Democracy Administered With A Baton And Tear Gas.

 

       The Spanish state shows it credentials, militarised police and brute force, the only means by which it can survive. However, across the globe state authority is being challenged, from Athens to Rio, from Paris to Barcelona. This from Loam at arrezafe.

    Published on May 28, 2016El barrio de Gràcia de Barcelona después de tres días seguidos de Manifestaciones de protesta tras el desalojo, el pasado lunes del "banco expropiado "parece que vuelve a la calma mientras se preparan nuevas protestas,. ., Hacia las diez de la noche, centenares de vecinos, tanto desde los balcones como reunidos en pequeños grupos en las plazas del barrio, han protestado por el desalojo con una cacerolada, siguiendo la convocatoria de los miembros del "banc expropiat"
       En un comunicado, el "banc expropiat" ha agradecido la solidaridad de los vecinos y el compromiso con su proyecto. "Muchos de vosotros nos estáis pidiendo de qué manera poder implicaros en esta lucha", remarca la nota, en la que los okupas abogan por presionar a los "responsables" del conflicto para visibilizar qué es el "banc expropiat" y animan a los vecinos a colgar pancartas en los balcones en su apoyo.

     Rough translation:

         The Gracia district of Barcelona after three straight days of protest demonstrations after the eviction , last Monday the " bank misappropriated" seems to return to calm while preparing new protests ,. . , Ten o'clock at night, hundreds of neighbors , both from the balconies and in small groups in the streets of the neighborhood, have protested the eviction with a cacerolada , following the call of the members of the " banc expropiat "
          In a statement, the " banc expropiat " thanked the solidarity of neighbors and commitment to their project. " Many of you are asking us how to involve you in this fight ," notes the note, in which squatters advocate pressuring " responsible" for the conflict to make visible what is the " banc expropiat " and encourage neighbors to hang banners on balconies in support.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Busy Edinburgh.

A busy schedule at the ACE centre in Edinburgh, something for everybody.

SOME UPCOMING EVENTS AT ACE AND BEYOND

* Sun 29th May - 2pm @ ace - All the world needs a jolt - chapter 1 from Silvia Federici Caliban and the Witch - Edinburgh Revolutionary Feminism Reading Group https://www.facebook.com/events/1399937203647363/

*Sunday 29th May- Migrant Pride by Spanish Workers in Edinburgh. 6pm @ the Mound

*Sunday 29th May- 3rd Nuit Debout Edinburgh - Poterrow tunnel (between the Old College of the University of edinburgh and Bristo Square)

* Mon 30th May- Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty meeting @ACE 7pm. (ECAP meetings last monday each month)

* Thursday 2nd June – Demo at Scottish Parliament, Holyrood EH99 1SP against new Immigration Act - 11.30am Organised by Migrants Solidarity Network https://www.facebook.com/events/1748745975360690/

* Thursday 2nd June- ACE Working Group Meeting 7:30pm. Everyone welcome! (ACE meetings now the first thursday each month)

* Friday 3rd June 7pm at Quaker meeting house, Victoria Terrace (off George IV Bridge). Housing is a Human Right: the dignified fight for homes and autonomy in Mexico City and beyond - public meeting with Enrique Reynoso, of the Popular Organisation of the Independent Left “Francisco Villa”. Organised by Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity

https://www.facebook.com/events/1027607207293907/

* Saturday 4th June - Capitalism and Mental Health. Edinburgh Anarchist Federation. 2pm @ ACE.https://www.facebook.com/events/596112043881821/

* Sat 4th and Sun 5th June – ACE + friends stalls at Meadows Festival – volunteers welcome to help staff stalls

* Mon 6th June- Rent Rebels Film screening 18.00 University of Edinburgh - Elliot Room, Minto House 20-22 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JZ

* Wed 8th June – Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity organising meeting 6.30pm @ACE

* Thursday 9th June - Tony Cox Solidarity: Advocacy is not a crime –10am onwards. Dundee Sheriff Court, 6 West Bell Street, DD1 9AD Called by Scottish Unemployed Workers' Network, with Action Against Austerity, ECAP and others https://www.facebook.com/events/1018949701522891/

Transport from Edinburgh, contact ecap@lists.riseup.net

* Friday 10th June- Migrant Solidarity Network monthly meeting 6pm @ACE

* Sat 11th June - ACE + friends stalls at Leith Festival Gala, Leith Links – volunteers welcome to help staff stalls

* Monday 13th June- Edinburgh IWW Meeting 7pm @ACE

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Illusion Of Freedom.

