Glasgow- Fire alarms and a Suicidal Man

Yeah I bet that title got your attention...

I checked into Glasgow in the late afternoon, but it is not dark until after 10:30pm, so with plenty of sunlight I set out to orient myself. Glasgow was once a huge industrial money-maker for Scotland from textile factories to ship building. It also served as the European port for Virginia tobacco. However, after WWII it's industrial golden age (which actually added a layer of black soot to much of the city) came to a closure. The city is in the middle of a artistic revival. The Glasgow School of Art was two blocks away from my guest house. Along with the arts comes interesting restaurants and expensive shopping. While I only window shopped, it was interesting to see parts of post-industrial Glasgow transformed while other neighborhoods still awaited a face lift.

Taking advantage of having my own bedroom and bathroom, I headed to bed early after a nice long shower, which didn't include flip-flops nor the need to continually push a button to get water.

Day two in Glasgow proved to be exciting. I headed to the Kelvingrove Museum. After unintentionally taking the scenic route I found the museum. The Kelvingrove houses an eclectic collection ranging from natural history to world history to art to human rights. I was mesmerized my the honey beehive with bees busily cleaning and building the hive and honey. I also watched for 10 minutes as a drone bee was born. A drone bee is the stud of the hive and his job is to knock up the queen bee. After the bees I wander into the Ancient Egypt exhibit only to be forced out by a fire alarm. I felt horrible for the school teachers who after collecting scattered children then had to keep them calm and collected outside for nearly an hour. I took the opportunity to get some lunch from a vendor (who was clearly benefiting from the alarm) and chatted with an older couple from Sterling. They invited me to come to their home for dinner if I was going to be in Sterling at any point. Sadly I will not make it to Sterling, but they were wonderful company while the firemen verified the false alarm.

I spent the rest of the evening at the museum until closing at 6ish. I decide to take a walk along the Buchanan Street, which has no vehicle traffic. However, that changed on this particular day as a half-a-dozen emergency vehicles raced from behind me and then stopped several building ahead. Having no agenda I decided to investigate the drama. I immediately wished I had decided other wise. A man was standing atop a 5 story building threatening to jump. If anyone was thinking the jump would cause only severe injury and not be fatal he corrected them by tossing objects down to show otherwise. It was terrifying yet it was hard to walk away. But I did and not wanting to know the actual outcome, I have simply assume the man was talked down and then taken to the nearest hospital for help.

That night I made dinner and packed for an early departure to Portree on the Isle of Skye.