There's a shadow on his photograph, on Tinian '45...

Not had much of a chance to walk about Glasgow or post anything up for last few weeks but thought I would quickly post up these photos I took a couple of weeks back.

Been listening to the Deacon Blue "Raintown" album in the car to work and one of my favourite tracks is "He looks like Spencer Tracy now". Always loved the haunting sound and the imagery of the song. The title of this post is the first line of the song.

This song was inspired by a Times magazine article written in 1985 about Harold Agnew who was one of the people on the the instrument aircraft "Great Artiste" that flew with the "Enola Gay" and took the photos of the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. Tinian Island is where the aircaft took off from.

It is a fascinating article. The link is below:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1048415-1,00.html

The title of the track comes from a line in the article that describes Harold Agnew... "the paunch of a man of 64 who was an athlete 40 years ago. He looks like Spencer Tracy now."

So what has all that to do with Glasgow "The Day"?

Well it reminded me that it is the anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Hiroshima was August 6th 1945 and Nagasaki was August 9th. 64 years ago last week.
And it reminded me of a photo I took but never got to post.



In front of the cenotaph in George Square there is a memorial to the civilians that died in these attacks. It was placed there in 1985 to mark the 40th anniversary. I had never known that there was a momument to the attacks in Glasgow. I had cut through George Square so many times and never noticed this plaque right underneath my feet.

The cenotaph itself was built between 1921 and 1924 as a memorial to those that died in the First World War. It's most striking feature being the huge twin lions guarding it.

Between the lions is a fern leaf which has one word inscribed next to it. "Pax". Peace. It is not a war monument, it is a peace monument. Though sad to think that 15 years after it was unveiled the Second World War would begin, ending with the nuclear bombings that are commemorated just in front of this monument.


And this is one of the inscriptions on the side. Once again a humbling thing to read when we are moaning about many of the small things that annoy us in the modern world.

In many ways up till now I have treated the cenotaph as almost a piece of "furniture" in George Square. But when had the chance to study and and think about it then realised it is something very special. If you passing through George Square stop and take a look for a while.

Hopefully will get chance to get back into the city soon and take you another tour.

But hope you found this little post a wee thought provoker till then.

Enjoy the Times article and have a wee listen to the song if you never heard it before. You won't be disappointed.

Be well, be happy!!

Long and not at all winding road...

Yesterday on my way down Buchanan Street I took a photo down St. Vincent Street / Place and said I will come back and do here another day. Well sometimes there is not time like the present so just decided to go back there today on the way to Cadogan Street.

Now I have used the word special a lot on this blog when describing places. But think that is something about Glasgow. So many places have a very special and very distinct feel about them. Being in the Merchant city feels different from Buchanan Street, Argyle Street different again, the West end different again. And so is true of St. Vincent Street. It has so many old buildings, many of which either are or were bank buildings, that sometimes if you squint you can still imagine the horses and coaches coming up and down here. It is also a very long, very straight street so even right up at Blythswood you can see all the way down beyond George Square over half a mile away. Although the street is officially St. Vincent Place from George Square to Buchanan Street and changes name to Street after that.

So where does the name come from ? Well I mentioned this in a previous post. The street is named after the famous sea battle off Cape St. Vincent in Portugal in February 1797. Admiral John Jervis defeated the Spanish Fleet although outnumbered 27 ships to 15.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_St_Vincent_(1797).


So what did I notice on my travels round St. Vincent today...

The first building you pass is a fine example of what I have said above. The is the Counting House pub on the corner of St. Vincent Place and George Square. This is a former Bank of Scotland building hence the name of the pub. It dates from 1870 and the bank crest can still be seen over the door. As you see on a lot of these buildings there are figures supporting the door frame. These are depictions of Atlas holding up the earth or heavens are are seemingly therefore called Atlantes. So now you know. :)

Just along from the Counting House is this distinctive red building.

As well as being a fine piece of architecture, as I mentioned yesterday this has the distinction of being my first real place of work. I did a summer job here as a computer operator between leaving high school and going to college. I maybe got into computers because of my ZX Spectrum but this is where it became a career for me. Actually worked in the basement of this office. From print spools, punch cards, tape reels. I was 17 and having lots of fun. But really wanted to be one of the programmers that worked upstairs. So went to college to study Computer Science. And the rest is history...
Have a good memory of somewhere you worked in Glasgow? First place you worked? Then feel free to post up a comment.

Next door is the beautifully ornate Clydesdale Bank building which dates from 1874. It was the headquarters of the Clydesdale Bank until 1902.

Here is a close up of some of the detail on the doorways. This is not actually Santa. Although with the times the banks been having lately a few gifts from Santa this Christmas be most welcome. This is seemingly the depiction of Father Clyde, representing the river that made Glasgow so prosperous.

