Liverpool Beer Festival

The Beer of the Festival (possibly)



I had a great afternoon at the Liverpool Beer Festival yesterday. A great setting in the crypt of the RC Cathedral and some excellent beer and food.

I got the train over at about 10am - the others went an hour earlier but I thought that was just too early. They wanted to see the model of the original plans for the cathedral at the Walker Art Gallery but when they got there it was not on display. Another good decision by MickeyMo! I met up with the two Steves, Ronan and John and we wandered up to the crypt taking in the bombed out church and the RC cathedral (where I made my last confession 27 years ago!).





John and Ronan had gone to queue up and we joined the queue about 11:45 (see pic)








The doors opened at 12:00 and we got in and grabbeda table by one of the windows. There was a fine selection of beers available with a commendable concentration of local brews from Liverpool, Prescot, Southport, Ellesmere Port and Rainford. Unfortunately, due to the uncertainty until quite late about whether the festival would go ahead there were no commemorative glasses this year but we did get vouchers for a half of a Cains brew and a half of Wapping Gold (another Liverpool brew).


The view from our table (right)













One thing certainly worth mentioning is the large pork pie on offer at the food table. I bought one at £2.50 and had it cut into five. I took it back to our table and it lasted about 5 seconds. It was closely followed by two more - a testament to their quality!



John ('the Mountain Goat')












The quality of the beers was excellent and I can recommend a few good uns. Top of the session for me were Natterjack from Southport and Drunken Duck from George Wright in Rainford (nr St Helens).




Ronan and Steve (2) deciding what to have next.











Steve (1) doing the same


I also met a mate I was at school with (junior and secondary) whom I see intermittently at Saints games. We had a good drunken natter.




Me and Phil Rignall (left)













While we were chatting one of the Mums from the RL club I coach at came over to introduce herself.




Phil and Cath (left)












Cath (right)















Steve 2 had the idea that eating Hula Hoops between beers would cleanse your palate. Hmmm ....











Discussions about the merits of Steve 2's beer.
















Me, feeling very mellow after about 3 hours imbibing.



























2 monks who seem to have wandered in by mistake.

John doing his Eric Morecambe impression.

Towards the end some fellas that the others had met last year brought some food over for us to try - there was a tremendous game terrine that one of them had made that didn't last very long.




The Providers of Quality Game Terrine. Meandering back to the Station

I'm glad in a way that the session only lasted 4 hours - any more and I would have regretted drinking so much but the time was enought to allow me to sample a good selection of brews, half of them local Merseyside beers. On to the station to get the train to St Helens where Saints were hosting Castleford in Super League XI. But that's for a different post.

Saints v Harlequins (pt 2)

Ickle Rabban (Luke) refusing to show his face - LittleMo2 looks suitably confused

And so to the game. Saints started with a couple of errors but nothing that the Londoners could capitalise on and it wasn't long before debutant Jason Cayless, sporting Rio Ferdinand-style locks, took a flat ball from Keiron Cunningham and crashed over under the sticks. Jamie Lyon added the easy two. Not long after Saints succumbed to an old weakness - the high ball to the left wing. This time, with the 'Barrow Arrow' (copyright Ron Hoofe) on the right it was new boy Francis Meli who misjudged the ball and allowed Tyrone Smith to score. The conversion made it 6 apiece. Not long after Paul Wellens took a pass from the impressive James Graham and spun out of the tackles of three Harlequins players to go over. Lyon's conversion made it 12-6. When Wellens went under the sticks after some fine handling and Lyon converted it looked like the floodgates would open and Harlequins would go under. 18-6. Just before half time your correspondent had the splendid idea of popping off to the bogs and the bar to 'beat the half time rush'. I was successful in that aspect but unfortunately missed the best move of the match in the process. Sean Long kicked to the corner for Jamie Lyon to chase. It looked as if the ball was going to bounce out of play a couple of yards from the line but with an incredible piece of skill Lyon got both hands on the ball and flicked it inside into Gardner's hands before it went dead and left Ade with an easy 4 points. Lyon duly converted and Saints went in 24-6 to the good. LittleMo2 and LittleMo1 at half time

