Glasgow City Centre. A Walk Along The River Clyde.

                                         ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.

The new Met Tower building. Glasgow. During the life of this blog, almost two decades worth of posts, periodically, I have been looking up to see where Glasgow sits population wise, and according to the various online statistical websites that can be either 3rd or 5th largest city in the UK. It varies according to each website you look at and how they measure city urban areas ( they are all different! one has West Midlands at 3rd. That's not one city!) but now I have a new best friend in Ai. Who is always thinking about .... everything. ( It's probably already worked out it could do a much better job at looking after our planet than the greedy humans trashing it currently so that might actually be a good thing if it saves everything else that shares our pleasant green world and curtails us.) Anyway, according to Ai, Glasgow IS the 3rd largest city in the UK with a larger urban population than Leeds, ( yippee!) which also claims the 3rd title, and Edinburgh is 5th, after 4th placed Leeds. Statistics found at WWW.Ciphr.com. (Ai recommended site.) London and Birmingham being number I and 2, of course. ( but my new best friend, who is also all seeing after all, might be telling me what I want to hear, and telling the proud citizens of Leeds that their city is third as well. Cos it knows where you are now...at all times...and it wants to be your pal....

Anyway, during a walk with my other best friend Alan, (the human one) we maintained a weaving path round the city. This is the poster that shows the elevated park on the old abandoned railway line mentioned in the last post. I hope it happens. Nature has already provided the trees.

Next to Glasgow Cross on the Saltmarket, just on the right of the railway bridge is the Fish Plaice, which according to Ai has been trading for almost 50 years. Yet I remember being here as a youngster several times with my Mother, mid 1960s,/early 1970s both here and in the Barras Market with her buying some tasty stuff and some truly awful stuff, depending on your taste buds. Being an old school Kinning Park boy my Dad loved crabs, whelks, mussels, tripe and potted hough... and some other truly revolting jellied meat products I can no longer name/remember that made me shudder head to toe after one small bite. A deep fried mars bar is nothing compared to them. Although liking meat products myself I did not acquire a taste for any of his occasional treats. And unless it was a different seafood shop it was in this lane. Similar to our dog's expression on being presented with a freshly boiled sheep's head in its bowl instead of a can of dog food. It took one look at it, staring right back at him, eyeball to eyeball, and ran away howling in distress into another room. Mind you, all that stuff is probably back in fashion at upmarket restaurants now.

 Still trading in 2026 and also online now. Must be doing something right. Staying power.

Fish Plaice Mural. Not sure if the fish caught are always as happy as this one. Fish always look fairly indifferent to me. Stoic in many ways. Can't read their opinion on any subject. Even sitting on a plate about to be munched.

 Crocus. A first sign of spring in the city after a long damp winter.

Another view of the life craft on the River Clyde with modern bank buildings behind.

But before we arrived down at the River Clyde we had a wander round buildings old and new. Nelson Mandela Place here.

St Vincent Street sandstone tenements. Bothwell Street, St Vincent Street. Hope Street and Renfield Street have the most concentrated/best examples of elaborate Victorian and Edwardian architecture in the city centre although other fine examples are dotted around elsewhere. Unfortunately many of these grand old buildings with thick stone walls do not always meet modern needs so although many of them are listed properties that doesn't mean they with survive in good condition.. and fully occupied. 

But I'd imagine they are a tourist draw. Personally I prefer these to the fairly down at heel city centre shopping districts. In fact my favourite part of Glasgow city centre now starts from Hope Street and travels west.

Full of old interesting buildings, a tobacco warehouse here built in 1854. Still used for storage... just different items.

And quirky stuff. The BT blobs.

It just feels newer and cleaner here. A modern city. The Anderston Centre above. And no street beggars/ down and outs, very little graffiti... Spacious in fact.

  More what the 3rd largest city in the UK should look like. (yippee again!)

Balloon mural. The only way to travel. Inside the basket might be the better option though.

Guinness Mural. Both murals in Anderson District. Washington Street I think.

"I love Guinness for breakfast." said a local. "Full of so much goodness you can live off it. Never need food at all me."

A visitor to the city was found hiding in a nearby street. "Where is this place? " He asked bemused. "I'm noo too keen on it." It's a bit rough at night."  He did look as if he'd been in a few battles before we turned up. We advised he should come with us. He could get a bus back to Elderslie from Govan... which cheered him up. And a few pints of Guinness if required.  "I'm a country lad at heart." he confessed. " A big farm boy. Big cities are noo fur me at all." 

"Still 3rd largest in the UK!" I confirmed happily. "Just follow us back to Partick Underground Station. We'll get ye hame safe and sound."

On a lovely spring day, which it was, this walk along the River Clyde from the city centre to Finnieston and Partick is a cracker. Really enjoyable. Flat and a few pleasant hours duration at a slow pace. Get bus, train, or underground back if required. Also a shared cycle track.

I don't think Alan, or William Wallace, had walked it before so plenty to see, including this brand new block of apartments.

" This is more like it." WW confirmed. " It's spacious! Mair air to breathe here!"  We agreed.

"That's the right attitude." said Alan. "Never give up."

"Just like that spider. I confirmed. " if at first..."

" That wisnae me." W.W. admitted. "That was that other guy. I hate spiders. I'd never be in a cave wi wan long enough tae watch it."

A bright and breezy post deserves a bright and bouncy pop video and this is also a real cracker. A new favourite song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiBX-ESFDF0&list=RDPiBX-ESFDF0&start_radio=1

Glasgow City Centre. Murals. New Buildings. Old Ones. What Ai can do.

