Wednesday 6 July 2011

Day trip to Glasgow.July 2011

You can see why they call it "The Squinty Bridge"

The Old Renfrew Ferry now a nightclub.

The underside of the Kingston Bridge.

This machine is on the Clyde walkway but what is it?


I decided the architect played with cards when he was younger.

Stobcross Crane more famously known as the "Finnieston"

Glasgow still has some tramlines left. Perhaps we could sell them to Edinburgh.

Glasgow's Rotunda (circa 1895)

Glasgow's answer to Sydney!!

You can now cycle to Loch Lomond from the city.

BBC Scotland HQ on the Clyde.

The fire brigade's new toy.


Incident unit.

Police helicoptor base in Glasgow.
This morning the weather was a wee bit wet and dismal so I decided  a  trip to Glasgow was not a bad idea to go to the new Transport Museum located on the Clydeside.Once in the city I made my way down to the walkway they have constructed running alongside the river.First stop was the squinty bridge which the weegies nicknamed as it has a definate squint to it. The Rotunda was built in 1895 to take  foot passengers along with horses and carts using a tunnel under the river to come out on the other side in a similar building. The Finnieston crane was used to lift railway engines onto the ships that carried them to all parts of the world . Today there are still examples of Scottish built steam engines working in India.At this point I was by the SECC exhibition Centre where all the emergency services had their various bits of safety equipment on display from fire engines to ambulances demonstrating to the trade buyers that their toys were the best, it really was a big boy's playground. Undeterred I ventured in to be told sorry sir "Trade Only" well now we had a challenge off I go to the registration point fill in a form with some false details and hey presto I am admitted with a big blue badge around my neck.Now we are talking I managed to get into all the vehicles and was given demos on surveillance videos, what to do and wear in a nuclear attack, also if someone has a heart attack I now know the bit of kit you need to save them it only costs £5000 but it looked a wee bit heavy to take with us on our hillwalking.The invitation was now extended into the exhibition hall itself where one could purchase a fire engine if that is what one wants. I was happy enough just to sit in it and admire all the gadgets they have on board.Police cars and ambulances were also available for sale. Now I was getting a wee bit out of my depth as I was constantly asked which of the services did I represent and I was running out of plausible answers. Once outside I made my way allbeit well into the afternoon now to the my original destination of the Transport Museum to find it packed out with youngsters and bus parties . Cancelled this idea and will return another day when there are no exhibitions to detract me.

3 comments:

  1. That's hilarious. They seem to have been a bit lax on the security front though...!

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  2. Nice tour Gordon,talking of trains isn't it a sacrilege what they've done to the industry.
    We gave the world the Industrial Revolution and what have we got left ? Pah !

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  3. Footbridge photo is not the Squinty Bridge. Squinty Bridge is a traffic bridge with a much bigger arch located at the junction of Finnieston Street and Lancefield Quay.

    ReplyDelete