A Good Week Away

I need to blog about the fab time I had in Glasgow before I forget all about it. Sadly, although I dragged my camera all the way there I neglected to take any photos so this will be  picturless post.

Of course before I ever got to Glasgow the OH and I were in Inverness for the Scottish Opera Tosca which I have to report was every bit as good as all the 5* reviews said it was. It's an old production, but not one we've seen before so we were happy to catch it.I did remark, later in the week upon the number of welsh singers there were on stage but as someone said 'they do make good singers in Wales'. Which can't be denied. 

Sunday morning after Tosca we went our separate ways; the OH came back to his island paradise and I caught a train to Glasgow where I was met by son no 2 and we decamped to the Gourmet Burger Company where we ate and I had, for the second time this year, one of their glorious vodka elderflower cocktails. I was not quite in so much need of it as I was when I had one earlier in the summer, but it still went down a treat. 

I'd arranged to do one thing a day while I was in the city, which sounds perhaps a bit restrictive but  I know of old that that is really all I can manage. So Monday I went to a talk given by an American academic about the reasons why Outlander might be so popular in the US. Quite interesting, especially as diaspora culture is a bit of an interest of mine. 

Tuesday I met up with the man from Glasgow University who edited the complete poems of GCH, published back in 2000; without the work he did on that I could never have attempted my own thesis and he has taken a helpful interest in that since the very beginning. I had discovered, on the way to my talk on Monday night, a churros and ice cream café on the Great Western Road, so we met up there and had a lovely long chat. He also gave me a very precious gift of which more later, possibly sometime next year. 

Wednesday I went to the Yarn Cake to meet my Ravelry friend A; it's been a while since we managed to meet up as she hasn't been at all well. In fact she wasn't 100% that week either and I'm very grateful to her for making the effort to come out and see me. Amazingly enough I bought no yarn there at all, but possibly because it was busy and so difficult to get to the shelves.

Thursday I met up with my Stirling/Edinburgh based friends, but they came over to Glasgow and we started off proceedings by going to Oran Mor for one of their  famous A Play, A Pie and A Pint series, which is exactly what it says on the tin. You pay £15, and in exchange you get a pint of beer, cider or a soft drink, a pie or a slice of quiche, and a ticket for a play of about 45/50 minutes in length. None of us had ever been before, although I am forever telling son no. 2 that he should go there regularly and 'network'. The play we saw was by Alan Bissett, and was an interesting take on the nature of prejudice and expectation, although I thought it took too melodramatic a turn towards the end. Never mind, it was good and the acting was of a very high standard. I'd go again, and it would be easier having been once before. Oran Mor has some fantastic murals painted by the Scottish artist and writer Alasdair Gray but sadly access to them was not available the  day we were there. I should go back and look at them another time. In fact I should find out more about Alasdair Gray full stop. After the play we took ourselves off to a very nice café on Byres Road for tea and cake before rounding off the day with our customary trawl through  a few charity shops. 

And finishing the week on Friday I was entertained at Scottish Opera HQ as well as browsing round a few shops in the city centre without buying anything much. A Christmas shopping opportunity squandered, but I couldn't drum up the enthusiasm, especially as I was going to have to carry anything I bought back with me. On the upside I walked for miles that day, and in fact most others, and I also expanded my knowledge of the Glasgow bus service and both these were Good Things to do. 

On Saturday I returned to Orkney which was the usual long and tedious trip; got up at 8 am, left flat at 9 am, caught two trains and a ferry and got back to Orkney, exhausted,  at 11pm. I had planned to break up the ferry trip by buying a ticket for the on-board cinema but the choice of films was Downton or Toy Story 4. Since neither of these appealed I just had to read my Kindle, but there is no disguising that it is a very very tedious trip and possibly another time I should just bite the expensive bullet that is the price of a flight and get back here in 4 hours rather than 14. It's something to think about.