On to St. Vincent Street proper now and the first building after Buchanan Street is the Post Office which has this most impressive crest above the doorway.

The coat of arms is the Scottish Royal Coast of Arms of the United Kingdom. The motto is that of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, nemo me impune lacessit, and translates as, "No-one provokes me with impunity".

Just next door to the post office is the Easy Office store and a Caffe Nero. I did mention all the coffee shops? :)

But this building dates from 1850 and until May 2000 was the John Smith and Sons bookstore. John Smith's is the oldest trading company in the city dating back to 1751 and the oldest bookselling company in the English speaking world. John Smith and Sons of course still exists as a company and specialises in academic and professional books.

But before Waterstones and Borders this was the big book shop in Glasgow. I spent a lot of time in here browsing. Think this is where my passion for reading (and for endless browsing in book stores :) ) was born.

If Borders in Buchanan Street is top 5 bookshop in the world then this one would have been top 3.

Now onto the junction with West Nile Street and the distinctive number 78. This has been a very good restaurant for many years but some of the fixtures and fittings give away it's orginal use. It dates from 1913 and was built for the Phoenix Assurance company. There are a number of Phoenix sculptures around the building and pictured above is the door with Phoenix crest and the date of the establishment of the company in 1782.

Across the road from 78 is the Slanj kilt shop. Now Slanj is not only a really good kilt shop it also sells a number of Glasgow and Scottish t-shirts, mugs, kids clothes and even underwear!!
Found myself wandering around today chuckling away at the t-shirts. Asked if I could take some photos to post up here. These guys are really cool people. Were really supportive when I explained what this blog was all about. I've never owned a kilt but have thought of getting one and will be going here when I do.

Sporraned for choice?

Ok bad pun. :)

But just some of the impressive selection of highland wear.

Slanj range of underwear appropriately named. :)

The "aye pod" :)

And my favourite of them all the "Che you Jimmy!!" A classic!! I need to get me one of these!! :)

There too many greats to post up here but look at http://www.slanjkilts.com/ if you want to see more.

Just down the road again and another Bank of Scotland building with the crest of the two robed women with the cornucopia spilling out money. Not so much money spilling about these days ?

Though this is now the "Drum and Monkey" pub. Don't pretend you didn't recognise it!! We know you are a regular!! :)

We now up beyond Hope Street and looking at the distinctive thin red building in the middle of the photo with the strange roof. This is the "Hatrack" building so called because the roof detail makes it look like an old fashioned hat stand. This dates from 1903 and is covered in little details. Another building that I could do a little corners post on all by itself.

Now up to number 200 St. Vincent Street beyond West Campbell Street. This is the Royal Sun Alliance building, which dates from 1923 and it has these beautiful sculptures around the door. The top middle one is of St. Andrew, the other two are a young man and woman. The detail and feeling of movement on them is really impressive.

Couldn't be a tour along St. Vincent Street without mentioning the famous King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. This venue opened in 1990 and is renowned for being the place where some of the big bands got started. Radiohead, Blur, Travis, Pulp and The Verve all played here before they became famous. And this is where Oasis got spotted and signed by Creation Records.

Here is what is coming to King Tut's in July. Any of these another Oasis? Well if they are then remember where you saw the name first!! :)

http://www.kingtuts.co.uk/

And across the road is one of the most impressive buildings in all of Glasgow.
St.Vincent Street Church was designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson and opened in 1859 as a Presbyterian church. Thomson is regarded as Glasgow's "unknown genius" of architecture. I will cover more of his buildings another day. His designs are well-known for their use of Greek, Egyptian and Assyrian decoration. You can see this tower all the way down St. Vincent Street and it one of those buildings that as you walk around you see something new.
It currently is undergoing some major restoration work which is definitely required.

The view back down St. Vincent Street from the top of the hill. Can see all the way past George Square into Cochrane Street.

Just down from St. Vincent Street Church is another magnificent church. The St. Columbus Church. The Church of Scotland congregation of St Columba dates back to 1770. It was established to cater for the spiritual needs of the large number of Gaelic-speakers from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland settling in Glasgow in search of employment. The church still has a service in Gaelic every Sunday as well as three weekly services in English.
The church pictured here dates from 1904. Because of its size and association with Gaeldom and the Gaelic language it is also popularly known as the Highland Cathedral.

http://www.highlandcathedral.org/

A time for reflection in the world of finance ?

Here is the reflection of St. Columbus in the Abbey building across the street.

That brought me all the way back to Charing Cross and the Whyte and MacKay building but that was another post from another day.

Could only ever post up a selection of St. Vincent Street but nearly every building you pass has something worth stopping to look at. And just from a pure architecture point of view I think it has been my favourite so far.

Best bit of today ?

