Hospitals

Gartnavel - the building with what looks like a giant quiver on the top is the Leukaemia Research Centre

Gartnavel with a glorious winter sun

Gartnavel - the sun seemed to hang in the cold air for such a long time. Perhaps it only seemed so (perishing cold, January 2010)

Gartnavel - hospital and sun through the trees

Thee Old Duke St Infirmary. From one of those windows, in the mid-70s, I looked across at cattle being manhandled by the Morlocks at the slaughterhouse opposite (see Dennistoun). Depending on the wind, you could smell the blood in the air and hear muffled cries of pain and fear from the terrified animals.
Not the most cheerful part of Glasgow, this.

This is pretty much all that remains of the Maternity in Rottenrow, the entry into this world for so many squealing Glaswegians. For the rest of what remains, see Townhead

The Western Infirmary, Dumbarton Road. The medical staff are lovely; not all of the porters are lovely, alas (don't talk back to the nasty ones, as they have plenty of opportunities for banging you about in the wheelchair or trolley). Do try to avoid coming here on Friday or Saturday nights, when this entrance becomes an antechamber to Hell.

The Royal Infirmary, Castle Street, Townhead

Wikipedia has an excellent entry on the history of the Royal Infirmary - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Royal_Infirmary

Probably most Glaswegians have visited or been patients been in here, including me with a cracked skull c. 1960 (we lived just round the corner in Collins St).

The English Quaker Joseph Lister was appointed an assistant surgeon here in 1854, and subsequently Lister - the 'Father of Antisepsis', and one of humanity's heroes - cut surgical deaths by half by pioneering sterile surgery.

The main building faces west and puts on spectacular light shows as the sun (when visible) reflects in its windows.

Royal 3

Royal 4

Inside the car park

Clipped the top of the fine tower in previous clip, so here is close up

Stobhill Hospital, Balornock, Springburn: Opened in 1904 at a cost of £250,000, and with this fine clocktower at its heart, Stobhill was, as the Wikipedia entry says, designed to be a showpiece of modern health care -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stobhill_Hospital

The Old Medical Refectory

I had a cataract taken out on this day and walked back through Springburn Park, and spotted this wee art exhibition hung on the park railings here opposite the hospital

I do like the name of this part of the complex: the 'House on the Hill'

The New Victoria hospital, Mount Florida (will try to get good pics of auld yin)

Modern public art; just the thing to make the sick feel better