Where to start? It’s been one of those crazy-busy weeks that you get every once in a while where you wonder where all the time went. Let’s start at the beginning, a very good place to start!

As the regular reader of my Blog (hello!) may already know, I was going to see Dwight Slade as part of the Glasgow Comedy Festival on 7th March. I had seen him performing before at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe just over 18 months ago and thought he was funny there. There, he performed for one hour and it was one of the funniest hours I’ve experienced. This year, along with my Sister and her husband, Mhairi and Callum, we were treated to 2 45-minute halves with a wee interval in the middle. He was, as he said at the start of the evening, his own opening act. From an appearance from his “Evil Monkey” to dishing out justice with his trusty pool cue and a whole lot more. And, once again, he was hysterical. I cannot recommend his live shows highly enough. The next time he’s in your neck of the woods, go see him!

That brings us to Saturday morning. It was 11am and I was having my first long lie in I don’t know how long when my mobile phone starts ringing (remember that the day before I had been out from 7:30am until around 1am that night – I deserved a lie in!). It was Sonja letting me know that she was going to be arriving the following day! The annoying thing was that I had a pool tournament to play in the following day in Glasgow. “No problem” said Sonja, “I’ll come through to Glasgow and meet you at the pool hall.” And so she did.

The final tour event of the 2007/08 Scottish American Pool Players Association Tour was held in The Q Club in the St George’s Cross area of Glasgow and as I played my first match, against Rex Brady, I kept an eye on the front door of the club. Is it any wonder I was 3-0 down before I realised that I should be concentrating on the table and not on the front door of the club otherwise I’d be leaving the tournament pretty quickly. I got my game brain in gear and started winning a few racks. At 4-4, Sonja arrived and I could relax knowing that she had made it safely. In the end, I beat Rex 8 racks to 6 and moved on to a match with Clark Smith, currently ranked number 3 in Scotland. Clark killed me 9-2!

Most of the rest of the week was spent hanging out with Sonja. I had to work on Monday, but managed to get my last few days holidays changed so that I had the rest of the week off. Tuesday saw us going through to Glasgow to have a wee wander around some shops then off to the movies. We saw “The Accidental Husband” – Sonja’s choice! – and it was, to use my Dad’s old phrase “an enjoyable load of rubbish.” Nothing too hard to understand and something that you could sit back and switch your brain off to for a wee bit. After a cracking dinner at Bombay Blues (I’d never been before but I’ll certainly be going back!) we made our tired way home.

Sonja and I in Edinburgh

Wednesday was a day spent in Edinburgh. We met up with Isi, a long-time friend of Sonja’s from her time living on the Isle of Wight and so we went walkabout around the town for a day or so. I rarely travel through to Edinburgh outside of August (during the Fringe) but I must confess that I was very disappointed in the shopping (or lack of shopping) in Edinburgh. Don’t get me wrong, we had a good time in Edinburgh. We were all just a little disappointed in the shopping.

Sonja (r) and Isi in Edinburgh

Thursday was a fun day as we spent part of it with my Sister and her 2 boys, Lewis and Cameron, at a Soft Play facility in Kilmarnock. My nephews LOVE Soft Play and it is great fun watching them running around, climbing up and sliding down all the different things that are in these places. Sonja even got involved – actually, she didn’t have much of a choice as Lewis was unzipping her boots moments after asking “you want to come into Soft Play with me?” The evening was spent relaxing for a wee while – well, if you can call baking a cake relaxing! Some might, but I don’t! It must be said, though, that the cake was excellent!

Sonja playing in the Soft Play

Sonja and Lewis on the slide

Cameron’s turn on the slide

Then, just as suddenly as the trip started, it was all over as Sonja’s taxi arrived to take her to the airport at just before 5:15 on the Friday morning. It was great to see Sonja again for a few days and I hope that it isn’t too long before we get to meet up once again – hopefully during the summer.

A crazy, mad, fun-filled week. I may have been really tired at the end of it all, but I loved every moment of it!

Speak soon

The Cardman 🙂

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