We can bypass Glasgow’s stereotypical reference points of bad weather and violence as different menaces lurk threateningly for willing velocipedes in this fine city.

The city has become renowned for its superior collection of potholes, some of them large enough to engulf a small elephant. The quality of road surface in the city centre is an unwitting deterrent to skinny-wheeled enthusiasts, though there are many that grittily persist against the odds.

Glasgow – the city where the bypass carves right through the centre and of bridges that go nowhere. It seems the town planners have applied the same ethos to the cycling infrastructure. Cycle lanes are marked out, sometimes in green, sometimes in red, sometimes with only a white line. Unlike Magnus Magnusson, a lot of our cycle lanes have started but don’t finish. They do however end, not necessarily where they are supposed to but often without reason or sense, they just stop. Regularly our poor lanes are dug up and never reinstated, often adding to the pothole collection and image crisis.

Where the lanes live is as much of a mystery as anything else. Sometimes they go on the road then onto the pavement; sometimes cyclists have a traffic light sometimes a pedestrian one.

With such a blatant example of mis-planning by Glasgow City Council, is it any wonder that many motorists see our kind as a nuisance, showing blatant disregard for our well-being? This city is certainly not a place for the faint-hearted cyclist.

The dear green place is not terribly green when it comes to supporting our cyclists. We need a wide-view approach to the infrastructure in and around the city. We need education for cyclists and motorists alike. We need a horizon shift.

Sea change to see change.

It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of worrying about the things that you have no control over rather than dealing with the things at your fingertips. Why do we worry about the things that could happen, when it would be so much more constructive to deal with the stuff that is going on; or to actually spend some time appreciating all the good things that are in our lives?

‘Live Now’ is the recent book by Eric Smith. You can read all about his reasons and inspirations behind the book here, but put simply this is a great book filled with beautifully illustrated messages that at basic level might give your day a lift or, getting deeper, might actually be a part of you changing your life view.

The book consists of over 100 pages of original artwork from collaborators all over the world with all of its pages perforated to tear out easily to frame and hang or give to friends or better, strangers, to spread some smiles.

Do right now.

This film has just finished. I knew it was going to be intense but hadn’t reckoned on how intense – my pulse rate has risen by about 20%!

I won’t give the plot away but all I’ll say is this… Thank heavens for a blunt penknife. I have never seen a film that has made me want to go climbing more and simultaneously never go climbing again. It is a beautifully shot, nicely crafted film from Danny Boyle.

Oh, did I mention that it is quite intense?

The Pith Philosophy is that your jeans should tell your story.

Shown here are a pair that started out as standard, medium-blue denim jeans. As they’ve been worn, they’ve become a map of daily life – a genuine account of wear and tear. No doubt, before too long, patches will become part of the picture, extending the life of these jeans, expanding the tale.

Your jeans, your story.

Having only ever used lighter weight water-resistant type walking trousers, I wanted to try out a proper pair of plus-fours on the hill.

The route had been long planned for the weekend, so we set off from Glencoe towards the Lost Valley, heading for Stob Coire Sgreamhach and Bidean Nam Bian.

Weather-wise it was fairly mild and damp, but only the occasional need for an outer jacket, particularly at the summit of Bidean Nam Bian. Resisting the urge to don ungainly looking waterproof over-trousers during the odd squall, I wanted to see what effect a bit of rain would have. Those are some damn fine breeks, staying dry on the inside, leaving my legs nice and cosy! I wouldn’t want to wear them on a warm summer trek but as a winter option I’m sold.

There was quite a bit of scrambling to be done and the plus-fours allowed good movement and you can tell when you put them on they’ll take a good hiding!

One of the best things about the tweeds is that you don’t get that horrible swish-swish as you walk. You don’t have to be an out-dork, it is possible to enjoy the outdoors in style!

Never put vanity before safety, but don’t always assume that super-tech, hyper-fabric, uber-garments are the be-all-and-end-all. They won’t make you fitter, they won’t make you faster, they won’t make you better.

Sometimes old school is new cool.

Muffins are a great excuse to have cake for breakfast. Ignore all the plastic wrapped, preservative filled excuses that are widely available. There is no better muffin than a homemade muffin. It’s it and that’s that.

Oscar Wilde stated in The Decay of Lying that “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life”. This illustration of anti-mimesis can and will be debated until all kinds of ruminant mammals come home but I can’t help feeling that life is art.

Anyone can be an artist and no one view on what is ‘good art’ and ‘bad art’ is the correct one. Art is much about the ‘found’ as it is about the ‘created’. Art is as much about brutality as it is about beauty. Everywhere in life, as there is in death there is beauty and brutality. Art is Life, Life is Art.

Without resorting to cliches and over-quoted statistics, a smile is a wonderful thing.

Never forget the power of a smile.