This (last) Weekend

Last weekend was spent in Glasgow.

• We stayed in this West End tenement flat booked through airbnb.

          Our first booking via airbnb and a huge success.

  I was sorely tempted not to leave.

• We walked through the Botanic Gardens and along the river Kelvin.

• We visited Zara Hadid's Riverside Museum.

• We spent a day in Edinburgh with my sister and her family.

We reckoned it had been five years since all of us were last together.

• We used our NT card to visit The Tenement House.

I was reminded of visits to my great aunt's house in Govan as a child.

• We enjoyed a splendid meal at the Hanoi Bike Shop.

I highly recommend the food and service in Glasgow's only Vietnamese restaurant.

  We donated a Bristol £1 note, featuring a cyclist, to add to their collection of bank notes.

• We viewed the world's first comic at the Hunterian's Comic Invention exhibition.

An interesting history of the comic book & its relationship to other art forms,

 including medieval manuscripts.

• We had lunch in the famous University Cafe where I ate a scotch pie and chips.

A Byres Road institution!

Here's (some of) what I did in 2014

Major changes:  Alan took voluntary redundancy from the BBC in the spring and was unemployed for six months until he found a new job with the Royal Voluntary Service in the autumn.

Green Party:  I campaigned for the local and European elections and was rewarded with success for our candidates in both seats.  Alan has agreed to stand as a candidate for our ward next year so we'll have our work cut out for us in spring, canvassing for him and our parliamentary candidate.

Campaigning: I knitted 3 metres of the 7 mile pink scarf that Wool against Weapons used to link the atomic weapons establishments at Aldermaston & Burghfield to protest against the proposed renewal of Trident.  Alan joined me in Living Below the Line (£1/day for 5 days - harder than you'd think) and, at the other extreme, we hosted a Karma Korma curry evening in aid of Frank Water.

Singing:  In addition to continuing to sing with the Gasworks Choir, and the Gasworks Singers, I have also been involved with another local choir, Handfuls of Harmony, rehearsing children in the school where I work.  We've given four performances and, in November, won £50,000 in The People's Millions to help get the whole community singing together.

Culture:  I travelled to Birmingham with bluehands to see Grayson Perry's outrageously colourful tapestries (and to pop in to the gloriously shiny new central library).  In the autumn Alan and I visited Crucible 2, a stunning display of sculptures set in and around the magnificent Gloucester cathedral.

The Girls:  Iona graduated with an MA in History from Glasgow University in the summer, with Alan and I cheering from the gallery.  She now finds herself being drawn ever deeper into the world of politics.  Who knows where it will end?  Eilidh is now in her second year at Falmouth University studying illustration and enjoying life in her beloved Cornwall.

Holidays:  What with one thing and another we didn't have a family holiday this year.  We took a few mini breaks to visit the girls, and my sister in Edinburgh.  I'm enjoying discovering a bit more of Glasgow and Falmouth each time I visit.  We also treated ourselves to a few days out in the summer, including a long overdue trip to Tyntesfield and a morning of indulgence at the Lido.

Visitors:  We hosted my school's French assistante, who was very unlucky with the weather, and in the summer we welcomed my Canadian cousin and her daughter, whom we hadn't seen in years. 

Quakers:  In addition to weekly Meetings for Worship I've been attending a smaller discussion group, learning more about what it means to be a Quaker, and making new friends.

Bristol Pound:  The Bristol Pound goes from strength to strength and I've been steadily increasing the percentage of our weekly budget we pay in local currency.  Avoiding supermarkets helps and, after having sailed through my November no-supermarket challenge, I plan to buy most of our food etc at local independents in 2015. 

The Referendum:  Having lived outside Scotland most of my life, I didn't expect to become as emotionally engaged with the Referendum campaign, to find myself on the opposite side of the argument to members of my own family or to shed tears when the result was declared in wee hours.  Despite the belief that we missed our golden opportunity to explore a better way of doing politics, I was never prouder of my people and remain convinced that one day Scotland will be an independent country.

2014, the usual mixture of highs and lows.

What will 2015 bring?  Electoral success?  A return to Cornwall in the summer? Unexpected guests? 

Come back and find out.

Glasgow: June 2014

Our hotel,the Victorian House Hotel (which I would highly recommend), was situated just along the road from the Glasgow School of Art so tragically gutted by fire.  The charred woodwork glimpsed through shattered windows was a depressing sight but the stone structure remains defiantly intact and there is real hope of being able to reconstruct the interior.

  

I continued my exploration of the city's independent coffee shops with a latte at the Laboratorio Espresso where I chatted to the owners about the Bristol Pound and their visits to our cafes.

We ate at the Ubiquitous Chip (disappointing), Tchai Ovna (quirky atmosphere and aromatic milky tea) and the Saramago Cafe Bar (delicious tapas).

We walked along the Clyde as far as Glasgow Green, popped into the Winter Gardens at the People's Palace, visited the famous Barras market and wandered through the Merchant City.

And, as always, we ran out of time ...

  

I won't be back until after the referendum.  We do indeed live in exciting times!

