Glasgow has a Whitehall Street – and it has proper murals

My knowledge of Glasgow Street names is woefully lacking, but with my memory, I can get a surprise just from looking at street names from the bus I travel on daily!

That said, there is some excuse for not knowing many street names from the area between Anderston and the river (Clyde). You can’t have street name signs if there are no building to screw them to, and that area has seen almost all of its buildings demolished in the past couple of decades.

There was a huge flour mill somewhere down there, which I only really know because I went there to do a favour for someone. A few years later I was looking at aerial views on Google and couldn’t find it, which I thought was odd – not that odd really, as it had been flattened not long after I was there!

While I was revising my pics of the surviving Graffiti Cat, I happened to notice some new/fresh murals on a nearby wall. I grabbed a couple of long shots, then tried to get closer for some better pics.

Once I’d navigated to the required street (access was easy, but by streets I have never had a reason to travel, and didn’t even know they were there), things did not go so well.

Although pics from a few years ago show the area as clear, now, nearly every deserted street left from demolition and other works has perimeter fencing (handy for graffiti/murals), and the ends have been closed off with portable security fencing to block access – sometimes more than one layer, in order to close gaps.

I managed a couple of shots from the footbridge over the expressway, which is where Graffiti Cat, and friend, can be seen

They matched well, and it was easy to stitch them together to see most of this section of fence.

Unfortunately, there was still a chink missing, thanks to the intrusion of another fence, which can just be seen beginning in the bottom left of this first view.

Hoping to get closer and collect better pics, I went on a tour of the various surrounding streets, which was when I found many of them were blocked by security fencing – all chained together, and also chained to the walls.

The metal fence grid was just too close to avoid, and any street level shots were ruined by its intrusion, like the one below.

Not to be beaten, I collected a few more shots that avoided the wire work, and got rid of by some selective editing and stitching, to get this view all in one pic.

While I was there, I noticed a couple of guys wandering around, eyeing up the walls, and I was most impressed when they suddenly appeared on my side of the fencing blocking the streets.

I wish I’d seen how/where they came through – when I looked at the spot they’d come from, the fence was solidly chained in place, and all the gaps I could see had been filled in with more chain.

I repeat, ‘Task Failed Successfully’ is NOT a challenge!

I did a quick resurrection of a failed clock fix.

Recall this one would just stop at random, with no apparent cause to be found.

Repair Clock No 4

One of my favourites, I persevered at the time, and suspected a temperature effect.

Unfortunately, while using a chilled box to test the idea, a gear simply vanished. No idea how since the box contained everything, but the gear was nowhere to be found.

It had been beside my photo archive boxes, and I decided to unload them, thinking the gear might have mysteriously jumped into that collection. Despite tipping most of them out, no gear fell out.

I’d ‘collected’ a couple of smaller clocks, considered expendable, and wondered if they had the same gear buried inside.

Briefly, the first one had the same mechanism casing, but contained a completely different series of gears. Even the rotor was different! So, that one lives on.

The second was no better, and yet again had a completely different gear train.

Interestingly, it did NOT have the usual clock mechanism box, but the inside of the case was a single moulding, with all the bearings, electronics, switches, and alarm sounder being mounted on moulded positions.

This one was the real fail though, as the previously working clock refused to run when reassembled. At first, it seemed to stall, then reached a point where it juddered, and even ran backwards a few times!

Nothing obvious to be seen at first, although I noticed the gears would jump out of their bearings as the case parts clicked back into place, so I had to hold the parts to avoid the jarring caused by the clips springing into position.

Eventually, I removed all the gears and checked them under magnification, which revealed the cause of THIS failure.

Three of the teeth on one gear were misshapen. My guess is that on one reassembly the jumping gears failed to align, and were slightly damaged as the case halves snapped into place.

Fortunately, these gears are so small, and their teeth so tiny, they deformed rather than broke.

