Each week the Rampant Scotland Newsletter includes a number of photographs which illustrate the weather and the seasons, plus the flora and fauna of the current week around Scotland. There are often so many such graphics of Scottish subjects worth including that this separate "colour supplement" is created where some of the best pictures can be displayed in a larger format. Here is this week's crop - all from Glasgow.
The "Glasgow Arc" is the first vehicle crossing to be built over the river Clyde for since the Kingston Bridge more than 30 years ago. The graceful bridge only has a bus/taxi lane and one lane for private vehicles. Its construction was one of the requirements stipulated by BBC Scotland before they would agree to setting up their new HQ at Pacific Quay on the south side of the river. Indeed, the traffic controls and access to the bridge is restricted to allow a clear route to the BBC. Behind the bridge can be seen the Finnieston Crane and the Clyde Auditorium at the Scottish Exhibition and Concert Centre. Like the Clyde Arc (known locally as the "Squinty Bridge" as it crosses the river at an angle), the Clyde Auditorium has a better known nickname - the Armadillo.
Planters (which can be removed if the area is required for another purpose) form part of the "street furniture" installed in George Square by Glasgow City Council. They provide a nice "frame" for photographs of the square, the City Chambers and the tall column with a statue of Sir Walter Scott on the top. This was the first statue erected to the writer after his death.
The refurbishment of the art-deco 1930s Beresford Hotel is nearing completion. It was built for the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow in 1938 and the facade was created like a cinema to attract customers. After the war, while operating as Baird Hall, a students' hall of residence, the colours became more muted. But the recent reincarnation has seen the return if the scarlet and black fins and flagpoles at the top of the bulbous drum towers.
This photo was taken from the Squinty Bridge (see above) and shows the magnificent Finnieston Crane and the Clyde Auditorium at the Scottish Exhibition and Concert Centre. The auditorium is reflected in the glass of the Crowne Plaza Hotel (previously known as the Moat House) further along the riverbank. The crane is a relic of the days when locomotives and other large engineering products were exported via the docks at Finnieston. The hammer head crane was built in 1932 and was at that time the largest in Europe. It is 59 metres (195 feet) high and has a hammerhead jib of 46 metres (152 feet).
The narrowness of the Glasgow Hilton Hotel makes it look taller than it really is - at 70 metres, it is slightly smaller than the City Chambers (see photo above). The hotel was built in 1992, beside the approach ramp to the Kingston Bridge.
Glasgow is working hard to win the contest to become the host city for the Commonwealth Games in 2014. There are signs at the city boundary proclaiming that it is a "candidate city" and even some of the local taxis have been enlisted to drive the message home.
If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page
