I made it to Campbeltown 

I think I was lucky to get out of Glasgow today but the snow was following me to Campbeltown. Up the Lomond side the snow was quite beautiful and when we stopped at Luss the guy that got off the bus stepped into about 5 inches of snow. 

As we continued onto Campbeltown the snow got less and less. We stopped at Inveraray for 10 mins and I got out for a cuppa and a selfie. The wind was bitter.

The scenery is quite spectacular and words just don’t do it justice.

Apologies for the bad quality of the pictures. the windows were filfthy.

I made it!!!

09.30

The beast from the east arrived a little early and so I was very surprised to see the amount of snow that had fallen and looking out over the garden this morning the vortex of snow was having a merry dance creating a winter wonderland.

The world has come to a standstill. The buses are not running from Houston and so the only option I have is to walk to Johnstone and hope that the trains are running to Glasgow.

There’s about 4 or 5 inches of snow and it looks great but it does make it a bit more difficult when walking. It’s easier to walk on the roads.  I have to laugh because there are so many 4 wheel drives roaming about and this should be their playground but instead they crawl along like every other car. No one seems to have the skill to drive in these conditions anymore. 


When we were younger we couldn’t wait to get out in this and play. Find a big car park and skid about. I loved driving the bus in this weather and was only defeated once when I couldn’t make it up Rannoch Road near the Castle. Five times I tried to get up but the wheels started to spin and I slid back down,  but it was great fun trying. 

When I arrived at the station there was a train waiting which was great,  however it had been there for 40 mins.  At 11.20 it started to move and we were on our way. I don’t think we got over 20mph, but we were still heading to Glasgow which was the main thing. 

11.40 arrive Glasgow Central. I have to buy a train ticket because no one selling them on the train.

11.45 I am running through the station as I need to get to Buchanan Street Bus Station. It’s up hill all the way and there is slush and it’s slippy and my backpack is bouncing on my back. 

11.55 I arrive but need to collect my ticket. Why is there a queue?


11.58 I sit my arse on the bus.
12.37 coming into Dumbarton and the blizzard has returned once more but I feel that the bus driver has seen this before and will plough on no matter what.  but I’ll keep you posted.

Calahonda 

A wee stroll up to the mountains to clear the heads of the drinkers. I only had one beer and so I was feeling ok,  but there were a few sore heads in the group.

Myself, Raymund, Brendan and Raymond on the end who is feeling extremely rough after another long night finishing at 3am.

Gone are the days where I can function the next day after a session and so I choose not to drink and to stick to water and maybe one glass of wine. 

I just can not physically drink the amount they can all consume anymore and at times I’m surprised I made it this far in life considering the amount of booze I’ve had since I was 15.

These days I prefer the healthy life style and enjoy it way more than my previous life. I’m looking forward to getting back to China so that I can get back into my routine once more and also to get back to Chinese food.  I like some western food but I think I’ll be the size of a house if I were to stay here any longer.

I woke up in Spain

After a short fight and then a long night in the pub I woke up in Calahonda in Spain on a boys weekend with old friends. 

This was the view room the window this morn. A little bit warmer than home but not much. 

Never been here before but it looks nice although the walk up to the apartment will give you a workout. 

I’m Home……

I went for a wander around the my city today and went to an area called the Merchant City.  Glasgow was built on industry and business and much of the architecture reflects that. 

But I also went on the hunt for some of the giant murals that have been painted on the gable ends and I was looking for one in particular, Billy Connolly. 

But there are plenty more wee gems to find,  you just have to keep your eyes open. 

I’ve only come to the city once so far on this trip and so I’m going to have to make  more of an effort to come back before I leave on a jet plane. Mind you, I’m no sure when that will be……

You can even have a Tardis coffee from the police, where else can you get that? 

Send in the Clowns

I’ve never liked heavy makeup on women and I can always remember many years ago an incident that took place in a nightclub one night in Paisley. I think it was Toledo Junction in New Street in Paisley, Bert and myself and a few others had gone here to have drink and see if we could get a lumber. Bert and I was very different, he looked like he had just stepped off the set of Miami Vice and I had just come from Woodstock. Our taste in women were also very different. I prefer the natural look and Bert liked the glamorous look.

We had had a few drinks and now it was getting to that time of the night where we had to make our move. Now it was always easier if the two of you went up to ask two women, rather than go up yourself and ask one of them because the success rate was very low. And so up we went and I let Bert choose because he had been watching someone else from the Miami Vice movie set.

Bert was wearing his white jacket that he had bought that afternoon, I think it was about £100, which was quite a bit of money back in the 80’s. We both got lucky and so it was time for ” a ration of passion a kiss and a cuddle” as the DJ would say and the slow dance ensued.  As the dance finished and the lights came up instead of the 4 of us leaving together, the girls must have gotten a fright when the lights came up and decided that they would go home alone. And so Bert and I headed home via the hamburger stall in Gilmour street to see if we could find someone that we knew to cadge a lift home. If no one was there we could get a taxi and if we were lucky, watch a fight or two for entertainment. Gilmour Street was a large square outside the train station, but sometimes it felt more like the Coliseum.

