August 2006

Enjoy the Merchant City Festival 2006

Is it almost September already? Oh boy.

Tracey's just reminded me that it's only four more pay days until Christmas. I mean come on.

Anywho, this coming month sees the return of the Merchant City Festival in Glasgow. It runs between 20th and 24th September, and based on past expectations, is guaranteed to provide fun all around, well, for me anyway.

If you don't know about Merchant City, it's a wee network of vibrant, stylish streets just next to George Square. If you're on the Square, head towards the City Chambers, pass it to the right and keep going.

The cobbled streets are beginning to sparkle with all the chic bars, restaurants and clubs, and the entire area is now known as being as cool and relaxed (if not a little more so) as the West End.

The Festival itself has been growing with the area, and this year there's a packed programme including music, theatre, comedy, film, food and exhibitions, about 300 events in total.

Have a look at the official site below for a flavour of what's going on this year.

You know, I'm constantly amazed by how much Glasgow's completely nailed these types of events as the years go on. The amount of effort put into them is just astounding, and what's surprising for those with a tunnel-vision view of the traditional, shipyard-borne Glaswegian, is that we've been embracing this new wave of continental culture for quite a number of years now (without forgetting our glorious past of course), evidenced by the fact that in festivals all around the City throughout the year, the streets have been lined heavily with mingling citizens and visitors alike, tasting the experience and taking with them a little slice of colour before floating back into the 9 to 5.

Me included, and as like the years before you'll be seeing me pop in and about as many events as I can before nestling into a corner of my favourite place in the area, Arta, which is a fantastic chunk of mediterranean cool, with a tapas restaurant, bars, internal courtyard, club rooms and decently-priced opulence all around. Well worth a visit.

So if you're here at the tail-end of September, why not pop down to the Merchant City and join in the fun.

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New Security Update

Glasgow and Prestwick Airports have relaxed some of their security restrictions following last week's developments, so to be sure about what they are if you're travelling to or from Glasgow in the next week or so, please check the link below.

I flew from Prestwick to Belgium on Friday there, and came back to Prestick from Amsterdam yesterday. My flights experienced no real delays, and the only difference I noticed was the lack of hand luggage allowed.

I did get to use one of the snazzy clear plastic bags for my wallet and passport etc., but as you'll see below, this is no longer necessary.

So as before, I think the relaxed restrictions will affect mainly those flights via the US, but you should check with your airline before you fly just to be sure of the position.

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Glasgow Airports Security Update

If you've been watching the news this morning, you will see that there have been a great deal of cancellations and restrictions placed on flights in and out of the UK.

Please note that Glasgow Airport and Prestwick Airport remain open at this point, but are subject to some delays as a result of the extra security measures being put in place following the arrest of some would-be terrorists.

I'd recommend that if you're in any doubt about whether your flight to Glasgow or flight from Glasgow has been affected, you should contact your airline.

The link below is to the Department of Transport which has the most up to date information about baggage restrictions and so on, and you can also go direct to the baa site for our airports as well.

I get the impression that the flights mainly affected are those travelling to and from the US, but as I say, it's best to check it out immediately for yourself to make sure you know what's happening.

I'm supposed to be going to Brussels tomorrow from Prestwick Airport, so I hope everything is sorted by then...

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Glasgay Festival Boost

It's just been announced over here that Glasgay, one of Scotland's most colourful and gay festivals, is about to be given such a huge financial boost it'll soon become a major international event.

Basically, Glasgay is a citywide celebration of gay culture, and to be perfectly honest, given the amount of effort the organisers have put into the event over the years, even if you're not gay but you like the joy of a camped up party, if you're over here in August you should take a look.

Even before this announcement, the event has attracted loads of visitors from all over the world year in year out.

This time around, despite the lineup not being announced until mid-August, I understand that highlights of the programme will include a number of high-profile drama commissions, including the first Scottish production of Alan Bennett's classic monologues Talking Heads. Other titles to be expected are Balletstar Galactica, Die, Mommie, Die, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, and The History Boys.

The event was born in 1993, and since then it's expanded to a whole month in length. It's held in over 20 venues across Glasgow, and is the largest multi-art form festival of its kind in Europe, offering pretty much everything but the kitchen sink in terms of performance, film, theatre, music, dance, comedy, club nights, literature events and so on.

There's also four months of visual arts at the Q Gallery, Glasgay's space dedicated to gay art and artists.

The whole point of the thing is to celebrate talent and diversity within the professional international lesbian and gay artistic community, as well as providing a platform for artists still trying to get their name about town.

I tell you, watch out for a manic assault on the senses, cause it's bound to be a whole big bag of culture comin atcha...(sorry, just a wee bit too excited methinks)

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