"Oh, it's getting hot in here/must be something in the atmosphere"

It really is starting to feel like summer as the UK is in the midst of a heat wave. Glasgow is due to reach 26 degrees today, which is sweltering relative to the usual 17-19 degrees we typically get this time of year. Since offices, buses, and trains don’t have air conditioning (because what would be the point, normally?), it makes for a stifling working day.

So - a few weeks ago, over a few pints, my friend Robbie (he of Rouen fame for those who were there) and I decided to sign-up for the half marathon in the Great Scottish Run to be held on the 7th of September. I thought at the time the idea may have just been alcohol-fuelled bravado, but it now seems that we’ve both committed to running this thing; moreover, we’ve even started some sort of training by doing a large run on Wednesday evenings. This will be my first organised running event since the 10K Calgary Road-eo (their joke, not mine) that I ran with Bob (another friend I met in Rouen appropriately enough) last summer when I was out in Western Canada. The Glasgow registration form asked me to estimate my finish time, and I perhaps over-optimistically wrote down 1 hour and 40 minutes. Hopefully I don’t embarrass myself, but if I do at least it will make for a good story.

Next Saturday will see the arrival of the next Canadian travel contingent in the form of university friends Kevin and Kathleen. They will be spending two weeks in Scotland - one in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and one up in Aviemore (which is up in the heart of the Highlands, near the Cairngorm mountains and just east of Loch Ness). It should be a very busy time as August in Scotland is jammed full of events, the biggest of which is the Edinburgh Festival. The “Festival” is actually several individual festivals that take place at the same time – the biggest being the Festival Fringe – but it also includes the International Film Festival, the International Book Festival, and T on the Fringe. The latter is another musical festival brought to you by the letter T after the success of T in the Park (T representing Tennent’s Brewery for the uninitiated). The choices are truly mind-boggling, with over 1500 different events one could try and see. I expect I’ll be doing what I did two years ago when I was Edinburgh – grab a guide, wander the streets, see what is available and throw caution to the wind and go with what sounds interesting at the time.

Rented a fantastic film this week, Love Liza, the story of a man coping (or rather, not coping) with the suicide of his wife. Not exactly a “snuggle up with the girlfriend on a Saturday night” kind of movie, but utterly compelling in a depressing kind of way. Three reasons to see it:

1. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is awesome in every movie he is in.
2. The music score was written and performed by Jim O’Rourke, the man who produced the last few Stereolab albums and who is an accomplished singer-songwriter in his own right. I saw him live on a fateful winter’s day a few years ago in Toronto and it was magic.
3. The film was written and directed by Todd Louiso, the guy who played the serious and timid record store employee in the film High Fidelity (Jack Black being the other).

Due to a combination of T in the Park, having a little extra disposable income, discovering an amazing indie CD shop just outside of Glasgow’s city centre, and being especially inspired by the quality of music being released in the UK at the moment, I’ve been on somewhat of a CD binge over the last few weeks. And as you may know, I do love to spread the word about great new bands and/or albums. So I’m going to post a few mini reviews over the next little while. I apologise in advance if the bands and albums I list are already well-known back home and in fact are already despised due to over exposure.

And while on the topic of music back home, and hearty thanks to Mike for keeping me in touch with the Toronto music scene - though it does make me pine for Kazaa more then ever before.