Glasgow Gallivanting: December 2022
First of all, a rather belated Happy New Year to you all! I hope the festive season was as good for you as it was for us. December was very busy socialising with friends and family in Glasgow, but on the 20th we went away to a cottage in the Borders for a week and just blissed out by ourselves. One day I will write that up, but it joins a very long queue! We didn’t have a white Christmas, but there was a light dusting of snow on Boxing Day, and when we left on the 27th this was the scene.
I might already have bored you stupid with pictures of the new Stockingfield Bridge over the Forth and Clyde Canal, but I’m afraid there’s more. In December we had the official opening – great excitement! We visited with friends and had a lovely evening.
The event began with a procession of paddle boarders and a boat decked out as a swan. Unfortunately, a pair of real swans were caught between two groups of paddleboarders and weren’t at all happy. They took off suddenly, knocking one paddler into the water! You can see the rescue operation going on in the bottom left corner below.
At 4.30pm the bridge officially opened with a light show, after which we wandered round the other installations before heading for an Indian restaurant to warm up with a curry.
You might remember that during November’s WalkingSquares Challenge I included the first image below. It’s a memorial to Sub Officer Adrian McGill of the Glasgow Fire Service, part of the Firefighters’ Heritage Trail, which is set into the pavement near the spot where he died 50 years ago. I read at the time that a red plaque had also been installed at Maryhill Fire Station to mark the anniversary, and at the beginning of December I walked up there to seek it out. A lovely tribute.
Almost finally, here’s a random selection of shots from other walks in and around Glasgow last month.
And finally, a bit of family history. I mentioned in June that I had lost my Aunt Elspeth, who lived in Brisbane, Australia. A few months later I received a package in the mail from Elspeth’s friend Mary – a collection of family photographs. Many I had already – some I know I had sent out to Brisbane myself – but I was overjoyed to find the two below showing my father with his three younger sisters in 1937. I have a lot of photographs of my mother’s childhood and youth, but hardly any of Dad before he met Mum, and had never seen these before. They were faded and torn, but I took them to a photography shop in town and they came back in December much improved. In order of age, the siblings are John (1929-2015), Annie (1930-2010), Elspeth (1933-2022), and Elizabeth, the baby and sole survivor, who was 86 in December.
I had a quick look at my stats this morning and note that 2022 is well down on 2021. I know that’s because I have been blogging less and not because you lovely people have been neglecting me! Thank you for every view, like, and comment, all much appreciated. I shall continue to blog less for at least the next couple of months because I have several women’s history events to write material for, the first being a talk on the 17th which I have not yet started. I am going into isolation next week and it WILL get done! Wishing you a very happy January, and hoping you are more on top of things than I am.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
It’s always a joy to discover family photos which you’ve not seen before. I would have been delighted with a package like that. How nice of your aunt’s friend to send them.
I hope January is treating you well.
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I was more than delighted! It was wonderful. So far so good with January, thanks.
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A bridge that looks well worthy of the fine opening that it got.
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It certainly is a beautiful bridge. Thanks for visiting.
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That poor paddle boarder! The idea of real swans causing a ruck while a boat was decked out to look swan like floated by did make me smile! As we come into the middle of January I am nowhere near ‘on top of things’ but I’m finding contentment in the chaos. Happy New Year, Anabel!
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It was quite funny, but not for him I’m sure! I’m more on top of things now. Talk written.
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I bet that water was cold! Poor paddle boarder. Lovely photo gallery, Anabel. Your cottage looks very cosy there in the snow.
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Cold and probably not very clean! The cottage was certainly cosy, we were very snug there.
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A light dusting of snow on Boxing Day is okay, provided it wasn’t on the boxes themselves.
How exciting for you when never-before-seen family photographs suddenly turned up. On a practical matter, I wonder if siblings named Elspeth and Elisabeth might have confused people.
Unrelated to your post but related to Scotland, last night we watched the 1945 movie “I Know Where I’m Going” [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037800/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0]. Have you seen it?
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Ha ha, no, boxes firmly inside! It’s true, Elspeth is a Scottish form of Elizabeth so my grandparents must really have liked the name. Elspeth was always Elspeth, but Elizabeth became Liz. Yes, I have seen that film, and we have actually stayed in the Western Isles Hotel on Mull where some of it was filmed. I don’t know what it’s like now, but then (at least 20 years ago) it was very recognisable.
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Happy new year. Lovely photos especially the ones of the frozen arboretum and river.
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Yes, they looked particularly pretty that day. So cold though! Happy new year to you too.
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The bridge opening looks a magnificent event. Swans are big though aren’t they, I can imagine knocking a paddle boarder over in take off, could be quite a regular event. Shame the snowy scene came on your leaving day from the cottage, it does look idyllic. The photo restorer looks to have done a good job with your old photos. 🙂
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Thanks Sharon, I steer well clear of the swans! The photo restoration is great, both were creased, one was almost torn through and the other had an ink blot, which presumably happened when someone wrote 1937 on it. No trace on the digital copies (though I asked them to keep the date on).
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Those old family photos are priceless! And I’m a little envious of your week alone around Christmas. Our holiday was great, but I’m sort of exhausted in the aftermath.
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The family photos are wonderful! For years, decades, Christmas for us was about making sure mum and dad had a good time. Now that they are both gone we are trying something different.
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Great selection of images there, especially S.B. at night. Good to see it finished and it will give me somewhere different to go in Springtime on the bike. Happy New Year.
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Thanks Bob. I can’t keep away from that bridge! It’s so much better than that horrible old tunnel.
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