Game on....

It was a culture shock getting the train into Glasgow this morning. After the blue azure of the Mediterranean yesterday it was 50 shades of grey and rain today.

I spent the morning catching up at work and then ploughing through hundreds of emails before I took my staff out for Christmas lunch.

We headed down to the lovely Italian restaurant at the Finnieston end of Argyle Street. Panevino is very unassuming from the outside, but the interior, with cured meats hanging from the ceiling and shelves stacked high with bread and cheese, is like a Santa’s grotto for grown-ups.

We arrived late, but Roberto was very welcoming and made us all feel relaxed and comfortable.

Nearby in the restaurant there was a number of people from the football world enjoying a drink at the bar. They included ex Rangers and Everton manager Walter Smith, with his former assistant Archie Knox.

As the meal progressed the table next to us filled up with a number of well know Scottish TV and Radio personalities. They included the comedian Fred Macaulay, sports commentator Dougie Donnelly and former Celtic and Scotland star Murdo MacLeod.

There was definitely a buzz in the restaurant and after our fabulous Christmas lunch we moved over to the bar for a final drink. By this time I decided to go over and ask Fred if I could take a photo of him, along with Dougie and Murdo. As you can see they were all happy to take part.

I then asked Roberto for the bill and he just gave me a bill for the last round of drinks. I said did he not want to bill me for the meal. He went over and checked and came back and said the lunch had been paid for. I said by who. He checked again and realised there was a mistake and it had not been paid.

We left the restaurant feeling full of the Christmas Spirit. So it is Game on for Christmas.