Arrived back in London on 4th Nov at about 6am, attended lessons from 10am to 6pm, and then off I was on the 11pm coach to Glasgow. No prizes for guessing the objective of my trip. Its to watch Glasgow Celtic take on Kilmarnock (it's all right if you have never heard of Kilmarnock...) on 6th November. Since I did not have any lessons on Friday, I decided to go to Glasgow a day earlier to do a bit of touring since I had never really been there before (never really coz I had been there for a couple of hours in my first year but only hang around in the bus station...).
After an 8 hour coach ride, i arrived in Glasgow at about 730am on 5th Nov. After finding my hostel (which turned out to be further away than I had imagined it to be), I proceeded to my first stop - Hampden Park, home of Scottish football.
Hampden Park is the home ground of the Scottish national team and the price of the stadium and museum tour was pretty cheap and so I decided to go in. When the tour started, I was the only person there and thus I was free to ask the guide any question and it was really nice. The most satisfying stadium tour I had been on thus far. He told me lots of small stories and details, especially regarding
Rangers and Celtic. These 2 clubs were from Glasgow and had afierce rivalry divided along religious lines (Protestants vs Catholics). The 2 clubs were by far the most dominant in Scottish football and thus contested a lot of Cup finals in Hampden. So much so that the 2 sides have their own dressing room in the stadium. Celtic would take the away dressing room and Rangers would take the home dressing room. This is because of tradition. A long time ago, people used to walk from their homes to the stadium. Ibrox (home ground of Rangers) was in the west and Celtic Park (home ground of Celtic) was in the east and so most Rangers fans would come in from the west side and most Celtic fans would walk to the stadium from the east. Thus, it made sense for Rangers to come into the home dressing room facing the west rather than face the wrath of Celtic fans in the east and vice versa.
The picture above is the away dressing room but it made no difference actually. Hampden is a stadium accredited with 5 star status and one of the requirements was that the 2 dressing rooms must have the same facilities. There were 22 lockers in each dressing room, another requirement for 5 star status because there were 22 players in each team for international matches. Another requirement was that there had to be individual shower heads (not a communal bath tub) presumably for hygiene reasons. There were also 2 separate rooms for ball boys (and girls) and 2 separate rooms for male (and female) referees. The guide also told me that during halftime, referees are allowed to watch their decisions on tv in their rooms but they have to watch it without sound. This is to prevent them from being influenced by the commentators on TV....very interesting.
Another thing that the stadium had was an indoor artificial training pitch. It had goals at 2 ends and a curtain separating the pitch into 2 so that both teams could use it simultaneously. Apparently the artificial turf made the ball bounce more naturally or something like that. But the best thing about the place is that it had an equipment to measure how fast you can shoot the ball into goal. It's that black thing behind the goal. Since I was the only one, I had 4 tries and managed to record 45mph. Really wonder how the hell those professional players strike balls at over 100kph or mph.
The picture above is the trophy presentation area. Again due to special circumstances, the direction of the players going up and down is different in Rangers vs Celtic matches. Normally the players would go up from the left and go down on the right (from the view of the trophy presenter) but if Rangers wins, they will go up from the right and go down on the left side. This is because Rangers fans are always sitted on the left side (because the left side is the west side_ and it would not be nice to have it the other way and have Rangers parade the trophy to Celtic fans.
The guide also told me that Queens Park are the club side that uses Hampden Park for matches regularly. They are the oldest Scottish football club and in the first match between Scotland and England, all 11 Scottish players came from Queens Park. It was probably the only time in international football history that all players in an international side came from only 1 club. The demise of Queens Park came when they refused to turn professional (their players nowadays are still amateurs) stating that their players play for the love of the game and not money. As a result, nowadays only a few hundred watch their games in the Third Division or something, a sad situation for a historically very important club. An interesting sidenote is that when the ball gets hacked out of play, the ball boy has to run up the steps and seats to fetch the ball back as the stadium is empty in most areas because only a few hundred people will be watching. Exercise anybody?
The real Scottish Cup
Reconstructed commentary box from the old Hampden before it was pulled down to make way for this new stadium
After Hampden, it was off to Ibrox, home ground of Glasgow Rangers FC. Between Celtic and Rangers, I like Rangers more(because I like the colour of their jersey). But other people are more interested in watching Celtic and so decided to watch Celtic instead.
The old blue gates of Ibrox
Inside this building is the marble halls of Ibrox? (lousy English)
I had wanted to go for the stadium tour of Ibrox as well but in the end I didn't. It was about 145pm when I reached there and the person told me the tour would start at 230pm. I figured by the end of the tour I would only have about 1 hour of daylight left for walking around and thus I decided against it. Would I be back in the future for a match? Maybe....
So off I went for some non-football related sights around. I went to the Botanic Gardens which I found to be surprisingly huge and very peaceful.
The small little river in the picture above is the River Kelvin that flows through the Botanic Gardens.
City Chambers and George Square in front of it.
The above picture is that of the Glasgow Cathedral, passed by George Square on my way there. I did not know which way to go to go near the cathedral and ended up walking into a cemetery :S (note the creepy darkness descending) and the worst thing was that the cemetery had only 1 entrance. I walked on and on thinking that there would be an exit at the other side (which was nearer the cathedral) but there wasn't. Luckily I managed to get out before it was completely dark. I am most afraid of ghosts :S.
Yeah but just when I wanted to go into the cathedral (it was about 430pm at this point, supposed to be open), I saw this:
Seems like you can't run away from British inefficiency and cock ups, not even in Scotland, not even when you are working for a cathedral.
On my way back, I passed by George Square again. Really like the following picture...
