Tag Archives: SNP

Acoustic Café

18 February 2016 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

“Sounds like great coffee” … that’s the strap line for this latest addition to the Falkirk café scene, the Acoustic Café. Not sure what great coffee sounds like? Maybe it’s the deafening sound of their own coffee machine, it really is the loudest. However, we feel it probably indicates a bit of confused thinking around the concept of selling coffee and guitars together in the one place.

So, is the Acoustic Cafe a coffee shop that sells guitars or a guitar shop that sells coffee, we’re not sure. It does not seem to do either particularly well … kind of falls between two stools, so to speak. As a guitar shop it has a good range of very nice guitars. All well and good you might think. We suspect, however, that more attention has been paid to this aspect of the business than the cafe side … and if anything it should be the other way round.

New startup

Some fundamentals are just not there; the coffee may sound great but what about the taste? It is not up to the standard of it’s near competitors. The staff are not trained to the same standard as it’s near competitors. The sole member of staff on two of our visits was unsure of just about everything. Worst of all, of course, the scones are decidedly average. Not home baked, a bit dry and powdery … nowhere near a topscone. On the up-side it has a nice funky interior which differentiates it from the rest and offers loads of potential. Also, it has only been in existence for a couple of months so maybe we should cut it some slack. If it can concentrate more on the cafe side of things we hope it goes on to make sweet music and much better coffee and scones for many years to come.

More broken promises

Music to the ears! That’s what we call the Scottish Government’s stance in the negotiations with the U.K. government over settlement of the new fiscal framework for Scotland. Instead of giving the ‘sweeping new powers’ promised after the referendum, new powers will now have to be paid for through reduced funding. Not even vaguely in the spirit of the Smith Commission. Thank goodness for the SNP. If it had been up to a Labour led administration they would have undoubtedly rolled over to their London masters long ago. Scotland would be much worse off as a result.

Luthiers

To end on a high note, the Acoustic Café did manage to introduce a new word to our lexicon .. luthier; someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments, a service available through the cafe.

FK2 7AS tel: 01324 638297 Acoustic Cafe FB

Scones, self-service

St Mungo Museum

18 October 2015 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

This place, St Mungoi Museum of Religious Life, is very familiar. We both used to work in the adjacent Glasgow Royal Infirmary which you can see in the background on the left.

cafe area at the Museum of Religious L:ife, Glasgow — cafe area

We would sometimes come here for lunch if we wanted a change of scene. Also to look at Salvador Dali’s, Christ of St John of the Cross, bought by Glasgow in the 50s and now estimated to be worth in excess of £60m. Apparently Dali wanted £12,000 but Glasgow made him an offer he couldn’t refuse – £8,200 .. we dread to think. Didn’t see it this time though as it has been moved to the city’s Kelvingrove Gallery. The museum itself is interesting. It was built in 1989 and designed to reflect the architecture of the Bishops’ Castle which stood on this site in the 17th century. It aims to bring together differing faith systems and promote greater understanding.

Zen

It has Britain’s first zen garden and a Clooty Tree, which we always thought was a solely Tibetan tradition. Apparently, though, it is also Scottish, dating back to pre-Christian times. We don’t know of anywhere else where you can see so many works of art and other artefacts brought together from the six big religions: Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism. All sitting side by side, displaying the huge diversity of belief systems. Also the extraordinary lengths believers go to in creating these amazing artefacts. Each and every one designed to appeal to hearts and minds.

Nicola Sturgeon, a well known sconey, was after hearts and minds yesterday as she delivered her keynote speech to the SNP conference. A speech that the leaders of other parties must have wished they could have delivered. One of strength and unity. Since this place is all about understanding we wonder at the lack of understanding from Westminster for Scotland’s desire to simply stand on it’s own two feet. It’s not such a big ask, surely? Okay, okay, what about the scones?

Well the café area is pleasant enough and in keeping with the architecture of the rest of the building. Their scones, however,(bought in) are best described as ‘ordinary’. Don’t let that put you off visiting the museum.

G4 0RH tel: 0141 276 1625 Museum of Religious Life & Art

Ordinary, Scones

JamJar Café

11 May 2015 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

Bridge of Allan is the kind of Belgravia of central Scotland. A favourite hangout for the well off to live and play so there are lots of hotels, cafés, bars etc. Today we decided to stop off at the JamJar Café. A nice day though not quite warm enough to sit outside on their pavement patio area. Inside though it is toasty no matter what the weather. A couple of big log burning stoves blazing away all day. It has the atmosphere of a well run but relaxed bistro and you can get pretty much anything you want from Sunday lunch to a snack.

Needless to say we were after the scones so I got my usual fruit one and Pat got a savoury cheese one. Since our last post, of course, the election has come and gone .. and what an election. The media are having a field day trying to figure out what happened with the loss of three party leaders within as many hours. Scotland, typically some might say, has gone off on its own in a direction almost diametrically opposed to England. It managed to get PoshDave returned with an overall majority thus proving that polls are not worth the paper they are written on.

Again typically, Scotland seems to be getting blamed for all the ensuing problems. Bringing down Labour , bringing down LibDems and, for all I know, bringing down UKIP. Though I’m not sure that could actually be classified as a problem. NastyNige bleating on about his 4 million votes being worth only one seat whereas the SNP’s 1.5 million votes gets them 56 seats. Of course, conveniently forgetting that the SNP only stood in 59 seats compared to over 600 for UKIP.

