Turf Zone – TideWatchZone
After the excitement of seeing some noctilucent clouds, see Turf Blog 16-06-23, I’ve been out every night since in the hope of photographing them. Unfortunately, they seem to be very rare and only occur for a short period of time in summer, so my chances of witnessing them again are perhaps quite slim. However, my night-time kick scooter turfing sessions have identified some good locations to photograph them should I be lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. One is the 3rd green on Melville golf course, the other, the mound beside zone Eskbank at the railway station. And, of course, Dalkeith country park where I first saw them. If anyone is interested in finding out more about clouds try The Cloudspotter’s Guide by Gavin Pretor Pinney.
Not much to report about from the past few day’s sessions, other than a warning not to use the underpass at zone BelowB6482, in the Easthouses area of Dalkeith. I’ve never encountered so much broken glass. Not the best thing to cycle or kick scoot across. I resorted to carrying the bike and carefully checked the tyres before continuing.
One enjoyable aspect of turfing is the merry banter that sometimes goes on. I was out late the other night on the kick scooter, and even at the late time of silly o’clock, there’s always someone up late checking their turf app on the mobile. In this instance, it was Scott a.k.a. MuttsCycles. Here’s the extract from the turf chat. Read from the bottom up. Had me smiling this one.
2023-06-20 18:41MuttsCycles:Hodge: 100% buff in this heat 😆 enjoy the thought
2023-06-20 09:26Hodge:PlanetGary: I really hope it was, the thought of it being in the buff scares me 😉
2023-06-20 01:13PlanetGary:MuttsCycles: nice one. In your jammies?
2023-06-20 01:13MuttsCycles:and nabbed**
2023-06-20 01:12MuttsCycles:PlanetGary: nah I just saw you in Dalkeith ran out and a zone so ud get the zone lost 🙂
2023-06-20 01:11PlanetGary:MuttsCycles: You still at the church?
2023-06-20 00:45MuttsCycles:oh hell naw, I have work in 8hes 🥱😆
2023-06-20 00:44PlanetGary:MuttsCycles: You should get DalkeithHouse!
2023-06-20 00:44MuttsCycles:still had shoes on thought I’d run out and nab it.
2023-06-20 00:43MuttsCycles:PlanetGary: muhahaha 00:46 zone fight 😆
Of course, this leaves us with an interesting, if somewhat scary, question. Was intrepid turfer MuttsCycles actually 100% in the buff or was he wearing his Superman jammies? Probably best that we never find out. Either way!
Another aspect of turfing, or rather the turfing community as a whole, is how welcoming and friendly everyone is, well, mostly everyone. Of all the turfers I’ve met while out turfing, many I’ve never spoken to before, I’ve yet to meet one that wasn’t friendly and stopped for a chat. Okay, not all stop to chat as they may be busy chasing a challenging medal. But overall, they are a remarkably easy going, though often very competitive, bunch of nice people. I cannot think of many instances where an attractive young woman will approach a total stranger, like myself, and say are you PlanetGary?
Turf Zone – Fisherrow
Then there’s all the turfers who are happy to help in any way they can. Questions asked are readily answered on the WhatsApp groups or turf chat, turfers are usually happy to leave zones for those chasing medals and then there’s the extra special turfers who use their skills to concoct extraordinary desserts for diners who visit the establishment where they work. I’m, of course, talking about Duck’s in Aberlady and Colin, a.k.a. turfer CardiffSoulCrew. Must go back there again! And then there’s the amazing friendly atmosphere you get at turf events, though perhaps, that might also have something to do with the delicious cake that always seems to appear!
But there also a flip side to nice open and friendly turfers. We have the turfers who have gone over to the Dark Side of turfing. Turfers who take zones and think those zones now belong to them and woe betide anyone who takes them. Turfers who plan “their” route and no-one else is allowed to interfere with their plan, especially if they get blocked. Turfers who think the zones around their local area belong to them and nobody else. But thankfully, Dark Side turfers are rare and are best ignored. In fact, one might even be tempted to make efforts to annoy them. He he he!
Turf Zone – MusselShell
Now, onto this afternoon. Taking a chance on the risk of thunderstorms, I mounted Harley Quinn (she’s a bicycle by the way) not what you are thinking. Mind you, Margot Robbie is rather attractive! Stop. Enough. Cold shower. And singled-speeded my way down to Musselburgh and along to Portobello. My intention to make a time lapse video of the turf session. However, this was not to be as I’ve not remembered to tell the GoPro that I’d attached the Max lens mod. All the footage was unusable. So annoyed with myself. Yes, what a plonker! You would think I be able to get things right by now. Back soon.
Copyright ©2023 Gary Buckham. All rights reserved.
