I know it’€™s in the dictionary but it’™s marked archaic damn it!

That means it hasn’€™t been in use more or less since printing came to Europe. So why am I reading it in a contemporary novel? Why am I reading it in a Science Fiction novel?

Come on guys and gals. It just sounds so wrong. The modern word is spun. Let’€™s leave span for gaps, bridges and hands. OK?

So. St Mirren away, midweek, week after next. Not a re-acquaintance with Gerry McCabe after all, then. Don’t invest in my predictive powers.

Borough Briggs, 9/8/08
Hmm. Maybe a longer, harder season than the first half at Airdrie suggested. Worrying echoes of last season when Fergus Tiernan was top scorer after two games.
Seventh after two games and both teams we’ve played still below us is not good news.
Still we were injury ridden, remain unbeaten in the league and it’s three games in a row now we’ve come back from 1-0 down. That wouldn’t have happened under Gerry McCabe – or Paul Martin.

I am a member of the Edinburgh-based spoken word performance group Writers’ Bloc. (Try saying that without your wallies* in.)
Normally we give the Edinburgh Festival a wide swerve but this year a few of us are giving performances at various places. So here’s the info:-

Monday 11th August: Story Shop — Gavin Inglis.
Gavin returns to the Edinburgh International Book Festival in
Charlotte Square for the first of a series of short readings
organised by the City of Literature. See him in the bookshop at 4pm.
http://www.cityofliterature.com/

Wednesday 13th August: Ferguson and Friends — Foreign Parts
Andrew C Ferguson kicks off the first of three solo shows as part
of the Free Festival. Expect faraway places, exotic special guests,
and a first glimpse of his musical side. Jekyll & Hyde bar, Hanover
Street, 5.40pm-6.40pm.
http://www.freefestival.co.uk/

Thursday 14th August: Story Shop — Andrew C Ferguson.
Andrew brings a touch of Fife attitude to the genteel gardens of
Charlotte Square. Catch him at 4pm in the Book Festival bookshop.
Don’t be late! Then have your tea in time to catch:

Thursday 14th August: Writers’ Bloc at West Port Book Festival.
A tasty sampler from Andrew C Ferguson, Jane McKie and Gavin Inglis
in this lively alternative to the “official” Book Festival. The Bloc
event runs 8pm-9pm in Pageant, a men’s boutique in Laurison Street.
Oh yes.
http://westportbookfestival.org/
http://www.pageant-store.com/

Saturday 16th August: Story Shop — Stefan Pearson.
Hot from the Prague Writers’ Festival comes Bloc’s very own
dealer in fish, filth, and figments of the imagination.
4pm in the EIBF bookshop, Charlotte Square.

Sunday 17th August: Ferguson and Friends — Edinburgh Tales.
Inside information and sinister local knowledge about a city
which experiences the cultural equivalent of a mass hallucination
every April. More special guests. More music. Better than lunch.
Espionage, Victoria Street, 1.40pm-2.20pm.

Wednesday 20th August: Ferguson and Friends — Fifestyle.
He saved the best for last, or so say three hundred and fifty
thousand people on the other side of the river. But what would you
expect from the the world expert in Scottish Common Good Law?
Jekyll & Hyde, Hanover Street, 5.40pm-6.40pm.

and finally featuring a reading or two from yours truly including a brand new story hot off the presses (okay a dodgy printer):

Wednesday 3rd September: watch out for news of an artful reading
at the Owl and Lion Gallery.

*wallies = false teeth.

Strathclyde Homes Stadium*, 5/8/08 (aet 1-1, pens 5-4)
Thought we could have scored early and Annan might have crumpled. They hung on and came into it more later on but never really looked like scoring. We should have buried them in the second half. Extra time and Annan score the only way they were going to when Geggan gives away a pen, and somehow gets sent off for dissent without me seeing it. Ten men and struggling, then the equaliser more or less out of nothing. One more goal than we ever got against Gretna!
First eight penalties scored, Monk saves the next then Stevie Murray blasts the ball home and goes mental. At least he seems to care.
If Annan had gone for it when we only had three at the back and no full back on we’d have lost. I don’t think they’ll stay top of the league for long but they’re unlikely to finish bottom.
I came away from the game thinking that one of manager Jim Chapman’s unlikely achievements has been to turn Mick O’Byrne into a player. Last season at this time he was dire.
Are we destined for a quick re-acquaintance with Gerry McCabe in the next round?

*From hereon in to be referred to as The Rock.

It’s way past time for me to jump into the waters of this internet blog thing but with me it’s like driving a car. I can do the easy things, drive, change a wheel, check the oil, point my browser, surf, but the complicated stuff, setups and so on, no.

So, many thanks to the inestimable doctorvee for getting this all in place for me.

Occasional meanderings, mainly about writing, fiction and the fortunes of Dumbarton Football Club will follow. Tune in to read my thoughts on this, that and the other.

I’ve composed a few posts previous to this in anticipation of the blog being set up so apologies if some of what comes next is untimely.