Actually, this is strictly for people of a certain age from Glasgow – those who remember the tramcar, that beloved public transit vehicle. Tramcars, or trolleys, are still in wide use across the globe. But in the UK, they were deemed old fashioned and inefficient and in 1962, Glasgow’s fleet of over one thousand trams was the last system to be taken ‘offline’ in the country. (Now, trams are making a comeback in Edinburgh , at enormous expense. Which just goes to show………)
Anyway, this is a bit of verse recollecting some of my own memories of that splendid ship of the lines, the Glasgow tramcar (with apologies for the misbehaving verse lines).
POINTS
Decimal points,
Ration book points,
Are all very well for the file and the rank.
But the points loved best
On the trams going west,
Switched them to Woodlands and Bank
Hand-changed points,
Automatic points,
It made no difference. You see
Just let the driver take a bearing
For the right turn at Charing,
From Sauchie and the Art Gallery.
Viewpoints,
Needlepoints.
All have their place in the firmament.
But the screech of the wheels
On the turns explains, Neil’s
Memories of points run to sentiment.
Neil MacCormick
c. 1980
