Day Tripping in Perth.

Introducing the Jihenjedi and DeeDeeTee, one a seasoned day tripper to Perth and the other a curious first timer.  What did they think of their day out in the fair city.

Hallo, mmm...that's wierd. New blog.
Where was I? Ah, Barca...no wait, Perth. Perth, where all the dogs have noses and you'll be surprised how often you can tell that joke there.  So, I've. we've been hijacked to Guest-Host Perthshire Business this weekend, or week.Not had enough to drink yet, so I'm not to sure.

Perth. Right. What can I say about Perth?
The New Concert Hall sounded like a good idea, pity it didn't work that way in reality. See, I fancied going to see Goldfrapp on Friday 14th and emailed the Info email at the Concert Halls spanky new website. Feckers never replied. Only through flyers for the gig in Dundee's Rainbow Music did I find out the cost was 15 Earth Pounds. And the News showed me the venue was all seating- which isn't the Goldfrapp concert I'd want to go to. Looks like it's too cheaply priced for some things - budget venue anyone?

Oh no, I want to get right down the front with all the other leacherous guys trying to see up her skirt. Wouldn't you?

There are also some interesting people wandering around Perth, and I don't mean Ewan - he left ages ago - like the Manga Dental Assistant Nurse. No idea if she was, but afro hair,nursy white dress, big pink belt and Eskimo Boots ( well, it is cold up here) sums up Manga Looking to me.

And they have proper pirates in Perth, outside Tesco's. The Tesco store where some deaf-dumb-and-blind-man managed to destroy 7 ,(7!) cars...or so I hear. Which is good, cause usually the shoddy pirates of Perth work in the Chamber of Commerce...speaking of which -  did the former Lord Provest - aka That Fat Bast - have a wafer thin mint? I've not seen him around...and you would think he would be very very easy to spot.

Perthshire Pirates

Oh, the Strawberry place just outside Perth is fantastic.Go there next summer.

(Is that enough? can we go home now? or do we have to
do the Mark Thomas stuff as well?)

DeeDeeTee's first visit

The first and perhaps most important thing you should remember about Perth is that it rhymes with a great many things. Girth and birth (and, by default berth). Also nurse, if you have a heavy lisp. This is perhaps, for me, the most fascinating thing about Perth. but I could be misinformed. Or easily impressed.  It would be cheap to say that the best thing to come out of Perth is the A90, especially as it leads to Dundee or Aberdeen. Perth keeps it's attractions hidden, well hidden. It's Scotland in microcosm. Not for it the heady  high brow culture of Edinburgh, trading on faux heritage, nor the cyber culture clash that is Glasgow. Perth is small Scotland.

McGonagall lived there, you know, writing a poem about the Beautiful City of Perth. But that was in the late 1800s, and there really wasn't a great deal else to be impressed by. Back then, a nice Loch, an atmospheric forest and a well cut frock coat would be all a gentleman needed to be suitably settled and happy with his lot. Perth offers at least two of those three
things and McGonagall was probably attempting to ingratiate himself with his new home after being thrown out of Dundee. (Which is perhaps, the best testament to the man's character one can find.)

But Perth today is now more or less beautiful than any other 21st century town or city. The collision of the new and old is ever present. Stone fronted houses on the outskirts, braving the cold, whilst in the town centre, the usual concrete and tarmac nightmare of a bus station dropping visitors near enough to the usual run of shops. The Gaps, Boots, Marks and Spencers, Woolworths and New Looks that are springing up everywhere, to homogonise the world in their image. To say nothing of the ubitiquis Starbucks.

Perth is facing the same struggle every town faces, that of desperately trying to keep its own clear identity in the face of the one corporate world view. Like many places it is fighting back in the same confused manner. It is publicising the small business men, the outre bistros and restaurants, pushing its builders and bookshops as best it can, but how different is that to any other town facing the same crisis? It lacks a definite direction and voice. Wandering round Perth you can easily forget where you are. It's only the accents and the cold that let you know you're still in Scotland.

That's not to say that Perth is doomed. It has a lot that it can promote. It needs to stop hiding it's charms and polish itself up a bit. It could be a great place to live, even givesome crecedence to the old philanderar McGonagall.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to carry on with my latte and think of more words that rhyme with Perth. Surf. There's one. Surf at Perth, now wouldn't that be fun...