What did you do in the West End Festival, Daddy?

Well there was "Who Stole My Sausage", a play for dogs. Held outside in Dowanhill park, the performance I was at had a cast of three and at least 20 dogs in attendance, or something like it. Merlin was rivetted.

The Scottish Toy Orkestra in the beautiful Kibble Palace was a hoot. I finally cracked when the green plastic saxaphone came out, although it was a close-run thing from the moment the post-horn was lifted. The ovation was well deserved, the band leader was pissed.

That was Saturday, give or take competent bar food and an excellent dram Martini at Oran Mor.

Sunday was wet and involved lots of re-arranging of boxes. The spare room is within a couple of hours of being cleared.

Sunday night was a tour of historic Maryhill, starting at Ruchill Church Hall, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and still in daily use by asylum groups, homeless folk, various 12 steppers and toddlers. I hadn't been inside for 38 years...

Then the group toddled off along the canal, with a running commentary on what used to be there. I found out that until I was seven I lived 50 yards from "The Tinderbox" - a chemical factory and a rubber factory flanking a match factory. Aparently it all almost went up during the accidental blitz, targetted in mistake for the Clyde shipyards by the Luftwaffe. If they'd hit, it would have made a firestorm of some magnitude.

Coming back along Maryhill Road I was able to point out the rifle slits in the Wynford Barracks wall, mostly overgrown by trees now, but still there. It was funny doing archeology on my past, but, hell, 40 years is as much distant from here as the 1920's were when I was born.

Festival going continued last night with chamber music at Oran Mor. Two string quartets came together to give us Mendelssons Octet (well, duh) but before that both had their own spots. The first quartet was drawn from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and were great fun. They picked slam-bang pieces, real crowd pleasers, and finished with their "party piece", a burlesque by Piazolla (well, it sounded like that) involving much plucking and percussion. The other, senior, quartet were all players with the SNO, and their playing was much more assured and deep. Unfortunately they chose a piece from Bartok which wasn't so much stark as desolate, and it was touch and go whether I went to the bar for a glass of wine or nipped out and shot myself. The octet was fabulous, though, light, springy, full of the joys - and, no matter what unblinkered says, I'm sure the second violinists are having it away with each other...

"Sometimes even smiling makes my face hurt."

As I mentioned, one of my fillings decided to pop out last night, so I went off to the dentist today to have it fixed. Last time I lived in Glasgow for any length of time I was registered with the Lloyd Jerome Dental Practice and Gallery, a fantastic place which mixed art, performance and dentistry. It's the only place I've ever been offered a glass of wine before my appointment (there was an opening going on). Lloyd headed off to Australia, and handed his practice over to the equally bonkers Dr Ambigai Jayabalan. She runs the same sort of practice (although the decor has gone from Tracey Island to New Orleans bawdy house) and did a thorough x-raying of all and sundry before putting in a temporary replacement filling which is better than most of the permanent ones I've ever had. She told me flatly that a replacement filling would never hold, which was exactly what Lloyd said when he put it in - he agreed to try, rather than go for a crown. She then laid out a proposed course of treatment, all of which seems logical and clinically sound, including a crown for that tooth, a veneer for the one next to it,  two root treatments, and various replacement fillings and clean ups. All very professional, and I'm sure it would be a seven star experience - the down side is the price: not much change from £3,500. I texted my accountant, asking what the chances were of setting it against tax. He texted back that I had two chances - "Nain and Fcuk All."

I'll ask him for a second opinion tomorrow night...

Seven Interests Meme

...except Chickenfeet2003 has already asked me about all but four...

ashton lane



Is just off Byres Road in the West End of Glasgow. When I was at Uni I got off the Underground at Hillhead and walked along the lane on my way up to class. In those days there was the Ubiquitous Chip (then one of Glasgow's top three restaurants, along with Roganos and The Buttery, and now one of the top ten, not because it's got worse, but because others have come along. Then it was a restaurant with a bar on the floor above. Now it has two restaurants, three bars, and a rooftop terrace, all in the one old coach house), the Grosvenor Cinema, a car mechanic, and the Grosvenor Cafe.

Now there are 10 bars, seven restaurants and a cinema. You can't get your 2CV repaired there anymore, though.

townes van zandt

Probably the gran-daddy of the Texas singer-songwriter scene in Austin, and the father of Americana. Also probably one of the greatest songwriters in any genre. If you can, get hold of "Live in the Old Quarter", one of my favourite acoustic albums.

Here's a couple of his fans covering "If I Needed You" and "Pancho and Lefty".

ardrishaig

A little town, a village, really, which grew up along the eastern end of The Crinan Canal. Once upon a time it had a herring fleet, and puffers queued up to take everything from coal to pianos through the canal, passing the spot, just at Lock Number Four, where I have my cottage.

bird's opening

I used to play chess quite seriously. And sometimes I'd play it with a clown mask on for variety. I started playing again a few years ago on line, and I'm probably of "average club-player" strength.  I was always too lazy to do the book work for popular openings like the Sicilian or Ruy Lopez, and liked to play something a bit novel, where I wouldn't be suckered by young turks who did their homework. White's first two moves are Pawn to King's Bishops Four, followed by Knight to King's Bishop three, P-KB4, N-KB3 in English notation, or in algebraic form f4, f3.