Blue Nile

My friend, Brian rang me to tell me that he had a spare ticket to see The Blue Nile who were playing at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall and to ask me if I would like to go with him.

You can guess my reply!

We have been fans of the band since our teenage years and spent many nights annoying the hell out of our neighbours when we were flatmates by playing our Blue Nile LP's loudly at all sorts of ungodly times. So to be finally going to see them play live at a gig that had sold out many months ago was a dream come true.

Brian drove up from Sheffield early so that we would have plenty of time to get there. He had been to see them play live at a venue in Liverpool a few days before and said that they had been fantastic.

We set off to the gig with plenty of time to spare and after finding a parking space we made our way to the concert hall. The place was thronged with excited fans, eager to see the band play a gig in their home town.

I must admit to being quite surprised at the mix of people there. I expected that it would most likely be people like us, hurtling towards our forties, but there were a lot of younger people there too. They had obviously just recently discovered the genius of Paul Buchanan.

As we stood at the bar for a drink, I noticed a familiar face sitting near by, our old school friend Ian McClure. We joined him and caught up on old times briefly.



People started heading into the hall for the start of the show and we said our goodbye's to Ian and joined them.

The band came on stage to a hero's welcome. Just five guys with a whole lot of talent and absolutely no stage show. Simple and effective and it worked well.





They worked their way through all the classic songs but the hightlight, and crowd favourite was Tinseltown In the Rain. The audience sang their hearts out along with Paul.

The band were in no hurry to finish and the show over-ran but those who left early missed a real treat. For the encore they came back on and sang the Frank Sinatra classic, Strangers In the Night. Fantastic!





Brian and I headed back to Paisley and chanced our arm to get into the Wee Barrel Pub in an attempt to see another old school friend, Alan McCready who is a regular there.

The pub was closing and our attempts to get in were unsuccesful. When we asked if Alan was inside we were met with a wall of silence and suspicious looks. I think the regulars thought that we were hitmen!

Anyway, eventually Alan and his wife, Margaret emerged and we chatted for half an hour before heading home with The Blue Nile blaring over the car stereo. Just like old times, really!

Graduation Ball

I had my Graduation Ball with my fellow class-mates at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow on Saturday 13th May.

A good night was had by all with all the ladies looking stunning in their posh frocks and the fellas wearing their kilts. I actually had to think twice who some of them were as they looked so different that I didn't recognise them!

A nice meal was followed by a cracking band and then a DJ, with copious amounts of alcohol along the way to make sure that it all went smoothly.

Here are a selection of pictures from the night.....

The Return of the Saints

Being a glory hunting, coming out of the woodwork, kind of St. Mirren fan, I went to Love Street to watch my team play their final game in the Bell's First Division for hopefully the last time. It was the last game of the season and our oponents were St. Johnstone, who put up a good challenge for the title too.

I had arranged to meet Alan and Margaret McCready before the game, but as is always the case with me, I was running late. Not to worry though as when I caught up with them their were still in the pub and were in no great hurry to get there.

Alan was obviously intending to make the most of the celebrations and had already had a few beers. However, I think that Margaret was slightly less than impressed with her fella's shenanigans!

Anyway, we finally made it to the game for 3.15 to find a huge home crowd already there. The official attendace was around 6,500, but I think there were a couple of thousand extra attending, at least.

The game itself was a bit poor and unfortunately we lost 1-0, but who cares? We had already secured promotion and next year we would be playing with the big boys; Celtic, Rangers, Hearts. I cannot wait!

Here are a few snaps from the game....









At full time Gus MacPherson's men were presented with the First Division trophy followed by a victory circuit around the pitch. The crowd sang and cheered their heroes and it was 5.15 before we finally departed for the pub.














We ended up in The Wee Howff which was chock-a-block full of Saints fans. Not a bad pint either which is always a bonus. It was so busy inside that we had spilled out onto Love Street itself and we stood in the sun while we waited for the players to arrive on their tour of the town in an open top bus.

At 6.30 they finally drove past and stopped outside the pub to wave to the fans, before driving onto the town centre where a huge crowd had gathered outside Paisley Abbey. It was just like when we won the Scottish Cup back in 1987. Happy memories!











I had to make my excuses and move on as I was meeting my mate up in Glasgow for a night out and as usual I was running late. I promised Alan and Margaret that I would see them at the home games next season. A promise that I intend to keep.

I jumped on the train for home and left all the Paisley Buddies to have a party. It was going to be a long night.....