Weather and Culture

So it was one of those weekends where the summer seemed to have been condensed down into two days. The sun shone overtime, its light intensified to hot flowing honey with just enough breeze to take the edge off, and keep everyone the right side of happy.

And, occasioned by visiting dignitaries, we went out and made the most of it for a change.

Friday night was a meal in Nanakusa. Great wee Japanese place on Sauchiehall St that does the best ebi gyoza I’ve ever had, and has a very hands-on approach to friendly customer service.

Saturday we hit the Panopticon music hall show, which is always good fun and in (thankfully cool) historic surroundings. I’ve been reading Judith Bowers’ book about the place, and reckon already that it’s an essential read for anyone interested in theatre history or Glasgow history. Later on we caught up with a TV movie about the behind the scenes relationship between Sid James and Barbara Windsor, which was jaw-droppingly  well observed – both in the performances and in the period/film detail. It’s called Cor Blimey! and is well worth looking out for.

Sunday was Things Neil Has Never Done day. First up was the People’s Palace – Glasgow’s museum of popular culture – whose offerings are so diverse that’s difficult to get a grip on the whole lot. So I guess we’ll have to go back again some time. A leisurely short-cut through the Glasgow Show (not sure how to describe that expect there seemed to be lots of people having a good time, and I got a free sausage on a stick) brought us to the Saltmarket where we caught the bus up west. Wolfed down a quick curry at the Ashoka before nipping over to the Botanics to enjoy a really good production of Much Ado About Nothing. Lovely, summer evening. Great setting. Fabulous comic performances.

All in all, a fab weekend.