It was only after we left the nightclub that we noticed that the girl Bert had been swooning with on the dance floor had left half of her face on his jacket. The muck she had plastered on her face and come off and stained his brand new £100 jacket and he went mental, I showed no sympathy at all and was laughing my head off, I thought it was hilarious. He took it to the dry cleaners but the jacket was never the same. That young girl had left her mark on Bert and his jacket 🙂 🙂

I’ve never been attracted to women that wear make up so thick that it looks like they have a contract with the Blue Circle Cement company. However I am fascinated by the women that do use this company everyday to put on their clown makeup. I’ve lived in China for the last 18 months and the women there don’t seem to use as much make up and when they do they make themselves look whiter, which is in contrast to the west. At the moment, I am in the UK and I have been astounded at the many women that plaster this muck on their faces without due care and attention.

In the west we want to look brown and healthy, thousands of pounds are spent on going to tanning studios to give you the same look as Donald Trump. These girls and women have embraced this strange practice and I would like to know why. Surely if they look in the mirror they will see that their face is not the same colour as their hands and more importantly not the same colour as their neck. In fact there is usually a line that follows the contour of their jaw line and they seem to forget that they have a neck at all. The contrast between natural and makeup would be similar to the contrast between skin and beard.

And the different colours that are used are many and also quite scary looking. Usually girls with blond hair, fake or otherwise will pick up their trowel and proceed to plaster on a bucket load of beige looking face, highlighted by razor sharp eyebrows that you could set your watch by. It’s absolutely amazing and I would love to have some pictures to share with you so that I could give you some examples, but alas in this day and age if I were to go up to ask someone for a picture then I would be accused of something untoward.

But these are stock images off the net,

I would love to go back to university and do a PHD on the study of “Why women think they need to wear so much make up to make themselves look like clowns” By now you will be thinking, ” so what” I’m not criticising these women but I am truly curious why they think that this is a good look. Some women will wear a little make up and it will will give them that glamorous look and I’m not against it after all it’s been done for millennia.

But it just goes to show you the power of the media that makes millions of women think that they have to go through this process everyday or they are not worthy. The pressure of social media and friends make many individuals feel so insecure that they feel that this is the norm. I guess the make up industry has a lot to lose if they don’t perpetuate the myth that this is a necessary part of everyday life. Below is a graph to show the increase in GBP of the Cosmetic Market in the UK up to 2016.


As you can see the sales figures are staggering. This is a big industry and of course you don’t need a graph to realise this. When you go to the High Street there are makeup shops a plenty. You walk into a large department store and you have to run the gauntlet of smells of the make up and perfumes. Now I will say at this time that I have never worn make up and to be honest I could not be bothered to go through this process everyday of my life. When I had long hair I would dry it by sitting in front of a fan heater and it took about 2 mins to do that. I don’t know of anyone else that did that and now I think I had a missed opportunity for a new gadget to flog to the masses. Heater and Hair Drier in one.

In Scotland it rains a lot, what happens to this make up when it rains? Do they need to run for cover and get out of the rain before their face ends up on the floor or is the technology that good that they can walk confidently through the Scottish weather and hold their head up high as Argent used to say.

 

 

Edinburgh day 2

The wonderful interior of the Scottish Museum

This is on the way down to the Grassmarket, which is one of the oldest parts of Edinburgh. Last time I was down here would have been over 30 years ago and I was falling out of a nightclub at some ridiculous time of day.

Me & Greyfriars Bobby.. You have to rub his wee nose for good luck and the good thing is, he disnae complain…..

This wee dog sat by his owners grave for 14 years before he finally joined him.

1

The smallest pub in Scotland is in the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh and is also next the the Last Drop pub where the condemned prisoners would go before they met their maker. Nearby is also the spot where many Protestants were killed after the Reformation.

3

 I was hoping to climb up to the top of Arthurs seat which is shown in the bottom picture, but I left it too late and the sun was going down way too quick. The ground was also very muddy due to the heavy rains, but I hope I can get to the top next time I’m through in Edinburgh.

Scottish Museum

If you come to Edinburgh then you really need to come to the Scottish Museum, it’s a great place for kids and old folk too.

The architecture and design of this building is great and the skylight which runs the full length of the museum is fantastic and is as good if not better than the exhibits. If you look closely you can see the skeleton structure which is very similar in design to many of the old Gothic churches. A great piece of engineering.

I’d been before but this time had plenty of time to wander around and enjoy the space. There are also a lot of hands on exhibits here and so you can have a bit of fun or just annoy folk as you go. 

I loved this old clock…

The first step is the hardest, believe in yourself …