I’m Technical middle class, so says the BBC class survey. I
suppose what that means is that I can sit typing on my laptop as my iPad plays
last Saturday’s Jazz Record Requests whilst my Freeview HD recorder records
Coronation Street. I suppose it also means that I can disappear to another city
for the day to have lunch and spend ludicrous amounts of money on frivolous
items like a silent violin and a reversible hat. That’s how I spent my Good
Friday, and it WAS good.
I’ve not had much leave from work since the start of the
year; a half-day here and there, but only one of them memorable. It’s almost an
annual event, going to a BBC SSO Afternoon Performance, but I’d never gone
while deaf in one ear. It was a funny old afternoon, and not in a good way. The
Spring Equinox had come and gone, yet Glasgow was still in the grip of freezing
temperatures. My mad dash to the City Halls had tired me out, and it was all I
could do to stay upright in my seat. Cold, tired and deaf, I headed home instead of attending the monthly meeting of the Astronomical Society of
Glasgow. I can’t remember what the talk was about, but that’s for the best. I
hate to think that my getting very old all of a sudden had caused me to miss
something interesting.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, I was supposed to have gone to
a concert by the RSNO on the Saturday, and gone to learn to play a couple of
fiddle tunes on the Sunday night, but I really wasn’t
in the mood. To make matters worse, I should have gone on the Wednesday night
to the Philosophical Society to see Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal. What a
wimp! A four-day weekend was on the horizon, and I had to conserve my energy
for all the fun I was bound to have.
Edinburgh was cold, but brighter than at the New Year, when I
had last visited. I started off at a musical instrument shop then I headed for
Blackwell’s book shop, where I bought a book about learning Gaelic. On the bus
back to Princes Street, I got talking to an elderly lady who was originally
from County Monaghan. She had apologised to me for coughing, reassuring me that
she did not have the cold. How nice to meet someone who cared. After this, I
had lunch, the traditional steak pie, then did some more shopping, before
getting back on the train home. I had taken the iPad with me on its first
outing, but hadn’t encountered a train with WiFi all day!
Saturday was filled with domestic chores, before the
resumption of Doctor Who finally got me to stop working. All that exertion
meant that I couldn’t get out of bed on Sunday for ages, and when I did, I had
to go to a football match. On my return I made a casserole, and some soup with
the leftover vegetables (all best consumed within a day of creation, trust me).
I was so tired I could barely move.
On Monday, I went to Kelvingrove Park to try out my new
lens, and it appeared to work. After that, I headed up to Byres Road for pizza
in Little Italy, and topped lunch off with an obscene amount of ice-cream in
Nardinis. The food had gone to my head, because half an hour later, I was on
the top deck of an open-top city tour bus. By the time my feet touched the
ground again some two and a half hours later I was frozen solid. It took all
night to thaw out.
On Tuesday evening, on the way to the orchestra, I tried to
eat in O’Neil’s, but its kitchen was closed because of a new menu. A feeble
excuse, I thought, so I went across the road to Blackfriars, and had steak in a
peppercorn sauce. Not bad, actually, but I never touched the salad. And so to
today, Friday, and the delayed arrival of British Sea Power’s latest album,
Machineries of Joy. After the disaster that was Valhalla Dancehall, I didn’t
hold out much hope for their latest offering however, on first listen, it’s not
too bad.
Back to Edinburgh tomorrow, this time for some Shakespeare;
The Winter’s Tale. How appropriate!
