Glasgow bike week

It's Bike Week in Glasgow.  This is a council run initiative to get people on their bikes.  Every year during bike week, they set up a gazebo on the Broomielaw on one morning, and hand out free breakfasts to people on bikes.  Today was that day.
Unfortunately for me, I passed at 0710 and they were still setting up.  The free food didn't start till 0730.
Ah well, never mind.  I did get a quick chat with a friend Collin, who's involved with the council on the cycling side of things, and we've arranged to do lunch on Friday, so it's all good.

Power cuts and days off.

On Wednesday, we all got sent home from work early, as there had been a fire in a sub station, and all the power in the work went out.
The next day the place was still closed, so there was an unplanned day off. So, I jumped on the bike and cycled through Pollok Estate towards Shawlands, with the idea of grabbing some breakfast there before heading home.  That's when I got a text from a mate from work saying that there was a couple of folk who didn't know the place was closed and had turned up, and they were in a bar in the town, so I changed plans, and headed into town, and had breakfast in the bar with them before heading back home.

Breakfast in Alfredo's

When Karen got home from work at lunchtime, we decided to head to Hill House in Helensburgh.  It's a house designed by Charles Rennie Macintosh, and it's one of the National Trust for Scotland properties.  I'm not a fan of Macintosh, but it's a really nice house.  Well worth a visit if you're in the area.

Hill House in Helensburgh

On Friday, we headed to Callander to do a wee walk from Callander to the Falls of Leny.

When we set off from the car park, it was a bit overcast, but all the way to the Falls, it was pretty nice.  The route follows a cycle path, and ahead of you, Ben Ledi looms in the distance.

Eventually, you come to a concrete seat, and to the right is a little path leading down to the falls.

Falls of Leny

On the way back we followed a wee path through the woods, along the side of the river.  Eventually this lead back to the cycle path, and back to the carpark, where, it started raining just as we got to the car.  Fortunately it didn't last long, and we had a wee wander round the town before heading back to the car with a bag of chips.  Once again, just as we got there, the heavens opened, and we sat eating chips and waiting to see if it would clear up.

When it became obvious that it wouldn't, we just headed back to Glasgow.

All in all a good day, despite the rain.

Good weekend

That was a pretty good weekend.

On Saturday, we headed to Drymen to do a 7 mile walk along forest trails.  When we arrived, we discovered the Drymen Gala was taking place, so we hung about till the parade had passed and got some pics before carrying on with the walk.

Pipe band playing in the Drymen Gala day parade

Initially the walk was through some really nice countryside, and there was some decent views of Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond

Unfortunately there had been some pretty major logging taking place, so the path we were supposed to be following was blocked by fallen trees.  This meant we had to take another path, which took us further up the hill that we should have gone, meaning we met the West Highland Way earlier than we should have.  The logging at this point meant that there was pretty much no forest at all, just acres of tree stumps, which doesn't make for much in the way of scenery.

A forest once stood here.

Further along the Way, we got back into some nice wooded areas, and as we approached Drymen again, it got really nice.

Giving the scenery the thumbs up

Back in Drymen, and it was time to relax in the beer garden of the Drymen Inn, with a well earned pint.

At that point in time, this was the best tasting pint ever.

For those of a geeky persuasion, there's a link to the walk here.

Non-genre reading

I'm struggling to read any genre books at the moment (Song of Fire and Ice aside).  I'm just not in the zone at the moment, and can't face SF/F/Horror.  So, the current reading material is I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive by Steve Earle.
I've previously read his book of short stories - Doghouse Roses - which I can highly recommend.  Especially the tale of the witness to an execution.  That is one hell of a story.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get out of the rut and back to normal, but for the moment, it's non-genre all the way.

New bike gear

Got myself a pair of Endura Hummvee 3/4 bike shorts yesterday.  OK they were £49.00, BUT, that's equivalent to a month's rail travel, so after getting back on the bike for a month, they'll have paid for themselves.
Also, they're reinforced, so won't wear out the same way the cut-down combats I usually cycle in, do. The constant rubbing against the saddle eventually takes it's toll.  These should last a good bit longer.

