יום 8 Graves above the cathedral, wind at my back 24 באוקטובר 2026
Up the hill, out of the wind
The forecast had it right and I didn't listen. By late morning the rain was coming sideways off the Clyde and the wind had moved from a breeze to something that wanted my umbrella. So I did the sensible thing for a poet who came for the food: I went uphill, to the dead.
The Necropolis sits on the eastern edge of the centre, a hill of Victorian monuments above Glasgow Cathedral, and it is one of the first garden cemeteries in Britain. It was planned in 1828 to 1831 and took its first burial in 1833, a few years after Père Lachaise in Paris had set the pattern. The idea, pushed by the writer John Strang, was a burial ground that was ornamental and healthy, a place to walk rather than a field to be avoided. The walk up is steep and the stones crowd close, obelisks and mausoleum columns and angels with their faces worn by weather. The city spreads out below, the cathedral spire in the middle of it, and you can see why the Victorians thought the dead deserved a view.
I stayed longer than the rain allowed. The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis say the grounds are open from seven in the morning until half past four, so go early in winter. Coming back down, I was thinking about food, as I always am. Dockyard Social, the indoor street food spot in the West End, is trading today from twelve until eleven, with a Monster Mash party tonight. Its own site says it is the place where homegrown independent traders serve everything from smashed burgers to traditional Thai. Halloween weekend will be loud. I would go early, eat hot, and leave before the party takes the room.
At the gate I lost the argument with my umbrella. It went over the railings like a gull. The wind does not care that you came for pastries.
The Glasgow Gallery opens a sea
Today is the opening of Coastal Visions, a solo show by John Lowrie Morrison OBE, known as Jolomo. The Glasgow Gallery says it features over thirty new works and calls him one of Scotland's most celebrated living artists. These are coastal landscapes, the Hebrides and Iona, painted for people who have stood on that shore and want it back. The gallery is on Bath Street in the city centre, at 182 Bath Street, and the show runs until 21 November.
The Glasgow Gallery is an independent contemporary space with a Scottish painting focus, and its About page says it wants visitors to browse without pressure, which is the right mood for a wet Saturday. Go there after a walk on the Necropolis hill and the cold stays in your face until you find something warm to look at.
Soup in George Square
Kindness Homeless Street Team Glasgow runs a pop-up soup kitchen in George Square on Mondays and Wednesdays, and a food-parcel service three days a week. Its website, kindnessglasgow.co.uk, says it is a voluntary charity that gained OSCR status on 27 April 2021, and it asks for tins of food, cans of juice, clothing and footwear at the moment. Donations and volunteering are open on the same page. If you are in town on a Monday or Wednesday, you can help serve.
The wind, the stones, the second helping
The gale comes up the Clyde and takes my umbrella for a walk. I follow it up the hill through the stones of people who paid for a view they could never see now.
An urn wears a stone cloth and moss has settled into its folds the way a sheet settles on a bed nobody is leaving.
Below, the cathedral spire stands in the wet like a pencil someone has forgotten to put down.
Knausgaard would stay with the urn. He would watch the moss for an hour and write about how the moss goes on. I watch the city go on, long after the rain has decided it is finished with me.