Just returned from a long weekend in Glasgow. Very nice city centre; City of Culture a few years ago. Did an open top tour bus around the sights. Ok, not that many of sights really – a few museums and art galleries, a bunch of universities and lots of churches and pubs. Huge selection of shops in the Buchanan Galleries and the St Enoch shopping centre. Oh, and the last remaining “tardis” style police boxes in the UK – this one I saw in Buchanan Street (picture to follow).
Spent part of Monday afternoon (whilst avoiding a downpour of biblical proportions) in the Gallery of Modern Art. Some nice exhibits and some utter tat. But the common theme was the staggeringly pretentious write-ups each piece had. For example, one piece allegedly “alludes to our own nature constantly moving between the two states of lightness and darkness. An artist is someone capable of unveiling the invisible, not a producer of objects.” And in this case a producer of conceptual bullshit!
Yesterday, we decided to venture to the Science Centre. Asked in the hotel’s reception how to get there. “Get the number 40 bus from just around the corner.” The number 40 bus duly pulls up, a Glaswegian version of a Shamrock Shoppa. “Does this bus go to the Science Centre?” I asked. “Aye.”
And so the journey through hell began. Our £1.20 single bought us a trip through every council estate in the Glasgow area, and East Dumbarton too. The driver was clearly multiskilled, as he was able to have one eye on text-messaging and one on counting his change whilst barrelling down the road. In fairness, he only ran two red lights, probably due to having his baseball cap pulled down over his all-seeing third eye.
After almost an hour we arrive at Clybebank bus station, having never been nearer the Science Centre than when we got on the bus. A six stop train journey back towards Glasgow got us to the Science Centre eventually – about an hour and a half after we set off. The return journey by train into Glasgow was under 10 minutes.
On the plus side though, we saw parts of Glasgow that the tour bus didn’t take us to.
Interesting fact of the week that may interest only me
The Gorbals district in Glasgow was originally a leper colony. The lepers were allowed into the city on market day provided they rang a bell to warn others. These bells became known as the gory bells, and over time the area they lived in became the Gorybells or Gorbals. Bet you didn’t know that.
Travel Notes
Enjoyable: Flights from Cardiff to Glasgow on bmi baby were just 99p each way. Taxes pushed the total up to £60 for the two of us.
There were 16 staff on the security checkpoint in Cardiff Airport. One of the good things about travelling through provincial airports is that there aren’t the queues at check-in and security that you can find at Heathrow and Gatwick.
Aggravating: On-site car parking is a bit of a reach when it’s a 20 minute walk from the car to the terminal.
Restaurant Review
The Willow Tearooms are famous for being redesigned by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the early 1900s. The tea room in Buchanan Street is a reproduction of the original in Sauchiehall Street nearby. Populated largely by ladies who lunch, it’s a great spot from which to watch the Glaswegians. Apple Pie and coffee were the order of the day, and they went down a treat, accompanied by a Times crossword (T2 rather than the nasty cryptic version).
Rugby Notes
It’s a draw! Ebbw drew 23-23 with Neath on Saturday. They were champions last year and by far the best team in the league, so we would have taken the draw at the start of the game. We definitely would have settled for a point after going in 17-6 down.
Second half was far better, and our constant pressurising paid off. We led 23-20 into the last minute of the game. Kicking game was an improvement too.
Scorers: 2 tries for Andrew Bevan, both converted by Sam Mills who also added 3 penalties.
Highlight: Chunky had a blinding game in the loose, and new boy Matt Jess showed well on the wing. Young scrum half Tom Edwards was the Western Mail’s man of the match.
Lowlight: Surprisingly, a couple of line-outs lost on our own throw late in the game, the last of which could have cost us the game.
Cricket Notes
Crofty’s gone. Robert Croft has resigned as captain of Glamorgan. David Hemp will replace him for the rest of the season (what there is of it) and presumably will be Glamorgan’s full-time captain for next season too.
Its bizarre that as Crofty has had his best season as a bowler for many years (he’s generally been regarded as the best off-spinner in “English” cricket this year) so his ability to motivate the side has completely disappeared. OK, he hasn’t had a pretty average team to run this year, but sometimes he appears completely disinterested.
Worryingly, there’s talk that Glamorgan may not be investing in overseas players next year as their cash goes into the ground redevelopment for the 2008 season. It looks like the 2007 season could be a write-off.
This week’s sign of the apocalypse
Went shopping in my local Tesco the other night, when I came across an aisle full of… Christmas puddings! Yes, there are less than 100 shopping days to Christmas. Quick, go buy your turkey now!
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