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

Wilko Johnson Farewell Tour pics

Hectic weekend

People who know can tell you I love music, especially seeing bands live.  Problem is, the older I get, although I still love going to gigs, I just get knackered, so I'm totally shattered after this past weekend.
It went something like this.

Saturday - karate class, rush home, shower, change, grab a bite to eat, grab guitar and head into town for guitar lesson.  THEN, rush down to the Merchant City to a friends house, to leave the guitar with him, as both of us head back into town to go and see Wilko Johnson on his farewell tour - Wilko is dying of pancreatic cancer, has months to live, and is refusing treatment which will only extend his life by 2 to 3 months, so that he can do what really is, a farewell tour.
And what a gig.  It was fantastic, but also very emotional.  Here's a guy who dying, but you'd never know it to look at him charging round the stage.

Sunday - bit of a lie in, then down to Silverburn for some shopping (hey, we need to eat), before heading back into town to see Dan Reed.  Again, another sterling performance.

Then home to collapse and try and get some sleep.

I've got some photos from both gigs, that I'll put up in seperate posts.

Guitar lessons update

So that's me had four lessons so far, and I've got further in those four weeks, than I have in the last (almost) year, of footering about on my own.

In the four weeks I've learned the pentatonic scale, some finger exercises, some strum pattern exercises, and at the last lesson, we went over one song to strum (Candy by Paulo Nutini), and three to pick, Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes, Everbody Hurts by R.E.M. and Sunshine of your Love by Cream.
I've mainly been practising the Paulo Nutini song - because it's a weird strum pattern (well to me it is) - and Sunshine, not because it's a favourite song - I'm not a great Cream fan - but because it's the one giving me the most trouble, and that's annoying me.

So anyway, progress is being made despite my frustrations with Cream, so I'm pretty much a happy camper.