The Barras Market and Art Gallery Day.

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A Sunday a few weeks ago down The Barras Market with Alan. This will be low on words as I have a keyboard problem to do with predictive text. Probably an auto upgrade or something or I've pressed an F12345678910 etc key by accident on the keyboard and messed it up somehow.

I had a better, longer post than this ready to go a few days ago and one jumbled key stroke lost the lot. Hours of work gone in an instant. Which really pissed me off. So this is a second attempt to see if it will upload this time.

Nowadays The Barras have to compete with Amazon, Charity Shops, Car boot sales etc so it's not the force it once was but it was busy enough on the Sunday we were there. A sunny or dry day helps the atmosphere. Rain does not.

It has a collection of street stalls and undercover areas and it's the undercover areas that are the most interesting. An almost Dickensian warren of passageways through these sheds.

Started by this woman in the early 1920s who hired out carts ( or barrows) in this vicinity between the Gallowgate and London Road centred around Bain Street. Just East of The Saltmarket.

The Bay City Rollers here might help to date this artwork.

A Gazza mural outside The Barras. The Bride....

Traffic cones permanently stuck on certain statue's heads is a Glasgow oddity. The council used to remove them but eventually gave up. 

Maybe because of all the other outlets, charity shops etc The Barras these days has had to cater for the unusual. Creepy stuff. WWII memorabilia, clothes, old vinyl records, Film posters, bric a brac etc.

But we also went round some of the period buildings in this area as well, including this church.

Which was nice inside.

Open on Barras time so mainly Sat and Sunday.

Good selection of stained glass windows inside.

Like any street market it sometimes has a slightly edgy feel to it as this mural maybe depicts but even in its current incarnation there still is nothing like it anywhere else in Scotland, especially wandering inside the sheds ( male and female toilets are available inside the main shed area.)

Period style sign. This was the main reason I came here in the 1960s as a child. My mum got fish/ seafood and dishes, plates, cutlery/tablecloths, curtains here and my dad just liked browsing the various stalls for bargains. Nowadays though I go to local charity shops for bargains but it is still interesting here in its own way. For the history and also for the fact very few places like this still exist in the modern world.

It had a few surprises. This yellow doorway led into a large undercover area of the weird and unusual that I've not seen anywhere else.

Movie prop material .... or a goth's bedroom perhaps. 

Not really my taste. But creative.

We then wandered along Argyle Street for a tour of several art galleries.

Where Alan noticed some of the homeless had triangular insulated sleeping pouches instead of tents... which would be warmer in winter I'd imagine although you can't sit up in them.

 Grey heron here.

Argyle Street Murals.

Robotic Street Entertainer.

Famous Glasgow TV Character. Rab. C. Nesbit.

An old favourite as it might not be here much longer. Looking faded now.

By this time we had been in several art galleries along Argyle Street and Queen Street before we ended up at the GoMA, seen here, above. Gallery of Modern Art. I did like some oil paintings in another gallery but the best one was £45,000 to buy so not for my thin wallet and too big for my walls anyway.  I've never been much of a fan of a lot of modern art. Dribbled paint on canvas, unmade beds, or animals sliced in half then pickled leaves me unmoved so most of the stuff in the GoMA over the decades has not provoked much of a response in me. Note the traffic cone at the GoMA, above, which is what the earlier photo was a direct reference to.

I did like this though. There was an exhibition on inside but this was my highlight. Which was only a bare tree to start with that visitors stuck coloured dots on if they liked the exhibition. So they made it themselves in other words. Says something when this was my personal favourite. Elsewhere we also took in a vintage rock/pop photo gallery and paintings by several famous people like Billy Connolly and Bob Dylan. B.C's work I'd seen before on TV but Dylan's Americana paintings were new to me. 

And I liked the toilet art in the GoMA. Funnily enough years ago I was in Edinburgh's Gallery of Modern Art and the best thing in there was the colourful toilets as well, which I also took a photo of.

And I've always liked the GoMA interior of the building... rather than the exhibits inside. I used to go here when it was a public library as I've always loved books, films and art, still do,  and this place had a very good selection as did Rutherglen Library. Back in the day.

GoMA interior Staircase.

For visitors if you do go to The Barras several other places are within easy walking distance.

Five minutes stroll away is Glasgow Cross and the High Street, seen above. Ten minutes walk up that takes you to Glasgow Cathedral, The Necropolis, Museum of Religious Life etc... The Merchant City District and Glasgow City Chambers ( daily tours inside) is another option nearby... as is Glasgow Green and River Clyde walkway. Also ten minutes from The Barras. As is the Calton heritage trail.  So plenty to see, even on a Sunday.

 

Watching Bob Dylan's biography a couple of nights ago about his early life was interesting. I liked Blowing in the Wind and Mr Tambourine Man but a full album of Bob's strident semi preaching delivery was a bit too much for me as I preferred the gentler tones of Donovan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and Melanie Safka. I still have many of their LPs in my collection.

