Theres no business like train platform business

I saw a very interesting thing on the way home last night. I was standing on platform 4 of Central Station awaiting the train, when I noticed one of the ticket checkers doing a wee jig across the platform to one of her colleagues. Her colleague laughed and then did a little jig back.

A few of my fellow passengers noticed this and turned to watch. The two ticket collectors then walked over to each other, laughed, chatted a bit and after counting to three they did a perfect bit of synchronised tap dancing. It only lasted 30 seconds but it was very impressive. Not sure if this is a new policy by First Scotrail but I think its a great idea. Waiting for the train can be very boring. Having staff performing various variety acts on the platforms would be an excellent way to pass the time and people wouldn't mind the odd delay now and again as they could watch some more soft shoe shuffling.

Running Classes

I went out running with the jogging network on Monday night, I normally go to two classes every week, one at the Gorbals and one at Bellahouston park. On Monday we were running one mile reps.

You can join the jogging network, as long as you can run three miles, if you can’t, you can join one of their beginners classes to get you up to the 3 mile mark.It's really good fun

There are classes on everyday, at different places around the city, here are the southside classes

Monday 6.30pm – Gorbals Sport Centre
Tuesday 6.30pm - Holyrood Sport Centre
Wednesday 6.30pm – Bellahouston Sport Centre

mailing list

We've got the mailing list set-up. For irregular newsletters of interesting things going on south of the Clyde please enter your email address in the yellow box below right.

gives us a goal

Newlands Cafe

In the Southside we are well sorted for specialist shops for all occasions and over the coming months we will be pin pointing some of the most useful. If anyone has any suggestions of good shops to visit then let us know - the odder the better.

The shop in question here is not an odd one but with a recent spate of shop closures it is becoming semi unique.

For the past few weeks, I've been playing football with a hole in my right boot which I have been gratefully using as an excuse for my shooting. The problem with this however was that every now and then, when the ball caught my foot at the right angle, I was basically kicking it with a bare foot, which was rather uncomfortable. I decided I'd had enough and set search through Shawlands for some new boots.

There used to be a Sports shop called Morrisons as part of Shawlands Arcade but it has been closed for a while now. But I knew there was a second store down towards Newlands. We wandered down that end only to discover that it was closed and on closer inspection appeared to have closed down. I was just about to give up and resign myself to having to go to one of the larger stores when I spotted a note on the door advising that they had actually moved further up the road to a unit opposite the new Tesco mini mart.

So we crossed over the road, purchased a quarter of Jelly Teddies from the Newlands Cafe's excellent sweetie selection and walked along to John Semples sports shop.

Its a small shop, but it is extremely packed full of every possible sporting item you would care to mention and the bloke that served me was very helpful and gave me a choice of 4 different boots. I decided not to be ruled by the latest fashions and opted out of a red or a white pair (if you turn up in a pair of those then you had better be good or face team ridicule) and I went for a pair of classic black Pumas. They seem comfortable enough and I feel they have many goals in them, I look forward to trying them out on Wednesday night.

We didn't really chat to the owner properly. We're still getting the hang of this investigative business when it comes to gathering info for this blog but we did find out a few interesting facts - 1. the original John Semple sits in a comfy chair by the window, 2. the original John Semple opened the store 27 years ago, 3. the guy who served us is taking part in a professional bowls championship - we shall try to find out where and when and maybe someone can go along and give us a report.

EDIT: There must be something wrong with these new boots as well. No goals and I was completely exhausted after half an hour.

Pirates at the LUV Cafe?

I was hoping to write a post about my upcoming adventure ......I am going to see the third and final Pirates of the Carribean film tonight, ah Captain Jack.... but instead I spent my lunch hour at the LUV cafe [Linthouse Urban Village]

The LUV café has become one of my favourite Café’s in the city. It’s situated in the Linthouse Urban Village, beside Elderslie park in Govan. The décor is really quirky, from the arts and craft style wall paper, with birds, to the chandeliers with cherub angles.
The food is really good, not a huge menu: soup, salads, sandwiches, paninis, baked potatos but a good selection of fillings and two types of soup everyday. Mmm they’re Lentil soup is fantastic well worth the ten minute walk from my office.

The best thing about LUV is it’s owned and run by the LUV organisation, so your money is invested back in the neighbourhood.
It can be busy at lunch time, but If you can’t get a seat, I suggest you go sit in Elderslie park beside the pond. If your lucky the model boating club might be out practicing.

I pinched the image of the pirate from the hole in my pocket blog

Critical Mass

We've just been sent this post,

Whilst everyday is a celebration of the bicycle day, it's not often you get a chance to cycle your city, en masse, twice in one week. Following this Friday's critical mass bike blessing, on saturday the 26th may, at 12 midday, we're holding a bike tour of Glasgows neglected lane network - the pedestrian/cyclist network just waiting to be discovered...

This is part of a project called Glasgow is made by us - an exploration of how good thoughtful design can improve the experience of living and being in the city, and we'd love you to come along - please forward this message on to any cycling or non-cycling friends... The ride starts and finishes in St Enoch Sq, a focus for a day of events including a bike workshop, plus the low carbon lifestyle tour, featuring stalls, music, two boats.. plus the GMBU deckchairs available for socialising, relaxing or anything else you may wish to turn your mind to...
...and the forecast is looking good, though i may have just cursed it.
Ride details:
-Sat 26th May 2007
-Starts and finishes at St Enoch Square, Glasgow, bottom of buchanan street.
-Gather at 12 for 1230 start.
-Ride duration approx 1 hr, we ride at the pace of the slowest rider.

www.glasgowcriticalmass.org.uk/

Trying to be the 'favourite aunty'

I have my two little nephew’s coming to visit me this weekend. I am hoping the weather improves, it’s not great today, but Metcheck say’s it’s going to rain and unfortunately they’re normally right.

If it’s sunny I thought I could take them to Queens Park for a taster sailing course at the pond, and bring some bread for the ducks. Then we could have a quick look around the reptile house [I’ve never been before] and then a game of lawn bowls, at the council greens. Perhaps we could help Alburt in his quest to find the best café in the Southside and try out Queen’s café’s ice cream.

If it rains, then it could be a day to visit the Imax [seemingly they’re showing Harry Potter] and the Science Centre. I’ve been a couple of times now, the last time we were there, we sat in on a paper aeroplane making class, it was fun.

Or maybe I'll just have to learn and like playing the playstation....

What we did when the oil ran out

While out and about this lunchtime, I noticed a flyer for a free performance at the Pearce Institute, in Govan.

Hopscotch Thetare are performing their play ' What we did when the oil ran out' on Saturday 26th May @ 12 noon and 3pm. The plays suitable for 5-12 year olds and families and last for an hour. I am sure if your over 12 years...they'll still let you in.

The Callows family live a happy and care free life with two cars, four televisions and the usual bundle of bicycles which do nothing more than fill up space in the garden shed. But one day they awaken to shocking news - oil reserves really are running out! No more cheap petrol, no more cheap holidays, no more cheap anything. Life as we know it has to change.Follow the family on a roller coaster journey to discover alternative sources of power and a cleaner, healthier lifestyle. Can they learn to live in a world without fossil fuels? How can they cut back on energy use and, most importantly, how will we all survive without oil… ?

For your free tickets call 0141 440 2025 or email info@hopscotchtheatre.com

link:www.hopscotchtheatre.com

Football and roads

The roads and rails might be a bit busy on your way home from work to the Southside tonight as several thousand Spaniards have descended upon Glasgow for the Uefa Cup Final at Hampden Park. The kick off is at 19:45 and so traffic will be tied up from 17:30 and then busy again around 22:00.

There's a lot of Spanish colour in the city today as the two teams of Espanyol (blue) and Sevilla (red) take part in dancing, singing and mock football matches. They've been in fine voice so far despite the rather depressing weather and its been fun to watch them wandering around, waving their flags and wearing a mixture of sombreros and fake kilts. I always enjoy when these big events come to Glasgow and hopefully we'll see plenty more if we win the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Its a shame that the display of colour and flag waving can't be replicated by our own local teams without it starting a riot.

Tickets for the game have been like gold dust but we have managed to track down a couple of reporters who will be taking photos for us and giving us the inside scoop tomorrow. We'd also like to hear from people from Mount Florida to tell us what its like living beside these kind of events.

Edit: A very enjoyable match - with Sevilla just sneaking it on penalties. Here are the photos from our inside reporters who I believe may have been enjoying a beverage or two with the Spaniards all afternoon.

Hidden Gardens - Polloksheilds

One of my favourite places in the Southside is the Hidden Gardens, at the Tramway in Polloksheilds. The gardens opened about four years ago and are slowly being expanded. It's free to get in and it's open from dawn to dusk [closed on Mondays]. It's a great place to go and sit in the sun, read your book, or listen to a band. The cafe in the Tramway is also well worth a visit for lunch or just some coffee and cake.

To get to the Hidden Gardens take a Train from Central Station to Polloksheilds Train Station or get on a bus from the city centre 38, 45, 48, 57, will all stop at the end of Albert Drive.

View Albert Drive in a larger map

Link: www.thehiddengardens.org.uk

Now it's the men's turn

I took part in the Glasgow women's 10km run yesterday. Over 12,000 women took part in the run, it was great fun and there was an incredible atmosphere. People lined the streets of the south side to cheer the runners on, and handed out jelly babies and cups of water to us. Obviously the best thing about completing the 10km, after the atmosphere and sense of achievement, is always the free tunnocks caramel wafer in your goodie bag.

For those blokes out there, who feel they missed out on a great day. There is a men's 10km at Bellahouston park, on the 18th of June 2007. There were 2500 runners last year, and this year they are aiming for over 5000 runners. So if your interested click on the link below

http://www.mhfs.org.uk/mhfs/10K.php

We are sailing - we are sailing

Last week I received a card from the Royal Mail advising that a package sent to me, had been 6p short in postage and so I would now need to pay £1.06. This could be either paid in person, or by attaching stamps for this value to the card, and dropping it into the post. I decided upon the latter, to save time and I attached 4 first class stamps and dropped it into the post box. Imagine my surprise the next morning when the very same Royal Mail card was redelivered to my house. I put on my coat and headed down to Victoria Road to find out what the story was. The woman in the post office admitted this was a common mistake and that the sorting office had accidentally sent it straight back to me instead of just keeping hold of it! Not the best system, but I did manage to get my parcel - turned out to be stuff that I'd needed the previous week and now wasn't worth the hassle.

Anyway, that troubled tale is merely to bring me to my journey home, which brought me through Queen's Park where I met a friendly chap called Ewan who is part of the "Sailing in the city" team who, in conjunction with Glasgow City Council are bringing sailing to many of the city's ponds this summer. Ewan is going to get his boss to email more info to us regarding dates but in the mean time, the important stuff is; it's for kids aged between 8 and 14, taster sessions are free, all boats are fully supervised and there are even short day courses with proper training and certificates. There are also evening classes on Tuesday nights between 4:30pm and 7:30pm. To find out more, visit their website www.sailinginthecity.org.uk/ or phone 0131 317 7388.

ice-cream, ice-cream

Mmmmmm, last night we had some delicious ice-cream from one of our favourite little Southside cafes - the Brooklyn Cafe. We opted for the £1.70 tub as illustrated above. Normally I go for a double oyster, raspberry sauce and a flake, but today decided on the healthier option. It really is fandabbydozy ice-cream and it even made the Sunday Herald's list of 100 things to do in Scotland before you die. (Though I'm not sure from their tone if they are making fun of Westenders by suggesting they can't leave the Westend bubble or making fun of southsiders by suggesting they live in no mans land?)

38. Sugar-rushing at The Brooklyn Cafe: "Before you die, you should visit The Brooklyn Cafe on the south side of Glasgow (west-enders will need booster jags and sherpas, so plan ahead). Having found it, buy a double-nougat with vanilla ice-cream, raspberry sauce and sprinkles. Walk slowly to Queen's Park, round the duck pond and back again, by which time you should be ready for another one."

There are quite a number of fantastic Glaswegian cafes in the Southside - maybe we should do an investigation into which one is the best. Please send us your thoughts as to the number one cafe in the South of Glasgow and we'll poll the results and then check them out for review. I think high on the requirements list should be the quality of both the cafes ice cream and their cooked breakfasts.

On yer bike

I got a new bike for my birthday this year, so I've started cycling to work. I grow up in rural Scotland, so I am not much of a city cycler ie I am rubbish on kerbs, roads etc. I got a cycling pack from the Council, it contains information on cycling in the city, and from the map I was able to plan a safe route to work. The pack also contains information on more scenic routes in and around the city. The council supply the cycling information pack for FREE. All you need to do is e-mail the address below and they'll send one out to you.

land@glasgow.gov.uk

how and where

As we blog, we will try to upload maps of the Southside which highlight the places we are talking about.

Cessnock

Govan

Govan Hill

Ibrox

Linthouse

Pollokshields

Shawlands

Get your running shoes on

I've been out training with my niece Gemma for this years Glasgow Resolution Asset 10 km women's run. The run takes place next Sunday [13th of May]. It starts at Bellahouston Park, and takes you through Maxwell park, Pollok park, and finishes back at Bellahouston park. It's great fun and the local southsiders are fantastic, last year there was a family in Pollok Park, giving out Jelly beans and water to the runners. So if you want to be one of the estimated 16,000 runners in this years event, there is still time to sign up.

Link: http://www.runglasgow.org/10k/event/event.php