More fun with mum and dad, this time on a very damp and miserable day we took a drive up into the Trossachs for a trip on the Loch Katrine steamer.

It was a beautiful craft, and great scenery even if we were cooped up indoors for most of the trip.

We treated ourselves to a long lesiurely lunch at the delightful Inn at Kippen once we had finished. Where the food was generally fantastic and the atmosphere perfect for a rainy afternoon.

FORK Autumn Safari

Way back last autumn I had a fun day with the Friends of the River Kelvin (with whom I am now a fully paid up memeber), canoeing on Loch Lomond. I had originally signed up for a decent of the River Kelvin itself, unfortunately it was postponed – hopefully we will get a chance to complete it one day.

A full report on the day is on the FORK website here.

We are just back from checking out on of the newest editions to Glasgow’s dining scene – a pan African ‘cabaret’ number called Camflava, tucked discretely in the Pollockshaws area of the south side.

While they are still finding their feet a little, and there wasn’t any cabaret to be seen, the food was fantastic and the staff very enthusiastic.The place did suffer from the usual Glasgow bugbear of being far too large and I suspect unless it is packed to the gills it will always feel a little souless.

On to the food, with our household of 3+1 all in attendance we shared fried plantain, ribs and chicken wings for starters which were all delicious. The main courses that followed were equally as good. Pete’s Black Bean & Pumpkin stew was thankfully tasty as it was the only vegetarian main on the menu. The rest of us tucked into grilled fish, a great chicken casserole type dish and the intriguing Ndolé – a beef dish made using shrimp paste and bitter leaves that was certainly an acquired taste!

Glasgow seems to be experiencing a mini boom in African cuisine (about time) with an Abyssian restaurant called the Queen of Sheba soon to be opening next door to our favourite haunt Asia Style.

Mum and Dad had a suitably impressive introduction to Glasgow with Doors Open Day being held just after they arrived. We arranged a leisurely wander into town popping into series of ever more impressive historic buildings and churches culminating in the absolutely phenomenal City Chambers. If find it difficult to believe that hadn’t discovered this totally over the top edifice  before – especially as we work just around the corner. It is full of stone and marble lining and the grand ballroom has the dimensions of an aircraft hanger with vast murals and gilt everywhere. It is a truly impressive building and gives an insight into the astounding wealth that Glasgow once possessed.

Mum & Dad came to visit through Spetember. After a couple of weeks with my aunt & uncle in Lyon we met them in Paris, where gorgeous weather let us explore all the highlights, Eiffel Tower, Louvre (outside at least) Notre Dame, Monmartre and the Sacre Coure.

Catching the eurostar we moved on to London for a couple of days where some decidedly British eather kept us a little housbound (luckily we were staying in a spacious modernist gem of an apartment in Bloomsbury so all was not lost).

M&D provided an excuse to do all the tourist things we would never dream of in our usual east-end hipster type jaunts to the capital. Dad and Tim went up the London eye, we saw the crown jewels at the Tower of London and said g’day to Liz at Buckingham Palace. We also managed to catch up with Touch and meet Analise her new super-cute baby and have a birthday dinner for me to catch up with all the Glasgow expatriates of the credit crunch!

Having squeezed all of that in we were suitably exhausted by the time we collapsed onto the East Coat mainline for the scenic ride back to Glasgow.

tourist highlights that wouldn’t have done otherwise

The Return of Ulysses

We managed to squeeze in quite a few trips to Edinburgh to catch the festival action this year. A lot of our interest centred on the visual arts, including a visit to the newly opened though somewhat underwhelming Jupiter Artland.

The highlight was a performance by the Royal Ballet of Flanders of Return of Ulysses which was mesmerizing, powerful yet stark. Scottish enfant terrible Michael Clark’s New Work – was suitably mad yet lack coherence and felt forced and overly stylised.

As per usual most fringe acts didn’t seem worth the entry price although Kristen Schaal of Flight of the Conchords fame was quite entertaining!

sheffield wednesday vs barsnley

Late in summer we had a taste of Yorkshire sporting action (and an introduction to real ale) with a weekend down in England. On teh Saturday we watched our friend James’ team Sheffield Wednesday succumb to Barnsley in the Championship before seeing Australia wrap up the Headingly test in Leeds on the Sunday while Chhay toured the modernist edifices of post-industrial Sheffield.

Interspersed was an intense game of backyard cricket at James’ parents place in Derbyshire where the wildly swinging gaffer taped tennis ball was introduce to much acclaim!

headingly ashes test

monotonix

A couple of comments on gigs we attended at stereo in August.

First up was a bit of a punt on Crystal Stilts with Veronica Falls in support. They were actually a bit crap, quite messy and not as good as their studio work – cool brooklyn kids who weren’t that interested.

A couple of days later, in a vindicated a spur of the moment decision we went to see Israeli punks Monotonix. They were totally mental and it was absolute madness madness with four hairy sweaty guys in speedos traipsing all over the venue, playing on the bar, getting audience members to support their drum kit and stool above their heads while they played! As well as (or perhaps in spite of) their great show they also happened to be good musicians.

monotonix at setreo

Ullswater from Side Farm

The annual mountain goats weekender headed south this year to Ullswater in the lakes district. The campsite was the incredibly located Side Farm with amazing views across the lake (Above).

Eschewing the energetic hill walks or mountain biking expeditions to nearby Helvellyn Chhay & I opted instead for a more lesiurely sail on the lake in true Swallows & Amazon’s style.

Sailing on Ullswater

Miserable weather on the Sunday kept us to a short lakeside walk before a languid afternnon tea in nearby Pooley Bridge. Oswald proved very popular with the kids who claimed him as their castle during the days.

We dragged a bunch of our mates along to The Luckmiths farewell gig at Stereo. Chhay met up with them before the gig (they were pretty impressed with Stereo’s location right next to Central station and tasty selection of vegan food) before we headed down to catch the very twee supports.

Their set included all the classics and their typical high quality banter – they left our friends suitably impressed and a little sad that this was the only time that they would see them.

Chhay & I really appreciated the chance to see them before they disband, I think the Australian shows would have been amazing.  See if you can spot us in the photo below!