It was possible to reform them back to their intended profile and, avoiding the violent snapping of the case halves back into place, reassemble the mechanism in working condition.

A nasty surprise though, and something to watch out for in future, since many of these mechanisms have the same four clips to hold the cases together.

The gears SHOULD slide into their pivot points, guided by cones moulded into the casing, around the holes forming the pivots, but it would seem to be worth the effort of confirming the gears are well aligned before completing the process.

Looks like spring (but I still hate my weather)

It looks like it’s finally safe to use the immortal phrase ‘Spring has Sprung’.

So why am I still grumpy?

Well, it’s almost as if we got ONE day of spring – then jumped straight into summer.

It may not be obvious from the graphs, which have properly screened temperatures sensors, but if you go out into the direct sun – the temperature can easily rise to more than +30°C where it strikes. And that’s pretty warm, especially if you’ve been shuffling around where you were lucky to reach even +16°C only a few days ago.

Motor racing tracks in England are recording sunny track surface temperatures up in the 40s!

Wind – still fires up with gusts during the day, but less than before. Not so bad for cycling, but can STILL be a surprise.

Temperature – chart LOOKS better than it is in reality as cold air is still being blown in by the wind, especially if north or east.

Rain – while it has relaxed, we had thunder and lighting last night! I was almost heading out, but it was kind enough to start before I reached the door.

Note the max/min chart – suddenly no more chilly nights.

About time too – it is the middle of MAY!

Ayr’s Carnegie library – an interesting place to study

If you miss the terrible pun – I don’t just mean to study ‘in’.

The building has some attractions for fans of the slightly odd – here’s one of them.

While I’d LIKE to claim this was something I noticed, I can’t, and have to confess to being told about it a long, long time ago – but only recently stopped to look, and collect pics to prove it.

Referring to the area of the library’s facade seen below, look below each of the four windows.

Roundels.

Apparently identical roundels.

But, they’re not!

With the best will in the world, a wide, long distance pic from the opposite side of the road isn’t going to show much detail (unless you have the huge original) other than location and shape, so here are the close up, starting with the one on the left.

For reference, I’ll refer to this one as ‘rotating’ clockwise, a distinction which will become relevant.

Not much to add other than that clockwise note, and the fact that it has weathered more than 100 years, as the library was built around 1893, after Carnegie donated £10,000 with his usual conditions, requiring the elected officials (the local government) to:

• demonstrate the need for a public library
• provide the building site
• pay staff and maintain the library
• draw from public funds to run the library – not use only private donations
• annually provide ten percent of the cost of the library’s construction to support its operation
• provide free service to all

The second roundel just to the left of the entrance, has weathered as well as the first, but…

Apparently ‘rotates’ in a counterclockwise direction, opposite to the first.

On to the third, to the right of the entrance.

Apparently rotating counterclockwise.

Sadly, seems to have been carved from a different piece of sandstone, and badly weathered. Much of the detail has been dissolved and washed away by the rain. The centre and lower areas are almost gone, with only the top part showing any structure, probably thanks to the slight overhanging surround above.

And finally, the fourth and final roundel, which is the gem of the collection.

Notice anything different?

It LOOKS as if it’s rotating counterclockwise and has no detail left.

But, that’s not the case if you stop for a moment, and look closer.

It’s been installed BACK TO FRONT!

That the smooth flat back of the roundel that we are looking at, not a face that has been weather over the years, and become smooth.

So, it should actually appear to rotate CLOCKWISE – making two pairs, one clockwise, and one anticlockwise,

Presumably the architect had intended these to appear symmetrical on the facade, with one side showing a clockwise pair, and the other a mirror image, with a counterclockwise pair.

Impossible to say, as they’ve been completely jumbled during their installation.

The only way to know what went where would be to dig up the original plans/drawings, if they are filed anywhere.

Maybe someone local knows where, and would let us know 🙂

‘Task Failed Successfully’ – was not meant as an invitation!

