A stream of consciousness by Laurence Hughes

That was a productive and fun weekend.

On Friday, Clair was meeting her mum and cousin in town so I ordered a Kebabish (fish tikka and mutter pilau rice – banging) and watched episode 4 of the The Penguin.

I started Saturday with a short Rudy-walk then it was off to Pete’s for some table-tennis practice. I’ve been playing crap recently and wanted to fix things. Pete was as generous as ever with his tips, and his advice on “the triangle” and "dialling up/down power" was really effective! By the end I was playing both forehand and backhand much better. After this I drove out to Kirky and collected my brother Martin to go for a chat over lunch at Nonna’s Kitchen. On the way home we popped into my niece Chloe’s new house and I enjoyed chasing wee Leo around his garden. At night Clair and I stayed in and watched Where the Crawdads Sing which was enjoyable enough.

On Sunday I had a really lovely autumnal walk around Pollokshields with Rudy and bumped into Mark M, then Dawn A, in the hood. In the evening I caught up with Mick M and, after a beer at Shilling and food at Rosa’s Thai we went to see Skinshape performing at Room Two. The music was great and the bassist was particularly impressive. I just think Will could do with belting the vocals out a tad louder. My favourite moment was hearing The Longest Shadow live.

On Saturday my friend Mick called to give me the shock news that our mutual friend, Kerso (Graham) had passed away. I’ve known Kerso for around 26 years, since I worked in Bomba records. He was a force of nature, a generous soul, a good guy. I and all his friends loved him.

Some of my favourite Kerso memories include him bounding into the shops where I worked (either Bomba or later Sound Control) on a Saturday afternoon, big broad smile and dressed immaculately, embodying the feeling that the weekend had landed. Or at club nights and parties or when he was on the decks, always a bundle of energy and a blur of hair! There was the time he bought me a signed copy of Neil Lennon’s biography for my birthday, having queued to get Lenny’s signature despite not being a fan himself (to put it lightly) but because he knew I’d love the gift. Then there’s his 40th birthday do at the Sub Club, a legendary party and where Clair and I met. I could go on, and on.

He was an integral part of many scenes – music, clothes, trainers, football and beyond – and had many, many friends. We’ll all miss him dearly.

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Mick had been saying for a couple of years that I should join him, sister Jenny and brother-in-law Barry on one of their jaunts to the annual Spirit of Alba festival at Kirkintilloch Town Hall. I’d always felt it’d be a nice opportunity for us to hang out (with the added bonus of whisky tasting) so yesterday I took him up on the offer.

Last time I was at Kirky town hall was probably for a disco as a teenager and I must say the venue and surrounding area are looking nice after recent work. It’s cool that my hometown has a whisky festival given its historic role in whisky’s global story – see Rita Cowan and the Japanese brand Nikka for more. It’s also quite the turnaround given Kirky was a dry town til the 70s.

I don’t have the constitution to go straight into the hard stuff so my first drink was Das ist ein lagerbier, a Helles from Upfront Brewing. It turns out that amiable owner Jake lives near me in the southside. It was then onto whisky tasters from The Glasgow Distillery’s lovely 1770 range, Angels’ Nectar and JG Thomson.

I also tried a couple of rums including a Dorchadas (from East Neuk Spirit Co) which they served as a shot with their own apple mixer. (Their website also handily contains lots of cocktail-making tips). That was so nice that I was close to buying a bottle as a souvenir of the day. But instead I plumped for Cihuatan Indigo, a delicious rum from El Salvador and Jenny’s top tip.

It was great to hang out with everyone and we capped the night by walking to Jenny and Barry’s lovely house for a curry. There was a colourful conclusion to the night but I’ll keep that particular tale to myself.

Sláinte to all concerned!

I got home from Friday morning’s dog walk to find some records in the post. I’d recently deleted my Discogs wants-list having realised twenty years too late that it is far too addictive, and as a last hurrah had earmarked a last few key wants. One of those was The Blue Nile’s Tinseltown in the rain – a slice of Scottish pop perfection on Linn records – and I enjoyed a brief listen before heading back out.