Clydeside

Welcome to my wee photoblog on Glasgow, where we feature the  joys and unjoys of walking and cycling through a fascinating, beautiful and often badly run city. For the blog's origin and an alphabetical list of posts  see the 'Introduction' post  -

http://glasgowalbum.blogspot.com/2010/02/introduction.html

'The Clyde made Glasgow, and Glasgow made the Clyde'. Glasgow is an old place - the 'Dear Green Place' - and both city and river expanded hugely in the last few centuries as the Clyde was dredged and gouged out for trading and shipbuilding. See also Clyde River Festival.

This statue of La Passionara was erected on the Broomielaw to pay tribute to the International Brigade volunteers from Scotland who fought for socialism in the Spanish Civil war.

La Pash on the left, Glaswegians relaxing on the Broomielaw grass

The statue faces  the old trade union building across the way in Carlton Place, which used to house the Star Club, where folkies would come and sing songs about the death of capitalism and the inevitable victory of communism, while Communists like Jimmy Reid and John Reid would applaud the glorious future to come. Like Raymond Baxter's vision of the future in Tomorrow's World, it didnae happen. John Reid, of course, had a gloriously rich future in store, though perhaps not one  his comrades would  have anticipated.

Looking over to Govan - full size this is my best panorama I reckon - no photoshop, no clumsy stitching, just a good (for me) panorama

BBC Scotland: this is pretty much how it looked in the architect's original sketches, I expect. A nice modern building for nice modern BBC Scotland - they even employ Catholics now. For the old BBC building, and an extended rant on BBC Scotland, see  Hillhead

Work going on at Bell's Bridge

STV building on right

STV symbols and the Squinty Bridge

Armadillo and Finnieston Crane

BBC and Bell's Bridge

Film crew on bridge -  filming something for Single Parent I believe

New and desirable places to live in on Clydeside. A block of the flats by the river (not here) was sold to a mixture of home owners and buy-to-letters. But as soon as the end-of-Noughties recession hit in 2009, the buy-to-letters stopped paying their management fees: security staff were laid off and the flat owners had to make their way in past a transient collection of drunks and junkies. The old city is out there, just a few yards from the door.