Glasgow Snow

I think Canadians naturally crave a bit of snow in the wintertime. Normally I have to settle for my fix when I'm back home over Christmas holidays. Central Scotland rarely gets the white stuff, and if it does it's only a centimeter or two, and disappears within a day.

But 12 March 2006 was a wondrous exception. The city of Glasgow got a foot of snow in a matter of twelve hours. I hadn't seen snow like this in all of my three years living in Scotland, and folks on the street said the same. The city simply wasn't prepared for such a downfall; Saturday night revellers were stuck in the city centre overnight, and the bus station was converted into a shelter for stranded scantily clad clubbers.

On Sunday, the entire city was out in force, initiating snowball fights with strangers, sledding down streets that would otherwise have been filled with traffic, and making snowmen with wild abandon. I caught someone skiing in the Botanic Gardens of the city's west end. Never had I witnessed so many Glasgwegians so full of good-natured giddiness.

I walked all around the west end that day taking photos, and by the time I got back the snowman at my local grocery store was already melting into a puddle. Less than forty-eight hours later all the snow was gone. Check out some photos of Glasgow's snow day here.

The man in black is trendy as can be

Johnny Cash seems to be everywhere these days. My band (the Distractions) recently played a charity concert with a bunch of other artists at the Bongo Club in Edinburgh, and paid tribute to the man in black. Our band's special repertoire for the evening included punked out versions of Folsom Prison Blues and Jackson, as well as a tune called "Let the Train Blow the Whistle" from my favourite Johnny Cash album of all time.

Since I moved to Glasgow, I've been trying to meet musicians and get involved in a few new musical projects. I've met a talented guy named Michael John from Cork, Ireland. His band in Cork was called Elephant and we're trying to get a few tunes together and perhaps play a little gig in the near future. But we need a band name. Got any suggestions?