There were various drinking sessions and meals to see people before heading away for Christmas - Obi Wan's Birthday, Photo session dinner with Marilyn - but nothing to merit setting aside the time to write some blogs. After Prague, I was pretty much on autopilot until Scotland; ignoring the minging Amsterdam winter and working away.
Now, my tired bones are on a plane to Glasgow. I'm really not in the mood for KLM air travel, and everything seems to be stacked against me. The trams, the automatic checkin, long security queues, kids spewing into sickbags before the plane has left the runway, the plane sitting on the runway for an hour before take off, greetin' weans, long wait for luggage.... you get the picture.
Eventually, I'm greeting my parents in the departure lounge, and I'm back home once more. They bear gifts of Daily records, Irn Bru and decent crisps.
We head into Glasgow for coffee with my brother and catch up on various stories and gossip. It's a new coffeeshop(well new to me) on woodlands road. It's replaced a cafe that was called cafe insomnia, it used to be a common haunt on the way home from clubs on Sauchiehall street, now it is a beanscene coffeeshop, but it's far removed from the small beanscene which I used to frequent on Cresswell lane. It was a small coffeeshop with good music, kind of a grunge version of Starbucks - this one has just become another starbucks. It instantly reminds me one of the differences between home and away. For some reason coffeeshop owners in the UK insist on playing Coldplay as easy listening. The problem is I find it whiney and depressing. Coldplay has it's place, I just keep on hearing the whiney intro to one of the songs - you have to know the one "oh no.... not me...." and thats what I think every time I hear it.
Anyway - that was a bit of a rant, but my take on Glaswegian coffeeshops makes a difference to my take on bars and beers.
After making a few phone calls, I'm heading into town to meet Mowgli and the Similarova sisters. They are eating on a bar on George Square:
Woodlands road to George Square is quite a walk in Glasgow standards, and there are several ways to get there by public transport, but I want to make the 15 minute walk, and see how the cities changed since I was last here.
As always as I walk along Suchiehallstreet, a few of the pubs and clubs have changed hands and changed names, or in the case of the Shack and Trash, they have been completely removed after a fire. The shopping streets are much the same, but it's good to see the Christmas shoppers again - the glasgow patter and the glasgow fashion(or lack of fashion).
Before long, I make it down to George Square. It is full of christmas lights. I remember we always used to take a detour from Christmas shopping as kids to see the Christmas lights:
The troops are in the counting house. It's a Witherspoons pub on George Square:
It's a commercialised bar just like all the other Witherspoons, but they have cheap food and plenty room. The place is really really busy with people having a drink after last minute Christmas shopping. It gives us the chance to catch up on various stories and adventures. Mowgli has only been back from Prague for about 4 days, and he is still getting used to the 400% increase in the price of beer, which coupled with an 800% reduction in flavour makes for a sobering return home.
The day has dissappeared in a haail of mindless conversation. "The boys are back in town" is playing repeatedly in our heads as we head out to the The Space Cadet's flat in Partick via a quick wander down memory lane, or to give it its correct term - Byres Road. I lived her for about 2 years, and it's also the main student street in Glasgow. I could probably walk down it blinfolded(I say this given my experience of walking down it blind drunk):
It's really nice to be back. The place is full of memories, and even just seeing the picturesque university makes me proud to be an allumni(Jesus I sound American):
It is however, a memory that I visit every now and again. I have no wish to return to my student days. I always feel very old and get frustrated with studetns pretty quickly. Maybe its just jelousy, but the wacky, zany comedy and lifestyle grates on you after a while.
Once in Partick, we settle down to relax for a little while, playing various music and cracking open a bottle of red and generally chilling out.
I've spoken to Иine inch Иiña. She's moving house today, and Mowgli and I are going to head along to help her lift stuff. She stays out on Argyll street in the West end. It's basically the other side of Kelvingrove park from the University. There are various memories in this end of town too. There used to be(Maybe still is) a halls of residence callled caircross house. The first of my school mates that went to uni stayed here, so I used to sleep on the floor here in the mid nineties when I went to various concerts and parties. It was my first experience of the student lifestyle when we still got so wired up and excited when we were going to concerts. Maybe it's just that the bands were better in those days.
I've been to so many student parties that this end of glasgow has various flashbacks from house parties I've been to. I can't rememebr who's flat it used to be, or who I was there with for what occasion, but every now and again you look at a door or an intercom buzzer and rememeber stnading there in the cold wondering which flat the party is in with a plastic bag full of warm Tennants lager in your hand.
Ah..... The memories.
Anyway..... We find Иiña's flat and head up the stairs with a box each to be greeted with the now customary bear hug. It's lucky she is wee, cos it would do my back in picking anyone else up in a bear hug for that long. The flat is a very nice West end flat. They all look the same, but this one is nice and cleans and tastefully decorated. The similar lay out of so many fllats plays havoc with your memory when you have been drunk in so many of them.
We settle in and crack open a bottle of Red. Various visitors come and go and eventuallly we are left catching up on life with Иiña and Ms. Diddley(Of Amsterdam red painting fame), tucking into a Curry and showing off photos from our various adventures.
It's a good relaxing night and by 2am Mowlgi and I are asleep on our assigned couches....
I've been back in the country about 12 hours and already spent about 8 hours drinking an socialising. It could be a long two weeks.
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