bar I wanted for Greg on the platform, I wondered what to do. Fortunately the ticket office lady was very helpful and had a solution. I simply bought a cheap ticket – a ‘Duo’ ticket in fact – and was free to move around. There were several photographers at this classic railway location and with both police and staff much in evidence, not a hint of hassle for any of us. Once again I was very pleased with my pictures. The Friday traffic on our departure was nightmarish but no more, I suppose, than many towns or cities.



The weather remained poor for much of the journey and our evening in Glasgow was one of protracted dusk. Dark cloud removed many photographic opportunities but we went anyway to Glasgow Central where I got more good results by using timer and handy surfaces.