Glasgow Gallivanting: April 2020

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Hillhead Primary
Hillhead Primary: a smile can travel 2m

I cut short my last Gallivanting post at the point when lockdown began on the grounds that there wouldn’t be anything further to report. Not strictly true! On our one approved daily walk, we look about us even more than usual and notice a lot of things in our own area that are worth documenting.

Rainbows and teddies

In common with other cities in the world, many of Glasgow’s windows have been decorated with rainbows and teddy bears. The rainbows, usually thanking NHS and other key workers, have also strayed onto fences and pavements. Although often created by children for children, I can’t help myself snapping away and now have a huge collection on my phone. Here are some of my favourites. Can you spot Elvis? And the one person who seems not to have got the right memo!

Fence NHS tributes
Multiple bearsMultiple rainbows
Printed NHS tribute
Balloon rainbow
Wrong memo?
Hyndland Paddington (this bear is famous)
Elvis
Glasgow Academy rainbow
Rainbows and flowers
Rocket rainbow
Teddies
Garage rainbow
Tissue rainbow
Hello neighbour. Smile!
Ribbon rainbow
Star rainbow
Rainbow and teddy
Good afternoon!
Multiple rainbows
Chalk rainbow
Teddy with clouds
Fence rainbow
Peppa Pig
Partickhill Bowling Club
NHS Yes Trident No
Rosie the Riveter
Gate thank you
NHS porch tribute

Chalking has also been used for things other than rainbows. We often see messages between those who can’t meet in person, and children seem to have rediscovered hopscotch.

Hopscotch
Happy birthday
Yoga

Gartnavel

One of the quietest places to walk is Gartnavel, our local hospital. 1051 GWR is a restaurant on Great Western Road, just before you turn into the hospital grounds. Since it closed to the public it has been raising funds to provide free food to those in need, including NHS staff. So many businesses have transformed themselves during this crisis to provide what is needed, whether food, hand-sanitiser, PPE or hospital scrubs.

The hospital itself is in two parts, Gartnavel General, which comprises undistinguished buildings dating from the 1970s onwards, and Gartnavel Royal, an inpatient psychiatric unit which originated as a 19th century “lunatic asylum”. The Victorian buildings still exist as offices, though some parts are derelict, but patients today are housed in more modern comfort.

Gartnavel Royal
Gartnavel Royal
Gartnavel Royal heads
Gartnavel Royal Community mosaic
Gartnavel grounds
Two Hearts (Jephson Robb 2014)
Painted stone (this had disappeared by the next time we passed)
Gartnavel grounds
Gartnavel grounds

Dunard Street

I didn’t realise how colourful some of our schools are. This one in Dunard Street, Maryhill, has a lovely mural and colourful mosaic planters designed by the children on the street outside.

Spring

And, of course, the signs of Spring were everywhere. Nature continues to do what nature does, even if we don’t get the opportunity to appreciate it as much. Unfortunately, the kingfisher is a sad story: a couple of big thumps on one of our back windows and a dead bird on the conservatory roof below. It’s so beautiful, poor thing.

The last bit

So it seems it’s perfectly possibly to create a gallivanting post in lockdown. As the weeks go by, and we walk the same routes again and again on our daily exercise, the number of photographs will inevitably diminish. However, I still have plenty of themes to explore which should keep the gallivanting going. In the meantime, we just have to thole the current circumstances as best we can – thole being my Scottish word of the month. It means to endure patiently, to slog through tough times. I hope you are staying safe and well, everyone! I’ll be back next week with tales of last summer’s trip to Berwickshire.

Scotland, UK , ,

79 Comments »

  1. Wow, you’re finding a lot to see in your gallivanting, despite the lockdown. I love all the rainbows and the artwork you are finding. Wonderful all around. And I like your word “thole.” I guess we’re all enduring patiently, although I admit I’m getting rather impatient with this whole virus!

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  2. So nice to see all the rainbows and support for the workers in hospitals and nursing homes not to mention other places. That sweet bird looks like. kingfisher..poor thing.

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  4. You’ve done more gallivanting than I have – I’ve still not left the house since I last went to work in mid-March (no particular reason I haven’t even been for a walk, other than fully giving in to my hermit ways now that I have the perfect excuse to do so), so I can’t say what people have been putting in their windows other than the rainbow in the house across the road, though I do know you’re meant to put a sun in your window to support bin collectors. I like the Rosie the Riveter!

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  5. Discovering the beauty that exists in your backyard is the silver lining in this thick, dark thundercloud of a pandemic. And Glasgow is quite a backyard. Wonderful to see the community come together to cheer on the NHS with free good, rainbows, teddy bears, and The King of Rock~n~Roll. Love your shot of Gartnavel General through the spring blossoms. Glad to know you are safe and healthy.

