Monday, August 27, 2007

Back Home

I was back in Edinburgh this weekend to be vetted as a potential parliamentary candidate. It's been a while since I last stood as an SNP candidate, so this time I got the full treatment of an assessment session and interview alongside other hopefuls.

It was all good fun, though I will admit to a certain sense of relief at being excluded from the 'here's a random subject - go and talk on it for one minute, starting now', section of the day. I've done it many times before, but for me, it still falls into the category of a cruel and unusual punishment.

Anyway, it was good to get home for a bit, and to spend a bit more time with my friends than I managed when last up a fortnight ago, when I spent most of the weekend in a lecture theatre. I also managed to get a decent Sunday breakfast with the papers down at the Iso-Bar in Leith (a favourite haunt during the day, never been so keen at night). It defies all probability, but I still haven't found anywhere in London where its worth doing the same. Obviously I've been looking in completely the wrong places so far.

Family and friends have been saving the Evening News cheap GNER fares promo vouchers from the Evening News for me. I'm sure they'll come in very useful, as I've a feeling I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time in Scotland over the next few weeks as the SNP candidate selection process begins to get underway. Time to start hitting the phones and seeing into which rings it might be worthwhile throwing a hat...


Oh, yes. Almost forgot. I know I'm just adding in my own small way to the man's publicity machine, but any pangs about missing out on the Festival were dulled quickly when I saw Ricky Gervais' billboard above the Rutland, informing us all that he'd sold out his show at the Castle. I used to think his acting in 'The Office' was pretty good, but now I realise he was just being himself all along. What a pointless, obnoxious, irksome, seemingly unflushable excrescence the man truly is.

(Pic filched shamelessly from Bruce Dessau's blog on the Evening Standard site)

UPDATE: Since I posted the above, Ricky Gervais has apparently announced that any profits from the gig in question will go to MacMillan Cancer Relief, which makes me feel a bit bad for unloading on him like that. I'm sure he has quite a few reasons for so doing, none of which should detain us here, but credit where credit's due.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That billboard does seem to have annoyed a lot of uptight whingers.

Richard Thomson said...

I'm from Edinburgh. Uptight whinger is part of the DNA.

Mountjoy said...

Excellent, Richard, and hope you got through OK. There's nothing like GNER; I used to live in Darlington and I can tell you coming back from London - and managing to get a seat in the restaurant on the train - is absolute bliss!

Jeff said...

Given your views on Gervais, I hope you don't get selected in an area with a large student community. They'd string you up for such chat!

Good luck in getting chosen.

Richard Thomson said...

Cheers, folks.

"And we're just hearing from our resident number cruncher this evening, Professor John Curtice, that the swing against Mr Thomson in the newly resurrected Scottish Universities constituency is... from the lamppost."