I was

Already collecting various failures BEFORE applying the above catchphrase. Now, things are getting ridiculous.

For example, I just picked up a no-name battery analogue wall clock, because its case/surround allowed it to be stood on a shelf or mantle – not usually possible if they’re round. Just some old stock, covered in thick dust and, with a ticking second hand, not sweep.

The case had wood top and bottom with open sides supported by metal rods, and a silver face.

All it needed was a clean and polish, particularly the face, which some idiot had splashed tea or coffee through the open side, and it had dried there.

What could go wrong?

Quote a lot, cosmetically at least.

The face was made of thin aluminium sheet laminated onto a hardboard backing. No numbers, just radial lines marking the 12 hours.

From its appearance, I had no reason to suspect anything, and made a first pass with water to remove the tea/coffee, then applied a cleaning wax.

This did not go well.

Although all I had used was a microfibre cloth, the aluminium turned out to be some sort of soft alloy. The surface was covered with random scratches – the alloy was so soft it couldn’t even be polished to remove the scratches.

No idea what this stuff is made of, although I have come across it before. Not sure what it was for, but it came on a roll, like a thin tape, which was malleable and could be used to conceal gaps.

This is a stainless steel one – you can hit it with a hammer (gently) and it won’t care!

Not sure what to do – replacing the dial is simple, but not really economic – unless I have a suitable one in stock, but mine are all round, and this one is square, to suit the case.

Subterfuge may be the solution – I can use the cloth to lay on a ‘brushed metal’ finish, and depend on the clock being mounted far away on a wall, where the detail cannot be seen, and it looks original.

Then again, I’ve got a REAL aluminium clock face (just kidding, it’s stainless steel and can be cleaned and waxed without ‘melting’) liberated from a failed movement. Only problem with that one is that it’s round, and thick, having been intended to be hung on a wall with no surround or case.

I STILL can’t really believe this one.

After all, who in their right mind makes a clock face out of what amounts to little more than toffee?

All this hassle from a quick ‘Dismantle and Clean’ 10-minute task!

It will drag on for DAYS!

Knock on the door, “OPEN UP – TOURISM ENFORCEMENT!”

I miss the videos I used to see posted a few hours after being shot in various Far Eastern location, mainly Korea (South), Japan, and China.

I don’t know what’s changed, but they seem to have, and I don’t see the crazy colourful night scenes they used to feature. Instead, there’s a load of glum material.

Whatever, there are still occasional gems, such as this grab from Hongyadong.

Not sure how ‘enforcement’ is applied to something like tourism.

I tend to think of ‘traffic enforcement’ or ‘parking enforcement’, with appropriately licensed officers, in uniform, with the authority to issue penalties for non-compliance, and compel compliance with rules and regulations.

On the other hand, if you caught the video of Chinese party officials (not tourists as many reports stated) ordering people NOT to video them in a UK train station – maybe ‘tourism enforcement’ is not such a strange concept.

I now have a mental image of enforcement officers knocking on doors in the middle of the night, pulling dazed people/families from their beds and telling them to pack and be ready to leave in ten minutes as their flight to China is waiting.

If that sounds familiar, I was going to use the word ‘Gestapo’ in this post, but decided not to.

Good news, Graffiti Cat survived the works

Last time, back in June 2023, I noted this little piece of graffiti was, I thought, about to be lost as the adjacent land was being filled with various lumps of concrete and associated plant and machinery.

I thought someone had acquired the land, and something was about to appear on it.

Not so, back here for the first time since then (it’s now May 2024), the site/land is once again derelict and deserted, and one of my favourite character is back in the open, as good as before.

Not sure if the original post was correct now, as it referred to Graffiti Cat 2020 – Catch it while you can (it has CATBUTT!)

From other catches featuring this character, I’ve found its companion is actually a dog, NOT another cat, although in this case, the angle makes it less obvious. However, the devil is in the detail, and the cat has a rounded connection between its ears, while the dog has straight lines for its ears.

