Glasgow, theatre, Belper with parents
26 March

Went to Salford’s King’s Arms pub to see “The Rehearsal”, a very postmodern play based on a play being rehearsed! This was a 2-hander and held in the tiny bar next to the theatre – just as kooky as the rest of the building with 70s mirrors etc! It was good, even though I went alone I got chatting to some really nice people. Part of the play was a pub quiz, it would berak off into this every so often. All the Qs were on Mancunian history so naturally my team won and I got a Pigeon Theatre company bag-woop! The play was very entertaining and dramatic and I’d never been so close to the action before, they were nearly tripping over us! After, I chatted to the actors for a bit then I headed downstairs as I had some drink to finish off. There was AMAZING FREE JAZZ on, a great 5/6 piece band with sax etc, very uptempo so I was loving that-stayed and watched it for a while! Then enjoyed lovely walk home over the river Irwell!


28 March

Finished work at 4 and went down to Belper. Parents were staying for a weekend house-sitting while Het+Paul on hol. Did the necessary when in Derbyshire and went for tea at George’s.

29 March

Visited Chatsworth, a huge country estate with big house and very impressive gardens. Loved it as it’s still the abode of the Duke and Duchess and they agree to everything that goes inside, the art works etc. There were notes all round the place about why they chose a particular piece etc. The gardens were great, a huge fountain cascading down steps, a big maze and a v cool freaky rock garden which had them moulded into strange patterns, Tim Burton styleeee! Ate there and left when it shut. Went to The Lion pub in Belper for an evening meal – Het’s fella Paul’s parents Jackie and Dave came along, got quite pissed and I was after a fit waiter all night who unfortunately turned out to be straight and wasn’t the gay 1 Hetty keeps trying to hook me up with! Bummer!

30 March

Went into the River Gardens for a nice walking in blazing sunshine before hitting George’s AGAIN for more chish+fippy goodness before the long coach ride home.

31 March

Bought some nice things in the Topman sales in the lovely Debenhams’ concession, before heading to the Palace for Shout! The Swinging 60s Musical, which Chris had got me a free ticket for. This was fab, great mindless trashy fun with Su Pollard and Clare Sweeny, lots of campery and singing along. Really liked it!

1 April

Went bowling in Stockport with Nicole, Chris and Adam. We had 3 games and it was fab fun! I lost each 1!

2 April

Went for a meal with Nicole at the Grill on the Alley which was lush, had burgers and chips, the fattest and yummiest chips I’ve ever eaten, served on v cool rectangular wooden boards instead of plates. V posh and cheap on Hi Life! Next went to the UK premiere of new musical Zorro at the Opera House, again for free (stalls seats too!). This was much better than I had expected, very spectacular with great collapsing sets and action sequences. The music was all original and very fun and the dancing and costumes extremely flamboyant. Very unusual and I would have been quite happy to have paid!

3 April

Went to Ric and Rachel’s for Ric’s birthday. They made Chris and I a delicious mashy/gruyere cheesy pie which was awesome. Then we played Scrabble and Uno but the main hilarity of the night came when I mentioned an article I’d read on the Newseum, a museum being built in Washington D.C. about news. This name sparked much banter on similar names for museums like the museum of furnace extraction systems, the fluezeum!

4 April

Went to Nicole’s house after work. Chris made Carbonara which was good! We played Rummikub and it was my first time!

5 April

Off to Glasgow on the 9am coach. Got there and went in the Glasgow Modern Art museum which was good but compact-we did it all in 30mins or so! Next went to The Lighthouse, which like my former Salford Quays based work, wasn’t a lighthouse but a building by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Glasgow trades on him a bit like Liverpool makes references to the Beatles down every ginnel. Still it was a nice museumy place with an exhibition on food packaging full of flasks, picnic sets etc from around the world – loved the Japanese stuff! At the top we got a good view of the city.

Headed for the “trendy” West End at night and found a cool Bistro for tea, I had a dodgy cheap steak but AMAZING chips with (had a lot of good chips lately!) Adam has ostrich burger. Went to a bar in an old cinema which was nice but a bit rammed.


6 April

Went to the House of Tea for breakfast, an awesome “off the beaten track” place like a hippier version of Oklahoma café. We were given huge tomes to read of over 100 kids of tea, each 1 had about 100-200 words written about its origins, flavours, history, yada yada yada! I chose 1 similar to Starbuck’s chai tea and it was really nice, got a huge pot which I got about 6 cups out of! And had a very rich gooey rocky road type cake. An extremely sweet breakfast then! Next stop was Kelvingrove, a huge cathedral-like art gallery. This was great as much for the building as the exhibits. The exhibit on when Glasgow hosted a World’s Fair over 100 years ago was my fave! Had soup there for lunch. Next went to the Botanic Gardens to walk round – this was unexpectedly rubbish. Found the Wee Curry Shop for tea which was the best curry I’d had in aaaaaages! Yum! Went to the next Travelodge then headed for the gay zone. Went in 2 gay bars 1 crap and the other great with plastic birds hanging from the ceiling!

Finally went to the Polo Lounge a lovely posh, maximalist, OTT bar with chaise longues to perve and talk about guys from! Stayed there til 2am!

7 April

Had a TORTUROUS marathon breakfast search which ended up at TJ Hughes – poss worst brekkie I’ve had! Went in the people’s palace and winter gardens which was a great complex of a kind of people’s history museum, great glasshouse with exotic plants, nice café – toffee crisp cake! Outside is the world’s largest terracotta fountain! Then we went in the oldest house in Glasgow. Then we went in some shops and Wagamama before heading back home.