Which brings me to this. A beautiful song and video that mirrors my own feelings about 60 plus winters spent in Scotland although in central Canada winters can easily drop to 40 below. And she did get out... to a warmer climate. So very appropriate for the arrival of a new Spring in 2025.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA2OYBDXXsQ

 

Renfrew to Braehead River Walk. Clyde View Park. Robertson Park. Storm Damage.

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Renfrew Ferry slipway. A walk I did a few weeks ago just after Storm Eowyn and 80 to 100 mile an hour winds that brought down over 500 trees in Glasgow, many thousands across the Central Belt of Scotland. The Isle of Man and Ireland and countless power/telephone lines and garden fences. The Renfrew Ferry is still operating between Yoker and Renfrew ( £3:00 each for adults. £1:50 for concessions each trip. Mon to fri plus Sat Sun.) so this walk is a good option for me to reach Renfrew and Paisley easily. A traffic/ pedestrian bridge between Yoker and Renfrew should also be completed by April 2025, all going well.

This is the small passenger ferry here, halfway across the river, which also takes cycles (free) and runs every 10 minutes, or thereabouts from 6:30am to 18:30pm Mon to Fri and 10:00am to 18:30pm Sat Sun. I used to use it every summer for enjoyable circular bike tours round Glasgow and Paisley in a loop over Bells Bridge and past Partick and Govan via several city parks. Hopefully it will still operate after the bridge is open. Two interesting walks on the Renfrew side are available here.  One runs up Meadowside Street and Fishers Row, slightly inland through a brief industrial landscape of factories and small works then cuts back after a wooded section to the River Clyde (downstream) and follows a pleasant path around the edge of Renfrew Golf Course then up the White Cart Water as far as Porterfield  where you can circle round inland back to the ferry via Robertson Park. ( this walk may be disrupted at the moment due to the new bridge travelling through this area but should be ok again after April 2025.)

In the other direction, walking upstream along the River Clyde walkway, this path contours round several old jetties and watery in-shots used by boats and river traffic in previous eras of industry and shipbuilding. It's an interesting walk to Braehead Shopping Centre from here, passing Clyde View Park on the way.

After several ins and outs skirting the old docks, the riverside path runs straight, passing  Clyde View Park. This is what I was here to see as last summer they ( the surrounding residents) had banners up with Save Our Park on them. I thought this was council owned but apparently it's in private hands and had not been maintained so the grass was very overgrown and the stream system was choked with weeds and floating green scum. I'm pleased to report a maintenance team had been in and tidied it up, cutting grass and what looks like stream maintenance. ( last time I was here it was high summer and the stream section was almost dry and completely choked with weeds. A shame because this is a special small park)

You could hardly see any water at all the last time so either they have improved it (tidied it up) or winter rains have made their own landscaping alterations here. 

The grass has definitely been cut in the park as it was knee to waist high here last time and I talked to some locals this time around. It looks much improved but the same situation remains with uncertainty over who is responsible for future maintenance and upkeep. I've visited this small park every couple of years since it opened decades ago and it is a cracking asset for both the surrounding locals and visitors, with a trickling stream and pool feature (it used to have two working fountains in two deep pools to move the water flow around.) It also has sculptures, one of which shows the airships/ dirigibles that used to be built in Renfrew/Inchinnan. I loved Bioshock Infinite (a game that can also be watched and enjoyed as a film in 30 minute segments on You Tube for it's colourful immersive world and imagination as it features a floating city/community in the sky. And now I'm just after reading that with net zero targets to meet... the bygone age of airship travel of the early 1900s is being revived with several companies investing in future airship factories. For lifting heavy materials across country, or for upmarket holidays, or for military purposes, or hard to reach places,  it makes sense as with new materials and design innovations making it safer it may well be an alternative to airplane travel in certain ways. For a start you do not need a conventional airport or runway just a portable docking facility ( a long tethering pole) that can be moved to any location via ship or truck. With the severe winds we get in Scotland though, around 20 named storms per year, maybe not the best country to set up operations in.

Looking down the River Clyde towards Glasgow. From Clyde View Park. Once at Braehead I jumped on the number 26 bus to Roberston Park on the opposite side of Renfrew.  This bus runs from Glasgow to Paisley along King's Inch (road) and is a frequent service so very handy. You can get it back to Renfrew Ferry or Paisley or in this instance, Renfrew's other park. Best to avoid between 3:00pm and 4:00pm weekdays when the number 26 is packed with schoolchildren going home. No need to ask me how I know as I made that mistake on this outing and it took me 3 stops past Robertson Park before I managed to get off it again. Everyone packed tight together like sardines in a can.

 

Not much visible tree damage in Clyde View Park, as the trees are smaller and newer, but Robertson Park took a direct hit. I've read in other reports that over 500 trees were toppled during that one record breaking January 2025 storm in Glasgow alone, with thousands down countrywide. Certainly in Robertson Park a row of five mature beech trees got toppled, all in a line, and more smaller ones fell over as well. About 10 in total here. If wind speeds and storms continue to increase in Scotland many more trees will disappear in the coming years. I counted over 50 mature large trees down in my district, many bringing down internet/ telephone/power lines as well when they toppled over.