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    • I think Glasgow is coping well. People, by and large, are being sensible and supportive. Apparently Elvis has been in that window for a long time. I’ve just never looked before! Now I’m always looking up at people’s windows. It’s a good excuse to be nosy…

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  6. Lovely photos in a difficult time. Great to see everyone supporting the NHS so well and making an effort to show that support.

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  7. One thing people are doing more than ever before is appreciating their neighborhood and going for daily walks! More appreciation and being in better shape… And, being creative with chalk. Not bad side effects. 🙂

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  8. Wonderful 🙂 A collection of rainbow pictures painted by children in the village has been put up on the gates of our church porch.

    Loving the nature photos 🙂

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  9. Aww the poor kingfisher – he was so beautiful RIP 😦 We also have the rainbows and teddies – it’s such a great idea 🙂 The word “thole” sums it all perfectly – just have to be patient and get through this strange time. Let’s hope positives will come out of this on the other side. Certainly the world will look rather different I feel.

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  10. As I was saying to Pauline earlier, we seem to have settled into a rhythm. Not really a routine, but a comfort zone. I don’t know how easy I’ll find it to move on from here. 😦 Elvis and Paddington are a winning combination. 🙂 🙂 Food collections for families with no income have become a part of life here, and will be for the foreseeable future.

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      • Sadly, I think we might, Anabel! So many people wishing to get away on their travels again! Not what the planet needs, is it? And surely cruising can’t continue where it left off? Hooray! 🙂 But everyone has their own agenda/needs. Mine is to see my family, from whom I have very successfully socially distanced myself.

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  11. I knew you would be gallivanting!
    Your post is a lovely record of all the wonderful tributes to the NHS and keeping positive.
    The kingfisher is the second sad picture of a dead bird I have seen today. 😦
    My sister phoned this morning and she was happily telling me about a new bird visitor they have, a tiny goldcrest.
    Then this aft she sent me a photo of it. It had flew into their window. 😦
    Really sad, but an opportunity to see a beautiful bird up close I guess. xx

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  12. Glasgow is truly a rainbow city and a remarkably resilient one by the looks of things. Nice uplifting images.

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  15. Well I didn’t have to thole through this gallivanting blog post.😊 Marvelous collection of images. How nice that people are being cheery and passing it along.

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  17. A lot of interesting things there I’ve never seen. I must admit while I’m not exactly enjoying the lock down so far it’s not impacted on my daily life that much as I’m more of less doing the things I would normally be doing anyway. Different if you have a young family trying to keep them entertained for weeks on end.

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  18. I love the rainbows, hearts, teddy bears and signs of encouragement everywhere.
    They do make a positive difference.
    And thank you for the reminder that we can gallivant in our own neighbourhoods.

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  23. It is interesting that even with our world having shrunk so much we are still able to find interesting things to observe. We often overlook our own neighbourhood but when it is the only thing you have left they become rather important. Interesting pictures for this difficult time…

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  24. My neighbourhood has been setting up weekly themed “hunts” for the youngest residents. We have done the Going on a Bear Hunt one and, of course, the rainbow theme, and last weekend we set up a zoo complete with animal facts on display. My kids are too old to participate but have enjoyed helping set them up for the little ones.

    I am glad to see you are still managing to get out and about and explore your local environs. Unfortunately the nature of our lockdown combined with the lack of pavements and safe walking routes means we are confined to walking within our own suburban neighbourhood. It is fine for getting exercise and fresh air but it is getting a bit boring now that we are almost 2 months into this lockdown. (We could drive to one of the parks that is still open for walking but my youngest son’s anxiety won’t permit that right now.)

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      • We are not supposed to either. Some parks are open for the benefit of those who do not have safe walking routes. I would feel like I was cheating or trespassing I think if I went. It is a moot point, however, since my youngest is worried enough just walking around our neighbourhood. (He has autism that leads to some anxiety.)

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  25. It’s amazing what you can see when you just take your time and look closely. There’s a great collection of rainbows and teddies there – more than I have seen round here. We have a teddy in the window (in fact two – one upstairs and one down) and I hope it might brighten someone’s walk. 🙂
    Thanks for the reminder of thole. It’s a word my mum often used so I am very familiar with it but it’s not, strangely, one I remember using myself!

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  28. So heartwarming to see how communities come together and support each other in times like these. Looks like a lovely walk! Spring is always a sign of hope ❤

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  29. Such a lovely positive and colourful neighbourhood you have to walk around Anabel. I have only seen a couple of teddy bears and one pavement rainbow on my walks. But our lockdown has not been too severe. Hope you are keeping well and safe

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  30. I love the murals done by children, they always make me smile! I’ve often thought that instead of councils spending tens of thousands on civic artworks that they should spend just a couple of hundred on paint & brushes and get children to paint murals all over the place. It would be much cheaper, gives the kids art lessons, and makes people smile – win, win, win!

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