The week in Glasgow Gallivanting: 12th-18th February 2024

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A Penguin Valentine

I hope those of you who celebrate Valentine’s Day had a happy one last week – two of the penguins certainly did!

An  enjoyable social event this week, and an unusual one for us, was a ceilidh organised by the husband of one of my friends. Òran Mór is a converted ex-church near us and although I’ve been in the bar, restaurant, and downstairs music venue many times I’ve only twice been in the upstairs auditorium. Even the staircase up to it has interest with a beautiful light fitting and two portraits of great Scottish cultural figures by Sandy Moffat: Alasdair Gray and David MacLennan. Both have connections with Òran Mór – more on Gray shortly, and MacLennan founded A play, a pie and a pint which runs regularly in the downstairs venue.

Stair light
Alasdair Gray by Sandy Moffat
David MacLennan by Sandy Moffat

Somewhere I had never been is the gallery above the auditorium. From here we got the closest possible view of the beautiful Alasdair Gray ceiling murals. Gray was both writer and artist and the author of the book which the recent film Poor things is based on, although it controversially lost its Glasgow location in the transition.

Alasdair Gray mural
Watching the dancers
Watching the dancers

It was also a great place to watch the dancing when not participating. You will have to take my word for it, because it’s a distant blurry photograph, but in the last image above the young woman in the white T-shirt next to the stage is none other than Greta Thunberg. We danced next to her at one point, and I thought that if they had made the dance progressive (where one partner moves on after each set of steps) John might even have got to dance with her, but it didn’t happen.

The women’s history walking season doesn’t start till April, but on Saturday we had a trial run of  Glasgow Women’s Library’s Necropolis walk which I have extensively rewritten over the winter. We needed to know if it would still fit into two hours and drummed up an audience of willing volunteers. It didn’t quite fit, so I need to lose maybe 1000 more words.

Women’s history walk rehearsal

On the way to the Necropolis I noticed with approval that the refurbishment of Provand’s Lordship, Glasgow’s oldest house (1471), is complete and I admired its new ochre harling.

New ochre harling
Sign noting 1471 origin

While I was walking, John was out on one of his cycling jaunts and came back with some misty looking photos of Loch Long above Arrochar.

Photo credit: Mark Davison
Looking down to Ardgarten
Approaching Arrochar

So those were the highlights of our week. I hope yours was a good one too.

Scotland, UK ,

55 Comments »

  3. I think that I am remembering rightly and ‘A play, a pie and a pint’ came on tour to Langholm some years ago. I wish that I had seen it in its own venue. What a spectacular place. Once again I take my hat to the adventurous spirit of the cyclist., He fairly gets about. Incidentally you appeared as an answer in my crossword today -‘Flits with dashing young men round a small Roman square (10)’

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  4. I’m not sure what a ceilidh is, but how cool that Greta Thunberg was there dancing! I guess I will have to Google it to see it in action. Too bad they chose a different setting for Poor Things (I haven’t seen it, but it doesn’t really appeal to me). John’s bikerides look fabulous; I imagine when Mike finally does retire, he’ll also be off bicycling a lot. I love the adorable Valentine’s penguins. Happy belated Valentine’s Day! 🙂

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  5. Wow who would have thought you’d be dancing a ceilidh with Greta Thunberg! You can definitely tell it’s her from the photo. I even went to a ceilidh recently for a friend’s 50TH.

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  6. Thanks for the lovely ceilidh write-up, and for coming to the event! It was good to chat up in the gallery, though by the end of the nght I was hoarse! It was great that Greta could join in without any fuss – Glasgow is very laid-back that way. It truly was an international ceilidh!

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    • Yes, the penguins have been appearing for about a year on a wall near the River Kelvin. The wall has lots of cubbyholes and to start with several had different scenarios, but I think it must be too hard to keep up when people steal them so now there is only usually one, maybe two, seasonal offering. They are fabulous!

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  9. A big fan of the penguins not so much Retailers/Valentines Day. I’m liking the cycling jaunts. The history girls will be looking forward to starting off their walks soon.

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  10. It sounds like you enjoyed another fun week, Anabel. Mine started with a trip to Brisbane with a friend. We saw an amazing production of Jersey Boys, a wonderful exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) titled Fairy Tale, did a little shopping, enjoyed a lovely morning with my gorgeous grandson and daughter and topped it off with a great night seeing Kevin McCloud in his new show, titled Home Truths. We had a fun time too.

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  14. The Òran Mór venue has certainly changed since I was last there – 20 years ago I guess! I remember it being turned into bars and a restaurant though. I used to live on Napiershall Street so not that far away. Love seeing your posts from Glasgow – fair takes me back as they say!

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  16. Hi, Anabel – I love how your weeks are all active, varied and full of exploration. Thank you for the reminder to get out there and move! I am sorry to hear about the stolen penguins. Why do people ruin things like this?

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  21. What a week you had, including your Thunberg moment. I can see that the projected Glasgow Tour will have to incorporate the women’s history walking season. So much to fit in!

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