Glasgow GTG 2014

[Sundae]

We're off to see the wizard!
Well, off to the Panto.
The tickets that Limey conscientiously sent to the Alamo in case she couldn't make it were lost in the post. This actually happens less than people believe and is usually just the last excuse of thieves and scoundrels.
Limey is neither, so it was just sod's law.

Of all the worries that worried me, the tickets were not that high on the list.
Not once I had my girls with me.
I can be quite bullish when needs arise, but put me with Limey & Dani and I am immediately in passive mode. It's not a conscious decision, it's almost pheromonal.

Limes brought the whole ticket-buying-papertrail (well, it did fit into an envelope) and that was that.
Limey is a force of nature: educated, a financial expert, English with a history of living in Scotland... basically you cannot face this woman down.
Not even a hardened Weedgie SECC employee could stand agin her.
That said, it seems he was a decent chap and Limey only had to smile at him anyway.
Oh I forgot to mention, she keeps her claws sheathed; Limes also has a degree in Charm.

1) The Armadillo (where we were headed) and the new Hydro
2) La Rotunda Restaurant. We didn't go there, but the building appealed to me. It was the entry and exit point for pedestrian/ horse and carriage tunnels from the end of the 19th century, originally housing hydraulic lifts. There's an identical building on the other side of the river, which is for sale. Let's buy it!

[Sundae]

Ladies?
All the ladies, louder now, help me out, all the ladies...

(if you know the next line then it's your bad not mine)

[Sundae]

Dick McWhittington.
Absolutely excellent seats thanks to Limes.

I dunno, do you want a detailed review?
I will if asked , but I won't be offended if I'm not.

[Sundae]

Off goes DanaC. She needed to leave to get home for Carrot.
So sorry to see her go.
I always feel bereft when I leave Dana's company, or she leaves mine.
She makes me laugh so much and so hard and we do have a shorthand when it comes to cultural references.
Something I don't have with (m)any people in the real world; I had to join a mostly foreign forum to find it.

Bye bye Dana.
Bye bye.
Bye.

Okay, so now we enjoy ourselves with food

Limey and I decided on an all-you-can-eat buffet on the same retail park as the hotel.
In truth, Limey would have paid for a taxi into the city centre and a really good meal at a gourmet restaurant.
But we both just needed to eat and this way we could eat what we wanted, when and how much we wanted and walk back to bed in about 100 steps and I could feel less of a cringing worm.

There were a number of chain restaurants in the area.
But we went for the only AYCE.
And the name was appropriate. Does Big Sarge vanity search? I hope so.

[Sundae]

Nommies.

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Limey snores.
So does Dani.
And so do I, AND I talk in my sleep.
I dunno, women of a certain age, eh?

Back to Glasgow Central, less than 24 hours after picking Limey up there.
But we did get some kip, nocturnal emissions irregardless.

[Sundae]

.

[Elspode]

Um...swoon!

Originally Posted by Sundae

When I get back to the B&B I find out that Limey definitely cannot make it to Glasgow that day (Friday).
Which is pretty rubbish.
But if you've been reading this thread you know it works out okay, so there's no need to dwell on it.

Here comes Dani! Yay!
I'd probably have welcomed Kim Jung-un at that point, but how much more lovelier to welcome Dani.

Both of us ready to hit the town.
Well, to hit a local diner which I'd checked out online.
916 Diner. Worth a visit. Very good waitress, although my opinion may be skewed by the fact she loved my hair (and I loved her tattoos)

[infinite monkey]

This is so great. I have been following as you've been posting. Everyone looks great and happy! Dana, love you in the vest and head thingy.

And the Rotunda? I want the Rotunda Opposite. How much are they asking? What a cool building.

[Sundae]

1) Further proof, were it needed, that you're charged 2p all across the UK.
Or 30p. So do remember to lay in a stash of coins when you come.

2) For Rich Levy, following our conversation about where you can and can't buy alcohol over here. This pub is on the station concourse, although the off licence is closed. Still, you can buy alcohol in Marks & Spencers I think.

[Sundae]

I bought this juice from M&S instead, and very good it was too.

