Glasgow, part II

As the Glasgow piece of my two week journey in the UK is about to come an end, I look forward and realise that I should probably think about the COVID rules for returning to the US, a week from now. 

Again, reading through reams of web pages about rules and regulations, trying to make sense of it all, chatting with my Manchester friend, who will be returning from France and has to schedule COVID tests too, and realising that COVID tests returning to the UK are different from COVID tests returning to the US. 

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What has happened to knowledge?  As we spend more and more time on the web, searching for stuff, are we becoming dumber and dumber? 

We spend more time checking off the right boxes, and less time letting our minds wander and imagine. 

I spent 1 £ on a book just the other day, as opposed to 39 £ for the returning COVID test. These are the times that we are living in. 

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On the positive side, I wandered into three used bookstores, all located in the vicinity of the university. Caledonia books, on Great Western Road, has a deep selection of Scottish literature. Thistle Books, in a little alley behind Otago Road, is actually two bookstores. One is specialised in music, including tons of sheet music, while the other has quite the detective novel selection. 

Thistle Books

And then there is Voltaire and Rousseau, also off of Otago. Be prepared for piles of books stacked high against bookcases also filled with books. The cat seems untroubled by the clutter. 

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I finally "connected" sections of Great Western, as I approached it from the West after having walked it from the East. That is how I discovered yet one more vintage store which had a really nice selection of all kinds of clothes including the classic plaid wool scarf. 

Glasgow has much to offer as cities go. It likes to preserve its old signs, and to a certain extent, an old way of life. Pubs have live music in the middle of the afternoon. There are still small specialised shops selling fish and records. And my flat has a drying rack on a pulley, quite handy, and those high ceilings make it possible to keep the drying laundry out of the way. 

Glasgow in September

 

After much preparation, my first trip outside the US borders has happened. To the UK to visit my daughter and her boyfriend who have been living in Glasgow for a few years. The city is enchanting, the people are extremely friendly and cheerful, this despite a rather intense series of lockdowns, not to mention the gloomy weather that is a permanent fixture. 

The West End has lots of leafy streets and a few alleyways that look like they could be in a village, not in the middle of a sprawling city. 

Naturally, charity shops pull me in like giant magnets. I haven't found anything that called out to me quite yet, mainly because it's still early in my visit. I am learning that there are charity shops (in very large numbers),  there are vintage stores (mainly focusing on the 1980s and 90s), and a few consignments stores (which I have yet to set foot in). 

Great Western Avenue. North of the University of Glasgow campus, lively on a Sunday. 

        Heading to the Barras Market on the subway, a circle line that is simplicity itself, with the Inner line and the Outer line, one going clockwise, the other, well, counterclockwise. On my ride to St Enoch, I couldn't help but notice that the car was filled with humans of all sizes wearing the exact same tee-shirt, the soccer jersey for the Celtic team, as there was a game on the south side of town. 

The Barras market was a bit disappointing. I had seen it on the tv series "Lovesick," and thought it was going to be rich with treasures. Instead it was mostly hodgepodge stacks of clothing and old housewares, displayed in unattractive ways. Glasgow is the city of designer and architect Charles Rennie Macintosh, and one does find a few of his designs at the market. I did pick up a couple of mismatched plates for my daughter. Not sure if she'll like them, but, as they say, it's the thought that counts.