I’m currently on a family trip to Tenerife - hence the book updates on the site. I can’t remember the last time I finished two books in a week.

Despite it being one of those places to which Britons the length and breadth of the country head, this is my first time on the Canary Islands. If you refocus your gaze beyond the tourist hotels and bars filled with the cast of Benidorm, it’s a beautiful part of the world.

Back in the early 2000s, for work-related reasons, I started learning Spanish. I got to the point where I could have basic conversations and could travel around Spain, buying train and bus tickets and generally get by. I was very far from fluent, but I could hold a basic conversation.

As expected, I did not continue my studies; I haven’t really spoken Spanish with anyone in years. That said, there’s still some residual knowledge kicking around and over the past few days, I’ve tried my best to speak Spanish where I can.

And it makes a difference. I can only assume (and from what I can overhear) that most of the hotel staff speak English very well. If you ask a question in English, that’s how they’ll respond. But if you ask in Spanish, you fall into a conversation that doesn’t seem to happen otherwise. It’s a very stilted, broken-Spanish-based conversation but it happens all the same. And then the next time you ask the same member of staff a question, they remember you and help you with the language.

A lot of this is just down to the professionalism of hotel staff, but I feel a big difference in how easy it is to build up a relationship over the course of a few days if you’re willing to get over the initial embarrassment at not being fluent in a second language, and just give it a go.

Nathan Coley’s We Are The Monument looks like it just sprang up overnight in Glasgow, atop the Glasgow Dental Hospital. Admittedly, there is a Glasgow Life article promoting it, so it’s not like it wasn’t planned.

Innovative illuminated sculpture by internationally acclaimed Glasgow artist shines over the city

Newly installed in Sauchiehall Street, on the roof of Glasgow Dental Hospital and School, the illuminated text-based sculpture displays the thought-provoking phrase, WE ARE THE MONUMENT.

Coley has a bit about it on his Instagram, too.

“The Dead must be Remembered, but the Living are the Monument, the living who coexist in peace in ordinary times, and who save one another in extraordinary times”

I enjoy seeing some new art work in the city, and this one reminds me of Mary Ellen Carroll’s It Is Green Thinks Nature Even In The Dark, which has left Glasgow residents scratching their heads for years now.

Coley studied at Glasgow School of Art, which is directly behind the Glasgow Dental Hospital, so I’m sure the location isn’t an accident.

I also like his work The World Without, seen here installed in Abu Dhabi.

I recently hired a decorator to paint my living room. Clearing out the space before he started meant all our books had to come down off the shelves and into temporary storage (where they still live, admittedly). That got me thinking about keeping better track of books I’ve read.

So, I’ve added a /shelf page to the site. It pulls my reading data from Hardcover, a book tracking service that seems like a decent alternative to Goodreads (which no longer provides an API for this kinda thing).

The page shows what I’m currently reading and what I’ve read, grouped by year. If I’ve given a book 5 stars, it has a wee “Loved it” badge beside it. If I’ve written a blog post about a specific book, there’s a “Blog Post” link that takes you to it.

Author and series names are clickable filters, so if you want to see only books by a particular author you can do that without wading through everything else. I say that, but I’ve not read anywhere near as much as I’d like to over the past 10-15 years. I blame that on having a kid, and on going back to Uni in 2017.

Hardcover seems pretty new so I’ve no idea how long it’ll be around, but it has an API and it was easy to move over to it from Goodreads, so that was enough for me.

✳ Picture shown is much neater than my actual bookshelves at home.

Ten years ago I saw Super Furry Animals at the Kelvingrove Bandstand in Glasgow. It was the first time I’d seen them and they paid me back by not appearing on stage again for another 10 years.

They’re are one of my favourite bands but the electronic nature of some of their songs didn’t fit with what I listened to when I was younger, so I initially disregarded them for too long. Funnily enough, songs like Slow Life and (A Touch) Sensitive are now two of my favourites.

I saw them again last week at Glasgow’s Barrowlands. It was great, but I’m not convinced they’re back for anything more than a bit of a financial leg up; it’s difficult to put my finger on it, as they’re not the most effusive bunch on stage, but it was quite a low-key show.

Getdown Services were the support act and they sweat enough for 3 or 4 bands so it all evens out, I suppose.

They were also at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios this week; their session for fellow Welshman Huw Stephens is on the site now. The amount of classic music recorded there must be incredible. Someone should list that somewhere, especially as it was recently sold:

In August 2023, the studios were sold to a partnership between Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, and Hans Zimmer & Steven Kofsky.

Posted 22 days ago

barrowlands bbc getdown services glasgow kelvingrove bandstand maida vale music super furry animals

Today marks 50 days until the 2026 World Cup. Matches will take place across Canada, Mexico and the USA - and Scotland have qualified for the first time since 1998, when they faced a Brazil side with the original Ronaldo in their line-up.

If nothing else, we’re going to look great. The new away kit is superb. So much so that I bought it the day it was released, the first time I’ve done that with any kit in probably 30 years.

Beyond that? Well, the USA seems to be having a moment, and with the costs of attending rising daily, I really wouldn’t thank you for a ticket to any of Scotland’s games. With the exception of a visit to New York City in September 2001, I cannot think of a worse time to be a tourist in the USA.

All that said, I did ask Claude about traveling to the World Cup as a Scotland fan, and it confidently informed me that Scotland hadn’t qualified. So maybe I should stop worrying.

A: “First, worth noting that Scotland didn’t qualify for 2026 — they were eliminated in the UEFA qualifying play-offs. So this is more of a hypothetical, or perhaps you’re going as a neutral football fan to soak up the tournament!”

Anyway, 50 days until the World Cup starts, and 52 before Scotland’s first match against Haiti in Boston - presuming that goes ahead.

After that, we’ll play Morocco and Brazil, before returning home with our tail between our legs.

Simon Phipps’ Brutal Scotland is another in his series looking at brutalist architecture in the UK. See also Brutal London, Brutal North, Brutal Wales etc. Man likes his concrete.

The work featured is currently being exhibited for free in Glasgow’s Street Level Photoworks gallery.

If that’s your thing, you should also check out Nebo Peklo’s work. I have this print on my wall at home.

Grateful Gallery is a small, independent art gallery in Glasgow.

It’s owned and curated by Glasgow artists OhPandah, Conzo and Ciaran Globel.

The image at the top of this post is by Conzo and is available to buy on his site. If you buy it, you can forego shipping and collect it directly from the gallery. Which is what I did, as it gives me an excuse to go visit for the first time.

I was reminded of the gallery as I watched this recent video by OhPandah, painting one of his Big Heids on the Custom House Quay Legal Wall.

He has more information towards the end of the video but, it seems, with the proposed regeneration of this area, the legal walls may not be there beyond the next year or two.