Largs On the West coast in North Ayrshire, overlooking the Firth of Clyde is a small town called Largs. The original name comes from the Scottish Gaelic (An Leargaidh) which means, the slopes. Popular with tourists, it is a busy place especially when the weather is nice. Scotland is experiencing one of its driest spells … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 151
Newark Castle Heading out to the West coast, I stopped off at Newark Castle. A little confused at first when I entered the details into Google maps as there are in fact two castles in Scotland with the name Newark. One in Fife, overlooking the Firth of Forth, the other in Port Glasgow, next to … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 150
GOMA I managed to take in the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art or GOMA as it’s known. I hadn’t been back since the Banksy art exhibition in the autumn of 2023 (details can be found in Part 60 of this series). Fewer crowds this time, but still busy. I was pleased to see the statue … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 149
Edinburgh Castle There is so much that could be said about Edinburgh Castle, I’ve decided to put down some random thoughts instead, rather than trying to outline its history. I’m a member of Historic Scotland again, having been with the National Trust over the last year, so visiting Edinburgh Castle and then for example Stirling … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 148
Edinburgh Gin I visited the new Edinburgh Gin Distillery, which is located at The Arches, East Market Street, just along from Waverley Station. Great location, with a gift shop and a bar that provides a good view of the Martyrs of Reform Monument and Governor’s House. I managed to take a video of a steam … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 147
Scotland’s Photography Collection I made a point of visiting the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh (due to being close to the Royal Society which I blogged about in part 142) and it was one of those random last minute decisions that paid off. The collection totals over 55,000 artworks with a remit of collecting … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 145
Neglected Tropical Diseases A work colleague of mine has an additional role of photographer with the University and provides a visual record for a variety of international visits and cultural exchanges. I was excited to hear that a couple of his photographs had been selected for inclusion at an exhibition at The Royal Society of … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 142
The King I met King Charles III. Spoke a couple of words and shook hands. Very surreal. It was well known he was making a visit to the next town down from me, but as a result of knowing someone who knows someone who was in the village community centre when police and what was … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 141
Dali I noted in Part 84 of this blog that one of my favourite paintings, Christ of St John on the Cross by Salvador Dali, was due to come back home to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow after being on loan to Spain and I would arrange to go back and view … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 139
Cupar Next stop was Cupar, a small town of nearly fourteen thousand people. This was chosen as a stopping off point on the way home, and is good for a coffee and stretching the legs. It may sound like a random place to visit, and it is, but you never know what you may come … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 138
The Fiction Factory 