Scotland & the North

This was a special adventure today. One of the reasons I wanted to come to Glasgow is because Liz’s parents come from this part of Scotland. Her family is from Greenock, a suburb of Glasgow that lies at the mouth of the River Clyde. I have heard stories from Liz about the city from her many visits to see her grannies and her aunts and uncles, and also her stories of her parents growing up in Greenock. So today I took a train and spent the day exploring Our Lizzie’s Scottish home. She had given me an address where her granny lived so I started there. I was struck by the geographic setting immediately. It won’t come across too well in the photos because it was a cloudy, gray, and rainy day. Greenock sits all down the side of a high ridge that forms the south bank of the Clyde. Across the river you can see snow-covered Highlands and rolling green pastures. The city has a huge port, and a long Esplanade along the river. That’s where the mansions were as well as up in the highest neighborhoods near Lyle Hill with its amazing views and golf course. Its beautiful churches and civic buildings reminded me of downtown Jersey City. I ate lunch at The James Watt, which is a pub in the center of town named after the most famous person from Greenock— the inventor of a type of steam engine that was a huge part of the Industrial Revolution. Greenock is also known as a Naval base, having played an important role in troop movement for US and Canadian ships during WWII and also as the base for a submarine squadron for the height of the Cold War. There’s an anchor statue at the top of Lyle Hill to honor the city’s maritime history. The hill is named after the businessman who owned the largest “sweeties” company in Scotland at a time when Greenock was known as “Sugaropolis” for its sugar refineries. As I came back down the hillside, closer to Liz’s family’s neighborhood, I stopped to imagine how it all fit together. The men working at the docks, the sailors and soldiers coming off of huge ships in the harbor, factory workers walking down the hill from the neighborhoods overlooking the port, the wealthy owners in their mansions overlooking it all. And on Ann Street I pictured Lizzie as a kid during her many visits to spend time with her family, running an errand for her granny. I walked around for about four hours and really enjoyed getting a sense of life in Greenock.Read more