        Free movement, welfare constructed, democratic Europe shows it true colours, with the raising of border fences, increased military style policing, and massive austerity, chopping away at the welfare system. Where now the free movement of people that was trumpeted from the marble halls of power? United Europe is fragmenting, nationalism is on the rise, fascism shows its ugly face in ever greater numbers. What this proves is that the whole edifice was an illusion created to suit the corporate world and can just as easily be demolished when it suits the powers that be. 

           If we want a free movement Europe, then we have to get rid of the nation states and the capitalist system. As long as nation states, big money and corporatism are welded together in a festering marriage, we will have rules laid down and torn up at their bidding and in their interest.

 From Act For Freedom Now:

FORTUNE DOESN’T ALWAYS FAVOR THE BRAVE
        Solidarity and complicity with the comrades arrested in Brenner.
Apocalyptic scenarios of a fascist future, right-wing forces taking hold in Europe, walls being erected and borders being closed, deportations and detention camps.
       The leaders of global capitalism are about to close the Brenner pass in order to stop the transit of human beings. People must be stopped even at the cost of contradicting the constitutional principles of the EU itself, as it crumbles in the face of the first wave of migration.
We knew very well what we were in for on 7th May, on the demo ‘Destroy the borders in Brenner and everywhere’; we knew perfectly well what it meant to march in an unauthorized demo through a 370-metre wide pass from mountain to mountain. We knew very well that the geography of the place was against us.
        We knew all this but we also knew that if in a future made of fences, barbed wire and walls someone were to ask us: ‘Where were you when they were building up the umpteenth wall in Europe?’ we would be able to say that we were trying to knock it down, throwing the first stones in continuation with the trajectories of solidarity and struggle along with migrants that began in Monza and support to the No Border mobilizations and practices from Ventimiglia to Calais.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

How Far Will You Let Them Push You?

 

         How far will the financial Mafia go in the decimating of people in their drive to re-capitalise their corrupt bankrupt system. Across the globe they have pushed this austerity plan hard, in some countries they have pushed it to the point of destruction. I have no doubt the will push it further if they can get away with their self-centred plan.

          Take Greece, it is now agreed that what the people of Greece are suffering is as bad as, or worse than, the 30's depression, and is expected to go deeper still. The policies forced on to the people of Greece have produced an unemployment rate of more than 25%, and among the under 25's that jumps to more than 50%, in some areas it is over 60%. The number of people in Greece suffering sever material deprivation has doubled since 2008, again sadly it is the 16-24's that have suffered the most.

           Greece is the only country in the Euro area where welfare spending has dropped, and it has dropped dramatically since 2008. A follow on from this ever decreasing welfare spending is a stratospheric rise in the suicide rate, which saw an increase of 35% between 2010-2011, with a further dramatic increase of 55% in 2012. This drop in welfare spending has also heralded in, among other horrors, an increase in substance abuse and HIV, at the same time as HIV clinics and needle exchange units have been closed..

        Homelessness and sleeping rough has seen a dramatic rise, the government's own figures, which some consider to be a modest estimate, put the number of homeless in Athens at 20,000 from a population of 660,000, with a massive increase in the 26-44 age group now homeless.

      Another effect of this financial Mafia extortion racket is the effect it will have on the future of Greece, as migration has soared. Greece has a population of approximately 11 million, since the financial Mafia's inflicted "crisis", around 400,000 have migrated. Of those who have migrated it is reported that nine in ten hold a university degree, with more than 60% holding a masters degree, and approximately 11% a PhD. How will that impact on the future of Greece? All this in a modern, supposedly democratic country in Europe, one of the richest parts of the world.

     Bearing in mind all these facts it is obvious to any individual with a grain of humanity, that the people of Greece need some assistance, What is that trio of inhumanity, the IMF, International Mankind Fuckers, ECB, Excessively Conning Banksters, EC, European Cartel, planning for the people of Greece? Why, more cuts to welfare, lower pensions, work longer to receive those diminishing pensions, higher taxes, work longer hours, and wage cuts. The people can bleed to death, the financial gambling cartel want their gambling losses back.

