Technically I started this blog before midnight – somewhere on the M8 heading East just before Livingston. Having been held up in roadworks after a night out in Glasgow, all traffic then halted after an accident. Fortunately when we eventually got moving and drove past it didn’t look like anything more than bumps and bruises.
I was writing this blog on the back of the ticket for the show I went to see mum in this evening – called Whitsername? – anxious not to draw attention to myself as a single female driver, knowing that I had 4% battery life on my phone and not wanting to get out of the car to retrieve my notebook from the boot.
I seized the opportunity of being in Glasgow to catch up with T. I picked her up and we headed down Byres Road to Bar Soba, a Pan Asian street food restaurant. I loved the atmosphere and the music was just as it should be for a return to my old West End haunts: Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy; Blondie and Call Me and Steve Miller Band with Abracadabra. I smiled as I had been singing to The Eurythmics on the way to work this morning – Love is a Stranger.
We had delicious food: a Pad Thai for T and Basil garlic chilli vegetables and rice for me. Finished off with a passion fruit sorbet with chunks of fresh pineapple.
T set the Google maps app on my phone to speaker sat nav mode and off I headed to Barrowlands. I must be honest here – I have always shunned the idea of a sat nav, but with fading eyesight and no co-pilot I am beginning to think it is a good idea. My phone has been misbehaving recently and using up battery juice far too quickly, so I was mindful not to have it on for too long.
I arrived at St Luke’s: church hall extraordinaire to be greeted by E – a very dear friend from Jordanhill College. Turns out her sister was one of the writers for the sketch show. Where E goes, L is seldom far behind and it was ever thus, even at college. Sure enough L arrived and lots of hugs and kisses were shared as we clucked at what an amazing coincidence it was that fate had brought us all together tonight.
It took over 2 hours to get home and I am very tired, but I have wonderful memories of tonight and much laughter too. The show was very good and much of that was due in part to Karen Dunbar.
One of her characters wore a pair of over-sized green goggles, a grey wig and bunnet, and appeared at the lectern complaining about the use of language for modern technology. most of it is too rude to write here.
So today you get a Karen Dunbar joke instead of a poem. It has to be said with a Glaswegian accent:
‘I remember when an iPod meant having your face scratched by the cat ( eye pawed)’.
Comments