Statistics

However, the most interesting statistic to emerge was the one that determined that if every single voter in Scotland had voted Labour (or any other party) it would not have made the slightest difference to the result. That for me encapsulates ‘the Scottish problem’. When it comes to voting, Scotland may as well not bother. Except maybe this time with virtually the whole country turning yellow, it might be different. Emphasis on ‘might’.

Anyway PoshDave and his classmates can pretty well do as they want now but I suspect that most of England will not be happy with the results. That, along with the EU, the Union, and him being unpopular within his own party, may turn out to be the least of his problems. “He’s gonna catch a cold, from the ice inside his sole” as Christina Perri would say. It will be fascinating to see how it all pans out.

Meanwhile the scones in the JamJar Café were consumed with varying degrees of indifference. Pat didn’t finish her cheese one and although I finished both of mine (I got two because they said that they were a little bit small but they probably just wanted rid of them) it was only because I was peckish. They did not seem fresh and certainly not produced on the day.

Daughters of Bridge of Allan

Everything else looks good in the JamJar, and it’s busy so they are obviously not depending on their scones. On the plus side log burning stoves are great. The service was efficient if not overly friendly. The daughters of Bridge of Allan are probably forced to work here so they can experience ‘the real world’. No passwords for the wifi, it is just there, brill! So why is the website so useless?

FK9 4HR tel: 01786 831616 www.jamjarcafe.co.uk

Homemade, Ordinary, Scones

Nicola Sturgeon

28 April 2015 billpaterson1@me.com

Now you all know that this is not a blog about politics, although a wee bit might creep in from time to time. However, we could not resist putting this one up. She has been called the most dangerous person in the UK by the media. A voracious weevil by London’s mayor. The most ruthless person in Britain (she cut her sister’s doll’s hair) and many other derogatory things besides. She has also been called the most accomplished politician in the UK. And has managed to make the most tweeted enquiry ‘can I vote for the SNP in England’. Quite extraordinary!

If all of this was not enough .. she makes scones. Okay it was a photo opportunity in Kilmarnock. However, as dedicated sconeys she definitely gets our vote, along with 51% of other Scots according to the newspapers. Maybe that should be the test for who next occupies No 10 .. the best scone? Instead of leaders debates where they all stand in a line and talk over each other they could have a bake-off. Whoever makes the best scone wins.

Breaking up

To be honest, they might as well, rather than coming up with ever more promises they have not got a hope in hell of keeping. Scotland, along with it’s First Minister is being called all sorts of things … mostly uncomplimentary. Even this close to the election they don’t seem to realise that Scotland is not being difficult just for the hell of it. It’s because we are utterly fed up with Westminster politics where Scotland’s voice is almost never heard. The SNP does not want to ‘break up’ the UK, they just want to leave it. In much the same way as the Unionists are saying they want to leave the EU. These scones look good, pity we did not get to test them.

Ordinary, Scones

Inchbae Lodge

26 April 2015 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

This place is interesting. A young couple from the North of England have had it about 7 months. Through the winter, they have managed to transform it into a pleasant guest house and bar/café. Previously, it had become very run down and attracted some pretty poor reviews. Now, however, it’s a fresh start and you cannot help but wish them all the luck in the world

Inchbae Lodge is on the road to Ullapool out of Garve and it would not be unreasonable to describe it as being ‘in the middle of nowhere’. Far from being a disadvantage this could be exactly what many people are looking for so lets hope that their first summer season is a good one. Unfortunately, when we arrived we seemed to be the only people around.

This may be due to the fact that we drove past it before we realised what we had done. We had to stop and turn back. Maybe a few more road signs notifying drivers in advance would help? Anyway we were made to feel very welcome as were ushered into a very comfortable conservatory at the back of the Lodge to await our scones and coffee.

Now here I have to say that I really really wish this review could be better. However, when our scone arrived it was of the bought-in variety. It tasted ok but the cream that came with it was aerosol ‘scooshie. As a result it fairly quickly turned to watery white liquid in the warmth of the conservatory. In spite of these things it was pleasant to relax in the coziness and catch up with the news.

Outnumbered

What oh what is happening in the election? It seems that the party with ‘Unionist’ in its title is determined to break the Union apart with their proposals for English only votes for England. If I was being kind I would say that they simply have not thought the scheme through. If I was being unkind I would say that they are trying to undermine basic fundamental democracy and becoming more nationalist than the nationalists. Either way it can only end up in tears for the Union.

Don’t they realise that according to Parliament’s own figures Scottish MPs traditionally only have a deciding effect on 0.06% of parliamentary business. In other words, in the past Scottish MPs may as well not have bothered. That figure will probably not hold true after this election but it will still remain that Scottish MPs are vastly outnumbered by English ones, as has always been the case. So what on earth are they on about?

SNP to the rescue

In the meantime it looks as if you will have to vote SNP to save the Union. It’s a mad world! We feel that our English friends at Inchbae Lodge need to find a way of tapping into the large visitor numbers at Rogie Falls. It’s just down the road and there’s nothing in the way of cafe facilities that we could see. We wish them every good fortune but ditch the scooshie cream!

IV23 2PH tel: 01997 455070 www.inchbaelodge.com

Scones, history and a dollop of politics