Weekend stuff

Saturday karate was pretty good, although the warm-up included bunny hops, and damn if my legs aren't stiff now.  It's definately worked muscles that don't normally get such a hard workout, so that's all to the good.

On Saturday night, the friends who had looked after one of the cats while we were in Jordan were over.  I've not drunk that much in a long time, and I've certainly not seen 3.00am with a beer in my hand for a good few years.  I *may* have been a little tipsy.

On Sunday, we headed over to Cafe Byblos for lunch.  We'd forgotten that the West End Festival was on, so finding a parking space was fun, but soon we were in and having some really nice Lebanese food.
While we were having lunch we got a text from a friend asking if we fancied meeting up for a drink! So, an hour later, I was topping up from the night before.

I posted on FB about not being 20 any more, and got a real slagging from friends saying it did no harm now and again, and that I was sounding like a pensioner, and to get a grip :-)

So yeah, that was a fun weekend.

Normal service has been resumed.

So, just almost two weeks since we got back from Jordan, and it's starting to feel like we were never away.
I'm starting to re-evaluate things.  I like travelling, but I've accumulated a shitload of stuff.  Some of it needs to go.
I need to cut back on the spending as well, as I really want to spend more time abroad.  It's a big world out there, and you only have a limited time to see as much of it as you can, and that means cutting out buying crap, and squirrelling away money for the next trip.

It's not going to be easy, especially as I've still got to pay for the one we're just been on, but it's doable if I put my mind to it.

Media fuelled backlash

So, after yesterday's atrocity in Woolwich, there's been the  usual media frenzy about "Muslim" exteremists, and then the inevitable self rightous bigots have crawed out of the gutter to mouth off about how they're "not going to take it any more".

Going by the footage in these reports, the EDL members are so proud of their "partiotism" that they have to hide behind balaclavas.

Unfortunately the media helps to fuel these bigots.  These people don't get it.  A nutter out to kill someone is a nutter out to kill someone. The race/religion is irrelevant.  If I suddenly went on killing spree, would it be reported as "Christain extremist goes on killing spree" ?  In all probability, no.  And that's where the media has to shoulder some of the blame for the EDL and it's ilk getting worked up about Muslims (although, let's be honest, they'd get worked up about Muslims regardless, but the media fuelling the flames doesn't help).

The guy that was involved that spoke and got someone to film him with their smartphone, may have been going on about "....in our land..."  but hang on, that's one hell of a London accent he's got.  So, he's from London, so where is "our land" that he's talking about, because, sorry pal but you sound English to me.  He's obviously deranged.  But that doesn't mean Islam is to blame, it simply means HE is to blame.

To hate someone for the religion they follow or the colour of their skin is nonsensical.  Blame the individual for his actions, don't blame an entire ethnic group that he may belong to.  That makes no sense whatsover, and just helps the circle of violence to continue.

Funny encounter in Jordan

Juice seller in Amman (while squeezing me an orange juice) - "Where are you from?"
Me - "Scotland"
Him (looking me up and down) - "Where is your skirt?"

Normal service has been resumed

Got back from Jordan to a ton of emails and a veritble shitload of work.  Ah well, roll on the bank holiday on Monday.

*sigh*

Solid ball of rock

Went to see Saxon last night at the ABC.  Support was from the Quireboys, another band I love, and Redline, who I'd never heard before, but were pretty good, and I'd probably go and see again.

The Quireboys were up to their usual highly entertaining standard, and played a blinder of a set.

Spike and the Quireboys rocking the ABC

Then it was time for the main event.  From the off, it was a blinding set.  Biff announced that he hoped no-one was tired, as he fancied playing for two hours.  And that's exactly what they did.  At the end, he pointed at his watch as if to say "See, told you!".  

It was an absolute stormer of a set.  There was a fair few songs from the new album, which I've not heard yet, but they sounded great, and stood up really well next to the old favourites.

meh

In a bit of a downer at the moment.  Not depressed, just basically can't be arsed.
I think work is to blame.  There's samplers that I need to make for a project, and they need to be ready for May/June.  Now I've ordered in the parts I need, but there's stuff that we can't buy from approved suppliers, and that has to be bought using the project credit card, which I don't hold.
This has been dragging on since Christmas.  I need one part to build a prototype, and I've just been told, if it doesn't work, then we'll have to think about some other way of sampling.

