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Glasgow's Miles Better

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Well apart from deciding to close the motorway slip road from the airport resulting in mass gridlock through Paisley. And damaging my achilles tendon running to Milngavie reservoir and back (and twice around it). And my Dell laptop PSU popping during rehearsals and taking most of the IAMX cinema with it. Apart from that...

It's great to come home and I'm always moved as I fly (or drive) into Glasgow and as I leave again. Especially if it's one of those days when the light's perfect and the city itself is framed by glorious golden hills. The place just looks magical.

As a special treat on Friday we had lunch at etain just off Queen Street (there's a private lift from Springfield Court). It was superb. The service was excellent and the food was just delicious. Last time I was in Glasgow I took Gemma to The Buttery which is an experience in itself - it's like stepping into another world. Etain is much less formal and we had a lovely lunch. Both restaurants feature in the Good Food Guide (2006) and, in my opinion, should score higher than they do. Comparing them to, for example, the Hinds Head in Bray (both etain and the Hinds Head score a 3 for cooking) is just ridiculous. There is no comparison, food wise or service wise.

Saturday started with a 13.5 mile run when I damaged my achilles - not great, more time off training - and then flopped around for the afternoon with just a brief trip to Byres Road. It's weird that when I come home so many places seem to have closed down (or burned down - that was becoming a bit of a standing joke) and yet other institutions that I used to frequent when I was a student (like Curlers on Byres Road or Tennents Bar) seem to go on forever.

Sunday was rehearsals at the Science Centre in the IMAX Cinema - wow, what a screen. The science centre is a cool place - I've been before with my nephews - we even won the "throw a raw egg off the 2nd floor balcony using only these bits of paper etc to protect it" competition. Well I say we won it, they weren't that interested but I was determined our egg would survive! I'd recommend a visit if you haven't been - it's a lot of fun if you have kids. (The balloon rockets are also a great laugh)

Anyway, the IMAX screen and audio were just amazing - what a great venue. Martin took a picture of me presenting which gives you some idea just how big it was.

Sadly home time came around all too quickly and we were back at the airport waiting for the bumpy flight home. Huge thanks to everyone that came along to the event on a wet and windy Monday. Oh, and we also had dinner at India Quay on the Sunday night which was very nice (and right opposite the hotel). Everyone made us feel very welcome.

Technorati tags: msdn, roadshow, glasgow

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