Big, bright green pleasure machine

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Big, bright green pleasure machine?

I love this cute little van which lives a few streets away from us, and which I often pass on my walks. Jude’s green challenge gives me an opportunity to use her photograph – and I say her rather than its, because the Bowl Food website makes it clear that her name is Ethel. She is a 1974 Citroen H Van and plies her trade at festivals, parties, weddings – you name it. When pandemic restrictions allow of course.

Further inspiration comes from Neil (Yeah, another blogger) and his Art on Wheels series, currently on episode 7. After reading these I started to keep an eye open for attractively decorated vehicles, though looking through my collection only brings up one other green one, from the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum. I don’t think the caravan with the green roof counts because I doubt it ever goes anywhere! We spotted it last summer in a garden in (I think) Milton of Campsie.

Green roofed caravan
Hunterian Museum van

Another incentive I use to get me walking around the same areas again and again is to spot how many different designs of railings and gates I can find. Most are black, but I have found quite a few good green ones.

Glasgow Central Station
Hillhead Street
North Kelvin Meadow
New City Road
Airlie Street gate
Partick Bridge Street
Milton of Campsie Bowling Club gate
Burbank Bowling Club, Woodlands Rd. Presented by ex-President Alexander Mitchell 1945

Then there are doors, many doors. This is Starry, Starry Night, a vintage clothes shop in one of the lanes off Byres Road, complete with fake door – and fake cat.

Starry Starry Night vintage clothes shop
Starry Starry Night vintage clothes shop

Restaurants: Chaakoo Bombay Café with its Cattle Class entrance (for staff?) and Nick’s on Hyndland Road.

Chaakoo Bombay Cafe
Chaakoo Bombay Cafe
Nick’s restaurant, Hyndland Rd

School doors – the old Boys’ and Girls’ entrances to a former school in Townhead, and the much better tended door to the Mount Building of St Aloysius’ College in Garnethill.

Boys door, former school in Townhead
Girls door, former school in Townhead
St Aloysius College

Finally, some private houses: first the bright green of a Partick tenement, then two from the same West End street. Of these, I much prefer the very pale door, though the lime green one amuses me by having a matching doorbell.

Partick tenement door
West End door
West End door

Many of you will have spotted that my title is taken from a Paul Simon song. What does it mean? Some people think it extols the benefits of weed, others that the big, bright green pleasure machine is a television set, others still that the song is a general satire on advertising. As far as I’m concerned, anything that produces food is a pleasure machine so Ethel fits the bill. As an added bonus, the song is a track from the Simon and Garfunkel album Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme and you can’t get much greener than that. Enjoy!

Scotland, UK , ,

65 Comments »

  1. Anabel, we certainly don’t have many interesting gates, colourful doors, or whimsical fake doors with fake cats around here — but we do have food trucks! I agree with you that anything that produces food gets my vote.

    Jude

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  2. Quite the title, Anabel and the photo lives up to it. I am sure Ethel could tell a few good stories. I walk along some of the same routes and you have inspired me to spot new and possibly unusual things. I doubt anything as unique and colourful as your neighbourhood. I did not know the title was from a Paul Simon song. What a hoot. I do know many of their other songs. Thank you for sharing a fun, colourful and interesting post. Happy Easter!

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  3. I love the Starry Starry Night door! I’m trying to think of green doors near me but am totally drawing a blank. I really love most shades of green and have a room with green walls in my house, but my door is purple (we haven’t changed it since we moved in, since I like purple too!).

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  5. “Anything that produces food is a pleasure machine.” I couldn’t agree more, Anabel. Green is obviously a part of your walks, if not your life. Fantastic photos to fit the theme. So many green doors! Did you and John celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

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  7. I love the colours of the doors…all green but different shades..love colour, those gates are striking..so artistic which I love rather than the basic up and down with the spike at the top.

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  16. Ethel! Just perfect, Anabel 🙂 🙂 I was making my way here, slowly, but you beat me to it. 🙂 🙂 Great greens, but the caravan is definitely mine!

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  17. I love those doors! Mostly though I love the door to Starry Starry Night…and I love the lake of that vintage shop too…

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  19. Our photography challenge has come to an end.. After running it for two years Jeff has suggested that he has run out of ideas and wont be able to continue, He did suggest that if anyone else wanted to take up the running and setting of the requirements of the challenge each week, he would help them get started. Thus far, no one has come forward so it looks as if it will not continue. Sad, really, because I enjoyed it over the last year. I was just wondering if there was “an old piano that was playing hot behind the green door”

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  20. I do envy you the diversity you find in your city. Now that I can no longer drive and buses are just about allowable (but suspect) and one can have one’s journey queried, I am at a loss for photographing stuff. I’ve exhausted things around here. Once lockdown has eased a bit however, I intend to get out a bit more to different villages around.

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  21. Hi Anabel – gosh I’m not sure what green things I’d see around Eastbourne … better keep an eye open – though doubt I’ll do much about them … except hold in reserve. Love the van – very appropriate for Ethel. I haven’t heard the song for years … so it’s a pleasure listening to it … fun post – all the best – Hilary

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  24. I have never heard that particular S&G song before, though I do like parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. A great green post and it’s good to know that I’m not alone in needing an incentive to walk the same routes. Sadly not a lot of diversity around here other than nature.

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  25. When I saw the post title I immediately thought of Simon and Garfunkel. I bought that album in 1971 though I never really thought about what the words of any of the songs might mean – well you don’t really when you’re only in your teens. A great selection of greens here, my favourite just has to be the cute little van – street art on the move? 🙂

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    • I probably acquired Parsley, Sage… around the same time. I had all their albums on vinyl, then replaced them with a greatest hits album on CD. That just wasn’t the same, because I knew the album song orders so well that it irritated me when the wrong songs followed each other. So I did what I should have done in the first place and bought all the CDs. Still have ‘em!

      As for the cute little van, I love it too. I’ve had that photo for ages so I was glad to find a way to use it.

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