A Day in Glasgow

Image: Fawndoo

The Specials
Tuesday was brilliant!

Despite my many doubts that The Specials gig at Glasgow’s SECC (Hall 3) would be a flop—the venue is like a warehouse with about as much thought put into the acoustics as a 5-year old would put into the theory of relativity—I hadn’t banked on the Specials being able to overcome the odds.

But boy they pulled it off!

I’d initially thought the venue was the wrong choice, that it wouldn’t sell out and the atmosphere would be crap for a re-run of a greatest hits CD. I was wrong, so, so wrong; it must have been very close to selling out, the atmosphere was electric and the band were on top form. It was an amazing night.

I went home aching from all the dancing, hoarse from all the singing, and soaked from all the sweating and beer spray—just as it should be after a top rocking gig!

You can read my full review of Tuesday’s Specials gig here: The Man in the East – Specials Gig Review.

Memory Pubs
Before the gig, I spent the morning at the day job. I left early, though, rushed home to get changed and pack a bag, and then jumped on a train out to Glasgow. I had hoped to be meeting my sister by 3pm but she had to work on (and she wasn’t going to get away any time soon), which left me with the dilemma of what to do with my afternoon.

I decided to spend it more or less as I’d planned: touring Glasgow’s city centre pubs, only I did it alone. I visited a few “memory pubs”, squeezing in some bars that mean something to me or reminded me of my days living and partying in Glasgow.

By a strange quirk of fate, my parents were also in town so they joined me for a quick drink before heading back home clutching their bags of shopping.

Aches and Pains
Yesterday was all about getting over the night before. With aches and pains and a steady and indiscreet level of tiredness, the day seemed to drag by in a numb sort of fashion. I left my sisters mid-morning, arrived back in Leith at lunchtime, changed and headed into the day job.

In the evening, it was back to work. I put all my energies into the website work—mine and Gail’s—but there’s not really much more to add other than they are both coming on leaps and bounds. I may have hit a snag in being able to publish media files on my poetry site, which will require a re-think if I can configure it to work, but other than that, it’s looking good.

The general plan is to launch the poetry site first then to really go for it with the main website, colingalbraith.co.uk. I’m going to launch with a brilliant new offer leading up to Christmas and then I can put a major tick on my GDR before ploughing on with the rest.

Bring it on!

Have a great day – peace and out!