Today the Auld Guys, or at least, three of them went in to Glasgow for lunch.
We all met up sporadically in and around George Square. We were going to Doppio Malto, an Italian restaurant and beer shop in the centre of Glasgow. Ray arrived first and got things organised while I met John in the square (not a masonic keyword!) and we went looking for Val. Eventually we went back in to the restaurant to see if the wily Italian had sneaked in behind us and that was when we found Ray with the table all sorted. You can always expect Ray to get things done properly. So I left John with Ray and went looking for Val again. Found him and brought him back to the fold. The lunch could commence.
Pizza for Ray, Val and me, but John went for Carbonara, just to be different. Beer for me, IPA in fact, “Sexy IPA” to be more exact. John went for boring lager and Val had Guinness, Italian Guinness! Who knew there was such a thing? Ray was driving when he got home, so he was drinking orange juice. The pizzas were a bit of a disappointment. A bit tough and to use the Scots word, “Cheugh”. John said his carbonara was fine, but the sauce looked a bit thin. Maybe it’s just the focaccia that they can make well. We may go somewhere else next time.
Val seemed to enjoy chatting with the waitress in Italian. No, he didn’t tell me what they said! I just enjoyed being out with folk other than family again. Just sitting for an afternoon with pals, blethering, telling jokes and tall tales. What we ate and what we drank didn’t matter, but I did have another beer, if only to hear the waitress say “Your Sexy Sir”, while Val and John had Sambuca, but “Your Sambuca” doesn’t have the same ring to it!
All too soon we had to go our separate ways, vowing to do it again, hopefully some time in November. Before the Xmas rush.
Managed to get a train back and Scamp picked me up at the station. Her lunch had been the same as ours. Wetherspoons where they’d chosen had no fish, so fish ’n’ chips was off the menu. I’ve never heard of a restaurant having no fish. Macaroni cheese is fairly easy to make from scratch, but Wetherspoons seemed to be serving a microwaved box of it. There will be excuses reasons, I’m sure, but it’s sorry state for the hospitality sector to be in.
PoD was an ultra-wide shot of the new Queen Street Station in Glasgow.
Tomorrow we’re intending to go somewhere for a proper lunch. No ‘ping’ food accepted.