Busy Times

Added on Monday 10 Nov 2008

Last month my feet hardly touched the ground with lots of celebrations, exhibitions and spending time with my sister, Catherine, here on holiday from Canada. Seems like there's been even more reason than usual for sampling the delights that Glasgow West End has to offer. Catherine and I went along to Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire for her birthday lunch and then had a wee tour of the hotel. The meal was sumptuous and we had the very best window seat - she had been wanting to go there for a long time so glad that she was duly impressed.

Catherine also came along to the Ubiqutious Chip, with the usual suspects,Eleanor, Joan, Jackie, Linda and Maggie to celebrate more birthdays. The Chip remains one of the most attractive restaurants in Glasgow, the food is always lovely and the staff are very friendly. Marie and Dickie were particularly attentive. Fond memories for both Joan and myself as we worked there as waitresses a long time ago when we were students at Glasgow University.

For quite sometime Roy Beers, our drinking and dining expert, has been shouting the praises of Shimla Pinks, the new Indian Bistro on Byres Road, so I went along there for a birthday lunch with my two sons - part of Michael's 40th birthday celebrations. He was dining out with 18 of his friends in the evening so the small, snack portions at Shimla Pinks were ideal. The bistro lived up to the positive picture painted by Roy and he will be pleased to know that the staff had printed out his excellent recommendation from the website. A great place for a quick and tasty lunch - the curry sauce was delicious and the pakora spicy and fresh. Also fantastic smoothies - I could not believe how reasonable it all was.

I met up with Roy at the first year birthday party at Allan Mawn's Pinxto's in Partick, Frances came along with me and we had a lovely evening sampling their delicious tapas. Alan excelled himself in producing an incredible giant paella. with lots of his friends and customers there to enjoy it, including Nancy Smillie, Pat Duffy and his partner, who was great fun, also journalists Tam Shields, Ken Smith and Jack MacLean. Jack MacLean is quite an eye-catching character and I recognised him from Heraghty's bar in the Southside, where Jim and I had been earlier in the week listening to some music.

I'm afraid I had to decline Roy's invitation to celebrate The baby Grand's 21st Birthday Party but at his behest Jim and I went along to try out the Kelvingrove Cafe down at Finnieston. We did not have time to sample the cooking but the menu looks great and could be a good option for Christmas Dinner or Lunch if you are on a budget. Ruth Anne Murphy, the lovely Irish waitress is an absolute charmer.

Ann and I enjoyed a chat with two other charming youngsters, Peter and Chris, who work in Atrio on Byres Road. They were kind enough to let us order something off menu and then we left with a little gift of some amazing fairy cakes topped with brambles. Will definitely be calling back in.

I caught up with Ian Mitchell in our old favourite Antipasti. Ian's latest piece of writing is about The Garngad, or Royston, so I was very interested as I worked there for seven years when I managed the Rosemount Project. Great folk there - I've got a very soft spot in my heart for them so enjoyed a chat about the area over some coffee and bruschetta.

I also had some superb danesi coffee at Fotobareesta along at Woodlands Road. Always a great location for some window shopping, I spotted lots of bargains in the antique and reproduction shops and some really lovely jewellery in the Annan Gallery - I know I should be admiring the art! Something else that caught my eye was a djembe drum, and I could not resist it.

Percussion has been a major topic in our house lately and now my chicken shaker and tambourine have a new companion. My earlier drumming career was curtailed due to a series of injuries (clumsiness), apart from this major setback, I was always happiest performing drum solos. However, there have been some changes around our house with ever increasing music making activity as Jim now writes his songs at home, rather than at rehearsals with the band, and he is inclined to engage me in this process.

It's very enjoyable and we've been seeing more of some old friends also joining Jim in creating music. Especially good to see more of Graham MacIntosh and Robert Ruthven - in fact as I recall my old drum kit was passed onto Robert's band The Creeping Charlies.

Jim's also had some assistance from the amazing vocalist, Mick West, who has just been nominated in the category of Scottish Traditional Singer of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards 2008. Mick is the founder of the Partick Folk Club, now meeting at St Peter's Church Hall, on the last Friday of every month. We went along last Friday and we had a great night out with an assortment of local talent, including Jim, joining Mick in providing excellent entertainment. Everyone had their feet tapping to top of the bill bluegrass band The Moonshiners - the soup and pastries were pretty enjoyable too. Jim has written all about it on his myspace blog.

