try glasgow more

thanks!

well it was actually my birthday on saturday but i had my birthday dinner on sunday because my mum was in hospital for a minor thing until sunday afternoon.

Yeah - late-o birthday wishes, jed. Great to see you again Ronan. Come over for Optimo whenever you like. I had an idea for another Guardian tech feature too - will email you!

That'd be great, my full name as all one word @gmail.com is an address I use more often.

Right Glasgow, we have a mongrel and a farrell in attendance at Carter at the Barrowlands on Saturday. We need a plan for boozing. Please bear in mind that there is an Old Firm game on at lunchtime (at Ibrox), so Gallowgate boozers could be a touch iffy dependent on the result. I'm ruling the Saracen's Head out right now, also Mono because it sucks.

bah.

if it's not gonna be mono, then what was yr other suggestion ... bar 91? that's good by me.

Bar 91 on Candleriggs seemed a good one, yes. What sort of time are we talking about? What time's the doors at, I would quite like to see support acts.

bah 91

ban 91

iMono

o91mo

er ... yeh, anyway ... who are the support acts? mega city 4? the senseless things? kingmaker? :)

Chris T-T and the Frank and Walters :-)

I thought it was supposed to be Sultans of Ping?

Sultans are supporting them in London.

Where's ma jaykit?

gies yer fuckin jaiket

fuxxake. i've seen SoPFC once in my life -- in 1992 -- and that was one time more than i'd like. they'd better not be doing any surprise glasgow appearances.

ask chris t-t to sing that song about how nuclear bullets give children cancer!

it's er interesting

and the one about the hedgehog

nominate other places ludicrously close to the Barrowlands? the venue, train station and my hostel all seem to be within a penny's roll of each other, would be amusing to not leave a couple of blocks space in the first 24 hours there.

I'm good for anywhere from 4pm on, def want to see Frank & Walters but as long as they play This Is Not A Song last am not panicked about getting in on time.

also: Ward, if you can't make it, are Sunday or Monday any better for a quieter meet-up?

hang on, woah, were you being serious about the F&W, ailsa? GOD FUCKING DAMN! i hope they play all the po-faced stuff from the later albums. heh.

but i'll settle for the happy busman and fashion crisis, natch.

4pm might be a bit early ... some time between 5 and 6 is more likely for me. EFG: be warned, glasgow FAPs have a habit of starting at least an hour later than the advertised time.

Yes, I was being serious about the Frank and Walters. Where are you staying, EFG? Still waiting on Andrew to let me know what time he's getting in at. I shall be ruinously early in pub due to football, but should take some time off between that and afternoon/evening drinking.

i bet you don't :)

doors are at 7, according to the handy reminder e-mail i just got from ticketbastard.

Kit, I can do Saturday afternoon/early evening, tho' I am not going to see Carter (saw them in New Cross in the early 1990s, appropriately enough)

Barrowlands is v. near to one of Glasgow's two major comic shops but it's really shit - Mono, on the other hand, has a v. good rec shop that is prob worth a visit if you're in the area

(note, this doesn't mean you have to stay in the pub there)

^^^ good work ailsa

get it RIGHT up yiz, fuckers.

Thanks aldo, I try. What I want from my pubs is not a soulless cavern, sullen (and useless) bar staff and a minimalist range of drinks which doesn't even include Guinness or non-horrible wine.

I think if you want to avoid drunken football nutter types (present company excepted) iMono is the ideal place. Shame about the lack of Guinness all the same.

who needs guinness and wine when you've got organic cider?

also: they're not sullen, just shy indie mokes. (who are sometimes useless, yes.)

It's been so long since I went to Mono that I've decided I quite like it after all.

hey guys when is a good time to visit glasgow in november?

any time is ken time, ken!

Totally!

is there going to be good dancing going on 3rd/4th?

you asking?

(© 2007 clapped-out glasgow vernacular jokes inc)

i dislike mono a fair bit and find the staff not shy but downright rude much of the time (worst offender that fat prob. gay guy). having said that though ailsa's mono hatred has taken on a life of its own by this point but on a day like this it's probably the best option - especially since she always recommends scary places. she's ruled out the saracen head this time but i'd be absolutely terrified to go in there regardless of the day.

not that i ever get round to coming so disregard all that if you wish.

My Mono hatred is mostly self-parody these days. There are better pubs though - the one right across from the road from it at least does a proper pint. The Sarry was, I think, Grimly's idea originally, prior to me informing him that there was an Old Firm game on.

oh i know that, ailsa. i do exactly the same.

re the self parody i mean.

It should perhaps be noted that my original proposal of the Saracen's Head was a joke. That I was taken seriously surprised me a little!

(Saracen Head not scary pre-Barrowlands gigs, depending who's playing. I'm guessing it will be quite scary this week, which is why it's not an option. Embrace your fear of not-really-scary Glasgow pubs!!)

exactly. it's a cracking pub.

however: even the best pub in the world becomes a spunkpit once it's full of football fools.

I'm thinking me and grimly's ideas of cracking pubs are quite similar, and not really to everyone else's taste :-)

except for the fact i think mono is cracking, too!

but yeh: i like old pubs full of old mentalists.

jed_'s fat mono ugly-david-van-day guy is a total dickhead, yeh

bar 91 is fine, in reality. just haven't been in there in a while because I always used to go there

not that I am going to be around for this, probably

david-van-day guy

:)

i nearly got battered in bar 91 once -- with really good reason, too. i'm not promising i can recreate this on saturday, but you never know: another dude with a long-standing and legitimate grudge against me might well be sitting by the door when i walk in. bloodsport for all, etc.