Browsing and chatting in Slanj. Going back soon for some of those t-shirts and maybe even a kilt!! :)

Always be well and happy out there!!

Slanj!!

The road to St. Andrew's ... as promised ...

After two days in a row in the West End headed back into the city centre again today. Well too much time in the West End makes you soft :)

If you have been following this blog then you will remember me meeting Rosie the dog and her owner Lyndsay on my tour around Glasgow Green. Lyndsay had recommended I have a look at St. Andrews in the Square and I promised I would. Since it is open to the public on Thursdays I decided to got there today. A promise is a promise. And was glad I did as it is stunning. However ended up finding more than one St. Andrew's...

This is St. Andrew's in the Square. Work started in building this church in 1739 and was completed in 1754. It's was based upon St. Martins in the Field in Lindon. Bonnie Prince Charlie's troops camped around the half built church during their march south in 1745. Once completed it was in continous use as a church for almost 240 years until 1993 when it was handed over to the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust. The building now has the cafe/bar Cafe Source in the basement and the main hall is a venue that is used for music, dancing and private functions.

There was actually a wedding rehearsal going on today when I was there which was an extra wee touch that made it special. Suppose it made me have flashbacks of my own wedding rehearsal a number of years ago now. :) Think I heard that their wedding was tomorrow so wish them good fortune in their life ahead together. They certainly picked a fantastic venue for the wedding!!


This is the view down the church from the balcony. You can see how it has been beautifully restored with the gilded detail on the roof and the stained glass windows at the far end. This is no gloomy church. Natural light floods into the room.


Closer view of the gilding on the roof.

This gilded clock is on the back wall of the church just above the balcony. Isn't it splendid.

And a closer look at the beautiful stained glass windows above the pulpit.
What a superbly restored building. I just loved how beautiful it was with all the light streaming in. Well worth a visit here. Thank you to Lyndsay.

Moving down towards Glasgow Green you find the other St. Andrew's church. St. Andrew's on the Green. This is a lovely old building built in 1750 and it also has an incredible history. This church is sometimes referred to as "the Whistling Kirk" as it was the first church to install an organ for public worship.
It is believed to be the fourth oldest church building in Glasgow, after Glasgow Cathedral, the Tron Steeple and the St. Andrew's in the Square which we visited above.

After 225 years of continuous service as a church it was closed in 1975 and became a target for vandals. In 1985, Christian Action (Glasgow) Housing Trust bought the church for the sum of £1 in order to convert it into an office. After a lot of funding raising the church was restored in 1989.
In June 2003 when it became the new headquarters of the Glasgow Association for Mental Health which it is today.

Read below for a fuller history:
http://www.gamh.org.uk/GAMHStAndrews.html

And here is the pub just along the road taking it's name from St. Andrew's on the Green's nickname.

And here is the third St Andrew's I visited today. It is St.Andrew's Catholic Cathedral in Clyde Street. This is one of four Cathedrals in Glasgow. Yes four. The other three are Glasgow Cathedral (Church of Scotland), St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral and Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St Luke.
On December 22nd 1816, Holy Mass was celebrated for the first time here, it became a cathedral in 1884 and is still a vibrant church to this day.
It is a lovely building overlooking the River Clyde.

This is the link to a full history of this other Glasgow cathedral:
http://www.cathedralg1.org/

Glad I decided to go looking for all the St. Andrew's churches today. They all have their own special histories and although all very different they are all lovely buildings.

Well worth a visiting them all if you down near this area.

Be well, be happy!!

P.S. The sharp eyed amongst you may find a Glasgow "The Day" continuity problem above!! The clock inside St. Andrew's says 12.05 but the one outside says 5.20.
Well I cheated a wee bit today. The way the misty sun was shining at 12.05 I just couldn't get a nice photo of the steeple so after doing my job hunt duties at Cadogan Street actually popped back down and took the outside photo. Glad I did because wanted to show this spectacular building in all it's glory.

And I'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you pesky kids!!! :)

In "The Day" Garden...

What a difference a day makes,
24 little hours...

But from the grey of yesterday there was not a cloud in the sky over Glasgow "The Day".
I had some business to do up at the West End of Glasgow so decided to give the trip to Penna a miss today. The job hunting can start again tomorrow morning.
But also decided today with the sun shining was the perfect day to go to two places in the West End that I'm ashamed to say I've never been to. Glasgow University including the Hunterian Museum and the Botanic Gardens.
Never been you say?

Yup. Told you this was not my neck of the woods.
Hope these photos do it some justice cause today was special.

Where better to start this tour than at the University itself. Now for anyone reading this that went to Glasgow please feel free to chip in with comments.