 From the size of these trees they are around 80 to 100 feet tall and over 100 years old. Multiply that by several thousand and you get an incredible number... of growth history wiped out in one single storm. I was also saddened to learn that the historic Darnley Tree near Nitshill, reputedly around 500 years old, was badly damaged and also several old giants in Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens.  

.....and yet through it all nature attempts to revert to normal, despite human interference and indifference... and that gentleman in the White House. Snowdrops appear.

An aquatic mural. Robertson Park.

Bike hub mural. Robertson Park.

UK war ships being built in 2025. River Clyde. A good flat walk of several hours duration.

Bioshock as a film. I've watched loads of Hollywood and UK films nothing like as entertaining, wildly imaginative or as mesmerizing and beautiful as this floating world of airships. Better to watch it on You Tube though. This link is only to highlight how to find it quickly and is the cinematic version out of dozens more clips available that are not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elvGT8_ZiWo
                             

In the Bleak, Mild, Wild, Wet, and often Windy Midwinter.

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We haven't had much snow this year in the current winter of 2024/2025. Just a couple of days of brief snow flurries, interspersed with a week of minus 7c to 12c overnighters, mainly ice and frost everywhere, then back to milder conditions for the rest of it.

This was a walk around Clydebank. Incidentally, this bandstand was used for a children's TV programme back in the day featuring Siouxsie and the Banshees, a Punk/Goth/ experimental outfit. ( This short video can be viewed on dailymotion for anyone interested as I 'd just watched it prior to my visit after wondering beforehand.... has anyone famous ever played on/in it? Still a totally unique group, (at their best, with good acoustics online, no one else quite like them.... musically or visually, before or since.)  Musical pioneers in that particular genre. Yet rarely mentioned nowadays.

Far less snow, so far, than past Scottish winters. Milder, thankfully, for those of us being very careful with energy bills, given the huge potential cost of electricity and gas use this year. Yet almost £300 million paid each year to turn off Scottish wind turbines during periods of steady wind but low demand that is added to the bill of every UK household in Britain. And during storms. Unless you have a turbine yourself of course. Then we pay you for having it.... and switching it off. I'm still warm though in my thermal vest, padded jacket, balaclava and 3 season sleeping bag.... used indoors. My heating is only on if it's below freezing outside, mainly to keep my pipes from icing up, and running them for 10 seconds( hot tap)... 20 seconds (cold tap) every few hours also keeps them safe if it's below minus 3 to minus 10. Especially in the morning and last thing at night. 5 or 10 quick seconds on full (hot tap) means the central heating boiler does not come on but the water runs briefly. I mention all this because I think I've nailed winter now, for myself, by these methods and clothing and have stayed comfortable, despite not having the heating on much indoors. Obviously, during a really cold snap you need a warm house for pipe and house/health safety but when it's 3c to 10c above it's no problem to go without heating ... for me anyway. My chest/breathing also tells me when it's time to put the heating on but so far it's been fine and clear this year.

A lot of different winter conditions to experience and photograph this year. A misty evening back in late December 2024.

Perfect for a walk along the canal from Anniesland to Clydebank. Getting an 11 bus back.

Fairly eerie and gothic wandering through a deserted Knightwood Park at dusk, but a stillness I like. (At the moment, Friday 24th of Jan, outside my house, and across Scotland and Ireland in general, 80mph to 114mph winds are blasting through garden fences, destroying outdoor conservatories and ornamental furniture... toppling both young and mature trees and power lines across roads and onto parked cars in the sort of casual destruction that's fairly common for winter storms these days now. 

It's the wildlife and anything left outside that suffer the most of course. Knightwood Pond from 2016. Loads of birds. I noticed this time around though this pond has sprung a leak and is a shadow of it's former glory. Only a few dozen forlorn gulls remain here today, battered by howling 80mph winds as the pond is 3/4 empty and easy for foxes or other predators to snatch unwary birds in only ankle deep water. With the current state of the UK's permanently potholed roads, overcrowded hospitals, full up prisons, and everything else in 3rd world level broken Britain I don't think repairing a leaking park pond in an outlying suburb will be high up the list of anyone's important things to do..... 

So views like this one ( it could be an unofficial wildlife reserve here, given the bird numbers each winter) is sadly an archive event now.... until it is eventually repaired/ fixed.

All the fun of the fair... as a passing spectator to this annual occurrence.

In many ways 2016 seems like a very different world to 2025. Only nine years ago though.

Mist and silence is good for creating atmospheric photography on long walks.

I was particularly pleased with this effort. Reminds me of old black and white British films of the notorious London fogs of yesteryear. Or Hammer horrors.

A frozen solid canal in December 2024.

Great Western Road at Knightswood Park.

Yearly winter struggle in a rapidly freezing pond. Roughly half of all wildlife dies in severe or very unpredictable spring/summer/ winters. Mass flooding events, wildfires etc...

Tufted Ducks. Mild again in park pond a few days later.

The shining path.

So all you can really predict, with any certainty, for the weather forecast worldwide, in 2025....

 

is expect more.................. of the unexpected...