This year's festival was darn good I tell thee. It was brilliant with so much going on throughout…read morethe whole weekend. It was only through my man who spotted a photo challenge competition online that we found ourselves on the streets of the Merchant City. We both entered the 6x4 Panoptic Challenge that was hosted by Trongate 103. We collected our 6 themes and we only had 4 hours to take 6 photos and in the order of the themes, meaning there was no going back. This was going to be definitely a challenge especially with us going round together. "I spotted that photo opportunity first!!!" Actually having the photo challenge was a great idea as it made us explore the festival even more. We came across many street performers and checked out the many stalls in the Scottish and Continental markets. We went along to Merchant City Square where we had fun at The Festival of Fudge and most delicious it was. We met very interesting characters including policitians from Fudge Poltics to a professor of fudge where I got a history lesson in various fudge of the world. 10 minutes of my life I will never get back. We also headed along to the Britannia Panopticon where they were holding a bazaar with many wonderful goodies on sale. There was an amazing milliner and I just wanted to buy all her hats but alas payday was too far and a MOT was to near. I got her card and with a friend's wedding coming up I think a hat is on the list. Above is only just the Saturday, phew, but ach why not, we headed back along on the Sunday for more and especially as all the photographs were going to be on display at Trongate 103. Unfortunately neither or us won but to be honest we weren't that bothered, it was just so nice to see your work up on display. I saw walking bands, a carnival parade, live bands at the Creation Studios Stage and also some lovely Yelp staff where I got myself some lovely groovy new sunglasses. I've probably missed out half of what we saw as there was so much going on. It's a great weekend and well worth the visit. I cannae wait until next year's already.

Darn it all to hell! OK so this is an update on the festival (2011) and I'm searching for a way to…read moreaward an additional star to the folks... cannie be done... darn it all to hell! Yeah, so they did the unlikely and made it even better this year. More performances, more food, more stalls, more vibe, more moreness (yeah, they even managed to get me to make up a new word... moreness). If you read my review from last year, then you'll gather that this is a festival not to miss. Well, if this year is anything to go by then that statement not only desrves to be stuck to, but shold also be underlined, whacked into bold and maybe even a wee font size increase. Residents and visitors alike. This is a must.

Shake off your January blues by checking out the always excellent line-up of comedians coming to…read moreGlasgow in March, which this year runs from the 11th to 28th. It's not only a good way to see your favourite comedians, but to find new venues you might not know about with some of the lesser known acts playing small venues at a modest price. It comes on the back of the Glasgow Film Festival in February and helps me laugh my way out of the winter and into the spring. So far this year I am going to Jim Jeffries, Jerry Sadowitz and Stewart Lee, all across different venues, and will no doubt go to some other gigs on a random prowl around town. A great opportunity to discover new venues in Glasgow, and of course, to have a good laugh!

The Glasgow Comedy Festival features a range of comedians from the unknown to the superstars, like…read moreFrankie Boyle. There are performances in venues all over the city, from the arenas to the tiny pubs. Anything that puts Glasgow on the map and gets people out and enjoying the city gets a thumbs up from me.

What an amazing event to have in the heart of Glasgow at George Square!…read more Now, I'm not a football fan because it's normally super boring and involves 90 long minutes of people running around and not scoring goals. Thankfully the Homeless World Cup is 5-a-side so it's properly action packed and things actually happen in the game - like goals! So with that in mind, I headed along at Thursday lunch time for a nosey. There's two entrances on either side of George Square (north and south sides) and it's free admission so there's really no reason not to go for a gander. It's well set up and there's a few games on at a time so there'll probably always be something to watch. There was a great atmosphere and amazing to see so many people out to support the event so here's hoping the last few days (it's on til Saturday 16th of July) are just as awesome.

Attended the Feastival on Saturday and had a great time. The…read moregreat weather and a few drinks in a local beer Garden set me up nicely for tasting all the food that was on offer. I managed to try 4 different offerings by sharing each of them with the "better half". Everything I had was good - Kimichi Cheese Burger - First time trying "Kimichi" and it was lovely, very spicy. Pulled Pork Roll and Corn on the cob - Very nice. Slow Roasted Caribbean Chicken and rice - Really enjoyed it, although I had wanted the Jerk Chicken but they had sold out within a couple of hours. Fish and Chips from the Finneston - Amazingly fresh and tasty. So all in the food was great, Glasgow needs more events like this and hopefully it will be coming back soon. I had never been to the venue before and was really surprised by it even being there to be honest, it felt strange coming out after all that food and beer into the middle of the Barras. My only negative on the day would be the beer side of things. - Beers were a bit overpriced in my opinion, had to queue for a beer token and then queue again for an actual beer - Then told the beer was off for 15 min. To be honest though it did not impact massively on a great day and event and the real aim of eating lots of great street food.

