Foundations; Triptych [The construction of the Caledonian Railway Company Station (1873-79) erased Alston Street from the map; it had been an integral part of Grahamston village for over a hundred years. Most present-day commuters hurry through Glasgow Central unaware of the hidden memories & stories beneath their feet.] ONE “Please give me a second grace,…

I remember the first time I took a train from Barrhead station. I was 9. It was a moment of revelation. I knew then there was a way out. I’ve always wanted out. Granny didn’t understand why. This was her whole world. Her place to be. But it’s not mine. Not now, not ever. It’s…

Lend a hand and lift me I don’t know why I looked up. Perhaps it was on reflex; the train pulling into an Ayrshire station I’d never seen before, an instinct of nosiness. Maybe it was the need to rest from the concentration of work or be impressed again by the dramatically low clouds. It…

Sunday has a hint of a minor key. Reduced service. Shops shut. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays drag But Sundays zip by, unforgiving. The week’s B-side turning, turning – As you will it to slow down. Bruised sky and field after field Blurred by raindrops, flecked by speed. A lonely tower missing ruins – Now a…

You’re always up with the dawn, getting ready to go out to work or coming home from the night shift. Every morning, coming or going, your head pops round the door. “Morning love!” you always say. “How are you?” Some days I mumble, or grunt, or just let the silence answer you. Some days I…

Rickety “Come away with me,” he said and the first thing I thought of was that rubbish Norah Jones song which probably wasn’t the whole feeling he was trying to evoke. I didn’t have him down for a Norah Jones fan, like maybe he had a crush on her, but secretly and he’d never buy…

Doo roo n’doo doop Doo roo n’doo doop Doo roo n’doo doop Doo roo n’doo doop Sinking and slipping Crying and flying Singing out the days Laughing and kissing Loving and missing Losing all our ways Ready and steady Simple and sensual Elemental I’m falling I’m flying Living and dying I’m slipping slowly Sliding, gliding…

Leaning on the bridge where the Nith and the Afton met, he stared into the moving confluence. “Aye,” he said, “they come and they go. By foot, horse, water and train they’ve travelled in and out. The mighty and the miners, the high and the low. It’s ever been the way of this upland place.…

Kirkonnel’s Bard (The bard is Alexander Anderson (‘Surfaceman’), 1845-1909) Kirkconnel’s bard sang progress, engines’ strength made greater by the discipline of rails, his rhymes and grammar sound, his metred length of line hard-fixed as ever was with nails. Nick Drake sang questions, ways lost, light flown, blue of waves and sky the video shows grey,…

Intro: refrain from Hazy Jane 1 If you stop at Sanquhar station – as you might, once again, since it re-opened seven years ago – wander into town and there, amongst other histories and monuments, you will find the oldest post office in the world: dating back to 1712. What deeds and tracts, bills and…