It was dark and cold by now. And I began to hunt for some food for dinner. I kept walking down this street trying to find something which I think I would enjoy eating. However, I did not find anything and thus decided to walk back in the opposite direction. However, I soon discovered it to be close to impossible to walk in the opposite direction because I was walking against a lot a lot of people. I thought that something might be happening in the original direction in which I was heading and thus decided to follow the crowd. I felt like one of those mice who followed the Pied Piper's music but luckily I did not need to jump into River Clyde or anything like that. Instead, I found the
Glasgow Fireworks 2004 was on! Lucky me. Not sure if I had mentioned Guy Fawkes' Day to you guys whereby people are allowed to set off fireworks for one week each year. Presumably this fireworks display is to celebrate Guy Fawkes' Day in Glasgow. Lucky me, now I had something to while away my time.
There were a lot of people there, the TV presenter said that there were 92000 people there including those at the fun fair beside Glasgow Green. And judging from the number of people I saw, I would hardly dispute that number. At 730pm, rain drops began to fall but finally the fireworks was about to start! 3....2.....1......
huh? where's the fireworks? The theme music from the 70s blasted from the amplifiers and loads of stupid people like me looked up to the heavens for some semblance of sparks and light. But the only fireworks were those set off by ordinary people far away in the distant evening sky. Yes its the return of the British cock up again *applause*. No matter where you go, no matter where you run, from London to Lincoln, from Glasgow to Greenwich, you can be assured that you best friend, British cock up, will be with you all the way! The stupid countdown happened not once, not twice, not even thrice but a total of FOUR times. Apparently the guy who is setting off the fireworks ran out of MATCHES. I rest my case.
Just when I was contemplating whether to go back, the music suddenly restarted and the fireworks finally appeared!
It last for a good half an hour I guess. 70s music from ABBA, Gloria Gaynor and Rod Stewart (I am no music expert, only repeating the names that the TV presenter mentioned) blasted from the amplifiers and people were ooooohing and aaaaahing, dancing and busy snapping photos. As if on cue, the rain also stopped the moment the fireworks appeared. Last year at this time, I was at Clapham Common watching fireworks (again unintentionally) and this time I am at Glasgow Green. This time next year, will I be somewhere in UK watching fireworks, or will I be watching fireworks of a different kind in the form of ammunition in SAF? We shall see....
Also went to take a look at the funfair beside Glasgow Green. It's been ages since I last went to a funfair. The last time I went I think was to the Chinese New Year one beside the Singapore River. But somewhere along the line, my parents decided it was too crowded and perhaps I gave the impression that I was too cool for this kind of thing. But a strange sense of nostalgia did overcome me as I went through the funfair looking at the rides. After it got too crowded and the ground too muddy, I decided to go back to my hostel. But not before some good old oily and salty fish and chips for dinner. I love fish and chips :)
The next day, my friends reached Glasgow. Bummed around the city centre for a while and had 2 breakfasts because the first one absolutely sucked big time. Then it was off to Celtic Park to watch the match.
Jock Stein Stand is where I am sitting
An institution over 100 years old.
Irving, me and John outside the stadium.
The above picture was kindly taken by a couple who APPROACHED us and asked whether we needed help in taking photos. Really nice of them. I had a very good impression of Scottish people from my first trip to Edinburgh in my first year and this trip merely reinforced this impression. Shortly after this photo was taken, yet another couple approached us and asked us whether we needed help. Really really wonderful of them. Think they must have found it interesting that 3 Asians had come to watch a Celtic match.
Shots from inside the stadium:
Nice scenery outside the stadium, which distracted me from the poor match
Players coming out
The freekick which led to the opening goal
The Alan Thompson penalty which turned out to be the winner.
Me, John and Irving
The match itself was pretty poor, mainly because Celtic were playing well within themselves and made Kilmarnock look good. Henri Camara is a First Division player while John Hartson looked really good. But Celtic really miss Henrik Larsson. That said, Celtic still took a 2-0 lead before Kilmarnock pulled one back late on to set up a frantic finale. I was secretly rooting for Kilmarnock to score an equaliser so that Rangers can have a chance to catch up in the league. But obviously I could not voice such an opinion out loud if I wanted to be in 1 piece. In addition, the atmosphere was the worst I have ever experienced. Granted this wasn't a big game at all but it was still very very pathetic as there were no proper songs and cheers lasted less than 5 seconds. The pre match rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was much much poorer than that at Anfield too. If I were to go to Ibrox, I think it would be for an Old Firm game.
However, there was at least something to cheer the 3 of us up before we boarded the 8 hour coach back to London.
This is seriously the best curry I have ever had in the UK. It smelt so nice that I didn't even bother to stop and take a picture of it before devouring it. Loads of people know I don't really like chicken, but I had no qualms about eating the chicken kahir dish, it was that good. Even though the restaurant was filled and we had to da pao and eat it at the bus station, it was worth every penny. Forget maths and algebra, curry is the best contribution from Indians to mankind.
And that just about concludes my Glasgow trip. Overall it was a nice weekend break, reinforcing my good impression of Scotland in general. There's just something in the air about Scotland which gives me the feeling of a nice and friendly environment. It's not too hectic like London, not too well developed like Rome etc, but yet not backward like Cyprus. If I had to choose somewhere to move to away from Singapore, it would be a toss up between Scotland or Barcelona.
With that I end off this post. Most of you in Singapore are probably busy mugging for your exams. And I congratulate you on managing to finish reading this post. Good luck to all of you for your exams. While I slack in my bed for the whole of this week because its reading week and I have no lessons. :)
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