You're hired

Told you he'd do it!

Lee won The Apprentice as we all hoped he would. Fantastic. His directing skills for the advert were also brilliant :-)

Television man

The Apprentice finally tomorrow night folks! Don't miss it! 

I've got a sneaky suspicion Claire is going to win it but I'm supporting Lee as he seems the most grounded, hard working and easy going guy out of them - out of all sixteen of them! Even though he exaggerated slightly on his CV and obviously had a problem with the spellchecker, either that or he just can't spell! He was also a bit nervy on the presentation side of things but hopefully he'll get over that for the final task. Thought Raef was also very good but alas he did not make it this far. Although Claire has got this far she was the instantly dislikable one for me at the start of the series but has since apparently changed... or so she is leading everyone to believe. Don't think Helene is up to much at all - does she have ANY memorable moments from the series at all? Alex is a bit smarmy and full of himself and plays the 'I'm so young' card way too often so Lee is Sugar's best man for the job in my opinion.

Whilst I'm babbling about tv, is anyone watching the current series of Doctor Who? Or are there any followers of Lost out there? How about Heroes? I sound like a telly addict now but they are really the only programs I watch! Lost leaving a big gap on Monday nights now as its current series has just come to yet another cliffhanger ending, leaving us, the poor, desperate viewer without more answers for another year! Damn you J.J. Abrams! Damn you to hell! (If the Island is Hell that is...?)

Photo update

New photos on REIDNET.
Have now updated the photos pages with stuff from April through to present, including KA and my birthdays, our trip to Dublin and Gran's 80th birthday bash. As I didn't take a massive amount of pics on the day Uncle Tommy has contributed his pics to the album. Thanks for that Tommy!
Have also updated the gallery pages with my latest paintings.
Back to work now.
Come on Lee! That's what I'm talking about!

One Up and more Bruce

Spent Saturday night in Royal Exchange Square in Glasgow. 

There's always a good vibe in the Square and plenty of places around it to pop into. First we hit The Social for cocktails and then upstairs to the bar/club One Up. Apparently One Up is one of the places 'to be' in Glasgow but I'm afraid it was a bit of a disappointment to me. Small, overcrowded rooms full of drunk rich folk who obviously all thought they were wonderful. Don't get me wrong I'm sure there must have been a few wonderful people in there somewhere but unfortunately I didn't meet any of them, (except from the friends I was with, of course!). It was Chaz's 30th birthday night out and even though I moan about One Up we all had a great time. Ka and myself left as the bar approached its last half hour leaving Chaz propping up the bar with Steven chatting away to anyone who would talk to them!

Next day, it was Sunday lunch in the Bruce Hotel to celebrate the 80th birthday of Gran (Annie) Reid. She treated everyone to a full three course dinner. Unfortunately I didn't get any tea top-ups but that was a minor complaint as everyone had a good time as Gran did herself but probably didn't drink as much as Chaz had the night before (he was probably still recovering as we finished our dinner!).

Birthdays and Bruce

Friday once again.
Busy weekend ahead with various birthdays and gatherings going on not to mention any painting I can squeeze in. Almost finished the chrysanthemum and have started on the backgrounds of a few new canvases so plenty to keep me going. Looking forward to doing more character pieces like 'The Tortured Man' and 'The Conversation' and having a break from flowers. They are great to do but I'm looking forward to telling a story again with a painting.
I can't believe it's june tomorrow?! Halfway through the year.
Gran Reid is 80 this weekend so best wishes to her on her special birthday. I'm sure we'll all have a great time on Sunday to celebrate. The family is gathering in a local hotel for sunday lunch. Very fancy.
Happy Birthdays also go to Chaz aka Charlie boy! He hits the grand old age of 30 today following Colin who also hit the milestone last weekend. My two buddies ever since the first day of school and hopefully for the next thirty years! Colin was in Dublin seeing Bruce Springsteen for his birthday whom Mum, Dad, Tom and Linda were also seeing on Wednesday in Manchester. Mum summed it up in one word...I think is was tremendous. A few years back I seen Bruce in Crystal Palace in London. He was tremendous there also. I was never particularly into his music until I seen him live. The energy and sheer enthusiasm he has for the live show is brilliant. I hope I get the chance to catch him live again.
A belated Happy Birthday should also go to my Dad who also had his birthday last weekend but was away sunning himself somewhere in Spain at the time... alright for some.

