Ouch , almost the weekend and I am posting about last weekend. Being as I hadn’t been to them before, took the family for a look around the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Dean Gallery. Spotted minor Scottish Celebrity Stephen Jardine while we were there too.

I obviously need a bit of work on my appreciation. I enjoyed the grounds more than the contents of the galleries themselves. It was interesting to see Warhol stuff in real life, and the comic book style stuff from Lichtenstein. We had enjoyed the portrait work by J.D.Ferguson when up in Perth a few months back, and there were a few examples of his work. A bit more accessible for a heathen like myself. On an academic level, it was good to see rooms of examples of the different artistic movements, even if they aren’t quite my thing.

I’m afraid I need to go a good distance on Paolozzi to even begin to like his stuff. Ho hum.

Chickened out of the walk down to the Water of Leith at the back of the Modern Art gallery, another time perhaps (looked a bit of a climb).

Work is covered in my other post, on the life front I have been keeping things low key, but had a nice time today popping in to our ‘local’ BMW Motorcycle dealership Motorrad Central to check out the new BMW K1200S that they launched at their dealership today.

Motorrad Central have been going for 18 months now, and I had always meant to take a look but this was my first visit. I have wanted an R1100RS for some time now, I tried one for size a few years back and it seemed to have the shape that suited me. I have not had a bike since I passed my bike test so I have set my heart on a BMW, being right for the size albeit a bit staid as bikes go. The R1100RS will have to wait a bit longer, but we went to Bishopbriggs to take a look at the bike that marks the new direction for BMW Motorcycles.

To begin with I got lost. I ran the route through a couple of options, Multimap and The AA to get directions and stumped for the AA as being the simplest route of the two from my house to the dealers. It was all well and good until I got to the bit to turn off at Junction 15 on the M8. Junction 15 is quite familiar to me, it is the turn off that takes you through the Cathedral district of Glasgow and is the route I follow when I visit a customer based in the centre of Glasgow. What caught me out today was the little turnoff for Kirkintilloch that is just after the main turnoff for junction 15. Unfortunately the AA directions label both as Junction 15 and I turned off just too early.

I got a bit harrassed but got back on track to join the A803, but then did not follow it far enough and turned off a total of three times far too early. So here goes – things to watch out for when going to BMW Motorrad Central which is on the Kirkintilloch road in Bishopbriggs. To start with get on the A803 heading north (ish) and keep going through Bishopbriggs, past the station (on your right going north) and through the centre past Somerfield. Keep going for a couple of miles until you see Asda on your right. You actually have to turn into what looks like the entrance to the car park for Asda, but there is a small road immediately on your left that goes behind some small trees / large bushes. Go for that one and you will come to Motorrad Central.

The new bike is quite nice, and reminds me a lot of the Honda Blackbird. I had a short sit on the K1200S and the room is excellent, with my big legs fitting into the shape of the tank no problem. A big difference for me was the riding position with it being quite upright and relaxed compared to the big Japanese bikes. It was good to have a wee chat before we left to see how they were going, they have one order on their books but seem hampered by their demo bike missing the trick suspension. Aparently quite a few folk are going to wait until that comes through on a demo bike. Good to see the level of interest – lots of 50 ish couples popping in on their respective BMWs to have a look. I had a wee sit on the R1100RS that they had in the showroom. It felt different and I was a bit unsure why until the sales person pointed out the bar backs fitted that bring the bars back a couple of inches. Personally I prefer the default position (long arms that I have) but I guess putting a few miles on the bike would sort out that opinion.

All the best to the guys there, and it would be nice to see a few more of those new BMWs out on the roads of Scotland. In the meantime I think I will be saving up and exploring a different route to my R1100RS than the official dealer channel – I just do not have the disposable income that would mean I could afford proper BMW service.

They had some good deals on BMW helmets too, but did not go up to my size – I have a big head too (mmm, I might have set myself up for some feedback there!).

After all the years I’ve been using and buying stuff off the Internet, I got hit by credit card fraud for the first time today.

Got a call from a company verifying part of my card details, fine I thought and left it at that. Then started thinking, hadn’t ordered anything that hadn’t been processed in the last few days.

So I called them back and asked a bit more about who the company was and a bit more about the order concerned. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear the name of the company – some underwear place according to the nice lady on the phone. As it transpired, someone had my card details, home address and mobile number and had ordered £180 of rollneck T-Shirts. All to be sent to an address in North East London.

Needless to say that has now been cancelled, as has my credit card (new one on the way). I’m now racking my brains to think where the details came from. I can only guess its from some website somewhere, but goodness knows.

Just back in West Lothian after our stay in Jedburgh for just under a week. Went back to a place we had been a couple of years ago, which is almost in the middle of the town and has cracking views of the town and beyond.

Had an easy time, I read through two or three books, reviews to follow. We also went visiting. Went to the Hizzy room in Hawick, had lunch in Cats Coffee Shop which also happens to be part of a bike shop and popped over to Kelso for a couple of hours.

Was great to see a lot of bikes in the area around Jedburgh, and got a wave from a group of folks on Harleys when we were in the Coffee Shop.

Didn’t do any big thinking, but such is. Sounds like old MartinS is going through the thirty something stuff too. I’ll be commenting on that soon.