THE GREAT DIVIDE: ESPRESSO TALES/EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW

 In his 44 Scotland Street series, Alexander McCall Smith introduces us to some of the more elegant parts of Edinburgh along with its residents with their varying degrees of eccentricity.  In one of the books, Espresso Tales, we are briefly transported to Glasgow, where the youngest and most engaging character in the series, the mother-smothered Bertie, travels by train with his father in search of a mislaid car. 

There is often a bitter rivalry displayed between the first and second cities of any given country: Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, Madrid and Barcelona in Spain are two that spring to mind.  In Espresso Tales we are left in no doubt as to which of Scotland’s two largest cities looks down its nose at the other, not least courtesy of Bertie’s insufferable mother, Irene, whose withering remarks about Glasgow lead Bertie to believe that he is heading into the Wild West.  She mutters darkly about deep fried Mars Bars, and tells Bertie to wash his hands while there because “Glasgow is not a very salubrious place”.  She also cites the city’s mortality rates, from drinking, smoking and heart disease.  These foreboding comments are not helped by the fact that, on the approach to Glasgow, “the clear skies of the east of Scotland yielded place to a lowered ceiling of grey and purple rain clouds”.

In the event, Bertie has a splendid time in Glasgow, where on arrival he finds that the railway station is not that different from the one in Edinburgh, and neither are the people waiting at the barrier.  However, he finds the language spoken by the locals baffling, “quite like Italian in some respects”.  Bertie is introduced to this strange dialect in all its glory on meeting the local hard man Lard O’Connor, who lives in the street where the mislaid car is supposed to be, and who introduces Bertie to the Burrell Collection, a famous Glasgow art gallery. 

Main Concourse at Glasgow Central Station. Photo by DrHermannWaltz, via Wikimedia Commons.

Glasgow Central Station is a fittingly grand venue for arrivals at Scotland’s second city.  Originally opened in 1879, with the expansion of rail travel meaning the station was becoming too small, a rebuild took place from 1901 to 1905, with subsequent refurbishments leading to the light, airy concourse encountered today. 

The Burrell Collection, named after the late Sir William Burrell, is the result of Sir William’s love of collecting art and antiques, enabled by the fortune he made as a shipping merchant.  He gave his collection to the city in 1944, and the museum opened in 1983, greatly enhancing Glasgow’s image as a cultural city.  The collection contains around 9,000 items, including Chinese art, medieval treasures and works by famous French artists.  The museum resides in Pollok Country Park to the south of the city, accessible by bus or train.  Once at the park, there is a shuttle bus available for visitors to get around the park’s extensive grounds.

Burrell collection Glasgow. Photo by Helen Simonsson, via Wikimedia Commons.

Map of Glasgow.