Fine.

Except.  I'm on holiday for two weeks in May.  This was booked before I was asked to make the samplers. They know I'm going away.  So, basically, if they don't get their fingers out, they aren't going to get their samplers.

End of.

Why is this making me meh?  Well, I really enjoy working on this, and it's just frustrating that it's other people holding things up.

I'd scream, but I can't muster the energy.

1984, are we currently living it?

Just a quick thought on the current situation regarding the policing of the upcoming (it's NOT a state) funeral for Thatcher.

In the run up to the funeral, there will apparently be dawn raids on the homes of known protesters, to make sure they don't disrupt the funeral.  Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?  Actions like this are verging on thoughtcrime.  Is it getting to the stage where having a point of view that differs from the ruling elite's is bordering on a criminal offence?

Thatcher - Dividing the country even in death

Yesterday former UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher died in her bed in a room at the Ritz hotel in London, where she had been living for some time.  She was 87.

During her 11 years in power, she managed to divide the country, with her supporters proclaiming her as the countries savour, while the rest compared her to Satan himself.

You can see the different reactions across the country from the regional headlines, here.

Personally I think her policies were evil.  The underclass that exists today is a direct result of her policies.  The fact that you have to bow down to corporations for your services is a result of her privatisation of everything.  Her mantra was greed is good, society doesn't exist, and you have to look after number 1.

Personally I won't be shedding any tears now that she's gone.  Various city's had impromptu street parties celebrating her demise.  I can understand why they did.

But now the point of this post.  On Facebook and Twitter, when the news broke, there was the same sort of posts that spring up when a celebrity dies.  However tasteless you think that sort of humour is, initially the posts were pretty tame.  Then people started defending her, saying she was a poor lonely 87 year old woman and deserved some respect.

The fall out was horrific.  People who were friends in real life as well as online, were getting torn into each other.
Today I had a look back over my FB feed.  It's like a war zone.  Twitter wasn't much better.
I've seen three people comment that their friends list is shorter today than it was yesterday, as they de-friend people who's posts they found objectionable.

Even in death she's causing division.

The Great Glasgow Transport rip-off

At the moment because of the weather, I'm not cycling to work, and get a train in the mornings.  For the privilege of going 2 stops, twice a day, 5 days a week, I pay £51.50 a month.  Now I can use it at weekends, except, well, there's no trains on my line on a Sunday.

The bus alternative is £52.  Admittedly that covers the whole Glasgow network, which appears to be split into only 2 zones, Glasgow City and Whole Network.  So, for £0.50 more, I get to travel on the whole network, and am not restricted to the days I travel.
The only problem is, despite the city centre having been open for business on a Sunday for about 20 years, we still have the antiquated "Sunday Service".  Now, this was fine when there was no shops open on a Sunday, but apparently shops do more business on a Sunday now than a Saturday, so having a reduced service on a Sunday makes no sense whatsoever.

The last option is the Zonecard.  Now this is provided by SPT and allows travel on buses, trains, underground, and ferry.  Excellent and as you would expect, having more options makes it more expensive.  A lot more.  3 zones (which is what I would need to get to work) is £85.10 for 4 weeks.

There's also the strange situation where the Zonecard has Glasgow split into a hell of a lot of zones, and not just the two that First bus has for the city.  This is sort of fair enough, when you consider that it covers a far wider area than the bus only card, but they use a completely different model.  From my house to the city centre with the Zonecard, is 3 zones.  With the bus card it's 2.

Now, another weird one is this.  Both the trains and the buses are run by First.  I have a 4 week train ticket. The other day my train was cancelled (and so was the next one).  Since there's only 2 an hour, I wasn't prepared to wait an hour to see if the one after that again was running.  First didn't lay on a replacement bus service (something they do when there is heavy snow and the trains can't run), so I jumped on a bus.  Now, even though I've already paid First to get from the town to the house by train, which they can't provide, I have to PAY AGAIN to use the bus to get home.  The bus driver doesn't recognise that my train isn't running and I should be able to travel by bus.  EVEN THOUGH when they recently electrified the line and there were no trains running, we COULD use the train tickets on the buses. It's not rocket science, it's the same company running the trains and the buses.  A ticket to travel should be just that, and the means of travel (bus or train) irrelevant.

