Day 8 - 26th January - New Lanark
This day I headed to Glasgow to see New Lanark, a village from the Industrial Revolution.
The hostel asked if I wanted a taxi to the bus station. I declined - the taxi to the bus station would've cost more than the bus (£6,50 single, £9,50 return)
Edinburgh Castle
Bow Row
"Food first then morals"
oink
Great logo
Bow Row from the other end
National Library on King George IV Bridge. Which isn't actually a bridge.
Edinburgh Castle is on the right
National Gallery (according to my notes, but there are 3 National Galleries in Scotland - this might be the Portrait one)
St Giles Cathedral
Memorial to the "Black Watch". Racist!
Bend with Black Watch memorial
Scottish National Gallery
Scott Monument
Model of Edinburgh from Marks & Spencer
UNESCO paving stone for "Old and New Towns of Edinburgh"
On the Scott Monument, for Sir Walter Scott
Scott Monument base
Scott Monument
James Maxwell statue, with the Maxwell Equations
This and the monument behind were in St Andrew's Square. I asked 2 people, but neither knew what was behind.
"fluertations"
Morning scene in David Street (8:41am)
Before 9am there were buses leaving every 15 minutes, which was brilliant. There were 12 of us on the bus, so presumably demand was quite brisk.
I didn't bother looking around Glasgow before New Lanark: the major interesting thing was Victorian architecture, but Edinburgh had this too and I was returning. Also one could see Victorian architecture by walking about. New Lanark's Industrial Revolution village was going to be so much more interesting.
Amusing Ads in Glasgow (I had a lot of time to kill, waiting for the bus to New Lanark):
"Real Men Wear Pink"
"Deep Down You Could Be A Submariner"
"Covert operations" and "elite training" are perks. "Elite training", of course, being code for "dunking you in freezing water while shouting at you". And "covert operations" is code for "stuff that could get you killed"
It's ironic that the Royal Navy recruiting slogan is "Life without limits", given the confines of a ship. I think this is called "British humour".
"Fashion is Making a difference... Fashion targets breast cancer"
It's so easy to make a difference nowadays
"she's waiting to be held...
how long are you going to make her wait?"
"My cattle enjoy the good life, so you can enjoy a better taste... Scotch Beef. Choose quality. Choose the label"
Return fares to New Lanark were 25p more than singles. Ridiculous.
Anyway this was from 28 June 2010 and was outdated - I got charged £7.
Apparently a seatbelt is comfortable
"One Great Name. Four Great Restaurants. One Great Price! China Buffet King"
We say we're bad at entrepreneurship in Singapore, but we're very good with franchising.
Victorian (?) architecture from the bus
There was a place called "Scotland's Theme Park". Err. Amusing review on Yelp (aggregate site rating of 2/5): "Christ, this is rough. I'd rather take my chances with the bare-knuckle fighting gypsies at the travelling fairground than the neds who loiter in here"
The bus dropped me off at Lanark, so I trudged down to New Lanark.
Army surplus store with "too much to list"
Subway admits to using formed and reformed meat. AFAIK you don't have this in Singapore. Ahh, consumer protection laws!
According to the Rough Guide this (St Nicholas' Parish Church in Lanark) has the world's oldest church bell in the world (1130). Does it really count if the bell is recast?
The place was only open for service and you couldn't see the bell from outside so I didn't bother walking down the road.
"Scottish Dumpling" sounds dodgy. It's more like cake.
Burns Night poster: "Celebrate with a Haggis"
"Picol is a beast"
Who is Picol?
Lanark tourist info
St Mungo's
Village Road
Lane
Lanark looks like an English, err Scottish village (don't tell the Scotts I said that!)
"Welcome to New Lanark"
UNESCO sign. Curiously in China the top language on the logo is not Mandarin.
World Heritage Beech Tree. It looked quite sad in January.
New Lanark from above
New Lanark: Panorama
Stitches of New Lanark from above
There was mist on the rapids. When the sun shone it was even nicer.