     This then is the general plan for us all, as the millionaire gambling cabal, the financial Mafia, continue their greed fest to recoup their gambling losses. The quality of life that you and I have is of no interest to them, we don't figure in their grand plan of plunder and looting, it is all about them saving their system and all the wealth, power and privileges that go along with that stinking bankrupt system. There is an alternative.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Tomorrow's World, A Privatised World!!

 

      No matter the words or the phrases used, in capitalism the aim and direction is always the same, increased wealth to the pampered parasites that control the system. "Austerity" is an avenue to privatisation, privatisation of all valued assets is the ultimate desire of that cabal that sits in those marble halls of power shuffling their money to the detriment of the planet and its people. No matter the policy, whether it is "reform", "efficiency", "austerity", "balancing the books", "growing the economy", it will always take us down the road to privatisation. Privatisation is a method of re-capitalising their bankrupt system, a way of making money from everything thing we do. Everything we need to survive, must produce a profit for the system. Mutual aid and social services are an anathema to the system, they are entities that could be transformed in to money making enterprises. 

       The methods to attain their dream of a money making world vary, but one method is to deprive a service of sufficient funds to function properly, complain about the falling service, demand reforms, finally coming up with the answer that private capital is the only remedy. It is certainly not that we can't afford the best social services, we are awash in wealth, we are surrounded by opulence, all produced by your labour, and we are the 5th richest country in the world, again because of your labour. 

      It is policy, it is ideology, that drives us down the road of "austerity" and privatisation, it is not necessity. However, if you are expecting the direction to change, you will be sadly disappointed. These decisions are not made in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, they are made elsewhere, by the members of the financial Mafia, in the form of the IMF, International Mankind Fuckers, ECB, Excessively Conning Banksters, EC, European Cartel. Your local political ballerina, is merely there to carry out the dictate of the said financial Mafia.

      If you want justice, and a society that sees to the needs of all our people, then you are going to have to work very hard to get rid of this cancer that parades under the name of capitalism. The beast will not change its spots, nor will it give up it its privileges lightly. Revolutions never come with flowers alone.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Where Is Our Righteous Anger?

      Why do we continually put up with our lords and masters' never ending desire to spend our tax money on the destruction of other people's countries. We are in an endless slaughter of innocents, authorised by our so called, democratic government. Cameron is now showing withdrawal symptoms as his sadistic Libyan adventure slides in to history. Come July we will see his excitement rate jump, as he and his imperialist cronies start episode two of his Libyan massacre.

       What most people don't recognise is the extent of the brutal assault on the people of Libya by that minder of Western corporatism, NATO. If we look at the bombardment of Syria, since 2014, not counting Russian air strikes, there has been just under 4,000 allied air strikes. In Iraq, air strikes against Daesh, have numbered approximately 8,500. If we combine these air strikes we have approximately 12,500.  The population of Syria is roughly 22.8 million and the population of Iraq 33.4 million and they have received an appalling 12,500 air strikes. Now let's look at Libya, with a small population of less than 7 million this unfortunate country felt the wrath of Cameron via NATO with an astonishing 26.500. A part from the human misery caused, it should be remembered that each missile fired cost between £500,000 and £1 million. How many hospitals went bang, and how many schools went boom, in  the batting of an eye?

 Syria.

       Not content with that, Cameron and his imperialist cohorts are planning another assault on the people of Libya. Why, well having destroyed the infrastructure of that country and turned it into a quagmire of fighting factions, it is difficult to control the oil efficiently. So they need a subservient, compliant government to run the place. Since there isn't one, they have shipped in a bunch of pro-Western/Saudi puppets, who are holed up in some western protected bunker, and this is what they call the legitimate government of Libya. So now we have to go in and blow the shit out of the rest of the country and build this Western chosen clique an army, so that we can do deals with them to more rapidly extract Libya's gas and oil. 

Iraq.

      They are planning to pour more of our tax money into the destruction of an already devastated country, with the result of countless more deaths of innocent people, we will be supporting a group of people whom the people of Libya have no part in choosing, all to help the Western corporate greed machine.