Te Magistrum Creamus

Last weekend we caught the train (never the plane!) north to Glasgow to watch our elder daughter graduate.

Here we are: one lovely young woman and two immensely proud parents.

It's tempting to elaborate, but the photo says it all. 

Glasgow Transport

Back in February I spent a long weekend with my elder daughter who is studying at Glasgow University.  During the day, while she pored over her books in the library I continued to explore this fascinating city.

I was particularly anxious to visit the new Riverside Museum. The award winning building designed by Zaha Hadid needs to be seen from above to appreciate its form, but even from the ground it offers some striking angles.

The building houses Glasgow's transport museum.  Now I have to confess that I'm not wildly enthusiastic about vintage vehicles, so I headed instead for the reconstruction of a typical turn of the century (1895-1930) Glasgow street, complete with saddler, photographer, pawn broker, cafe and pub.  It was imaginatively presented with plenty of interactive displays and gave me a real feel for what urban life would have been like at that time.

However I didn't completely ignore the vehicles and spent some time examining a fairground showman's family caravan.  The other exhibit that caught my eye was this brightly painted van, designed by Glasgow art students and inspired by the artwork found on Pakistani lorries.

My daughter's local underground station (Hillhead) has had a makeover, including this delightful Alasdair Gray mural depicting the local area and its residents.

 

I'm afraid my mobile camera photos don't do it justice ...

... and I could do with taking this piece of advice!

32/365

Clydeside

Ta Da! Moment - (Gryffindor?) Bunting

When my elder daughter moved into a new flat I promised her some bunting to cheer the place up.  I used a very simple knitted design in red and gold 4 ply acryllic yarn from my stash, which I knew would at least go with her curtains.

I finished the bunting (all 250+ cm of it) in time for her sister to take it up with her on her half term visit.  It has apparently met with her approval.  Her flatmate has dubbed it her 'Gryffindor' bunting, which I am assured is a compliment!  

March for a Future that Works

Yesterday I took part in the TUC March for a Future that Works in London.  (My elder daughter was marching in Glasgow!).  I'm a member of UNISON and have taken part in a couple of smaller marches in Bristol, but this was the first time I'd joined in with other unions in London.

We travelled up to London by coach and were transferred to Blackfriars by boat which was an unexpected treat.  The boat dropped us off at the end of the march so we had to make our way up the outside of the marchers to join the UNISON contingent at the front.  As we hurried up the line I was moved both by the numbers and the variety of unions represented.  There were teachers, firefighters, musicians, students, actors, civil servants and all manner of public service workers.  There were adults, children, babies in buggies and people in wheelchairs.  There were choirs, drummers and a pipe band.  There were balloons, inflatables, placards, banners and effigies.  People were chanting, singing, and blowing whistle and vuvuzelas.  In fact, if you hadn't known that this was a protest against the government's austerity policies you could have been forgiven for thinking that you were in the midst of a carnival.

The march proceeded peacefully, if not quietly, along the Embankment, past Westminster, up Whitehall, skirted Trafalgar Square, up Regent Street, and along Piccadilly to Hyde Park.  There was a strong police presence, particularly outside Fortnum and Mason and the Ritz, but the officers were relaxed and friendly and obviously not expecting any real trouble.

We were among the first to arrive at the rally and were in a good position at the front to hear the speeches which, I am relieved to say, were of a higher calibre than I've experience at other rallies.  I was particularly impressed by Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace who spoke of the impact government policy is having on the environment.  The crowd listened politely, clapping and cheering enthusiastically, but were not altogether impressed with Ed Milliband or Brendan Barber, both of whom were booed and heckled by sections of the audience.  I am disappointed that the Labour leadership do not have any real hope to offer us in this crisis.  In fact it sometimes feels that, rather than us all being in this together, we're very much on our own.

I'd travelled up without any family or friends and had second thoughts about whether I should go, but I'm so glad I did.  I took comfort from the visible demonstration that I am not alone in my real concern at the effect this coalition government is having on our society, and reassurance that there are hundreds and thousands of ordinary people out there who are prepared to do something about it.

Glesga

I first came across Susan Taylor's work at the South Bank Art Trail.  I loved the simple combination of typography and silhouette images.  When I saw a couple of her city posters in a gallery on Colston Street earlier this year I asked if there was one of Glasgow.  The woman in the gallery couldn't say but invited me to write my request in her notebook.  Some time later I received an email from Susan to tell me that she hadn't yet designed a Glasgow print but that she hoped to do so one day.  A couple of weeks ago I received a second email to let me know that she had finally got round to it and that the print was now available online.  She said she'd enjoyed creating it and hadn't realised how many beautiful buildings  were to be found in the city.

Here it is and I think it's marvellous.  It features many of the city's famous buildings, old and new (the City Hall, the Beresford building, the Riverside museum, the Ca d'Oro, the Armadillo), its industrial heritage (the Finnieston crane), its bridges (the 'squinty' bridge), its art (references to Charles Rennie Mackintosh) and its sense of humour (the traffic cones on the Duke of Wellington statue).

The print was a flat warming present for my daughter who is studying in Glasgow and who has fallen in love with the city.  I hope it will bring her pleasure to look at it.