Gourock

Spent the weekend in Gourock... hangin' at Janey's place. Roscoe was over and space was tight... 6 folk in a 1 bed flat... all in, it was good fun.

The weather on Saturday was glorious... warm, t-shirt warm... the sun was low and made you squint. Had a picnic on the front... porkpies... rolls... houmous... prawns... cheese... you know what I mean... the kind of food your folks would pull together for picnics... except maybe the houmous... unless your folks were really cool!

Checked out the shops. I have said this before and will say it again... I love unique boutiques... independent coffee houses and charity shops. Throw in a record shop and a TK Maxx and I'm in consumer heaven. Gourock doesn't have a record shop or a TK... but it does have some fab places.

They have a charity shop there which is just fab for records and CDs. Picked up the following for £1 each (yes... ONE QUID)

I love "Would I lie to you?" by Charles & Eddie and the rest of their first (and only???) album on Stateside, is top quality soul music... Lovely vocals... sexy... soulful... latenight grooves. Fab.

I am not a Beatles fan... or at least I wasn't... I picked up 1 for novelty value and a sense of exploration. I tend to be skeptical when folk rave on about stuff... kind of ironic, I know... The Beatles were always over hyped in my eyes... but I gave them a chance this weekend and I am sold. Complete 180... They were responsible for so many wonderful pieces of popular music... they deserve my respect! Yesterday has very special memories for me too... although it was the Boys2Men cover. Great to here the original. Fantastic CD for the car... They sang so much about LOVE - you can't help to be uplifted. Sweet.

The soundtrack to Good Morning Vietnam got me into soul music... that and a freebie tape I got once when I bought some jeans... I absolutely love Robin Williams as Adrian Croneur - I don't think Olly gets it... but I do... laughing like Jack Nicholson in the Shining... all the way home in the car. The selection of soul and 60's classics on this album is tremendous. Whoever pulled the OST together is one fab musical curator. You must have this album on your person at all times!!!

Grabbed a coffee in Flava and enjoyed the company... Great to kick back and just relax. Been a big week and next week is going to be tough.

On Sunday morning we visited the Salvation Army in Port Glasgow - this is Janey's home corps with loads of her family there. Great to see old friends and be part of a smaller corps, for a change. You get spoilt in Bellshill, numbers wise. I think people forget about the other corps in the area... there is a real mega church mentality going on that I'm not a big fan of. For me its all about quality... not quantity. Its about people being there for their love of Jesus... and giving their all. Its not about perfection... or hi-fidelity. Its about guts... and passion... and roots.

I was bowled away by their sections... small but full of passion and feeling and willingness... true quality.

The weather was rotten but the company... and the food was good... even though Roscoe's rules for Uno were suspect!

All in... its great to be home... and great to be home with one wonderful wife and two fab we'ans... oh and a sweet wee dog.

Good times!

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