Half time was passed with a conversation with 'Saint Rabban' (Paul) and before we knew it the second half was upon us. Harlequins needed an early score to stay in contention and it duly arrived when Ade Gardner took a chance on an interception from Leuluai's pass. If he had taken it he would have been under the sticks 80 metres away but he missed it, allowing Ricky Sherriffe to go over unopposed in the corner. With 25 minutes left Wellens took a great pass from Cayless around halfway and stepped the last line of defence to complete his hat trick. Long then set up Hooper to stroll in under the posts before Lyon completed the Saints scoring picking up a loose Harlequins pass on halfway and outpacing the defence, finishing with a cool hand-off on (I think) Haumono. This was the only kick Lyon missed all afternoon. Quins got a late consolation when Sykes went over following a nicely angled run from Purdham. Full time finished 40-16 in favour of Saints.

My man of the match was Paul Wellens for his positional awareness and support play. Jamie Lyon picked up where he left off last season and Pryce and Cayless had sound debuts. With Paul Sculthorpe and Vinnie Anderson set to return this Friday against Cas things are definitely looking promising. The only downside is injuries to Paul Anderson and Jon Wilkin.

LittleMo2's Liam Gallagher impersonation (Oasis not Shameless version)

Back to Euston in good time to take advantage of the bar in the First Class Lounge, only to find it closes at 3pm on a Saturday. Oh well, a good excuse to visit the Head of Steam and introduce the young uns to a decent boozer before purchasing a couple of bottles of beer from M & S for the journey home, which was much enlivened by the score updates from France where the Pie Eaters got beaten by the new boys, Les Catalans. Allez La France! Slight delays on the journey but nothing too serious and even the boys seemed too tired to argue or bicker so a fairly quiet return with a good few Saints fans also in attendance.
The Card Sharks

A great day out and meeting Saint Rabban and Ickle Rabban was a definite bonus. Roll on Friday when I will be at Knowsley Road following my attendance at the Liverpool Beer Festival in the afternoon. I will let you know how much of either I remember shortly.

Colin Welland

Click on the image to enlarge.

Saints v Harlequins (pt1)

A thoroughly enjoyable day out in London. LittleMo1 and LittleMo2 came along and we joined a surprising number of other Saints fans in First Class from Preston, courtesy of Mr Branson. After spending much of the journey separating the two youngsters and trying to stop them winding each other up it was a relief to pull into Euston to start negotiating the London Transport system. To be fair everything went well travel-wise and we got to Twickenham Station around 1:15pm. Hunger was kicking in so we queued up at the nearest chippy for the driest chips I have ever eaten. They tasted as if they were made from reconstituted potato and I wished I had taken Peter Kay's advice and got summat moist on them.

The Stoop is a great ground for watching rugby and I was impressed with the staff in the East Stand Bar who were many and speedy. Ok, £6 for a pint of bitter and a pint of Guinness is a bit on the pricey side, but at least it was a cask ale. There were also a number of staff walking round with beer dispensers for those not wishing to venture as far as the bar. There was a good turnout from the Saints fans and the North Stand was more or less full, with pockets of supporters elsewhere around the ground 3 -4,000 I reckon.
Saints warming up before the game

Day Out at Harlequins

Meeting Saint Rabban at last!

Boffin

I just watched Balderdash and Piffle on Teleport Replay and they were discussing the word Boffin. Someone caled Armando Pacono Rabano (or similar) who seemed to be from the Anglo-Italian side of Brian Sewell's family, claimed to be a boffin because he knew rather a lot ... about history.

Balls.

Everyone knows that there are three characteristics of a boffin:

1. He must have a 'high forehead' (technically, Tefal Man Syndrome);

2. He must wear a white coat; and

3. He must be involved in science in some way.

History? Pah! The archetypal boffin is Profesor Patpending from Wacky Races. (ok his coat is beiger than Terry Wogan's trousers but that's not the point, honest)

Sponsoring the Moshpits

Went to see Half Man Half Biscuit again last night, this time at The Mill in Preston. It's a completely different venue to the last time at The Academy in Liverpool - probably a quarter of the capacity - but it was very busy last night. As usual the set was very varied with the surprise oldie being Sealclubbing. Unfortunately the cover version was the same as Liverpool - I Think We're Alone Now - introduced with a curt "Tommy James and the Shondells" to distance it from the Tiffany version presumably! We also got an airing of It's Cliched to be Cynical at Christmas which was seasonal. It's a while since I've been in the moshpit but there were about 15 of us bobbing away, with a combined age of about 2,100 years. Plenty of greying or bald heads on show. And you have to be a special sort of fan to buy some white oven gloves and write 'Joy Division' on them in marker pen as the guy behind me had done!