Cupola on "New Buildings 1798"
I was quite excited about New Lanark. I'd seen a lot of Cathedrals, Castles and Historic Town/City Centres, but this was different.
New Lanark. People still live there.
Payphone guide. Minimum charge 60p. Wut.
Birds above
New Buildings, 1798
"War may always be prevented, by those who adopt the principles of peace, being at all times prepared to resist injustice and oppression; and this preparation may easily be effected by wise arrangements in the education of the young"
Robert Owen quote. The place was full of them (he founded it as a model quasi-commune)
Ironically, as you can tell from his name, he wasn't Scottish (but Welsh). I only knew this because a video in his house lingered on a plaque on some street with that fact - it wasn't mentioned anywhere else. Why ah, why ah?
UNESCO gate
The place was very restored.
Another Owen quote: "There shall be no human slavery servitude or inequality of condition ,except the natural inequality of age and experience which will forever preserve order and harmony in society"
So basically he was for a gerontocracy
Quite stupidly I had not left my bag at Glasgow, but the Visitors' Centre let me leave mine there.
Some personages
"Milestones of European industrial heritage"
Steam Engine
"Fate and The Fortune"
New Lanark from one of the enclosed bridges
Mill One Before Restoration
The Rope Drive System - transferring power
There was a bizarre ride which was like a haunted house.
'Annie McLeod Experience' ride: Part 1
'Annie McLeod Experience' ride: Part 2
'Annie McLeod Experience' ride: Part 3
'Annie McLeod Experience' ride: Part 4
aka "Thank God I was born in the 20th Century"
Another Owen quote: "What ideas individuals may attach to the term "Millennium" I know not; but I know that society may be formed so as to exist without crime, without poverty, with health greatly improved, with little, if any misery, and with intelligence and happiness increased a hundredfold: and no obstacle whatsoever intervenes at this moment except ignorance to prevent such a state of society from becoming universal".
Ahh, the Optimism of the Enlightenment! This quote was from 1816 and 2 new millennia have arrived, but we are nowhere near this ideal. This is why though I cherish Enlightenment ideals I know they are precisely that.
Photographs of historical New Lanark:
"British Wool makes a better carpet... naturally"
Weaving Loom
Spinning Mule
How education worked in New Lanark - you could spin the wheel for more
Steps for preparing wool
Linen, Calico, Muslin (L to R)
Owen Quote: "The employer regards the employed as mere instruments of gain, while these acquire a gross ferocity of character, which, if legislative measures shall not be judiciously devised to prevent its increase, and ameliorate the condition of this class, will sooner or later plunge the country into a formidable and perhaps inextricable state of danger"
Marxism before Marx
More on how life worked at New Lanark
Loom operation
Loom
Upstairs was what was billed as "Scotland's largest rooftop garden". Err.
"Scotland's largest rooftop garden"
River Clyde from "Scotland's largest rooftop garden"
Stalwart flower
"The ever-changing scenes of nature afford not only the most economical, but also the most innocent pleasures which man can enjoy"
Yes, yet another Robert Owen quote
Raven looking at the River Clyde
Dutch is the most economical language
Pamphlet for mobile opera. I'm quite sure it's taxpayer-supported.
Then I had lunch.
This wasn't expensive. Lentil soup (with ham) for £2,8. Macaroni at £2,5. Blood Orange drink at £2,4. Okay the last was expensive (30% juice minimum notwithstanding).
Considering this was a tourist place it was cheap.
New Lanark Tablet
It was quite nice, though mostly sugar.
I feel safer using my credit card in Europe - they press the machine in front of you (because they think they need your PIN, but still). Then when you sign they usually check the signature and ask for verification if it is different.
New Lanark is "One of Europe's top attractions". Right.
There was an Edinburgh Wool Mill there. Just like everywhere else in Scotland, it seemed.
