Cat's Eyes on Glasgow: good clean fun at my baby shower and Neil Diamond shows he hasn't lost his sparkle

Baby Shower @ Home

There’s a whole shower of new experiences that go along with being pregnant, most of them unprintable (and I’d hate you to choke on your tea). However, one, a little more clean, is the lovely idea that your pals throw you a Baby Shower. It’s an American idea, that’s fast becoming popular here, so my best mate Ruby and sister decided to arrange one for me.

It’s the first Baby Shower I’ve been to, so I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. In ye olde days, apparently folk got together and drank ‘groaning beer’ in sympathy for the mother-to-be's imminent labour pains. Well, I’m pretty used to being down the pub and people doing just that, without the sympathy bit, but plenty of groaning if labour is mentioned!

These days, the Baby Shower is partly about ‘showering’ the new baby with presents (personally, I just wanted my friends presence though) playing daft games and having a bit of a send off for the pregnant one. We had the party at my house, with magnificent catering and afternoon tea from Cup; Paul the owner told me they do up to 20 Baby Showers a month, so it’s definitely becoming A.Thing.

Cup had handcrafted delicious mojito and daiquiri cupcakes - that was the closest I was going to get to a dram all afternoon! - with wee It’s a Girl and It’s a Boy signs on them, and my friends tucked into Prosseco. We got down and dirty with the nappy game, guessing the contents (all junk from my kitchen cupboards, not from a real babies’ trunk, obviously!), blind-folded baby changing (with my childhood dolly) and a sweepstake for when the baby is going to arrive and what it will be. According to my pals, odds are on for it to be a girl, weighing 7.3lb, called Ruby (wonder who’s idea that was!) with a birthday on the 24th of August.

Having had the party, I now feel one baby step closer to the wee one arriving, which is equally exciting and terrifying. The theme for the party was ‘Cat’s Kitten’ and yes, I think I can definitely share with you lovely lot, that I’m beginning to have kittens about the whole motherhood thing (and can only hope to do as good a job as my two Mums (pictured). Still, I can’t wait for baby - Ruby? - to arrive… whenever that will be!

Neil Diamond @ The SSE Hydro

On Tuesday night, we took my mother-in-law to the Hydro to see Neil Diamond (trying to score brownie points to bargain some babysitting!) It’s not a gig I would otherwise have chosen, but at nearly 9 months pregnant, I feel almost as pensioner-like as many of his fan base.

It’s the first shindig I’ve been to at The Hydro that has been entirely seated: everyone from the band to the security guards at the front had taken a pew, that’s how chilled and (vaguely) religious the night was; the only man standing was the Diamond in the rough. He looked amazing for his 74 years, and whilst his voice might not be quite what it used to be, his incredible back catalogue has hooks so deep it will persuade even the greatest (pregnant) sceptics.

Tracks like I’m a Believer, Love on the Rocks, Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon and an epic Red, Red, Wine kicked the night off - I’m sure I saw someone throw their (granny) knickers - as Neil crooned “are you ready to party Glasgow!” I quipped to my other half that there could well be more people on drugs at this gig than at your standard Saturday night rave up! And certainly, when the silver-haired fox declared that “It makes my heart go flippity-flop when I hear the girls crying out my name” we all hoped he was joking and had remembered to take his meds!

Things did take a turn for the worse, however, when he peddled out some of his new tracks, creating a lull around the auditorium as everyone realised it was way past their bedtime. He comes from an era of grafters and he certainly put in a shift; performing for over two and a half hours. However, his set could easily have been a shade (of grey) shorter.

We all perked up again for the finale of Sweet Caroline and Coming to America, before he over egged the soufflé adding in a few more unknown tracks. However, with over 125m record sales he's allowed to have a wee bit of ego and not simply just dole out crowd pleasers. What’s more, his swagger proves he certainly hasn’t lost his sparkle.

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It’s 167 days until Christmas, so that means 5 months until panto season! ‘Oh no it doesn’t!’This week, Oran Mor set the stage for it’s lunchtime Summer Panto with the Pie-Eyed Piper of Hamilton. Get stuck into with a pie and a pint every lunchtime from 1pm (12/2pm on Wednesdays) until the 25th July. Wee think it’s a cracker, so do don’t be a joker, miss tickets and find out ‘it’s behind you!’