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.
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.
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.
We seem to be getting higher population of homeless all the time. Some of our homeless should be in various care facilities as they are in no way able to look after themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhen we visited Vancouver we were surprised about the number of street people we saw.
DeleteMy Scotland tour bypassed Glasgow and I would like to go; perhaps another trip is called for. I keep thinking that there are Grieve connections there.
ReplyDeleteGlasgow is Scotland's true economic capital. I just checked out Christopher Grieve's Wikipedia page but could find no special link with Glasgow - for him anyway. There's a memorial to him at Langholm.
DeleteYes, I've been to Langholm on a Christopher Murray Grieve "tour," organized by my Scottish friends when I was staying with them in Edinburgh. I think the Glasgow connection is more through my grandfather, who was CMG's first cousin.
DeleteAlluz tot y'were one uh dem revolutionaries, YP.
ReplyDeleteI used to be but it was too tiring.
DeleteI recently passed a homeless man on the street who reminded me of someone in my past, just a bit further along the street was a doughnut shop, so I bought some and a hot coffee and took them back to the homeless person. I don't normally do such a thing, but he looked so much like a boy I'd liked in high school.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice thing to do. But if we did it every time we encountered a homeless person we would soon be destitute ourselves!
DeleteThe contrast between rich and poor (and those somewhere in the middle) is particularly easy to see in big cities. From your own experience, you know how even a loving upbringing can result in totally different courses of lives for the children, partly by their own choices, partly by circumstances.
ReplyDeleteAs for luxury jewellers, here in Germany one of their characteristics is that there are very few items on display in their windows... and no price tags.
That arcade in Glasgow must get so very few visitors on an average week day.
DeleteA very caring post YP. My dad's old Dubliner's record began playing in my head. I love that song.
ReplyDeleteTakes you back but the song endures.
DeleteGlasgow sounds like an edgy place to visit.
ReplyDeleteSlightly more edgy than Ramsey I should think.
DeleteNice jewellers. What did Shirley make you buy for her?
ReplyDeleteA tin of jewellery polish.
DeleteA city of contrasts, it seems! - but then I suppose most big cities are (partly depending on which streets you choose to walk)...
ReplyDeleteYou said it right Monica.
DeleteI have been to Scotland twice, but have never been to Glasgow. Before I depart this earth, I need to go back as I am of Scottish ancestry. The town that I live in here in Virginia was named after a town in Scotland, which I have been to when I visited Scotland the first time.
ReplyDelete"Depart this earth"? Are you on an astronaut training programme Michael?
DeleteNot even close! Just feeling my age with being dragged down with Covid.
DeleteHomelessness becomes more of an issue and the rich get richer and the poor live p[aycheck to paycheck; lose your job, have an illness, incur some significant debt, and you could be out on the street.
ReplyDeleteIt would be so easy to fall off the conveyor belt of so-called "normal life".
DeleteWhen we were in Athens, Georgia we saw so many people who were living on the streets. It was incredibly sad. And right here in Tallahassee there are many, many homeless people. There is an encampment of them right behind a little rental property we own and Glen has tried so hard to figure out how to balance out being a good business owner and being a compassionate human being. It is a long and complicated story. I do not know what the answer is. It is incredibly complicated.
ReplyDeleteMost persons with disabilities or illnesses can be self sufficient, but as a society we don't support them in employment that matches their ability and care that meets their needs. We can, and should do better.
ReplyDeleteI have often fancied a trip to Glasgow. Would you recommend it for an aging woman on her own?
ReplyDeleteSo many of us are not that far from falling off the conveyor belt, family and friends prop us up if we're lucky. I've never been to Scotland but would like to visit. My father's family were miners near Airdrie.
ReplyDelete