Just a façade
(Graham Square: Glasgow, Scotland)
Yesterday as I wound my weary way from my Gran’s house, I happened to glance to my right (as I was looking for Melbourne street and therefore the quickest way home) when I spotted this. I squealed to a halt by the kerb and walked the bicycle back a way so I could cross the road for a decent look. What I took to be an elaborate derelict mansion is merely a façade, half concealing wood and steel clad new builds. They stretch for some way, over what must have been the old marketplace land. Many of them are endowed with balconies and wood cladding, creating a weathered sandstone appearance, perhaps intentionally fitting in with the warm sandstone remnants. You can see a side view in the inset image in the top right of this photograph. It turns out this is the old marketplace façade that has been restored and used as a feature for this new housing area. It is rather intriguing, mainly due to the space between the façade and actual buildings – it was that which caught my eye.
Today was the first time I have successfully made it across Glasgow to my Gran’s house by bicycle only. For years I have taken the number 42 bus, but as my Gran says, “it’s a scandal”. It almost never arrives on time, if at all and it takes double the time to get to her than it does in a car. Alas, I don’t have a car. Over last winter, I opted for the cheaper train option and filled in the gaps in the journey with my bike, but again, not ideal, and ends up (with transit either side) being just as long as the bus. It has only thrift on its side. Cycling is free – which makes it a favourable choice – but only weather permitting. Which it usually isn’t. I managed the whole trip, door to door in thirty-five minutes. I thought I was lost midway, but the road simply didn’t look as I had expected it to from the map. I must add I was not carrying a map, but a set of scrawled instructions on a post it note that I had taken down just before I embarked on this escapade. It was but a passing moment of worry before I realised I was right on track.
A man riding his bike heckled me along the way. I was pausing at a red light; I don’t cycle on pavements unless completely necessary since a friend was fined by the police for doing so. I was at the red signal and there was absolutely no traffic. Not a single vehicle in sight along the stretches of roads in my view. So I thought, “heck” and pushed off to continue my journey. “Thirty pound for running a red light” he shouted from the pavement behind me on his own bicycle. I thought about calling out “yeah, and fifty pounds for cycling on the pavement” but I didn’t want to aggravate him. I hope to see many other interesting finds in my travel to and from the East End, so stay tuned for more Glasgow discoveries in the coming weeks.
– Today Rosie is putting some more items in her new online shop and drawing up some new designs in Glasgow, Scotland –