If you know me or from just reading this blog may now know that I didn't go here. I got my degree from Paisley University, or Paisley Tech as it was when I was there. So actually was bit worried as I walked up here today that people would start pointing at me like in Invasion of the Bodysnatchers cause I was obviously not one of them :)

But no. Everyone I met was very friendly and have to say to the ex-Glasgow people that your university looked stunning today in the summer sunshine.

Glasgow University was founded in 1451 and is the 2nd oldest in Scotland after St. Andrews. It was originally situated on High Street near the Cathedral but the current site and the buildings photographed date from when it moved to Gilmorehill in 1870.

For more about the university go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Glasgow

The photograph above is obviously of the main tower which is a landmark that can be seen from right across Glasgow.

This is the view from the hill looking down towards the Kelvingrove Art Galleries which I did a tour of last week. And behind it you can see the Glasgow Tower down at Science Centre next to the Clyde which I covered in another post. Certainly starting to cover a lot of Glasgow in this blog!! :) The view today was something special though.

Hogwarts ? No. This is the East Quadrangle of the Main University building.

Now I said I had never been to Glasgow University before. But that not entirely true. I have been in here, the Chapel. Was here for the wedding of some close friends a few years ago. This is a beautiful building in itself.

The cloisters between the East and West Quadrangles.

Unicorn and Lion staircase next to the Chapel. From wee bit of research seems that this staircase was built in 1690 and was actually part of the building on High Street next to the Cathedral. Was moved here in 1872.

Now onto the Hunterian Museum which is at the rear of the main building.

This is the oldest public museum in Scotland dating from 1807 when it was part of the original campus in High Street.

The money to build the museum, and the core of its original collections, came from the bequest of the Scottish anatomist and scientist Dr. William Hunter, who died in 1783. Hence the name Hunterian.

This is the view down the main exhibit room with the statue of James Watt, the Scottish inventor who's improvements to the steam engine heralded in the Industrial Revolution. The statue of him in George Square very similar pose but he looks older.

I'm horny? :) Very impressive triceratops skull.

Indian Elephant Skeleton in the main hall of the museum.

It can get a bit wild in the West End!! :)

The Hunterian also has two other venues. The Zoology Museum and the Hunterian Art Galleries (Which also has the Mackintosh House). Didn't go to the Art Galleries today. Maybe save that for a Rennie Mackintosh tour. But I did go into the Zoology Museum where the photo above is from. I really liked this wee museum and worth going there to see a really wide and interesting range of animals and animal skeletons explaining the evolution of many of the species.

Ashton Rain ?

Not today. Compare this photo of Ashton Lane in the sunshine to the one last week!!

Was meeting someone here for lunch on the way to my next tour, The Botanic Gardens. And they came with me, so for first time Glasgow "The Day" had a partner in crime!! :)

Now today was the perfect day to go to the Botanic Gardens. The sky could not have been bluer and as you can see the Westenders were out in force catching the rays.

These gardens date from 1817. So they have been here a long time and I have no excuse for not visiting them before today.

The greenhouse building in the background here is the real gem of this park. It is the Kibble Palace and dates from 1873. Although it was just fully renovated in 2006 and it just shone in the Glasgow sunshine today.

More info here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Botanic_Gardens

Another view of the Kibble Palace from the side showing the unique iron framed glasshouse.

Inside the Kibble Palace. This is the fishpond full of Koi carp and looking though the tunnel into the main glasshouse with the statue of Eve.

This is a closer view of the statue of Eve (in Paradise?) You can see the amazing roof in the background.

Hard to describe just how stunning it is inside this glasshouse. The beautiful flowers, tropical plants, statues and all encased in this amazing glass framework. Hope these pictures above give a an idea of how special it is.

There are many lovely statues inside the palace as well as the plants. Most are from the bible or literature. This one wasn't but was my favourite. It's called Stepping Stones and it depicts a girl carrying her little brother across stepping stones in a stream.

The plaque says it was sculpted by William Hamo Thornycroft in 1878. It was accompanied by the couplet: "Pausing with reluctant feet / where the stream and river meet"

Just down from the palace is Glasgow's second river, the Kelvin, which runs through the Botanic Gardens. Here are some photos from today at the humpback bridge. The water was perfectly still as you can see from the reflections.

The Botanic Gardens also has a lovely children's garden area and play park. I liked this image of all the wee watering cans sitting outside the miniature garden shed.

There are a number of other glasshouses in the gardens as well as the Kibble palace. They in themselves have amazing collections of flowers and tropical plants as pictured above. Even warm enough to grow bananas in the middle of Glasgow!! :)

And the glasshouses the home for many butterflies and bees. Must be like paradise in there for them!!!

And was pretty close to it for me as well.

Couldn't have asked for a nicer day today and couldn't have found two more perfect places to visit, both unique in their own way.
Regret it taking all these years before finally getting around to visiting them. But now know how special they are I will be back as soon as possible.

Be well, be happy!!