Today is the anniversary of my first ever visit to Glasgow – six years ago. I had come up to take part in 15 to 1. A bucket list tick for something I had long wished to do – to be a contestant on a television quiz show. There was somebody who was HUGELY responsible in giving me the bottle I needed at the time to do that.
Rather ridiculously, I asked him out on a date. I think he was in town at the time (still lived in Glasgow then, officially), or so I wanted to believe. I didn’t know for sure. I asked him if he’d meet me at Tantrum Doughnuts. They only had the one shopfront then and had only just been open a year (not quite one whole year then). I was worried I wouldn’t get there before they closed. As soon as I arrived at Glasgow Central train station, I hailed a taxi to take me to Yorkhill and straight to Tantrum. I knew it was daft but I really hoped that more than just some doughnuts were there waiting for me.
Alas, he gave me a dizzy and I made my way back to the Jurys Inn in Jamaica Street with a small selection of doughnuts to devour on my todd while I watched fireworks from the hotel window. For, just like tonight, it was Bonfire night. They like a firework in this city. The cacophonous volley of fireworks has not ceased since sunset.
That guy that gave me the dizzy? He was on the radio later that night talking to his pal, Billy Sloan, about the release of a new album and going out on the road to perform songs acoustically. “Bongos on the Beach”, as he probably would have liked to call the tour, humorously.
November 5th, 2016, was a Wondertime.
Fast forward to today and…I live in Glasgow. Rather than a hotel room, I’m in my bedroom. No doughnuts tonight, I’ve had too many of late. Billy Sloan is on again tonight. No chat with Whatshisface, he was on last week with his other pal. But, Billy has been asking for our favourite song that has any association with Bonfire night. True to form, I proposed the playing of Colours Fly And Catherine Wheel, so perhaps he’ll make an appearance on Billy’s show tonight after all?
So, this “poor girl” will prepare to “cry” and wish she could “catch a boy”. In the meantime, she’ll go back to Wondertimes, when it felt like escape could be turned into reality.
Goodnight.