Incidentally the Pringles at the 24 Hour Garage were an outrageous £14.20 this time.

Probably not quite as good as Liverpool but excellent nonetheless.

Set list as follows:

Restless Legs
Sealclubbing
For What is Chatteris?
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Third Track Main Camera
Monmore Hare's Running
CORGI Registered Friends
99% of Gargoyles
Foot Up in Europe
Deep House Victims Minibus Appeal
Uffington Wassail
Vatican Broadside
San Antonio Foam Party
Albert Hammond Bootleg
Twenty-Four Hour Garage People
PRS Yearbook
Look Dad No Tunes
Running Order Squabble Fest
Shit Arm Bad Tattoo
Four Skinny Indie Kids
If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day
Lark Ascending
Twenty Seven Yards of Dental Floss
Fred Titmus
I Think We're Alone Now
We Built This Village on a Trad Arr Tune
Trumpton Riots

Encore

It's Cliched to be Cynical at Christmas
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Everything's AOR

Listening Post

And this week I have been mainly listening to …

GORILLAZ – Demon Days
PAUL WELLER – As Is Now
PATTI SMITH – Horses and Horses (live)
THE JAM – All Mod Cons
RICHARD HAWLEY – Cole’s Corner
THE NIGHTINGALES – In The Good Old Country Way
SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES – Peel Sessions 1 and 2
THE DAMNED – Damned Damned Damned
Some GO PRODUCTION Mash Ups (go to www.goproductions.co.uk)

HMHB Lyric of the Day

… and thanks to ‘Stainto’ for the HMHB Lyric of the Day:

“My grandfather's clock was too big for the shelf, so I sold it and opened up a store....selling Joy Division Oven Gloves!”

‘Joy Division Oven Gloves’ from Achtung Bono.

More Gigs

Just to round up the recent gigs I’ve been to I saw the blessed Half Man Half Biscuit at their (almost) hometown gig at Liverpool Academy. I’ve seen them seven or eight times and I think this is the best I have been to. The place was packed and I reckon a third of them must have been on the guest list. It’s the first gig I’ve been to in ages where the touts were genuinely wanting to buy rather than having loads to sell. We missed the support as we were in the pub and managed to get quite close to the stage. The set list was as follows:

The Light at the End of The Tunnel
Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus
CORGI Registered Friends
Running Order Squabble Fest
If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day
Restless Legs
Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off
For What Is Chattteris …
Monmore Hare’s Running
Them’s The Vagaries
99% of Gargoyles
Hallelujah/Vatican Broadside
CAMRA Man
Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo
PRS Yearbook
Paintball’s Coming Home
Wrong Grave for 23 Years
All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit
Them’s the Vagaries
Letters Sent
The Len Ganley Stance
Footprints
Look Dad, No Tunes
I Think We’re Alone Now
We Built this City on a Trad. Arr. Tune
Everything’s AOR
Twenty Four Hour Garage People
A Country Practice

Encores:

Venus In Flares
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Trumpton Riots

And yes, that was a cover of the Tiffany song ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’.

I’m seeing them this Thursday as well, this time in a much smaller venue – The Mill in Preston. It’s walking distance from home; even better!

A couple of weeks ago I went to see The Damned and Wreckless Eric at the Mill – veterans of Stiff Records in the late ‘70s. Eric was on when we arrived and I don’t think I’ve ever heard one man get so much noise out of one guitar! I’ve always liked his stuff and he was a great performer – funny too. The Damned were incredibly tight and put on a really good show with most of the hits. They are real crowd pleasers and got a great reaction. I’d forgotten what a good guitarist Sensible is.

In October it was The Fall at The Mill, supported by John Cooper Clarke. As expected it was all recent stuff from MES and they only played about 50 minutes in total. The set list was:

Theme From Sparta FC
Pacifying Joint
Clasp Hands
Ride Away
Assume
Wrong Place Right Time - I Can Hear The Grass Grow
What About Us
Midnight In Aspen
Mountain Energei
Touch Sensitive
Bo D
Blindness


Again, the band were really tight but it was spoilt a bit by one arsehole in the crowd trying to touch MES all gig. A workmanlike performance rather than anything spectacular although as MES constantly looks on the verge of doing something weird and wonderful it is never dull.