     We should be angry, we should be very angry, we are being made complicit in the murder of innocents, to feed the greed of Western imperialism. No where in this Dante's Inferno of greed is there a thought for the welfare of the people of Libya. The teachers, plumbers, drivers, grandparents and grandchildren of Libya will be the victims of this bloody greed fest.

Libya.

      Where is our righteous anger, where are the crowds on the streets, this slaughter will continue unless we the people stop it, the powers that be are all in favour of this continuing resource grab, by violence or any other means, and to hell with the people.

Time To Rage.

Time to rage, like a river running wild

Time to rise, to save the child,

Time to rage, like a mountain flood,

Time to rise, to stop the blood,

Time to rage, with righteous anger,

Time to rise, to point the finger.

Famine, misery, sickness,death

Stretch across these pleasant lands;

War, greed, hunger, blood

Sour the lovely desert sands,

Charity, chat, quiet dismay

Is not enough,

Prayers, thoughts,what PM's say

Is useless stuff.

Time to rage, like a river running wild,

Time to rise, to save the child,

Time to rage, like a mountain flood,

Time to rise, to stop the blood,

Time to rage, with righteous anger,

Time to rise, to point the finger.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Flower That Never Dies.

 

       Spain 1936-39, a time of hope, of dreams being realised, a time to glimpse the future. They came from across the world, from all its continents, they came to protect a flower. Sadly the boot of fascism, with the assistance of the imperialist/capitalist nations trampled it, damaged it, but failed miserably to destroy it, it lives on.

      It is nice to know that those who came from this little corner of the world to glimpse that dream, to protect that flower, are still remembered. Another gem from Loam, of arrezafe.

          "To the memory of the Scottish members of the British Battalion, International Brigade, who fell at Jarama, 1937."

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Wake Up Call!!!

         I received this video from comrade Loam at arrezafe, thanks Loam, it tells a very true but well hidden story:

Published on Jan 15, 2014

Join the conversation: #WakeUpCall. Find out more at http://www.gaiafoundation.org/wakeupc...
         Have you ever felt like we're living through a nightmare of consumption? That you wish you could un-hook yourself and reconnect with a life that is somehow more real and vivid? Then perhaps you're ready to heed Earth's Wake Up Call.
           Today we live in a time when there is little to no understanding of how the goods we consume and take for granted came into being. Without this we lack the knowledge to understand the true costs of our consumption, and the power to take action. As a result we have become disconnected from Earth - the origin of our health, wealth and all of the 'things' we depend on.
           Wake Up Call takes us on a fast-paced, animated glimpse of the true costs behind some of our most prized possessions - our electronic gadgets. Joining the dots between the stages of extraction, production, consumption and disposal, it reveals that, although our gadgets appear sleek and shiny, their appearance is misleading.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Ah, To Be Young Again.

 

        Tuesday was the chosen day for the bike run, quite warm, sunny intervals that cleared to give us a nice sunny sky, But OH, that wind, 13/14mph was the stated force, I think they were being a little modest, never the less, it was a great run. One thing I find very pleasing, is when there are lots of cyclists on the road, and Tuesday was such a day. They were out in force from the usual solo riders to the small and large groups, wonderful to see.

        I spoke to one solo rider just past the Kirkhouse Inn, he said he was heading over the Crow Road and then heading for the Queen's View. On a route that has practically no flat bits, two stiff climbs, as to get to the Queen's View he would also have to climb The Whistlefield, then make his way back. Ah, Oh to be young again.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

A Place To Lay Your Head.

 

         A place of safety and comfort to lay your head is necessary for human dignity, it is not something we should have to aspire to, it is a human right, yet across this so called modern world, millions are denied that dignity, denied that right. Is it possible to satisfy that right in a capitalist society?  Interesting dates for Glasgow folks and Edinburgh folks, talk and discussion on Housing.

