Trivia, Mundane – Page 3 – Curious Bystander

The Week Ahead – Hey, COP26 is in Glasgow

Still recovering from a recent hospitalisation, but will still try to put some things here.

I will continue to look at things around Glasgow; show some old trips (haven’t travelled too much the last few weeks); and look at some TV I’ve seen, etc.

But to say again, the COP26 conference is here in Glasgow for the next few weeks. I don’t do politics, government, etc on this blog, but will put some photos and try to critique – some of the design. For example:

They’ve definitely chose a green / blue look for their banners. Makes sense, as presumably it shows their care for the blue sky / oceans and green for the plants on this planet.

And if that is not your bag; there are also various protests one can take part in; particularly in the university area:

_{Various Posters inviting / highlighting Protests}

Hey, take your pick! Will write more about this over the next few weeks.

More Glasgow street life; rain and floods –

I do a lot of walking about Glasgow; one of the perks of being self-employed and having the time, and often forcing myself to get outside from behind my desk.

Floods this week in Byres Road, Glasgow, Scotland!

I love it, no problem at all, but the weather has started to change. It’s not only colder but very wet. Look at these statistics for the rainfall we have in Glasgow, Scotland! It’s a large quantity and but an even longer duration of the stuff we receive here, and owing that we are on the west side of Scotland, it’s more considerable than on the eastern part of Scotland.

Just this past week, we have been inundated with rain for several days, which resulted (along with the leaves blocking the street drains) in many areas that were under water. It is now past but still amazes me that this occurs.

Week Ahead – UK’s use of Cafe’s & another new Cafe in Glasgow’s West End

Just when you thought it was not possible for more cafe’s to open in Glasgow, they do!

Please go to this link, where the brilliant Statista gives some very pertinent information about the incessant increase in the use of cafe’s in the UK.

As you can tell, with the exception of 2020 (for some reason!), the people who used cafe’s for both drinking and eating increased almost yearly from 2015 to 2019.

Saying that, a new place has opened up here, to satisfy this demand. Bauhaus, took over a place, Siempre, that years ago was a bike repair / cafe’ combination – it was very useful for myself.

Now, they not only have a substantial back beer garden, but also a very practical and stunning brunch menu (from 10 – 14).

Various shots inside Bauhaus, Partick, West End, Glasgow

Please try the 2x buns (black) for £8.50; stunning.

Another small trip – St Andrews, Scotland and Golf –

Golf; they play that here in Scotland and in particular at the “Home of Golf” at St Andrews; where every October (for some reason!), the pros play the Dunhill Cup, along with many celebrities.

The last time I was here, I remember seeing Hugh Grant shank one (hit badly!) horribly, in front of a very packed gallery. Though I always think how I would do, with hundreds peering down at me.

Then, it was lovely, sunny and warm (yes it is like that in Scotland at times in October!), but for the event two weeks ago, the weather was dreadful, hence after a few hours on the course (it was free to enter), we decided to go to the horribly named pub “One Under Bar”, for our lunch. Where on the outside, there was a rather charming weather forecasting tool – brilliant!

Will do again, but please bring us some good weather.

The Week Ahead / Final part of my England trip – Oakham, and the resting place of Ruddles beer

The week ahead, I’ll show some fotos of a recent St Andrews trip, along with more from Glasgow and some of the culture & highlights here in Scotland; but first . . .

Years ago living in England, as a connoisseur of Real Ale, my personal favourites ranged from Youngers No. 3 (Scottish), to a fine English bitter,

ESB (Fullers Brewery, London) and finally, Ruddles County.

Interesting that nowadays, only ESB is still being brewed, but wait, a surprise!

On my recent Warwick trip, as I usually do, I decided to go “off grid” (away from the Motorways), and headed on a rural short cut, that went from the Midlands, around Kettering, though Corby, through Uppingham and then, to the delightful village / town of Oakham.

