Glasgow II

My second day in Glasgow started similarly to my second in Edinburgh, creating an odd parallel: The rainy walk to the gallery outside of town that turns out to be somewhat further than you thought. Breaking with imminent tradition though, I did not get lost on this occasion. Nevermind that that this was undoubtedly because I only had to walk along one road the entire time. Anyway, this walk took me to the Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum. This gallery has just been refurbished, utilising some millions of dollars, and reopened a few months ago. It of course has a mackingtosh display, very nice, and good to see chairs roped off identical to the ones I had sat on to have my tea the previous day. The gallery also has a very good collection of European, English and Scottish art. It also has more explanatory panels than I have ever seen. It has lots of stuff for kids to play with, which is excellent if you have kids in your party, but frankly quite irritating for those of us that are quite happy to see the kids run through the gallery and keep running. Giving them a reason to stop and slam bricks about may well be good for getting them involved in art from a young age but haven't you people heard about fingerpainting? Somewhere else? Also, putting Picasso's four feet of the ground so that they can be viewed at eye level by five year olds? That's what parents are for, to lift. The text panels were very well written and informative, and would be excellent if you were just getting into art, but not that helpful if you just wanted to look uninterruptedly. Anyway, that's just me being fussy. I had some tea, and was completely bewildered when the waitress offered me a millek. Having repeated it two or three time she looked equally bewildered that I didn't understand her. Her bewilderment is understandable when you consider that she was asking if I wanted milk in my tea.

When I left the rain was continuing, now joined by quite the jaunty breeze, so that when I came around the corner of the building my brolly snapped like so many twigs. I caught the bus back into town, took a bit of a stroll, flapping my brolly about like a dead bat, and thought, 'now is the time to get the train home'. I bought a new brolly before I left. It has butterflies on it, and is quite naff.