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Street scene on Maxwell Street
The centre of Glasgow still bustles. It is a city of over a million people. It was once thought of as the second most significant city in the entire British Empire.

Poverty is still there and sometimes - out on the streets - you see people who have fallen off  the roller-coaster  of ordinary life entirely.  They ask for change. They smoke cigarettes. They are thin. Their eyes dart about. Their skin is pale grey. They look out for one another in ways that the affluent and advantaged will never know.

They may have pronounced limps, scars or aluminium crutches. They may have botched tattoos and they may carry cans of strong lager. I guess that some of them have drug issues and I imagine that growing up was not easy for any of  them - not warm and secure with encouragement. In a sense, life has passed them by. They simply strive for survival day by day.

The real "McDonalds" on Trongate

Don't get me wrong - those desperate people clinging to the bottom rung of the ladder do not represent typical Glaswegians. Yet they are there like shadows. I noticed them.

And I also noticed the Somalian and Sudanese food delivery guys. They have electrified bicycles with big tyres and they carry food orders in big insulated rucksacks courtesy of "Just Eat", "Deliveroo" and "Uber Eats". They are surely doing their best to make new lives for themselves - a long way from home.

Jewellers' shop window in Argyle Arcade

In contrast, The Argyle Arcade is home to a dozen top quality jewellers. Diamond rings and luxury branded watches  sparkle in the display windows bearing price tags to make one's eyes water.

In the "Tolbooth Bar" on Wednesday afternoon I watched Caroline and Billy provide a pleasant set of tunes that reached to teatime as I drank a pint of "Caledonian Best"...
Her eyes they shone like diamonds
I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulders
Tied up with a black velvet band.

I have always liked that song.
Caroline and Billy in "The Tolbooth Bar"


from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/bkr5ip1

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