Journal

Ethan assembles numerous technology articles, some of which are enthusiastic about generative AI and LLMs while others highlight political, social and health impacts and risks.

I now see why people love this part of the world. The dramatic coastline, beautiful deep blue Med, stunning buildings and balconies, incredible food scene, culture and history and buzz of activity… I could go on!

Here’s a list of some noteworthy things we did and places we visited on this amazing holiday.

Nice

Art, history, culture

We browsed the interesting open air photo exhibition at Place Garibaldi for the 80 years anniversary of Nice’s liberation from Nazi occupiers.

We visited the Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre, where we saw the exhibitions Pourquoi m’as-tu abandonnée? by Bettina Rheims and You were not chosen by Marine Foissey.

After travelling to Saint-Jean Cap Ferra (celebrating “120 years heritage and history”) we visited the villa of Ephrussi de Rothschild. We wandered around the patio, rooms and gardens, stopping for breathtaking views of the bay. We finished at the French Garden at the back of the villa which, with its water jets, is pretty special.

Place du Pin and Rue Bonaparte, which we discovered towards the end of the trip, is a bustling little street of modern bars and restaurants. We didn’t have enough time to try too many places but enjoyed some lovely greek street food at Kalos.

Food and drink

Socca (chickpea flour, olive oil, pepper) at Therese’s food stand next to the photography museum. It’s tasty! I also tried La Pissaladière – a bread dough with white onions, stewed pepper salt anchovies and small olives niçoises.

While at Place Rossetti we had Salad Niçoises for lunch (when in Rome…) at restaurant La Claire Fontaine, then some ice cream (flavours like rhubarb and lemon) from Fenoccio café.

Movida, a little drinks and tapas bar on Quai des Etats-Unis with roof seating overlooking the bay. Serves good cocktails including fiery margarita.

Maison Margaux at Place Magenta for sea bass and rosé wine.

Maybe our best meal in Nice was at Le Bistrot on Rue St Honoré, part of Hotel du Couvent and discovered by Clair. We enjoyed a set meal of Oeufs Mimosa, Vitello Tonnato, Capellini a la sauge, Bavette a l’echalote and Clafoutis mirabelle. Everything about this place was interesting and stylish – building, decor, music, staff, food and drink.

Areas

Our hotel was near Place Masséna, with its beautiful, colourful buildings and art installation by Jaume Plensa featuring seven figures on pillars “in conversation”. The wider area include Rue Masséna and adjoining streets is great and we ate at various places. It gets busy at night, but always felt enjoyable and never too overcrowded.

The old town with its winding, cobbled streets, squares and scores of interesting bars and restaurants is fantastic.

Place Rossetti is a beautiful square with a fountain and Cathedral Saint-Marie, where we ate lunch while busking violinists did their thing. A vibe!

Villefranche-sur-mer was nice for a short visit. We might have taken a short boat trip there if we’d had time to organise it in advance.

Shopping

Antic Boutik is a brilliant clothes shop. I picked up a couple of bits before being given a complementary Merci Bien! t-shirt by the friendly assistant.

I visited two record shops: Kosimi the lovely Evrlst where I spotted for the first time a physical copy of the Apogee & Perigree LP although they knew their prices so I resisted the urge.

Accommodation

Hotel Seize: friendly staff and great old-fashioned elevator.

Miscellaneous

parks The city bus tour we took on Day One served as a great initial orientation, taking us along the grand hotels and casinos of Promendade des Anglais then past the Russian Orthodox church and musicians‘ district up to the train station, continuing into Place Garibaldi, Port Lympia and even onto Villefranche-sur-mer and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.

Other places we visited / info we picked up

Our lovely hosts at Hotel L’Esprit D’Azur passed on a digital map guide for Nice with categories for museums, free parks and museums, restaurants, indoor activities and around Nice.

La Casita in Antibes provided one of our favourite meals of the trip. It’s on a busy little street just down from the market. I had John Dory while Clair had Boulettes Viande.

