Carry-Out Number THREE- GOMA's coned Wellington is Great Public Art

The mounted statue of Wellington outside Glasgow's Museum of Modern Art I think is a great piece of public art. For me , it's the  equivalent of any Banksy approbation of an old master's work,  even better as Glasgow's public  created, and now sustain, GOMA's coned Wellington, continually re-inventing the piece. It's a great, iconic public art up there with Copenhagen's The Little Mermaid, Rio's Christ the Redeemer. justifying its place centre stage at the Commonwealth Games opening

Should you wish to know more about the work and what I think of it go here.

Carry-Out Number TWO- Volunteer Clyde Siders and Paid Clyde Siders Dressed Exactly The Same

If there was one gripe or niggle with Glasgow 2014, and I had the same one at London 2012 –there was no visual distinction between the paid workforce Clyde Siders and unpaid volunteer Clyde Siders, both wore exactly the same uniform.

Cooking, Cleaning and Security staff were clearly identifiable as each had there own specific uniform. Technical officials at each sport had a blue version of the red Clyde Sider uniform, so they too could be differentiated, while all the Clyde Siders whether paid or unpaid were seen as one, wearing the bright Red, White & Grey uniform

I know the paid workforce Clyde Siders did a great job, evidenced by the fact that the unpaid Clyde Siders were there trained, organized and ready to go. Nevertheless many of the volunteer Clyde Siders had paid a lot of money, given a lot of time over many months to be there, many gave up there holidays and for those sacrifices to be attributed to every Clyde Sider regardless –paid or unpaid- niggled/niggles me.

Carry-Out Number ONE - Glasgow 2014 was not London 2012

The Commonwealth Games was/is not the Olympic Games, I had to continually check myself and was regularly minded by fellow ex Games Makes not to mention the ‘O’ word. That was then this is now!

The money itself tells one story London 2012 £9.3 billion Glasgow 2014 513 million. The resulting Games another story.

Yes, the Commonwealth Games smaller and very different , neater, more compact in every way and lived up to there catchphrase ‘The Friendly Games’ with much random smiling and friendly nods as one strolled around the Village.

Where Glasgow 2012 scored over London 2014 for me was its mascot. London's Wenlock and Mandevillie never really touched me while Clyde despite my intial misgivings grew on me to the point where I was even pictured with Ebun, me and Clyde.

My Ten Carry-Outs aka Take-Aways From Glasgow 2012

I’ve been thinking how to wrap up this blog for a couple weeks now and can’t think of one thing that summed up Glasgow 2014 for me. There's been a number of things that will stay with me. So, rather than have a narrative arc ending , closing the blog where I began I’ll share my take-aways aka carry-outs as the Weggies aka Glasgwegians called 'em – those things that’ll stay with me long after the Games actually ends.

Here they are &  in no particular order......

The Blythswood Hotel to the Menzies Hotel - Traffic Lights & Burning Rubber

The Journey from The Blythswood Hotel to the Menzies Hotel was one I did often as Team Nigeria had officials staying at both hotels, which meant frequent trips between the two.

The hotels are 1.2 miles apart - a '5 min' trip but thanks to Glasgow's traffic lights this could be much longer thanks to the six sets of lights on the journey from the Blythswood to the Menzies which needed to be negotiated thanks to the one way system in place. The trip could take up to 15 frustrating minutes, if the traffic lights decided to be against you.


The return trip from The Menzies to The Blythswood although quicker than the reverse trip as there were ‘only’ three sets of lights on the route did however have one the steepest hills I have ever had to negotiate – the junction Douglas St & St George St.

I held the clutch so long you could smell burning as I did my hill start. For this reason I avoided the manual cars as the smell of burning rubber became very bad, and with me hand wavering over the handbrake and my foot wavering on the clutch it was all very tense and smelly!

The Traffic Lights of Glasgow Part 1

I cannot leave Glasgow without commenting on its traffic lights.

They were one of the most frustrating, excruciating,  agonizing,  time wasting aspects of Glasgow.

We all know the sequence and what to do as the lights change:

Red STOP,
Red&Amber PREPARE TO GO,
Green GO
Amber PREPARE TO STOP

Most times Red STOP &  Green GO times are reasonable based on traffic visible conditions. You have the sense the lights are fair based on the traffic flows one can see but not in Glasgow.

The traffic light timings and phasing between on set of lights and another are totally without rhyme or reason.

You could wait upto three minutes on Red STOP with nothing in the junction moving., then  for that split second they run - Red&Amber PREPARE TO GO,Green GO, Amber PREPARE TO STOP.– just enough to let three or four cars thru.

Now three minutes may not seem long but when you’re not sure of the roads AND you don’t fully trust the directions from the satnav AND your passenger is a hurry to reach their destination AND they know you’re not fro Glasgow  – result stress, stress stress! I would sooner become lost fast rather than the slow agonizing stress build up as I was  sometimes not 100% certain that the left or right I was about to take was correct

I would sooner become lost quicker and so take corrective action quicker rather than being held, waiting to know if the route was right or wrong!

Home Countries in the Village

Each country demonstrates its presence in the Village by flying its flag some flags are bigger than others while some countries go even further and brand their allotted area - rooms and offices with motifs and images to create a themed space designed to motivate as well a give a sense of national identity & pride. 

Some were understated others in your face, England was especially up there having said that England's in-your-faceness was reflected in the medal table where it was top ahead of Australia who were equally brash. 

For example here's the Home Countries presence in the Village.....