Ian Brown

The following day I went to see Ian Brown in Manchester and after Paul Weller he would have a lot to live up to. We drove over to friends in Stalybridge and got the train into town, but not before a couple of pints at the excellent Buffet Bar on the station. We sampled a few of Manchester’s watering holes but we seemed to be jinxed all day – whenever we ordered pints of cloudy beer we hit problems. The Kronenbourg Blanc in Wetherspoon’s was coming out of the pump at the rate of a pint every three hours and was eventually declared “off”. The Edelweiss Austrian Wheat Beer in All Bar One (or Allbarone [in an Italian accent] as one acquaintance thought it was) was similarly unavailable and the Hoegaarden in another pub (The Wellington?) went off after a pint and a half had been pulled. We also paid a visit to the German market where we sampled hog roast, spicy sausages and banana and chocolate pancakes.

I’m not a fan of the MEN Arena – I much prefer more intimate venues. We got there just in time to see one of the support acts; a street magician named Dynamo. Now I don’t know which bright spark decided that someone doing close up magic tricks in a massive warehouse like the MEN was a good idea but even with the two big screens it was impossible to see what was going on. The poor fella lasted about five minutes before being booed off. Ian Brown opened with Elizabeth My Dear then I Wanna Be Adored which in my opinion was a mistake as his own material doesn’t really stand up next to The Stone Roses stuff. His voice, which I expected to be quite weak live, was actually ok but I felt the show flagged a bit. The hometown crowd went wild all the way through but for me it fell flat as the weak Carlsberg I drank. I will stick with my memory of seeing him with the Roses playing in the foyer of the Preston Guild Hall in 1989.

Paul Weller

Well, I have shamefully neglected my blog for two and a half months so it’s probably time to make a new entry and then forget it for another six months. On Friday I went to see Paul Weller in Blackpool with Caroline. The support was The Ordinary Boys and I was keen to catch them as I thought their album was half decent. I can tell you that the last song they played was good. I can’t comment on the rest, as they were just finishing as we got there at about 8pm. They must have been on at 7:30pm – not a situation I am used to at gigs. I imagined we would have a long wait for Weller to appear but at 8:25pm he strolled on to a rapturous reception. I’ve not seen him live since the live debut of The Style Council in about ’82 or ’83 at a CND Rally in Brixton so I was looking forward to this and to be honest I was totally blown away – the boy played an absolute blinder. He was on for 2 hours and 20 minutes with barely a duff tune in all that time. He really seemed in a good mood, contrary to his ‘miserable bugger’ persona and the whole band seemed to really enjoy themselves. I will post the set list later but we got a good mix of Jam, Style Council and solo stuff with the highlights for me being In The Crowd, Changingman, Gilded Splinters, Come On/Let’s Go, That’s Entertainment, Wild Wood and a storming Town Called Malice to finish. It ranks as one of the best gigs I’ve been to, and I’ve been to a fair few in my years. Additionally he looks brilliant – he has aged particularly well and his voice has that gravely feel that too many fags has done. Fortunately it suits his songs. Thoroughly recommended.

Half Man Half Biscuit Lyric of the Day

The new HMHB CD came out this week so expect a few nuggets from it in the near future.


"In the kingdom of the blind, they say the one-eyed man is king.
In the kingdom of the bland it's 9 o'clock on ITV."

'Corgi Registered Friends' from Achtung Bono!

Holidays pt 2

After leaving Bowness we headed up to the North East for a spot of house-sitting for some old college friends. Steve and Paula live in a fantastic house in the middle of nowhere (otherwise known as Cornhill) next to a farm. It was ideal as there is a massive garden and the kids played cricket and football at every opportunity. Steve and family were off to Scotland for a week's camping leaving us in charge of the animals (two cats, some hens and some ducks). Fresh eggs every morning were a luxury I could get used to.

as soon as we got there on the Friday I took the boys down to the cricket club at which Steve coaches. It's a lovely setting in the village of Etal and it got better with a trip to the local pub, The Black Bull, which is the only thatched pub in Northumberland apparently, for a pint of Deuchars IPA - exceptional.