A couple of pints

A week off.

On holiday from work last week so had time to chill, watch a few movies, enjoy the sunshine, do some painting and hit the town and have a couple of pints. As we arrived in Glasgow's town centre at half nine on Wednesday night the pubs had been emptying with many a drunk, disappointed looking person. No violent scenes fortunately unlike the horrible films we seen on the news the next day from Manchester. What a bloody disaster... makes you ashamed to be Scottish. Anyway, Glasgow thankfully had none of that and we ended up in Bunker which is a cool bar on Bath Street with cool music. Cool all over really. Woke up on Thursday feeling a bit rough mind you. Maybe indulged in too many cheap vodkas. The movies I watched over the week were pretty mediocre all over really - "The Cottage", a vaguely amusing brit-comedy horror probably better watched with a

 couple of pints, "Black Sheep", an vaguely entertaining gorey horror, again probably better with a couple of pints, 'Shrooms', yet another horror about teens getting lost in a forest type location and slowly getting killed off in horribly horrible ways, and 'The Nines' a weird mystery centering on a guy with a supposed personality crisis. Again probably better with a couple of pints.

Here's the latest painting so far:

Have been working on this since this last shot was taken so it has improved, honest! Then again, looking at this after a couple of pints...

BBQs and Granpa Reid the wasp killer

Barbeque city this weekend. 

Two BBQ's two nights in a row. Last night we were at Tommy and Tricia's place and tonight my Mum and Dad's. I have barely been in the kitchen all weekend...except just there, to pour myself a double vodka - just a night cap you must understand. Yes, last night Ka and myself were invited along to my Aunt Tricia's and Uncle Tommy's for a BBQ in the glorious... thunderstorm. Half six we had to be there but at approximately 16.45 a terrible rumble echoed through the air above our wee flat and then a flash of lightening shot down over Calderglen opposite, briefly illuminating the cloud filled humid skies. We were worried the BBQ would be off, but of course we had no need to be. This is Scotland for gawd's sake. A little bit of thunder and lightening is not going to put us scots off a decent BBQ! The weather has been kind of weird the past few days. We had the blistering sunshine during the week but then clouds piled in overhead on Friday for the weekend and although the humidity and warmth has remained there has been a definite lack of long lasting sunlight. The same happened tonight. Once we'd finished eating in the Reid back garden hail started falling from the skies! We took cover in the conservatory and the wasps in their old hideout in the back room's roof. 

The appearance of the retreating wasps kind of concerned my Dad as he thought he'd seen the back of those stripey little varmints when the Kenny boy and Granpa Reid destroyed their last nest with a bit of DIY insect extermination in the same place around a decade ago. Granpa had expertly co-ordinated the extermination. He was in no way a exterminating kind of guy but he knew how to handle a pest when he seen them. He told Kenny to stand on a stool so he could get right up close to the hive entrance (a small hole where the wall met the roof) and blast it with insect killer spray. After a few moments of spraying, stop, jump down from the stool and basically run away, fast. Kenny did all this precisely to the instructions given, especially the 'run away' bit and we all took cover in the conservatory as Chapelton's wasp factory emptied itself out into the Reid back garden, spinning, falling and crawling to their deaths. Kenny and Granpa surveyed the dying army, quite pleased with themselves. Granpa giving Kenny an approving nod. "Good Kenneth".

It was the 1st anniversary of Granpa Reid's passing this week. So wherever you are Granpa, don't worry, we'll get Kenny back up to Chapelton since he done such a great job the first time.