I'm too busy to go along to all of his gigs but we had a very good time when we went along to Brel, where Jim played along with Graham and some lovely fellas in the band Southern Tenant Folk Union. Val, Issi and Davy, Frances, Gillian and Catherine all came along and we met up with some very friendly music lovers from Italy, Spain and Australia.

We also enjoyed catching up with Aidan MacEoin, our favourite poet, at Tchai Ovna, where he was on the bill with the very talented Scott MacDonald. Also good to finally meet Jenny Soep, whose art work I have shown on the website on more than one occasion. Now off on a trip around the Highlands and Islands, it was nice to have her around to serve us some Fairy Tea.

Then we went back to The Place in Milngavie with Jim's mum and dad - it's their favourite folk club. Jim joined Erne Parkin, Mike Simons and The City Sinners, in providing the evening's entertainment.

Despite all this recent folk club experience, after 40 odd years in 'rock chick' mode my transition to 'folkie' has not been entirely smooth. For example, I was a bit thrown when we went along to the Perthshire Amber Festival to find the spectators at the Open Stage Event in Pitlochry Theatre engrossed in knitting. Very ethical and altruistic approach from Dougie MacLean and his family, who organised this charitable activity, but I fear my mutli-tasking skills will never extend to knitting, listening, watching and clapping the performers all at the same time.

However, these difficulties could have been exaggerated because it took us hours to find the venue, albeit, wandering off the track is not unusual for us. All in all our journey to Pitlochry was pretty spectacular as not only did we meander along many highways and bi-ways amid glorious Autumn colours but never before have we seen so many rainbows in one day.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed our day at the Festival, good to run into the irrepresible Trish Santer and her friedn Tracey. I particularly enjoyed the performances of Gina MacLeod and Eliza Lynn and Jim was delighted that people were asking to buy his CD. He'll soon be able to oblige.

We also got lost on our way back, when we went to visit my sister's inlaws in Peebles and found ourselves heading for the Borders instead of Glasgow. Ryan found it very exciting and by the time we got back on the M8 he had us all convinced that there were, in fact, 'ogres in the woods because it was dark'.

Back in the West End, I've had some very pleasant outings including meeting my brother Liam and Nicky for lunch in Heart Buchanan, where we had some great soup and sandwiches. I enjoyed hearing them chat enthusiastically about their new health related ventures including Nicky's salsa-exercise. Sounds like something Val would enjoy so maybe we will pop up at Nicky's classes. I also met Boo Hewerdine in Heart Buchanan and had a chat with him about his amazing career as a singer/songwriter. We saw him perform in the Old Fruitmarket at a great concert with Kris Drever, Heidi Talbot and John McCusker. I wrote a wee blog about it on myspace

Heart Buchanan seems to be the happening place as we also bumped into David Howat there, fresh back from his travels in the South of France. After a wee chat with him Jim and I had a very pleasant afternoon wandering through the Botanics and popped into the greenhouses to get a heat and admire the fabulous fuchsia. Then I investigated some of the shops on Queen Margaret Drive. I've not been along there for ages but had a thoroughly enjoyable browse in the great little range of shops on that stretch. E & A, the two very creative art school graduates, who had their first shop at Ruthven Mews, are now located at Queen Margaret drive. They have some really unusual jewellery and I picked up some very arty cameos for Christmas presents. If you are on the lookout for something amazing and very unusual then worth checking out their creations.

Then there's also Zico's, who have some very natty attire. Lots of very wearable casual clothes and super glam dresses and coats plus their one-of men's retro t-shirts. You can catch their fashion show in Bar Buddha, Cresswell Lane, 2nd December from 7 p.m. -9 p.m. Also watch out for the gorgeous new tea room, The Mannequin, the cakes look amazing. It's almost next door to that old favourite North Star. I also popped into K1Yarns and picked up some lovely black cashmere wool to crochet Issia hat as she took a bit of a yen for mine when we were in Colonsay.

