wandering architects
We attended the first screening of the Camcorder Guerrillas new doco Deadly Cargo. Covering the secret convoys that transport nuclear warheads for servicing from Faslane, north of Glasgow down into England, on public motorways via many of the UK’s significant cities it was a timely reminder.
You can download from the guerrillas website, if you register. Or just have a look at nukewatch for more info.
We managed to get something resembling a greenhouse up (above). Now all we need is a roof and a door…
Also spotted our first fauna – a fox and these little fellas (below), as well as their amorous parents.
There was a fantastic classical concert by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the City Halls last night. Despite missing the first piece we caught a brilliant delicate performance of Beethovens Violin Concerto in D by Canadian James Ehnes, followed by a more rousing Symphony No. 1 which was perhaps overly cinematic but whose minimal first movement I particularly enjoyed.
Loch Tay, provided some spectacular scenery, and a rather snow bound attempt at canoing as Jen and Marco demonstrated their turning ability rather too well. Other highlights were the brooding Loch Lubnaig and the incredible countryside around Crieff.
As we meandered back on Monday we stopped of at the Lake on Monteith and caught the teeny ferry over to the abandoned Inchmahome Priory (below). A delightful picnic in the sun trap created by the atmospheric ruins capped off a fantastic weekend.
inchmahome priory, originally uploaded by tim&chhay.
Apologies for the absence – was waiting for godot. Well perhaps not, but we did catch a performance of Beckett’s masterpiece at the citizen’s at the beginning fo the month. It was a solid simple production, and as the first time I had seen the play I found it quite entertaining. Left me feeling that theatre still has something to offer.
a last minute decision saw us squeezed up the front of hipster’s paradise nice’n’sleazy’s for a midweek Casiotone for the Painfully Alone gig. Although he had a head cold the gig was more entertaining than when we caught him in Brooklyn late last year, great chat and occasional accompaniment livening things up.
Support was an Edinburgh band called Meursault who’s albulm Pissing on Bonfires I picked up and have been listening to fairly regularly at work – well worth checking out their myspace.
Post have been a little thin on the ground of late as our move from the top floor in to the basement flat (a bit of a step down in view but it does have a garden), combining with tight deadline at work have seen me looking only barely half alive, it should all ease off a bit now we are ensconced downstairs.
Last weekend we tasted quite a wide range of musical genres – after a quiet patch through jan & feb it was quite a bit to take in at once.
Starting on Friday night after suffereing horrendous disco battling my way to fourth place in my office bowling night, we crammed into the basement of the Liquid Ship to catch a chaotic, late but ultimately entertaining set from Claire’s friend’s band the State Broacasters. Their fun filled songs of lust & love kept us entertained till close.
On Saturday we shifted to a more formal gear and took in the new production from Scottish Opera: 5:15. The premise of five fifteen minute pieces that were collaboration between Scottish composers and writers sounded interesting, however the results were uneven at best.
Craig Armstrong with Ian Rankin was easily the most polished performance, although quite traditional. The Queens of Govan by Suhayl Saadi, composed by Nigel Osborne & Wajahat Khan contained the most interesting ideas and conceptual approach however was let down by attempting to sing opera in Scots! The other three performances were perfectly competent but didn’t seem to push any boundaries – one suspects that opera is best left to the professionals. Alexander McCall Smith’s Dream Angus was the most surreal of these and quite entertaining in parts, although more like a musical than opera (although that is quiet a fuzzy line I guess)
To crank things up to another level following the opera we changed moods and outfits and headed to town for a set by Autechre at the legendary art school club.
Their set while interesting didn’t have the same level of intensity as at Dour, it was more scatty with the connections and feedback from track to track that made that gig so special. They weren’t heped by an indifferent sound system and a crowd that weren’t there just for them. Our lack of energy may have played a part too.
With several more of our favourite acts touring March is already looking like a busy month musically – lo-fi antics from Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, some Australian electro courtesy of the Presets, and perhaps the uber-hip math rock of Foals if we can face the hipster crowd.
While I skulked over to Edinburgh for a game of hockey on Saturday, Chhay & Mike turned over most of the remaining beds at the allotment. The greenhouse is still in parts on the ground until we can organise a posse large enough to hold it all in place while we screw it together.
Spring greeted us this morning with a good dousing of snow! So much for all the daffodils and snowdrops and other heralds of longer days and warmer weather. However our first package of seeds dropped on my desk once I got to work offering another glimpse towards a summer full of bounteous harvest (perhaps??).
For this first batch we are planting (as many as possible are organic supposedly):
Peas (Ezetha’s Krombek Blauwschok & Douce Provence)
Runner Beans (Scarlet Emperor)
Eggplant/Aubergine (Violetta di Firenza)
Not sure how the viewers of our flat will take to seedling trays scattered about but never mind. A word of warning – browsing seed catalogues is strangely addictive.
With our friend Lincoln visiting from oz we took a long weekend and headed back down to the lake district. Rather than focusing on walking we explored lots of the little villages and visited many of the lakes, with some of the most perfect weather in UK Feburary history showing them at their most spectacular.
Most of the towns and villages are tacky tourist nightmares – packed even at this time of the year, although we unearthed a few gems in the southern lakes near where we were staying, in particular Broughton-in-Furness a proper market town with poetic locals commenting on the depth of the sunset.
The highlights were drives over the mountain passes between regions, spotting future locations for magnificent hillwalking (above), and the odd moment when we discovered peaceful little spots by the lakes away from the main drag, in particular the beach on Coniston Water (top) and the little peninsula that the photos of Ullswater (above) were taken from, which had a cute little boathouse nestled next to it (below).
The surrealest moment however had to be Grange-over-(not quite) sands a victorian seaside town where the local river has changed its course, leaving a swath of boggy salt marshes behind (below), yet the promenade is still full of people taking a turn, observing sheep grazing below them.
For more reflectastic photos check out the flickr set