We came on Sunday after winning two free meals via Yelp! We had the 3 year old in tow but were told…read moreby Kiltr it was very child friendly and there would be face-painting and other activities. We arrived a wee bit early before it opened at 4pm (odd time for a Sunday right?) but had to wait even longer as they didn't open the doors until 4:15. When you are waiting with a 3 1/2 year old not ideal. We went in and had a look around and decided to try places we couldn't normally book a table to eat in. I went for Smokey and the Bandit pulled pork and NBH had a Kimchi burger from Kimchi Cult. We would have gotten chips from The Finnieston for Blondie Boy but they weren't ready. It was a bit shocking to see stands not ready when doors opened late if I'm honest. That being said NBH loved his burger and I enjoyed my pulled pork but would have liked some BBQ sauce on it. We couldn't see any face-painting which when you've told your child they can get their face painted and then they can't is kinda a big deal. If I'd not been told it would be there specifically I wouldn't have missed it. All in all it was a good event that can be improved on in the future.

As a newcomer to Glasgow, I have only just begun to discover the wealth of arts and culture the…read morecity has to offer. Yesterday, at Tenement TV's Tenement Trail Festival, I underwent a crash course in the range and quality of Glasgow music and discovered some pretty fantastic venues along the way. With a reputation world-wide for its music scene (take it from a foreigner to these parts), it's never too difficult to find some decent live music on any given night here. The downside of this musical bounty is the impossible task of ever having enough time to hear everything and also the nearly impossible task of knowing where to hear the good stuff. Tenement Trail helps solve both of these problems in a oner. The organisers, in collaboration with some top quality music venues in Glasgow (Broadcast, Nice n Sleazy, O2 ABC 2, Flat 0/1, and King Tut's Wah Wah Hut) have selected some of the best musicians and performers while simultaneously covering a broad range of styles. From the hard, fast-paced, punk pop of Deathcats to the nostalgic, 50s rock of the beguiling Laura St. Jude to the trumpets-ablaring, full-on ska ensemble Bombskare, the festival showcases (or rather shows off) the variety of genres to be found Glasgow. And possibly even more impressive, the range of genres Glasgow can support. If the musicianship and energy of the performers didn't impress me enough, the dedication and enthusiasm of the audience - trekking through the damp and drizzle between venues to pack out even early afternoon slots - shows more than anything that the Glasgow music scene is really something remarkable. If you missed it this year, you really missed something special. Even after an 8-hour intensive introduction, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface, and I can't wait to continue my education. Last but not least, the inevitable run-down of my TTV14 experience: 2.45pm A delicious, coma-inducing sourdough pizza from Broadcast after picking up the wristband, aka my golden ticket into the magical world of Tenement Trail 3.15pm To Sleazy's for Acrylic, followed by Deathcats 5.45pm Return to Broadcast for the end of Twin Mirrors, Laura St. Jude, and Teencanteen 8.15pm Crawl back to Sleazy's for Medicine Men 7.15pm Jaunt over to Flat 0/1 for Have Mercy Las Vegas and some boogies to excellent fiddle and banjo support 8.30pm Backtrack to Broadcast for Bombskare and some truly heart-pumping, sweat-drenching boogies! 09.45 Final journey to King Tut's Wah Wha Hut for Randolf's Leap and Neon Waltz I can't hit save until I give my give my top three, so I leave you with this... 3) Deathcats 2) Have Mercy Las Vegas and first place in my book, 1) Teencanteen

Well worth a turned ankle…read more Bungo in the Back Lanes is one of the better Glasgow get togethers. Organised by the Strathbungo community, it has something for everyone. There are Beer gardens which are literally in back gardens, live bands, cake gardens that are open to all, bouncy castles have been placed up alleyways and tombolas are more than prevalent. Based up the back cobbled lanes of this South Side area across from Queen's Park, it has the feel of a proper community fete and it's massive, attracting thousands! There are almost two acres of back lanes to explore and you'll get lost without the handy map on offer. Everyone seems to open up their back gates, set out their stall and sell their wares - whether it's home baking, barbecued burgers, beer, bbq paella, craft goods, face painting, play areas, ice cream, plants or junk from their attics, it's all there. You'll not get anywhere fast though. Trying to navigate from one beer garden to another, or from the pakora man to Mr Thomsons cake garden will take a wee bit of time as you try to evade the throngs of pushchairs struggling up the potholed cobbled lanes. And it's no wonder paramedics are on call with the risk of turning an ankle or two. Well worth it though :-)

