The death of a coffee shop

In between my two stints in Inverness (second one still going, of  course, with no end in sight – which is no bad thing), I spent eighteen months in Glasgow.  Apart from the rain, pollution, accent, insular attitude, sectarianism, Buckfast, traffic and lack of access to the hills, I really enjoyed it. Glasgow boasts (and…

The week in photos

I’ve been zipping about a fair amount this past week.  I’ve been ambling around in Inverness… …loitering between trains at Perth station… …and exploring Glasgow at night. The Glasgow visit was for an Explosions in the Sky gig on Monday night. It was my third time of seeing them and they were excellent. Beautiful, uplifting,…

The advantages of being delayed

I spend a lot of time on trains.  Too much, at times.  I’m at the stage where I recognise train conductors, can recite stations along routes my most regular routes, and have often found myself at the whim of the vagaries and foibles of ScotRail.  Mostly, to be fair, ScotRail does a good job, though…

Why I’m learning Esperanto

I’ve always been interested in languages. It’s probably the single thing that most powerfully demonstrates human diversity and represents the gateway to understanding the world better.  If there is one free skill I’d love to have for no effort in return, it would be fluency in one or more other languages.  I am not fluent…

Streets of Philadelphia

Last year I blogged a review of the excellent Max Brooks book World War Z. A documentary description of a fictitious future war against zombies, it was one of my favourite reads from last year and which, as I mentioned at the time, was to be turned into a film. With part of the film…

Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

The new album by Explosions in the Sky came out earlier this week.  It’s called “Take Care, Take Care, Take Care” and it is excellent. There’s always a special thrill to a first listen of a new album by a favourite band.  It has a reassuringly familiar sound but also exhiliratingly different and fresh –…