Obvious when you know, but I hadn’t come across this back then.

Even MORE graffiti

While there’s always graffiti around this ground, most of it is rubbish, mainly just ‘Word Graffiti’ and not worth the effort of even looking at.

However, I noticed a few more imaginative murals and images had appeared since I was last there (what had been there already was weathering and fading), and tried to catch some, hopefully useable in another post.

Problem was it was late and getting dark (as usual for me, it seems) and when I tried to get to the images, I found that a lot of contractor’s perimeter security fencing had been tied across the streets to prevent access, so I was forced to work from a distance.

I noticed a couple of guys wandering around while I was there (they were graffiti artist spying their next location), but don’t tell anybody.

Not sure where they found gaps to get into the streets, I couldn’t see any, although some of the walls do have breaks and gaps to be found when you get closer to them.

Everything breaks!

I had a brief moan in a recent post, grumbling about the way everything seemed to break, or fail, be unfixable, or something similar.

I had a perfect example recently, arriving home from a long bike ride.

I used to (and apparently soon will again) have a rear mudguard similar to the one shown below attached while there was still a chance of rain or, more likely, middy puddles all over the place.

It helps prevent that lovely wet/muddy line developing down the middle of your back, or on your backpack.

I found it while cycling through a park, and it was brand new, but missing all fixings, and was ‘collected’ as it was much better than the horrible one I was using at the time, which I don’t think had ever been near a stylist or designer. I cobbled together a mounting bracket from my junk, and used it for ages.

A few weeks a go I spotted a mudguard set that looked decent, with the advantage that it could be quickly clipped on and off the bike, rather than the usual jumble of screws, nuts, washers etc, which need at least one tool to fix in place.

The new one seemed to be great, Tight, secure, and fast to fit and removes as the weather demanded.

Things were fine, until I arrived home and got off my bike – my habit is to swing one leg over the back wheel. Unfortunately, that usually collects the mudguard, since I don’t have much clearance.

On this occasion, there was a loud crack or click as I collected the mudguard once again.

However, this time, the clip (which uses an over-centre ratchet to tighten) would not tighten, no matter how many times I tried.

I thought I’d broken something, either the bracket that goes around the seat post, or the ratchet strap itself. But, no, everything was there, complete, apparently undamaged, and without even a crack to be found in the material, no mater how hard I pulled or twisted it under magnification.

However, if I fitted it to the post, just the same as before, it took virtually no effort to make the ratcheting mechanism slip a tooth and leave the mudguard loose.

I’ve given up staring at it looking for the failure point, and even tried jamming a shim behind the ratchet teeth and pawl, to stop it moving or jumping past its engagement point.

IT STILL JUMPS OUT AND GOES LOOSE – something I hadn’t been able to make it do when I tested it before taking it for its first ride.

I’m at a loss to exp-lain this one.

The ratchet pawl is solid, has no cracks, all its teeth are present, none are broken, and they are all complete, all the way to their tips.

The ratchet strap is also complete, with all teeth present, again all the way to their tips.

The base is complete, and has no breaks or cracks.

The over centre clamp works normally, and hold securely until I stress the clamp, at which point it just seems to come loose, the ratchet strap goes slack, and when checked, has moved one tooth or more.

As per the previous thread, ‘Task Failed successfully’.

And I have to go back to my screw on clamp rear mudguard.

Frustration

It’s hard to describe just how frustrating this particular failure has been.

Although I have all the pieces on the bench in front of me, NONE of them appear to show any signs of damage anywhere, Yet while they may all look like new, and were working perfectly, when assembled after being ‘bumped’, will no longer work together, and secure the mudguard to the post.

My best guess for now is that, even though I can’t see it, the sharp point of the affected teeth (two are engaged when it is locked in place, not just one) just isn’t sharp enough now to stay ln place, and the slight rounding is allowing it to slip under the tension of the clamp.

