Journal

Returning to Tenerife

I’m sitting in a rather nice hotel room in Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, as I write this, having returned to the island for a holiday for the first time since I was here in 1991.

The last time I was here it wasn’t a great experience. There was nothing much to do in Puerto de la Cruz and the weather wasn’t brilliant. All me and my mate did was go for walks in between the rain showers and drink – much the same as we’d have done back home, but without the walking and the breaks in the rain.

This time around it’s a lot warmer than I remember it being. Today, our first day proper, alternated between being warm with the occasional strong, chilly breeze, and very hot. I’m actually suprized how hot it is for February, and that’s only going to make arriving back in Glasgow that much worse.

For the rest of the week I’m going to make the most of the good weather, though. I’m not used to this much sunshine in the middle of winter, but I’d like to get used to it!

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Journal

The third time is the charm

For the last couple of years, each time the anniversary of Robert Burns’ birthday rolls around in the last week of January, I’ve been committing to memory the eight verses of his Address to the Haggis to perform the duty on a Burns Evening. On my first attempt at the Rosslea Hall Hotel, back in 2010, I thought my delivery was fairly good considering I’d only learned the poem in the four weeks previous. However, the fact I missed a line out really bugged me and I was determined to do it perfectly the next chance I got.

Which is why, when I did the Address to the Haggis at Colgrain Bowling Club in 2011, I was mad with myself for grinding to a halt after just two verses because I thought I’d messed up. After being invited to do it again this year I was determined that I’d nail it, and tried to put the memory of last year’s screw up behind me. If Crazy Uncle John can reel off 14-odd verse epic’s from Burns’ repertoire with only a couple of fluffed lines, then surely I was capable of the flawless delivery of just eight verses?

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Game On

Touching the future

This week started of with a chance to have a play with Sony’s new portable gaming console, the PS Vita, at the launch night of the PlayStation Vita Rooms in Glasgow on Monday.

I’d been fortunate enough to get a ticket to the PS Vita Rooms event by entering a draw on Facebook. Having done the same and ending up with an invite for an Access PlayStation event in early 2011, I thought it’d be unlikely for me to score another. But, however you get picked for these things, I was delighted to get one and went along to join the queue on Sauchiehall Street on a cold, but dry Monday night.

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