Glasgow in autumn

We’ve come to Glasgow for the weekend to submit biometric data (fingerprints) for our permanent residency application. We’ve been waiting to do this since March when everything closed down. The centres began opening again in June and we’ve been waiting patiently for Aberdeen to reopen but as of this writing it still hasn’t. Every month the date for the Aberdeen centre is changed. First they said it would open in early July, then early July came and went and it didn’t open. They then said late July and the same thing happened. This went on until October when the home office eventually wrote to us to say if we didn’t submit fingerprints soon our applications might be cancelled. Glasgow was the nearest centre to us that was open and had available appointments.

Having to come to Glasgow is by no means a bad thing: Glasgow in the autumn is very pretty. But we’re mindful of the surge in infections here and the whole central belt is probably best avoided right now. Nevertheless we came, we submitted our fingerprints which is a huge relief to have done, and we enjoyed a lovely walk around Kelvingrove Park and The University of Glasgow.

The architecture in Glasgow is so beautiful. Many of the buildings from the Victorian era are built with a lovely blonde sandstone that was quarried from around the city. The sandstone itself dates from the Carboniferous period, about 320 million years ago.

That’s The University of Glasgow in the next photo, taken from Kelvingrove Park.

I love universities. I went to a university kindergarten when I was little then when I started school I spent my afternoons after school at the university, waiting for dad to finish work. Then I went to university myself and now I’m married to an academic who works in a university. The University of Glasgow is particularly lovely. It’s one of the oldest universities in the world, dating back to 1451.

There’s something quite comforting about a place that exists solely for learning and the advance of knowledge. It makes me feel wonderfully insignificant which is always comforting. The University of Glasgow motto is Via, Veritas, Vita which means “the way, the truth, the life”.

The cloisters are my favourite bit of the university. We’ve been here before and I wanted to come and see it again. I felt sure I might see Harry Potter or Hermoine Granger with their wands here. The cloisters are an open undercroft (undercroft = crypt of a church) and part of the main university building, connecting two quadrangles. This building was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott but he died before it was completed. His son, John Oldrid Scott, finished the job in 1891.

Victoria came with us and was very good in the car this time. She didn’t make much noise at all and slept for most of the way. She’s been really good at our airbnb and seemed to enjoy exploring a new space.

This morning we took her to the Botanic Gardens for a stroll. She was quite scared of the busy roads but once we were in the gardens she relaxed and we took some photos of her outside the Kibble Palace. Perhaps Victoria should start her own blog with photos of herself outside famous landmarks?