Walking South from the City

A rare trip to the city centre today to a children's music event at the Royal Concert Hall, but which actually ended up more spent in the library at the basement of GoMA. We ate lunch in the children's section while Ula ran around the carpet and did some colouring in. It was very wet outside and I had not brought my waterproof coat.

Ula finally asleep in the buggy we decided to walk the three and a half miles home. A late, vivid blue sky was breaking out before sunset. It has been a few years since I have done this walk, and I was satisfied at the prospect. The walk south from the centre takes you over the Clyde, then a sharp left under a low, broad railway bridge before heading down a very straight road that was once purposed for a tramline. This straight road takes us almost the whole way home, to the entrance of Queen's Park. This crossing from the centre to the south is one of my favourite parts of the city. It has a desolate, industrial beauty, and just a peppering of a few interesting places to eat and drink that are a little off the beaten track. Lauriston, Eglinton Toll, Pollokshields, Govanhill, Queen's Park: these places get gradually more defined along the journey of this two mile stretch.

We discover an excellent Middle Eastern shop just over the Clyde, and pick up a delicious spinach and cheese pastry along with a simit, both warm in my hand through the paper bag. I greedily eye all the spices and numerous types of beans, lentils and olives before deciding I will make a further visit some time soon.

Two views of the sky were worth picturing today along this walk. The first was a chunky snippet of a rainbow as you look up Hope Street from the bottom of Central Station. The second was at Eglinton Toll, over the railway line and abandoned warehouses, just before going under the broad flyover that's painted a brilliant sky blue.

We found a jellyfish in the park today

Plastic tubs

I have been keeping some bits of packaging to one side - the plastic trays ready made cakes come in, a chocolate box tray, yogurt pots, that sort of thing, as it occurred to me that these could be used for play some how. It's quite alarming to see how much of this stuff we use and that can't be recycled in our area. Yesterday I cut some of these things up and they were a real success. I thought they were a much more stimulating source of creativity, as they could be adapted to make all sorts of things, and really complimented playing with plasticine and small figures.

I cut up a chocolate box tray to make lots of single chocolate size containers, which made little stools or a trough for an animal. A yogurt pot is a used as a cooking pot here and the clear plastic tray is a bath.

The cake tray is used for an animal shed, and below some plasticine has been added to make a fire and a couple of tree stumps to sit on.