We waved off our hosts and Saturday was spent shopping and stocking up for the week, and finding our way around the place. Fortunately Steve is fully Sky-ed up so I was able to watch the Saints v London game in the evening.

The next day we went to a local Sheep Dog Trials at Kirknewton, which was interesting but the kids soon got bored. There were a few stalls and pastimes and the lads had a go at Archery, but as Dan said "It's a bit like the Craggy Island Fun Day". All that was missing was the Cat-a-Go-Round, with a cat on a turntable. The best part was being introduced to the local ice cream made by Doddingtons - the vanilla is great but the Double Ginger is out of this world.

Later in the week we went on a walk up a local hill, Yeavering Bell, which has the ruins of a Saxon fort at the top. The kids whinged about the walk as usual but all were proud to have made it up there. They enjoyed the descent more.

We also took a trip to Bamburgh and looked round the castle and played on the beach (rugby this time) before heading into Seahouses for fish and chips.

On the Saturday Ian and Leslie (from the first part of the holiday - are you keeping up?) came up with the two lads and we played cricket and watched the Challenge Cup final. We returned the compliment on the way home on Monday, calling to see them in Whitley Bay before returning home pretty tired.

We had a great time over the two weeks but it didn't prepare us for the disappointment of having to return to work!

Holidays

We started off with a few days in Bowness which was just what we needed. We played a lot of cricket and managed to get in a couple of walks - nothing too strenuous as the kids whinge too easily! On the first day we met a family from Newcastle who got involved in the game of cricket we were playing after which they came back to ours to watch the conclusion of the third Ashes test from Old Trafford. They had actually gone to Old Trafford that morning but along with thousands of others had been unable to gain access to the ground. We met up with them again at Fellfoot Park on a glorious Wednesday when the sun was beating down. Surprise, surprise, more cricket was played. We went out for a meal with them on the Thursday and had a few beers back at the house. We also met up with them when we were in the North East on the next leg of the holiday(more on that later). Hi to Ian and Lesley and their two boys Matty and Benjamin.

We were really fortunate with the weather in Bowness and had just one shower of rain, on the Thursday evening. The conditions were good for walking, although it was a little warm when we walked to Sawrey and I was grateful for the pint of Hawkshead Bitter half way round!

We had promised the kids a trip to the cinema during the week but we kept that busy with other things that we just didn't have the time or inclination to go.

A great start to our holidays and it was going to get even better as we ventured up to Northumberland.

To be continued ...

Long Time No See

It's over a month since I posted here - I wondered how long it would take for lethargy to set in. To be fair I have been on holiday for much of that time so there is a bit of an excuse but I still need to knuckle down if I am going to carry on with this.

This Week I Have Mostly Been Listening To ....

'Vivadixiesubmaruinetransmissionplot' by Sparklehorse

'Complete Peel Sessions' (again!) by The Fall

'Employment' by The Kaiser Chiefs

'Candi Staton' by Candi Staton

'The Magic Numbers' by The Magic Numbers

'Almost Blue' by Elvis Costello

'Low' by David Bowie

'Origin of Symmetry' by Muse

'BMFA' by Martha Wainwright

'Catholic Boy' by Jim Carroll

'The Slack Album' by DJ N-WEE

'Kilimanjaro' by Teardrop Explodes

Half Man Half Biscuit Lyric of the Day

"Tower block, You couldn't score in a tower block"

'Improv Workshop Mimeshow Gobshite' from the CD This Leaden Pall

Shock Horror!

Credit where it's due. I saw a billboard for the Lancashire Evening Post last week that contained no grammatical error where you would have sworn there would be one. The board talking about charges against some squaddies based at Preston Barracks read:

“Preston Soldiers’ Shame”

with a correctly placed apostrophe!!

