Glasgow

Dearest Rachel –

Once again, I’m not sure whether to bother researching a place we’ve visited before; except for the fact that we really didn’t visit this city the last time I recall being here. When we pulled into Greenock, we simply took a shore excursion that drove us across the width of Scotland (such as it is at that point; I want to say that it was less than an hour’s drive, but I can’t remember offhand) to Edinburgh, where our brother-in-law Bill’s family (the McCarrolls – am I spelling that right?) hails from. Really, the only bit of footage I have from the western side of Scotland is this lone bagpiper greeting the ship as we made port:

And again, that was in Greenock – so technically, although the itinerary from our 2003 trip says we were in Glasgow, it doesn’t really count. So you’d think that a little bit of preparation would reasonably be considered the order of the day before setting foot in what I might consider to be the second city of Scotland (and boy, can’t you imagine how Glaswegians might resent that description! Still, could they argue against it, given Edinburgh’s status as the capital?)

Then again, Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland by a considerable margin; either by 25% (if you count just the city locality proper) or nearly 100% (if you count what’s referred to as the ‘settlement,’ which include outlying localities within the cities’ respective orbits. Think of the settlement as the metropolitan area, including suburbs – which Glasgow has in more abundance, for some reason) compared to Edinburgh. So perhaps calling it the second city is a little uncharitable, although it would seem that it was in fact referred to as the “second city of the British Empire” for much of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Still, there’s a vast difference between Scotland alone and the entirety of the British Empire, particularly at its height in the Victorian era.

The thing is – and I say this before trying to do any real research on the place other than the population – the reputation of the two towns, barely an hour’s drive apart, mind you, could hardly be more different to an outsider’s mind like mine. You have the ancient seat of the Scots throne (well, ancient by American standards; I get that its position as the seat of government doesn’t go all the way back into the Stuart line of Jameses, let alone such immortals as Robert the Bruce, but nearly six hundred years is no small amount of time when ours hasn’t even clocked in at two hundred fifty) and all the governmental occupation that comes with that position in Edinburgh, giving it a polished, elite appearance. By contrast, the image Glasgow conjures up is a working man’s town, rough-and-tumble (and maybe a little violent – you don’t want to be head-butted by a Glaswegian; you’ll get your nose broken), which, now that I think about it, makes it sound like the United Kingdom’s answer to Chicago – or, since it’s so much younger, would Chicago be our answer to Glasgow?

All of which is pure stereotype, I’m sure, rather than reality; or if there is reality to its hard-edge nature, it’s not such that isn’t common to virtually all big cities these days. Population density drives a certain level of… let’s just call it ‘interpersonal tension’ and leave it at that. In any event, I doubt that, as we’ll only be there during broad daylight, we’ll have anything to do with the seamier side of the city. If nothing else, we’ll likely be directed to the scenic vistas and higher-end shopping districts in the burgh.

Although, speaking of population, it seems that Glasgow was one of the first European cities to cross the one million mark, back in the middle of the nineteenth century (it passed Edinburgh in size just over two hundred years ago, and apparently has never looked back). What’s strange about this, though, is that it has never gotten as far as 1.1 million, peaking at some 1.089 million in the Fifties, at which point it was one of the most densely-populated cities in the world. Then again, it seems that the boundaries of the city – to say nothing of the differences between the ‘locality’ and the ‘settlement’ – changed from census to census over time, making comparisons difficult. Still, it is crowded even now, with people packed in more than twice as tightly as they are back home, just for comparison’s sake. Not that I haven’t seen worse in Asia, but still; the idea of nearly ten thousand people per square mile, in pre-high-rise days is terrifyingly impressive.

Of course, I can only expect that, with modern architecture and technology, that sort of population is more manageable; although at that point, the question becomes more one of keeping everyone occupied. That stereotypical rough-and-tumble (a polite way of suggesting ‘criminal’) nature stems from Glasgow having been an industrial hub once upon a time, but for whom much of its historical industry having died off or been offshored. Think of places like Detroit or Pittsburgh; former manufacturing centers that have been overtaken by places halfway around the world. Then again, it seems that the “Merchant City” district of town has been converted from the international port on the Clyde River is once was some two hundred years ago to upscale housing and high-end boutiques, so perhaps they’re leading the curve on urban revival, somehow. Oddly enough, I can’t find specifics on the city’s current industry in Wikipedia, so I really don’t know what’s up with that.

In other demographic information, one item we used to cover from city to city was its religious makeup. This is likewise discouraging (to us, anyway), as a plurality – somewhere over forty percent – actually has no religion anymore. The closest group with an actual affiliation, those who consider themselves Catholic, make up barely half that many people. This could be due to the splintering of the many Protestant denominations… or it could be the general tendency throughout Europe of leaving religion behind as some silly superstition. Imagine going through life without an invisible means of support, having nothing to put your faith in other than yourself (while knowing just how incapable you, personally, are). Saint Mungo (yes, that’s his name), the legendary founder of the town, would be most disappointed.

But that’s neither here nor there for us. We’ve got to be getting ready to go soon, so I’ll have to ask you to keep an eye out for us, and wish us luck. We’re going to need it.