Picture perfect
(View towards Park Circus in Kelvingrove Park: Glasgow, Scotland)
Such was the view today in the usually busy park; not a soul to be seen. It was another blustery day here in Glasgow with smatterings of rain and sun, as if they were wrestling in the sky. One minute, one thing and the next, another. My headphones almost blew clean off my head as I turned a corner near the museum – it was the sort of wind that my Gran just wouldn’t leave the house in.
It struck me today as I walked through the park, just how verdant and how much like a picture book it is. I remember books from my childhood where parks were depicted like this; round, spherical treetops, bursting with greens, then lawns, fountains, seats and meandering pathways. You can just see a dash of vermillion* in the centre of the picture and further along are yellow blooms, white, cerise, and so many greens along the protracted and fragrant herbaceous border. It is testament to the strange and unpredictable weather that absolutely nobody was in the park – the weather changed so instantly that time lounging in the park would be impossible. I like it empty just as much as I do full. I admire the surroundings more without the distraction of people and their eccentricities. Also I can manage to ignore the ice cream van when it isn’t there. (Where do they go?) I notice the town houses atop the hill, and the towers that line the park on this side. Glasgow has the ability to look quaint at moments like these, rather like a leafy stretch of well tended London parkland. There is something almost Victorian about it if we ignore the climbing nets, seats and bins. It is for these moments that I live in Glasgow.
* I actually just learned what colour this was the other day. I suspected it was red though. Or yellow or blue. But red, if I had a single choice.
– Today Rosie is going to the dentist and a exhibition in Glasgow, then travelling home home to Carlisle, England to see friends –
Yes, perfect picture.