La Petite Garoupe restaurant in Antibes – a stunning location on a stormy night. We had just received bad news and raised a glass to our friend.

L’Elephant Bleu in Antibes, a Thai restaurant on Boulevard d'Aguillon

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.

First stop of the afternoon was a visit to Greater Govanhill’s office to collect their latest edition (more on this later).

On Fridays, Gomo Kimchi is open so I popped in for lunch and out of the rain. I resisted my usual urge to order everything on the menu, going for a kimchi toastie which was delicious.

During my work’s “summer Fridays off“ period I try to fit in one short trip and overnight stay outside the city, and this weekend was my chance. So I made the one hour drive to Kippen, stopping in at the lovely Woodhouse farm shop and café en route for coffee and a slice of apple pie.

Kippen is a gorgeous little village situated between Fintry and Callendar, near the Gargunnock and Fintry hills. Although not far to drive, it’s far enough outside the city that you might find yourself standing beside a pony outside the local coffee shop, as I did! With an hour to kill before check-in at my hotel, I enjoyed a stoat around the main street, some residential parts, the parish church and the local tennis club. I also stopped in at The Inn at Kippen for a half-pint.

I was staying at The Cross Keys, a cosy country pub/restaurant with a handful of rooms. Clair and I stayed there some years ago and enjoyed it, and happily their prices are still reasonable. Before dinner I enjoyed a pint in the pub then took the tiny trip up three stairs to the restaurant floor where I had the hake special. Since I was on my tod I had time to read my copy of Greater Govanhill while eating. This one, the Heritage edition, is full of insights into the history, landmarks, architecture, bars, shops and people of my local area and I loved it!

Saturday was a pretty chilled day. I made the trip home then hung around the house. Sunday started with a nice long dog walk in Pollok Park. Back home, I put on Tinseltown in the Rain again, this time with Clair beside me and Rudy on her lap. Rudy enjoys music (which is handy) and he looked happily tired and blissed out as Clair applied a premium-grade head scratch and the music played. That was my favourite moment of the weekend.

Later that day I played table-tennis with Phillip and Steve, with Pete coaching. Playing was great but hearing about Steve’s improved health was better.

On this morning’s park walk with Rudy, he had an anxious bark at a passing dog. I was caught in the crossfire and got a wee bite to the leg. Now, a while back that would have been unremarkable – he’s had long-term lead anxiety which appears aggressive and has given me some cuts and bruises. But, we’ve worked hard on it and he’s been doing brilliantly, so it was a surprise and a disappointment.

But since my initial reaction, I’ve come to realise a couple of things and wanted to reflect on them here so that I can understand them and progress.

Firstly, a word on how it felt. The small bite itself ain’t much fun but I think what’s sorer is that I love that wee guy and put a lot into him and it feels like a harsh return. I also feel disappointed in myself for allowing it to happen. Okay, it feels good to have noted that!

On reflection I think I can be a bit less hard on both of us. While I’m really confident these behaviours will continue to become rarer, they’ll occasionally happen… and that’s okay. I’m happy that me and my dog-pal are both doing our best!

With that said, I have some good ideas about why this particular one happened and how to improve things.

Recently I’ve been particularly vigilant when Rudy passes the first other dog on the walk. And I’d been sure to give him a small pre-emptive lead and vocal correction when he shows too much interest. Importantly that’s before it has a chance to develop further. This comes from the training we did and has been working really well. It also serves a dual-purpose by setting the tone for the rest of the walk. I realise I had forgotten to pay particular attention on that first doggy drive-by and now know I can fix things by incorporating it again.

I also realise I was distracted – a work issue was preying on my mind. Slightly different territory here, but the lesson is for me to literally say aloud “I’m annoyed at this thing and I realise I’ve let it frustrate me and hog my concentration even outside of work. That’s pointless and I’m gonna let it go.”. I did that today and immediately felt better and more relaxed. Not only will that help with my concentration, I’m also pretty sure that “calm Laurence” is gonna promote “calm Rudy”.