Why? Because about an hour before hand, I had wondered what ever happened to Ruddles (kid you not!) and discovered, that the last head brewer there, was now practicing his trade at a new brewery in Oakham, The Grainstore Brewery. And that one of the beers was a startling resemblance to Ruddles County!

Que sorpresa! I had to go there and buy a couple of gallons of the “10 50“; presumably a reference to the specific gravity of the beer.

Beg, borrow and steal, to find this stuff; it’s lovely!

Warwick, England – Warwick Racetrack

Yes, this was an interesting one. If you live in the UK, we’ve Channel 4 with their racing programs. I for only really have 1 bet (flutter, etc) on the horses every year, during the Grand National, but when watching the races on TV (which is rare), do not really pay attention to the exact track, as in “the 13:10 from Doncaster”.

But yes, there exists a track here, with a fairly non-mundane yearly program. And what was even more interesting was that not only is the track within 5 minutes of the town centre, but that it also contains a golf course inside (or at least partly inside) of it!

Here’s some photos:

Completely accessible, not snobby and with the many dog walkers that I witnessed, multi-purposed as well.

Germany – Final Musings (miscellaneous Fotos) –

To end my thoughts on my recent trip to Deutschland, where I was predominantly in Hesse, the Pfalz and finally, Franconia in Bavaria – I’ve a variety of very different photos for your perusal.

Whilst there, the early days of campaigning were underway for the German parliament elections – there were signs everywhere, with each being highly different!

The other shots range from the always, underrated cuisine, to city centre BMX / Roller Skate tracks, to cars, to small chapels, to freight canals, to signs for various bike paths, to where I got my PCR test to travel back to the UK, and finally part of the old Berlin Wall.

The Week Ahead- More from both Germany and Ludlow, various shots from Glasgow, etc

As the title says, I still have some memories from the recent travel to Deutschland and will publish them, along with more from my trip a few weeks ago to Ludlow, in the beautiful county of Shropshire.

In addition, there are a good deal many new places here in Glasgow, that I’ve visited and will do several reviews even!

But first, just look at this old map of the travel system in Glasgow:

An old map of Glasgow’s Transport System (year unknown)

And compare to the modern plan; it’s changed. Equally, the blue circle above is the Glasgow Subway, and can be compared to the modern subway, shown below:

To my knowledge, the Glasgow rail network is the largest all-electric one in the UK or outside of London, I can’t really remember the exact fact, and the Glasgow Subway (one line clockwise, the other counter clockwise), is one of the oldest in the world.

When I first arrived here to attend yooni, there was something called a “sub crawl”, where one would get off each station, and have a pint (or whatever)! I do recall trying it, but was completely unsuccessful . . . I wonder why.

German Musings – More things I saw there and thought interesting

Take a look at these bikes. They are your basic rental bikes that exist both here and all over Europe. They were in western Germany and are quite standard and functional.

I rented these for several days and were quite basic and adequate. On the other hand, whilst in Bavaria I went for a shop-based rental and got something that though more advanced, did not really have as much comfort.

It was while I was outside the shop, that I noticed MANY second-hand bikes on sale; at surprisingly high prices in my opinion!

Prices from left to right €549, €449 and €239!

I can only put this down to the German mentality of not wasting perfectly good bikes and / or their emphasis on useable quality. All of these will easily stand the test of time, and no doubt can endure the rigours of city use.

The Week Ahead – More from Glasgow and the last from Bavarian trip, but what about Levi Strauss’s home!

The week is among us, and I’ll continue looking back at my trip to Germany and Bavaria specifically. As above, I did a cycle tour in northern Bavaria, Franconia, and lo and behold, came across the birthplace of Levi Strauss, in Buttenheim.

I didn’t know that not only was he born in Germany, but did not leave there until he was in his very late teens. The above photo is his house and is now a museum (though it was closed on the day we cycled there).

This was only part of our cycle tour, which we’ll be showing more from this week, in addition to commenting on our various COVID tests that we had to do (highly bureaucratic) and looking at more things in Glasgow and beyond.