LAST week was Fresher's Week, but because I'm so far out of the undergraduate loop I didn't know this until I went for a beer down Byres Road.

I experienced that horrifying moment when you realise you're the oldest person within a one-mile radius: the Bookclub, Ashton Lane and the West End in general were overrun with fresh-faced, sprightly youngsters who were, to a man, equally as horrified to be within touching distance of my bloated, ancient bag of skin with all its folds, bumps and irregularities.

The people kicking about and clogging up the West End right now are all smooth and energetic, full of the promise of first year and the freedom that staying in halls brings.

It's a sight to behold, this annual influx of naïve, wide-eyed youth.

It brings back memories from when the real world was a distant prospect, weekdays a blur of bleary-eyed lectures, pubs and dance floors.

The students at the University of Glasgow are particularly lucky because the fine establishment that is the Hillhead Bookclub is a mere hop, skip and jump from their lecture theatre doors.

This former cinema has for years served as an offbeat hangout serving up cocktails and superior food, its prodigious popularity sustained throughout that time.

Their annual BYOB party is the stuff of legend: next Tuesday, for one night only, it will go from its standard mode of laid-back boozer with soulful soundtrack to a hedonistic dance den at the flick of a switch.

Sub Club DJs Sub Rosa and Thunder Disco will be on hand to pump out the house and disco tunes: I urge you to grab a bottle of tonic wine, join the queue and experience it.

There's nothing quite like it.