FRIDAY, MAY 10
Chloe sent the photos and video to her agent, now we wait. So tense. So out of Chloe’s control. Hard to take. But she shows great strength and resilience in the face of these gaping silences.
BUMPY START TO THE DAY
As we began our loop of Glasgow, Chloe and I were commenting on the garish bedroom sets in a store window. I said something about pink ruffles on the bedspread matching the ruffles on the picture frame. Chloe didn’t respond, which was weird so I looked over at her. She wasn’t there. Weirder still. I looked behind me. Not there either.
“Mom” I heard. I looked left, right…then down. Her head was at my knee; Her body submerged in the sidewalk. I grabbed her outstretched hand and in a split second she was back by my side. One of her legs, the entire leg, had fallen into a manhole just a bit larger than her shoe size. WTF.
I don’t know how she wasn’t hurt. Aside from a small stain of rust running down the side of her jeans, she was fine. She thinks the garbage – coke cans and potato chip bags – in the manhole was responsible for the un-impactful fall. As her foot descended, the garbage slowed her down. I was shaken, but not her. It made us thankful for our luck, with the manhole attack and all our safe travels to date.
AFTER THE PLUNGE
After the plunge, we went for a brisk, hour-long walk, looping through sunshiny downtown Glasgow. We walked down St. Vincent Place and through George Square (the main square with statues of Scottish poets and royalty), across Buchanan Street, up the hill, through an affluent neighborhood, near Blythswood Square, with private parks, and then took George Street back toward the airbnb.
We had lunch at a local joint, Rumbling Tum, down the street from our airbnb. Our suitcases were tucked under a counter by the entrance door. The crowd was decidedly local, most elderly and sipping tea, chatting with friends. The other diners looked like painters, mechanics, maybe some cops. Most everyone ordered the large Scottish all-day breakfast.
After lunch we took an Uber to the bus station, a bus to the airport, the plane to Gatwick, and the shuttle to the Crown Plaza Hotel. Flying is not our favorite; it requires so much transportation.
As we were leaving Glasgow, we realized we missed a lot of it — of course we did. Such a short stay. There are so many reasons to return…the River Clyde and the People’s Palace in Glasgow Green, the area around the Glasgow Art School and the Contemporary Art Museum.
