Scotland - home of the heilan coo

After weeks of searching, I found Scotland. Plus it was exactly where I'd left it, somewhere north of England and roughly in line with the Arctic circle, at least according to the weather. No, its a vicious lie. The weather was at least Scandinavian, not quite arctic. So where to, well first stop was Glasgow, which is filled with heroin addicts and glassings (at least according to 1970s history). Once again it wasn't true, I was only glassed twice in my first morning and it was more of a friendly welcome than anything else. Plus the heroin was nowhere near as obvious as people claimed. So what was memorable about Glasgow, well to begin with it was filled with some classic buildings, the university is amazing, the cathedral is gothic to the extreme and the children's playgrounds still contain potentially damaging equipment.

Adam and I began with a tour of the sights of central glasgow, which included a fine fish pie and a very reputable establishment and a warming local beer. We wandered around the glasgow green and basically walked around the east end of the city, trying to determine if there was anywhere exciting to live. What struck me first of all was how compact the place is. You can easily walk around most of the city, west end east end, all within about 40 minutes walk. A lot of the museums and cultural attractions are not too far away at all. The university, pictured above, is a masterpiece of unfinished architecture. The spire was never meant to be hollow, they ran out of cash half way through and soon came up with a new design to save cash.

Nearby is Ashton lane, where there are some hidden away little shops and bars that benefit from the local drunken uni student crowd. The beer selection is monumental and the prices are only slightly more than your local beer and bothy.