We land at Glasgow Airport on a warm Sunday morning on July 3rd at around 12.30 pm. It may sound like an understatement but the flight from Sydney to Glasgow has left us feeling exhausted. Twenty three hours of cooped up exhaustion, on top of the tiredness after all the usual stress that accompanies ‘time off’. Our flights stopped in Bangkok and Dubai, which surprises me. Note to self – read the itinerary before take-off in future.
Of course the airline food has left us feeling bloated and sluggish. Not that the food was bad – far from it. It’s more a question of volume and frequency. It seems you never stop eating on these flights and the time zones are all over the place so when you are served up a full meal at what would be your 6am it can be a bit of a challenge. But apart from those minor, and anticipated factors, the flight was good.
We are delighted to find the sun is shining brilliantly. It is a thoroughly gorgeous, warm, summer’s day. What a pleasant surprise, after all the jokes of summer in Scotland lasting a period of two days if you’re lucky.
Even in Glasgow I can hear the seagulls. It’s a sound that reminds me I’m home.
After crawling exhausted to bed around 8pm or 9pm, it’s somewhat disconcerting to wake up at 2.30am to the noisy verve in the city street below. There are people screaming loudly and making their way home after enjoying the long summer day. That’s the beauty of the summer months in Scotland. The day goes on and on, never getting properly dark. It brings people out of their houses with a sense of urgency. Make hay while the sun shines. It’s as if there is a need to cram all the fun and all the living possible into each day, before the winter wraps her steely grasp around the country again. We know we need to sleep …
Room 207, Ramada
It is the smallest room we have ever seen. We marvel at how our luggage occupies the only available floor space. We even take pictures just to prove it to ourselves later how tiny that room was. That said, we don’t really care. We just need a base – somewhere to shower and lay our heads after our long flight. We are heading over to the East Coast tomorrow, to Fife, to meet my family.
I keep getting bouts of involuntary giggles about Peter saying “at least the screaming has subsided” (from our 2.30am wake-up). Glasgow is certainly living up to its reputation as a ‘lively’ city.
Sauchiehall and Buchanan Street
We’ve just had a wander around Sauchiehall and Buchanan Street. These are the main shopping/business streets in the city centre of Glasgow, so if you need to shop, that’s where to go. It feels strange for me to be back here. Last time I was here was a few years ago with my daughter. She had appreciated the stunning and elaborate architecture and had taken numerous photographs. Before then, I couldn’t remember that last time I had been to Glasgow. Though it was fitting we started the journey here. This is where I was born.
My mum’s favourite place here was the Willow Tearooms, designed in 1903 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It has been restored to its original artistic designs and is still open to the public as a tea room. I see the sign and I feel a poignant turn in my belly as I think of her and how she loved this place.
Time for a coffee!
I am anxious to be on our way, but we take a quick drive around the some of the backstreets before heading East. The highs and lows of Glasgow … I feel we are gradually easing into the holiday spirit.
“That’s the beauty of the summer months
in Scotland. The day goes on and on,
never getting properly dark”
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