Tuesday was a full day. We were out the door by 10.30am and didn’t step back into the house (apart for a 15 minute pit stop) until around 9.45pm.
First up was a recording for the 10th Anniversary of Breaking The News happening at the newly transferred Stand Comedy Club which has its new home next to Websters on Great Western Road. A couple of hours of standing around waiting and we were in. It was a great show. Patience is required as it can drag on a bit but they need to make sure they have enough material to work with. The pay off is always seeing four great comedians (plus Des Clarke hosting) for free. It’s always grand. The past couple of times I had missed out on tickets, so I was chuffed to have secured tickets for the 10th Anniversary show. It’s gonna be on telly and all – some time around Christmas.
After that I had to get myself to the library at Glasgow Uni to extend my student access to the library and renew the borrowing of two books I have out on loan. Then a quick trip to Byres Road for the Waitrose and their pizzas that are currently one third off the price until the end of September. Honestly, their pizzas are THE BOMB! They’re currently £3.33 each and are, by far, the best tasting supermarket pizza out there!
A dash back to Hillhead subway for a train back to Buchanan Street for the 18:03 to Anniesland only to find that shortly on arrival the 18:03 was cancelled. Bugger! It was going to cause us a problem as we had planned to return home, cook up pizzas and then afterwards head on to our next port of call. Thankfully there was another train due at 18:37 but that was really going to cut things fine. I suggested to the OH that while we had time to kill waiting for the next train that we should perhaps use that time to get a sandwich each from M&S and eat at the station. That way we’d be fuelled up and only have to just dump our stuff at home and head on to our next venture.
We arrived back home around 18:50. Just enough time to get the pizzas in the fridge, have a pee, down some liquid and head on over to Ashfield Stadium for a speedway match. Yay!!
I have been wanting to go to a speedway meeting ever since we moved here. The speedway circuit is literally around the corner from us. It’s less than a quarter of a mile away. We can hear the bikes so clearly on race nights we are that close to the stadium. I love bikes. I used to watch the MotoGP years ago in the era of Wayne Gardner, John Kocinski, Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi (late 80s through to late 90s), so I knew I’d love speedway.
Soon after we moved here the first lockdown happened and the speedway season for 2020 didn’t happen. In 2021 it was on again but attendance was limited and most meetings were recorded and live streamed. In 2022 the season was back on with full audience attendance. I was doing uni, Birdy was here, gigs were back on …. Nothing really matched up time wise. The same for 2023 and 2024. This year again I wanted to go and see a match but I think I just resigned myself to it being a little too costly, at least if both myself and the OH wanted to go together – the best part of £40 spent!
About a month ago, the Glasgow Tigers FB page (I have been following the Tigers page for YEARS) had posted about offering free tickets to those who’d never attended a match to go along and see what speedway was all about. Hell yes, I thought! I applied for two tickets and I was offered them. Only problem, the first meeting I could use the tickets for was the night of the Megan Black gig. The next opportunity after that was Sept 12th – it got called off due to bad weather. The next was Sept 19th – the night of Zoe Graham’s gig at the Hug and Pint. This Tuesday was the first real opportunity we had to go and use the tickets.
It was in a word – FANTASTIC! I absolutely LOVED every second of it. By the way, I never saw a MotoGP race at a track – always only on TV. So to be at a stadium, to hear the rev of the bikes, to experience the frenetic pace of the races – only four laps for each heat with four riders battling it out – I love the speed of it, in all definitions of the term. And it feels like a real family event too. There were so many kids at the track, and the Tigers mascot, Roary, is so entertaining. There was such a fantastic atmosphere in the stadium.
I BLOODY LOVED IT! I am buzzing to go to more races next year. In fact, I wish I could go tonight. They race Edinburgh tonight, and there’s even going to be World’s Strongest Man, Tom Stoltman there – GODDAMNIT!! Sadly, I just don’t have the funds to go tonight – and I have a free gig to go to so it’s a no-no. But next year, I will definitely be going to some matches.
After getting back home, my legs were barely working. I hobbled back from the stadium. Thank God it was just a short walk home. It was a jam packed day but worth every ache and pain. Kudos if you can spot me in the photo below…
