Just back from a family outing to the Britannia Panopticon for a meeting of the Bonnie Scotland Tent (Oasis #021) of the Sons of the Desert. For the uninitiated, this involves sitting in the remains of the wooden theatre where Stan Laurel first took to the stage, watching Laurel & Hardy movies in congenial company. Highly recommended - the first Wednesday of every month. We only just made it in time to get the last seats. The last time I attended a Sons of the Desert meeting, about 20 years ago in Sloan's Bar, the evening started with some Tom & Jerry cartoons, to get us warmed up for a couple of two-reelers and a feature, shown on 16mm film. They've got a DVD projector now but it's just as much fun. LeRoy Shield's music still sounds great too. 

Thanks to the Panopticon, which about a century ago served as the base for A.E. Pickard's carnival, waxworks, freak show and zoo, I now have a T-shirt bearing the image of 'Princess Christina The Human Fresco': a kind of Glaswegian equivalent of Lydia the Tattooed Lady. She's a bit scary.