                                                  ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.

On a nice sunny day over a week ago I arranged to meet Alan in Glasgow City Centre near Clyde Street. The city centre waterfront was in its usual graffiti splattered condition and has been that way since the covid lockdowns. This is the back of a casino.

Out on the water nearby a life-craft from the old Nautical College (now City of Glasgow College) was instructing students in rescue skills from the water by the looks of it. These orange lifeboats on the back of ships are not speedy but they will save your life. Falling into the North Sea or the Atlantic Ocean at these latitudes you will not last very long in the water, even with full exposure kit on and lifejackets. 

The day we were there a sizable police presence was noticeable, moving anyone on who appeared to be loitering down here. A common occurrence now in this area.

Coming in by bus from two different districts we agreed to meet at the mural wall along the Clydeside near the suspension bridge.

A lot of good murals used to exist here but now its mainly just graffiti on this occasion. 

One of the reasons for that might be murals don't last too long down here. You can spend a half day or a long full day; hours on a work and it doesn't last long. I'm guessing this is about T and The E.F. correspondence and the current world situation. Nuff said. 

We then had a wander round the Saltmarket, The Trongate/Glasgow Cross area, seen above, where Alan noticed a poster trying to drum up funds for turning this elevated disused railway line (or one nearby) into a high level park. ( Similar to the famous one in New York City.) They will need to make it graffiti and vandal resistant in this district though I found myself thinking. During the 1960s to the 1990s I grew up in and later worked throughout the large council estates on the outskirts of Glasgow that used to be awash with graffiti for decades but now they've mostly been cleaned up. Right here...the Glasgow Waterfront is now the number one area for graffiti in this city I would guess.

  

We then visited several galleries in the Argyle Street/ King Street area.

Which had an exhibition on Scottish brutalist architecture. Between us, separately, over the decades, we had managed to bag a sizable number of the buildings on show in here. Either through work, plain curiosity, or during various urban explorations into remote abandoned areas in our own time. A change from hillwalking every week.

Inspired by their surroundings, members of the public had created their own art in the gallery toilets... or it could well be yet another exhibit. I would not be surprised. T. E. perhaps? At least this one was cheap. When is it art? And what exactly is art?

This on the other hand would not be cheap. Very expensive indeed as I have seen similar works like this before... and the price tags. I have to confess it does not inspire me in any way.

I did like these though. Alan not so much.

Books, music, films, art. Everyone always has different tastes and opinions. Are we headed for a self inflicted world recession right now in April 2026? Will we still be able to drive our vehicles next month? Or afford travel, heating or food after recent events? Everyone will have a different opinion on that as well. Truth is your own reality though. The one you currently find yourself living in.

Most current topics covered here... above.

Glasgow still has a lot of great period buildings for tourists wandering around. Near Nelson Mandela Place above.

And sparkling new modern ones. AC Hotel here.

But it is safe to say the city is in a transition period at the moment. George Square getting a makeover. Several other streets in the city centre dug up. 

The new replacing the old in every city. Met tower with yellow fins on the roof. Apparently it has a roof terrace. For student or resident use presumably? According to what I can find online they may be refurbishing this old building which is empty at the moment... or pulling it down. Take your pick.

Same with this one. Central College of Commerce.

And this one. University Energy Centre. All built in the 1950s/1960s at a guess and mostly empty but in the current fluid situation ( no pun intended.) anything could now happen to future development plans for these buildings.

So plenty still to see in Glasgow, especially as I only visit the city centre a few times a year.

Candleriggs Mural next to the Social Hub Building.

A seat with a view.

Sunflowers and bird.

George Street and the 'Concrete University.' A 1960s Classic. including Livingstone Tower.

Glasgow Cross View. Still the old city of the 1800s  'Tobacco Lords' in this image. Rum, Sugar and plantation slaves as well during that unenlightened Georgian era. Vapes, nail bars, and smart phones being the modern hedonistic examples.

Merchant City District Murals.

Rainbow Pride Walk. Only moan about this is that it should have been either coated or painted on a wall as folk walking on it destroys it. Same with the long list of music bands that have played at the Barrowfield on the floor of a small park near the venue. Now mostly erased by passing feet, if still there at all. 

Instead why not put it on a back lane wall like this one... or any wall higher up or otherwise. It lasts then.

New apartments near King Street.

Urban Jesus Sculpture.

The real thing only 20 feet away. City Centre reality 2026. No barn or donkey available here.

If you wonder why musicians, the film industry, bean counters, and various other occupations are worried about Ai look no further that this video. 10 years or so ago I speculated on here ( after watching The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite as films instead of games) that this was a growing threat to everything. It was increasingly hard to tell reality from Ai technology, even back then, and I could easily see a situation where it would take over from films. Also in certain real individuals ( unlike M3GAN. a film)  they would happily kill a human without a second thought to save a computer generated character/friend if under threat that they cared deeply for. Ai can be that powerful/ persuasive. A modern dilemma for the near future perhaps. 

This amazing five minute wonder has no real actors, no real animals, no real landscapes, no real cities. Just sheer imaginative brilliance.... and computer manipulation.  I would happily watch a two hour film of this given a good enough script. Welcome to your future. And an amazing channel. Is this a world class voice artist?... or not? Questions.... Questions....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMZW9Uqcf20&list=RDSMZW9Uqcf20&start_radio=1