Who'd be a parent today?

I nearly fainted when I heard that my 17 year old niece had walked to her babysitting job along the deserted, barely lit country cycle path in Greenock after dark last week. So last night when I saw her I asked her if she felt she was safe doing that. "Yes" she said "because I had my ipod on so I could play my music"! Eh? Apparently it made her feel safer. Didn't seem to matter that it actually made her LESS safe. The important thing was FEELING safe! I felt myself covering my ears, shutting my eyes and saying "not listening, not listening, not listening"!

Daniel's a teenager today!!!

Merchant City Festival Glasgow September 2009

This was the fantastic and incredibly energetic Carnival Collective from Brighton. The conductor had a bit too much energy!
And here are their brass section.

Daniel is 12 but he was born 70. He covered his ears with his 2 hoods, one hat and 2 hands. "No need to play that loudly" he told us!

The unveiling of a statue to a man who spent only 90 mins in Glasgow. Therefore the statue was only stayin for 90 mins too :-) This was the cooncillor and celeb. Very entertaining.

And this was the member of the press pack. He said I added a bit of glamour to the occasion so I kinda liked him :-)

Ian Smith the "Hurty Gurty Man" with his deeply depressing songs and a plague-ridden monkey!

This boomerang put a smile on Dan's face.

The Kings of Macumba were great - and I spotted Kelly-Marie from River City in the crowd (you can just about make her out in the background of the photo of Daniel above).

How things have changed. I couldn't help but laugh to myself that this punk band had a bunch of toddlers dancing to them. I remember when punk was "bad"!

To find out why this guy's stripping off you'll have to look at the post below!

Martha Wainwright @ Celtic Connections in Glasgow

Me and Gill arrive at The Old Fruitmarket for the Martha Wainwright gig. I've been jumping up and down with excitement all day but I think I'm looking quite self composed here - I wasn't really :-)

Even the ticket was getting me excited!

Support act Teddy Thompson was good and had very long shiny shoes on - but I just wanted to see Martha.

The Old Fruitmarket was packed out and the crowd were getting excited.

Tops of folks' heads are always fascinating to me!

At last! Martha appears. All by herself, very brave. And she was amazing - not been this excited by anyone in a long time.

And she's a Celtic fan - great!

Yes I know I've already put this pic on but it's a happy smiley photie and that's how we were feeling at the end of it. A brilliant night!

Au revoir a le peugeot vivant!

So that's it, I've said cheerio to my car. Here it is awaiting its operation - that's all supposing a transplant becomes available. So how much do you reckon I got for it in the end? I mean this is a car with only 80,000 miles on the clock - not too bad.

We've been through so much together me and this car (no, it doesn't have a sex or a name - I'm not that sad!). If you look carefully you can see the bullet wound from when we were shot at by a airgun wielding nutter in Milton in Glasgow.

How much were all the scrapes we've been through together worth? (This one, a friend said 'park at the side of my house' and I did! It was narrow, there were bushes and sadly for me the bushes were covering a low wall!!)

Yes, indeed, twenty quid was all I got for my poor wee car. Was I ripped off? Probably but seeing as I can't fix engines, timing belts, or any of the numerous other things that was wrong with it, what could I do? At least I've got a deposit for my next car now :-)

Supersleuth McLaughlin's surreptitiously taken recordings of today's events in the Scottish Parliament!

There were little gatherings everywhere - Andy Kerr and Jackie Baillie didn't look too happy!

Ooh I wonder what SNP MSPs Joe Fitzpatrick and Aileen Campbell are talking about ... actually I don't seeing as I was sitting next to them!























When you're doing your undercover photography, sometimes you get photos like this!

Everywhere you look there are TV cameras, lights & action!

Hey Patrick! Keep chatting to these guys and maybe you'll get some more headlines!

It worked! Wee Pat got on the telly!

Former First Minister Jack McConnell reckons if Patrick Harvie can do it, he might just have a chance too!

Who ARE these shady looking characters?

John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and man in charge of the budget, spotted chatting to the BBC's Brian Taylor.

Patrick finds someone to talk to.

The day winds down and one government minister finally gets a cup of coffee.

Heading home at last!

The view from my office as night falls on the Scottish Parliament and all but a few stragglers have gone home.

What kind of gin? the barman asked. Bob then had to explain there was no such make as "I don't know just get me one" gin!

Finally! A well earned gin & tonic!

Westminster Staff Night Out Gatecrashers!