Vinegar Tom wrote:I can't recall the last time I saw a group of street drinkers with a fire? Maybe I'm leading a sheltered life these days?
I'm not so sure about the outdoor drinking, you only have to walk past that hostel next to Paddy's Market to see that things have not really changed. I was thinking about the fire this morning, it reminds me of the photos Strepadair took of a similar scene in the Calton / Gorbals area sometime in the '60s. I think the fires in general had more to do with the many demolitions that were going on at the time. The first thing the workies would do of a cold morning was light a fire & feed it constantly with wood they stripped from the surrounding buildings, this would obviously attract the alfresco set.
Some of the subject matter is genuinely from the past
It's so easy in these days of 'City of Culture' 'Commonwealth Games' 'Ryder Cups' 'People Make Glasgow, and the like to forget that there is still devastating poverty in Glasgow & surrounding areas, we tend not to see it so much these days due the the brightness of the 'vibrance' (arf) that surrounds us as we toddle off to the 'Merchant City' for a Friday night out or to the the 'Buchanan Galleries' for our modern day version of Sunday worship.
Hardly surprising that Glasgow voted a resounding YES in the recent referendum after so many years of unthinkingly voting for Labour. This is not a party political broadcast, it's just the way I see it.