Walkers Pure Butter Vanilla Shortbread, slashed from £2,79 to £2,09 to £1,39 to £0,75.
Something to get your home/dog/cat sitter.
The gift shop had 80p Coke cans, which was cheap.
I then went to the hotel to look at some photographs.
"A period of 15 minutes is allowed at the end of the morning and evening periods of Permitted Hours, for the consumption of alcohol liquors purchased during such hours"
"If you are lucky enough to look under 25 you will be asked to prove that you are aged 18 or over when you buy alcohol"
The Falls in The Four Seasons. They looked nice but it was 1 hr in either direction, so I wasn't sure it was worth it due to time constraints.
"Wed in 2012 for only £2012"
Weeds in drain
River Clyde
Historic Classroom (1820 reconstruction)
The world's first nursery was here. Paid sick leave, too.
Cotton tunics for boys
Live crocodile
Infographic
Learning aids
Covered steps. Ahh, health and safety regulations!
"Refuge Point"???
On the school
A staff member told me the school was not free. Night school was free, but day school was chargeable. This was one reason a lot of kids stopped school at 10 and not 12.
Around this time I found that one glove had fallen out (my bag was full so it was hard to close) and I couldn't find it (it could even have fallen out during the ride). So I bought a new pair at the Edinburgh Wool Mill sale for £6. At least, they were better than the old pair.
River Clyde
On the Falls of Clyde: "there are steep gradients and steps on all paths"
When I saw this, a motivational slogan came to mind: "You can do anything you set your mind too"
Almost as quickly, another slogan came forth: "Don't gey kiang" (try to be too smart)
Supposedly it was only 20 minutes to the first of the three falls, but I had learnt not to trust this sort of thing.
Pleasant picnicing
House on stilts
Dustbin: "Ecosse" (Scotland in French). Notice it doesn't say "Royaume Uni" (Great Britain)
Scarecrows
I then visited the New Lanark Village Store.
On co-operatives
Store in the 19th century
Cheap food
According to the lady who'd worked there for 22 years, there were 185 people in the village.
Communism!
"The Twelve Fundamental Laws of Human Nature"
"Dieting under stress"
Shop: 1920s section.
On the 1820s/1920s mockups
1820 and 1920 were very different. 2020 will resemble 1920 more than 1920 resembles 1820.
10p/20p candy???
Irn Bru was 80p (in a smaller can) so I had one. The guide from the previous day said it was good for hangovers and more - it was a miraclecure.
Retro candy
Next I went to the Millworker's House (mockup).
On the Millworker's House.
Ahh access!
On the place
Living room
Bedroom
Toilet
There's a spittoon at the bottom left
Washing Clothes
The casual misandry of everyday life:
"Washing Today
The women who struggled with these back-breaking tasks would be astonished at the ease with which the washing is done in modern homes. At the flick of a switch, the clothes are washed, rinsed, spun and even tumble-dried. In fact it's so simple nowadays, that...
EVEN MEN CAN DO IT!"
On Bell Tower
It was snowing when I left the house.
Well, more like ice kachang shavings than real snow. I think this counts as "snow grains".
giffgaff (riding on the Orange network) didn't have 3G in Lanark and even the 2G was dodgy, so I wasn't able to upload pictures). Apparently mobile connectivity is spotty outside big cities for all telcos.
Owen's office
Video playing in Owen's house: "Utopian Socialist or Enlightened Capitalist?"
Here the narrative of the triumphant
[Addendum: Here is something on why Robert Owen failed
"He felt that Owen was “totally incompetent” to carry out his grand plans. He condemned Owen for enticing people to throw up their lives and come to a failing New Harmony, and he disagreed with Owen’s statements that Americans were not capable of governing themselves and that there was nothing wrong with the system he advocated, only with the commune’s flawed citizens. Ferrall could hardly believe Owen’s statement that New Harmony had “exceeded his most sanguine expectations when he and all others could still see the smoking ruins. In answer to the view held by Owen’s friends that the commune began to fall apart when Owen relinquished his command, Ferrall claims that he never did abdicate and that he was constantly meddling and interfering. Owen could not abide independent views, and he would
refuse to answer difficult questions: those who disagreed with him were dismissed as ignorant of his system. This highhanded, ipse dixit approach did not go over well with New Harmonists. In New Lanark he had had great success among Scottish working people (really, peasantry) who were responsive to authority, while he completely misjudged the independent, individualistic nature of Americans.
