Runs from Saturday 10th Jan – Sunday 29th Mar 2026
Described as a collection of replica props from the unforgettable world of 1980s cinema, that really needs expanding a little, to include TV, and the 1970s.
Star Wars transport theme.
Speeder, nicely placed in the motorbike area, with scout.
All Terrain Scout Transport, AT-ST.
Standing in Buchanan Street Bus Station, lamenting my poor luck of arriving (via a connecting bus) with 19 minutes to wait for a 20-minute bus service, I had a few minutes to pare, and couldn’t help noticing EI SPT parked in the middle of the station forecourt.
It’s currently attached to a Toyota Hilux.
Sorry about the poor pic, but at this time of year it generally takes between one and two hours for the condensation to clear off my camera after I step outside 😩
I’ve noted the tendency for those involved in various transport services to favour what I generally refer to as personalised plates (or registrations), although I tend not to ‘collect’ them as I’m not in a position to see enough of them, and they can be in sets, which could be frustrating.
In this case we have the letters SPT, which most locals in this area will recognise as the acronym for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.
I doubt the plate is a happy little accident.
Runs from Saturday 10th Jan – Sunday 29th Mar 2026
Described as a collection of replica props from the unforgettable world of 1980s cinema, that really needs expanding a little, to include TV, and the 1970s.
Five ewoks (or was it six?) hiding from stormtroopers, behind a shield generator bunker.
On guard, just around the corner.
It feels like it’s been so long since I was able to get along to the ‘new’ Govan footbridge I was never going to see it again.
Thankfully, that changed a few days ago, and I brought home a few pics to mark the day.
East and west views (one day, I’ll catch it open 🙄).
Better still, when I made one of my rare sorties into the ever depressing news, I discovered the success of this crossing seemed to have been the inspiration for a new cycle route, linking the bridge/Govan to Pollock Park.
While this doesn’t really make things better for me, I already follow the existing path from the east that crosses the M8 near Kinning Park (although that has been a pain for some time, as two of the footbridges, including the one for Pollock Park, have been removed for refurbishment, and is apparently going to take a year longer than planned), it will still make a handy alternative, and be available when I might be heading for the Burrell from the west.
The proposed first route would deliver a continuous active travel connection from Water Row, just south of the bridge, through Govan Road onto Orkney Street, Broomloan Road, Edmiston Drive and along Dumbreck Road to its junction with Mosspark Boulevard – with onward links to Pollok Country Park via existing and in‑construction infrastructure.
Plans for new Glasgow walking route from Govan-Partick Bridge to Pollok Park take shape
I’ve just watched a guy spend more than a week fighting with an old valve radio, trying to pin down a fault that kept appearing and disappearing while worked, yet failed to manifest a definite symptom that could be traced and tackled.
When it appeared, it killed the radio completely, making it impossible to carry out any sort of fault-finding procedure.
After all his efforts, I think he was seriously considering abandoning the effort, as nothing he tried worked. In fact, the only thing he seemed to be able to reproduce was provoke it by poking around near the base of an octal valve, but despite testing the valve, and even replacing it (with another tested valve), the problem still appeared and disappeared at random.
It took a THIRD replacement valve to restore operation of the radio, and suggest the cause.
The valve was similar to the one shown below, and metal cased.
Incidentally, did you know you have to search for pics like this using the term ‘tube’? When I started with ‘valve’, all I got was bases!
His final analysis, NOT verified by dismantling, was that one of the wires from the glass envelope inside the metal casing had either not been properly connected at the factory, or had broken over the years, and was only making intermittent contact inside the big pin in the octal base – which accounts for the sporadic operation as he was poking around in the area of the base.
Ironically, I just suffered a similar fault, when I couldn’t work out why an old mechanical time switch I just picked up in a charity shop had been working fine, then appeared to stop – even though I could hear the motor running inside.
There’s really almost nothing in these things, just a synchronous AC motor driving a short gear train, rotating a ring carrying pins that operate a switch which turn the mains on and off to a connected device.
I recently started using one of these to make sure hazardous items (with their own time switches) actually did turn off when expected, in case the internal switch failed (it’s Chinese and cheap).
The problem was easy to spot – with the worm gear on the AC motor sometimes failing to engage sufficiently with the worm wheel. However, this was hard to see, since the worm gear was still INSIDE the worm wheel, just not enough to actually engage with, and drive it.
Initially, I could find or see any reason for this issue, as the degree of movement between the gears meshing and failing to mesh was almost imperceptible. The motor is tiny, being about a cube of about 1 cm on each side, not counting the stator pieces and coil, mounted off to one side.
Like the guy with the radio, I could reassemble the timer and find it was working just fine, then it would just stop driving if I tapped it – and vice versa.
The motor was held in place by a single tiny screw, which tested tight and secure, a finding that initially stopped further investigation here.
Eventually, I decided it would be worth the effort of unsoldering the motor from its connections and removing it for more detailed inspection.
