try glasgow more

or tennents (because I'm lazy)

Well, it does have decent beers.

And a door-to-door bus service to my flat.

west beer ftw

West Beer is good, aye. As is Tennents. West End is easier for me to get home from, right enough (for easier, read cheaper, obv).

Celtic are at home on Boxing Day, which will place me in the general vicinity of West Beer, if that's a plan?

I still don't have my rota for the Christmas and New Year weeks: I know I'm working Christmas Day but no idea about Boxing Day. If I'm not working, though, I think there'll probably be in-law action in which I should be involved. I doubt I'll be able to persuade them to go to West.

Right, I am occupied on the 10th, 17th, 18th, 25th, and cannot go out on the 30th or any night thereafter. Otherwise, is all good. Not working between Christmas and New Year.

I'm going to allow a zen-like combination of "my rota" and "what dates other dudes can make" to do my deciding for me :)

We really haven't got any better at this, have we? What we need is a special guest appearance by an out-of-towner to galvanise the troops.

HI DERE (MIBBES)

Good stuff. Knew I could (maybe) count on you!

west beer

OK, SunnO))) types: I'm writing this from a small table just by the stairs down to the venue, which are currently blocked by a largely unsmiling contingent of beardedly grim men queuing to ensure they can be at the front. Given I've forgotten earplugs, I'm happy enough to be at the back :)

Will give it another few minutes and see if anyone turns up, then fuck off downstairs, where the chances of any of us finding each other are less than 0. Or even 0))).

I was there, but I didn't knowingly meet any ILXors. I was at the front, on official photo business. Awesome show. <doom claw>

Sorry I missed you Grimly - I had to wait ages for a fucking bus in Dennistoun, so I didn't get to Stereo until Bong were starting their set (which I enjoyed a great deal - reminded me of old school Skullflower in places.)

Stuck at the back of the venue for most of Sunn O))), which wasn't great - crowded, hot, lots of jostling and zero visibility - it was only abt half way in that i could make out a robed figure or two (krakow, do you happen to know what line up it was this time round?) But at that kind of volume, it was still possible to lose yourself in the drone - there were moments when my whole body seem to ripple with a kind of electrified pleasure, and i actually had the weird sensation of my scalp lifting from my skull at one point. Loved the heavy power electronics segment in particular, and kinda wish there'd been a bit more of that and maybe just a little less gothique vocalising.

this thread always a laff

The line up was, as far I know and could make out through the smoke, your usual Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson naturally, Attila (from Mayhem & others) stage front on vocals and Steve Moore on keyboards and a wee bit of trombone and other gubbins.

looking forward to seeing yr pics

They're great if you like grainy shots of darkly billowing smoke.

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p119279192-3.jpg

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v2/p1067074997-3.jpg

Fucking hell, Krakow, those are awesome. Substantially better than the ones the bloke next to me was trying to take all night :)

I ended up standing on a box at the left for both sets, about halfway back, which proved an excellent vantage point for watching trombones etc emerge from the gloom -- although most of the time I couldn't actually tell how many people were on stage. I did get the awesome effect of being able to lean against the walls to "feel" the sound, too, though.

Loved the heavy power electronics segment in particular, and kinda wish there'd been a bit more of that and maybe just a little less gothique vocalising

Yes, absolutely. The whole point of this stuff, for me, is to be able to lose yourself in it: partly because of the sheer number of people, but also partly because of the vocals, that wasn't always possible. Still, when it worked, it worked awesomely.

Bong, though, were an unexpected treat. Loved every second of that from start to finish.

Thanks.

I personally loved Attila's vocals. He was doing some great things with his voice. Gregorian chants, unearthly growls, pterodactyl screeches...

wtf is up w/the council? it's been freezing for 2 wks straight and I haven't seen one gritter. did they spend all the salt money on the velodrome?

it's the same here

in carluke?

no

tho i suspect it will be the same there

Had to push our car up Belmont St, solid ice. M8 was gritted, sidestreets total icescapes

I have to cycle to work in an hour. That's going to be fun. Wish me luck.

