IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Buchanan Street, GLASGOW, G1 2JW

This bronze model of Glasgow city centre sits on a plinth on Buchanan Street. The M8 can be seen to the left, with the River Clyde and its bridges at the bottom and the old city around the High Street hill to the right. There is a similar model of the west end of the city here Image

This paving is just east of Buchanan Street between the back of the toilets and the kerb. The flags on the left appear at first sight to be of a streaked granite. More likely, it is a multicoloured variety of Caithness Flagstone. On the right is the dark grey variety seen underfoot everywhere. In one of the flags a fossil has been observed and revealed.

The yellow jackets are worn by some of the 200 police officers who policed a protest by 75 people in St Enoch Square. Part of Buchanan Street subway station can be seen in the foreground, with St Enoch subway station visible in the centre.

Being cleaned as I passed. Then busy. The paving is Caithness Flagstone, the dark grey seen underfoot everywhere and a purple variety. See also Image

The best and loudest buskers in the world https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy6tTvZc2B8 .

Giving a spirited rendition of 'The Hokey Cokey'.

The entrance to the old underground toilets is in the foreground, surrounded by railings.

The entrance to the old underground toilets is on the left, surrounded by railings.

Some unusual public conveniences on the corner of Buchanan Street and St Vincent Place.

Glasgow, in common with a lot of other large British cities, has a drugs problem. However, the fact that the death rate from drug use in Scotland is over three times the rate for the rest of the UK, indicates how much bigger the problem becomes North of the border. This seems to lie behind the decisions made to close various public toilets in the city over recent years. This one has closed down and reopened a few times in this period and regular use of the toilets for injecting drugs is often cited in the media as the reason for the closures. The latest one is permanent and there are vague plans for turning it into a bar and an AIDS museum (on account of the nearby and long-closed underground toilets which this block replaced having been used as a meeting point for gay men in less tolerant times) mentioned on local online news sites. Its design is obviously meant to be in keeping with those of the grand buildings in the vicinity but frankly it looks rather odd, and very forbidding. The holes in the wall are not urinals, as it may appear at first glance, but where you had to pay your 20p entrance charge.