There was a circular mounting boss moulded into the casing, with the motor secured in place by a screw which was threaded into the centre.
This boss had cracked and split along its length, AND cracked at its middle, so more than half it was separate, and was stuck inside the corresponding opening in the motor.
While there was still enough of this boss left on the case to hold the motor, and the remains expanded and locked the screw when it was tightened, the reality was that the motor was NOT secure, and could rock very slightly on the remaining stump of the broken boss – just enough to allow the worm gears fail to mesh, and not drive.
I couldn’t see a quick fix for this.
Broken original moulded features are hard to repair at the best of time, as the homogenous structure is impossible to reproduce with any strength. Adhesive has very little area to work on, so bonds are usually very weak, and parts usually just break as soon as any load is applied.
I could just have epoxied the motor in place, which would have worked, but I was concerned about where it might settle. Given the fact that just rocking on the original broken boss was enough to lose drive, I didn’t want the motor bonded into place, unable to be adjusted.
Eventually I drilled a clearance hole through the remaining part of the boss, and used a tiny screw, washer, and nut to clamp the motor in place, leaving the option of tweaking the location if the worm drive failed to mesh – but it was fine, so this was a win! 😊
Although the screw was metal and the head was outside the case, I wasn’t worried as the shape of the case means it cannot be touched when the time switch is plugged in and live. Apart from that, there is no wiring to come loose inside, as all the connections are made via solid metal bus bars. Plus, I dropped a spot of glue on the nut securing the motor to the screw, to stop it coming loose, and acting as an insulator from anything conductive that might come loose inside the case – although there isn’t anything.
Surprisingly, I could not find a single pic of this timer online, just this modern clone, which is almost the same (looks as if all they did was rotate all the insides 180°), and probably copied from the decades old Smiths original.
Still on sale from Amazon for about £10.
Runs from Saturday 10th Jan – Sunday 29th Mar 2026
Described as a collection of replica props from the unforgettable world of 1980s cinema, that really needs expanding a little, to include TV, and the 1970s.
I thought I might not get there, but did.
I’ll work thought the pics I collected, beginning with Doctor Who, and hopefully take another look, since I seem to have missed ET, who is listed as being there.
TARDIS, K9, Davros, and Dalek Prime.
Missed the plaque on the right, with various links. Too busy reading, forgot the pic.
They must have reorganised the displays, as K-9’s shiny head no longer has the neat reflection caught by Dougie Coull: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:tmo43ccqeocit72r2jle5klh/post/3mc65gdfj4c2v
I spotted this mural being created some weeks ago, and thought I be able to catch it early, but succumbed to some malady, so was only able to collect it recently.
Fortunately, the view was clear, although the day was grey, but I think the colours came out reasonably well (with a little help).
It’s a pity about the background wall surface, and those lights, and the railings.
There doesn’t seem to be a signature, unlike this one:
Yay! I have my own Rogue One mural at the end of the street
While I do have a tendency to grab pics of businesses (usually shops) that have just closed, I do sometimes wonder if the effect could be the other way around.
I recently (last October) featured a quick look at Ayr’s Queen’s Court Centre, following the passing of Glen Michael, as his wife opened a shop there back in the day, and I noted it still appeared to be doing similar business today.
I may be wrong, but I also seem to have memories of it being promoted as a sort of early Craft Village as well.
Fast forward a few weeks, and here’s the same scene pictured a few days ago.
Miserable, cold, windy, winter day, and now empty windows.
On the plus side, it wasn’t raining.
And a ‘To Let’ sign.
Sorry.
☹
I have been passing this sign for years, without the slightest clue what it actually refers to, or how long it’s been there.
Find it on the left just as you turn down Blantyre Farm Road off Glasgow Road as you approach Uddingston itself.
The oldest pic I could find online with it in sight is from 2009, and everything around looks just the same as today.
If I had to guess, I’d suggest some sort of land clearance, tidy, and landscaping to make things look better, but as I say, that’s just a guess.
I thought I’d be able to dig up the earliest pic (or pics) I’m sure I took of this window seen on one of my walks – seems I was wrong.
I’m sure I have them, but not in my current files.
This puzzled me for a while, but then it occurred to me that the first pics are probably sitting in boxes, as they were taken on film.
I suppose this is yet another reason for getting around to digitising them – I did start some years ago, but got diverted, and never got back.
Pity, I was curious to see how it had perhaps changed over the years, or decades.
After this house was left empty, it didn’t take long for those nice vandals to find it, and burn at least part of it, even though it did seem to sell fairly quickly.
It didn’t look too good, and got worse in the following days as it was closed, but broken into again.
Lucky derelict catch in Tollcross
It seemed to take ages for work to start on it, and I wasn’t able to get back for quite a while.
I did get to have a quick look recently, and it seems someone has been busy.
Even the tall brick wall has gone.
Secret Scotland 