from the Borderlands to Snæfellsnes
25 October 2013
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Friday 25 October 2013--I meet W for lunch at The Ubiquitous Chip in
Ashton Lane. The Chip, founded in 1971, is a Glasgow institution. Owner
Ronnie Clydesdale made its reputation by taking two big risks. The first was
basing his restaurant on Scottish cuisine, at a time when that was regarded as a
contradiction in terms. (I assume the name is an ironic comment on the popular
conception of that cuisine.) The second was moving into Ashton Lane, a
moribund back alley, in 1976. The Chip was instrumental in the transformation
of the lane into the center of bohemian student café culture. Like many such
places--New York's Greenwich Village and Toronto's Yorkville come to mind--
it has lost much of its countercultural edge in the ensuing decades. Still, it
remains a lively and artsy little corner of town.
All that said, The Ubiquitous Chip is just too highfalutin' for my swollen and fuzzy brain this morning. W seems to be similarly afflicted, and we spend most of our lunchtime trying to suppress our giggling. Eventually we escape and go for a walk through the university and Kelvingrove Park. W then goes on her way. I walk a while longer, circling back to my hotel for a rest. Alan Reid, erstwhile and longtime member of the Battlefield Band, meets me at the corner of Byres and Great Western Roads. I have a ticket to see his former bandmates at Òran Mór this evening. Alan has another commitment, but has agreed to have a pint with me beforehand. He tells me that the lads are in Tennents, just down Byres Road. He hasn't seen them in a year, and it's a convivial reunion, with handshakes and backslaps and lots of laughter. The lads deliver their usual high-octane show, although I have to say I miss Alan's songs mixed into the set. The venue itself is disappointing, a basement room with a ceiling so low, Mike Katz can't play the pipes standing up. Next |
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The Ubiquitous Chip
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But Is It Art?
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Kelvingrove Park
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Kelvingrove Park
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Kelvingrove Park
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Kelvingrove Park
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Kelvingrove Park
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Kelvingrove Park
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Kelvingrove Park
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The River Kelvin
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Inn Deep On The Kelvin
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Familiar Faces At Tennents
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Tennents
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The Battlefield Band At Òran Mór
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