Haha, I had a taxi going halfway up the hill from Belmont Street to Wilton St before rolling back down it to the bottom of the hill to have a clear run up it in first gear. He made it, other attendees at the party I was off to ended up having to walk up :-(

It's been snowing loads!

Was snowing in Hamilton the other day - apparently if it snows it never lies. It's lying.

Same in Muirkirk (wilds of Ayrshire) - lots of snow etc. Happily, if it keeps going, I won't get to work in Hamilton tomorrow.

the streets of dennistoun are full of snow and ice this morning - and random trails of grit, like skidmarks

a taxi going halfway up the hill from Belmont Street to Wilton St before rolling back down it to the bottom of the hill

Yup: that's the one Stet and I were having COMEDY ICE FUN with. Poor Lucy's car: the smell of burning rubber was astonishing.

Huge, huge respect to the little dude who appeared from the end of Wilton Street, stopped, got out and started helping us push, without a word. We thanked him profusely afterwards. "Well, someone else just did it for us!" he said with a beam. Paying it forward: awesome. Who was that Christmas-jumpered man? Perhaps we shall never know.

Meanwhile, my big day of essay reading is fucked up by a) me not getting out of bed earlier; b) realising that if we don't go shopping today (forecast: some sun, light snow, clear skies later) then Fee will be trying to do it herself tomorrow (snow all day) or Tuesday (heavy snow all day). Knackers. Tesco here we come.

I think a Tesco trip is in order for us too. Or, realistically, me. I am going to write to the Metro and see if they'll publish a thank-you letter to the anonymous car pusher.

'Course they will!

There was some car pushing action going on as my taxi failed then succeeded at that bit. What time was all this? (I'm pretty sure it wasn't Madchen's car, but you never know)

Hmm: not sure, actually. Must have been some time after 1am?

Ah, no, this was around 8pm. It wasn't just you then. Actually I think a ton of the people at the party I was at ended up walking from the bottom of the hill due to epic taxi fail.

By the way, Alisa: happy birthday for the other day! Sorry, I completely forgot about this. Hope it rocked bells.

yes, happy belated birthday ailsa! x

Thanks you guys! Are we doing drinking over Christmas at all?

Another we burst just there as I cycled home from work too - in shorts & all!

Are they bothering to grit or look after the road here at all? I was (foolishly) out in Coatbridge this evening and it was a total joke. The main roads were sheets of ice, even with heavy traffic. Terrifying.

I saw a huge lorry end up stuck half-way up a hill in a slow moving two-lane traffic queue because he didn't have enough traction to continue.

THIS IS WHAT I WAS SAYING

they spent the salt money on the commonwealth games

Was snowing in Hamilton the other day - apparently if it snows it never lies. It's lying.

Same in Muirkirk (wilds of Ayrshire) - lots of snow etc. Happily, if it keeps going, I won't get to work in Hamilton tomorrow.

It's true, it rarely lies here. Last year was the first proper snowfall in 18 years since we moved here. But that was nothing on this years.

Hah Muirkirk, in P7 my school St Ninian's (Prestwick) sent my class to some sort of outward bound centre. Kaimes or Kames or something like that. Plenty of snow there.

they spent the salt money on the commonwealth games

I had two taxi drivers tell me this today. Pavements are lethal here.

I live round the corner from the local gritter depot, and the difference in road/ice interface from their turnoff to my driveway compared to the bit from their turnoff to the rest of the world is staggering. I skidded round two corners before getting to the bit of the road the gritters go up and down, and then it was all OK. My driveway and especially back patio are very much akin to an icerink though.

My icy wee fall has cost me a possibly fractured elbow and most likely several weeks off work (selling CDs one-(wrong)-handed isn't much good). I'm pretty angry at the council or whoever was responsible for not gritting that road or whatever was approriate. I didn't realise until I fell that it wasn't just wet, but one huge sheet of ice. It was a main road, totally full of traffic and didn't seem to have been treated at all, which is madness and dangerous.

do the council have a legal responsibility to grit I wonder