That said, there’s a row of these, and they all look exactly the same, even under magnification (same goes for the pawl that matches them).

The other, possibly more likely cause, and one I CAN’T check because I don’t know the original/design spec dimensions, is that the plastic material stretched slightly when I bumped it, and has not returned to its original size.

This would, of course, leave a slight gap, and this could allow the parts to move enough to lose engagement.

The only way to check would be to buy another set, and see which parts worked together, and which didn’t.

And THAT’s not happening – I now have plenty of mudguards, and don’t need more, just ‘To See’!

Sphinx cat (and girl) have gone!

While I knew it wouldn’t be a persistent mural, I am sad to see that ‘Sphinx Cat and Girl’ has gone, especially after all the ‘fun’ of trying to get the colours right in the pic.

That’s what happens when you don’t get back to spots for months.

This is one I’ll miss, but I do have my pics.

So, what fabulous work has replaced it?

Well, if you’re a crazy cat person, you’re not going to be happy.

A fat greyhound!

I’m NOT being funny or negative. In fact, I think the view is very well rendered.

I’d not long passed some people walking greyhounds, and the real thing is nothing like the example above, unless they were starving theirs!

I should add that this qualifies as one of my hand held, low light, night shots.

This spot is fairly well served by street lights (white LED of course), although I would not have been surprised if the autofocus had protested, given the lack of contrast, but it was happy.

I’ll have to try to divert for a daylight shot though, now that the weather is threatening to get better, and I can cycle to Partick rather than go by bus, and save time.

Depending on the number of loonies I meet, cycling can be as little as 40 minutes, but 50 minutes is more realistic. Sadly, the bus is well over an hour now, and can hit 90 minutes if Glasgow has decided to host some daft event.

Meet the worried building at Yoker Ferry

By chance, I ended up at Yoker Ferry Road last night, without even realising where I was.

I’d gone for a ride along the cycle route from Glasgow to Clydebank, and pulled off when the section converted from a former rail line came to an end. I thought the place I ended up looked familiar, having gone there via road routes some time ago, and realised I was at the corner of Dumbarton Road and Yoker Ferry Road.

Frankly, the place is an utter tip, and such a mess I couldn’t even tell if the ferry was still running – it was back in 2022: Spotted the Renfrew Yoker ferry recently – not a happy sight

I followed close to 100 search links, none of which had live info on the ferry, with stories about cancellation from around 2010 and 2014 being all that was returned. It may have a Facebook page, but I don’t go near that. The most recent mention was about the bridge I photographed arriving, but even that was 2018/19, and about the proposal.

This visit was at night, so I guess I should get back during the day. That seems to be the only way to find out anything. There was even an info board, or fare list, as had been found previously.

I’m sorry for any poor sod trying to find out about the ferry.

The worried/alarmed building

Overlooking the slipway used by the ferries between Yoker and Renfrew is a derelict building, which has managed to stay standing, so far, despite that dereliction.

However, it may know something bad is coming, as it looks distinctly worried, or even alarmed, and is watching its back.

Heading back to the road later, having been down to the river and photographed the first section of the new to have arrived, I found there was some more artwork on the other end of the building.

Good job I took a closer shot – the first isn’t readable!

Strangely, this has my ‘catchphrase’ on it!

Don’t know why, but whenever I’m wandering strange places I have no knowledge of, strangers and cars seem to home in on me, and ask for directions, and that’s the answer they always get.

New (proper) mural appears on River Kelvin underpass

It’s a while since I’ve been through the underpass over the River Kelvin on the path to Riverside.

While the bad news is the spread of ‘Word Graffiti‘ over the proper/real murals sprayed down there, the good news is that there is still the occasion piece of proper mural artwork.

I had to stop and go ack for a pic, in case the morons show their usual disrespect, and start painting over it with their rubbish.

It was almost too wide to catch, and I had my back against the fence, but didn’t want to start taking multiple shots, so I could recreate the view.