The last realisation is that during his best behaviour he’s been sleeping elsewhere but last night I gave in to the puppy-dog eyes and let him sleep on our bed. Time to stop that one. It’s not just that i get a better sleep minus the furry hot water bottle. Importantly, when he sleeps and relaxes on his own (in his own space) it’s better for his all-round confidence and behaviour.

It was helpful to reflect on that. I’ve been enjoying a lot of blissful, peaceful walks with the wee guy recently and long may they continue.

I’ve reached the halfway point of short summer working weeks and long weekends, and they’ve been great so far. I began this long weekend with lunch at the Broadcroft Hotel in Kirkintilloch for my parents’ emerald anniversary. My Uncle Liam was there too and we all really enjoyed it.

I had panko breaded Stornoway black pudding with apricot & plum chutney to start, followed by fish pie, then a coffee to finish. In the words of Larry David it was all pretty, pretty good. It’s also pretty, pretty impressive that my folks have been married fifty-five years. My mum was delighted to find a specific Emerald Anniversary card to give Dad, which contained some amusing words about their steadfast love!

Saturday was even more of a food-fest. After a blissful long walk at Pollok Park with Rudy where we spotted a baby highland cow, I met Clair for breakfast at Outlier. The food was nice (I had scrambled eggs on toast with trout) although there was a reassuringly long wait for it. (To be fair, they were mobbed when I arrived). Have to also mention: their cakes are banging!

Later, I visited Martin and Izzie where Paul and Rita were visiting with their lovely twin baby boys Liam and Jack. The hosts treated us to some french delights – saucisson, cheese, brioche, lentils, lovely bread – and the assembled friends enjoyed a good natter about life, work and travels.

Kiro Tempura have returned to our area as a popup and later on Saturday night Clair and I paid a visit. We had a tempura set of hake, mackerel, prawn, sweet potato, pumpkin, greenbeans and sweetcorn and it was delicious. Hope it goes well for those guys – the food was ace and the service friendly.

Lovely time catching up with my niece Amy for lunch at The Old Mill in Killearn on Friday. We chatted about her trips abroad, her ongoing love affair with Taylor Swift and about family.

I squeezed in more family time on Sunday when Dad visited while Mum was meeting cousins at Bellahouston Park. We had a good laugh watching Rudy and our neighbour’s dog Coco (who was visiting) roll around, while got ready to head off for a work trip to Wimbledon.

Today could be summarised as “a good walk followed by a good craic”.

Mark and I (along with Jura) made the short trip to The Whangie where we enjoyed a hike and a blether. On our return to Glasgow we met Clair and Gillian at the Rum Shack and gulped down some jerk fish and chips and other carribean-themed delights from their menu, plus a couple of pints. A good Saturday.

I’ve just finished reading Bicycle Diaries City, by David Byrne. It’s a log of Byrne’s observations and insights as he pedals through major cities of the world including Istanbul, London, Berlin, Buenos Aires, San Francisco and Manilla.

It was an enjoyable read that ambled along pleasantly throughout but got much better in the final chapters as he describes his efforts to effect change and his thoughts about how things could be.

Hung out with Jason and Lydia, Aldo and Anna today at Sloan’s bar in town. It was a good day – I hadn’t seen the former two for a while and know they’ve had a rough time of late due to a death in the family. They were in good spirits and we enjoyed tasty but well-priced food and drinks. I had Venison Stew, having loved it so much on that recent excursion to Wild Kabn.

Meanwhile I was delighted to hear that Aldo and Anna had bumped into our friends Doug and Zoe while on holiday in Ibiza recently and had all hung out together.

We spent a happy hour or two shooting the breeze. At the end, I went on with Jason and Lydia to Ryan’s Bar in the southside. That’s my third time there; it’s a cool wee spot with a good drinks selection. I was pretty envious of Jason’s margarita.