Escaping the Concrete Jungle

I cycled to work earlier today which was something I was admittedly dreading. The last few days presented a typical Glaswegian weather of cold, rain and cloudy skies. I got used to the unsettling weather changes after living here for so many years but I’m still allowed to feel annoyed about it!

My flat (apartment) is in a very convenient location; it is a 15-minute bike ride from work, and whenever I need to go to town (city centre), it's a 20-minute walk. The best thing about the location though, in my opinion, is the park immediately opposite my building — which I recently learned is actually the oldest park in Glasgow.

I walk and ride my bike through this park almost every day; In the summer it’s full of people, often in very little clothing, trying to catch the elusive sun that only appears a few weeks out of the year. In the winter it’s jacket, hat, scarf and gloves clad people walking their dogs in all kinds of abysmal weather.

Besides the usual use of a park, this park plays quite a role in the city; it hosts many events throughout the year that both entertain and annoy those living nearby (namely me). The end line of the half-marathon event of the Great Scottish Run is in Glasgow Green. Some of the Cycling World Championship events earlier this year were hosted in Glasgow Green. Almost all festivals that take place in Glasgow end up being hosted in Glasgow Green, and there were even once a few bagpiping groups practising for a competition there — that one I did not mind so much because they weren’t too close to me, so I could enjoy the sounds without being annoyed.

I love that Glasgow Green is so popular because I hate living in quiet areas. My main umbrage with it is that for most of these events, the porta-potties are placed immediately opposite my window, which I hope we all agree is not the best of sights.

This little article is not about Glasgow Green, so I’ll let go of my annoyance and move on. Today I started thinking about how important areas like Glasgow Green are. Not in terms of it being a venue for events but as a source of greenery within the city.

It's easy to get lost in life when you are in the city surrounded by the concrete jungle and people running from place to place. Sometimes it almost feels like a prison cell with the door open; we are somehow trapped within when we can escape at any point.

When was the last time you went to a park to appreciate nature?

When was the last time you took a break to slow down life a little?

I’ll be honest and say I haven’t done that in a while, but I'd like to think that I don’t get very stressed over life. That being said, time away to appreciate nature would certainly be a good thing!

In 2022 I joined a navigation course that took us up to a park far from the city to learn how to navigate and read maps. The course involved hillwalking and navigating through 10km within the park which was quite tough in some areas but a great experience. Aside from learning how to navigate, I got to see and walk through nature which I hadn’t done in a very long time

While I huffed and puffed up the hills, I saw amazing landscapes forged by volcanic eruptions long before humans existed there. It is one thing reading and knowing about this, but seeing it in person adds a whole new layer to appreciating the power of nature.

It seems like this article was just me reminiscing about my last actual interaction with nature more than anything else, but I’ll at least leave you with this advice/suggestion: If you haven’t done it yet, or not in a long while, go out of the city and look around if that is an option. It will relax you more than you think.