4. Hanging in Glasgow

Deliberately didn't post yesterday, to give the illusion that I was out and about, doing cool fun things. There are two reasons that I now realise this was a stupid idea:
1. I just told you about it, making it a pretty flimsy illusion
2. It happened 3 weeks ago
Still...

Tuesday 7th August

Wow what a crazy couple of days, reader! You wouldn't believe the cool and fun things going on! It all started yesterday, when I was woken by a hostel worker who kindly advised checkout was... NOW! This was a bit earlier than I had hoped. I then realised that I had the worst hangover in the world. So I gingerly attempted to collect together my personal effects, and the inflamed fragments of my brain, and just about managed to successfully get out before anyone noticed the state of the sheets I was handing in. And, no,they weren't in a state because of that. It was... erm... food.
We passed an hour or so looking at some of the acts on the Royal Mile and Princes Street. The Fringe is a very unique festival. There there is so much going on that you will have no hope of seeing everything. Edinburgh is also an impressive city: culturally and aesthetically. I am always a little sad having to leave. But leave we did. This morning Mr. Shabadu and I would part ways. He boarded a train to Brighton and I got on a coach to spend another few days in Scotland. Before I knew it I was hanging in Glasgow! By which I mean I still had a hangover, rather than I was 'hanging out'. I thought that would be the most respectful way to arrive there.

The night before a guy from the audience of the final show in Edinburgh had asked if anyone would be in Glasgow because his band were playing. I was, I said, and agreed that I would go watch them - not really having any other plans. So in the early evening that is what I did. They were called 'The piano becomes the teeth' or something similar. They were not too bad in a sort of pretentious, "I want to kill everyone" sort of way. I would describe the style as 'post-rock'. It came complete with more energy than talent, and an incoherant vocalist. The guy from last night was one of the guitarists, and when I spoke to him briefly afterwards he found it amusing his recruiting in Edinburgh had worked.
I wish I could say Glasgow was a terrific place to be. If I had longer to absorb it a little more perhaps my mind would be changed - but unfortunately my impression was that the place was just a characterless, sprawling, concrete mess. The locals were fairly colourful, though. Later that night I was enjoying a nightcap at a bar near the hostel, when a stout woman marched in and began shrieking incoherently at the staff before sprinting out of the door for apparently no reason.

I was up early this morning* to begin the surprisingly lengthy journey to Islay, an island of the inner hebrides. As I waited for the coach a man also waiting was loudly singing along to his earphones.
".... oh yeh've gat tae search fer tha heroh insaaaeed yerseehlf ...."
It was heart warming, in a threatening sort of way. Thankfully he did not continue to sing on the coach, although it was a long ride, and by the third hour I was beginning to long for even that to entertain me. Although the scenery of the highlands and loch lomond which we passed through were stunning.
A ferry followed this.The sky had turned cloudless and azure by then, and the sun was beaming down. I decided to have an ale and sit on the the deck of the ferry for a bit. Finally we docked at Port Askaig! It consists of two and a half cottages, a pub and a dog.  The person I am meeting will be working until 5 nearby, and it is only 3pm, so I am currently sampling an ale at the pub. I will soon be bidding my farewells to the dog, and walking the couple of miles though the balmy heat and Scottish wilderness to the distillery at Caol Ila to meet my host on the island.

* In this paragraph, you may notice I draw upon my vast and daunting writing talent to shift the tense to make it seem as if the events are happening today. As you may remember this actually happened ages ago, but this way you get more enjoyment from this otherwise fairly dull post. Trust me.