Owen was certainly not a totalitarian demon, but he did manifest strong authoritarian impulses, emphasizing loyalty in his education. He was willing to sacrifice the well-being of people for a principle, in order to attain an egalitarian society that was not particularly democratic. But nothing remotely resembling a totalitarian state could ever come about in New Harmony because Americans were too diverse in origin and too individualistic in spirit. They were desperate people, but not sufficiently so to remain immobilized in such a vast, rich country of promise."
--- Maclure of New Harmony: Scientist, Progressive Educator, Radical Philanthropist / Leonard Warren]
Otherwise, the closest they came to problematising this "Utopia" and all the hero worship was a quote from an academic (in the video) about the "myths" of the co-op movement.
Queenwood College, Hampshire
Kitchen Equipment
Amusing Owen quote: "No real advantage has accrued from enabling our fashionable
females to purchase fine lace and muslins at one fourth of the former prices ; but to produce them at this price, many thousands of our population have existed amidst disease and wretchedness, and been carried prematurely to their graves."
"Anchor Point" for the "European Route of Industrial Heritage"
A decade in a pack: "Memories of the 1950s", "Memories of the 1970s"
The 515 bus which would take me back to Glasgow hadn't come by the timing of the last bus. At first I was thinking it had left very much earlier than it was supposed to (worse than Eurolines) but it turns out it was delayed by the weather and arrived and left 20 minutes after the last bus timing.
I saw a house with the LGBT sign (the rainbow flag, I think) by the roadside. Hah.
20% is a "massive discount"
I then walked around Glasgow a bit while waiting for A, my hostess for the night.
Royal Concert Hall
Another Pret-a-manger
How much is that polar bear in the window?
How much is that polar bear in the window?
St George's
Sadly there was a bloody Ferris Wheel in George Square. So much for good views of the Victorian architecture. The square was littered with statues of famous Scots.
George Square
Robert Peel
Queen Victoria
George Square
Robert Burns
Thomas Graham
Cenotaph
Gladstone
Sir Walter Scott
James Watt
Prince Albert
Fake EU license plate for "SCO". Very few cars displayed the proper "GB" license plate: most had plain license plates not indicating a country. Evidently they are not very patriotic where the United Kingdom is concerned.
Cheap burger
A Scottish Breakfast looks suspiciously like an English Breakfast (only the sausage is different). Don't tell the Scots that, though.
Sex sells... smoothies
When I saw this Burger King I thought it was closed (and indeed part of it was, with the chairs upturned on the tables) but it turned out it was still open, so I went in for a while.
Menu
It notes that chicken nuggets are cooked in the same oil as the chicken. Err, ok...
Onion Rings
This was "large" but only came up to just after my second finger. Maybe I should have super-ed it.
This annoyed me for being so picky about the proportions ("1/3 of a crushed mango"). Like it really isn't just made in a factory.
Also it was advertised as Mango-Passion Fruit but really those weren't the main ingredients. So much for truth in advertising...
Help pay for the Icelandic bank bailout
"The Health Lottery... Making Britain feel better"
"Protecting yourself against crime". Disgusting victim-blaming and proof of our ATM-robbery, bicycle-theft and robbery culture. Nothing about chikan, though.
Darwin Day in Scotland!
Wolf rummaging through trash
English girls seem to like to show their thunder thighs. Scottish girls seemed less prone to that, but maybe it was the weather.
Addendum: Later research (mostly involuntary) revealed that they did have nicer thighs.