Glasgow

I went up to Glasgow at the weekend with Caroline. It’s a place I have only been to once before. That was with work and I only saw the inside of pubs the whole evening! This time we went on the train and arrived at noon. We wandered down to the hotel, which was handily placed on George Street and left our bags then set off to explore the city. We decided to take one of the open-topped tourist buses – a bit of a clichéd idea but as it turned out an excellent way to get a feel for what a city is like and which bits of it you would like to see more of. The tour lasted about an hour and a quarter and the good thing about the ticket was that it lasted for two days and you could hop on and off as you pleased. We then went looking at the main shopping areas and decided we needed to eat or else dinner (lunch, whatever) would start to merge with tea (dinner blah, blah). Unfortunately, not knowing where all the good bars and restaurants were located we couldn’t find anywhere suitable and ended up in Burger King! Not an auspicious start to the weekend! Having eaten we went to the McLellan Gallery which houses some of the exhibits from the Kelvingrove, which is undergoing renovation and will not open again until next year. There were some fine examples of Rennie Macintosh’s work as well as paintings by the ‘Glasgow Boys’ group of painters. Some fantastic Italian works from the 15th and 16th Century are also on display as well as paintings by Rembrandt, Whistler and Lowry. A really enjoyable little gallery and I felt justified in suggesting a swift pint having done the cultural aspect so well. We found a decent boozer in the ‘Drum and Monkey’ and refreshed ourselves with some Hoegaarden and Deuchars IPA.

On the way back we had a look around to see what was on offer restaurant-wise and found what looked like a good Tapas bar which was already getting busy at around 6:30pm. We went back and got ready for the evening and I was overjoyed to be offered a flyer on the way down for a bar – I’ve not been offered one of those for years! As a reward we decided to honour them with our presence. It was a bar next to a Wetherspoons and it seemed to be trying to be a similar sort of place, albeit with loud music. Even the menu seemed very Wetherspoons-ish. We decided after one drink that it was a bit too dark and noisy for us so we would try the Wetherspoons next door. Out we came, headed next door only to find it was the same place! No wonder it seemed very like a Wetherspoons! It must be my age.

We walked to the Tapas bar which by this time was heaving. Fortunately the guy on the door took our names and told us to return at 9:30pm and we should have a table. 2 drinks at ‘All Bar One’ (one a particularly good pint of Paulaner lager from Munich) and we were back at the Tapas. “Just get a drink at the bar and we’ll be with you shortly” was the recommendation so I sampled the Cruzcampo and true to their word we were at a table within 5 minutes. After a bit of debate we decided to get seven Tapas dishes between us so we had a paella with chorizo, a lovely lamb casserole, some pickled anchovies, a chicken dish with sage, some meatballs, some potato and sweetcorn croquettes and some King Prawns with garlic. They were all delicious and the whole meal came to less than £25. We would certainly go back and sample some of the items we couldn’t manage this time. Back to ‘All Bar One’ for another drink before heading back to the hotel at last orders.

The next day we decided we would go to the Barras for the market held on Saturdays and Sundays. We got the tourist bus up there and it was then time to get some breakfast. Into a Greasy Joe’s for two bacon rolls and two mugs of tea. £3.20 – bargain. Halfway through doing the rashers on the griddle the bloke serving took them off and dumped them in the deep fat fryer with the chips before putting them back on the griddle after a minute or so! I had heard that lots of food in Scotland was deep-fried but I hadn’t realised the extent of it. We had been told that the Baras would be quite an experience and it was. There are dozens of stalls selling copied CDs and DVDs and other software and loads of blokes walking round selling tobacco and cigarettes. It seemed like every man, woman and child in the Gorbals with access to a PC was selling counterfeit goods! After a while though, all the stalls merged into one and we went off for the tourist bus again. We wanted to do the Hunterian up at the University of Glasgow but unfortunately it shuts on Sundays. We will have to see the Macintosh collection another time. As it was a gorgeous day we decided to head up to the West End and visit the Botanic Gardens. The West End is quite different to the City Centre – a bit more bohemian. You can tell it is a favoured haunt of the University academics. Some great shops too. The Gardens were interesting, even though I am not a gardening type at all. After a while we headed back to the city, having got a couple of tasty cakes from a fantastic deli. As our train was at 5:45pm we had a couple of drinks at a nice bar called The Ingram before getting a Sunday two course special at a Chinese. Just time for a farewell pint of Deuchars at the Ingram before collecting the bags and heading for the station.

We really enjoyed Glasgow and would definitely go back. There are still plenty of things to see that we didn’t have the chance to experience so therewill be no need to repeat anything (well, apart from The Ingram and the Tapas bar maybe!)

We had a weekend of culture of all sorts - culture and arts at the gallery, horticulture at the Botanic Gardens and sub-culture at the Barras!