Building Urban Autonomy: The Dignified Fight for Homes in Mexico City
5.15-7.00pm, Thursday 2nd June, Room 916, Adam Smith Building, University of Glasgow
        Enrique Reynoso is an urban activist who has spent more than twenty-five years organising for housing rights and autonomous communities in Mexico City. He will discuss his work with the Francisco Villa Independent Popular Front, which is independent of political parties and affiliated to the Zapatista-inspired La Sexta (the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle).
         Enrique will discuss the fight for homes in Mexico City, reflecting on a mass social movement which is involved in land occupations, collective house construction and autonomous organising in some of the poorest areas of Mexico City. As such, this event provides a rare opportunity to discover how the principles of Zapatismo are being translated in one of the largest urban conurbations in the world.
      Enrique's talk will be introduced by Neil Gray, University of Glasgow, and Katia Valenzuela uentes, Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice, University of Nottingham who will also translate. Organised in collaboration with the Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group: http://edinchiapas.org.uk
The venue is fully accessible (lift to meeting room). ALL WELCOME.
Hosted by the Centre for the Study of Socialist theory and Movements
HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT: Enrique Reynoso on the dignified fight for homes and autonomy in Mexico City and beyond
7pm Friday 3rd June, Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2JL
       Enrique of the Popular Organisation of the Independent Left “Francisco Villa” will speak on this mass social movement which occupies land, builds social housing for the poorest people and promotes and organises self-managed grass-roots autonomy. Enrique has spent more than 25 years organising for housing rights and autonomous communities in Mexico City.
      The "Organización Popular Francisco Villa de Izquierda Independiente" is independent of political parties and affiliated to the Zapatista-inspired La Sexta. As such, this event provides a rare opportunity to discover how the principles of Zapatismo are being translated in one of the largest urban conurbations in the world.
FREE ALL WELCOME QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION
The venue is fully accessible (lift to meeting room).
Facebook event page https://www.facebook.com/events/1027607207293907/
Organised by Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group: www.edinchiapas.org.uk

Visiut ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

A Soldier.

 

Tanks shipped into Glasgow after "Bloody Friday" 1919.

          I get pissed off by all those who spout, "support our boys", of course referring to that band of unfortunates who have surrendered their right to the faculty of thinking for themselves. They have taken on the duty of defending the wealthy and privileged cabal that rule over us, and they will do it with whatever ferociousness and brutality that they are ordered to administer. They will turn their weapons on their own people, if so ordered, yet we are still urged to "support our boys". The soldier, he/she is portrayed as something brave and noble, when in fact they are the unthinking, obedient brutal tools of the state, there to crush any challenge to its unbridled authority.

 Troops on the streets of Liverpool during the 1911 transport strike, in which two strikers were shot while on a demonstration.

      The following is a wonderful article written with beautiful moments of irony, by Aristide Jobert, (Aristide Jobert (1869-1942) emphasised direct action, appeals to the people, a general strike and insurrection. He wrote for La Guerre Sociale. Although anti-militarist, insurrectionist, anti-parliamentarian, and syndicalist - Jobert became a member of parliament, elected to the chamber in 1914. The article was written as an obituary for Marquis of Gallifet, who died July 1910), it was later translated for The Socialist, (SLP)

“A Soldier! Funeral Oration of General de Gallifet-

Monsieur, the Marquis of Gallifet, General of the French Army and ex-Minister of the no less French Republic, has rendered up his beautiful soul to God. The astonishing thing is that he has died in his bed; a beautiful death, if I may say so. It is truly astonishing that he never found himself face to face with a relation or friend of one of the numerous victims whom he caused to be assassinated during the re­pression of the Commune. He himself must have been astonished at his own immunity, and he who was the friend of Gambetta must have lost faith in that “Justice which is immanent in things” spoken of by his friend. The noble soldier decided before his death that he did not desire to have military honours rendered to him. It is a pity. No one merited them better than he.

He was a Soldier in every sense of the word. He possessed all the military virtues in the highest degree. To be a soldier is to be ready to do for pay, for a salary, any deed, however odious, however criminal, however contemptible it may be. Gallifet was a soldier, and he showed himself worthy of his calling. Is courage necessary for that? During the repression of the Commune Gallifet accomplished his task with a refine­ment of cruelty that is truly rare. It is well known that when conducting a column of prisoners he made the youngest and the oldest step out of the ranks and had them summarily shot without further form of procedure. His reasons (he has given them) were remarkable for their generosity: the first, the young men, were the “flower of the revolutionaries”; the others, “those with white hair,’1 were old offenders, “they had seen ’48.” Monsieur le Marquis tried to be funny.