The Winter Lodge was back at George Square over Christmas for Glasgow on Ice. As always, it looks…read morelike one of those temporary construction offices from the outside, but hoisted up on stilts to overlook the ice rink. Inside is in stark contrast, made to look like a log cabin, or ski lodge. It's warm and cosy, and has a roaring fire - fake, of course - courtesy of a projector on the ceiling. This year, recycling and sustainability seems to have been key. The furniture was all (with maybe two exceptions) made out of old pallets, the seats and benches adorned with comfortable cushions. The bar serves all its drinks in what you may at first perceive to be plastic cups, but they are in fact compostable veg-ware, and the drinking straws are made of paper. The brandy hot chocolate was a bit disappointing... the cocoa content was way too low, so it was more like brandy warm milk. It was still nice, but not what I'd anticipated. The mulled cider is a winner, though. They also sell mulled wine and hot buttered rum - I still haven't tried the rum, but doubtless I will be sampling in November when the Lodge will reappear along with the ice rink. I love this place for the novelty and the live music. As far as bars go, there's not enough seating for the space, the usual drinks are a little over-priced and sometimes you wait for service longer than you'd expect. But if you want to listen to great local bands every night of the week while this place is open, or if you fancy grabbing yourself a festive, warm, alcoholic beverage whilst you watch people fall over on the ice rink, then this is the place to be!

I loved the GRAF. We went on the Saturday afternoon and, while there were over 100 beers to choose…read morefrom, a few of them were finished by that point. There were still plenty to choose from though so we were quite happy. Very happy! We'd queued outside for about half an hour (another reason for going earlier next year) so were glad to get into the lovely surroundings of the Briggait, and surprised that we were able to get a seat. The bar staff were all volunteers and were really pleasant and friendly. We were given a glass with a giraffe (GRAF - geddit) on it and you hand it over when asking for your beer. I loved that! No plastic glasses. We stuck to half pints so we could try a few - I couldn't tell you which ones I tried but they were all appreciated. We got chatting to the folks about us, about beer of course, and there was a really relaxed and good natured atmosphere. We were allowed to pop in and out so we went to Mono for some pizza and a donut. It was at that point I realised I had turned into Homer Simpson - mmm beer, mmm pizza.... But we went back in to the GRAF, had another beer and it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I'll definitely be back next year.

So this weekend saw the return of the Glasgow Real Ale Festival (GRAF, for short) at the fabulous…read moreBriggait! For a £6 entry fee, you get your own giraffe (get it?!) branded pint glass to refill throughout the day, guide listing all the ales, ciders and perry's and wristband so you can come and go. Prices ranged from about £1.20 for a 1/3 pint, £1.80ish for a half and £3.60ish for a full pint, cheaper than chips (well, almost)! We turned up about 6pm on the Saturday and picked out some gin themed ales (Juniper Tree and Gin & Juice), wow I thought, my kinda ale! Sadly those kegs were done, as were quite a lot of others. After some guidance we eventually settled on a couple of halves, and I hate to say it but we were disappointed...both were flatter than water and warm :-( Opting for cider next, much the same result, sigh... On the plus, great venue, friendly staff, they were selling German sausages and fresh crepes and had several pipers breaking into Scotland The Brave every so often so they redeem a star for that!

Sooo I'm a raver baby... So why don't you kill me. Remember that song?…read more My first time at a techno festival and riverside was a good one. Cool place to have a festival. Tour busses going by as the ravers are Queuing. A real mix of people and a real mix of age groups. Great big space to have an event in, at first I couldn't imagine how it was going to pan out! Drinks tokens made the bar Q go quick. Main stage had multiple acts including 2 Many DJ's and Vitallic. This all kicked off at 4.30. Act after act and this kept going till well after 11! Unfortunately my before festival eats I was to full to have anything from the Smoke Van or breaking bread but I'm sure I will get round to them eventually. All bars were well stocked until they ran out of cider. This sounds gross but men and female port a loo's is the way to go!! No massive Q's and still a bit Minging but not as bad as I e seen!

First time to the Riverside festival for me and there was none of the issues I had heard had…read moreoccurred at previous events. The token system worked well and meant minimum queuing for booze which is always a bonus when you don't want to miss to much of the acts on stage. The crowd was a real mix and the majority seemed to be up for enjoying a great day out. The age range seemed to vary between 17 and 59 which made for a good atmosphere. I loved that it was all cans so no need for plastic cups from the bar and though the range was limited, I was happy enough with the options on offer. Music wise I loved vitalic and felix the housecoat most of all. Sadly I did not try the food on offer as instead I went for pre and post meals with fellow yelpers. Great day out, in a cool location and with an awesome backing track. My boiler suit, dust mask and glow sticks also blended me in perfect with the crowd. Why 4 stars and not 5? A can of strongbow costing 4 quid a pop was just a bit pricey for me!