Getting carried along on waves of nostalgia for Glasgow always seems to me to be "the brave music of a distant drun" All my good memories of Govan were the kids I played with from year naught till I was around 10. I started to be aware of the evil of the crims, money lenders, sly groggers who ran the surrounding streets. They were possessed of true evil. Vultures devoid of heart and soul. Glasgow did not pick up a reputation for violence. It was well earned. I left there in 1959 to live in the Scottish special housing scheme in Johonstone. I was exalted .Trees , greenery ,clean streets and best of all baths, indoor ( individual)_toilets hot running water; a disgrace that the slum I came from still housed human beings. Any nostalgia for such third world conditions is seriously misplaced. On my one and only visit back to Scotland, I was on a bus to go back and see Govan once more. The bus rolled past Govan Cross. I stayed on, could not bring myself to get off. I had been living in Melbourne since leaving Glasgoiw. The comparison was too much to take. No rose dinted glasses could make Wanlock Street other than a dark brooding soulless slum, unfit for human habitation.
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QUOTE (Billy Boil @ 4th Oct 2017, 10:18pm)
... I started to be aware of the evil of the crims, money lenders, sly groggers who ran the surrounding streets. They were possessed of true evil. Vultures devoid of heart and soul. ...
See, Billy, you are right ... but ... when a 10 year old can recognise and survive all that, then by the time he's old enuff tae sojourn, carried by the four winds to all corners of the planet - including Melbourne - he's well able to look after himself having seen it all before in the Second City of The Empire.
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"Destiny is a good thing to accept when it's going your way. When it isn't, don't call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck.” ― Joseph Heller, God Knows
See, Billy, you are right ... but ... when a 10 year old can recognise and survive all that, then by the time he's old enuff tae sojourn, carried by the four winds to all corners of the planet - including Melbourne - he's well able to look after himself having seen it all before in the Second City of The Empire.
Trouble with that T.H. it left me with an outlook on life that would see me resorting to violence when I should have turned the other cheek.
You can take the 'boy" out of the streets but it is a damn sight harder to remove the streets from the boy.
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Billy, my 10 year older brother was a genuine "Turn-the-other-cheek" believer and did so along with his friend while being robbed one evening in Glasgow near the Tent Hall which they'd visited to hear Billy Graham preach: I could never see the logic in that Being able to react to violence violently has saved my bacon on enough occasions to be worthy of merit On one occasion just before I was removed to a police station near Hannover, a flabergasted Polizei Kommissar turned me round to survey the devastaion left behind in a bar, where the owner had attempted to assault me physically, and asked in disbelief, " You did that?" To which I could only reply, "I suppose I must have ... but the others shouldn't have tried to join in!" I was eventually released without charges and the guy who owned the bar; and most of the bruises, had to meet the cost of the damage to his person and establishment. Had I turned the other cheek in the first instance I would have had to have cut my contract at the airport with Hapag Lloyd short and return, struggling with 3 tool-boxes, to the UK, out of work and with my jaw broken as a result. And all because the lady (his niece) loved Milk Tray, as they say.
True, Billy, it's hard take the streets from the boy that you've taken from the streets; right enuff ... but those same streets made you who you are today: your upbringing is your guinea's stamp, it's your mark, win lose or draw - and no regrets
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"Destiny is a good thing to accept when it's going your way. When it isn't, don't call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck.” ― Joseph Heller, God Knows
People who are saying good things about Glasgow need to wake up. Scotland in general is beautiful... but only if you don't step your foot in Glasgow because here there is nothing more than heaps of litter, dog crap, dampness, misery and skinny junkies. Vast areas of boring and monochromatic landscape. Nothing interesting for sure. Glasgow is an unhealthy environment to live in. Tourists might love it as they only visit for a couple of days and move on - especially the usuals- parks, SEC, clyde, Glasgow Uni, west end etc. These very predictable arguments will NEVER make up for horrible weather all year round. If you decide decide to come and live here for longer, you realise that you have made a shitty life choice.
The most common excuse heard for any form of critisism of glasgow is 'every city has problems' or 'glasgow has its nice places or great night life' (pretty average really)
This place feels lonely and abandoned, so people search for 'happiness' in going to shops and binge drinking and going to McDonald's. Just some taste of the Glasgow Effect.
I have walked the streets of Glasgow for at least 3 years since I'm stuck at uni here, and when I hear the council telling people that the city is 'modern', 'vibrant' and 'attarctive', i Laugh. Then i go outside and see all the litter alongside the streets leading to the city centre, and say to myself: yeah, 'People make glasgow' ha ha ha ha ha
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Oh dear you have had a bad day Johno,to vent your spleen like that. Spare a thought for those who still live in Glasgow and the environs. Not all lucky enough to be at Uni like you.I left Glasgow 57 years ago,not my choice,my husband`s ,and I was homesick for the place for years. Granted,there was a lot of employment then,and the only drug of the period was cigarettes,who ever envisaged a day when the drug scene would be the major problem that it is,and every country losing the battle against it. Sydney was beautiful when we landed,somewhat prim and proper,with clean streets,the days before grafitti ,and drunken yobs glassing and stabbing each other on a weekend night. When we came here if a man said "bloody " in a group where ladies were present,he got taken outside and got a punch. The degenaration of the world now and it`s not nice,but just not only Glasgow. I`v e been back many many times,and the people DO make Glasgow.
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very good Wombat,and reminds me of the days when the yobs were on the beach sporting T shirts "Bob Hawks Surfing Team ". For the non Aussies,that was our Labor PM handing out great loads of dole money. When we came here,there was no such thing,(that we were aware of) or child endownment,that all came after my kids were too old to get it. Not sour grapes,we worked hard for our living.
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Johno doesnt say why he is studying at a glasgow uni , would no other city accept him? The city is awash with students and the money men are building or trying to build student accommodation on every site that becomes available close to a university, we are heading for 1 in 6 of the population being a student, none of whom pay council tax.
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Regarding our Glasgow being vibrant,my wife and I greet friends from England once a year for a wee catch up.we have been meeting them in a well known pub in st Enoch square,it is named after a new York area.we met as usual a few weeks ago on a Monday night ,spent few hrs talking about how much we loved our Glasgow .we had meals then relaxed for blether ,then we were told place was closing early ,7.30 We were dumbfoonerd !!we told them other friends were joining us .but still they had to close ,shocking..😐 not a great advert for glasgows vibrant night life .
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The thing I dont get about Glasgow is the number of cars parked on the street. I can understand it in the older areas but with all the redevelopment and especially student accommodation going up it should be compulsory to build underground parking for all the residents in every new building. If I had to drive around and around looking for a parking space when I went home 'miserable' would be a gentle word to describe how I would feel.
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