Let’s play Hyndland bingo!

It probably says a lot about the neighbourhood of Anniesland, in Glasgow, that after spending a month here I am writing a post about Hyndland. Anniesland is a bit betwixt and between, both in a literal sense (its main landmark is Anniesland Cross, a major junction between roads that run west out of Glasgow and south to the Black Hole and the Death Star (as I like to call Govan and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital) and also in terms of character. It’s kind of west end but not posh, a bit down at heel but not cheap, not that far the city centre, but not actually close.

Hyndland, on the other hand, has a well defined character, and one that’s easy to gently mock. You must understand that this is affectionate mockery; if someone gave me a six-figure advance for my next book, one of the first things I would do is get myself a lovely period property in Hyndland with a garden where I could enjoy cocktails in the occasional sun.

But still, Hyndland’s unique brand of genteel bohemianness does raise a smile. My flatmate and I walked from Anniesland down to the Jelly Hill in Hyndland one fine evening last week, and did a little people watching. We had to come up with a secret sign whenever we wanted to call attention to something especially Hyndland (which was often) because, of course, in the west end the charming streets are quite narrow and we were practically sitting on the knees of the passers-by. They would have heard our comments, so we just cocked our pinkie fingers instead. 

Here is a bingo card of some of the things we saw. If you ever visit Hyndland one day, why not print this out and play along? It should be pretty easy to get a full house.

P.S. Why is there no photo in this post? Because I can’t find any nice ones of Hyndland that aren’t copyright. I suppose I’ll just have to go back sometime to take one of my own. Any excuse…

Tags: anniesland, bohemian, boho, glasgow, hyndland, west end