Visiting Glasgow: Impressions

I recently had the opportunity to visit Glasgow, Scotland for a business trip. Here is an account of my experience and impressions.

The first thing I noticed upon arriving in Glasgow (pronounced Glazz Go by locals) was the weather. It was very much like home; gray, wet, and either raining or threatening to start. Nearly every local that I engaged in conversation apologized for the weather and said something about the previous sun-breaks that I had just missed. Our taxi driver had my favorite comment about it when he said, “If it isn’t raining now, it’s never far” while pointing to the deep black clouds in the distance. This encounter set off my trip with a particular mood that I carried through for my entire visit. While on the surface this attitude may seem a little depressing -morose even- in practice it encourages an appreciation for what is directly in front of you. This is exemplified by the very Scottish phenomena “Taps Aff.” This thick accented pronunciation of “Tops Off” is the act of being ready at a moments notice to take off your top should the sun suddenly appear. Though I never witnessed it first hand, I heard it discussed a number of times by locals. Enjoying the sun-breaks when they come because the rain is never far, is an attitude that would serve all of us well regardless of our environment.

The locals are a very interesting lot. I noted that they (in general of course) are incredibly honest and down to earth. There is no pretense to speak of, no posturing, or carefully grooming of the public persona. Everyone seems to be genuinely behaving as is perfectly natural. No comment seems carefully selected, no smile seems forced, and every reaction seems improvised. Perhaps this was especially overt to me as I had just spent time in Hollywood for business. Many of those folks seem to focus on brands and styles over substance or even practicality and seem to be more concerned about other’s opinions than their own value. I don’t mean to suggest that the people of Glasgow were unkempt or lacked any type of fashion sense, more that the needs of daily living far outweighed the need to present themselves in some trendy way. In fact, the classic American consumer that lives and breaths off of reality television and is obsessed with brands and celebrity culture are referred to by the slang term, “Chav.” While that group is common and even championed in the US, the UK views them as simple, shallow, and unoriginal.

The weather, locals, and architecture reminded me of the City of Philadelphia. This comparison was vindicated when I found the gigantic three-tiered staircase in Kelvington Grove Park. I couldn’t possibly count the number of locals that I witnessed run up and down those stairs as part of their fitness routine. It took incredible restraint to not begin humming the “Rocky” theme every time I saw one.

I was told by a number of locals that Glasgow invented Chicken Tika Masala. A fact that they seemed incredibly proud of. It is also apparently the curry capital of the UK and Indian cuisine is certainly represented in large numbers. My favorite location for Indian food was a place called “Mr Singhs” and we visited it several times. Their logo includes a stylized image of a classic Indian man and every time we visited there was a man on the floor that fit that description. The place had been recommended to us by our cab driver and he had specifically told us to try some Pakora. He also suggested that Pakora is the greatest food of all and that he had dreamed of moving to the states and introducing it to Americans from a food truck that he was tentatively calling “The Pakora Shack.” My suggestion to change it to “The Pakora Pagoda” was dismissed quickly. Pakora (to over simplify, I’m sure) is much like tempura. Wherein we have tempura chicken, mushrooms, prawns, etc. as appetizers, Glasgow has Pakora. It comes in the same varieties as ours, as well as Haggis. It is deep fried finger food, but each batter is specific to the type of Pakora and the dips are very Indian. I tend to agree with my cab driver that it could very well be the greatest food of all time.

Glasgow is home to a massive 37 acre graveyard called “The Necropolis” that is situated behind the Glasgow Cathedral. We spent a day walking those grounds and exploring the cathedral, and it was cathartic. I had recently attended a funeral in the states and someone referred to the church as the house of God. I thought to myself (and vocalized later in private) that I couldn’t imagine why a person would ever look for God inside of a man-made building when certain locations in nature are so much more inspiring and sacred. Stepping into the Glasgow Cathedral silenced that opinion instantly. I firmly believe that the staunchest atheist would have a difficult time not feeling something otherworldly -even sacred- inside of that building. The graveyard was equally powerful in evoking the feeling of ancient stories and tradition. It felt like, if you squinted just right, you could see the ghosts behind every gravestone.

Our last night there we went to Mr. Singh’s for dinner and I had a fantastic conversation with our waiter. We talked about the importance of studying history in order to find our place within it, a topic that he initiated unprompted. It was a fascinating and inspiring conversation and at one point I inadvertently replaced the term “history” with “legacy.” He immediately corrected me by saying, “I’m talking about history here, not legacy. Someone can come along and destroy your legacy in an instant, but nothing can destroy your history.”

Glasgow is a world class city. It has a high-end shopping district, museums, and special events galore. It certainly has everything to offer that a traveler could desire and so much more. I am a fairly comfortable person and I can make myself at ease in most places that I have visited, but Glasgow has something to it that makes that process much easier. I don’t believe that it is overselling it to say that everyone would feel welcome there. I plan to visit it as often as I can and would love to find a way to relocate there completely.

Jeff Hoyle

Adventures in Food

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