Wed 15th April
I was able to have a fairly relaxed get up, nothing too early, and have a shower! Whoo! Another week of showering, this is becoming my Wednesday treat! The bus to Glasgow was at 9.40am, and when I got to the stop there were a few people there already. By the time the bus came there must have been around 15 people ready to get on. I found my seat, pre-booked, and sat down next to another lady. She started asking me about my journey, so I told her a bit about my plans, then I asked her about hers (which I had actually overheard part of in the queue when she was talking to another couple, so it did intrigue me). She was an artist and made commissioned sculptures out of random objects. She was heading down to London to have a piece installed in a company’s reception area. She showed me a picture, and it consisted of a car wheel rim, part of a guitar neck (I think), a clarinet stood proud in the middle, and several natural trumpets arranged in a circle around the clarinet tooting outwards. I think she mentioned that the company were linked to recycling, so the idea of using a collection of pre-used objects seemed fitting. She mentioned she did lots of garden sculptures too, which are displayed in her garden in the next village along from where I had parked, so I mentioned I would definitely pay a visit once I’d got back to Scotland. She had been doing her job for about 10 years (I stupidly didn’t ask what she’d done previously), and moved up to Scotland 4 years ago, from Worthing, at the request of her retired husband. ‘If you can find somewhere with mountains, sea and trees then I will move’ she’d replied, and he’d found a place. As well as the sculptures, Jess mentioned that she did community projects, including one with a school, so if I’m able to pop in on her I look forward to hearing more about what she’d done previously.
After a few stops a man got on with his son and one of their reserved seats was the one Jess was sitting in, so they swapped. We started chatting after a bit and he had been visiting family. He told me his sisters had told him about a church that was for sale near them, for £75,000, seemed a good deal. He mentioned how he’d like to do a concert in it before its sold, with his band ‘Aye Aye’, named after the animal. I like picking up bits of stories from people along my travels.
On reaching Glasgow I found the hostel and checked in. It looked like a descent place, better than the last one I stayed in here. I’m in a dorm with 3 other girls, but none of them had arrived when I got there. Once I dropped my stuff off, I went to have mooch round town. Glasgow has a lot of shops! I walked past the Scottish Design Exchange, and it looked intriguing, so I popped in. It looks like a great initiative, a shop made up of goods from lots of local artists and designers. Each artist has a small space to exhibit their items, which ranged from pictures, jewellery, clothes, cards, so much variety and some fab designs.
After having a good walk around, finding out there were no tickets left for whatever was showing at the Concert Hall, I decided to check out the cinema. ‘Project Hail Mary’ was showing, and at a good time of 6pm, so not too late a finish for my early get up. I grabbed a Wagamama’s beforehand and enjoyed relaxing watching the film. I thought it was really good, Ryan Gosling is the main lead actor, staring in the majority of the film alone, and he also co-produces it. It’s nicely humorous, and I’d say it’s a mix between Interstellar, Wall-E, and The Martian.
On returning to the hostel, I met the other girls, Grace, from Cheshire is about to embark on the West Highland Way tomorrow. I have done it twice before and was only thinking the other day that I would very much like to do it again some time soon. Maybe later this year?!!