I can't be the only one to think this.  Can I?

New guitar class

The guy I've been getting guitar lessons from, told me last week to go to an earlier class, as the people who're in the one I've been going to, have been missing weeks, and I'm the only one who's been to all of them.  The result is that I'm a bit ahead of them, and he thinks I'm being held back.
SO, on Saturday, I did just that.  The group I'm now going to are ahead of me in experience, so I was basically bottom of the class, and came away with what seemed like a huge info-dump to deal with for next week.

The guy taking the class says that IS the right group for me to be learning with, as although I've got some catching up to do, it's taking me out of my comfort zone and pushing me.

Karen thinks it's hilarious, as apparently I'm now practicing with a look of intense concentration on my face, and definitely look like I'm having a hard time of it.  Apparently what I'm struggling with sounds ok to her, but I need to practice practice practice.  Fortunately I enjoy it (or I wouldn't be doing it) so it's not a struggle to pick up the guitar and have a practice, it's more of a struggle to put it down.  Long may that continue.

Comics reading of late.

I hadn't bought any monthly comics for quite a few years, picking up graphic novels instead, but when DC rebooted their titles, I started getting Action Comics: Superman, Detective Comics: Batman, and Swamp Thing.  18 months later it's time for a re-evaluation I think.

Initially, Batman was awesome.  Simply Awesome.  18 months later?  It's still holding my attention, and the stories are still great.  No need to change, it's doing exactly what it should.
Superman however, while having some genuinely interesting twists, is starting to remind me why in my comics buying heyday in the 90's, I steered clear of the costumed crews.  It's getting all a bit silly and childish, and, well, all a bit meh.  While not naff enough to instantly cancel, it's on the subs bench and it's days could be numbered.
Now it's onto Swamp Thing.  Now I discovered old Swampy, back when Alan Moore was doing his thing, and what a wonderful thing it was.  I discovered the character John Constantine, who later got his own title Hellblazer, which I loved.  This time round, despite starting off well, went all cheesey superhero-esque lately,  which is not what I'm looking for.  Swamp Thing is definately getting the heave-ho.  Fortunately the last issue I picked up finished off a story arc, so it's probably a good time to stop.  It's replacement is likely to be Constantine, a new title featuring - you guessed it - John Constantine.  Now as long as the costume crew stay out this title, that's all to the good.  The first issue was pretty good if a bit lightweight.  Not as meaty as the Hellblazer era Constantine, but good enough to engage the interest and make dumping Swamp Thing a viable option.

Winter is coming.

Yeah, so a Game of Thrones quote to herald the fact that on what is the supposed to be the start of spring (the equinox was on Wednesday), we have snow in Glasgow.  Make that horizontal snow, as it's also a bit windy.

Don't get me wrong, I love the snow.  Might just have to think carefully about what we're going to do at the weekend though.

Hendrix was WHAT?!

A guy in work has said that "Hendrix was shit".

He followed it up with "All he did was play guitar."

Wow.  Now, personally, when someone says "Oh you should listen to "So and so", he's an incredible musician", I can differentiate between me not liking the music they play, and the fact that they are superb musicians.  Not liking their music, doesn't make them shit.

A couple of examples.

Frank Zappa.  I just don't get him.  Never have, probably never will.  It's the jazz thing.  I don't do jazz.  Does that diminish the man's talent, just because I don't like what he does?  Hell no.  I happen to think he was probably a bit of a genius.  I just don't enjoy his music.

Steve Vai. Probably one of  THE greatest guitarists alive.  Do I like his music?  No.  (OK there's the odd tune - The Class is Listening, for one, but overall, I wouldn't give him the time of day).
Can I appreciate the playing on a technical level?  Hell yes.

Now this love/hate thing fluctuates over time.  There was a day when I couldn't stand Tom Waits.  Now I really like him.  Admittedly I have to be in the mood to listen to him, but when I am, he's brilliant.

So, to sum it up.  Just because you don't like Hendrix, DOES NOT MEAN HE WAS SHIT.  OK?

Dan Reed - Glasgow, March 2013