Jim and I have been having a few outdoor outings, mainly getting the allotment into some shape, but we also took Ryan and Caitlin along to the Bigman Canal Festival at Maryhill. They had a great time, listening to storytelling in a tent with a fire and investigating some of the boats. We also caught a smashing concert with Tam Whyte and some young Bollywood Dancers.(You can see some of the photographs in Jim's photodiary). Maryhill continues to have a place of prominence on the website with and the feature Unlocking Maryhill attracting hundreds of comments.

Further West and also situated on the canal, Catherine and I met up with some friends at The Ettrick in Old Kilpatrick. Maureen O'Neill, Maureen Templeman, Ann Anderson and Morag McAulay all popped in to say hello, when we went down to the village for a meal and a drink. It was very good fun and the Chicken Ballantyne was super tasty.

I've been hanging out in my usual West End Haunts at Rio's, Sonny & Vito's and on occasion keeping Jim company in his favourites, Offshore and Tinderbox, also met up with Frances Rickus and some of her friends at The Atrium, when I was waiting for my sister to accompany me to The Western Baths. I am still enthralled by that place and feel history washing over me as I swim up and down the pool - my maximum so far is 24 lengths. Although I'm more pushed to stop by time rather than exhaustion so maybe if I can free up more space I can increase the distance covered. Still not had a go on the trapeze!

I'll need to check out their Aqua Aerobics as I always find that great fun but usually Val chums me along so need to check whether it is open to non-members. Mind you, I've been back down to Scotstoun now that the pool has re-opened and one morning at the crack of dawn I went along with Jim. I can't see that happening on a daily basis, despite the fact that, apart from the exercise,you do gain a feeling of great virtue when venturing forth so early in the morning.

Other outings this month have included a trip down to John Gilmour's Photography Exhibition at The Hidden Lane, where I eventually met up with Stephanie Spindler, who organises the exhibitions. We've been corresponding for a long, long time now but never met before. I didn't realise that she was American and for some reason she thought that I was Canadian!

Great turnout for John's super exhibition, and I had a brief chat with the photographer Robert Burns, whom I know from the Glasgow Group and also a fascinating discussion about historical television programmes with Michael McEvoy, who works for Scottish Television. Very enjoyable event so looks as though The Hidden Lane will be the choice of location to launch Jim's CD on 12th December.

I'm looking forward to Christmas and in particular to the return of young friends now off spreading their wings. Looking forward to hearing all about Cornell University from Michael Bowes and how Luisa Venditozzi compares living in Paris to Milan. Will also be great to see Kerry Wilson and hear how she is liking London. Reminds me of my own youth and the excitement in setting off for 'the Big Smoke'.

Back in the West End there is already a bit of festivity in the air and the shops are starting to spruce themselves up in preparation for Christmas. I've been having a peep into a few of my favourites including Hilly and Boo's on Hyndland Road and Pink Poodle down on Byres Road. I also had a browse around Damselfly on Great Western Road, perfect for both crafts and gifts. I've added a new feature on the much talked about boutique, Doll on Park Road, Kelvinbridge and busy working on another for Carpet Monkeys also Park Road. Another new shop has popped up selling nice smelly stuff - Purdie's on Great Western Road next to Mellis' the cheesemonger. I've just seen it from the bus so need to check it out.

Also near Kelvinbridge - if you get a chance you should pop into Recoat Gallery, 323 North Woodside Road. Very interesting exhibitions and super designer jewellery and clothes to buy. I had a lovely outing there with Rena, Melanie and Val and it was great bumping into Lala from Great Western Auctions (one of my old neighbours). Amy Whiten, one of the young gallery owners, whose own illustrations were exhibited gave a particularly informative talk about The Front Row Exhibition and it looks as though their 14th exhibition The Holiday Special, which starts on the 10th November, will be equally successful.

Lots of new stuff on the site including Christmas Menus for you to peruse.

You'll also find:

Big welcome back to Barry Paton in Rural France - and don't forget to see What's On

Off to see if the firework displays are still going on - we're going to miss them when they stop. One night they were amazing and we could see four different displays lighting up the skies all at the same time. Should happen every week-end!

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