Note Limey's limey bag a couple of photos back. Absolutely gorgeous. I coveted.
She didn't disclose how much it cost, but given that it was a Christmas present to herself, and the glowing terms in which she reported its purchase, I think it may have been a tad over my budget. Which stretches to the heady heights of about £9.99. On payday.

Infi, yes let's buy the building on the other side of the river!
We can secretly reopen the tunnel and sneak into the Chinese restaurant at La Rotunda when the staff have gone home.
Or at the very least we can use it as a secret Cellar lair.

We need to get some rich backers on board though.
Scotland has a very odd way of selling property (or this is what I've gathered from watching property shows) which involves sealed bids and offers and things. So we have to go in high.

And kit it all out of course.
Hammocks and cat-food and hydoponic bays and the like.

[Sundae]

Train from Glasgow to Ardrossan Harbour.
No drama, and nothing like the photo Limey uploaded from the previous week.

On the Clansman boat again; it's always pressed into service this time of year which means it's the standard boat for me, even though it seems old to people who make the journey on a regular basis.

We had breakfast on the boat (yup, photo in the Breakfast thread again).
Got to Brodick and laid in some shopping, then over the top of the hills (mountain) to chez Limey.
Greeted by the regulars (Jasper and Mr Limey) and the newbie (Cyd).
Settled down to eat Jaffa Cakes and relax.

Limey put a whole joint of lamb straight from the freezer into the slow cooker.
I was astonished. In fact I haven't told Mum about that yet, I may just nip off to do so - she'd be horrified.
Of course Limey does know what she's doing and served up a perfectly cooked and meltingly tender "roast".
Potatoes done in the thingy. The thingy, you know. Little cookery thing. Got a brand name which I can't remember *
They were very yummy.
I had no hand in this meal except for the eating. Which I did very well.

There was leftover lamb which I used the next day.

No dinner photos, sorry.
Not from Sunday night or indeed any night.
Very remiss of me.

ETA * Remoska!
It came to me as soon as I'd sent the post. Probably the reason I used the word remiss.

[Sundae]

The next morning came up rainy.
Sunshine is not a given anywhere in the UK in January.
So I went off to Brodick on the bus.

I found myself at a bit of a loose end there.
Although the rain had stopped I couldn't go off-road as everywhere was pretty sodden, and I'd already seen all I wanted to see and photographed all I wanted to photograph.
So I went back to the Co-op and bought a few bits and pieces for the evening meal, then caught the bus to Whiting Bay.

The sun came out as soon as I arrived, which endeared it to me.
I said before that I wanted to live in Whiting Bay, but Lamlash now also has a claim on my affections (more of which later).

1) Christmas decorations Arran style
2) You can't see it in the photos, but the sea is a really improbable shade of green and quite, quite beautiful

[Sundae]

I forgot to mention that in the background (above) is Holy Isle, where the monkeys live.
Or Buddhists or something vegan like that.
I'm tempted, but TBH if I'm going to endure public transport all the way to Arran I think I'd rather have a little more hedonism on my arrival than a retreat would provide. I'd be miserable if the weather was miserable, and if it was good I'd end up rocking and moaning to myself about the wasted opportunity of being so near and yet so far from a nice sausage bap.

I became a little obsessed by the swans on Arran.
I've never seen them on the sea before - they're inland birds in my book; fresh water birds if such a thing exists.
I can only assume that they're more flexible than I thought, or that no-one told them about my book, because they were everywhere on the salty water and on the beach.
Thinking about it, my book was probably I-Spy at the Seaside, which is an under-used resource tool these days.

[Sundae]

The one thing Whiting Bay is a little short on is places to wait for the bus when the weather is on the turn.
There's The Coffee Pot, but I suspect it costs an arm and a leg just to get a little cup of tea and a stale cake.
That's really unfair of me; I have no idea whether this is the case because it's closed on Mondays. Which might explain my hostility towards it.

Instead I went into Bar Eden - a hotel bar which serves snacks and soft drinks as well as the usual.
It was lovely inside, pared back but comfortable, and while I was there three locals dropped by, which is always the sign of a good establishment in my book. That book being Bars and Why I Usually Avoid Them.
No crisps though. Booooooo. I might write it up for TripAdvisor all the same. Without mentioning the crisp shortage; if I can help bring even a little bit of money to Arran it's worth it.