Note that it was unnecessary to give any reasons at all, since a soldier exists to kill his kind without scruple and without reasons, since true courage—military courage—con­sists in furiously attacking those who are weak, disarmed, and without defence. Gallifet was a brave soldier, and since he had not been prominent during the foreign war he re-installed himself at the expense of his countrymen at home. It was less dangerous. As we see, he was worthy to wear the gold lace of a general, and he was no less worthy to become a minister of the bour­geois Republic. He was in that position along with Millerand,—a Socialist, if you please,—and with the assent of a good many Socialists whose comrades or predecessors had been assassinated by Gallifet. Gallifet possessed all the military virtues.

His mother—since in spite of all it was a woman who gave birth to this soldier—was disowned by him, and was forced to appeal to law to obtain a pension from her son. His wife—since even the beasts go in pairs—was repudiated by him, and he separated from her. His son—since even tigers procreate— was driven out by him, and died, it is said, without ever receiving a sign of forgiveness from his father.

We see that Gallifet was a perfect type ; without a heart—I do not say without en­trails, as the legend runs that he carried them in his military cap—he had no attach­ments, he was not bound by any of those moral or physical ties which hold ordinary mortals. He was a soldier. Assassin, plunderer, cynic, bad husband, unnatural father, unworthy son, that is what a true soldier ought to be—without natural or human sentiments. That the arm of a soldier may trike sure no human feeling or sentiment of pity must hinder it. It is thus that a man must be made to be worthy of the noble calling of arms. Now Gallifet was truly worthy; he had all the military virtues; not one was wanting. He even pushed to an extreme his soldierly frankness ; he paraded his virtues before the world. The man was a type.

Yes, it is really a pity that he refused military honours. He fully deserved them. How imposing would have been the funeral procession of this decorated carrion, winding along the streets of that Paris which he had drenched in blood, accom­panied by all those soldiers, decked out in gold lace, of whom he was a true example. Accompanied also by those ministers, by all the governmental clique, republican, monarchist, and imperial, whose supporter he had been. The people, the working people, those whom Gallifet had crushed, insulted, and shot down, would have come to swell the procession.

The sons, the grandsons, the friends, the survivors, of those who were massacred in the Commune, would have made for him a guard of honour. The sons, the brothers, the fathers, and the mothers of those whom military disci­pline confines in barracks or at Biribi, could have come also to do homage to the gilded corpse of this soldier. In spite of all, I hope that one day the full and unveiled history of this hero will be written, and that it will be put into the hands of children, so that they may learn from its details what military virtues are. That would certainly be the best way to inspire disgust, contempt, repulsion, and hatred towards that being of which Gallifet was the most perfect type, that abnormal, immoral, and unnatural being called a Soldier.

A. Jobert.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

It's A Hilly Country.

         Like I said, I'm a fair weather cyclist now, with all my bits and pieces needing an overhaul, I only come out when the sun shines. The last week was a bit wet and windy, so it was a little over a week since I had been out on the dream machine, but today was beautiful, so off I went. This time it was up round Killearn and Fintry and had the obligatory plate of soup in the "Town and Country Coffee Shop" they don't seem to have cafés in Killearn. While there a young team arrived, they had cycled from the south-side of Glasgow, over the Crow Road, for the uninitiated, that's the road that takes you over the Campsie Hills,  real name, Campsie Fells, not an easy climb. Their way home would see them climb out of the Blane Valley, I'll repeat, not an easy climb.

         Around that area there are quite a few climbs that test you. The other side of Fintry there is the Tak Ma Doon which climbs from Carron Water, and drops you down in Kilsyth, it used to be used for the Scottish hill climbing championships. Then the B road know to cyclists as, The Tap o' Th' World. This beast start at Arn Prior and winds and twists its way up for about three miles, at the top you have the option of turning left, and continuing your climb up through Kippin and Thornhill, or turn right, and get a magnificent three mile descent  down into Fintry. Of course let's not forget The Whistlefield, you meet this fellow when you are cycling from Drymen back through to the West of Glasgow. The first time I climbed this one, many years ago, on reaching the top of the climb, I swear I saw St. Peter, standing at the side of the road ready to welcome those who fell by the wayside.  

      So, today, two photos for the price of one, both taken outside the said coffee shop in Killearn.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk