Glasgow Letter
The Glasgow Letter’s magical mystery tour of the UK continues and this week, I correspond to you from a Nottingham hotel room.
But the Tide Lines tour finishes this week so the headquarters of this column will be returning to the city about which it is written.
The one thing about Glasgow is that people always seem to want to talk about it wherever you travel. Before our London show last week, myself and our drummer Gus, himself a Glasgow boy, born and bred in Cardonald, nipped out in Camden for a pre-gig haircut.
Hoping to avoid the huge, multi-coloured mohicans associated with this part of London - if you don’t know, Google it! - we found a decent Turkish barber without too long a queue so decided to take a seat.
No sooner had my haircut begun, the gentleman asked the obvious question: where was my accent from?
I explained I am from the Highlands of Scotland but told him I lived in Glasgow as I thought that might be more recognisable to him - and so it proved.
His immediate response, in a convincing “weegie” accent, was: “nae bother, pal!” It turned out he had lived in Govan for six months, then Maryhill, so knew the city well and could even understand my Lochaber accent.
The only misunderstanding we had was when he was telling me about Camden Lock and, struggling to tune into his own strong accent, I mistakenly thought he was telling me something about
Campbeltown Loch! I suppose you can take the boy out of Glasgow…
Onto less frivolous matters. There are only two weeks until the Glasgow Islay Association Annual Gathering featuring Liam Gray, Mairi Callan, Cameron Duff and Rena Gertz, followed by a dance to the music of the Loch Dubh Ceilidh Band.
Tickets can be bought from committee members or through the association’s Facebook page.
Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, Comunn Tìr nam Beann is preparing for its final cèilidh of the 2022/23 season on Saturday April 1. This will feature Neil MacLure on pipes, Lynn Phipps, Lyle Kennedy, Alice MacMillan and Anna Magee. The venue is the Augustine United Church on George IV Bridge. Doors open at 7pm and there is no need to