October was another month of increasing restrictions as the number of virus cases continued to rise again. Because we had a short break coming up we had a moment of panic when those of us living in Scotland’s Central Belt were advised not to travel out of our local areas, but relief set in when it was clarified that pre-booked breaks could go ahead. We therefore had a lovely week of coastal walking with a cosy apartment in Cellardyke, Fife, to return to in the evening. More to follow soon.
Other than that, our walks have continued to be fairly local. One of our favourites is the Forth and Clyde Canal where big changes are taking place on the sections near us. One part opened in October: the new bridge and boardwalk at Claypits. In August it looked like this:
In October, we were able to cross the bridge and walk along the previously inaccessible side of the canal. This boardwalk took us towards Firhill, home of Partick Thistle Football Club. Matches are being played without spectators these days, but an intrepid few had gathered on the towpath where they could get a reasonable view. The unkind might say that it wasn’t a bad crowd for the team often known as Partick Thistle Nil, but I wouldn’t be so cruel …
Another section of canal is about to be closed off to us. At Stockingfield Junction, a spur breaks off the main canal and continues to Glasgow city centre. At present, the only way to cross between routes is to take this horrible tunnel under the canal. It’s narrow, so not good for a mix of vehicles and pedestrians, and often floods.
We’ve been watching construction here since August: unfortunately, the towpath is now closing for a considerable time, but the end result will be a fabulous new bridge and park!
Another favourite is the River Kelvin. I took my car for repairs to a garage near Cluny Park in Bearsden, and walked back home along the river.
The v-shaped weir is quite close to home. On this walk, I could see the pipes the water was coming through – compare to the photographs below which were taken in September when the river was much fuller. I don’t remember it being that wet!
Once again, we did a few short walks from the start of the West Highland Way in Milngavie: round the reservoirs and Kilmardinny Loch and up to the doocot (dovecot).
It’s been a good month for spotting new street art, or at least, decoration, some of it pandemic related. At the start of term, many students were quarantined in their halls – “Save us! Send beer” was the message from the residence nearest us. The other sign is from the Ubiquitous Chip – many other bars and restaurants had similar pleas to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon after she imposed stricter regulations on hospitality venues.
Round the corner from the Chip in Ashton Lane, this splendid orangutan has appeared. It’s one of two in the city (the other is at Park Lane Market off Pollokshaws Road in Shawlands) by London-based artist Louis Masai. They are part of a project to highlight the plight of orangutans in the wild, which also includes murals in Birmingham and Manchester. Here, a baby orangutan clutches a pencil alongside “Stop eating palm oil” written in Gaelic.
About 15 years ago we visited an orangutan reserve at Sepilok in Borneo which rescued animals whose homes had been devastated by deforestation for palm plantations. Since then, I have always had an “adopted” orangutan baby, most of whom have been successfully returned to the wild. Of course, that “wild” continues to decrease as palm plantations encroach on the rainforest, so I have also learned to read the labels carefully before I buy anything which might contain palm oil, and to put it back unless I also see the word “sustainable”.
On a walk through Woodlands we spotted these flags with hopeful messages and a colourful sunset scene.
October has been Black History Month. As part of this, four Royal Mail post-boxes – in London, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast – have been painted to honour black Britons. Footballer Walter Tull, who became the first black player to sign for Glasgow Rangers (before he was killed in 1918), appears on the Glasgow post-box in Byres Road. He was the first black Army officer to command troops in a regular unit, and featured in a set of stamps released in 2018 to mark the centenary of the end of World War One.
And, of course, October ends with Halloween, which was very different for most children this year with none of the usual guising round houses. Instead, many houses, gardens, and windows were decorated. Some areas had official window trails to follow, but it was such a wet weekend that I’m not sure how many people would have braved the elements to do so. We certainly didn’t, but here are a few decorations that I happened to pass and which caught my eye.
And that’s a wrap for October! More restrictions, poorer weather, darker evenings – and more of the same to look forward to in November. At least nature can still put on a show.
Happy November!
The Oor Wullie trail which graced Scotland’s cities this summer finished at the end of August, and during September each city auctioned off its statues. In total, they have raised an amazing £1.3m for children’s hospital charities. Metal Oor Wullie, designed by Jason Patterson and exhibited in Glasgow’s George Square, was the biggest fundraiser at £25,000.
The cultural highlight of the month was 306: Dusk, the final part in the National Theatre of Scotland’s trilogy of plays about the First World War. The title comes from the 306 soldiers who were shot for “cowardice”, or what would now be diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder. Even at the time, officers such as the war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were diagnosed with shell shock and treated (though both later went back to the front line where Owen died in November 1918). The class system was rigidly in place.
