Toryglen Paradise

Yesterday was a day I had been anticipating for the past two and a half years. No rush! Lol. But yesterday it finally happened. 

A trip – on the 90 bus – to Toryglen. 

Not just to zoom on by on the way to Braehead. No, no! But to get off the bus and take a wander. It has been something like 18 months since I was last on the 90. I was hoping I would know the right stop to get off. That it would be obvious to me. Well, as luck would have it, a lady was getting off the bus at one stop and I thought “this looks about right. We’re not at the big ASDA yet, and we’re coming in from the other direction. Let’s get off here.” And would you believe it – it was the stop right outside St Brigid’s?! (I couldn’t see the school from where the bus stopped. At least I couldn’t tell the building WAS a school and was St Bridgid’s. Although I knew there was a bus stop right near the school.)

A short walk and there was Prospecthill Circus and all the variations of Crossbanks crisscrossing and weaving around it. It was hard to tell exactly where the flat would have stood as the Crossbanks are now Crescent and Drive and Avenue and there is no Crossbank Road and no Queens Court – but near enough is good enough. 

There’s a bit of a rise to Prospecthill Circus and it looks back over the city when facing due North/North West. You can see the Met Tower and the pink “People Make Glasgow” facade. Standing at that spot gave somewhat of an insight and feel as to what Jim would have seen “up on the 11th floor watching the cruisers below”. Still, I wanted to see if I could maybe pinpoint exactly where the flat stood. Just to be able to look skywards and get the feeling of being “there”. Silly, eh?

Took a walk past the Community Hall, with its lovely little mosaics at either side of the entrance doors. Making our way round to the Community Hall I recognised the patch of land there – it looked very much like the exact patch of land that Mick and Charlie are sitting at when doing this…

Didn’t do anything beyond that. Didn’t take a walk down to Holyrood High or anything like that. It was enough of an explore to do for the half-hour between buses. Time enough to stand at the gates of St Brigid’s, to walk over to Prospecthill Circus, get a feel of where the flat was, the view, the scope and scale, etc.

It’s a quiet little alcove that part of Toryglen. Walking around those Crossbank streets you do stick out like a saw thumb a bit. It felt a bit strange. I wasn’t dolled up in full “fangirl” regalia. I hopefully wasn’t screaming “sad Simple Minds fan” as we walked about. The “we” being me and my pal, Birdy. Yes! She accompanied me – under some duress. Lol. 

Silly that it is to desire to do these things. I always wanted to do this stuff with David Bowie haunts. Go to Plaistow Grove in Bromley, Haddon Hall and all that guff. Never did get to do it before moving up here. May never get to. Bromley is even further away now than it was when living in Luton. And at that time Kent might as well have been at the other end of the country being all the way round the other end of the M25. 

Anyway, never says never with the Bowie thing. It may still happen one day, but if it doesn’t, the world isn’t going to come to an end. 

After fangirling in Toryglen the plan was to check out a tapas bar in Battlefield – a place called Tinto Tapas Bar but it was shut when we got there. Not sure why? Who knows? But it seemed as if it hadn’t even been open at all yesterday, so it was hard to tell whether they were just shut for the day or whether it had been that way for a while. 

Passingly pondered the Battlefield Rest then quickly decided against it and settled on Caffeine Battlefield instead. We had a “smashed samosa” which didn’t come served quite as I was envisaging, but it was nice all the same – if a bit blow ya heid aff spicy. I also had a couple of nice mochas and a couple of sweets. Naughty me! Lol

After having a bite to eat we checked out a bit of Battlefield Rd and looked into this “Aladdin’s Cave” of a charity shop called Kinder Handl. There was ssoooo much in there! 

I have been wanting a chair in my bedroom since we moved in. I’ve been keeping an eye out here and there and just never really seen anything I had my heart set on. Either the price wasn’t right or just…you know…

Anyway, there was this Chair in Kinder Handl and I really liked the look of it. It has a wonderful shape and is nicely upholstered in a lovely subtle fabric. It will look really nice in my room and will go with the decor. And it was just on its own. Not a style of chair I have seen very often. A pretty unique piece. I took a seat in it to test it out and it felt lovely sitting in it so….I pondered and thought “should I actually buy this? Will they deliver it to me? I’m on the other side of the city! Should I enquire? I dunno. It’s quite an impulsive buy, but it is a unique chair and I really like it. Ah, go oan!” 

And so, it arrives early next week! I didn’t take a photo of it, but I will do once its in place here in my boudoir! Lol.

We also had a look around The Stitch B*tch and I got myself a little Scotty dug stitched tartan fabric keyring. Very cute. 

With the time nearing 5pm, we decided to head back for home and waited for the bus to take us back the way we came. It meant going through Parkhead and past Celtic Park. OMG…I had no idea it was a match day. Fuuuuuuck! I think it was about 20 past or half past five when we got near Celtic Park. Talk about CRAWL. The traffic was a nightmare! I thought by the look of the faces of the fans milling out that they must have lost but I was informed by my friend Stephen that they had won 4-0! Lol. You’d have never known. Honestly. I saw ONE GUY celebrating. One guy. It was long after I saw a multitude other poker faces that gave absolutely nothing away. Like I say, I was convinced they’d lost. Perhaps that’s a Celtic fan’s “celebration face”? Lol.

It took us at least an hour to get through Parkhead and past Paradise. Lesson learned! NEVER go near Parkhead on a match day! 

I tell you what else…OMG…people LOOOOOVE The Forge! Lol. Half of the passengers on the bus that got on along the way, from Springburn through to the East End got off at The Forge. And when the return bus finally was able to stop at the stop for The Forge, about ten passengers got on – including a few Celtic fans. 

I think we finally got in the door about 7pm. Armed with gin and tonic. I got tanked! Lol. Naughty me! But it was great. It had been a while since I had got myself in a state like that and I was enjoying it. No real hangover to speak of today. I have always been blessed that way, thankfully!

And despite my highly intoxicated state, I still managed to thrash Birdy at a game of Scrabble. Lol. I guess when you’ve got it, you’ve got it! There’s a bit of rare bravado for me. Scrabble master! *pretends to blow waft of smoke from the muzzle of a gun*

It was a good day.

Check out the previous post for photos taken during yesterday’s adventure.